Holly Elmore
The Turing Test
The Turing Test #5: Brian Tomasik
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The Turing Test #5: Brian Tomasik

Brian Tomasik writes about ethics, animal welfare, and far-future scenarios from a suffering-focused perspective, all of which you can find on reducing-suffering.com.

He helped to found Foundational Research Institute, a think tank that explores crucial considerations for reducing suffering in the long-run future. (Full-disclosure, Holly is currently a contractor for FRI.)

Previously, Brian earned to give as a programmer at FlyHomes, and before that at Microsoft.

Brian is something of a cult figure in EA. You’ll see in the interview that he has an extremely thoroughly thought out viewpoint that still strikes a lot of EAs as very unituitive. That combination is pretty irresistable. Brian has changed our minds a lot and convinced me of the importance of a lot of things I previously overlooked. And he does it with such serenity and goodwill that you can’t help but like him while he’s dutifully showing you how wrong you are. Ales and I really loved the experience, and we hope you will, too.

https://harvardeapodcast.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/brian_tomasik_finished_9-16-17.mp3

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Holly Elmore
The Turing Test
Harvard student Effective Altruism members Holly Elmore and Ales Flidr interviews thinkers, movers, and shakers to "test" whether they can see important issues from different perspectives. Season 1 guests include Larry Summers, Josh Greene, Irene Pepperberg, and more!