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796 episodes - English - Latest episode: 6 days ago - ★★★★★ - 285 ratingsSmart people talking about politics, policy, culture and other stuff
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Episodes
Israel Strikes Iran, David Cameron Crumbles (Robert Wright & Andrew Day)
April 20, 2024 01:35 - 1 hour - 47.7 MB...
Just ONE MAGA Juror is All TRUMP Needs (Matt K. Lewis & Bill Scher)
April 19, 2024 05:03 - 1 hour - 26.3 MBDid Trump blow it on abortion? ... Does the hush money trial jury have a secret Trump partisan? ... Is Mike Johnson Choosing Reagan over Trump? ... Should Sotomayor retire? ...
How Iran’s Attack Benefits Israel (Robert Wright & Joshua Landis)
April 17, 2024 01:55 - 1 hour - 54.5 MBWhy Iran’s attack on Israel was an “own goal” ... Did Iran minimize casualties on purpose? ... The rising odds of Israel attacking Iran directly ... America’s contradictory relationship with Israel ... How conflict with Iran helps Israel ... What China wants in the Middle East ... America’s destabilizing role in the region ... Heading to Overtime ...
Daniel Kahneman and the Rationalists (Robert Wright & Paul Bloom)
April 11, 2024 00:47 - 1 hour - 46.7 MBWhy Paul’s eclipse experience eclipsed Bob’s ... Remembering pioneering psychologist Daniel Kahneman ... Bob fails gender affirmation test ... Has the “replication crisis” tainted Kahneman’s legacy? ... Eastern vs. Western “enlightenment” ... How AI doomerism came to the rationalist community ... 3 Body Problem review goes into Overtime ...
Can Abortion Sink Trump? (Matt K. Lewis & Bill Scher)
April 10, 2024 04:03 - 1 hour - 33.5 MBAre Republican Trump critics returning to the GOP fold? ... Has Trump threaded the needle on abortion? ... Can Biden shift the nation's attention to abortion? ...
Biden’s Israel Problem (Robert Wright, Derek Davison, and Daniel Bessner)
April 05, 2024 15:01 - 1 hour - 42 MBA brief message from Bob ... Derek and Danny stumble into Bob’s Zoom room ... Israel’s doubly out-of-control week ... How Biden's Gaza failures will shape the Democratic Party ... Biden’s political incentives on Israel-Palestine ... Heading to Overtime ...
AI, Rationalism, and the “Great Filter” (Robert Wright & Robin Hanson)
April 03, 2024 18:42 - 1 hour - 45.9 MBRobin’s history of thinking about the future ... Seeing AI as offspring, not adversary ... Robin’s famous answer to a great cosmic mystery ... Would evidence of aliens be good news or bad? ... Is rationalist culture cultist? ... LLMs: revolution or hype cycle? ... Heading to Overtime ...
The Cosmic Thought of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (Robert Wright & Ilia Delio)
March 31, 2024 12:02 - 1 hour - 78.3 MBIlia’s background ... Things to know about the noosphere ... Teilhard’s transgressive theological and scientific thought ... Does AI suggest a “transcendent nature to nature”? ... The Teilhardian solution to the mind-body problem ... How Darwinian was Teilhard, really? ... Teilhard on love ... “Techno-sapiens,” redemption, and the Omega Point ... Heading to Overtime ...
RFK Jr.'s Bad VEEP Pick (Matt K. Lewis & Bill Scher)
March 28, 2024 05:53 - 1 hour - 46.6 MBMatt's X spat with Ric Grenell ... The importance of narrative framing ... Should NBC have hired/fired Ronna McDaniel? ... How awful is RFK Jr.'s VP pick? ...
Meditation Tips for Beginners (and Non-Beginners) (Robert Wright & Kathryn Devaney)
March 26, 2024 21:59 - 1 hour - 40.1 MBKati’s unusual niche ... How Covid changed meditation ... Kati: The optimal amount of meditation is… ... Is focusing on the breath overblown? ... AI as a spiritual challenge ... Meditation and cognitive empathy ... Using technology mindfully ... Heading to Overtime ...
What Does Putin Want? (Robert Wright & Nikolay and Kirill)
March 22, 2024 04:05 - 1 hour - 52.3 MBAre Nikolay and Kirill satisfied with the "special military operation"? ... Why have Russians become more supportive of the war effort? ... Kirill defends the RWA tweet that unsettled Bob ... US policies that made the war more likely ... How much of Ukraine does Putin want? ... Heading to Overtime ...
America’s Blood Bath (and Beyond) (Bill Scher & Matt K. Lewis)
March 21, 2024 06:32 - 1 hour - 30.2 MBWhat did Trump mean by "bloodbath"? ... Trump doesn't want you to remember 2020 ... Does Bernie Moreno have the edge over Sherrod Brown? ...
Elon and Altman: Dueling Messiahs (Robert Wright & Paul Bloom)
March 20, 2024 00:48 - 1 hour - 35.5 MBPaul’s Substack: small potatoes or some pumpkins? ... Elon sours on Lemon—is ketamine to blame? ... The enduring enigma that is Elon Musk ... Is Altman overdramatizing the AI #Resistance? ... Paul cavalierly ignores Bob’s sage guidance ... Oscars: The good, the bad, and the hammy ... Heading to Overtime (plus: big Small Potatoes news!) ...
The Open Source AI Question (Robert Wright & Nathan Labenz)
March 15, 2024 22:04 - 1 hour - 56.8 MBNathan’s role as “AI scout” ... What "open source" in AI really means ... Why the secrecy around AI training data? ... What’s actually “open” about OpenAI? ... The case for and against open source AI ... Is an open source crackdown coming? ... What Waymark, Nathan’s company, does with AI ...
Can TikTok Survive? (Bill Scher & Matt K. Lewis)
March 14, 2024 18:26 - 1 hour - 29.4 MBShould TikTok be banned? ... Why did Ken Buck quit? ... Will the Hur report hurt Biden? ... Is Biden's new ad any good? ...
Biden’s Gaza Failures (Robert Wright & Daniel Levy)
March 12, 2024 22:21 - 1 hour - 38.2 MBShould Biden pursue regime change in Israel? ... How the White House mishandled Netanyahu's far-right government ... Daniel: “Israel has lost this war” ... What a ceasefire deal would look like ... Biden’s immense, unused leverage over Netanyahu ... Heading to Overtime ...
Kyrsten Sinema Says Goodbye (Bill Scher & Matt K. Lewis)
March 07, 2024 03:47 - 1 hour - 31.3 MBDid Super Tuesday tell us anything? ... What should Biden do in the SOTU? ... Is Trump losing it? ... Did Sinema's retirement mean bipartisanship is dead? ...
Elon v. OpenAI, Google vs Itself (Robert Wright & Timothy B. Lee)
March 07, 2024 02:21 - 1 hour - 47.8 MBThe other Tim B. Lee ... Unpacking the Elon v. OpenAI case ... How did Google’s Gemini go wrong? ... The unsung ingenious side of Gemini ... Is AI a bubble? ... Are some LLM issues insoluble? ... How Sora changes the AI picture ... Heading to Overtime ...
Possible Palestinian and Ukrainian Futures (Robert Wright & Andrew Day)
March 01, 2024 22:46 - 1 hour - 66.4 MB...
Nikki Haley Voters Could Sink Trump (Matt K. Lewis & Bill Scher)
February 28, 2024 01:23 - 1 hour - 33.1 MBCan Trump win back Haley voters? ... Does it matter how many Democrats vote "Uncommitted" in Michigan? ... Is there any logic to Trump's messaging to African-American voters? ... Do people vote for president like it's a TV show? ...
Google’s AI, Biden’s Brain, and Other Enigmas (Robert Wright & Paul Bloom)
February 28, 2024 01:08 - 1 hour - 48.1 MBBig trouble with Small Potatoes ... What makes a good podcast? ... Google’s AI goes wild(ly woke) ... Is Biden a “super-ager” or just super old? ... On the psychology of self-immolation ... Are we thinking right about mental illness? ... Heading to Overtime ...
Does AI Understand Things? (Robert Wright & Gary Marcus)
February 22, 2024 21:35 - 1 hour - 55 MBGary’s background and place in the AI world ... Are Gary’s views on AI paradoxical? ... Bob: Searle’s Chinese Room argument is dead ... Have LLMs demonstrated "theory of mind"? ... Arguing the semantics of an LLM's “semantic space” ... Do LLM representations map onto the real world? ... Can (and should) we slow down AI development? ... Gary: I’ve never seen a field as myopic as AI today ... The (symbolic?) future of AI ...
What Navalny Meant (Robert Wright & Nikita Petrov)
February 20, 2024 22:55 - 1 hour - 59.1 MBNikita’s memories of Navalny’s emergence as a political force ... The time Nikita was detained for protesting election fraud ... Navalny’s success as a political organizer ... What did Navalny represent? ... Navalny’s courageous post-poisoning return to Russia ... Heading to Overtime (plus: Nikita’s photo with Navalny) ...
Gazans' Displacement, AI's Acceleration (Robert Wright & Andrew Day)
February 17, 2024 16:00 - 1 hour - 58.9 MB...
Ukraine’s War, Putin’s Worldview (Robert Wright & Leonid Ragozin)
February 15, 2024 22:01 - 1 hour - 44.8 MBWhat MSM missed about Carlsons' Putin interview ... Putin’s litany of grievances against the West ... Russia gets the upper hand in Ukraine ... Why Zelensky hasn’t paved the way for peace talks ... Putin’s mafia-inspired approach to negotiations ... Do most Russians support the war? ... Why Zelensky fired his popular top general ... Heading to Overtime ...
Is the 'Age' Issue Old News? (Matt K. Lewis & Matt K. Lewis)
February 15, 2024 06:01 - 1 hour - 30 MBDoes the NY-03 special election have national import? ... Will the special counsel report sink Joe Biden? ... Was Jon Stewart's monologue on the mark? ...
Inside the Mind of AI (Robert Wright & Nora Belrose)
February 13, 2024 21:02 - 1 hour - 55.5 MBNora’s low score on the AI doomer test ... The messy math of AI alignment ... Teaching and (unteaching) concepts to LLMS ... Do we really want human-like AI? ... How the AI “mind” works ... How to change an AI’s mind ... Are LLMs reverse-engineering the human mind? ... Heading to Overtime ...
Putin's Monologue, Biden's Bad Day (Earthling Unplugged) (Robert Wright & Andrew Day)
February 10, 2024 16:00 - 1 hour - 60.3 MB...
Conspiracy Theories and True Fictions (Robert Wright & Paul Bloom)
February 09, 2024 01:35 - 1 hour - 43.3 MBBob’s bad newsletter news for Paul ... Fast Car's moving Grammy moment ... Music, female orgasms, and other evolutionary enigmas ... The Moral Animal turns 30—how has it aged? ... How AI (barely) helps Paul work ... Is America real? ... Bob tries to drag Paul down the JFK rabbit hole ... Lab leak and the trouble with “conspiracy theories” ... Heading to Overtime ...
GOP Chaos (Matt K. Lewis & Bill Scher)
February 08, 2024 17:42 - 1 hour - 30.8 MBThe import of Chapman-Combs ... "An embarrassing day for Republicans" ... How immigration wrecked the GOP ... What's Nikki Haley doing? ... The 3rd party X factor ...
The Truth About Effective Altruism (Robert Wright & Robert Wiblin)
February 06, 2024 00:57 - 1 hour - 53.4 MBEffective altruism (EA) and Rob’s 80,000 Hours podcast ... BF’s fall = EA’s public relations problem ... What went wrong for (and with) SBF? ... Virtue as a utilitarian shortcut ... What drove EA’s longtermist (r)evolution? ... EA, AI, and the miscalculation of existential risk ... Did EA play a role in the OpenAI board drama? ... Heading to Overtime ...
What’s Next for Gaza and Israel? (Robert Wright, Derek Davison, and Daniel Bessner)
February 02, 2024 02:57 - 1 hour - 31 MBAnother high-synergy collaborative episode ... Do mainstream Israelis support ethnic cleansing? ... Biden’s electoral (mis?)calculations on Israel-Palestine ... What does a left-wing foreign policy vision look like today? ...
Rightwing Paranoia and Taylor Swift (Matt K. Lewis & Bill Scher)
February 01, 2024 04:23 - 1 hour - 27 MBWhy do conservatives think the NFL is working with the Deep State? ... Can the border-Ukraine deal pass Congress? ... Who will Trump pick as VP? ...
An Israeli Looks at Gaza (Robert Wright & Russ Roberts)
January 30, 2024 01:01 - 1 hour - 84.9 MBHow Israelis think about civilian casualties in Gaza ... Is the war spawning a new generation of terrorists? ... Explaining versus justifying bad behavior ... Can Hamas and other extremist groups be moderated? ... Is the world biased against Israel? ... Cognitive biases that inflame tribal tensions ... The “river to the sea” Rorschach test ... On the precipice of World War III? ...
Gaza, Biden, Political AI, and Other Problems (Earthling Unplugged) (Robert Wright & Andrew Day)
January 29, 2024 18:54 - 1 hour - 49.7 MB...
Overton Windows: What You Can and Can’t Say about Transgender Issues (Robert Wright & Tamler Sommers)
January 29, 2024 18:54 - 1 hour - 39.4 MB...
It's Trump's Party (Matt K. Lewis & Bill Scher)
January 24, 2024 18:48 - 1 hour - 34.2 MBWhy there was so much wishcasting analysis about Nikki Haley ... Was Trump always going to be the nominee? ... Why the electability argument failed ... Why the ageist argument failed ...
Claudine Gay, MLK, and GLENN'S NEW BOOK (Glenn Loury & John McWhorter)
January 22, 2024 16:19 - 1 hour - 34 MBPreorder Glenn’s forthcoming memoir, Late Admissions: Confessions of a Black Conservative ... Why Glenn wrote a memoir (and why you should order it now) ... A ringing endorsement from John ... What does Martin Luther King Jr. Day mean in 2024? ... Preserving King’s belief in “the content of our character” ... What would King say to Claudine Gay? ... King's radicalism ... John: Being against DEI does not make you a racist ... The Tabia Lee affair at De Anza College ... How Claudine ...
The Biden-Trump Catastrophe (Robert Wright & Mickey Kaus)
January 21, 2024 16:54 - 1 hour - 113 MBFear and loathing on the campaign trail 2024 ... Haley’s shortcomings, Trump’s cognitive decline ... Who’s the perfect Democrat to run against Biden? ... How Biden could stop the Gaza war ... Why the Houthis are hard to neutralize ... Could Trump sabotage the border security deal? ... Doctor bots, robo-receipt checkers, and AI optimism ... The real problem with America’s elites ... Is catastrophe the only thing that can save America? ... Bob tries to drag Mickey (back) into the ...
Wuhan Lab Leak, Effective Altruism, and Other Media-distorted Issues (Robert Wright & Paul Bloom)
January 19, 2024 01:53 - 1 hour - 48.9 MBBob saves Paul from some very bad influences ... What makes Hitler more evil than Stalin and Mao? ... New lab leak evidence—what will come of it? ... Correcting the record on effective altruism ... Is “self-plagiarism” really plagiarism? ... The dishonesty researcher accused of academic dishonesty ... Heading to Overtime ...
Trump's Iowa Win Exposes Fake GOP Primary (Matt K. Lewis & Bill Scher)
January 17, 2024 16:45 - 1 hour - 20 MBDid the media rig Iowa for Trump? ... Is Trump's lead insurmountable? ... Should Haley want a two-person race? ...
Techno-Optimism vs. Techno-Pessimism (Robert Wright & Reid Hoffman)
January 17, 2024 00:53 - 1 hour - 78.8 MBReid’s deep roots in the tech world ... The kind of AI pessimism that irks Reid the most ... Can (and should) we slow down AI progress? ... Could AI help resolve international disputes? ... The promise and perils of perspective-taking AIs ... Why Reid co-wrote Impromptu with GPT-4 ... Where are the AI optimists? ... Sam Altman and the OpenAI drama: a (semi-) behind-the-scenes view ... How dangerous is open-source AI, really? ... Is AI acceleration decelerating? ... Engagement with C...
Iowa Cometh (Bill Scher & Matt K. Lewis)
January 15, 2024 05:40 - 1 hour - 41.1 MBMatt feels good about Haley in NH ... Would a Haley win in NH give her momentum? ... How bad was the DeSantis-Haley debate? ... Can Trump have it both ways on abortion? ... Can Trump have it both ways on abortion? ... Does Biden need a second-term agenda? ...
The Iowa Caucuses and After (Robert Wright & Mickey Kaus)
January 12, 2024 15:23 - 1 hour - 94.9 MBMickey’s in Iowa—and on the Nonzero Podcast! ... Do Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley have a chance? ... Why Biden will probably lose ... Wait, are there Democratic primaries? ... Would Trump 2.0 be a more capable authoritarian? ... AI bots that cater to your every need ... Why doesn't Biden get tougher on the border? ... Exciting new Child Tax Credit updates ... Is Twitter going down the tubes? ... Bob fails to escape from JFK assassination rabbit hole ... Subways and other things that...
Israel’s War, Biden’s War (Robert Wright & Stephen Walt)
January 10, 2024 01:01 - 1 hour - 44.8 MBHow the Gaza war harms US interests ... How the Gaza war harms Israel’s interests ... Could Biden get Israel to wind down the war? ... Biden’s complex political calculus on Israel ... The Israel lobby: what it is and what it does ... How elements of the lobby intimidate critics of Israel ... Heading to Overtime ...
Is AI Moving Too Fast? (Robert Wright & Timothy B. Lee)
January 05, 2024 15:58 - 1 hour - 36.2 MBTim seeks Substack synergy beyond Bob ... Recent contributors to Bob’s AI anxiety ... Why “Mamba” matters ... Is AI moving too fast? ... Are fears of an AI “jobocalypse” overblown? ... AI’s (potential) next transformation ... Heading to Overtime ...
Down the JFK Rabbit Hole (Robert Wright & Jefferson Morley)
January 03, 2024 01:03 - 1 hour - 51.2 MBJeff’s journalistic bona fides ... The origins of the official assassination narrative ... Oswald: Lone gunman? Patsy? Both? ... The CIA’s interest in Oswald before the assassination ... The Pentagon’s scheme to provoke war with Cuba via false flag ... How Bob started down the JFK rabbit hole ... Oswald’s critical time in New Orleans ... Why did Jack Ruby kill Oswald, really? ... Why JFK’s assassination still matters ...