The Elephant in the Brain, Ems & LLMs with Robin Hanson
A podcast on status, signalling, AI, prediction markets and more
My latest podcast episode is with
from Overcoming Bias and author of The Elephant in the Brain and The Age of Em.Listen to the full episode on Spotify, Apple, Pocket Casts or YouTube. YouTube videos coming soon.
Podcast Overview
The Core Thesis of The Elephant in the Brain - We are often wrong about our own motivations for our social behaviors, and many puzzles in social science become clearer when we consider a wider range of motives beyond the ones people state.
Case Study: Medicine Isn't About Health - The controversial claim that the primary function of medicine is not health, but signaling care and loyalty.
Signaling, Status, and the "Press Secretary" Mind - Hanson estimates that "well over half" of human behavior is driven by signaling and status concerns.
Exploring the Limits of Signaling - Actions we do when alone that are not socially impressive, and a discussion of basic needs such as food, and Distal vs. Proximal Explanations.
What Should We Do About Our Hidden Motives - Perhaps most people are better off not knowing about their hidden motives, but some people have a duty to be aware of them.
Prediction Markets: An Institution for Rationality - Prediction markets create financial incentives to be accurate, overriding social desirability biases.
AI, Signaling, and the Future of Work - As AI makes certain skills easy; humans shift to valuing new skills that are still difficult to master.
AI Risk - AI risk is often viewed from a "far view" of abstract fears. As people get a "near view" from interacting with current AI, these fears seem less pressing.
How AI is Changing Research and Culture - Hanson uses Large Language Models as a research assistant to quickly learn about new fields, allowing him to focus on high-level integration.