Two Psychologists Four Beers

Sergio Barbosa (Universidad del Rosario, Bogotá) and Alma Jeftic (International Christian University, Tokyo) join Yoel to talk about big team science. We talk about some of the problems that can come up when you are trying to collect data in many countries around the world, including how constructs might need to be measured differently and how ethics committees in different countries can have really different ideas about what is a problematic question. Sergio and Alma explain the terms "majority world" and "minority world," and how researchers in poorer countries are sometimes relegated to being 65th author on a 100-author paper. We also talk about some possible fixes: blind review of project proposals, leaving equipment and skills behind after a project ends, and projects led by researchers from outside the West. Finally, Alma and Sergio tell Yoel about ABRIR, the network Alma helped found to bring majority-world researchers into big team science, and Sergio's upcoming Psychological Science Accelerator project on social evaluation.

Also, Sergio makes some very tasty cocktails while Yoel drinks like a beer and a half.
Special Guests: Alma Jeftic and Sergio Barbosa.

Harvard psychologist and philosopher Josh Greene joins the show to talk about his influential work in moral psychology and why he has partly moved from basic science to applied projects. We talk about two ways he's trying to apply his research to change the real world. The first is Giving Multiplier, a donation platform that nudges people towards higher-impact giving (listeners can get extra matching funds on Giving Multiplier by visiting https://givingmultiplier.org/invite/BEERS). The second is Tango, an online interactive quiz game that gets Democrats and Republicans to like each other a little better.

Let's hope Mickey never finds out that this episode features zero (0) alcoholic drinks. Josh drinks some fancy adult sodas, and Yoel, who is less fancy, drinks a Red Bull.

Also, the question everyone has been asking: is Josh a moral realist?
Special Guest: Josh Greene.

Andy Masley joins Yoel and Mickey to talk about a claim that's made him (in)famous: using AI chatbots doesn't meaningfully affect your carbon footprint or water usage. We discuss what data centers actually do with water, why "ten times a Google search" is not a useful metric, and why people really don't want data centers built near them.

We also talk about Andy's involvement in effective altruism, which criticisms of it he takes seriously, and whether a grant from an EA funder should make you trust him less. Plus, some self-driving car discourse, and Yoel tries to drink a bottle of bourbon.

Finally, a small correction from Andy: "I misspoke at 48:00 and said you'd need to send 150,000 prompts to raise your emissions by 1%, I got my wires crossed with how much you'd need to double your emissions and the actual number should be 1,500 per day."
Special Guest: Andy Masley.

Paul and Yoel talk about whether it's a problem that psychologists seem to be no better than laypeople at predicting behavior. We also cover a recent controversy in anthropology, talk a little bit about the Odyssey (movie), and discuss whether people ought to be drinking more.

(Sorry about the clicking in Paul's audio--we did what we could to tone it down!)
Special Guest: Paul Bloom.

Cognitive scientist Molly Crockett joins the show to talk about what it's like to be known in the field as an "AI skeptic." We talk about where Molly is actually skeptical, but also what she thinks that label gets wrong. Along the way, we cover a bunch of other things too: Molly's research in social neuroscience, computational modeling, and moral psychology; Molly and Mickey's disagreements about empathic AI; and Molly's case for what she's calling "thick empathy." Finally, Molly makes a pitch for non-alcoholic beer, which sadly falls on deaf ears.
Special Guest: Molly Crockett.