Paul Hazelden's Articles

CFAR and its Cousins

The ‘Center for Applied Rationality’, or ‘CFAR’ is one of a group of organizations, run by a fairly small group of individuals, in the fields of artificial intelligence, rationality and global philanthropy. This is an attempt to identify some of the

We are not truth seekers

We are not truth seekers. When it comes to tribal identity, we are motivated reasoners.

The Future of AI

there is not going to be just one market winner in the field of Artificial Intelligence, because there is not just one form of intelligence - and the different forms of intelligence are, to some extent at least, incompatible with each other

The Three State Solution

The only possible route to peace in the Middle East that I can see is the 'one state - three state - two state' solution.

Middle East

[Back to World Affairs]

In our conversations, we keep circulating around the topic of the Middle East, Israel and Gaza, but never addressing it in any substantial way, largely because nobody can think of anything productive to say. 'We are against g

Effective Beliefs

We need to find beliefs which work - beliefs which work sufficiently well and sufficiently often, without any need to pretend that they are 100% effective in all situations. We need beliefs which we can engage with as beliefs rather than proven trut

Emergent Properties

An emergent property is a property which is present implicitly in the components, but which can only be seen when it emerges in the larger system; once you see the emergent property, you understand how the interaction of the components produces it.

Telling the Difference between Moral and Immoral

This article is about how we can distinguish between good and bad, between moral and immoral, or between ethical and unethical. When people disagree about the moral status of an action, how can we explore - and maybe resolve - that conflict?

The Language of Morality

One difficulty when we try to talk about morality is the language: there are various terms we can use, but they are all ambiguous and problematic in various ways. It seems there is a difference between 'moral' and 'ethical', but the difference is no

What Do We Mean By Morality?

When we say that something is immoral, are we only saying, as some people suggest, that we disapprove of it? Is morality just a statement of personal or group preference? And, if not, then what is it?

Morality

Links to some short articles about morality.

Ukraine: Ending the War, April 2025

Every war comes to an end, one way or another. At the moment, the most plausible option is that economic problems, along with the social unrest caused by these problems, will turn the people away from Putin.

Reforming the NHS

Almost everybody agrees that the UK National Health Service (NHS) is in need of radical reform, so let's start to spell out what that reform might look like. Other countries manage to deliver prompt and effective healthcare: it's not impossible. Bu

Population Demographics

Today, most of the world has a birthrate which is below the replacement level: we have populations which are ageing, with increasing numbers of pensioners and decreasing numbers of working age people to support them. And we have an economic system w

A Peace Deal for Ukraine

On the campaign trail, Trump promised to end the Ukraine war within 24 hours of taking office. This was clearly never going to happen but, as I said (probably, far too often), ending the war was one promise I believed he was able to keep. The war i

Genocide: Remembering is Not Enough

If we want to prevent future genocide, it seems to me that memory is just the first stage: we also need to understand what happened, and then act to prevent it from happening again – we need to understand the many genocides, with all their varying de

When What I Want Is Not What They Do

What do we do when other people do not do what we want them to do? What follows are some thoughts which may be helpful.

A Christian Manifesto

How do we build a church where people grow in love? We integrate faith and life into a coherent whole by combining relevant teaching from a Biblical perspective with prophetic action from a place of Spirit-filled rest.

Christianity: Unity in Diversity

The unity of the Body of Christ is central to our identity and therefore to our activity: there is only one Body, so we need to learn how to live in the light of this truth. We are all part of one Body, but that Body is made of many different parts;

Power Over People

Where does power lie in the modern world? We need to know. Quite often, we need to know in order to survive, to navigate the ever-changing challenges life throws at us. And we need to know if we want to change the world, to make it a better place.