Episodes

  • Beyond Red v Blue

    Beyond Red v Blue
    Mar 15 2022
    Imagine picking up your smartphone one morning to find only two apps: one red one blue. Your smartphone’s operating system now only runs these two apps. You’d probably think it sucks.  In the USA, we run on DOS (the democratic operating system) with only two apps. Many fetishize voting and elections, but these have become circuses to go with all the bread. We labor under the illusion that we are “free,” but we have outsourced our primary responsibilities to a corrupt cartel in Washington.  In this episode, Porch and Max discuss the evolution of the Republic, the problems of political power, and the woeful shortcomings of democracy. The fundamental question: can we do better than monopolies on violence? Two-Party SystemConstitutional GovernmentSeparation of Powers - Check & BalancesFounding Father of the United StatesDemocratic republicScapegoating & René GirardTristan HarrisDaniel SchmactenbergerThe Social DilemmaThe Social Singularity by Max BordersFirst past the post votingAmerican civil religionCampaign finance reform in the United StatesTammany HallRepublic, Lost by Lawrence LessigUnited States presidential primaryLobbying and special interestsParliamentary systemWestphalian sovereigntyCity-statesSettled agriculture and the Neolithic RevolutionJames C. ScottTheories on the origins of the stateJames MadisonThomas Hobbes: Moral and Political PhilosophyPhilosopher KingMajoritarian democracy and majority ruleLiberal democracyJohn Rawls and reasonable pluralismFreedom of religionNinth Amendment to the US ConstitutionTenth Amendment to the US ConstitutionGeorge Mason and Anti-FederalismConsent of the governedSocial contract theoryWard republicTerritorial expansion of the USJane Jacobs and the Monstrous HybridBootleggers and BaptistsG.K. Chesterton and Chesterton’s FenceTraditionalist conservatismProgressivismPolitical spectrum models - Nolan chartThe consistency of libertarianismGlenn GreenwaldJoe RoganMohairRational ignorance & rational irrationalityPath dependencyPolitical polarization and radicalizationTribalism and groupthinkStates rightsHoreshoe theoryEmergency powers9/11 attacksMass surveillance2021 US Capitol AttackDomestic terrorismCognitive biasApproval votingRanked-choice votingBlockchain, cryptocurrencies, and smart contractsOn-chain GovernanceHolacracyLiquid democracyQuadratic votingGlen WeylVatalik ButerinJaneček methodCollective action problemDecentralized autonomous organizationAlex Tabarrok’s Dominant Assurance ContractVote tradingSocialityMutual organizationNon-zero sum gamesOrganizational missionCorporatist economics and FascismMinarchismCode forkingOpen-source software and LinuxNetwork effectAntifragility from TalebFederalism and SubsidiarityAvailability cascadeLocalismPolyarchy, polycentricity, and panarchyCircle of concern and circle of influence
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    1 hr and 9 mins
  • The Great Social Media Moral Panic

    The Great Social Media Moral Panic
    Feb 11 2022
    Are we living through a moral panic about Social Media? Many folks are concerned about misinformation while for others censorship is the main concern. Social media companies seem stuck in a dilemma where they’re damned whatever they do. Does the magnitude of the problems measure up to the handwringing on either side? Is our ability to make sense of things lost in this hall of mirrors?  Some argue that algorithms create asymmetries between enfeebled humans and awesome AIs. Others say these concerns are overblown and that partisans are scapegoating social media companies for the failures of legacy governance.  Join us for what turned out to be, in moments, a heated exchange. You will not be bored. Strap in and hang on. (And of course: like, share, and hit subscribe.) The Facebook Files - Wall Street JournalThe Social DilemmaLimbic HijackingOperant conditioning chamber aka “skinner box”Filter BubblePropaganda by Edward Bernays “We shape our tools and our tools shape us”Marshall MacluhanCritical TheoryA Propoganda Model by Noam ChomskyB.F.  SkinnerBlank SlateEvolutionary Psychology IQ and susceptibility to misinformationPropagandaA/B split testing Click-through rateSearch engine optimization (SEO)Conversion rate optimization (SRO)Online Advertising networks and Ad exchangesUnexplainability and Incomprehensibility of AIGPT-3RSS NewsreaderMoral panicSteel Man ArgumentViral phenomenonHooked: How to Build Habit Forming Products by Nir EyalIndistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life also by Nir EyalNudge theoryClickbaitNPR BiasInstagram in the News: Mental Health Risks for Teen GirlsConspiracy theoryInternet memePolitical polarizationUnderstanding the Blue Church by Jordan HallA brief explanation of the cathedral by Curtis YarvinThe Prussion Welfare StateHigh modernismTechnocracyFDR’s Fireside ChatsPsychographic segmentationFacebook needs, wants, must have regulation, Zuckerberg saysRegulatory captureDeregulation of the Radio Broadcast IndustryBig 3 TV NetworksWalter CronkiteCitizen journalismCyperphunk manifestoSocrates on writingPrint and the persecution of witchesSpiral DynamicsPlato’s AuthoritarianismPublic choice theoryPlatonismRelativismRawls’ Reasonable PluralismDaniel SchmactenbergerOccam’s RazorLab-leak vs zoonotic origins of SARS-Cov-2Crony CapitalismChinese Communist Party - The Great FirewallElizabeth Warren Call on Facebook to Stop the Deliberate Spread of DisinformationFrances HaugenThe Hypocrisy of The Social DilemmaTristan HarrisCambridge Analytica ControversySensemaking in the Era of Authoritarian Media by Max BordersHot to make your iphone black & whiteLess WrongRationality: What It Is, Why It Seems Scarce, Why It Matters by Steven PinkerSequences by Eliezar YudkowskyCritical thinkingThe dubious rise of ivermectin as a Covid-19 treatment, explained by Kelsey PiperBayesian inferenceThe Constitution of Knowledge: A Defense of Truth by Jonathan RauchCGP GreyKurzgezagtPrediction MarketDistributed ledger & blockchainFalsifiabilityOpen Science
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    1 hr and 44 mins
  • The Promise and Peril of Artificial Intelligence

    The Promise and Peril of Artificial Intelligence
    Dec 17 2021
    From Skynet to Singularitarian fantasy, AI is back in vogue with much hype and hand-wringing. Mainstream media don’t really know how to talk about it in a way that brings as much light as heat. In fact, even AI researchers have difficulty unpacking concepts like, well, intelligence. Philosophers stand by with critical eyes. Michael and Max talk about the stickier issues as they try to find footing in a fog of mystery and misinformation. What is cognition? What are morals? Are we recreating conscious minds or just spinning out more sophisticated algorithms? Such questions linger as the industry speeds along, whether or not we have ready answers. Conversations like this help us burn the proverbial candle at both ends. Artificial IntelligenceIntelligenceBoston Dynamics dog SpotA Collection of Definitions of Intelligence by Marcus Hutter and Shane LeggMetalhead episode of Black Mirror with killer robot dogsInstrumental RationalityIntelligence Quotient and g factor the psychometric of general human intelligenceMultiple Intelligences and developmental psychologist, Howard GardnerTechnological SingularityThe Age of Spiritual Machines and The Singularity is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology by Ray KurzweilExponential growthSymposium: 'Will Spiritual Robots Replace Humanity?' on April 1st, 2000Why the Future Doesn’t Need Us by Bill JoyGPT-3 an AI text generatorMoore’s lawMoore’s Law is not dead and AI is ready to explodeIJ “Jack” Good and the Intelligence Explosion FAQAlphaGo project from DeepMind at GoogleLee SedolAlphaZero project from Deepmind Thomas Thwaites: How I built a toaster - from scratchI, Pencil by Leonard Read2001 A Space OdysseyTerminatorDystopia“We are as gods and might as well get good at it.” — Stewart BrandStuart J. RussellThe myth of King Midas and the curse of his Golden TouchThe Sorcerer’s ApprenticePaperclip MaximizerSuperintelligenceSuperintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies by Nick BostromDescartes Errror and The Feeling of What Happens and the somatic marker hypothesis from Antonio DamasioThe Elephant and the Rider from Jonathan HaidtDual process theory — System 1 & System 2The prefrontal cortexReinforcement learningSkinner boxPlaying Atari with Deep Reinforcement LearningNeocortexCortical columnHow to Create a Mind by Ray KurzweilOn Intelligence: How a New Understanding of the Brain will Lead to the Creation of Truly Intelligent Machines by Jeff HawkinsPredictive model of the brainB. F. Skinner and behaviorismNoam Chomsky and the cognitive revolutionNeural networksMachine learningWriting Successful Reward FunctionsSearch engineImage classifierHomeostasisInstrumental Convergence, the orthogonality thesis, and the superintelligent willExternalitiesThe Chinese Room Argument from John SearleOracle AIDeep LearningArtificial general intelligenceAI safety conference in Puerto RicoTristan HarrisIason Gabriel on Foundational Philosophical Questions in AI Alignment with Future of Life InstituteMorality, ethics, and meta-ethicsMoral anti-realismJustice as Fairness by John RawlsAI Alignment Problem, aka, the Control ProblemEthics of technology“We shape our tools and our thereafter our tools shape us”Daniel SchmactenbergerLaws of RoboticsFriendly AIHuman Compatible: Artificial Intelligence and the Problem of Control by Stuart J. RussellAsliomar AI PrinciplesComplexityDarwin MachineUniversal DarwinismThe Alignment Problem: Machine Learning and Human Values by Brian ChristianMoral ConstructivismBlockchainDecentralizationCode is Law by Lawrence LessigNudge theory from Richard Thaler and Cass SunsteinSpiral DynamicsJohn Nash and game theorDavid Gauthier and social contract theory of moralityAhimsaThe Golden RuleJohn Stuart MillNo-harm principleCategorical imperative from Immanuel KantNegative UtilitarianismCommunicative rationality from Jürgen HabermasHippocratic oathMutually assured destructionWarrior monkNon-attachmentDesireBiofeedbackSocial realityNetwork effectBrain-computer interfaceAgent-based models and simulationsWhy deep-learning AIs are so easy to foolMoravec’s Paradox aka “the hard things are easy and the easy things are hard”Adversarial machine learningDeduction vs. Induction vs. AbductionAI Winter & hype-cycleCommon SenseCreativityAnalogy and Analogical ReasoningInference to the best explanation aka abductive inference aka hypothesis generationCognitive scienceCompetitive vs. Complementary Cognitive Artifacts
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    2 hrs and 7 mins
  • Psychedelics, Higher States, and Personal Reflections

    Psychedelics, Higher States, and Personal Reflections
    Oct 8 2021

    Higher states of consciousness, whether through psychedelics or meditative practice, straddle the cognitive and the sacred. As we enter a “psychedelic renaissance,” we must do so not in a bacchanalian frenzy, but with respect and discernment. Michael and Max explore their personal experiences as well as the value of higher states in both personal transformation and contemporary life. Removing taboos around psychedelic substances, which are still illegal in most jurisdictions, starts with frank discussions around risks, benefits, and the need for wisdom.

    • Psychedelics
    • Entheogen
    • Ego death
    • Set and Setting
    • Psychological Shadow
    • Varieties of Religious Experience by William James
    • Vedanta
    • Ahimsa
    • The Immortality Key by Brian C. Muraresku
    • Doors of Perception by Aldous Huxley
    • How to Change Your Mind by Michael Pollan
    • The Psychedelic Renaissance
    • Appolonian and Dionysian
    • Eleusinian Mysteries
    • Phenomenology
    • The Omega Point and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
    • Terrence McKenna Omega Point
    • Where do ideas come from? with Alan Moore
    • Imagination and Hypothesis generation
    • Adult Development
    • Second Tier
    • Mystical Experiences
    • Nondualism
    • Model of hierarchical complexity
    • Is stage theory BS? - Nora Bateson
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    1 hr and 38 mins
  • Mysteries of the Mental and Material

    Mysteries of the Mental and Material
    Sep 18 2021
    Consciousness is a central feature of our humanity, yet consciousness is a mystery. Conscious experience comprises every aspect of our waking lives, yet we have a hard time explaining its nature. We know that our brains and bodies are made up of energy and matter. We also know that if we get a big bonk on the head, we can disturb the energy and matter in such a way as to LOSE consciousness. So what is the nature of the relationship between mental properties (such as itchy feeling) and physical properties (such as firing neurons)? For millennia, humans have been trying to bridge this ‘explanatory gap.’ And as we enter the age of AI, questions about the nature of consciousness will become more relevant as we create artificial beings who will think and feel like us.  Artificial IntelligenceSentienceBishop Berkeley (Idealism)The Technological SingularityPhenomenal ConsciousnessQualiaAnimal ConsciousnessReductionismPhysicalismSubjective/Objective DistinctionEpistemologyMental PropertiesGritsCausal completeness/closureThe Explanatory Gap“What it is Like to be a Bat?"” Cartesian TheaterNanotechnologyPenrose MicrotubulesCartesian Dualism Eliminativism Paul and Patricia ChurchlandConsciousness Explained by Daniel DennetConscious by Annaka HarrisThe Conscious Mind by David ChalmersFolk PsychologyCausal OverdeterminationEmergentismPanpsychismI Am a Strange Loop by Douglas HofstadterWhat is it like to be a Thermostat?Multiple Drafts TheoryRecursionFractalsfMRIsComplexity and ConsciousnessSubstrate IndependenceEmulationEms (Emulation) - The Age of Em by Robin HansonAgnosticismConscious UniversePanpsychism Redux (Porcelli’s Page!)The Tao of Physics by Fritjof CapraWilber’s Quantum QuestionsDancing Wu Li MastersInterdependent Co-arising (Pratītyasamutpāda)Indra’s NetVedantaMythopoetic ThoughtPhenomenologyMeditationEdmund HusserlNaturalismPsychonauticsPhysicalismParadigm Shift and Thomas KuhnIneffabilityEpistemic Status of Unobservable Entities
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    2 hrs and 9 mins
  • The Greatest Innovation Since the Printing Press

    The Greatest Innovation Since the Printing Press
    Aug 7 2021
    The greatest innovation since the printing press is here. The trouble is, it’s a threat to the old Westphalian order: digital ledger technologies (DLTs), like bitcoin: aka “crypto.” The supplicants of the old order have a lot at stake in the status quo, so a war is coming. Michael and Max spend this episode talking about the idea of crypto as money, going back through a little bit of history, then rocketing back to the future to discuss the implications for humanity. To what extent can we disintermediate using crypto? To what extent will humanity be able to create cloud governance that challenges the old order? Nobody knows, but it’s important to speculate. Indeed, we must set out a vision of possibilities for crypto, because there is so much promise in this evolving ecosystem.  CryptocurrencyDistributed Ledger TechnologyBitcoinEthereumBlockchainDistributed Application (DApp)Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace by Lawrence LessigThe Crypto Anarchist Manifesto (1988)by Timothy MayA Cypherpunk’s Manifesto (1993) by Eric HughesDavid ChaumNick SzaboWei DaiHal FinneyCypherpunkFreedom of AssociationCommon LawCode of JustinianDigiCash, ECash, BitGold Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System by Satoshi NakamotoFiat MoneyReserve CurrencyCentral BankNeolithic RevolutionMoneychangersJames C. ScottTemple / Palace EconomyUsury Medieval Antisemitism Leviathan by Thomas HobbesMiddleman or IntermediaryInterestInvestment BankingFinancial Crisis of 2007-2008Occupy Wall StreetMoneySubjective Theory of ValuePrice MechanismGoldbuggeryBitcoin MaximalismCryptographyMiracle of WörglVelocity of MoneyJohn Maynard KeynesTime Banking, Local Exchange Trading System, Mutual CreditSacred Economics by Charles EisensteinBancorLudwig von MisesFriederich HayekBretton Woods Conference and SystemPeter ZeihanVirtual currenciesDeficit spendingStanding armyInflationInflation hedgeThe Big Short by Michael LewisCooperativeNetwork effectMetcalfe’s LawHyperinflationFOMOVisiCalcTechnology adoption lifecycleInstitutional investorCoinbaseRegulatory captureCartelizationSecurities and Exchange CommissionHow we Become the Social Safety Net by Max BordersMutual societiesWelfare stateTrustless systemArt Brock and Holochain Open access networkConsensus mechanismTezosOn-chain governanceButterfly effectReal estateRivalry in EconomicsPlutocracyOligopolyHobbesian trapBureaucracyDemocracyFeedback loopCrypto anarchismThe Vanguard GroupCredit UnionPolyarchyPanarchyPolycentric law
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    1 hr and 49 mins
  • Sensemaking in the Hall of Mirrors

    Sensemaking in the Hall of Mirrors
    Jul 10 2021

    Billions of people worldwide are trying to track the truth. And yet we are living in a hall of mirrors. Whether it’s admonitions to “trust the experts” or headlines that read “Science says…” it’s too easy to forget that human beings have epistemic limits. We are all trapped in our subjective selves. We come with biases. And in our search for truth we sometimes have to appeal to authorities who are just as human as we are. In this brave new world of narrative warfare, we must reckon with the fact that tracking the truth (nevermind arriving at collective intelligence) is a tough, dirty business. In this episode, we seek the wisdom to know our limitations and the courage to track the truth despite them.
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    2 hrs and 10 mins
  • Human Development and Spiral Dynamics

    Human Development and Spiral Dynamics
    Jun 25 2021
    We are evolved beings. In fact, we’re more or less the same species we were 100,000 years ago. Yet, as individuals, we continue to develop until we die—as individuals and as cultural groups. Theories of adult development such as those proposed by Abraham Maslow, Lawrence Kohlberg, and Clare Graves are making a comeback. In this episode of Social Evolution, Michael and Max talk about the delicate interplay of nature and nurture. Then they discuss Spiral Dynamics, a popular “theory of everything,” which weaves together a number of threads in “bio-psycho-social” development.  Biological EvolutionDarwinismFitness landscapeLimits to cognitionLong tail of excellence Evolved Cuteness: Dan DennettNeuroplasticityOutliersEgalitarianism10,000 hoursAdult Developmental PsychologyNabokov’s LolitaLanguage Acquisition and AgeSpiral DynamicsClaire GravesBeck and CowenDunbar’s NumberAnimismMagical Thinking“They worshipped strength, because it is strength that makes all other values possible.”DaimyoHobbes’s LeviathanJames C. Scott: The state as protection racketAgainst the GrainDutyHierarchyGreat Chain of BeingMagna CartaGalileoBaconian MethodologyFrom Mercantilism to MarketsJean-Jacques RousseauCounter Enlightenment & Romanticism“Everybody get together try to love one another right now”HippiesThe SixtiesConsensusCultural relativismPostmodernismCritical theoryKen WilberJürgen HabermasCharles DickensDas Kapital - Karl MarxTrust Busting & Progressive EraChildhood labor lawsHoward Zinn’s A People’s History of the United StatesFrankfurt School - Max Horkheimer, Max WeberSpeak truth to powerCulture warNoble SavageTraditionalismIslamismShariaCatholic IntegrismTed KaczynskiTree StructureEvolution before DarwinTree of LifeStephen Jay GouldLawrence Kohlberg Robert KeganCognitive complexityEither/or fallacy and All-or-nothing thinkingCognitive biasComplex SystemsMultifactorial causation of behaviorBayesian epistemologyBlack swan theory and Nassim TalebUnknown UnknownsIntegral TheoryEmergenceEpistemic humilitySecond Tier ThinkingHolonicApotheosizeCultural Evolution & Sociocultural EvolutionComparative religionAnimal domestication & selective breeding & coevolutionBird and crocodile & cleaning symbiosis Self-domesticationTranshumanism, genetic engineering, & CRISPRJames Mark BaldwinBaldwin effectCognitive StratificationThe Flynn EffectDaniel Kish, “bat boy” & human echolocationBiofeedbackAccelerated learningElysiumThe Time Machine by H.G. WellsMetamodernismGautama BuddhaThomas AquinasGottfried LeibnizEmily DickensonEnneagram of Personality
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    2 hrs and 7 mins