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PODCAST

Clearer Thinking with Spencer Greenberg

Spencer Greenberg

Clearer Thinking is a podcast about ideas that truly matter. If you enjoy learning about powerful, practical concepts and frameworks, wish you had more deep, intellectual conversations in your life, or are looking for non-BS self-improvement, then we think you"ll love this podcast! Each week we invite a brilliant guest to bring four important ideas to discuss for an in-depth conversation. Topics include psychology, society, behavior change, philosophy, science, artificial intelligence, math,

science social sciences

All Episodes

01:16:10

Taking pleasure in being wrong (with Buck Shlegeris)

Clearer Thinking with Spencer Greenberg ·

2022/06/08

Read the full transcript here. How hard is it to arrive at true beliefs about the world? How can you find enjoyment in being wrong? When presenting claims that will be scrutinized by others, is it better to hedge and pad the claims in lots of caveats and uncertainty, or to strive for a tone that matches (or perhaps even exaggerates) the intensity with which you hold your beliefs? Why should you maybe focus on drilling small skills when learning a new skill set? What counts as a "simple" question

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01:15:16

A philosophical theory of jerks (with Eric Schwitzgebel)

Clearer Thinking with Spencer Greenberg ·

2022/06/01

Read the full transcript here. To what extent does thinking about ethics actually cause a person to behave more ethically? Do ethicists behave more ethically than the average person, or are they just better at justifying their unethical behavior? Why do we sometimes have strong negative reactions to people who seem "too" moral — even if they're genuinely altruistic and not just acting as though they're better than everyone else? Is morality inherently motivating? More specifically, are some kinds

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01:20:24

How meanings get words and social sciences get broken...

Clearer Thinking with Spencer Greenberg ·

2022/05/25

Read the full transcript here. How do meanings get words? What is ethnomethodology? Some attempts at defining words are successful; but why do some words seem to become more slippery the more we try to pin down their meanings? What sorts of problems uniquely plague the social sciences? What subtle aspects of the placebo effect are not noticed or easily forgotten by researchers? How can social science researchers clarify and strengthen the meanings of words in their questionnaires? More broadly,

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01:06:38

Dealing with our "groupstruckness" and "boundedness"...

Clearer Thinking with Spencer Greenberg ·

2022/05/18

Read the full transcript here. What does it mean to be "groupstruck"? How does groupstruck-ness differ from the bystander effect, normalcy bias, and other related cognitive biases? How do we break people out of being groupstruck? What does it mean to be a "bounded" person? How can we build up better decision-making heuristics? What sorts of decisions do people usually not quantify but should (and vice versa)? How can we make rational relationship decisions without coming across as "calculating" or

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01:19:58

Math as a perspective on life (with Marcus du Sautoy)

Clearer Thinking with Spencer Greenberg ·

2022/05/11

Read the full transcript here. How can we have System-2-type reflection but with System-1-type speed? How can math be considered to be a "fast" way of solving problems? Is math discovered or invented? How can we use math to think better in everyday life? How can math education be improved? Do mathematicians have a snobbish preference for "pure" maths over applied maths? How can math be used to tell stories?Marcus du Sautoy is the Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science and

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01:54:17

A former Al-Qaeda recruiter speaks (with Jesse Morton)

Clearer Thinking with Spencer Greenberg ·

2022/05/04

Read the full transcript here. NOTE: When we published this episode a few days ago, we were unaware that Jesse had passed away back in December of 2021. We only just learned of this fact today when a listener reached out to inform us. We're saddened by this news, and we apologize for any possible confusion or hurt we may have caused by linking to his Twitter handle, email address, etc. We have removed those items from his bio but left the link to the Light Upon Light website since it contains many

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01:36:40

Cognitive biases and animal welfare (with Leah Edgerton)

Clearer Thinking with Spencer Greenberg ·

2022/04/27

Read the full transcript here. What are some of the tensions between short-term and long-term thinking about how best to reduce animal suffering? Why spend time and energy working on animal welfare when human welfare hasn't even been secured? Why do so many animal rights activists and organizations have such negative reputations and elicit such strongly negative emotional reactions from the population at large when they're just trying to reduce suffering? How does animal rights activism from an

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01:00:55

Is it bad to coerce yourself to do unpleasant things?...

Clearer Thinking with Spencer Greenberg ·

2022/04/20

Read the full transcript here. What is non-self-coercion? What's so bad about coercing ourselves to do things we don't want to do? What is "the reconsolidation pyramid"? What are the differences between being heaven-oriented and enlightenment-oriented? What does it mean to scale trust?Matt Goldenberg is the creator of Procrastination Playbook and the Head of Marketing at the Monastic Academy for the Preservation of Life on Earth. He spends his time meditating, helping people heal their emotional

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00:58:00

Our 100th episode! (with Uri Bram and Spencer Greenberg)

Clearer Thinking with Spencer Greenberg ·

2022/04/13

Read the full transcript here. Is it possible to be both agreeable and skeptical in conversations? How can you give feedback and challenge people constructively without triggering their automatic self-defense mechanisms? More generally, how can you challenge people intellectually without riling them up emotionally? What skills are needed to be able to have detailed, productive conversations across a wide range of topics? How can you push through plateaus in the process of self-improvement? What are

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01:24:52

Volunteering to be infected with COVID — for science!...

Clearer Thinking with Spencer Greenberg ·

2022/04/06

Read the full transcript here. How can we develop vaccines more quickly? What kinds of study designs are used (or could be used) during vaccine development? In pandemic situations, we need to roll out vaccines quickly; but even if we can develop and test a vaccine quickly and thoroughly, how confident can we be that there won't be long-term risks? Between ethics and pragmatics, which facet should communicators emphasize when trying to convince organizations and institutions to adopt certain vaccine

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01:09:34

What we really mean when we say that something will...

Clearer Thinking with Spencer Greenberg ·

2022/03/30

Read the full transcript here. Graphic novels have been around for a long time, so why have graphic novel sales skyrocketed suddenly in the last year or two? Is that growth representative of a possible trend away from reading text-only books? Do animated movies and TV shows allow for greater suspension of disbelief than their live-action counterparts? Does animation make it easier for movies and TV shows to push the boundaries of what's culturally acceptable? What is "soft" power, and why is it so

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01:01:52

Why is self-compassion so hard? (with Kristin Neff)

Clearer Thinking with Spencer Greenberg ·

2022/03/23

Read the full transcript here. What is self-compassion? Why do people struggle so much to show themselves the same kind of compassion that they regularly show to others? How can parents find a successful middle ground between authoritativeness / harshness and permissiveness / love? Should our love for ourselves be unconditional? What's the difference between shame and guilt? What should we make of people who are neither compassionate nor cruel to themselves because they simply don't practice

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01:55:51

Why it's so hard to have confidence that charities...

Clearer Thinking with Spencer Greenberg ·

2022/03/16

Read the full transcript here. How does GiveWell's approach to charity differ from other charitable organizations? Why does GiveWell list such a small number of recommended charities? How does GiveWell handle the fact that different moral frameworks measure causes differently? Why has GiveWell increased its preference for health-related causes over time? How does GiveWell weight QALYs and DALYs? How much does GiveWell rely on a priori moral philosophy versus people's actual moral intuitions? Why

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00:54:42

Shovelgloves and extreme moderation (with Reinhard...

Clearer Thinking with Spencer Greenberg ·

2022/03/09

Read the full transcript here. What is "extreme" moderation? What is the "No S" diet? What is a "shovelglove"? Why be a luddite only on the weekend? What are some better alternatives to traditional habit tracking?In the real world, Reinhard Engels is a librarian, software engineer, and father of three. But on the Internet, he's a diet, exercise, and productivity guru. His shtick is something called "Systematic Moderation": simple, common-sense, psychology-based rules for building sustainable good

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00:43:53

Mental models that apply across disciplines (with...

Clearer Thinking with Spencer Greenberg ·

2022/03/02

Read the full transcript here. What is a mental model? What are "the three buckets"? How can Galilean relativity and alloying apply to non-science parts of life? What is the goal-gradient hypothesis? Why is it useful to know about signalling, especially in a social context? How can the concept of marginal safety apply outside of investing? More generally, why should people learn about mental models?Blas Moros is writer, thinker, and entrepreneur. He's the CEO of Frontier and the founder of

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01:35:42

Accessing pure consciousness at any moment (with Loch...

Clearer Thinking with Spencer Greenberg ·

2022/02/23

Read the full transcript here. What is "awakening"? What is a "stateless" state? What is nonduality? Why and how do some spiritual practitioners experience a dissolution of their sense of self? Do these altered or enlightened states require thousands of hours of practice to achieve, or are they always inside us, waiting to be noticed and accessed at any time? Can these states be accessed through a variety of paths and methods? Is there a certain kind of person that does better or worse at achieving

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01:16:34

Fight, flight, freeze, fawn (with Sasha Raskin)

Clearer Thinking with Spencer Greenberg ·

2022/02/16

Read the full transcript here. When does positivity become toxic? When is it appropriate (or not) to give advice? Can depression really be healed without systemic changes? What are some ways that society at large gaslights people? Why do women sometimes not come forward after sexual assault? What is "freeze or faun"? Do men suffer as much under patriarchy as women?Sasha Raskin is the Founder of A Beautiful Mess (ABM), a mental health organization that runs corporate talks and events to combat

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01:11:57

The science of addiction (with Crystal Dilworth)

Clearer Thinking with Spencer Greenberg ·

2022/02/10

Read the full transcript here. Why do people get addicted to cigarettes? Should people use nicotine as a stimulant (without smoking it, of course)? What percent of people have a hard time quitting smoking once they start? What genetic factors predispose a person to nicotine addiction? How addictive is alcohol relative to nicotine? Is vaping less addictive and/or less negatively impactful on cardiovascular health than smoking? How can we train scientists to be better leaders? How valuable are

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01:17:27

Evidence, reason, and compassion for all sentient...

Clearer Thinking with Spencer Greenberg ·

2022/02/02

Read the full transcript here. How can we encourage people to increase their critical thinking and reliance on evidence in the current information climate? What types of evidence "count" as valid, useful, or demonstrative? And what are the relative strengths and weaknesses of those types? Could someone reasonably come to believe just about anything, provided that they live through very specific sets of experiences? What does it mean to have a "naturalistic" epistemology? How does a philosophical

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01:16:45

Can the economy grow indefinitely? (with Alyssa Vance)

Clearer Thinking with Spencer Greenberg ·

2022/01/26

Read the full transcript here. How is the economy like a differential equation? Can the economy grow indefinitely? Are there economic attractor states? Or are economic outcomes chaotic and/or extremely sensitive to certain variables? What should we know about progress in genetic engineering? Can you (and should you) do genetic engineering in your garage? What are some common mistakes people make when thinking about AI? Should we expect AI abilities to converge in some domains and diverge in others

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308 results

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