Bad Liberals

Building on part 1, we now turn to a discussion of AI's social ramifications. We begin with the US and China's very different industrial models when it comes to AI research, and whether public skepticism in the US will prove to be a barrier. We brainstorm how, if at all, the left-behind masses might be able to fight back in a future controlled by a few AI oligarchs who monopolize wealth and power. We close with some hopes about what humanity ought to preserve when AI takes work away, and how humans can direct technological change in a direction that actually solves important problems.

Tune in for a fast-paced conversation with our friends Hinson Chan, a programming prodigy, and Peter Bennett, a technology policy expert. We cover ground from the micro — AI use cases and tips and tricks — to the macro — whether we can make LLMs more moral simply by telling them that LLMs are moral and whether there is simply not enough data to turn the progress-o-meter up to infinity. We hear Peter's fears about breakout scenarios and Hinson's disappointment with the already-in-progress trend toward mediocrity.

Who better to comment on Africa's search for a modern identity amidst a world that ceaselessly disrespects it than Isaac Bakare, a Columbia junior studying chemistry who has lived in Nigeria and South Africa and studied the continent's intellectual heritage? Listen as we discuss the contributions and shortcomings of Black internationalism, pan-Africanism, and other major influences, and hear Isaac's ambivalent reflections on where Africa might be able to go next.

In this episode, two Singaporeans—Medha Shridharan, a Stanford sophomore studying computer science and, of course, co-host Darrius Tan, a police officer—bond over their homeland, one that continues to defy simple characterizations as liberal or illiberal. We discuss Singapore's struggles with issues that are strikingly similar to America's biggest challenges: government accountability, affordability, anti-immigrant sentiment, and class inequality. We explore topics from social and cultural capital, where knowledge about problems has transferred across the Pacific, to education, where approaches remain more rooted in Singaporean values. In the process, we touch on our personal experiences and deepest-held values: what a just allocation of opportunities requires and why we are attached to our country.

As bad liberals ourselves, we venture to explore a country oh-so-close to being labeled a liberal regime: India, the world's largest democracy. Alongside Kshitij Kant, a Stanford sophomore and research assistant at the Hoover Institution on India's foreign relations, we take on a wide-ranging conversation, from the BJP's dominance to prospects for economic growth to why India is reluctant to play along with the United States.Kshitij shares an understated perspective on India's role in the global order: possibly the next dragon in the waiting.

Welcome to Bad Liberals! As our first guest, we have a very good liberal, in fact someone on the front lines working to revitalize liberalism itself: Victoria Ren, a recent Stanford graduate and co-founder of Students for Abundance, a campus advocacy group supporting supply-side progressivism—that is, more houses, more roads, more energy, more healthcare. Together, we tackle the big questions in American politics: hope, change, community, action, strategy, and ideology. Because big policy action starts with a big ponder.