David Edmonds on Death in a Shallow Pond

In this episode, Samuel Arbesman speaks with David Edmonds, cohost of the Philosophy Bites podcast and bestselling author of numerous books on philosophy, including his most recent work, Death in a Shallow Pond: A Philosopher, A Drowning Child, and Strangers in Need. In this delightful book, Edmonds explores Peter Singer’s famous “shallow pond” thought experiment—its moral implications, its influence, and how it gave rise to the Effective Altruism movement. The result is a fascinating biography of an idea and a penetrating analysis of its ripple effects through ethics and action.Arbesman and Edmonds delve into the origins and nature of the Shallow Pond experiment, tracing its journey from moral philosophy to practical impact through Effective Altruism. They discuss the demandingness of Singer’s argument, the most compelling counterpoints, the EA movement’s evolution toward longtermism and focus on AI and existential risk, why EA provokes criticism, and the broader question of how thought experiments shape the real world.

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