In this episode, we chat with Robin Hanson about his proposed solution to falling fertility rates in the US: since each newborn is effectively responsible for hundreds of thousands in national debt obligations, governments could endow parents with a portion of their children’s future tax payments - creating a win-win scenario where both parents and the nation's fiscal future benefit. Robin also shares his approach to his career, risk-taking and how to succeed as a polymath.

Relevant Links:

Policy proposal to incentivize higher fertility (Robin Hanson)

Can we afford to buy marginal babies (Regan Arntz-Gray)

That fertile formula is inefficient (Regan Arntz-Gray)

Robin Hanson and Agnes Callard on Transformative Choices

In this conversation, we chat with Robin Hanson about his thesis on cultural drift, exploring the implications of the global monoculture and reduced selection pressures on the long-term future of humanity. We think through the mechanisms for and potential solutions to cultural drift, such as deep multiculturalism, human-level AI, adaptive transcendent narratives, prediction markets (futarchy) and more.

Links to Hanson's posts on Cultural Drift:

Rational Culture

When Lawyers Sing

Floppy vs Stiff Concepts

Culture Drift Predicts Decadence

Betrayed by Culture

Links to other work by Hanson's that you might find interesting :

Hanson's Book on Signaling Theory - Elephant in the Brain (we highly recommend this book!)

Hanson's Book on Brain Emulation - The Age of Em

Overcoming Bias - Hanson's Blog

Hanson's Paper on Futarchy

In this episode of Moral Mayhem, we discuss and debate the ideas presented in Robin Hanson's essays on cultural drift. We examine his central argument that the emergence of a global monoculture, coupled with reduced existential pressures such as war and famine, enables the persistence of biologically maladaptive cultural values— falling fertility rates being the case in point. Some related questions we touch on:

-- The challenges of aligning incentives and welfare across space and time

-- The feasibility of consciously shaping cultural values

-- The interplay between technological progress, economic incentives, and fertility rates

-- The possibility of maintaining cultural diversity while preserving peace and cooperation

Links to Hanson’s blogs on the topic:

How to fix cultural drift

Betrayed by culture

Culture drift predicts decadence

Floppy vs stiff concepts

When lawyers sing

Rational culture