Clearer Thinking with Spencer Greenberg

Why aren't we relying on nuclear power? (with Isabelle Boemeke)

17 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. What explains fearing nuclear more than the harms we tolerate from fossil fuels? Can we judge energy risk by evide...

A conversation with a person with OCD (with David Adam)

10 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. Where is the line between ordinary intrusive thoughts and an OCD pattern that hijacks the day? How do obsessions a...

What, if anything, will save the environment? (with Dan Stein)

03 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. Are we going to solve climate change with technology rather than personal sacrifice? If most offsets fail on addit...

Are markets rational or is sentiment contagious? (with Alex Imas)

26 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. Are stock prices set by cash flows or crowd vibes? Why do bubbles last if “smart money” can short them? What s...

Can you do 100x more good? (with Sjir Hoeijmakers)

19 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. What does “100x more good” mean relative to your current giving? How can your giving more closely align with y...

What is psychosomatic illness? (with Suzanne O'Sullivan)

12 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. Note: Please note that in this episode, Spencer and Dr. O'Sullivan discuss a controversial and complex medical top...

What causes mass shootings? (with Ragy Girgis)

05 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. What do we miss when we treat public shootings as the whole story of mass murder? If public events are a small sli...

Contempt-free public discourse (with Robert Rosenkranz)

29 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. What makes a forum truly open-minded rather than performative? When does listening change minds instead of just ha...

Beyond the assumption that humans are rational (with Barry Schwartz)

22 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. What does rationality mean when life won’t fit a spreadsheet? If models demand one common scale, what happens to...

Will AI superintelligence kill us all? (with Nate Soares)

15 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. Are the existential risks posed by superhuman AI fundamentally different from prior technological threats such as ...

Do facts have an expiration date? (with Samuel Arbesman)

08 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. What does it mean to treat facts as drafts rather than monuments? If truth is something we approach, how do we act...

From prisoner to escaping inner prisons (with Shaka Senghor)

01 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. What changes when we treat violence as a human problem rather than a demographic story? Are fear, anger, and shame...

A new paradigm for psychology research (with Slime Mold Time Mold)

24 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. What changes when psychology stops naming traits and starts naming parts - can “entities and rules” turn fuzzy...

Beyond saving lives: happiness and doing good (with Michael Plant)

17 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. Are we trying to maximize moment-to-moment happiness or life satisfaction? Can self-reports really guide policy an...

Darwinian Demons: Climate Change and the AI Arms Race (with Kristian Rönn)

10 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. Are existential risks from AI fundamentally different from those posed by previous technologies such as nuclear we...

Seeing through cognitive traps (with Alex Edmans)

03 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. How do we distinguish correlation from causation in organizational success? How common is it to mistake luck or da...

The most important century (with Holden Karnofsky)

27 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. Has society reached ‘peak progress’? Can we sustain the level of economic growth that technology has enabled o...

Should we try to live forever? (with Ariel Zeleznikow-Johnston)

22 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. Why do humans live as long as they do? Since whales have literally tons more cells than humans, why don't they dev...

Trying to convince Spencer to be a utilitarian (with Tyler John)

13 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. How has utilitarianism evolved from early Chinese Mohism to the formulations of Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mil...

A conversation with an autistic person (with Megan Neff)

06 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. What does autism feel like from the inside? Do autistic people lack empathy? What is context insensitivity? What a...

AI: Autonomous or controllable? Pick one (with Anthony Aguirre)

30 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. Is AI that's both superintelligent and aligned even possible? Does increased intelligence necessarily entail decre...

How much does global population decline matter? (with Dean Spears)

23 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. What is the current global birth rate? What factors have contributed, or are currently contributing, to this rate?...

Is AI going to ruin everything? (with Gabriel Alfour)

16 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. Is AI going to ruin everything? What kind of AI-related dangers should we be most worried about? What do good inst...

What listeners think Spencer's wrong about: steel-manning critiques

10 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. What defines a cult? Is there such a thing as a good cult? Do Clearer Thinking's tools actually help people? Why d...

What do we know about psychology that matters? (with Paul Bloom)

03 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. NOTE: The video version of this conversation is available on YouTube: https://youtu.be/hWNknrc23Fo In light of t...

Bringing your "A-game" to your relationships (with Annie Lalla)

25 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. What does it mean to bring your "A-game" to relationships? What is emotional "fitness"? What forces do relationshi...

The rival philosophies to Stoicism that you've never heard about (with Greg Lopez)

18 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. Do we still have a lot to learn from ancient Greco-Roman philosophies? What is telos? What is ataraxia? What is "d...

What can we all agree on? (with Bradley Tusk)

11 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. In times of such extreme political polarization, where can we find common ground? Should we require disclosure of ...

Shamanism, witchcraft, and the power of narrative (with Manvir Singh)

04 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. What do westerners misunderstand about "tribal" cultures? How does justice in very small communities differ from j...

Which Spencer is real? Spencer vs. his AI clone

28 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. Can you tell which is the real Spencer and which is his AI clone? How irrational are people really? What do most p...

Too many mental health challenges and not enough psychiatrists (with Jacob Appel)

21 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. How big is the current mental health crisis? What's causing it? What do we know about the age distribution of peop...

Misinformation from all sides (with Brian Dunning)

14 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. Why is misinformation a never-ending problem? What fraction of misinformation is intentionally manipulative? What'...

A conversation with a rigid perfectionist who has OCPD (with Darryl Rossignol)

07 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. What is obsessive compulsive personality disorder (OCPD), and how does it compare to obsessive compulsive disorder...

Simple and effective methods for helping people that nonprofits often ignore (with Kanika Bahl)

30 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. Why do nonprofits often ignore the simplest, most obvious solutions for helping the world? Why do some problems ge...

How to unleash student potential in education (with Jack Despain Zhou)

23 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. How bad are things in US education? Why does it seem that educational progress has stagnated? What parts of the US...

How f***ed is psychology? (with Adam Mastroianni)

20 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. Is the bar for what counts as new knowledge higher in psychology than in other scientific fields? Why did the fiel...

A conversation with a multiple-time survivor of sexual abuse

10 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. Why might being the victim of sexual abuse increase the likelihood of being re-victimized? What warning signs, if ...

A story can change the world (with Elizabeth Cox)

02 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. How important is story-telling for changing the world? What counts as a story? How closely should persuasive stori...

The heavy price you'll have to pay to have a healthy relationship (with David Burns)

28 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. What are the main causes of problems in romantic relationships? What are the behaviors and patterns that lead to h...

The skills every adult human should have (with Raffi Grinberg)

19 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. What life skills do most people fail to learn before adulthood? Why does this failure occur? What should construct...

Rethinking our assumptions about happiness (with Stephanie Harrison)

13 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. What do most people get wrong about happiness? Why doesn't the happiness resulting from success last longer? Is it...

Evidence-Based Medicine and its discontents (with Gordon Guyatt)

05 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. How were decisions made about which treatments to trust before the advent of "evidence-based" medicine? How strong...

AI, US-China relations, and lessons from the OpenAI board (with Helen Toner)

26 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. Is it useful to vote against a majority when you might lose political or social capital for doing so? What are the...

Getting a handle on your goals and big life changes (with Tee Barnett)

19 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. What are the best things to do to help someone achieve their goals? What kind of person should see a personal coac...

Avoiding major investment mistakes (with Jim O'Shaughnessy)

12 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. What are the biggest mistakes people make when investing? What's the best thing to do with extra savings? How can ...

Creating a new city from scratch (with Erick Brimen)

05 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. What does it take to start a new city, especially one designed to be a special economic zone (SEZ)? What are the a...

What's the most effective type of therapy? (with Matthew Smout)

29 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. What is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)? What are the "cognitive" and "behavioral" parts of CBT? What are some ...

A conversation about Borderline Personality Disorder (with Kayla Spicer)

22 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. What is Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD)? Why is it so stigmatized relative to other mental health issues? Wh...

Could the placebo effect be bullshit? (with Literal Banana)

15 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. Is the placebo effect bullshit? Are "open-label" placebos just as effective as "closed-label" placebos? How do pla...

Making better decisions by thinking like an artist (with Elspeth Kirkman)

08 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. What kinds of things really distort our ability to think clearly when making decisions? What is "psychological dis...

Are the culture wars harming science? (with Cremieux)

06 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. Which of the world's hardest problems can be solved merely by gathering more data? Why are social problems harder ...

How can you learn more efficiently? (with Scott Young)

25 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. What do schools do well and not so well? In what contexts is memorization most effective? What's the value in teac...

A conversation with a narcissist (with Jacob Skidmore)

18 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. Are narcissists born with narcissism? What are the core components of narcissism? To what extent do narcissists ha...

What effects does guaranteed income have on U.S. citizens? (with Eva Vivalt)

11 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. What have we learned about UBI from recent, large-scale studies? What factors contribute to differential attrition...

Human evolution and AI evolution (with Dwarkesh Patel)

04 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. What interesting things can we learn by studying pre-humans? How many different species of pre-humans were there? ...

Should sex work be a crime? (with Kaytlin Bailey)

27 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. Why are sex workers treated so badly in the US? What effects do licensing requirements have on sex workers and the...

When does productivity become toxic? (with Israa Nasir)

20 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. When does productivity become toxic? To which part(s) of ourselves or our lives should we anchor our self-worth? H...

A conversation with a sociopath (with M.E. Thomas)

13 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. Are the terms "psychopath" and "sociopath" interchangeable? Are people suffering from Antisocial Personality Disor...

Highs and lows on the road out of the replication crisis (with Brian Nosek)

08 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. How much more robust have the social sciences become since the beginnings of the replication crisis? What fraction...

Suffering and the self (with Jay Garfield)

30 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. Why do we suffer? Would we still suffer if we got rid of all craving and aversion? Is pain the same thing as suffe...

Choosing your strategy (with Seth Godin)

23 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. What are the differences between tactics and strategies? Is the speed of growth of a company the main thing busine...

How to be productive without burning out (with Anne-Laure Le Cunff)

16 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. What is "mindful" productivity? Is impostor syndrome linked to main character syndrome? Must increased productivit...

Does simply giving people money truly enable them to escape poverty? (with Miriam Laker)

09 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. Should we give cash directly to people living in poverty? Why do most nonprofits prefer to give services rather th...

Who really controls US elections? (with Bradley Tusk)

02 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. What's the reality of how politicians get elected in the US? How much of a role does gerrymandering play? Are Demo...

Communities of belief vs. communities of chemistry (with Tyler Alterman)

25 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. Do people need more community in their lives? What makes for a good community? Can you really belong to a communit...

Everyone — including you! — should host more events (with Nick Gray)

19 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. Why should people host more events than they do right now? Under what conditions shouldn't a person host more even...

What do we know for sure about human psychology? (with Simine Vazire)

11 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. How much progress has psychology made on the things that matter most to us? What are some psychological findings w...

Pattern-breaking ideas, and startups that change the world (with Mike Maples)

04 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. What mistakes do investors make when trying to predict which startups will succeed? Which matters more: a startup'...

Decision-making and play-testing (with Dan Epstein)

28 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. What sorts of decisions are we making without even realizing we're making them? Are people aware of their own valu...

The path to utopia (with Nick Bostrom)

24 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. Why do there seem to be more dystopias than utopias in our collective imagination? Why is it easier to find agreem...

Physical limits and the long-term future (with Anders Sandberg)

14 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. How much energy is needed for GDP growth? Would our civilization have developed at the same rate without fossil fu...

Becoming a goat to avoid existential dread (with Thomas Thwaites)

07 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. How hard is it to construct a toaster from scratch? Do we in modern times individually have more knowledge than in...

AI apocalypticism vs. AI optimism (with Adam Russell)

01 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. What is "apocaloptimism"? Is there a middle ground between apocalypticism and optimism? What are the various camps...

Should we trust papers published in top social science journals? (with Daniel Lakens)

24 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. How much should we trust social science papers in top journals? How do we know a paper is trustworthy? Do large da...

Is psychology the same across cultures? (with Joseph Henrich)

17 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. What are "WEIRD" cultures? What percentage of the world's population is WEIRD? Why do WEIRD cultures tend to use a...

Spencer on The 80,000 Hours Podcast discussing money & happiness and hype vs. value (with Rob Wiblin)

10 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. NOTE: Spencer appeared as a guest on The 80,000 Hours Podcast back in March, and this episode is our release of t...

Concrete actions anyone can take to help improve AI safety (with Kat Woods)

03 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. Why should we consider slowing AI development? Could we slow down AI development even if we wanted to? What is a "...

What do socialism and effective altruism have in common? (with Garrison Lovely)

26 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. What does effective altruism look like from a leftist / socialist perspective? Are the far left and EA the only gr...

Raising our happiness baseline (with Sasha Chapin)

19 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. How easy is it to shift our baseline level of happiness? What sorts of things can most effectively shift that base...

Worldviews, altruism, and embracing variance (with Emmett Shear)

12 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. How does Emmett's worldview differ from the standard Silicon Valley worldview? What's the difference between an id...

Two things shape the course of your life: luck and your decisions (with Annie Duke)

05 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. Should people spend more time becoming better decision-makers? What are the main things that determine how our liv...

What we know and don't know about nutrition (with Gil Carvalho)

29 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. How do we know what's true in nutrition? Why aren't nutrition studies seemingly as "definitive" as (e.g.) physics ...

Measuring everything that matters (with Doug Hubbard)

22 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. Can we measure everything that matters to us? When is measuring the correlates of a thing pretty much just as good...

What happens when you follow 100 self-help books to the letter? (with Kristen Meinzer)

15 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. Why does it seem that many people read self-help books with no intention of actually doing what the books prescrib...

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

08 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. What are the best ways to define "values" and "meaning"? How can democratic processes harness people's intrinsic v...

Separating quantum computing hype from reality (with Scott Aaronson)

01 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. What exactly is quantum computing? How much should we worry about the possibility that quantum computing will brea...

Should we pause AI development until we're sure we can do it safely? (with Joep Meindertsma)

24 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. Should we pause AI development? What might it mean for an AI system to be "provably" safe? Are our current AI syst...

What should the Effective Altruism movement learn from the SBF / FTX scandal? (with Will MacAskill)

15 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. What are the facts around Sam Bankman-Fried and FTX about which all parties agree? What was the nature of Will's r...

Why are so many people experiencing homelessness in big cities in the U.S., and what can be done to help? (with Kevin Adler)

10 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. How big of a problem is homelessness in the US? How many people in large cities like New York City or Los Angeles ...

Common body language mistakes and how to avoid making them (with Blake Eastman)

04 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. What are some common techniques for quantifying body language? How hard is it to identify poker "tells"? Are there...

True things, useful things, and the differences between them (with Derek Sivers)

27 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. Is nothing objectively true? What kinds of things are we trying to communicate with the stories we tell? Why do we...

Should we widen our moral circles to include animals, insects, and AIs? (with Jeff Sebo)

20 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. How did we end up with factory farming? How many animals do we kill every year in factory farms? When we consider ...

How to have a positive impact with your career (with Benjamin Hilton)

13 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. What's the best way to think about building an impactful career? Should everyone try to work in fields related to ...

Spencer's takeaways after 200 episodes (with Spencer Greenberg)

06 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. It's our 200th episode! 🥳 What important things has Spencer gleaned from these 200 episodes? What has he learne...

Psychological change in a single session (with Jessica Schleider)

28 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. Is it possible to change someone's life with a really short psychological intervention? What features do turning p...

Academic group think, free speech norms, and the psychology of time (with Anne Wilson)

21 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. How does psychological time differ from clock time? How does a person's perception of time relate to their persona...

How can Stoicism improve your life? (with Bill Irvine)

14 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. Why is Stoicism important and useful today? What are the main ideas of Stoicism? How can you tell if you're "livin...

Is there a grand unified theory of everyone? (with Michael Muthukrishna)

08 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. What is a "theory of everyone"? Do the social sciences currently have enough firm knowledge to synthesize such a t...

The alternate histories and possible futures of nuclear weapons (with Carl Robichaud)

02 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. Has the world been "lucky" so far with respect to nuclear weapons? How many people have died from nuclear weapons?...

How can AIs know what we want if *we* don't even know? (with Geoffrey Irving)

24 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Read the full transcript here. What does it really mean to align an AI system with human values? What would a powerful AI need to do in order to ...