Neil Sinhababu's guest appearances

Neil Sinhababu

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Thoughtology

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Utilitarian

Wes Morriston

Graham Oppy

Andrei Buckareff

John Loftus

Stephen Batchelor

Jesse Prinz

Ruth Chang

Massimo Pigliucci

Stephen Law

Liane Young

Eric Schwitzgebel

Anders Sandberg

Darrel Ray

Jesse Graham

Aubrey de Grey

OwlTail

On this episode of the Utilitarian Podcast, I talk with Neil Sinhababu. Neil is a professor of philosophy at the University of Singapore. Our conversation has two broad topics: We talk about metaethics and we talk about world government as a way to prevent human extinction. We discuss consciousness as the basis for ethics, reductionism about ethics, whether morality can be a science and how to handle feeling alienated from your own values. We then discuss world government as a way to solve collective action problems and decrease extinction risk. I ask whether creating a world government is itself risky, because it might turn totalitarian. The sound quality on my side is not the best in this episode, but fortunately Neil has lots of interesting things to say, so he speaks the most. As always, you can reach me at utilitarianpodcast@gmail.com if you have questions or suggestions or criticism.

On this episode of the Utilitarian Podcast, I talk with Neil Sinhababu. Neil is a professor of philosophy at the University of Singapore. Our conversation has two broad topics: We talk about metaethics and we talk about world government as a way to prevent human extinction. We discuss consciousness as the basis for ethics, reductionism about ethics, whether morality can be a science and how to handle feeling alienated from your own values. We then discuss world government as a way to solve collective action problems and decrease extinction risk. I ask whether creating a world government is itself risky, because it might turn totalitarian. The sound quality on my side is not the best in this episode, but fortunately Neil has lots of interesting things to say, so he speaks the most. As always, you can reach me at <a href="mailto:utilitarianpodcast@gmail.com">utilitarianpodcast@gmail.com</a> if you have questions or suggestions or criticism.

Ethics and World Government - Neil Sinhababu

My guest today is Neil Sinhababu, an Associate Professor in the Department of Philosophy at the National University of Singapore. He wrote Humean Nature and Possible Girls and has taught normative ethics and political philosophy. He majored in philosophy as an undergraduate at Harvard University and obtained a PhD in Philosophy at University of Texas at Austin. Please enjoy the show.Show Notes[0:40] How does Neil view the 2016 US Presidential Election? [3:11] Donald Trump’s history of corruption [4:50] US-Russia relations [6:55] Vladimir Putin and Russia post-Putin [8:33] How will Neil’s actions and thoughts change if he was immersed in Russia’s culture of falsehood? [9:40] Understanding US media system [15:02] Thoughts on tech and legacy media, and the narrative of tech vs legacy media [20:08] Getting a sense of Singapore’s political system [21:58] Politicians risking their seats and arguments for democracy [30:08] US-China relations, institutions, and a stable democratic world government  [37:46] What can unite humans in the absence of an alien invasion? [39:51] How have the US institutions fared in the Covid-19 pandemic? What should the institutions have done instead? [48:02] Thoughts on 2020 Democratic Primary [56:25] Neil’s broad social democratic strategy and his thoughts on billionaires’ impact on the system [1:04:26] Prediction for upcoming 2020 US Presidential Election [1:06:23] Changing the system to prevent undesirable candidates from taking power. Democrats’ knock-out vs Republicans’ submission-hold [1:13:58] Influencing votes in favour of Democratic Party [1:17:20] Does being a philosophy professor bring about the maximum utility? [1:20:00] Media that Neil consumes [1:21:46] How does Neil synthesise information and how does he know the worldview that he has is the right one?MentionsVox Washington Post GiveWell Jeff MerkleyConnectIf you like to find out more about me, please find me on my personal website at www.pohjie.com, or connect with me on Twitter (@pohjie_pj).OutroThank you for listening to this episode. If you like this episode, please leave a review on Apple Podcasts and share this episode with 1-3 friends. I started this podcast with the intention of having awesome conversations with interesting people, and having your support means a lot. Thank you.Music creditsShades of Spring by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4342-shades-of-spring License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

My guest today is Neil Sinhababu, an Associate Professor in the Department of Philosophy at the National University of Singapore. He wrote Humean Nature and Possible Girls and has taught normative ethics and political philosophy. He majored in philosophy as an undergraduate at Harvard University and obtained a PhD in Philosophy at University of Texas at Austin. Please enjoy the show.Show Notes <ul><li>[0:40] How does Neil view the 2016 US Presidential Election?</li> <li>[3:11] Donald Trump’s history of corruption</li> <li>[4:50] US-Russia relations</li> <li>[6:55] Vladimir Putin and Russia post-Putin</li> <li>[8:33] How will Neil’s actions and thoughts change if he was immersed in Russia’s culture of falsehood?</li> <li>[9:40] Understanding US media system</li> <li>[15:02] Thoughts on tech and legacy media, and the narrative of tech vs legacy media</li> <li>[20:08] Getting a sense of Singapore’s political system</li> <li>[21:58] Politicians risking their seats and arguments for democracy</li> <li>[30:08] US-China relations, institutions, and a stable democratic world government </li> <li>[37:46] What can unite humans in the absence of an alien invasion?</li> <li>[39:51] How have the US institutions fared in the Covid-19 pandemic? What should the institutions have done instead?</li> <li>[48:02] Thoughts on 2020 Democratic Primary</li> <li>[56:25] Neil’s broad social democratic strategy and his thoughts on billionaires’ impact on the system</li> <li>[1:04:26] Prediction for upcoming 2020 US Presidential Election</li> <li>[1:06:23] Changing the system to prevent undesirable candidates from taking power. Democrats’ knock-out vs Republicans’ submission-hold</li> <li>[1:13:58] Influencing votes in favour of Democratic Party</li> <li>[1:17:20] Does being a philosophy professor bring about the maximum utility?</li> <li>[1:20:00] Media that Neil consumes</li> <li>[1:21:46] How does Neil synthesise information and how does he know the worldview that he has is the right one?</li></ul>Mentions <ul><li>Vox</li> <li>Washington Post</li> <li><a href="https://www.givewell.org" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">GiveWell</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.jeffmerkley.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Jeff Merkley</a></li></ul>Connect If you like to find out more about me, please find me on my personal website at <a href="https://www.pohjie.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.pohjie.com</a>, or connect with me on Twitter (<a href="https://twitter.com/pohjie_pj" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">@pohjie_pj</a>).Outro Thank you for listening to this episode. If you like this episode, please leave a review on Apple Podcasts and share this episode with 1-3 friends. I started this podcast with the intention of having awesome conversations with interesting people, and having your support means a lot. Thank you.Music credits <ul><li>Shades of Spring by Kevin MacLeod</li> <li>Link: <a href="https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4342-shades-of-spring" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4342-shades-of-spring</a></li> <li>License: <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/</a></li></ul>

#8 Neil Sinhababu- US Politics in 2020

In this episode, I talk with Neil Sinhababu (National University of Singapore) about fine tuning. In particular, we explore the argument in his great paper, 'Fine Tuning vs Electrons in Love' https://philpapers.org/archive/SINFAP.pdf If you enjoy this content, follow on social media:https://www.patreon.com/thoughtology http://thoughtology.podbean.com/?source=pb https://www.facebook.com/thoughtologytube/

In this episode, I talk with Neil Sinhababu (National University of Singapore) about fine tuning. In particular, we explore the argument in his great paper, 'Fine Tuning vs Electrons in Love' <a href="https://philpapers.org/archive/SINFAP.pdf" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://philpapers.org/archive/SINFAP.pdf</a> If you enjoy this content, follow on social media: <a href="https://www.patreon.com/thoughtology" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.patreon.com/thoughtology</a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwbA80IQy8pfbil09XiBKfw" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://thoughtology.podbean.com/?source=pb</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/thoughtologytube/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.facebook.com/thoughtologytube/</a>

Episode 9, Neil Sinhababu, on Fine Tuning vs Electrons in Love

Sinhababu defends a Humean theory of motivation.