Better to be a realist or an idealist? Economists and political scientists often stress a view of how the world is rather than what it ought to be. But how should we as individuals view our world and the people inhabiting it? Enoch and Tim discuss the merits of both perspectives as they think through when we should choose to be realists and when is it better to be idealists.

Credits: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Drew Elliot⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (music) with additional thanks to the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Wheaton Center for Faith, Politics & Economics⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Recording Date: 17 June 2024

What is the best way to craft a welfare system which best maximizing the flourishing of citizens? Tim and Enoch discuss the nature of Universal Basic Income (UBI) as a replacement to existing welfare programs and review findings on the effectiveness of UBI. As usual, the discussion goes beyond economics and politics as they discuss why lower income populations have worse outcomes such as life expectancy and whether adding money will meaningfully address the problem. They end while reflecting on the very goal of welfare systems and whether countries ever take the time to consider what it means to flourish.

Credits: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Drew Elliot⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (music) with additional thanks to the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Wheaton Center for Faith, Politics & Economics⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Recording Date: 23 July 2024

Richard Hughes Gibson, a Professor of English at Wheaton College, joins Enoch and Tim to discuss the history and impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on society. How is AI distinct from other technological advances and how will it shape the course of history? Professor Gibson has written extensively on the topic and shares his insights as well as assuages fears for an imminent apocalypse.

If you want to read Dr. Gibson on the intellectual origins of today’s text generators, try his article “Language Machinery” that ran in Hedgehog Review last fall (not currently paywalled):

https://hedgehogreview.com/issues/markets-and-the-good/articles/language-machinery

Gibson’s shorter essay on “The New Verbal Economy” is also available on the Hedgehog website:

https://hedgehogreview.com/web-features/thr/posts/the-new-verbal-economy

If you are looking for an accessible introduction to the history of AI research and development, get a copy of Michael Wooldridge’s _A Brief History of Artificial Intelligence_(2021). It was published before the public debut of ChatGPT, so it is already(!) a little bit out of date. But Wooldridge tells the back story of AI exceptionally well, and he *does* include a great chapter on deep learning and the company DeepMind toward the end that is very helpful for understanding current state of machine learning.

If you want an accessible introduction to the breakthrough behind today’s writing machines, so-called “large language models,” try Cal Newport’s article for The New Yorker “What Kind of Mind Does ChatGPT Have?”.

https://www.newyorker.com/science/annals-of-artificial-intelligence/what-kind-of-mind-does-chatgpt-have

Some tech writers for The New York Times built an imitation of ChatGPT, called BabyGPT, that offers an illuminating window into how the “prediction engines” inside these bots improve by testing themselves in training. You need to get over the paywall here; but it’s worth the effort.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/04/26/upshot/gpt-from-scratch.html

Credits: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Drew Elliot⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (music) with additional thanks to the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Wheaton Center for Faith, Politics & Economics⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Recording Date: 19 September 2024