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Non • Zero • Sum James

Non • Zero • Sum James

A Philosophy and Society & Culture podcast

#60 in Philosophy · 🇦🇪 #165 in Philosophy · 🇳🇿
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About the show

A podcast where I read my blog to you, and chit-chat a little. I'm Non-Zero-Sum James, your companion on this exploration of win-win games and how they are essential for a better future. I've been writing here at nonzerosum.games for a couple of years now, and decided it was finally time to reproduce the content in the form in which I usually consume media, audio. So, playing catch-up, every couple of days I'll be reading from the blog, exploring a new aspect of game theory, moral philosophy, ethical economics and AI—looking for solutions to the complex problems we face in our world together.

Newest episodes

The Natural Alliance of Everyone Else

25 min

My contention, in this post, is that there are always, and always will be, more individuals who are interested in their continued survival than there are those who need to dominate all, and those interested in continued survival will rightly see a dominant individual as a threat to their survival. I call this "The Natural Alliance of Everyone Else". | If you'd like to check out the original post, visit: https://nonzerosum.games/naturalallianceofeveryoneelse.html

What is the Meta-Crisis?

25 min

A big one, about the mother of all coordination problems. | For the original post with links and pictures visit: https://nonzerosum.games/metacrisis.html

Bayesian Games... with nukes.

14 min

One of the strangest dynamics in geopolitical history has to be that of Mutually Assured Destruction (M.A.D.), it is almost as crazy as its name suggests... but now everything has changed. | Visit the original post for links and pictures here: https://nonzerosum.games/bayesiangameswithnukes.html

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All episodes

The Natural Alliance of Everyone Else

25 min

My contention, in this post, is that there are always, and always will be, more individuals who are interested in their continued survival than there are those who need to dominate all, and those interested in continued survival will rightly see a dominant individual as a threat to their survival. I call this "The Natural Alliance of Everyone Else". | If you'd like to check out the original post, visit: https://nonzerosum.games/naturalallianceofeveryoneelse.html

What is the Meta-Crisis?

25 min

A big one, about the mother of all coordination problems. | For the original post with links and pictures visit: https://nonzerosum.games/metacrisis.html

Bayesian Games... with nukes.

14 min

One of the strangest dynamics in geopolitical history has to be that of Mutually Assured Destruction (M.A.D.), it is almost as crazy as its name suggests... but now everything has changed. | Visit the original post for links and pictures here: https://nonzerosum.games/bayesiangameswithnukes.html

The Dark Side of Cooperation

8 min

In this episode we explore the ways in which siloed cooperation can make conflict worse, and make cooperative groups dangerous to "The Other". | For the original post and links visit: https://nonzerosum.games/darksideofalignment.html

Humans are Alignment Generators

5 min

This episode in our alignment series considers Emmett Shear’s position that human may actually be uniquely suited to creating alignment. | For the original post and links visit: https://nonzerosum.games/alignmentgenerators.html

An Amicable Ape—Revisiting Alignment

8 min

The following 7 (and a bit) part series of posts revisits the idea of goal alignment between humanity and artificial intelligence, and within humanity between the individual and the collective. | To read along (with illustrations) visit: https://nonzerosum.games/amicableape.html

Win-Winning with Liv Boeree

1 hr 21 min

This week’s guest; Liv Boeree—host of the Win-Win Podcast, has been a key inspiration for nonzerosum.games from the start. Liv studied astrophysics and rose to prominence in the world of high-stakes poker. But for me, the public discussion she’s fuelled about using game theory and specifically win-win games, Moloch, effective altruism, and systems thinking to solve many pressing issues in the world today, is what interests me and made me realise there was an audience for these topics. This week you all get to meet her, as we sit down for our first ever Video podcast—an expansive discussion about psychopathic competitiveness, Moloch and his new friend Norma, mutually assured destruction, AI swarms and some fun stuff too; computer games, books and experimental dialogues. Chapters: 00:00:00 Introduction 00:03:28 Interview Starts 00:08:03 OpenAI swarm hacks Hugging Face & Mythos first strike 00:13:16 The Super-Defector 00:15:58 A glimmer of hope 00:18:53 Collaborative competition 00:30:28 Liv's obsession with Polytopia 00:35:41 Making games more win-win 00:37:49 Moloch & Norma 00:45:35 Daniel Suarez’s “Daemon” 00:46:43 Returning to win-win game development 00:50:28 Neutropia 00:52:52 The Meta-Crisis 00:58:17 10 Principles of Win-Win 01:02:08 The end of M.A.D. 01:06:04 The importance of storytelling 01:09:37 Faces of X & The Anti-Debate 01:12:30 Effective Altruism's fascination with AI X-risk 01:17:53 The future Liv wants to see Mentions: Win-Win Podcast Faces of X Elowyn: Quest of Time Neutropia Emmett Shear's Interview (with sketch-notes) Wes Roth on Mythos first strike The Super-Defector

The Dividual—are we falling apart?

7 min

The concept of a dividual raises an interesting question about how something can be both an entity, but also divisible. It's one of those terms which, since I've learned it, I see it everywhere, it's felt more and more relevant to the world today, as if we're living a new era of the dividual. | For the original post and links, visit: https://nonzerosum.games/dividual.html

Are You a Crab in a Bucket?

4 min

A classic behavioural model... perhaps not entirely based on scientific evidence, but an instructive story none the less. | For the original post and links: https://nonzerosum.games/crabbucket.html

Furry Friends

3 min

More and more my social feeds are populated with these little treats—interspecies friendships that give us a glimpse into the world of non-zero-sum interactions. | To enjoy all the visuals with the audio... visit: https://nonzerosum.games/furryfriends.html

Parable of a Polyp

4 min

Kicking off a series of episodes focused on non-zero-sum games in nature, beginning with a cooperative game with the highest of stakes. | For the original post and links: https://nonzerosum.games/parableofapolyp.html

Interview: Vincent Knight—Game Theorist

59 min

Our very first podcast interview, and starting strong with a Professor of Game Theory, Vince Knight from the University of Cardiff all the way on the other side of the world in Wales. | We sat down to talk about all sorts of applications of game theory in our personal and political lives, from his cutting edge research. A fabulous communicator and advocate for making the world a better place through game theory—a perfect interview to start a new feature of the podcast.

Coach Krohn on Leadership

8 min

This episode is a special one, with a special guest—my friend Coach Stuart (the Moose) Krohn. I explore Stuart's impact as a specialist in creating leaders.

Emergence Spirals

20 min

In response to Elizier Yudkowski's essay "The Futility of Emergence" I take a very long time explaining some ways to define and recognise emergence in a way that is useful. | For the original post and links: https://nonzerosum.games/emergencespirals.html

Emergence is Beautiful

10 min

What does living in an entropic universe mean for beauty... or meaning itself? | Original post and links: https://nonzerosum.games/emergenceisbeautiful.html

Replicators—The Pandoran Children of Emergence

8 min

This episode explores Susan Blackmore's concept of Temes and the importance of replicators when understanding emergence. | Original post and links: https://nonzerosum.games/replicators.html

On the Shoulders of Substrates

6 min

In the 5th part in our Emergence series, we look at a key mechanism of emergence; substrates. | Visit the original post here: https://nonzerosum.games/substrates.html

Emergent Gravity

7 min

This is one where you'll want to visit the page (https://nonzerosum.games/graviton.html) because it has an interactive gravity simulation that is central to the piece. This is a (speculative) proof of concept that went a bit further than initially expected, and likely a strong candidate for the Dunning-Kruger Effect.

Emergence vs Entropy—a Universal Paradox

6 min

How does emergence happen in a world determined by the second law of thermodynamics? It turns out that the universal trend towards entropy allows for pockets of emergence... as long as it increases entropy in the end! | For the original post visit: https://nonzerosum.games/emergencevsentropy.html

Conway's Game—Emergence 2/8

4 min

Now let's start looking at the dynamics of emergence—how to simple rules give rise to complexity. To do this we'll look at a simulation called "Conway's Game of Life" to see this process in action. | To play with the interactive simulations, visit: https://nonzerosum.games/conwaysgame.html

The Cosmic Lottery—a prelude to emergence.

10 min

Imagine you wake up one morning to a phone call, you've won a million dollars... well, you have, kinda, your prize though is consciousness. Join us on an 8-part series about non-zero-sumness at the very foundations of physics | https://nonzerosum.games/cosmiclottery.html

Taking Credit

2 min

Ever told someone your idea, only to hear them pass it off as their own? Well done, that's how passing on ideas works. | https://nonzerosum.games/takingcredit.html

Collaborative Corner

4 min

Want to work together to make something greater than the sum of our parts. Let's talk! | https://nonzerosum.games/collaborativecorner.html

5 Creative Principles

13 min

It's our birthday... well, it was when the original post was written, so this episode goes behind the scenes at the site, focusing in on five creative principles (six actually) that can be applied to any creative project. | For the original post, pictures and diagrams visit: https://nonzerosum.games/creativeprinciples.html

Why I'm Keeping My Crappy Drawings

10 min

This episode kicks off a group of episodes about creativity, beginning with my response to the proliferation of generative AI "art", and how it won't change my process, or art in general—it's something altogether different, like photography. | For the original post, links and pictures visit: https://nonzerosum.games/crappydrawings.html

What About Us—Polymaths 3/3

8 min

So, we've seen how reasoning by analogy can help people express their genius, but what about us normies? In this final episode of our Polymaths series we ask how this approach can help us, and how first principles can really backfire on a social level | For the original post and links visit: https://nonzerosum.games/polymaths3.html

An Argument for Analogies—Polymaths 1/3

7 min

This three-part series looks at two different ways that genius and innovation manifest in the world: first principles thinking and arguing by analogy. | For the original post and links visit: https://nonzerosum.games/analogies1.html

The Alignment Problem No One is Talking About—Solutions

4 min

This series is not just about raising concerns, throughout we have been focused on specific and philosophical solutions to the problems raised and in this final post we gather these all in one place, ending the series with you hopefully feeling empowered to be part of the solution. | For the original post and links visit: https://nonzerosum.games/alignment6.html

The Alignment Problem No One is Talking About—Can AI Help?

7 min

In this episode we ask if AI might be able to help with humanity's own alignment problem. Could making AI's primary objective be alignment, and have its current functionality grow out of that—performing tasks and answering questions for instance—as an extension of a general principle of aligning with human interests? | For the original post and links: https://nonzerosum.games/alignment5.html

The End of Morality

7 min

A hopeful conclusion to Andrew Tane Glen's series "Why Cooperate" | See the original post and links here: https://nonzerosum.games/whycooperate3.html

Why Cooperate?—Part 2

4 min

Andrew Tane Glen continues his 3-part series "Why Cooperate" | for the original post and links: https://nonzerosum.games/whycooperate2.html

Why Cooperate?—Andrew Tane Glen introduces the super-defector

5 min

this week I've invited Andrew Tane Glen to read his guest post "Why Cooperate". Andrew a software engineer and an Aristotle scholar (with a Masters in Philosophy) and also my best mate, with whom I talk philosophy on the regular. His unique creative and analytical philosophical approach often yields unexpected insights—insights that have impacted the way I see the world. His conception of why we cooperate, which introduces his concept of the super defector is one that I return to often, so a while back I asked him to write about it. This is his three part series, why cooperate? | For the original post and links visit: https://nonzerosum.games/whycooperate1.html

What Can One Person do?—Alexei Navalny

4 min

Written on the day of Alexei Navalny's death, a meditation on courage & sacrifice. | For the original post with links and resources: https://nonzerosum.games/oneperson.html

Masculinity—a case for courage

11 min

This one created a bit of a stir when I first wrote the post. Hopefully people can see that the message is a positive one, for everyone. | For the original post and links, visit: https://nonzerosum.games/masculinity.html

The NPC → MC Spectrum

7 min

For supplementary diagrams and links visit: https://nonzerosum.games/npc.html

No Matter Where You Get To... There You Are

6 min

A funny story that wasn't so funny at the time (as is so often the case). | For the original post visit: https://nonzerosum.games/nomatterwhereyougetto.html

Paine on Economic Justice

8 min

The system didn't and doesn't need to be this way. | For the original post visit: https://nonzerosum.games/painejustice.html

Rights & Liberties—are opposites

9 min

I'm always trying to picture in my mind what sort of society I want to live in. To do this is to balancing the freedoms I'm willing to forego in order to provide rights that we determine to be essential to a healthy society. | This week's episode explores the new way of looking at Rights & Liberties, as a way of codifying this process, rather being used as vaguely interchangeable terms. | For the original post and references visit: https://nonzerosum.games/rightsandliberties.html

Why People in Poverty Make Poor Decisions

5 min

In this episode we make the case for giving money to people who are bad with money! | For the original post and links visit: https://nonzerosum.games/poverty.html

Saving Lives Reduces Overpopulation

11 min

I will be making the case that somewhat counter-intuitively, by saving lives we actually reduce over-population. | For the full post and references: https://nonzerosum.games/savinglives.html

Effortocracy ~ I've had meritocracy all wrong

14 min

've been wrong about the meaning of Meritocracy, and for good reason, there are many different definitions—the term has been used as a pejorative, as an aspirational term, as a definition of a government, and as a general way of allocating credit to individuals. But I understood it as this: A society where a person's rewards reflect their efforts (merit) | For links, pictures and references check out the original post here: https://nonzerosum.games/effortocracy.html

Saidi, My Friend

8 min

This episode begins a series on luck and circumstances, and asks "What do we owe to each other?" | For the original post and links visit: https://nonzerosum.games/saidi.html

Goodhart's Law ~ the problem with singular goals

11 min

This is one of those ideas that constantly recurs in my mind throughout my day, one of those perspective-affecting mental models that helps me navigate the world, and hopefully will do the same for you. | For the full post and links: https://nonzerosum.games

See all 80 episodes

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