Do AI As Science And Engineering Instead - We’ve seen that current AI practice leads to technologies that are expensive, difficult to apply in real-world situations, and inherently unsafe. Neglected scientific and engineering investigations can bring better understanding of the risks of current AI technology, and can lead to safer technologies.   https://betterwithout.ai/science-engineering-vs-AI   Run-Time Task-Relevant Algorithmic Understanding - The type of scientific and engineering understanding most relevant to AI safety is run-time, task-relevant, and algorithmic. That can lead to more reliable, safer systems. Unfortunately, gaining such understanding has been neglected in AI research, so currently we have little.   https://betterwithout.ai/AI-algorithmic-level   For more information, see David Chapman's 2017 essay "How should we evaluate progress in AI?" https://betterwithout.ai/artificial-intelligence-progress   You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks   If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold   Original music by Kevin MacLeod.   This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

Current AI results from experimental variation of mechanisms, unguided by theoretical principles. That has produced systems that can do amazing things. On the other hand, they are extremely error-prone and therefore unsafe. Backpropaganda, a collection of misleading ways of talking about “neural networks,” justifies continuing in this misguided direction.   https://betterwithout.ai/backpropaganda   You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks   If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold   Original music by Kevin MacLeod.   This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

Radical Progress Without Scary AI: Technological progress, in medicine for example, provides an altruistic motivation for developing more powerful AIs. I suggest that AI may be unnecessary, or even irrelevant, for that. We may be able to get the benefits without the risks.

https://betterwithout.ai/radical-progress-without-AI

What kind of AI might accelerate technological progress?: “Narrow” AI systems, specialized for particular technical tasks, are probably feasible, useful, and safe. Let’s build those instead of Scary superintelligence.

https://betterwithout.ai/what-AI-for-progress

No ultimate meaning: “Ultimate” means “at the end of a scale.” What is the scale of meaning? Should you want to be at the end of it?

 

https://meaningness.com/no-ultimate-meaning   No eternal meaning: Meanings come and go; they are not eternally stable— and that is fine.

 

https://meaningness.com/no-eternal-meaning  

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No absolute meaning: Are you adult enough to accept that the world offers no absolute guarantees?   https://meaningness.com/no-absolute-meaning   No transcendent meaning: If meaning lives only in Neverland, we can’t make much use of it. Fortunately, it’s here, now.   https://meaningness.com/no-transcendent-meaning  

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Lite nihilism, on the way to completion: Lite nihilism includes a valuable, accurate analysis of the failure of eternalism.   https://meaningness.com/lite-nihilism   Not really meaningful: “Nothing REALLY means anything” sounds plausible when you feel nihilistic. What does “really” mean, though?   https://meaningness.com/no-real-meaning   No extra-special fancy meanings: Nihilism rightly denies objective, ultimate, transcendent, absolute, cosmic, and eternal meanings. What is left?   https://meaningness.com/no-special-meaning   Original music by Kevin MacLeod.   This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

The many justifications for nihilism rely on a handful of mistaken patterns of reasoning.   https://meaningness.com/nihilist-fallacies   Links mentioned in this episode:   Scott Alexander’s blog post “Proving too much”.   "Finding Meaning In An Imperfect World" by Iddo Landau  

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This episode narrates the new pages “'Nihilism is OK' is not OK" and "The uncanny absence of nihil –ism".   “Nihilism is inevitable, but not a problem.” This is mistaken: it makes you miserable and ineffective, and erodes social and cultural capacity.   https://meaningness.com/nihilism-considered-harmful   Nihilism, like botulism, is not an ideology or conceptual system. It is a stance: an emotionally-charged way of being.   https://meaningness.com/nihilism-is-not-an-ism   Links mentioned in this episode:   In "Postmodernism vs. The Pomoid Cluster" John Nerst analyzes the relationship between postmodernism as an academic theory, and “pomo” as a popular way of relating to meaningness.   The TV Tropes page "Straw Nihilist".   I struggled with saying "schismatic subsects", but you only get the edited version in which I nailed it. :)  

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A world of total license: the catastrophe some fear if nihilistic views become widespread.   https://meaningness.com/nihilist-apocalypse  

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Nihilism has a taboo allure of forbidden power—because everyone knows eternalism is wrong. https://meaningness.com/nihilism-black-magic   Recognizing meaninglessness requires unusual intelligence, courage, and toughness. Nihilist elitism renders you stupid, cowardly, and helpless, though. https://meaningness.com/nihilist-cynicism-elitism  

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Nihilism promises you don’t have to care, because nothing means anything. But you do care—and you can’t escape that.   https://meaningness.com/nihilism-promise   The end-state of nihilism is not suicide, but catatonia. https://meaningness.com/accomplishing-nihilism   You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon:

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This mid-week bonus episode is another interview with David Chapman, in which we discuss nihilism, both as a book section, and nihilism itself. Since the time that I started recording, he has since written six more episodes worth of chapters in the Nihilism section of Meaningness. I could move on and record "Meaningness And Time", but instead I'll loop back and read his newly-written chapters out of order.

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Materialism says that only mundane purposes like money, sex, and power count. It wrongly rejects higher purposes—but those too are not ultimate.

 

https://meaningness.com/materialism   Common critiques of materialism, from religion, political idealism, personal idealism, and nihilism.

 

https://meaningness.com/materialism-rejection   Mingling mission and materialism attempts to gain both self-indulgent and self-justifying goals—but loses both enjoyment and empathetic joy.

 

https://meaningness.com/mingled-mission-materialism  

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Recognize that AI is probably net harmful: Actually-existing and near-future AIs are net harmful—never mind their longer-term risks. We should shut them down, not pussyfoot around hoping they can somehow be made safe.
https://betterwithout.ai/AI-is-harmful
Create a negative public image for AI: Most funding for AI research comes from the advertising industry. Their primary motivation may be to create a positive corporate image, to offset their obvious harms. Creating bad publicity for AI would eliminate their incentive to fund it.
https://betterwithout.ai/AI-is-public-relations
Seth Lazar’s "Legitimacy, Authority, and the Political Value of Explanations": https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/2208/2208.08628.pdf
Kate Crawford's "Atlas Of AI": https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08WKQ1MTM/?tag=meaningness-20
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The delusion that you can find your true, unique personal life-purpose causes only suffering and failure.

https://meaningness.com/mission-defects-obstacles

Just discover your unique talent, follow your passion, and success is guaranteed—this is terrible advice!

https://meaningness.com/do-with-my-life

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Dividing purposes into higher and mundane, mission pursues higher ends and rejects pragmatism; materialism seeks only selfish goals. Both are mistakes.

https://meaningness.com/purpose

It is attractive to think that we each have a unique, transcendent, ultimate purpose in life. Unfortunately, this belief is both false and harmful.

https://meaningness.com/mission

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Abandoning selflessness and egoism equally, we can play with the ambiguous self/other boundary; supple, skillful selfing for successful, satisfying interaction.

https://meaningness.com/self

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Stances concerning connection and separateness: monism, dualism, and participation.   https://meaningness.com/monism-dualism-and-participation   Monism and dualism are opposites. But because each is obviously wrong, each turns into the other when cornered. Sneaky!   https://meaningness.com/monism-dualism-recursion   Errors of monism and dualism: denying and fixating object boundaries and connections.   https://meaningness.com/boundaries-objects-connections   You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon:

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Going beyond resolutions of specific problems: consistently maintaining an accurate stance toward meaningness.
https://meaningness.com/stabilize-complete-stance   Since this episode ties together what we have learned so far, it references previous episodes. They are:
Obstacles To The Complete Stance Stances Are Unstable Exiting eternalism Finding the complete stance Textures of completion Meaningness as a liberating practice

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Open-ended curiosity gives you the freedom to interact with the world without metaphysical presuppositions.

https://meaningness.com/curiosity

Other works by David Chapman mentioned in this episode are:

• In The Cells Of The Eggplant is a book-length treatment of this episode, explaining the application of open-ended curiosity to professional, technical work such as science, engineering, or organizational management.
• “Upgrade your cargo cult for the win” is a long essay version.

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Wonder at the vastness, beauty, and intricacy of the phenomenal world: a texture of the complete stance.

https://meaningness.com/wonder

Recordings mentioned in the episode include:

• “Deference, Humility, and Awe,” a lecture by Brian Cantwell Smith.
• Hoppípolla, “a song with qualities known to evoke awe,” by Sigur Rós’.

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The fundamental method for resolving problems of meaning: by finding nebulosity, pattern, and their inseparable relationship.

Wonder → curiosity → humor → play → enjoyment → creation. Patterns of thinking, feeling, and acting in the complete stance, which resolves problems of meaning.

https://meaningness.com/finding-complete-stance

https://meaningness.com/complete-textures

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Peak experiences and the complete stance are similar in texture, but differ in intensity, conceptual content, and causes.

Meaning and meaninglessness, pattern and nebulosity all obviously exist—yet we resist recognizing and admitting this. Why?

https://meaningness.com/peak-experiences

https://meaningness.com/complete-stance-obstacles

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Meaning is nebulous, yet patterned; meaningfulness and meaninglessness intermingle. Recognizing this frees us from metaphysical delusions. Resolving problems of meaning, by recognizing inseparable pattern and nebulosity, will improve your life.

https://meaningness.com/meaningness

https://meaningness.com/complete-stance-appeal

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“Apocalypse now” identified the corrosive influence of new viral ideologies, created unintentionally by recommender systems, as a major AI risk. These may cause social collapse if not tackled head-on. You can resist.
https://betterwithout.ai/spurn-artificial-ideology
Announcement tweet for the Opening Awareness, Opening Rationality discussion group starting on February 1: https://twitter.com/openingBklyn/status/1751314312415567956
Document with more details: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YPaos3zTgdraF9VouWkHUouVHVsrbYBluUO3Kh--Ezs/edit
Vaster Than Ideology (text): https://meaningness.com/vaster-than-ideology
Vaster Than Ideology (Fluidity Audiobooks episode): https://fluidity.libsyn.com/vaster-than-ideology
Coinbase Is A Mission Focused Company: https://www.coinbase.com/blog/coinbase-is-a-mission-focused-company
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Nihilism says nothing means anything—but no one actually believes that. Lite nihilism weakens the claim, to make it plausible.

https://meaningness.com/nihilism-hardcore-vs-lite

https://meaningness.com/190-proof-nihilism

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Nihilism is the wrong idea that nothing is meaningful, based on the accurate realization that there is no external, eternal source of meaning.

https://meaningness.com/nihilism

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The author has moved the chapter of the book we'll read in today's episode. The chapter now belongs earlier in the book than where we are. It belongs between episode 16, "Meaningfulness", and episode 17, "Eternalism". So, I'm going to back up and read this chapter now, out of order.

Meaning cannot be either objective or subjective. But meaning does exist: as interaction.

https://meaningness.com/objective-subjective

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We're taking a break from narrating Meaningness to read an important foundational essay by the author of Meaningness, David Chapman.

As we reach the end of the Eternalism section of Meaningness, it's time for one of the essays I included in the Patreon backer survey. This essay is an overview by David Chapman of the work of psychologist Robert Kegan, a scholar of adult cognitive development. This essay has become very useful for how I see the situations of my own life, and I'm excited to finally share it with you. David Chapman recently wrote the chapter of Meaningness about Eternalist Systems, and he is currently writing a chapter on how to become meta to systems. That will make a lot more sense after you hear this episode. So while he's writing that chapter, this is a perfect time.

https://vividness.live/developing-ethical-social-and-cognitive-competence

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Accomplishing eternalism would would mean knowing the meaning of everything, and acting accordingly. This is impossible, because there are no fixed meanings.

https://meaningness.com/accomplishing-eternalism

Learning skills for escaping the grip of eternalism—the delusion that everything is meaningful.

https://meaningness.com/after-eternalism

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Systems such as religions and political ideologies reinforce eternalism. They dispel doubt by denying nebulosity.

Original text at: https://meaningness.com/eternalist-systems

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Eternalism -- belief in fixed meanings -- makes promises it can't keep. It makes us do stupid, crazy, evil things. And we still love it and keep going back for more.

Original text at: https://meaningness.com/eternalism-considered-harmful

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This episode contains the final page of "The Appeal Of Eternalism".

Eternalism's final promise is to keep nihilism at bay. There is a better alternative to both!

Original text at: https://meaningness.com/eternalism-as-salvation-from-nihilism

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This episode contains the fourth part of "The Appeal Of Eternalism".

Eternalism promises answers about good and bad- the meanings we care about most- but cannot deliver.

Original text at: https://meaningness.com/wheel-of-fortune

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Last episode, we covered the first two pages of the section "The Appeal Of Eternalism", about the illusions of certainty and understanding. This episode contains the third page, about control.

Eternalism promises complete control over life — but that is an impossible fantasy. Influence through collaboration and improvisation are possible, however.

Original text at: https://meaningness.com/control

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Current AI practices produce technologies that are expensive, difficult to apply in real-world situations, and inherently unsafe. Neglected scientific and engineering investigations can bring better understanding of specific risks of current AI technology, and can lead to safer technologies.   https://betterwithout.ai/fight-unsafe-AI
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This is the second of our bonus episodes, outside of the audiobook. I interview David Chapman on the secular and the sacred. I ask him questions about his background in Buddhism and Wicca, and my experiences with the TV shows "Cosmos" and "Veggie Tales", EPCOT Center, Burning Man, and the Universism movement active from 2003 to 2007 (as distinct from Unitarian Universalism).

The question for you, our listeners, is this: Does English have a single word, neologism, or portmanteau, which might convey the sense of the Buddhist word "kadag"? It means a type of sacredness which is blended with the banal, and can sometimes be found in unexpected places. As sacredness is traditionally conceived, there is a category of things which are set apart to always to be considered completely sacred. Kadag differs from that.

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Parts 1 and 2 of this book's section "The Appeal Of Eternalism". Eternalism promises everything you could want from meaning: safety, support, certainty, reassurance, and control. Solid ground!

1. The promise of certainty: What we want most from meaning is guarantees. Religions, political ideologies, and other eternalist systems promise certainty; but they cannot deliver.

2. The illusion of understanding: It’s deluded to think we mostly understand issues of meaning (ethics, purpose, value, politics). Ideologies deliberately create and sustain that illusion.

Original text at: https://meaningness.com/eternalism-appeal

https://meaningness.com/certainty

https://meaningness.com/understanding

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Eternalism is the wrong idea that everything has a definite meaning, fixed by an external ordering principle.

I get duped by eternalism in a casino: Gambling, religion, and addiction-- a personal story.

Great confusions about meaningness stem from the mistaken assumption that there must be some sort of eternal ordering principle.

Original text at: https://meaningness.com/eternalism

https://meaningness.com/finding-god-in-a-casino

https://meaningness.com/no-cosmic-plan

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Some things are meaningful, and others aren't. This is obvious; yet most confusions about meaning begin by denying it.

Claims that everything is meaningful, or that nothing is, are motivated by fears: fear of the opposite.

We have a choice of explanations: ones that are simple, clear, harmful, and wrong; or ones that are complex, vague, helpful, and approximately right.

Original text at: https://meaningness.com/meaningfulness-and-meaninglessness

https://meaningness.com/extreme-examples-eternalism-and-nihilism

https://meaningness.com/meaningness-first-explanation

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For the past few months, I've been assembling cast members, to edit their performances together into a full-cast recording of this week's chapter.

What is the meaning of an extra-marital affair—or any relationship? A philosophical short story illustrates the puzzle of the nebulosity of meaningness.

Thanks to Bruce Webber of the Phase Shift podcast for his performance of the viewpoint character, Christine Kitchens as the philosophy professor, Shianne Nocerini of the Daily Detroit podcast as Suzie, Sarah Elkins as Janet, Jeremiah Staes of the Daily Detroit podcast as Chris, and Sofia Syntaxx of the ANGR podcast as Kim.

Original text at: https://meaningness.com/nebulosity-of-meaningness

You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks

If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold

Original music by Kevin MacLeod.

This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

At 48 minutes, this episode is longer than most. A complete summary overview of all the dimensions of meaningness, with all the common stances one can take to them.

Original text at: https://meaningness.com/all-dimensions-schematic-overview

You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks

If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold

Original music by Kevin MacLeod.

This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

This mid-week bonus episode features a 20-minute excerpt from my interview with David Chapman, in which we discuss his plans for finishing Meaningness.

You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks

If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold

 

Original music by Kevin MacLeod.

This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

Dualism, nihilism, and monism are the three main approaches to fundamental questions of meaning. This book proposes a better, fourth alternative.

This begins the third section of Meaningness, "Doing Meaning Better".

Original text at: https://meaningness.com/big-three-stance-combinations

You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks

If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold

Original music by Kevin MacLeod.

This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

Relationships one may have with "stances" (basic attitudes toward meaningness) include adopting, committing, accomplishing, wavering, and appropriating.

This ends the second section of Meaningness, an introduction to stances.

Original text at: https://meaningness.com/relationships-with-stances

You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks

If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold

Original music by Kevin MacLeod.

This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

The key aspects of a stance toward meaning, and how to use them effectively.

Original text here: https://meaningness.com/stance-anatomy

You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks

If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold

Original music by Kevin MacLeod.

This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

The technologies underlying current AI systems are inherently, unfixably unreliable. They should be deprecated, avoided, regulated, and replaced.
https://betterwithout.ai/mistrust-machine-learning
You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks
If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold
Music is by Kevin MacLeod.
This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

A practice of replacing confused, dysfunctional patterns of thinking and feeling about meaning with accurate ones.

Original text here: https://meaningness.com/meaningness-practice

You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks

If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold

Original music by Kevin MacLeod.

This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

Properly understanding meaning eliminates needless suffering. An application: ethics.

Original text here: https://meaningness.com/confusion-completion-misery-and-joy

You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks

If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold

Original music by Kevin MacLeod.

This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.

Note: This is episode 8, but it first aired with the audio file for episode 9. I have now corrected it, so you may wish to listen again.

Confusions about meaning can be resolved using a method for looking at ways nebulosity affects the subject matter.

Original text here: https://meaningness.com/resolution

The method for resolving confusion about meaning through accepting nebulosity is not a general dialectic, or logic for resolving all false oppositions.

Original text here: https://meaningness.com/not-a-general-dialectic

You can support the podcast and get episodes a week early, by supporting the Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/m/fluidityaudiobooks

If you like the show, consider buying me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattarnold

Original music by Kevin MacLeod.

This podcast is under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial International 4.0 License.