Joining Ed and Ron this week is Robin D. Hanson of associate professor of economics at George Mason University. Robin is the author of two fascinating books, The Age of Em and The Elephant in the Brain. He has worked with the Foresight Institute and DARPA, but perhaps his colleague at George Mason Bryan Caplan put it best: "When the typical economist tells me about his latest research, my standard reaction is 'Eh, maybe.' Then I forget about it. When Robin Hanson tells me about his latest research, my standard reaction is 'No way! Impossible!' Then I think about it for years."

About Robin Hanson

Robin Dale Hanson is an associate professor of economics at George Mason University and a research associate at the Future of Humanity Institute of Oxford University. He is known for his work on idea futures and markets, and he was involved in the creation of the Foresight Institute's Foresight Exchange and DARPA's FutureMAP project. He invented market scoring rules like LMSR (Logarithmic Market Scoring Rule) used by prediction markets such as Consensus Point (where Hanson is Chief Scientist), and has conducted research on signaling.

Use these AI generated show notes to follow along with the audio.

Start of the show.
Meet Robin.
Welcome to the show, Robin.
Easier with wires instead of hands.
Andrew from voice america.
Interview begins.
Interview with Robin D Hanson, associate professor of economics..
Interview begins with a quick bio.
Concerns about the emergence of LLM/AI.
Why we’re scared of ai.
The visceral reaction to AI.
Sensible regulation for AI vs AI.
Creating a financial asset based on global assets.
Robots taking over the world.
Selling insurance to buy insurance.
Selling insurance to people who buy the second asset.
College professor's thoughts on weird questions.
How Robin generates his weird questions.
How to get more information about Robin.
What is the difference between the elephant in the room and the brain?
The old economics joke about the kid visiting his economics professor.
The elephant in the brain.
Part one, the elephant in the room vs the brain.
Part two, the introspective taboo.
Why do people consume so much medicine?
People in developed world consume way too much medicine.
The booboo theory.
The hidden motives of other people.
Signaling the deeper logic of unique behaviors.
Looking good to people around you.
Selfish reasons for wanting to look good to others.
The case against education.
The story of the New Zealand Maori villager.
Laughter and having fun.
Why did you laugh?
Laughing is a way of checking that humans are still playing.
Laughter is a play signal.
How to get more information about robin.
A word from 90 minds.
Corporal punishment vs. jail.
Jail is expensive and corporal punishment is cheaper.
The Age of Em.
A way to make smart robots.
The age of AI and brain emulation.
The future is different from us.
The two contrasting ideas in the book.
The new world of emulated humans.
Has AI progress sped up?
Has AI progress sped up in the last eight years.
Retirement of AI.
Why AI will save the world. Marc Andreessen.
The soul of enterprise podcast.
Worried about the worst case scenarios.
People are constructing worst-case scenarios.
The first message, nothing is happening right now.
Main issue for most people is the otherness of ai.
The us vs them thing.
Big player insiders asking for regulation.
Big player insiders asking for regulation.
Poverty insurance and basic income guarantee.
Unconditional money vs unconditional money.

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