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Romina Boccia https://www.cato.org/people/romina-boccia is the director of budget and entitlement policy at the Cato Institute, where she writes about government spending, the debt problem, and entitlement reform. She also has a Substack called the that you can subscribe to here. https://debtdispatch.substack.com/ Romina joins the podcast to discuss available paths to deal with the coming entitlement crisis. One potential way to get politicians out of making tough choices is to create a debt commission that takes responsibility for unpopular reforms. Romina has written about https://www.cato.org/blog/designing-brac-fiscal-commission-stabilize-debt using the model of the BRAC commission, which was relied on to close down military bases at the end of the Cold War. The conversation also touches on the politics of debt, how policymakers are thinking about these issues, Paul Ryan as an unappreciated hero of our time, and much more. Near the end, Romina reflects on her career as a DC policy-wonk, and why she is motivated to help ensure that America continues to be the land of opportunity. If we don’t get entitlements under control, it could potentially degrade our entire way of life. For more discussion on this topic and the difficult choices our leaders will soon be facing, see the previous CSPI podcast with Brian Riedl. https://www.cspicenter.com/p/heading-towards-the-fiscal-cliff Listen to the podcast with Romina here or watch the video on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ws2hdttXl3U Get full access to Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology at www.cspicenter.com/subscribe https://www.cspicenter.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4
Brian Chau writes and hosts a podcast at the From the New World https://www.fromthenew.world/ Substack, and recently established a new think tank, the Alliance for the Future. https://www.fromthenew.world/p/the-alliance-for-the-future-manifesto He joins the podcast to discuss why he’s not worried about the alignment problem, where he disagrees with “doomers,” the accomplishments of ChatGPT versus DALL-E, the dangers of regulating AI until progress comes to a halt in the way it did with nuclear power, and more. With his background in computer science, Brian takes issue with many of those who write on this topic, arguing that they think in terms of flawed analogies and know little about the underlying technology. The conversation touches on a previous CSPI discussion https://www.cspicenter.com/p/ai-alignment-as-a-solvable-problem with Leopold Aschenbrenner, and the value of continuing to work on alignment. Brian’s view is that AI doomers are making people needlessly pessimistic. He believes that this technology has the potential to do great things for humanity, particularly when it comes to areas like software development and biotech. But the post-World War II era has seen many examples of government hindering progress, and AFF is dedicated to stopping that from happening with artificial intelligence. Listen to the conversation here, or watch the video here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpBQDmf-wro LINKS Donate to AFF https://www.affuture.org/donate/ AFF manifesto https://www.affuture.org/manifesto/ Brian on diminishing returns to machine learning https://www.fromthenew.world/p/diminishing-returns-in-machine-learning, and discussing AI with Marc Andreessen https://www.fromthenew.world/p/marc-andreesen-the-time-to-fight Vaswani et al. on transformers https://arxiv.org/abs/1706.03762 Limits of current machine learning techniques https://x.com/ylecun/status/1767681700421677445?s=20 Get full access to Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology at www.cspicenter.com/subscribe https://www.cspicenter.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4
Andrew Roberts (website https://www.andrew-roberts.net, follow on X https://twitter.com/aroberts_andrew) is a historian, Visiting Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, and a member of the House of Lords. He joins the podcast to talk about his . The conversation begins with a discussion of different counterfactuals regarding ways in which Napoleon might have been able to stay in power, which leads to Roberts explaining his view that the wars of the era could be understood at least in part as resulting from a rejection of free trade. Other topics include: * Meritocracy as a guiding principle of the French Revolution and a justification for Napoleon’s regime * Napoleon’s personal magnetism and why men were willing to follow him * The relationship with Josephine, and whether or not it influenced any of his political decision * Whether Napoleon was in fact the greatest general of his time See also Hanania’s audio review https://www.richardhanania.com/p/review-of-napoleon-2023 of the Ridley Scott film, and Roberts’ reviews in and For an edited transcript of this conversation, see here. https://www.richardhanania.com/p/did-mercantilism-cause-the-napoleonic Get full access to Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology at www.cspicenter.com/subscribe https://www.cspicenter.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4
Brian Riedl is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, focusing on budget, tax, and economic policy. His previous jobs include chief economist to Senator Rob Portman (R-OH), and positions on the Marco Rubio and Mitt Romney presidential campaigns. He joins the podcast to talk about the financial future of the United States, with a special focus on entitlements. Medicare is projected to run out by 2031, and Social Security only two years later. Because of politicians kicking the can down the road for so long, this will mean that the federal government will at that point have to either implement massive benefit cuts for seniors or significantly raise taxes across the board. Brian talks about his experience in Washington, the history of negotiations over the debt, and what politicians say when you bring up these facts. We appear to be in an undesirable equilibrium, where everyone’s incentive is to ignore the issues involved, while the status quo is leading us towards disaster. Despite liberals wanting to tax the rich and conservatives calling for a cut to foreign aid and non-entitlement forms of domestic spending, the numbers for such proposals don’t add up. We will either get entitlement spending under control, or become taxed at the level of Europeans. In one important way, we will actually be worse off than Europe, because their welfare states pay for services and benefits that go to families across a wide section of the population. We are potentially building a US welfare state that will have high taxes primarily to funnel money to the elderly. The fact that older Americans are richer than those who will be supporting them makes the future we are moving towards even more absurd. LINKS Brian Riedl: chart book on spending https://manhattan.institute/article/2023-chart-book-examines-spending-taxes-and-deficits, report on the limits of taxing the rich https://manhattan.institute/article/the-limits-of-taxing-the-rich, CNN op-ed https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/29/opinions/federal-debt-interest-rates-riedl/index.html on interest rates, op-ed https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/27/opinion/letters/social-security-medicare.html on Biden’s promises on entitlements Brian’s X page https://twitter.com/Brian_Riedl?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor, Manhattan Institute website https://manhattan.institute/person/brian-riedl Get full access to Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology at www.cspicenter.com/subscribe https://www.cspicenter.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4
Niklas Anzinger https://twitter.com/NiklasAnzinger is the founder and General Partner of Infinita https://infinitavc.com/, the first Próspera-based VC fund, which invests in founders overcoming regulatory capture in crypto, biotech and hardware through network states and startup cities. He’s also one of the 100 or so residents of Próspera. This was quite an optimistic conversation. The title of the podcast comes from the last thing Niklas said, which was that you don’t actually need attention or to talk about grand projects, but just to show the world what you can do. Niklas is part of the charter city movement, which seeks to build hubs of innovation and progress while bringing the rule of law and economic development to poorer regions of the world. In this eventful conversation, Richard and Niklas touch on * The mechanics of governance in Próspera * Getting around red tape and becoming a hub of medical innovation * Amenities and quality of life in the city * Upcoming conferences and events Despite a new government in Honduras that is hostile to charter cities, Niklas is optimistic that they will be able to continue operating. He and Richard also talk about potential medical breakthroughs that Próspera might help bring about, like bacteria that remove cavities from your mouth, and a currently available gene therapy that may make your muscles and bones stronger. LINKS Niklas on X https://twitter.com/NiklasAnzinger, his Substack https://niklasanzinger.substack.com/?nthPub=2061, RSS for his podcast https://rss.com/podcasts/stranded-technologies-podcast/ The Ultimate Guide to Próspera https://niklasanzinger.substack.com/p/the-ultimate-practical-guide-to-prospera Alex Ugorji on X https://twitter.com/AlexUgorji_ Próspera website https://www.prospera.co/ Ciudad Morazán https://www.morazan.city/es/acerca/ Infinita Manifesto https://niklasanzinger.substack.com/p/infinita-manifesto-10 Scott Alexander on Próspera, Part I https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/prospectus-on-prospera and Part II https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/model-city-monday-62722 Mark Lutter on the CSPI podcast https://www.cspicenter.com/p/12-can-private-cities-help-end-poverty-743#details Marc Andreessen, The Techno-Optimist Manifesto https://pmarca.substack.com/p/the-techno-optimist-manifesto Documentary on medical tourism in Próspera https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNf8hlWgUV8&t=6s; DW report https://www.dw.com/en/prospera-tests-private-city-plan-in-honduras/video-64878145, with appearance from Niklas UPCOMING EVENTS Nov 3-5: Crypto Futurism & Legal Engineering 2023 - A Próspera Builders’ Summit https://lu.ma/crypto_legal2023 Nov 17-19: DeSci & Longevity Biotech 2023 - A Próspera Builders' Summit https://lu.ma/longevity2023 Jan 6-Mar 1: Vitalia - Starting the Frontier City of Life https://lu.ma/vitalia Get full access to Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology at www.cspicenter.com/subscribe https://www.cspicenter.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4
Chris Rufo joins the podcast to talk about his new book, . Rufo begins by talking about his background and his theory of political change. The conversation then shifts to his new book, the strengths of Ron DeSantis as an administrator, and finally what he’s doing on the board of the New College of Florida. Topics include: * Where did all of the crazy ideas that seem to have taken over institutions in the last few years come from? * What took conservatives so long to wake up to the problem? * Did Rufo end up liking the intellectuals he was studying? * What are the connections between left-wing ideas and civil rights law? * How do conservatives reach “good liberals” within institutions? See the transcript of the conversation at the Richard Hanania Newsletter. https://www.richardhanania.com/p/propaganda-spectacle-and-the-joy Listen in podcast form or watch the conversation on YouTube https://youtu.be/Kb5_BSLc_9U. LINKS: * Richard Hanania, The DeSantis Revolution https://www.richardhanania.com/p/the-desantis-revolution * Politico profile https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/03/24/chris-rufo-desantis-anti-woke-00088578 on the relationship between Rufo and DeSantis * Rufo,. * Rufo video https://rufo.substack.com/p/the-transgender-empire on the trans movement and “nullification” surgery, discusses his theory of political change * Hanania, (forthcoming book) * Robert Rector on black-white gaps https://www.heritage.org/welfare/report/understanding-differences-black-and-white-child-poverty-rates * giving Rufo his due https://archive.is/B07Pl Get full access to Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology at www.cspicenter.com/subscribe https://www.cspicenter.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4
In the popular imagination, the AI alignment debate is between those who say everything is hopeless, and others who tell us there is nothing to worry about. Leopold Aschenbrenner graduated valedictorian from Columbia in 2021 when he was 19 years old. He is currently a research affiliate at the Global Priorities Institute at Oxford, and previously helped run Future Fund, which works on philanthropy in AI and biosecurity. He contends that, contrary to popular perceptions, there aren’t that many people working on the alignment issue. Not only that, but he argues https://www.forourposterity.com/nobodys-on-the-ball-on-agi-alignment/ that the problem is actually solvable. In this podcast, he discusses what he believes some of the most promising paths forward are. Even if there is only a small probability that AI is dangerous, a small chance of existential risk is something to take seriously. AI is not all potential downsides. Near the end, the discussion turns to the possibility that it may supercharge a new era of economic growth. Aschebrenner and Hanania discuss fundamental questions of how well GDP numbers still capture what we want to measure, the possibility that regulation strangles AI to death, and whether the changes we see in the coming decades will be on the same scale as the internet or more important. Listen in podcast form here, or watch on YouTube https://youtu.be/WaLh1EhjKUE. LINKS: * Leopold Aschenbrenner, “Nobody’s on the Ball on AGI Alignment https://www.forourposterity.com/nobodys-on-the-ball-on-agi-alignment/.” * Collin Burns, Haotian Ye, Dan Klein, and Jacob Steinhardt, “Discovering Latent Knowledge in Language Models Without Supervision https://arxiv.org/abs/2212.03827.” * Kevin Meng, David Bau, Alex Andonian, and Yonatan Belinkov, “Locating and Editing Factual Associations in GPT https://rome.baulab.info.” * Leopold’s Tweets: * Using GPT4 to interpret GPT2 https://twitter.com/leopoldasch/status/1656056091434971138. * What a model says is not necessarily what’s it’s“thinking” internally. https://twitter.com/leopoldasch/status/1656072329418674178 Get full access to Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology at www.cspicenter.com/subscribe https://www.cspicenter.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4
Bryan Caplan joins the podcast to talk about his new book, . Bryan begins by explaining why he hates politics. Much of the conversation then centers around Caplan’s simplistic theory of the right and left. This is compared and contrasted with Scott Alexander’s thrive/survive theory https://slatestarcodex.com/2013/03/04/a-thrivesurvive-theory-of-the-political-spectrum/ of the political spectrum, Robin Hanson’s theory of farmers and foragers https://www.overcomingbias.com/p/forager-vs-farmer-moralityhtml, and Hanania’s “Liberals Read, Conservatives Watch TV.” https://www.richardhanania.com/p/liberals-read-conservatives-watch Near the end, the discussion turns to the political climate at GMU, and whether the intellectual community that has been built can survive the trend towards DEI. Caplan emphasizes that he has noticed a difference since Glenn Youngkin came to power in Virginia, showing that politics actually matters for determining the future of free speech and intellectual freedom. For previous Bryan appearances on the podcast, see: May 2021 https://www.cspicenter.com/p/9-too-much-education-and-too-few-338?utm_source=%2Fsearch%2Fcaplan&utm_medium=reader2#details, September 2022 https://www.cspicenter.com/p/thinking-about-social-justice-like?utm_source=%2Fsearch%2Fcaplan&utm_medium=reader2#details, and May 2022 https://www.cspicenter.com/p/37-social-desirability-as-the-enemy-79e?utm_source=%2Fsearch%2Fcaplan&utm_medium=reader2#details. Listen in podcast form or watch on YouTube https://youtu.be/yBgrK9dqDsQ. Get full access to Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology at www.cspicenter.com/subscribe https://www.cspicenter.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4
This week we’re rereleasing a previous episode with Marc Andreessen, originally released on August 16, 2021. He is co-founder and general partner of Andreessen Horowitz. Earlier in life, he was the co-founder of Opsware, Ning, and Netscape. Marc joins the podcast to talk about what’s gone wrong with science, the prerequisites for progress, and how tech has changed our lives and has the potential to disrupt stagnant institutions. Topics also include how the internet has influenced dating, what venture capitalists actually do, and whether there is too much – or too little – money in politics. For a transcript of the conversation, see here. https://richardhanania.substack.com/p/flying-x-wings-into-the-death-star?utm_source=%2Fsearch%2Fandreessen&utm_medium=reader2 Get full access to Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology at www.cspicenter.com/subscribe https://www.cspicenter.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4
Robin Hanson joins the podcast to talk about the AI debate. He explains his reasons for being skeptical about “foom,” or the idea that there will emerge a sudden superintelligence that will be able to improve itself quickly and potentially destroy humanity in the service of its goals. Among his arguments are: * We should start with a very low prior about something like this happening, given the history of the world. We already have “superintelligences” in the form of firms, for example, and they only improve slowly and incrementally * There are different levels of abstraction with regards to intelligence and knowledge. A machine that can reason very fast may not have the specific knowledge necessary to know how to do important things. * We may be erring in thinking of intelligence as a general quality, rather than as more domain-specific. Hanania presents various arguments made by AI doomers, and Hanson responds to each in kind, eventually giving a less than 1% chance that something like the scenario imagined by Eliezer Yudkowsky and others will come to pass. He also discusses why he thinks it is a waste of time to worry about the control problem before we know what any supposed superintelligence will even look like. The conversation includes a discussion about why so many smart people seem drawn to AI doomerism, and why you shouldn’t worry all that much about the principal-agent problem in this area. Listen in podcast form or watch on YouTube https://youtu.be/U1RZknHchi0. You can also read a transcript of the conversation here. https://richardhanania.substack.com/p/robin-hanson-says-youre-going-to Links: * * Previous Hanson appearance on CSPI podcast, audio https://www.cspicenter.com/p/18-how-to-get-better-elites-robin-4cb#details and transcript https://richardhanania.substack.com/p/futarchy-robin-hanson-on-how-prediction * Eric Drexler, * Eric Drexler, * Robin Hanson, “Explain the Sacred” https://www.overcomingbias.com/p/explain-the-sacredhtml * Robin Hanson, “We See the Sacred from Afar, to See It the Same.” http://mason.gmu.edu/~rhanson/SacredAfar.pdf * Articles by Robin on AI alignment: * “Prefer Law to Values” https://www.overcomingbias.com/p/prefer-law-to-valueshtml (October 10, 2009) * “The Betterness Explosion” https://www.overcomingbias.com/p/the-betterness-explosionhtml (June 21, 2011) * “Foom Debate, Again” https://www.overcomingbias.com/p/foom-debate-againhtml (February 8, 2013) * “How Lumpy AI Services?” https://www.overcomingbias.com/p/how-lumpy-ai-serviceshtml (February 14, 2019) * “Agency Failure AI Apocalypse?” https://www.overcomingbias.com/p/agency-failure-ai-apocalypsehtml (April 10, 2019) * “Foom Update” https://www.overcomingbias.com/p/foom-updatehtml (May 6, 2022) * “Why Not Wait?” https://www.overcomingbias.com/p/why-not-wait-on-ai-riskhtml (June 30, 2022) Get full access to Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology at www.cspicenter.com/subscribe https://www.cspicenter.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4
Nicholas Bagley is a professor of law at the University of Michigan, former Chief Legal Counsel to Governor Gretchen Whitmer, and a former attorney in the US Department of Justice. He joins the podcast to talk about his article, “The Procedure Fetish,” https://repository.law.umich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4492&context=mlr in which he calls for liberals to embrace reforms to make federal government agencies less sclerotic and more capable of addressing social problems. Richard presents Bagley with questions surrounding issues such as why we should trust government agencies with more power, the role of cost-benefit analysis, the performance of the FDA during Covid-19, and civil service reform, including President Trump’s executive order that would have made it easier to fire more officials. The two discuss whether there can be a synthesis between the right and left on major issues surrounding government regulation. Listen to the podcast here, or watch on YouTube https://youtu.be/EnKcYz0C-iY. LINKS: * Nicholas Bagley, “The Procedure Fetish” https://repository.law.umich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4492&context=mlr * Bagley on The Ezra Klein Show https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/07/podcasts/ezra-klein-show-transcript-nicholas-bagley.html * Bagley on Twitter https://twitter.com/nicholas_bagley * Michael Lewis, * Matt Yglesias on Operation Warp Speed https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2023-02-05/trump-and-desantis-are-disowning-a-big-republican-success-story and the blowback to it * Cass Sunstein on the role of OIRA https://harvardlawreview.org/2013/05/the-office-of-information-and-regulatory-affairs-myths-and-realities/ * Derek Thompson, “The Abundance Agenda” https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/01/scarcity-crisis-college-housing-health-care/621221/ Get full access to Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology at www.cspicenter.com/subscribe https://www.cspicenter.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4
Tim Miller is a former political operative who has worked for Jeb Bush and John Huntsman, and is currently a writer for The Bulwark and an MSNBC analyst. He joins the podcast to talk about his political memoir, . With a former insider’s perspective, Miller discusses * Where the Republican Party went wrong * The importance of character in politics * Mistakes made by Clinton and George W. Bush that led us to this point * To what extent right-wing populists have legitimate grievances * The effect of the changing media environment on our fractious politics * Why only Chris Christie could have derailed Trump in 2016 * Whether, to stop Trump, other candidates should get out of the way and support DeSantis The discussion closes on whether there are reasons to be hopeful about the future of the Republican Party. Listen here or watch the video on YouTube https://youtu.be/vRjvrmnWS40. Get full access to Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology at www.cspicenter.com/subscribe https://www.cspicenter.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4
Jobst Landgrebe is a German scientist and entrepreneur. He began his career as a Fellow at the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, then moved on to become a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Göttingen, working in cell biology and biomathematics. In April 2013, he founded Cognotekt, an AI based language technology company. Barry Smith is Professor of Philosophy at the University at Buffalo, with joint appointments in the Departments of Biomedical Informatics, Neurology, and Computer Science and Engineering. He is also Director of the National Center for Ontological Research and Visiting Professor in the Università della Svizzera italiana (USI) in Lugano, Switzerland. Landgrebe and Smith join the podcast to talk about their book . As the title indicates, the authors are skeptical towards claims made by Nick Bostrom, Elon Musk, and others about a coming superintelligence that will be able to dominate humanity. Landgrebe and Smith do not only think that such an outcome is beyond our current levels of technology, but that it is for all practical purposes impossible. Among the topics discussed are * The limits of mathematical modeling * The relevance of chaos theory * Our tendency to overestimate human intelligence and underestimate the power of evolution * Why the authors don’t believe that the achievements of Deep Mind, DALL-E, and ChatGPT indicate that general intelligence is imminent * Where Langrebe and Smith think that believers in the Singularity go wrong. Listen in podcast form or watch on YouTube https://youtu.be/wwVQQHoORg4. LINKS: * The Feynman Lectures on Physics https://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/ * Landgrebe on Galactica https://cognotekt.com/en/natural-language-processing-nlp-metas-galactica-and-other-epic-fails and ChatGPT https://cognotekt.com/en/natural-language-processing-nlp-where-to-use-it-productively. * Rodney Brooks, “Intelligence without Representation https://people.csail.mit.edu/brooks/papers/representation.pdf.” * Nick Bostrom, Get full access to Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology at www.cspicenter.com/subscribe https://www.cspicenter.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4
Joe Henrich is the Ruth Moore Professor of Biological Anthropology and Professor of Human Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University. He is the author of , s, and . He joins the podcast to talk about his work. Topics include: * The implications of Henrich’s theories for the debate over AI alignment * The nature of intelligence * Whether genetic differences between populations explain societal outcomes * If the Ancient Greeks and Romans were already WEIRD * How to understand the group selection debate * Why Islamic familial practices may have stunted economic development and growth * The political and ideological reaction to his last book Listen in podcast form or watch on YouTube https://youtu.be/3k-FAgdpxEo. A transcript of the podcast can be found at the Richard Hanania newsletter. https://richardhanania.substack.com/p/understanding-western-exceptionalism LINKS: * Joe Henrich, “The WEIRDest People in the World https://www.amazon.com/WEIRDest-People-World-Psychologically-Particularly-ebook/dp/B07RZFCPMD.” * Joe Henrich, “The Secrets of Our Success https://www.amazon.com/Secret-Our-Success-Evolution-Domesticating/dp/0691166854.” * Richard Hanania, “How Monogamy and Incest Taboos Made the West https://richardhanania.substack.com/p/how-monogamy-and-incest-taboos-made.” * David Epstein, “The Sports Gene https://www.amazon.com/Sports-Gene-Extraordinary-Athletic-Performance/dp/161723012X.” * Seth Stephens-Davidowitz, “Don’t Trust Your Gut https://www.amazon.com/Dont-Trust-Your-Gut-Really/dp/0062880918/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3CFVJQK77INPE&keywords=don%27t+trust+your+gut+seth&qid=1649105808&sprefix=don%27t+trust+your+gut%2Caps%2C148&sr=8-1.” * Elizabeth Shim, “North Korea finishes fourth at International Mathematical Olympiad https://www.upi.com/amp/Top_News/World-News/2019/07/22/North-Korea-finishes-fourth-at-International-Mathematical-Olympiad/2051563808996/.” * Minnesota Transracial Adoption Study https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_Transracial_Adoption_Study. * Bryan Caplan, “The Wonder of International Adoption: Adult IQ in Sweden https://www.econlib.org/archives/2017/09/the_wonder_of_i.html.” Get full access to Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology at www.cspicenter.com/subscribe https://www.cspicenter.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4
Garett Jones is a Professor of Economics at George Mason University. He joins the podcast to talk about his new book, . Richard asks whether IQ is superior to other measures used to predict prosperity, and the relationship between Garett’s new book and . He also presses the author on whether there is a selection effect in data showing that people preserve the traits of their original culture over time. The conversation then gets into issues of causal inference, namely whether we should focus more on American history or cross-national trends to inform our understanding of US policy. Richard suggests that while immigration might in some contexts lead to larger government, in the US it is arguably the case that diversity has been a hindrance to the expansion of the welfare state. And how important is trust, actually? It correlates with a lot of good things, but how much is that relationship simply driven by observations from Scandinavia? Garett makes the case for trust having an important causal role. This leads to a discussion of whether trust is simply a proxy for trustworthiness, and whether the latter trait is more important. Garett also explains why Chinese migration could be a key force in lifting the third world out of poverty. Near the end, he discusses what he thinks America would look like after his preferred immigration policy, and what he’s working on next. Listen to the podcast here or watch on YouTube https://youtu.be/uHNgDlsdKeU. LINKS: * Garett Jones on the Institutionalized podcast https://www.manhattan-institute.org/institutionalized-podcast-immigration-with-garett-jones * Previous Jones appearance on the CSPI podcast https://www.cspicenter.com/p/8-do-we-have-too-much-democracy-garett-84c#details * Alex Nowrasteh, critiques of , Part 1 https://anowrasteh.substack.com/p/review-of-the-culture-transplant and Part 2 https://anowrasteh.substack.com/p/review-of-the-culture-transplant-184 * Bryan Caplan review https://reason.com/2023/01/01/the-case-for-50-percent-open-borders-2/ Get full access to Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology at www.cspicenter.com/subscribe https://www.cspicenter.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4
Alexander Young is a researcher at the UCLA Anderson School of Management Genomics Department and School of Medicine’s Human Genetics Department, working with the Social Science Genetic Association Consortium https://www.thessgac.org/ (SSGAC). He studies the genetics of cognitive ability and educational attainment, with a particular focus on developing methods to uncover true measures of heritability for important traits. Richard and Alexander talk about why siblings are so useful for this purpose, in the midst of a larger overview of the history of behavioral genetics and modern methods. Twin and adoption studies show much higher levels of heritability than genome wide association studies (GWAS). Why might this be the case? Different theories are discussed, along with ways to solve seeming discrepancies. The conversation goes on to cover the societal relevance of Alexander’s work, and attempts to isolate research on genes and cognitive ability within the academy. Listen in podcast form or watch on YouTube https://youtu.be/qeTSmMOm7CM: LINKS: * Alexander’s Twitter Account. https://twitter.com/AlexTISYoung * Alexander Young, “Solving the Missing Heritability Problem.” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6611648/#:~:text=The%20deepest%20solution%20to%20the,much%20trait%20variation%20they%20explain. * Alexander Young and co-authors, “Deconstructing the Sources of Genotype-Phenotype Associations in Humans.” https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aax3710 * James Lee, “Don’t Even Go There.” https://www.city-journal.org/nih-blocks-access-to-genetics-database Get full access to Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology at www.cspicenter.com/subscribe https://www.cspicenter.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4
Aaron Sibarium is a recent graduate of Yale University (2018) and journalist who writes for the . He joins the podcast to discuss his work covering identity politics issues from a conservative perspective, along with his dream of eventually synthesizing his reporting with his own opinion writing. Aaron and Richard share many of the same frustrations with right-wing media and conservative journalism. They discuss the problems of the conservative movement, including it being prone to misinformation, a lack of interest in policy specifics, mindless tribalism, and the role of differences in intelligence between conservatives and liberals who go into activism and reporting. Aaron argues that the Republican Party might be suffering from an excess of democracy through its primary system, which warps the incentive structures politicians face. Listen in podcast form or watch the video on YouTube. https://youtu.be/lHP-Dpv3e0k LINKS: * Richard Hanania, “Liberals Read, Conservatives Watch TV.” https://richardhanania.substack.com/p/liberals-read-conservatives-watch * Richard Hanania, “Conservatism as an Oppositional Culture.” https://richardhanania.substack.com/p/conservatism-as-an-oppositional-culture * Richard Hanania, Tweet on liberal institutions rallying around removing a school dress code in the Third Circuit Court of Appeals https://twitter.com/RichardHanania/status/1536886718439096320. * Aaron Sibarium, “Food and Drug Administration Guidance Drives Racial Rationing of COVID Drugs.” https://freebeacon.com/coronavirus/food-and-drug-administration-drives-racial-rationing-of-covid-drugs/ * Institutionalized Podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/institutionalized/id1616555970 with Aaron Sibarium and Charles Fain Lehman. (Apple) Get full access to Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology at www.cspicenter.com/subscribe https://www.cspicenter.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4
Jonathan Anomaly is the academic director of a new philosophy, politics, and ethics (PPE) program at La Universidad de las Americas in Ecuador, co-hosts the Ideas Sleep Furiously Podcast https://ideassleepfuriously.substack.com/s/isf-podcast, and works in the startup world. He has taught in PPE programs around the US, including at the University of Pennsylvania, Duke, the University of North Carolina, and the University of Arizona. He joins the podcast to talk about his book . Topics covered include different technologies that may be used to change or select personality and cognitive traits, beauty enhancement, and addressing potential collective action problems that may arise from such technology. Listen to the podcast here or watch the video on YouTube https://youtu.be/TuFjc8gfY64. Get full access to Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology at www.cspicenter.com/subscribe https://www.cspicenter.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4
Rob Henderson recently received his PhD in psychology at St. Catharine’s College, Cambridge. Zach Goldberg is a former research fellow at CSPI and currently affiliated with the Manhattan Institute. They both join the podcast to talk about Rob’s idea of “luxury beliefs” and Zach’s new paper https://www.manhattan-institute.org/is-defunding-the-police-a-luxury-belief testing the theory in the context of attitudes towards criminal justice policy. Richard wonders about the extent to which one can say any individual actually suffers the consequences of their political beliefs, since the views of one person rarely change a policy outcome. Later on in the conversation, Richard asks whether the luxury beliefs idea absolves inner city communities of their own shortcomings and serves as a way to put the blame on mostly white elites. Zach and Rob point to polls showing that blacks are more supportive than white liberals of spending money on police, which leads to a discussion of whether we can interpret such data in a different way and would be better served by putting more stock in factors such as how much communities cooperate with law enforcement, how they vote, and the kinds of politicians they support. The host and two guests also debate the extent to which liberal elites have actually pushed harmful ideas onto the masses, and if influential figures could change attitudes and behavior if they actually tried. Listen in podcast form or watch on YouTube https://youtu.be/nQgAdasvoMw. Links: * Zach Goldberg, “Is Defunding the Police a ‘Luxury Belief'? Analyzing White Vs. Non-White Democrats’ Attitudes on Policing https://www.manhattan-institute.org/is-defunding-the-police-a-luxury-belief.” * Rob Henderson, “‘Luxury beliefs’ are the latest status symbol for rich Americans.” https://nypost.com/2019/08/17/luxury-beliefs-are-the-latest-status-symbol-for-rich-americans/ * Rob Henderson, “Thorstein Veblen’s Theory of the Leisure Class—A Status Update.” https://quillette.com/2019/11/16/thorstein-veblens-theory-of-the-leisure-class-a-status-update/ Get full access to Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology at www.cspicenter.com/subscribe https://www.cspicenter.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4
Eric Kaufmann is a distinguished researcher and a fellow at CSPI. He joins the podcast to talk about his latest CSPI report, “Diverse and Divided: A Political Demography of American Elite Students.” https://www.cspicenter.com/p/diverse-and-divided-a-political-demography The data indicates that we can expect a future in which elites continue to be heavily divided by race, religion, sex, and sexual orientation. Richard and Eric discuss what this means for our politics, how conservatives should address identity issues, and what one should be looking for when choosing a university. Listen in podcast form or watch on YouTube https://youtu.be/jUoE3PjeA4E. Links: * Eric Kaufmann, “Diverse and Divided: A Political Demography of American Elite Students. https://www.cspicenter.com/p/diverse-and-divided-a-political-demography” * Eric Kaufmann, “Born This Way? The Rise of LGBT as a Social and Political Identity.” https://www.cspicenter.com/p/born-this-way-the-rise-of-lgbt-as-a-social-and-political-identity * Eric Kaufmann, “Head to Red States for Political Diversity on Campus.” https://unherd.com/thepost/head-to-red-states-for-political-diversity-on-campus/ * Eric Kaufmann, “Polarization Is About to Get a Lot Worse: Students Are Even More Divided Than We Are.” https://www.newsweek.com/polarization-about-get-lot-worse-students-are-even-more-divided-we-are-opinion-1749457 Get full access to Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology at www.cspicenter.com/subscribe https://www.cspicenter.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4
Alex Tabarrok is a professor of economics at George Mason University. He joins the podcast to talk about his involvement in Operation Warp Speed, a uniquely successful federal government project. Richard asks how broadly applicable its lessons are, whether or not we could do something similar for cancer, and why economists and public health officials had such divergent opinions on the need to speed up the process of approving and distributing a vaccine. Alex also discusses the Baumol effect, which he argues can explain much about rising costs in healthcare and education. Richard pushes back on the theory as a sufficient explanation, and asks whether a simple libertarian story better fits the facts, arguing that government support for these industries also plays a major role. They then go on to talk about the rise of crypto, why America is severely under-policed, and how recent years have seen the collapse of challenges to liberal democracy. This podcast was originally released by the Salem Center. https://salemcenter.org/podcast/policy-at-mccombs/ Listen in podcast form or watch on YouTube https://youtu.be/pZ_94LxJ6Ms. Links: * Paul Mango, * Eric Helland and Alex Tabarrok, “Why Are the Prices So Damn High?” https://www.mercatus.org/publications/healthcare/why-are-prices-so-damn-high * “Under policed” tag at Marginal Revolution https://marginalrevolution.com/?s=under+policed. * Richard Hanania, “The Year of Fukuyama.” https://richardhanania.substack.com/p/the-year-of-fukuyama Get full access to Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology at www.cspicenter.com/subscribe https://www.cspicenter.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4
Bryan Caplan joins the podcast to talk about his new book https://www.amazon.com/Dont-Be-Feminist-Genuine-Justice-ebook/dp/B0BD3C8KJM/ref=sr_1_1?crid=LL8254X7LEIF&keywords=Bryan+Caplan+don%27t+be+a+feminist&qid=1662591729&sprefix=bryan+caplan+don%27t+be+a+femin%2Caps%2C175&sr=8-1. https://www.amazon.com/Dont-Be-Feminist-Genuine-Justice-ebook/dp/B0BD3C8KJM/ref=sr_1_1?crid=LL8254X7LEIF&keywords=Bryan+Caplan+don%27t+be+a+feminist&qid=1662591729&sprefix=bryan+caplan+don%27t+be+a+femin%2Caps%2C175&sr=8-1 The lead essay is written as a letter to his daughter in the hopes that she will reject an ideology that is wrong on the facts and psychologically damaging. Richard asks whether Bryan grants too much to feminists in the first place by treating the relevant issue as whether society treats men better than women. The book also contains criticism of the political right’s nationalism and immigration restrictionism. Richard asks about some common objections to open immigration, including increased crime and a lowering of national IQ. They close by talking about Bryan’s foray into stand-up comedy, and some of his other hobbies. Listen in podcast form or watch on YouTube https://youtu.be/_5iPiJXg6NA. Get full access to Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology at www.cspicenter.com/subscribe https://www.cspicenter.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4
Tyler Cowen needs no introduction. He joins the podcast to talk about his new book, co-authored with Daniel Gross, called https://www.amazon.com/Talent-Identify-Energizers-Creatives-Winners/dp/1250275814/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?. Richard asks him about whether intelligence is overrated or underrated, the idea of “State Capacity Libertarianism” https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2020/01/what-libertarianism-has-become-and-will-become-state-capacity-libertarianism.html as an improvement over old-fashioned libertarianism, cultural differences between China and India, how optimistic to be about the future of the United States, different kinds of courage, free speech, and whether the world has too much or too little wokeness. The conversation also covers the feminization of intellectual life, with Tyler being optimistic that we will get better over time at navigating gender-integrated institutions. Richard closes by asking Tyler about how he sees his own role as a public figure. They discuss the Emergent Ventures grant interview for CSPI, and the benefits of asking an interviewee about their own ambition. A lightly edited transcript of the conversation is available here https://richardhanania.substack.com/p/a-conversation-with-tyler?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email. Listen in podcast form or watch the episode on YouTube https://youtu.be/61GJ5lQ_1Ow. Links: Tyler Cowen and Daniel Gross, https://www.amazon.com/Talent-Identify-Energizers-Creatives-Winners/dp/1250275814/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0? CEO Study from Sweden https://www.hbs.edu/ris/Publication%20Files/16-044_9c05278e-9d11-4315-a744-de008edf4d80.pdf. Econ Talk episode where Tyler and Russ Roberts discuss Germany https://www.econtalk.org/tyler-cowen-on-talent/. Tyler on State Capacity Libertarianism https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2020/01/what-libertarianism-has-become-and-will-become-state-capacity-libertarianism.html. Tyler Cowen, “Why Wokism will Rule the World https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-09-19/woke-movement-is-global-and-america-should-be-mostly-proud.” Eric Kaufmann. “Born This Way? The Rise of LGBT as a Social and Political Identity https://www.cspicenter.com/p/born-this-way-the-rise-of-lgbt-as-a-social-and-political-identity.” Tyler Cowen, “My Personal Moonshot https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/commentary/my-personal-moonshot.” Get full access to Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology at www.cspicenter.com/subscribe https://www.cspicenter.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4
Amy Wax is the Robert Mundheim Professor of Law at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. She joins the podcast to talk about the ongoing attempt to cancel and possibly fire her for making politically incorrect remarks. Usually there is some pretext that a professor actually engaged in forbidden conduct in these kinds of investigations, but this is as clear an example as one can find of a university trying to punish speech. This leads to a conversation about whether higher education is worth saving, and if it is, the best way to go about doing so. Amy has also gotten in trouble for her views on immigration and growing racial diversity in the United States. She also talks about that topic here, and much of the discussion centers around the concept of “Western culture” and the extent to which it is threatened. Richard argues that the post-1960s West has seen such a break from its past that this perspective assumes a cultural continuity that no longer exists. This leads to a discussion of whether and how conservatives can appeal to immigrant voters. Listen in podcast form or watch on YouTube https://youtu.be/S_L9LMZnLKs. You can also read a transcript here. https://richardhanania.substack.com/p/does-immigration-threaten-western Links: Amy Wax Defense Fund https://amywaxdefense.org (tax-deductible) Amy Wax Legal Defense Fund https://www.gofundme.com/f/amy-wax-legal-defense-fund (GoFundMe) UPenn Law Deans Report Regarding Amy Wax https://drive.google.com/file/d/11Sfwa4PU9oTuvvw-xHhfUPDJqWD7lxex/view Michael Anton, “That’s Not Happening and It’s Good That It Is. https://americanmind.org/salvo/thats-not-happening-and-its-good-that-it-is/” Richard Hanania, “Women’s Tears Win in the Marketplace of Ideas https://richardhanania.substack.com/p/womens-tears-win-in-the-marketplace.” Richard Hanania, “Terms of Surrender” https://claremontreviewofbooks.com/terms-of-surrender/ [Review of Jonathan Rauch’s Jon Marcus, “Why Americans are Increasingly Dubious About Going to College https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/americans-are-increasingly-dubious-going-college-rcna40935.” The Glenn Show, “Contesting American Identity | Glenn Loury and Amy Wax. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1vQFMxPk54” Glenn Loury, “Amy Wax Redux https://glennloury.substack.com/p/amy-wax-redux.” [interchange with George Lee] Education Realist https://educationrealist.wordpress.com Amy Wax on Tucker Carlson Today https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xU-MAVo1GVU Richard Hanania Survey Results II: Likes and Dislikes https://richardhanania.substack.com/p/survey-results-ii-likes-and-dislikes Get full access to Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology at www.cspicenter.com/subscribe https://www.cspicenter.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4
Stephen and James Grugett are programmers, entrepreneurs, and cofounders of the website Manifold Markets https://manifold.markets, which hosts user-created prediction markets. They join the podcast to discuss the Salem Center/CSPI Forecasting Tournament on Manifold Markets https://salemcenter.manifold.markets, which launched last week. The Grugetts and Richard talk about the origins of Manifold Markets, what differentiates it from other prediction market sites, how academics have used the platform to bet on which studies replicate, and the potential for conditional markets to inform public policy debates. They end by brainstorming ideas to increase the value and prestige of Mana (M$), the platform’s currency. Listen in podcast form or watch on YouTube https://youtu.be/yRkh1cenUvg. Links: Manifold Markets https://manifold.markets CSPI/Salem Tournament on Manifold Markets https://salemcenter.manifold.markets Richard Hanania, “Introducing the Salem/CSPI Forecasting Tournament https://www.cspicenter.com/p/introducing-the-salemcspi-forecasting” Richard Hanania, “Salem Tournament, 5 Days in https://www.cspicenter.com/p/salem-tournament-5-days-in” The Economist, “How Spooks are Turning to Superforecasting in the Cosmic Bazaar https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2021/04/15/how-spooks-are-turning-to-superforecasting-in-the-cosmic-bazaar” Research.Bet https://research.bet The Replication Project https://manifold.markets/TheReplicationProject Manifold Markets Statistics https://manifold.markets/stats Get full access to Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology at www.cspicenter.com/subscribe https://www.cspicenter.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4
On this week’s CSPI Podcast, Richard interviews the top three winners of the CSPI Essay Contest: Policy Reform For Progress https://www.cspicenter.com/p/cspi-essay-contest-policy-reform?s=w. The first interview is with contest winner Andrew Kenneson, a program navigator at a public housing authority in Kodiak, Alaska and former reporter. In “Gathering Steam: Unlocking Geothermal Potential in the United States https://www.cspicenter.com/p/gathering-steam-unlocking-geothermal,” Andrew explains why exempting geothermal exploration on federally owned lands from NEPA requirements could set off a cascade of energy innovation. The second interview (starting at 29:12) is with Maxwell Tabarrok, an Econ and Math student at the University of Virginia whose essay on science funding reform “Mo’ Money Mo’ Problems https://www.cspicenter.com/p/mo-money-mo-problems” won second prize. Maxwell proposes a system of research guided funding in which the ~$120 billion spent by the federal government on science each year is distributed equally to the ~250,000 full-time STEM faculty at high research activity universities. The third interview (starting at 57:03) is with Brent Skorup, a senior research fellow at George Mason University's Mercatus Center and a visiting faculty fellow at the Nebraska Governance and Technology Center at the Nebraska College of Law. Brent’s 3rd place essay, “Drone Airspace: A New Global Asset Class https://www.cspicenter.com/p/drone-airspace-a-new-global-asset,” outlines how public auctions for drone airspace would be an improvement on the FAA’s current plan to ration airspace to a few lucky companies. Listen in podcast form or watch on YouTube https://youtu.be/U1ya_80CwvA. Winning Essays: “Gathering Steam: Unlocking Geothermal Potential in the United States https://www.cspicenter.com/p/gathering-steam-unlocking-geothermal” by Andrew Kenneson “Mo’ Money Mo’ Problems https://www.cspicenter.com/p/mo-money-mo-problems” by Maxwell Tabarrok “Drone Airspace: A New Global Asset Class https://www.cspicenter.com/p/drone-airspace-a-new-global-asset” by Brent Skorup Honorable Mentions: “The University-Government Complex https://www.cspicenter.com/p/the-university-government-complex” by William L. Krayer “It’s Time to Review the Institutional Review Boards https://www.cspicenter.com/p/its-time-to-review-the-institutional” by Willy Chertman Get full access to Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology at www.cspicenter.com/subscribe https://www.cspicenter.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4
Richard Lowery is an Associate Professor of Finance at The University of Texas at Austin and a senior scholar at the Salem Center for Public Policy. He joins the podcast to talk about his recent article “How UT-Austin Administrators Destroyed an Intellectual Diversity Initiative https://www.aier.org/article/how-ut-austin-administrators-destroyed-an-intellectual-diversity-initiative/,” which details what went wrong with plans to build the Liberty Institute. Lowery and Hanania discuss the politicization of academia and how it has even reached finance, why developing new educational institutions is difficult, how “fake conservatives” on campus provide cover for the Left to control universities, and the failure of Republican donors and politicians to push back against these trends effectively. They converge on a set of ideas regarding how to fix academia going forward. Working within the university and without outside support is hopeless, as radicals committed to stamping out dissent have already won and are in a position to thwart any attempts at reform. Nonetheless, state university systems are ultimately under the control of politicians. Conservative elected officials need to show a greater interest in taking concrete steps toward restoring free inquiry and the search for objective truth, which will only happen if they are pressured to do so by donors and right-leaning media. Usually, this will mean not trying to reform individual departments, but relying on state funding and private philanthropy to create new institutions within existing universities, if not apart from them, that can be run by those ideologically committed to rolling back the triumph of anti-capitalist dogma and identity politics. These problems are not insoluble. American conservatives have accomplished political goals before. All it takes is an understanding of the scope of the problem and the political will to do something about it. The conversation includes specific steps that elected officials, academics, donors, and political activists can take to build new institutions. Listen in podcast form or watch on YouTube https://youtu.be/F9JB3a3viGU. Links: Richard Lowery’s Twitter (@RichardLoweryTX) https://twitter.com/RichardLoweryTX. Richard Lowery, “How UT-Austin Administrators Destroyed an Intellectual Diversity Initiative https://www.aier.org/article/how-ut-austin-administrators-destroyed-an-intellectual-diversity-initiative/.” Kate McGee, “Professors Behind Conservative-Backed “Liberty Institute” say UT has Strayed from Plan https://www.texastribune.org/2022/06/08/ut-austin-professors-liberty-institute/.” Get full access to Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology at www.cspicenter.com/subscribe https://www.cspicenter.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4
David Bernstein is a Law Professor and Executive Director of the Liberty and Law Center at the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University. He joins the podcast to talk about his new book https://www.amazon.com/Classified-Untold-Racial-Classification-America/dp/1637581734. David and Richard discuss the history of racial conflict and classification in America, the political construction of ethnic identities like AAPI and Hispanic, how wealthy immigrants hijacked government set-asides, why medical researchers care so little about actual physiological and anthropological distinctions between ethnic groups, and the political feasibility of colorblindness in a world of racial disparities. Listen in podcast form or watch on YouTube https://youtu.be/reZaxhiftW0. Links: David Bernstein, https://www.amazon.com/Classified-Untold-Racial-Classification-America/dp/1637581734 David Bernstein, https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004YW6LY4/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i3 G. Christina Mora, https://www.amazon.com/Making-Hispanics-Activists-Bureaucrats-Constructed/dp/022603383X. Thomas Sowell, https://www.amazon.com/Affirmative-Action-Around-World-Empirical-ebook/dp/B00155ZZPE Get full access to Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology at www.cspicenter.com/subscribe https://www.cspicenter.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4
* Seth Stephens-Davidowitz is a data scientist, author, and keynote speaker. He holds a PhD in economics from Harvard and is a contributing op-ed writer for the . He joins the podcast to talk about his two books, https://www.amazon.com/Everybody-Lies-Internet-About-Really/dp/0062390856 (2017) and https://www.amazon.com/Dont-Trust-Your-Gut-Really/dp/0062880918 (2022). He and Richard discuss the behavioral genetics of sports, whether we pay too much attention to hate crimes, physiognomy as a science, the limits of evolutionary psychology in explaining porn preferences, and how to apply insights from big data and social science to improve our dating lives, careers, and overall happiness.
* Eric Kaufmann is Professor of Politics at Birkbeck College, University of London, a CSPI research fellow, and the author of several books, including https://www.amazon.com/Whiteshift-Populism-Immigration-Future-Majorities/dp/1468316974He returns to the podcast to discuss his new report for CPSI, https://cspicenter.org/reports/born-this-way-the-rise-of-lgbt-as-a-social-and-political-identity/He and Richard talk about the factors underlying recent increases in LGBT identification and same-sex sexual behavior, the connection between being very liberal, LGBT, and having mental health issues, and the influence of modernism on left-wing ideology and right-wing political movements. They conclude the conversation by discussing whether concerns about teaching sexuality and CRT in K-12 schools should take precedence over free speech issues on university campuses and debates over history and national identity. * * Eric Kaufmann, “Born This Way? The Rise of LGBT as a Social and Political Identity. https://cspicenter.org/reports/born-this-way-the-rise-of-lgbt-as-a-social-and-political-identity/” Tweet thread. https://twitter.com/epkaufm/status/1531264150231470080 * * Sign up for CSPI’s Substack newsletter: https://cspi.substack.com https://cspi.substack.com/. * Follow CSPI on Twitter: https://twitter.com/CSPICenterOrg. * Subscribe to our YouTube for video podcasts: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvs4ugq0xSvbvwArpFJG6gA. * Learn more about CSPI: https://cspicenter.org https://cspicenter.org/.
