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Sep 28Liked by Sam Matey

Worth the read, thanks. One point on population and poverty - even though 125,000 more people rose out of extreme poverty each day the total population rose by 190,000. Not sure where the 65,000 end up. Unfortunately I expect there are more people in poverty now than at any time in history, probably more than the entire pre-industrial population, so I am a bit wary of claiming poverty reduction as a great victory for industrialization.

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Great interview Sam! You two are very much bird of a feather! In defense of the doom and gloom community--it is our warnings and focus on the negatives that drives the reforms and improvements worldwide that you note! Neither community can exist without the other!

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Great interview, but saying that malaria has killed more people than any other disease in human history is a stretch. I’m sure there is disagreement among experts, and I’m no expert, but I side with the people who think that honor belongs to smallpox.

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I agree! People are driven as much by optimism as pessimism. How else to account for the cross cultural, cross-temporal popularity of gambling? Reward maximation prevails over loss minimization. You'll note a turn toward optimism in my writings about AI in the last three months! I'm betting on a bright future.

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