Increments

Ben Chugg and Vaden Masrani

Vaden Masrani, a senior research scientist in machine learning, and Ben Chugg, a PhD student in statistics, get into trouble arguing about everything except machine learning and statistics. Coherence is somewhere on the horizon. Bribes, suggestions, love-mail and hate-mail all welcome at incrementspodcast@gmail.com.

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21 episodes
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Avg 1 hr 22 min
English

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Episodes 21

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September 12 · 1 hr 24 min
#107 - Is Too Much Therapy Ruining a Generation?
The boys chat about Abigail Shrier's newest book, Bad Therapy. Has therapy culture run amok?
- Chapters
August 22 · 1 hr 18 min
#106 - The Successes, Failures, and Grifters of Neuroscience (w/ Tommy Blanchard)
We have on Tommy Blanchard to discuss the good, the bad, and the Andrew Huberman of neuroscience
- Chapters
July 17 · 1 hr 18 min
#105 - The World of Bayesian Statistics (w/ Alex Andorra)
The boys switch teams and act as the great defenders of Bayesianism.
- Chapters
June 27 · 1 hr 3 min
#104 (C&R Chap 10, Part V) - The Duhem-Quine Thesis
The boys dive into the final part of Chapter 10 of Conjectures and Refutations. Have Duhem and Quine falsified falsification?
- Chapters
May 29 · 1 hr 47 min
#103 - AI, Evolution, and The God Test (w/ Robert Wright)
Robert Wright joins us to talk about his upcoming book on artificial intelligence.
- Transcript
- Chapters
May 12 · 1 hr 46 min
#102 - Criticizing Crit-rats (w/ Bruce Nielson and Peter Johansen)
We turn on our own tribe and criticize some of the bad memes that have engulfed the online critical rationalist community
- Chapters
April 19 · 1 hr 17 min
#101 (C&R Chap 10, Part IV) - Was Popper Wrong about Verisimilitude?
Conjectures and refutations, Chapter 10, Part 4 baby. What's the deal with corroboration and verisimilitude?
- Chapters
March 26 · 1 hr 21 min
#100 - Celebrating the Centennial
The boys reflect on nearly five years of podcasting, realize they haven't grown too much, and nearly call it quits.
- Chapters
March 6 · 2 hr 9 min
#99 - Debating Trump in Good Faith (w/ Don Robinson)
A civil debate about Trump, MAGA, immigration, wokeism, and culture with a Trump symapthizer
- Chapters
February 17 · 1 hr 24 min
#98 (C&R Chap 10, Part III) - What is truth?
The boys dive into a discussion on objective truth. What is Truth, really? Why is The Correspondence Theory of Truth the only game in town here?
- Chapters
January 23 · 1 hr 41 min
#97 - Did Effective Altruism Have Ulterior Motives From the Beginning?
Was EA a front for AI safety the whole time?
- Chapters
Dec 22, 2025 · 41 min
#96 (Bonus) - On the Limits of Introspection
In this episode we explore various themes surrounding personal growth, parenting, therapy, and the complexities of introspection.
- Chapters
Nov 29, 2025 · 57 min
#95 (C&R Chap 10, Part II) - A Problem-First View of Scientific Progress
After unsuccessfully trying to resolve our dispute about Popper's theory of content, we're back for part II of Chapter 10 of the Conjectures and Refutations Series.
- Chapters
Nov 6, 2025 · 1 hr 24 min
#94 - Is AI Just a Tool? (w/ Scott Aaronson)
Is there any reason to believe that AI's capabilities are fundamentally limited? Scott Aaronson comes on to scare us straight.
- Chapters
Oct 16, 2025 · 1 hr 47 min
#93 (C&R Chap 10, Part I) - An Introduction to Popper's Theory of Content
An introduction to Popper's theory of content, following Chapter 10 of Conjectures and Refutations. Plus a lot of arguing about Bayesianism.
- Chapters
Sep 25, 2025 · 1 hr 7 min
#92 - Confronting the Paradox of Tolerance: Christianity in the age of Trump (w/ Jonathan Rauch)
Jonathan Rauch explains why he's radical incrementalist, how to uphold the constitution of knowledge, and his view on the fight for the heart of Christianity.
- Chapters
Sep 4, 2025 · 1 hr 16 min
#91 - The Uses and Abuses of Statistics (w/ Ben Recht)
What is statistics good for? Has it ever discovered anything? Where does the word "robot" come from? Ben Recht joins us to untangle these mysteries.
- Chapters
Aug 18, 2025 · 1 hr 35 min
#90 (Reaction) - Disbelieving AI 2027: Responding to "Why We're Not Ready For Superintelligence"
The boys are hooked on reaction videos. This time: 80,000 hours' "Why we're not ready for superintelligence."
- Chapters
Aug 1, 2025 · 1 hr 11 min
#89 (C&R, Chap 6) - Berkeley vs Newton: The Battle Over Gravity
We dive into the history of the debate between Bishop Berkeley, Ernst Mach, Ludwig Boltzmann, and Isaac Newton. What is a force? Are they allowed in science? Were the positivists right all along?
- Chapters
Jul 10, 2025 · 1 hr 12 min
#88 (Bonus) - Homer's Odyssey
Three fiction inept science nerds take on the oldest poem in history.
- Chapters

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