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Two aspiring rationalists bring you mind-bending ideas from science, philosophy, artificial intelligence, and medicine. Whether you enjoy wide-ranging discussions or are looking to upgrade your reasoning and critical thinking skills, this podcast will satisfy your intellectual hunger and sharpen your skeptical eye.
Episodes

Tuesday Jan 14, 2020
021 | The Top 19 Ideas from 2019
Tuesday Jan 14, 2020
Tuesday Jan 14, 2020
Bit of a Tangent is back! In this episode, Jared shares the 19 ideas he couldn’t stop thinking about in 2019, whilst Gianluca does two B-grade Joe Rogan impressions. Together, they discuss everything from mechanism design to personal fitness hacks, and throw in some recommendations for supercharging your learning in the new year. Strap yourselves in for a taste of the fascinating conversations that lie ahead in 2020!
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Shownotes:
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Jared (twitter.com/jnearestn) and Gianluca (twitter.com/QVagabond) on Twitter
Jared’s Twitter thread (19 ideas I couldn't stop thinking about in 2019): https://twitter.com/jnearestn/status/1211681767742156803
Eliezer Yudkowsky’s Sequences: https://wiki.lesswrong.com/wiki/Sequences
Meditations on Moloch: https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/07/30/meditations-on-moloch/
Radical Markets: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36515770-radical-markets
007 | Game Theory, Alignment, and Civilisational Inadequacy: https://www.podtangent.com/e/007-game-theory-alignment-and-civilisational-inadequacy/
Glen Weyl on Twitter: https://twitter.com/glenweyl
Mechanism design: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanism_design
Tyler Cowen on Twitter: https://twitter.com/tylercowen
Surfing Uncertainty by Andy Clark: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25823558-surfing-uncertainty
Fast.AI courses: https://www.fast.ai/
When someone tries to “Euler” you: https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/08/12/does-race-exist-does-culture/
Body by Science, by Little and McGuff: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4642174-body-by-science
FitNotes app for Android: https://www.fitnotesapp.com/
All Debates are Bravery Debates on SlateStarCodex: https://slatestarcodex.com/2013/06/09/all-debates-are-bravery-debates/
Tim Ferriss on Twitter: https://twitter.com/tferriss
Naval Ravikant on Twitter: https://twitter.com/naval
011 | Slack, attention and focus: https://www.podtangent.com/e/slack-attention-and-focus-or-why-more-is-less/
010 | Flow states, optimal performance, and PhD hunter-gathering: https://www.podtangent.com/e/010-flow-states-optimal-performance-and-phd-hunter-gathering
Michael Nielsen on Twitter: https://twitter.com/michael_nielsen
Anki for spaced repetition: https://apps.ankiweb.net/
013 | How To Learn Anything: https://www.podtangent.com/e/013-how-to-learn-anything/
The 7 +-2 principle for memory: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Magical_Number_Seven,_Plus_or_Minus_Two
Chunking: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chunking_(psychology)
The Elephant in the Brain by Kevin Simler, Robin Hanson: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28820444-the-elephant-in-the-brain
Inadequate Equilibria by Eliezer Yudkowsky: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36606376-inadequate-equilibria
Robin Hanson on Twitter: https://twitter.com/robinhanson
Awareness by Anthony de Mello: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/94318.Awareness
The Cook and the Chef on WaitButWhy: https://waitbutwhy.com/2015/11/the-cook-and-the-chef-musks-secret-sauce.html
Sam Harris on Twitter: https://twitter.com/SamHarrisOrg
Sam’s Waking Up app: https://wakingup.com/

Tuesday Nov 05, 2019
020 | Mental Models 3: Fantastic Biases and Where To Find Them
Tuesday Nov 05, 2019
Tuesday Nov 05, 2019
This is part 3 of the series on Mental Models, in which Gianluca and Jared discuss the cognitive biases that often impede aspiring rationalists. They discuss the idea of “System 1 and 2” thinking as a framing for the entire discussion, before exploring 12 of the most deadly thinking traps and how to avoid them. This includes everything from the Planning Fallacy and Anchoring, to more esoteric pitfalls that are yet to be named. Finally, they describe meta-biases—like the Bias Blindspot and the Fallacy Fallacy—equipping your mental toolkit with everything you need to upgrade your thinking.
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Shownotes:
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System 1 and 2 thinking in Kahneman’s “Thinking Fast and Slow”: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11468377-thinking-fast-and-slow
An awesome resource, the Cognitive Bias Codex: https://ritholtz.com/2016/09/cognitive-bias-codex/
A superb introduction to biases by Rob Bensinger: https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/ptxnyfLWqRZ98wnYi/biases-an-introduction
Yudkowsky on scope insensitivity: https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/2ftJ38y9SRBCBsCzy/scope-insensitivity
[Study] Scope insensitivity: The limits of intuitive valuation of human lives in public policy: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211368114000795
Bayes’ Theorem in medical testing: https://plus.maths.org/content/maths-minute-bayes-theorem
Bayes’ Theorem examples visualised: https://oscarbonilla.com/2009/05/visualizing-bayes-theorem/
Hamburg’s philharmonic concert hall that ran 6 years and 1000% over budget: https://www.thelocal.de/20161101/700m-over-budget-hamburg-concert-hall-finally-finished-elbphilharmonie
Fascinating studies on the planning fallacy in students’ academic predictions: https://web.mit.edu/curhan/www/docs/Articles/biases/67_J_Personality_and_Social_Psychology_366,_1994.pdf
Reference class forecasting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reference_class_forecasting
How to overcome the planning fallacy with “fudge ratios”: https://wpsmith.net/2015/improving-your-time-estimates-the-fudge-ratio/
Spinning the wheel on the anchoring bias: https://youarenotsosmart.com/2010/07/27/anchoring-effect/
“Influence” by Robert Cialdini: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28815.Influence
016 | Free Will, Compassion, and Reinforcement Learning: https://www.podtangent.com/e/016-free-will-compassion-and-reinforcement-learning/
Inferential distances: https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/HLqWn5LASfhhArZ7w/expecting-short-inferential-distances
Findings in Hedonic adaptation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedonic_treadmill#Empirical_findings
Dan Harris’ “10% Happier” podcast: https://www.tenpercent.com/podcast
The Peak-End Rule: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peak%E2%80%93end_rule

Monday Oct 28, 2019
Monday Oct 28, 2019
This is part 2 of our series on Mental Models. In it, we’re bringing you the most useful and applicable models we’ve encountered in everything we’ve read, heard or seen over the years! In part 2 we unpack models from Bayesian reasoning, calibration, and expected value. We also cover fat-tailed distributions, counterfactual reasoning, inversion, and red-teaming. Throughout, we build up each model with examples and motivations, and often found ourselves making previously unseen (by us) links to other models which gave us several new insights. We hope this conversation will do the same for you!
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Shownotes:
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Farnam Street Blog - https://fs.blog
Calibration training app by 80 000 Hours - https://80000hours.org/calibration-training/
Superforecasting by Philip Tetlock - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23995360-superforecasting
0 And 1 Are Not Probabilities - https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/QGkYCwyC7wTDyt3yT/0-and-1-are-not-probabilities
Thinking In Bets by Annie Duke - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35957157-thinking-in-bets
The Black Swan by Nassim Taleb - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/242472.The_Black_Swan
CGP Grey on 7 Ways To Maximise Misery - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LO1mTELoj6o
Claude Shannon on Creative Thinking - https://jamesclear.com/great-speeches/creative-thinking-by-claude-shannon
The Bottom Line - https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/34XxbRFe54FycoCDw/the-bottom-line

Tuesday Oct 22, 2019
018 | Mental Models 1: How To Have Better Ideas and Improve Your Thinking
Tuesday Oct 22, 2019
Tuesday Oct 22, 2019
This is part 1 of a new series on Mental Models - tips, tricks, and tools to add to your mental toolbox. In this episode we introduce the concept of a mental model but then quickly dive in to explanations of the most powerful models we’ve encountered. Join us and learn how to make better decisions (or know when a decision is not worth making), how to have more original and impactful ideas (and how to find the most promising ideas to work on out of the thousands you’ll soon have), and when tidying up your messy desk is just plain wrong (sorry, Marie Kondo!)
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Shownotes:
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The Great Mental Models: General Thinking Concepts by Shane Parrish - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44245196-the-great-mental-models
Super Thinking: The Big Book of Mental Models by Gabriel Weinberg - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41181911-super-thinking
Feynman technique - https://fs.blog/2012/04/feynman-technique/
More Dakka by The Zvi - https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/z8usYeKX7dtTWsEnk/more-dakka
Least recently used idea: read the book Algorithms To Live By by Brian Christian - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25666050-algorithms-to-live-by
Eisenhower matrix - https://jamesclear.com/eisenhower-box
Josh Wolfe on Shane Parrish’s podcast - https://fs.blog/josh-wolfe/
Eliezer Yudkowsky’s marvelous introduction to Bayes Theorem. Seriously, read this: http://yudkowsky.net/rational/bayes
Tim Urban’s WaitButWhy post on thinking from first principles like Elon Musk: https://waitbutwhy.com/2015/11/the-cook-and-the-chef-musks-secret-sauce.html
Deep Work by Cal Newport - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25744928-deep-work
So Good They Can’t Ignore You by Cal Newport - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13525945-so-good-they-can-t-ignore-you
Keep Your Identity Small by Paul Graham - http://www.paulgraham.com/identity.html
Joscha Bach on the Singularity podcast: https://www.singularityweblog.com/joscha-bach/

Monday Oct 14, 2019
017 | Bronwyn Williams: Universal Basic Income & Individual Sovereignty
Monday Oct 14, 2019
Monday Oct 14, 2019
This episode features the much-anticipated conversation with Bronwyn Williams on the topic of Universal Basic Income (UBI). Bronwyn is a futurist and trend analyst with a background in marketing and economics. Gianluca and Jared pick her brain about the economic viability of UBI, the influence of politics and big tech, and the trends in automation that will shape the future of humanity. Regardless of your fiscal intuitions or political leanings, this episode will equip you with the core arguments in the UBI debate and leave you with plenty of food for thought.
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Shownotes:
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Write to Bit of a Tangent at podtangent@gmail.com
Tweet at Bit of a Tangent: https://twitter.com/podtangent
Follow Bit of a Tangent (incl. behind the scenes) on Instagram: www.instagram.com/podtangent
Bronwyn Williams on Twitter: https://twitter.com/bronwynwilliams
Bronwyn’s website: https://whatthefuturenow.com
Flux Trends: https://www.fluxtrends.com/
Apollo 42: http://apollo42.com/
Negative income tax: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negative_income_tax
Alaskan oil dividend: nhttps://basicincometoday.com/the-complicated-politics-of-the-alaska-permanent-fund-dividend/5422
Andrew Yang and the proposed “Freedom Dividend”: https://www.yang2020.com/policies/the-freedom-dividend/
Andrew Yang’s discussions about UBI with Sam Harris: https://samharris.org/podcasts/130-universal-basic-income/
Social credit system in China: https://www.wired.co.uk/article/china-social-credit-system-explained
Elon Musk on automation and UBI: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/18/elon-musk-automated-jobs-could-make-ubi-cash-handouts-necessary.html
Neuralink’s human-brain interface: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lA77zsJ31nA
Humanity’s increasing prosperity (Steven Pinker): https://youtu.be/o5X2-i_poNU
On having a “Venezuela moment”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crisis_in_Venezuela
Single-payer healthcare: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single-payer_healthcare
Cost of bringing a drug to market: https://www.forbes.com/sites/matthewherper/2017/10/16/the-cost-of-developing-drugs-is-insane-a-paper-that-argued-otherwise-was-insanely-bad/#2c8eb48d2d45
Swiss referendum on UBI: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-36454060
Bronwyn’s book reviews: https://whatthefuturenow.com/category/reading-right-now/
The Origins of Totalitarianism by Hannah Arendt: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/396931.The_Origins_of_Totalitarianism
Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11468377-thinking-fast-and-slow
The Age of Surveillance Capitalism by Shoshana Zuboff: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26195941-the-age-of-surveillance-capitalism
Death of the Gods by Carl Miller: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40504262-the-death-of-the-gods?ac=1&from_search=true
Ben Hunt on Twitter: https://twitter.com/epsilontheory
David Pearce on Twitter: https://twitter.com/webmasterdave
Slate Star Codex breakdown of UBI: https://slatestarcodex.com/2019/08/01/squareallworthy-on-ubi-plans/
Bayesian Conspiracy (with David Spearman) on the economics of UBI vs. NIT: http://www.thebayesianconspiracy.com/2019/07/88-ubi-and-other-forms-of-evil-taxes/