Bigly: How We Die
My podcast in top 10% Spotify. Decision on coal mine. More Chat AI. Being good / sustainable. GCSEs are rubbish
My podcast in top 10% Spotify followed and shared
UK govt decision on coal mine
ESG slides from Ioannis Ioannou
More Chat AI
Being good / sustainable and doing good / sustainability
GCSEs are rubbish, as are exams in general
MilkTea event for Better Luck Tomorrow, Jan 22.
Links (end): Why women make good spies ⦾ Snake bites ⦾ Breakthrough tech 2022 ⦾ Balancing gas supply ⦾ Vanguard leaves Net Zero ⦾ AI future ⦾ WFH stats ⦾
I’m performing Thinking Bigly: How We Die on 12 Jan 2023.
What’s the best way for Ben to die? Help Ben with death admin. Shape his story. Plan his funeral. An interactive performance where you help Ben have his best death*. (*Ben doesn’t die in the show).
Time: 7pm, 12 Jan 2023.
Venue: Theatre Deli, Leadenhall Street, London
Book - pay what you like - at this link here.
There will be an after party if you like - or if you can’t make the 7pm slot or have been before, 8.15pm onward. RSVP for party here.
If you’d like to answer and check out the pre-show survey, see link here: https://forms.gle/2u71yj9rFgtHBa297
Here are two items from the show. One riffing on how death from certain viruses such as HIV should not be inevitable now.
And how so few of us in rich nationas have seen death up close.
That is my poll for this week.
Last week we had:
This week was still mainly dealing with ill health and juggling the youngest one’s exams. I am now firmly of the view that (at least in the British system but probably in general) exams are over rated. I think homework is over rated. Too much of it, limited value and uninteresting. The latest AI may kill off quite a lot of homework which might be a good thing. I’ve suggested the major change I would make in British education would be to eliminate GCSEs, the exams that 16 year olds in Britain sit. These are mostly a waste of time (students prepping for 6 to 12 months of the year rather than deeper learning) and all of the other top educational systems do NOT have them (US, China, South Korea, Singapore, Finland, Germany, France, Switzerland etc….)
I’ve been told by the political minded that this is a no go in UK politics at the moment. But then it seems most things are…
On my mind, talking about politics, is the government decision in the UK on a coal mine. Presumably there are political trade-offs here and perhaps some legal implications, but overall the decision from a climate-centric point of view is summarised by Chris Stark of the UK Climate Change Committee.
One aspect of doing good (see philosopher Larry Temkin below) that is argued about in moral philosophy is to what extent does one need to “be good” as well. My recent riffs on sustainability reflect on that. One of the powers behind Greta is that not only is she arguing for sustainability but she is “being sustainable”. This makes her rhetoric more powerful. I am tentatively of the view that this is important.
Not only do I make sustainable investments but increasingly I tilt my life that way (despite the boringness of buying second hand clothes, and jumpers with holes, and no new clothes) and make art and podcast about it. Being X is not the only aspect of X, like being good is not the only aspect of doing good but to a pluralist way of thinking it does have some weight.
My podcast - according to Spotify made the top 10%. The open secret is that this is a low bar as podcasts are - in the scheme of global media - small markets but it is still pleasing for a side endeavour. (My main endeavour still being finding and managing good healthcare investments, which mostly you will not hear me speaking about for compliance and conflict reasons; and after ESG/sustainability, and looking after family, autism, broadly creative performing art writing still interests me).
My two most popular quirky podcasts are Aella and Leopold Aschenbrenner. And, my most underrated is with philosopher Larry Temkin, IMO. I typically do not have to prep much for my podcasts as they are already in areas where I am reading and interested in. However for Larry, while I knew some of the area I had to read a decent amount of moral philosophy which in this detail was new for me. It opened my eyes to new areas and gave me wonderful conversation although quite deep at times. The Temkin podcast is here.
I judge people are attracted by Aella’s internet presence and her allure. She is someone who I do not think I’d every cross paths with or chat with in the ordinary course of my life. For me, being curious about what makes humanity human, this type of conversation is mind opening. I learned about rationality and the life journey of fundamental Christian —> low wage worker—> escort girl —> Twitter star. Her podcast is here. (18+, I guess)
Leopold left Germany aged 15 to study at Columbia University, New York. He graduated at 19 as valedictorian of his year. I had a conversation with him shortly after this. To discuss the world view of such a person at that moment of time seems extraordinary to me know and I found the conversation fascinating. His podcast is here.
Lastly of recent podcasts my one with Naomi Fisher on child-led education (aka home education) was popular. (The better measure for podcasts is downloads in first 1 month, which I don’t really track as I am not a pro, but I think this one might be high). That is partly because of the interests (and perhaps lack of content) for the special education needs / home school community. See also my earlier comments on education. You can check that out here.
Overall, I feel my world views have expanded, my art of conversation and question asking has improved and I’ve brought these world views to larger audiences (while still small) have made the top 10% in world. That one person can do this from a standing start highlights to me, that if you start from a decent amount of access to technology (basically the internet) the opportunities are as incredible as they have ever been (while still being unequal).
So do your thing and like and subscribe…
In ESG world, I listened to Ioannis Ioannu at the PRI conference which - IMO - was one of the better sessions and above average. His slides are below. I will note the Serafeim and Khan paper is now somewhat in dispute (for potential data mining / data artifacts) which is a shame.
My poll over at Linkedin had this answer on PRI’s content:
with some comments here. I will note about 10 PRI representatives voted in the poll.
Adam Matthews commented:
We need to have genuine dialogue with CEOs / Chsirs of companies on key strategic issues. With that AUM represented in one place it is a massive missed opportunity. There also needs to be a formal platform for asset owners to discuss issues together about the future of PRI…a breakfast mtg is insufficient and managed. We need genuine dialogue otherwise it gets created elsewhere.
AI is going to continue to change the world. If you have not played with the latest AI chatbots, you must. In as little as 3 to 5 years, and certainly on a 10 year time frame, the world is going to be significantly altered.
This is what the Chatbot told me about the moral philosophy of consequentialism, which would not in general rate “being good” over “ doing good”
The belief that the moral value of an action should be judged based on the goodness or badness of its consequences, rather than on the intention behind the action or the inherent nature of the action itself.
The idea that the overall goodness or badness of an action should be measured by its impact on the well-being or happiness of sentient beings.
The principle that, in order to determine the moral value of an action, it is necessary to consider the full range of potential consequences, both immediate and long-term, direct and indirect.
The view that actions should be evaluated based on their overall net impact on well-being, rather than on any particular aspect of the consequences.
The notion that moral decisions should be based on a calculation of the likely consequences, using the best available evidence and reasoning.
The belief that the consequences of an action can be objectively evaluated, and that moral judgments can be based on these evaluations.
This took just a few seconds. The bot is still flawed, but you can adjust those flaws super easily.
This from Ethan is good on how to use this AI.
And these are some further examples:
and:
My friend Chi’s MilkTea event for Better Luck Tomorrow, Jan 22.
Links:
Why women make good spies
Snake bites and latest works in progress
Breakthrough tech of 2022
Balancing gas supply/demand in Europe
Vanguard leaves net Zero
More on AI
WFH stats:
Performing: