(Previously, previously.)

New York Times reporter Cade Metz has been writing a book about the people who believed in AGI before it was cool. That's a subject that I think I know some things about, so we had some on-the-record conversations in 2025, which I'd like to publish here—for transparency's sake, not because a 32K-word transcript and recording dump is necessarily that interesting.

The transcripts below have been edited for clarity and relevant hyperlinks have been inserted. (Hyperlinks in emails are in the original.) There are a few redactions indicated by "[...]" where either we went off the record or I wanted to cut something from this publication.

21 March 2025

(audio, albeit with some weird background noise because my phone was in my pocket while we were walking)

CM: What's left out of my book is the philosophy, or at least a big part of the philosophy, meaning people like you and your community. People don't know how important this community is. It's an astounding story.

ZMD: Unfortunately, I hate to say it—I don't want to be mean, but—I agree that this book is worth writing. That book idea is worth writing [...]

---

First published:
July 1st, 2026

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/P8GuwYdy6foSzyZog/conversations-with-cade-metz-on-the-rationalists

---

Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

“Conversations With Cade Metz on the Rationalists” by Zack_M_Davis

LessWrong (30+ Karma)

“Conversations With Cade Metz on the Rationalists” by Zack_M_Davis