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Found in the Struce

Found in the Struce

By David Reinstein

Ideas shouldn't get "lost in the struce": they should be put on a podcast! Explaining challenging concepts from economics, statistics, social science, data science/tech, philosophy and EA... without watering it down. You'll come away with real knowledge and insight that you didn't have before. - Reading and discussing articles and posts; mine & others - Short takes/short ideas, & some gripes and musings on language, society, & culture. - Findings & themes from behavioral science, carefully considering the *evidence* (not just sensational headlines).
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Currently playing episode

"Turismo Eficaz" (EA Mexico Fellowship 1/n episodes). Discussions with Agustin Covarrubias, a taxi driver, and a bit more. [Fixed ordering]

Found in the StruceMay 24, 2023

00:00
50:12
"Turismo Eficaz" (EA Mexico Fellowship 1/n episodes). Discussions with Agustin Covarrubias, a taxi driver, and a bit more. [Fixed ordering]

"Turismo Eficaz" (EA Mexico Fellowship 1/n episodes). Discussions with Agustin Covarrubias, a taxi driver, and a bit more. [Fixed ordering]

First of maybe 3 episodes with some audio giving you a flavor of (my experience of) the EA Mexico Fellowship. Most of this episode surrounds my conversations with Agustin Covarrubias.


Some people might find the "Branches of AI Safety" (jump to that section) the most interesting part.


27 May 2023 -- Sorry, I see the audio ordering was wrong — my 30 second comment on Columbus should not have been at the beginning. I moved it.

May 24, 202350:12
Seeing the effects of your donation and making incremental choices (EA Forum)
Dec 26, 202119:30
The Economics of the Gift

The Economics of the Gift

I read and blather about "The Economics of the Gift", an essay I wrote for an interdisciplinary conference and book on "Gift Giving and the 'Embedded Economy' in the ancient world". 

Part of a planned multi-part series on "reading old stuff I wrote and seeing how much I cringe". 


Full essay is HERE


Ties in with 

- Profusion data podcast Christmassy special

- EA forum post: seeing the effects of your donation


From the essay abstract:

This essay broadly considers gifts, giving, and gift economies, modern and pre-modern, from a mainstream (and behavioural) economics perspective. I present a selective survey of the literature focusing on six key points:

1. Commercial transactions sustained by reputation are not easily distinguishable from gift exchange economies;

2. Gift-giving allows the giver to accumulate goods that cannot be purchased commercially;

3. When the giver retains some use, experience, or control over the gift, she shares in the consumption of it;

4. Considering behavioural issues such as regret aversion, gift-giving may offer overlooked efficiencies that may balance out the deadweight losses from ‘inadequate gifts’;

5. Aggregate (anonymous) giving can be an important signal of overall group identity and character;

6. Historical modes of ‘giving under pressure’ offer insights for modern public policy and philanthropy

Dec 24, 202101:40:31
But what *is* "The Struce"? And why do we think we can find things in it?

But what *is* "The Struce"? And why do we think we can find things in it?

Finally answering the burning question!

Dec 08, 202101:36
Part II: Reading EA Forum post, "Differences in the Intensity of Valenced Experience across Species" by Jason Schukraft
Dec 07, 202101:16:16
"Differences in the Intensity of Valenced Experience across Species" by Jason Schukraft -- part 1

"Differences in the Intensity of Valenced Experience across Species" by Jason Schukraft -- part 1

Reading EA Forum post, "Differences in the Intensity of Valenced Experience across Species" by Jason Schukraft ... with only a few comments and explainers

"Why it would matter if different sorts of animals possessed characteristically different intensity ranges of valenced experience" -- Jason

Oversimply perhaps, do some animals 'feel more pain' (and more pleasure) than others ... so which ones do we need to worry about (the most)?

This is a nice long post -- so I'll split these between 2 episodes.

Here, I read through "Cognitive Sophistication and Intensity of Valenced Experience"

Nov 21, 202101:23:58
Not an official FITS episode! Audio/organization is below standard. Discussion of Michael Plant's appearance on Clearer Thinking, and his work in general
Nov 05, 202101:11:42
"The value of money going to different groups"  (...the very very poor vs the very very very poor) by Toby Ord -- reading & discussion

"The value of money going to different groups" (...the very very poor vs the very very very poor) by Toby Ord -- reading & discussion

Would it be better for

  • $100 to go to someone living on $300 a year or
  • $200 to go to someone earning $500 per year?

This is a really tough choice, but one organizations like GiveDirectly need to think about.   How can we consider it? 

I read and discuss Toby Ord's EA Forum post and linked CEA article. And I interject, explain, and comment. A lot.

(By the way, I leave some hypothes.is comments on the latter page, if you want to engage.)

This ties into longstanding a major theoretical and empirical questions in Economics (Welfare economics, Public Choice, Development, Risk preference elicitation, Happiness). But I think it's thorny unresolved. 

But practical choices must be made that rely crucially on how we value (e.g.) the above A versus B. And I really don't know how major orgs (like the World Bank, the UN, USAID, DFiD, WHO, Gates Foundation) and think tanks/research groups (like JPAL, IPA, CGDEV) consider these tradeoffs.

Get in touch (or leave a message on Anchor) if you want to add to this conversation, or have some suggested references and redings. 

Oct 27, 202101:01:17
"Psychological barriers to effective altruism: An evolutionary perspective" ... reading, discussion, perusing some of the cited work
Oct 21, 202101:47:44
Cultured meat: A comparison of techno-economic analyses -- reading from the EA Forum (by Linch and Neil Dullaghan, Rethink Priorities)

Cultured meat: A comparison of techno-economic analyses -- reading from the EA Forum (by Linch and Neil Dullaghan, Rethink Priorities)

I read  "Cultured meat: A comparison of techno-economic analyses"

I added some comments including a few 'what does this mean?'  cries for help. 

Note, I mentioned stray content in one place when it was actually a link to a google doc -- I was reading this on a black and white e-reader that didn't show this as a link. 

Some highlights: Laugh at my mispronunciation of biological terms, and mixing up the Greek letters upsilon and mu.

 

Oct 04, 202101:47:47
Reading and remarks on Jamie Harris, "Evidence from two studies of EA careers advice interventions", EA Forum

Reading and remarks on Jamie Harris, "Evidence from two studies of EA careers advice interventions", EA Forum

Reading and some comments on [This post](https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/EGoLAH7xaMKt9QHyA/evidence-from-two-studies-of-ea-careers-advice-interventions) on the EA Forum, which I've given feedback on in other ways.

Oct 01, 202151:09
Journal-slaying; The “Evaluated Project Repo” (aka ‘the Unjournal’)  (http://bit.ly/unjournal); Future EA Forum post?

Journal-slaying; The “Evaluated Project Repo” (aka ‘the Unjournal’) (http://bit.ly/unjournal); Future EA Forum post?

Reading from the collaborative Google Doc HERE (http://bit.ly/unjournal), by David Reinstein, with contributions/comments from
Edo Arad, Sergey Frolov, Georgios Kaklamanos, Paula Masuzzo, Ben Smith, Gavin Taylor, Peter Slattery, Cecilia Tilli, Paulo Crosetto, Nathan Young and others

The “Evaluated Project Repo” (aka ‘the Unjournal’):  (http://bit.ly/unjournal)

  • a proposal for peer review/rating, archiving, and open science, aimed at…
    • avoiding rent-extracting publishers,
    • reducing careerist gamesmanship in academia,
    • and making research more effective.
  • Whether/why this particularly aligns with global priorities/effective-altruism research organizations.


Outro music (added 30 Jul 2021)  from "The Third Reviewer" by David Hugh-Jones

Jul 12, 202102:02:09
Reading/comments on EA Forum -- Opinion: Digital marketing is under-utilized in EA by JSWinchell

Reading/comments on EA Forum -- Opinion: Digital marketing is under-utilized in EA by JSWinchell

Reading post here:
https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/cPCra34aCGrYzKcDF/opinion-digital-marketing-is-under-utilized-in-ea?view=postCommentsTop&postId=cPCra34aCGrYzKcDF

As usual, reading the comments and adding some of my own.

See also CountryTime Lemonade ads, an unpaid sponsor of this episode

Jun 29, 202134:30
"Why scientific research is less effective in producing value than it could be: a mapping" -- reading C Tilli's EA Forum post, comments (my own and others)

"Why scientific research is less effective in producing value than it could be: a mapping" -- reading C Tilli's EA Forum post, comments (my own and others)

  • Reading "Why scientific research is less effective in producing value than it could be: a mapping" post in the EA Forum (and peering at some links).
  • Some comments and thoughts/my own experience. 
  • Reading the comments section, especially comments from Linch Zhang, IanDavidMoss, and AllAmericanBreakfast.

Outro snip: "Magic Terrapin" by Alfie Pugh, performed by the Locked Horns 

I hope to follow up on this with a reading/discussion of bit.ly/unjournal (or the EA Forum post version of this, if and when I make it)

Jun 28, 202102:29:39
Part 2 of Reinstein Reads... "Intervention Report: Charter Cities" by David Bernard, Jason Schukraft
Jun 17, 202101:54:09
Reinstein Reads... "Intervention Report: Charter Cities" by David Bernard, Jason Schukraft

Reinstein Reads... "Intervention Report: Charter Cities" by David Bernard, Jason Schukraft

By popular request (N=1), I read  "Intervention Report: Charter Cities by DavidBernard, Jason Schukraft" from Rethink Priorities, as posted on the EA Forum.

- Minimal commentary and explainers (trying to cut back)

- I got through about half the report, tbc soon

Jun 14, 202101:07:33
Sleuths on "The case of the missing cause prioritisation research" (reading/notes on @weeatquince post on EA forum)

Sleuths on "The case of the missing cause prioritisation research" (reading/notes on @weeatquince post on EA forum)

I'm on "The case of the missing cause prioritisation research" by weeatquince


I get into links, comments and more. OK not more, just those things but it sounds better to say "and more".

Here's my reading and takes on the next EA Forum post (suggested by Rossa)...


If you want to engage, maybe add comments in the EA forum post itself, or as Hypothes.is comments on that post.

Also "here's the deal with me" if you want to know about me professionally.

Jun 07, 202101:31:10
Reading (and remarks): Benjamin Todd, EA Forum, Why I've come to think global priorities research is even more important than I thought

Reading (and remarks): Benjamin Todd, EA Forum, Why I've come to think global priorities research is even more important than I thought

I watched An introduction to global priorities research | Rossa O'Keeffe-O'Donovan | EA Student Summit 2020

He recommended two posts to understand the landscape. One was:

Benjamin Todd, EA Forum, "Why I've come to think global priorities research is even more important than I thought", which I read here, with some comments and explainers. I also read some of the hyperlinked content and comments. 

Hope it's helpful. There are some clicking and mic-adjustment sounds. This will be fixed in the next podcast. 

If you want to engage, maybe add comments in the EA forum post itself, or as Hypothes.is comments on that post.  

Also "here's the deal with me" if you want to know about me professionally. 

Jun 07, 202139:29
Losing Face?

Losing Face?

Is it hard on a face when it gets laughed in? Is this hurting the economy, and the world? The back story for some of my recent research and future plans.


Part one of ??

With a brief epilogue with the esteemed Dr. Jeroen van de Ven of the Univ. of Amsterdam.

Am I supposed to put hashtags in this thing? #losingface #gametheory #peanuts #economics #gametheory #psychology #rejectionsensitivity

Aug 27, 202034:14
Podcast Rules
Aug 21, 202013:06