Aligning society with our deepest values and sources of meaning (with Joe Edelman)

Read the full transcript here. (https://podcast.clearerthinking.org/episode/209/#transcript) • What are the best ways to define "values" and "meaning"? How can democratic processes harness people's intrinsic values and sources of meaning to increase their agency, cooperation, participation, equality, etc.? To what extent do political rivals — or even the bitterest of political enemies — actually value many of the same things? Might we be able to use AIs as "neutral" third-party mediators to help reduce political polarization, especially on an interpersonal level? How can we transform our personal values and sources of meaning into positive, shared visions for society? Are markets inherently antisocial? Or are they just easily made to be so? Companies frequently invoke our deepest needs and values as a bait-and-switch to sell us their goods and services; but since there must actually be demand to have those deep needs met and those deep values realized, why do companies so rarely attempt to supply goods and services that address those things directly? Assuming there actually is a lot of overlap in intrinsic values and sources of meaning across individuals and across groups, why do we still have such a hard time developing shared visions for society? • Joe Edelman is a philosopher, sociologist, and entrepreneur. He invented the meaning-based metrics used at CouchSurfing, Facebook, and Apple, and co-founded the Center for Humane Technology and the Meaning Alignment Institute. His biggest contribution is a definition of "human values" that's precise enough to create product metrics, aligned ML models, and values-based democratic structures. Follow him on Twitter / X at @edelwax (https://twitter.com/edelwax), email him at hello@meaningalignment.org (mailto:hello@meaningalignment.org), or learn more about him and the Meaning Alignment Institute (https://meaningalignment.org/) (@meaningaligned (https://twitter.com/meaningaligned) on Twitter / X). • Further reading • "OpenAI x DFT: The First Moral Graph" by Joe Edelman and Oliver Klingefjord (https://meaningalignment.substack.com/p/the-first-moral-graph) — "Beyond Constitutional AI; Our first trial with 500 Americans; How democratic processes can generate an LLM we can trust." • "Replica Theory" by Spencer Greenberg (https://www.spencergreenberg.com/2021/10/simulacrum-theory/) • Joe's GPT bots for exploring your personal values (https://humsys.notion.site/GPTs-eb6d89729a87421ab5822f0ad6d36fef?pvs=4) • Staff • Spencer Greenberg (https://www.spencergreenberg.com/) — Host / Director • Josh Castle (mailto:joshrcastle@gmail.com) — Producer • Ryan Kessler (https://tone.support/) — Audio Engineer • Uri Bram (https://uribram.com/) — Factotum • WeAmplify (https://www.weamplify.info/) — Transcriptionists • Alexandria D. — Research and Special Projects Assistant • Music • Broke for Free (https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Broke_For_Free/Something_EP/Broke_For_Free_-_Something_EP_-_05_Something_Elated) • Josh Woodward (https://www.joshwoodward.com/song/AlreadyThere) • Lee Rosevere (https://archive.org/details/MusicForPodcasts04/Lee+Rosevere+-+Music+for+Podcasts+4+-+11+Keeping+Stuff+Together.flac) • Quiet Music for Tiny Robots (https://www.freemusicarchive.org/music/Quiet_Music_for_Tiny_Robots/The_February_Album/05_Tiny_Robot_Armies) • wowamusic (https://gamesounds.xyz/?dir=wowamusic) • zapsplat.com (https://www.zapsplat.com/music/summer-haze-slow-chill-out-house-track-with-a-modern-pop-feel-warm-piano-chords-underpin-the-track-with-warm-pads-and-a-repetitive-synth-arpeggio/) • Affiliates • Clearer Thinking (https://www.clearerthinking.org/) • GuidedTrack (https://guidedtrack.com/) • Mind Ease (https://mindease.io/) • Positly (https://positly.com/) • UpLift (https://www.uplift.app/) [Read more: https://podcast.clearerthinking.org/episode/209/joe-edelman-aligning-society-with-our-deepest-values-and-sources-of-meaning]

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Clearer Thinking is a podcast about ideas that truly matter. If you enjoy learning about powerful, practical concepts and frameworks, wish you had more deep, intellectual conversations in your life, or are looking for non-BS self-improvement, then we think you'll love this podcast! Each week we invite a brilliant guest to bring four important ideas to discuss for an in-depth conversation. Topics include psychology, society, behavior change, philosophy, science, artificial intelligence, math, economics, self-help, mental health, and technology. We focus on ideas that can be applied right now to make your life better or to help you better understand yourself and the world, aiming to teach you the best mental tools to enhance your learning, self-improvement efforts, and decision-making. • We take on important, thorny questions like: • What's the best way to help a friend or loved one going through a difficult time? How can we make our worldviews more accurate? How can we hone the accuracy of our thinking? What are the advantages of using our "gut" to make decisions? And when should we expect careful, analytical reflection to be more effective? Why do societies sometimes collapse? And what can we do to reduce the chance that ours collapses? Why is the world today so much worse than it could be? And what can we do to make it better? What are the good and bad parts of tradition? And are there more meaningful and ethical ways of carrying out important rituals, such as honoring the dead? How can we move beyond zero-sum, adversarial negotiations and create more positive-sum interactions?