Rob Wiblin is a founder and leader of the modern Effective Altruism movement…. and one of my oldest friends!
This conversation is different because there’s not much about Effective Altruism – there’s Rob’s excellent podcast and prolific writing for that. This conversation is a chat between old mates, and it tries to track our intellectual development since we were teens. Is that self-indulgent? Maybe! But it’s the conversation I was excited to have with Rob.
We cover a lot:
What Rob learnt from his parents
How we shaped each other’s views
My Theory of Rob
Rob’s excellent conversation with Russ Roberts (best rebuttal of Effective Altruism on record)
How Rob’s views have changed since starting out with EA and how confident he is in his views
What keeps him up at night
Whether he’s winning
Should we stop eating animals?
What we’re watching
Why has the Lord of The Rings held up so well?
Podcasting tips
On kids
Was learning Spanish a mistake?
What was it like being an exchange student in Spain
On institutional decline and the US today
Hope you enjoy, and let me know what you think.
Portrait of an Effective Altruist as a Young Man (my conversation with Rob Wiblin)