Robert Wright's Nonzero
Robert Wright's Nonzero is a podcast featuring conversations with a wide range of guests, all of whom share little in common except that they have piqued the curiosity of host Robert Wright. The show explores ideas, current events, and the thoughts of interesting people from various fields. Each episode offers an intimate, thoughtful dialogue rather than a rigid interview format. The podcast is part of the Nonzero newsletter and website, where Wright publishes his writing.
Episodes
Trump’s New War on Iran (Robert Wright & Hooman Majd)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:28 Hooman’s Iranian expertise—inherited and otherwise 3:49 Trump’s new (economic) war on Iran 14:13 What MSM missed about the MOU 18:45 How will Iran respond? 27:00 The intra-MAGA fight over Trump’s foreign policy 30:13 Will Iran do to Trump what it did to Carter? 41:26 Iran and the Houthi-Saudi conflict 48:16 Is the Sa
The AI Safety Vibe Shift (Robert Wright & David Krueger)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:28 David’s AI safety work, past and present 2:28 Has there been a vibe shift in AI? 7:49 Why two AI godfathers went doomer 12:00 The OpenAI breakout as the warning shot heard round the world 20:38 Breaking down the OpenAI breakout 28:53 AI agents are cooperating. Why? 37:32 Is an AI pause near? 42:22 The hard problem of
Is (Human) Writing Doomed? (Robert Wright & Paul Bloom)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:28 Bob channels Dick Cheney 4:25 Is AI killing writing? And thinking? 16:43 How Bob and Paul actually use AI 24:03 The cognitive vs economic value of writing 30:28 AIs aping “Memento” and other frontier freakiness 38:00 Bob: Reckless AI is just good business 41:32 Heading to Overtimeobert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution
Trump’s Unending War (Robert Wright, Curt Mills, and Andrew Day)
0:28 How is MAGA feeling about Trump 2.0? 3:31 Bob’s good ol’ days at The New Republic 6:13 The biggest threat to the Trump coalition 18:31 Why the MoU unraveled 31:40 Is Iran's regime really divided? 36:41 Part two: This pod’s auspicious return from tech hell 37:54 Trump’s covert catering-truck op 45:50 Have Iran’s demands really gotten more extreme? 53:26 Saudi Arabia vs the Houthis 58:20 Is a p
Ukraine, Iran, and America’s Arms Overreach (Robert Wright & Jennifer Kavanagh)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:28 Jennifer’s foreign policy bona fides 1:31 Could Ukraine and Iran merge into one big war? 6:17 Is Ukraine really “turning the tide”? 15:28 America’s (and Ukraine’s) missile defense issue 19:08 Putin’s ceasefire conditions 25:59 What—and who—are America’s missiles for, really? 30:11 How not to open the Hormuz Strait 41
Fasten Your Bot-belts (Robert Wright & Samuel Hammond)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:28 Sam’s ideological leanings 3:44 Sam’s AI Manhattan Project–revisited 7:44 What does the “Pacing” letter say about the state of AI? 18:53 Mythos, Astra, and AI’s accelerating acceleration 27:50 The OpenAI “rogue” model escape 36:30 Recursive self-improvement: Red line or red herring? 42:24 How frontier AI is getting (
The intensifying slow-AI-down vibe (Robert Wright & Holly Elmore)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:28 The “Pacing the Frontier” letter signed by AI elites 10:15 Why so many China-hawk AI-safety-hawks? 14:16 Was the “Pacing” letter too small an ask? 27:14 The striking AI vibe shift 36:28 Are AI builders “just following orders”? 45:46 Recursive self-improvement: The wrong red line? 51:23 Heading to OvertimeRobert Wrigh
Are the Ukraine and the Iran Wars Merging? (Robert Wright & Nikita Petrov)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:28 Why did Ukraine hit an Iranian ship 500 miles from Ukraine? 14:09 Ukraine’s war on Russia’s Amazon 19:39 Why Zelensky fired his defense minister and commander-in-chief 23:01 Bob: Ukraine may lose like people go bankrupt—gradually, then suddenly 25:17 Nikita: Why both sides are ready to keep fighting 31:26 Kazakh Pres
The Wright Stuff (Very Bad Wizards w/ Tamler Sommers and David Pizarro)
(Show notes via Very Bad Wizards)The great Robert Wright returns to the podcast to talk about his new book The God Test: Artificial Intelligence and Our Coming Cosmic Reckoning. We debate the magnitude of AI’s potential impact, the natural selection analogy Bob presses in the book, and a whole lot more.Plus, a new AI-powered collar can translate your pet’s sounds and behavior into language with 95
The Ideology Behind AI (Robert Wright & Connor Leahy)
0:28 Connor’s place in the AI world 2:58 Mythos: “digital nuke”? 13:52 The milieu that birthed Dario and other AI titans 20:33 Yudkowsky, Marx, and other AI harbingers 35:15 Effective altruism’s effects on big tech 46:03 The “cult” in Silicon Valley culture 59:40 Is the AI race a market failure? 1:05:532What’s really driving the AI titans? 1:18:45 Connor: ASI is a worse bet than Russian rouletteRo
The God We Deserve: Nonzero's Robert Wright on AI as Humanity's Ultimate Test (The Cognitive Revolution w/ Nathan Labenz)
(Show notes via The Cognitive Revolution)Robert Wright describes himself less as a Forrest Gump of AI history than a Zelig — a journalist who keeps turning up at pivotal scenes without ever quite being the protagonist. He interviewed Geoffrey Hinton in 1983, when neural networks were still a maverick faith and one of Hinton’s colleagues told Wright that to “hear the gospel” he’d need to talk to it
Trump’s Self-Inflicted Iran Quagmire (Robert Wright & Zaid Jilani)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:28 Zaid’s Substack and spicy-take history 2:55 Zaid: Iran has outplayed Trump and Bibi 9:56 10/7 as turning point 13:29 Did—and does—Israel want regime collapse in Iran? 19:46 Israel’s security dilemma(s) 26:52 How Trump blundered back into war 33:36 Will the war end well for anyone? 37:23 Heading to OvertimeRobert Wrig
Iran, Israel, and the Future of US Power (Robert Wright, Derek Davison, and Daniel Bessner)
0:28 Sneak peek: Danny finds flaw in Bob’s AI book 1:42 Is the Iran war fully back on? 6:23 What the war means for the future of US power 19:16 The problem with blaming Bibi 23:33 The push to intertwine the US and Israeli militaries 35:33 What’s Israel’s endgame for the Palestinians? 39:51 The Gulf States’ new reality 45:44 Iran’s plans for the Strait of Hormuz 52:18 Bob’s pitch to Derek—and his o
Are Russia and NATO Headed for War? (Robert Wright & Leonid Ragozin)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:28 Leonid’s journalistic work, past and present 1:32 Are Russia and NATO headed for war? 14:23 Decoding Putin’s recent signals 21:29 Do European leaders really want the Ukraine war to end? 22:42 Putin’s political psychology 37:11 Why the war matters more to Russia than to the West 39:50 Russia’s non-ethno nationalism 43
Are Books Dead? (Robert Wright & Paul Bloom)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:28 Preview: Skynet comes for Bob 5:34 Trump‘s endearing AI obsession 7:15 Are books dying? Is AI responsible? 18:52 Skynet (aka Amazon) vs Bob’s book 28:09 The problem with blurbs 33:49 Why Gad Saad’s mad 44:00 Heading to OvertimeRobert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Paul Bloom (https:/
Is AI Humanity’s Last Exam? (Robert Wright, Curt Mills, and Andrew Day)
0:28 Grandpa Bob and author Bob 3:54 Why Bob stopped being an AI doom skeptic 7:23 Can AI solve China’s demographic crisis? 14:33 The irony of China’s open-source AI strategy 17:36 Recursive self-improvement and the singularity 23:57 The Burkean conservative case against AI 38:24 Are we becoming AI meat puppets? 46:56 Google Maps, AI, and the death of interhuman reliance 51:48 Was Pete Hegseth’s m
The God Test: Why artificial intelligence may require a moral upgrade (Executive Functions Chat w/ Jack Goldsmith)
(Description via Executive Functions Chat podcast)Jack chats with Robert Wright about his forthcoming book, The God Test: Artificial Intelligence and Our Coming Cosmic Reckoning. They discuss why Wright views AI through an evolutionary lens, the promises and perils of increasingly capable AI systems, and the prospects for international cooperation—particularly between the U.S. and China—in managin
AI and Our Coming Cosmic Reckoning (Robert Wright & Nikita Petrov)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:28 Bob’s pub-day pitch for his new book on AI, The God Test 1:28 Is AI killing the nonfiction star? 5:56 Geoffrey Hinton’s path from AI evangelist to doomer 9:51 The future of books 19:12 Trump vs Anthropic 23:27 Are Ukrainian drone strikes rattling Putin? 32:31 The multiple Putins theory 35:28 Heading to OvertimeRobert
The World After the Iran War (Robert Wright & Joshua Landis)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:28 Was “losing” this war good for America? 6:26 Israel’s post-war situation 9:59 A more stable Middle East? Or less? 18:07 The impact on Iran’s strength 21:43 Has the war empowered Russia and China? 24:39 How modern warfare devalues American military power 27:41 Josh: The Gulf-state power struggle is just beginning 40:4
The US-China AI Race (Robert Wright & Ryan Fedasiuk)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:28 A brief message from Bob 1:39 Ryan’s tech policy bona fides 4:17 Is true “recursive self-improvement” near? 9:04 AI agents as strategic empathy machines 15:15 Is a global AI pause possible? 23:29 Mutually assured destruction vs mutually assured AI malfunction 35:14 The case against global AI governance 38:53 Mythos a
The AI Lobby’s Dirty Tricks (Robert Wright & Tyler Johnston)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org2:21 The Midas Project and the OpenAI files 11:57 What’s “Build American AI” up to? 20:38 Nathan Leamer, astroturfer and sock puppeteer 28:42 Greg Brockman, AI lobby bankroller 34:51 Astroturfing the China panic 39:29 Is OpenAI an innocent bystander? 48:09 Heading to OvertimeRobert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, W
The Secret of AI’s Power (Robert Wright & Paul Bloom)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:28 Whose baby is cuter? 3:13 Bob’s new book on AI, The God Test 10:16 Varieties of AI awe 13:47 Geoffrey Hinton’s vision 18:14 How LLMs do more than predict and parrot 21:44 How powerful will AI get? 26:20 Can AI’s impact be predicted? 31:12 Taking doomerism seriously 3817 The AI governance dilemma 49:06 Heading to Over
Seeing China Clearly (Robert Wright & Tianyu Fang)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:28 How Tianyu became a “China explainer” 2:59 American vs Chinese exceptionalism 7:53 What you can and can’t say in China 18:16 Is the government more accountable in the US or China? 26:47 How China sees America 36:16 The one-child policy and its consequences 42:37 Tianyu: The biggest misconception about China is… 46:04
AI, Evolution, and The God Test (Increments Podcast w/ Ben Chugg, Vaden Masrani, and Robert Wright)
(Description via Increments Podcast:) Did you ever see the video of two regular people trying to fight Eddie Hall, the strongest man on earth? Ben and Vaden bring that same energy to this conversation, where they gang up on Robert Wright on the subject of his forthcoming book The God Test: Artificial Intelligence and Our Coming Cosmic Reckoning. Bob is a sport about it (well, there was no choice r
Trump’s Iran War Merry-Go-Round (Robert Wright, Derek Davison, and Daniel Bessner)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:28 Is NonZero or American Prestige the better podcast? AI weighs in 4:38 The state of the US-Iran war. Or is it peace? 18:16 Has Trump already lost the midterms? Does he care? 24:40 The Russia-Ukraine war (and Eric Schmidt) 29:47 What the latest Iran war strikes signal 31:28 Overtime preview: Nuland’s “monsters,” zombie
The Pope Takes On AI (Robert Wright & Nikita Petrov)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:28 A Greek pilgrimage, a mystery guest, and a Discord revival 5:57 The first Papal encyclical devoted to AI 11:12 Pope Leo: just war theory is outdated, and AI lets humans dodge accountability 21:28 Anthropic tells the Pope about “mysterious, even unsettling” things inside AI 27:41 Inside the “Kill Zone”: How drones cha
Can Rituals Save Us? (Robert Wright & Bruce Feiler)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:52 Bruce’s new book on ritual, A Time to Gather 2:48 The “Lifequake” that led Bruce to study ritual 7:46 The current “shadow ritual” renaissance 11:54 What is a ritual? 15:02 The origins of the shadow ritual renaissance 18:01 Forest bathing and the essence of ritual 25:47 Ritual as the original human algorithm 31:15 Hon
Understanding Iran (Robert Wright & Hamidreza Azizi)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:28 Hamidreza’s background 8:33 A brief history of US-Iran relations 15:01 Understanding Iranian antipathy toward Israel 21:00 Islam vs Islamism 30:07 The Iran-Iraq security dilemma 35:56 The Iran-Israel security dilemma 44:39 Palestinian objectives and patrons 47:38 Heading to OvertimeRobert Wright (Nonzero, The Evoluti
Rethinking China (Robert Wright & Zhengyu Huang)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:28 Zhengyu’s tech background and new book, Rethinking China 2:56 What kind of threat is China, really? 10:02 How trading with China transformed America 16:47 The stakes of the chip war 21:58 Will tech war lead to real war? 30:29 The US-China escalation spiral and Taiwan 39:09 “Researching while Chinese”: the new Red Sca
Is the AI Takeoff Starting? (Robert Wright & Timothy B. Lee)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:28 Is AI a normal technology? 6:00 Mythos and the METR curve 15:53 The current state of coding agents 20:10 The total turbulence problem 23:11 Does Mythos favor offense or defense? 29:19 Mythos and hype 31:59 Regulating dangerous AI 38:17 The centralization problem 40:22 Heading to OvertimeRobert Wright (Nonzero, The Ev
The New Middle East (Robert Wright & Annelle Sheline)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:28 Annelle’s Middle East bona fides 2:18 The state of play in Iran 7:37 A deepening fissure between Gulf Arab states 21:28 Explaining the Trump-Biden continuity on Middle East policy 26:08 Will the Middle East realign away from America? 34:09 Turkey and the moral hazard of US aid to Israel 39:23 Can Iran mend ties with
Trump Lost the Hormuz Round (Robert Wright & Nikita Petrov)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:28 Bob’s big personal news 3:37 The US counter-blockade backfires 10:20 Iran retains escalation dominance 16:19 Why the Iranian regime is built to absorb assassinations 22:39 “Donald, it’s too late for that.” Bob says Trump has to take the L 25:27 Putin’s Victory Day ceasefire (with a threat) 28:25 Russia’s vibe shift:
Mythos and China (Robert Wright & Lennart Heim)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:28 How powerful is Anthropic’s Mythos? 7:16 How Mythos looks to China 9:40 Does Mythos mark a new phase in the US-China arms race? 20:45 Can Anthropic contain Mythos? 26:16 Could superhacker AIs bring cooperation? 37:41 How scary is China, really? 45:45 Heading to OvertimeRobert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Wh
The Mattering Instinct (Robert Wright & Rebecca Newberger Goldstein)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:28 Rebecca’s past work on mind and matter(ing) 3:48 Rebecca’s new book, The Mattering Instinct 8:24 Varieties of mattering experience 15:08 Mattering type 1: Heroic Strivers 18:29 Mattering type 2: Socializers 26:20 Mattering type 3: Transcenders 30:37 Mattering type 4: Competitors 40:08 “The” meaning of life problem 43
The Future of Intelligence (Robert Wright & Paul Bloom)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:28 Paul’s new baby is reportedly cute 6:34 The Tucker-Trump fracture 11:56 Parenting later in life 19:16 Paul’s TED talk on AI and loneliness 25:05 When does embryo screening become eugenics? 33:53 Is intelligence a positional good? 42:40 Heading to OvertimeRobert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is T
Can Trump and Iran Make a Deal? (Robert Wright & Robert Malley)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:28 Rob’s role in the Obama nuclear deal 2:07 A deal that could work for both Trump and Iran 12:34 Iran’s security “guarantee” problem 20:02 Bob: If I were Iran, I would say… 25:00 What Obama’s negotiators had that Trump’s don’t 29:50 How unified is the Iranian side? 38:08 Is Iran’s Hormuz leverage running dry? 41:28 Hea
Iran and the Demise of US Hegemony (Robert Wright, Derek Davison, and Daniel Bessner)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:24 Trump’s Middle East chaos continues 5:34 Is Iran more about America’s hegemony or Israel’s? 12:52 Who will win the Hormuz blockade duel? 22:41 Ukraine, China, and the drone wars 27:28 America’s “emergency” emergency 31:41 Is an Iran peace deal possible? 43:04 Overtime preview: The Anthropic Mythos scareRobert Wright
Can AI Stop Wars? (Robert Wright & Nikita Petrov)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org2:35 Trump’s Iran blockade breaks the ceasefire 6:04 A Chinese tanker calls Trump’s bluff 10:50 Bob’s case for an Iranian “tollgate” 16:07 Anthropic’s Mythos model is too dangerous to release 23:27 Nikita’s big idea: AI as world peace mediator 39:39 Heading to OvertimeRobert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Budd
Dario, Demis, Sam: Assessing the AI Guys (Robert Wright & Shakeel Hashim)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:24 A brief message from Bob 3:50 Shakeel’s newsletter, Transformer, and its mission 7:41 The case(s) against Sam Altman 13:23 OpenAI President Greg Brockman’s political spending 17:40 The founding doctrines of the leading AI labs 23:36 The singleton and the singularity 28:24 How market forces overwhelm good intentions 3
The Iran War: A Debate (Robert Wright & Eli Lake)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:28 Bob and Eli’s history of (civil) disagreement on Iran 2:02 Is Trump’s war on Iran legal? Does it matter? 8:11 Who’s the real rogue state? 19:26 Israel’s nukes and Iran’s nuclear program 30:05 Is Israel more moral than Iran? 38:45 How Hamas became Hamas 46:04 “Proxy,” “theocracy,” and other fighting words 54:44 Headin
MAGA Opposition to the Iran War (Robert Wright, Curt Mills, and Andrew Day)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:28 Would America benefit from Iran “winning”? 3:34 Trump’s last exit ramp? 13:20 What’s China’s angle on the war? 17:35 Trump: psychoanalyzed 20:46 Israel: psychoanalyzed 25:15 Iran’s plans for the Strait of Hormuz 30:51 Is this Trump’s biggest blunder? 40:49 The intra-MAGA war over Iran (and Israel) 53:48 Where are the
Averting a Superintelligence Takeover (Robert Wright & Andrea Miotti)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:28 Defining (and preventing) superintelligence 6:00 Where the nuclear analogy holds (and where it breaks) 10:38 Imagining an AI inspections regime 14:56 The superintelligence precursors to watch for 18:41 Our dangerous lack of government oversight 25:59 ControlAI’s “bottom-up” approach to AI policy 30:14 The mounting ge
The Iran War and the Singularity (Robert Wright & Nikita Petrov)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:00 Teaser 1:00 Holy Week in Andalusia, and the Christian cross as branding 6:18 Why Bob is skeptical of Trump's diplomacy 10:37 Trump's hand got weaker and he doesn't even know it 13:39 Killing Iran's navy chief won't reopen the Strait of Hormuz 16:43 Nikita: "I find him weirdly persuasive on a hypnotist kind of level"
Israel, America, and the Iran War (Robert Wright & Ron Kampeas)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:28 What (or who) is the Iran war for? 13:00 Joe Kent and the MAGA rift over Israel 24:03 Does antisemitism speech policing foment antisemitism? 38:58 What Ron’s Substack has that others don’t 43:59 Heading to OvertimeRobert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Ron Kampeas (https://ronkampeas.
The Allure and Danger of Agentic AI (Robert Wright & Liron Shapira)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:28 Overtime preview: a civil(-ish) debate on Israel-Palestine 3:46 How vibe-coding changed Liron’s life 9:23 Portents of the AI jobpocalypse 18:20 What can humans do that AI agents can’t? 27:28 The Darwinian case for AI doom 30:50 OpenClaw vs SkyNet 37:12 Liron: I love AI! We need to stop it. 43:51 Amodei, Altman, and
Israel’s Plan for Iran (And Beyond) (Robert Wright & Daniel Levy)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:28 Is Iran inflicting much damage on Israel? 9:26 Iran has a strategy. Does America? Does Israel? 17:35 Where Trump and Bibi differ 23:41 Why Daniel is no longer a Zionist 30:06 Bibi vs the Israeli security establishment 34:35 The Gulf States’ dilemma 45:24 Daniel on Bibi’s true endgame 49:56 Heading to OvertimeRobert W
Iran's War for a New Middle East Order (Robert Wright & Hooman Majd)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:28 How we got here 10:18 Understanding Iran’s strategy and goals 15:38 Turkey, Europe, and the Gulf States 18:38 Will the Iranian regime survive? 20:24 The specious leadership of Reza Pahlavi 26:23 The many missed opportunities for US-Iran entente 39:05 Heading to OvertimeRobert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Wh
Israel, Iran, and Antisemitism (Robert Wright & Peter Beinart)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:28 Will the Iran war supercharge antisemitism? 8:49 Varieties of Israeli-Jewish conflation 14:23 The Epstein effect 16:08 Tucker v. Israel vs Fuentes v. Israel 23:14 Does MSM have a pro-Israel bias? 27:14 The ADL’s counterproductive speech policing 34:58 Heading to OvertimeRobert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, W
Trump's Gulf War (Robert Wright, Derek Davison, and Daniel Bessner)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:00 Marco Rubio’s Israel faux pas 3:28 What are Trump’s new goalposts? 10:23 The regime after Khamenei 14:36 Can a regime be changed by air strikes alone? 20:49 Will Turkey be drawn in? 25:18 The logic of Iran’s response 31:32 The pathetic European (and Canadian) response 34:58 Heading into OvertimeRobert Wright (Nonzero
Will the Iran War Spiral Out of Control? (Robert Wright & Nikita Petrov)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:28 Spain: the one country that got it right 1:56 When US rhetoric starts sounding like the Kremlin 3:07 Nukes, regime change, military threat—pick one 4:05 Rubio’s “ridiculous” explanation for attacking Iran 5:20 Iran’s restraint: from Soleimani to Khamenei 9:55 Trump had leverage over Bibi. He didn’t use it. 12:22 Is t
Iran War II (Robert Wright & Joshua Landis)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:28 Why is Trump threatening Iran, really? 10:51 What’s the strategic logic behind striking? 16:00 Trump vs Bibi on Gaza 20:44 How would—and could—Iran respond? 30:42 What a post-regime-collapse Iran could look like 36:25 Josh: Trump has painted himself into a corner 39:16 Is a new “axis of resistance” against Israel eme
Is Anthropic Misanthropic? (Robert Wright & Holly Elmore)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:28 Holly’s call-out campaign 3:28 Holly: Don’t believe the Amanda Askell puff pieces 11:49 Is Amanda a bad person? 21:59 How Dario’s false dichotomies accelerate the AI race 30:19 The only Anthropic through-line is “winning” 38:54 Did Dario subvert Effective Altruism? 42:43 The end of the AI safety fig leaf 46:29 Headin
The AI Apocalypse Cometh? | Robert Wright & Paul Bloom
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:28 A paywall bait masterclass 7:41 Is Paul feeling the AI acceleration? 15:30 The Freddie deBoer AI challenge 25:53 What would a true AI revolution look like? 31:21 Bob: We’re failing the AI test 39:29 Has AI really made much of a difference? 50:29 Heading to OvertimeRobert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Bud
Agency, AI, and the MAGA Impulse (Robert Wright & Nikita Petrov)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:28 Recap: how MAGA's domestic and foreign policy fit together as one project 8:31 MAGA reframed as a response to a felt lack of agency 11:50 AI is about to make that loss of agency universal 12:58 The first technology we're actually transferring agency to 17:05 What Claude Code is doing to Nikita's creative process 22:0
Is the Singularity Near? (Robert Wright & Timothy B. Lee)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:24 Is Tim feeling the AI acceleration? 6:47 Claude Code: decrypted 12:54 Has AGI already arrived? 20:38 Moltbook: Skynet rising? Or hot air? 24:48 The various “singularities” 31:34 Where Tim looks for signs of the singularity 41:10 Heading to OvertimeRobert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) an
Trump's Big Gambles: Iran, China, and AI (Robert Wright, Andrew Day, and Curt Mills)
1:22 Army brats and media empires 2:40 Is war with Iran imminent? 5:34 Trump’s “red line” trap 11:22 Are we underestimating Iran? 19:50 Israel and the “clean break” memo 26:25 Rubio as deep state puppet master 32:47 Trump’s AI report card 36:38 The race for superintelligence 42:33 Is AI an existential threat? 54:14 Will AI trigger mass unemployment? 1:01:28 Chip restrictions as war starters 1:04:4
The Meaning of Moltbook (Robert Wright & Paul Bloom)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:28 How Bob’s and Paul’s names wound up in the Epstein Files 7:37 Epstein’s double option play 13:36 Power brokers after Epstein 18:13 Understanding Moltbook 25:50 Bob on the “big question” Moltbook raises 35:24 Paul: What planet are Emily Bender and Alex Hanna on? 38:36 Heading into Overtime: Friends in the Epstein File
The Grand Unified Theory of MAGA (Robert Wright & Nikita Petrov)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:28 MAGA as a coherent global phenomenon 9:10 Narrative vs. material forces behind MAGA 18:24 Mark Carney and the hypocrisy of the “rule-based order” 24:08 Burkeans vs. Silicon Valley libertarians 29:12 Make Russia Great Again 30:56 Heading to Overtime: Bob’s experience in Moscow’s Gorky ParkRobert Wright (Nonzero, The E
The Case Against AI (Robert Wright, Alex Hanna, and Emily Bender)
0:29 Alex and Emily’s book, The AI Con 4:35 Beyond the AI booster-doomer spectrum 9:28 What—and who—is AI actually useful for? 18:26 The AI productivity question(s) 30:35 Emily: AI won’t take your job, it’ll just make it shi**ier 38:50 Stochastic parrots, Chinese rooms, and semantics 45:03 Are LLMs really black boxes? 55:35 Do AIs “understand” things? 58:50 Debating using AIs as experts 1:07:15 Ho
The Trump Foreign Policy Roller Coaster (Robert Wright, Derek Davison, and Daniel Bessner)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:28 A recap of January’s Trump turbulence 5:16 Is Trump a cause or symptom of world disorder? 13:33 Is Trump increasingly unstable?16:05 Will we invade Cuba? 20:08 American politics after Trump 26:18 The crumbling bedrock of International Law 35:54 Where are the Democrats? 38:43 Heading into Overtime: Renee Good, Syria,
AI After Us: The "Succession" Scenario (Robert Wright & Dan Faggella)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:28 Defining AI succession 3:13 How positive psychology led Dan to AI research 10:42 Is Dan a “successionist”? 17:02 Does it matter whether AI is sentient? 24:35 Two traits of a worthy successor 31:25 The varieties of succession scenarios 36:02 Values and interests 41:14 Will AI have any use for us? 43:55 Succession scen
The Past and Future of Digital Media (Robert Wright & Mike Pesca)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:28 Are Bob and Mike the godfathers of podcasting? 6:10 Slate and the origins of podcasting 9:36 NotebookLM’s humanless podcasts 14:07 From blogs to Substack 18:12 Looking back at BloggingHeads 23:38 The tribalizing influence of algorithms 31:13 New news models 40:01 What happened to the rules in professional sports? 48:
The Minneapolis Shooting Rorschach Test (Robert Wright & Paul Bloom)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:28 Different readings of the Renee Good videos 14:27 JD Vance vs Stephen Miller: compare and contrast 18:18 Trump vs Hitler: compare and contrast 23:18 ICE agents and stormtroopers: compare and contrast 34:57 Has Elon totally lost it? 42:45 Paul: Politicians are people too! 47:03 Heading to OvertimeRobert Wright (Nonzer
AI Consciousness: The Hard Problem (Robert Wright & Cameron Berg)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:28 Cameron’s work at AE studio 5:37 Why consciousness is such a hard problem 10:15 Why AI consciousness matters 16:42 Does consciousness need carbon? 23:20 The ethics of AI subjectivity 30:09 Can we trust LLM self-reports? 42:57 Cameron’s innovative AI consciousness experiments 48:24 Heading to OvertimeRobert Wright (No
NASA’s Plans for the Moon and Mars (Robert Wright & Joel Achenbach)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:28 Joel’s legendary Bloggingheads line 6:55 NASA’s new chief: More than a Musk toady? 12:53 Why we’re still not living in Star Trek 21:05 The space alien question 31:27 Can we make the moon program great again? 46:16 Heading to OvertimeRobert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Joel Achenbac
2025: A Year-End (And Quarter-Century-End) Reckoning (Robert Wright & Paul Bloom)
0:28 David Lynch, Jane Goodall and other notable 2025 losses 8:59 When Bob called James Watson a “mad scientist” 14:02 Predicting 2050: Star Trek abundance vs. “Total Chaos Planet”? 21:46 The age of algorithmically guided attention 26:18 Global poverty reduction (and its flip side) 30:54 Will anyone care if your newsletter is AI-written? 34:48 Trump’s USAID cuts killed a lot of people 37:48 Elon M
What Era Are We Living In? (Robert Wright & Nikita Petrov)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org2:30 What era are we living in? 3:27 David Bowie: “The Internet is an alien life form.” 4:45 Bob: “It’s like aliens are approaching, and we don’t know their intentions” 5:57 Nikita: “COVID was weird, and nothing has been normal since” 8:32 The lab leak theory 13:28 How COVID killed consensus reality 17:06 Bob’s case for i
The Year in Trump Foreign Policy (Robert Wright, Andrew Day, and Connor Echols)
0:28 What’s the long game in Venezuela? 19:53 MAGA’s Monroe Doctrine 17:27 Trump as deep state puppet 22:33 Will Trump oust Maduro? 26:08 Connor: Trump’s foreign policy is a “profoundly mixed bag” 38:55 Has Israel lost the American electorate? 45:19 Andrew: Trump’s Ukraine peace plan isn’t pro-Russia 50:54 Silicon Valley’s inept arms makers 58:32 The administration’s view(s) on China and Taiwan 1:
Elon, Trump, Fuentes: Bad Men or Trolls or Both? (Robert Wright & Paul Bloom)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:28 Elon’s reckless response to the Brown shooting 11:43 Susie Wiles gone wild 14:55 The weirdest thing about Trump’s weird Rob Reiner post 25:33 The Piers Morgan/Nick Fuentes encounter 38:22 Judging Oliver Sacks 43:50 Heading to OvertimeRobert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Paul Bloom (
Venezuela, China, and Trump’s Incoherence (Robert Wright, Derek Davison, and Daniel Bessner)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:28 The incoherence of Trump’s foreign policy 7:40 The paucity of debate around Chinese chip restrictions 19:37 Danny: Is this the stupidest foreign policy establishment ever? 25:56 Should AGI worry us? 35:07 Bob’s Overtime baitRobert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True), Derek Davison (Foreign Ex
Using AI to Fight Cancer (Robert Wright & Nathan Labenz)
0:00 Teaser 1:04 How AI helped shape cancer treatment for Nathan’s son 15:52 Should you tell your doctor about your AI medical adviser? 20:37 Big leaps for Gemini 3 and Claude Opus 4.5 27:59 How to get the best medical advice from your AI 34:37 The astonishing breadth of AI expertise 42:26 AI can help on the margins 55:55 Bob’s AI cancer journey 1:11:41 AI and “Right to try” 1:21:08 “Turning e
The Hard Truth about Peace in Ukraine (Robert Wright & Nikita Petrov)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:00 Teaser 1:03 Trump’s 28-point plan: first real negotiations? 3:09 Why Zelensky sounded so grim 8:23 Listing Russia’s advantages 10:08 The unknowable casualties numbers 12:32 Ukraine’s forced mobilization vs. Russia’s volunteer army 16:24 Why Russia won’t run out of money 19:39 Bob: “I want Putin to get the worst deal
The Life and Legacy of William F. Buckley (Robert Wright & Sam Tanenhaus)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:30 Sam’s epic new biography of William F. Buckley 5:53 Was Buckley the original Tucker Carlson? 12:35 Buckley’s paradoxical upbringing 22:36 How Yale turned Buckley into a “counter-intellectual” 36:08 Was Buckley racist or tribalist or what? 54:45 Buckley v. the Civil Rights Act 1:03:43 Heading to OvertimeRobert Wright
20 Years Ago, Bloggingheads Was a Trailblazer (Aryeh Cohen-Wade & Robert Wright)
Original post via Culturally Determined: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/20-years-ago-bloggingheads-was-a-trailblazer-with/id981282353?i=1000735793526Bob and former Bloggingheads.tv staffer and contributor Aryeh Cohen-Wade reflect on the legacy of Bloggingheads.tv, the pioneering website Bob co-founded in 2005. Bob and Aryeh discuss how the site and the technology that powered it anticipated
China Hawks in Retreat? (Robert Wright & Kaiser Kuo)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:30 A brief history of American China hawkery 15:40 The 2008 financial crisis changed things 19:22 Xi Jinping and the great man theory of history 25:23 Can we get along with autocrats? 32:06 How China hawkery became bipartisan 38:21 Total eclipse of the hawks? 48:06 Kaiser’s “Great Reckoning” thesisRobert Wright (Nonzero
Larry Summers, Jeffrey Epstein, and Other Elite Malefactors (Robert Wright & Paul Bloom)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:28 Bob’s Doha trip takeaways 4:06 The Epstein-Bannon-Trump connection 9:34 Can MAGA survive the Epstein saga? 12:45 Email hygiene 101 18:02 Paul defends Larry Summers 29:17 Olivia Nuzzi hikes the Appalachian trail 41:43 Overtime preview: Top podcasting secrets revealed! The punishment problem; Pluribus; the “great femin
Will One AI Rule Us All? (Robert Wright & Alex Komoroske)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:28 Alex’s influential “Google PM Bible” 5:34 What is a tech aggregator? 13:09 AI is much more than chatbots 17:35 The dangers of centralized AI 24:17 What you want vs what you want to want 31:25 How an LLM’s memory locks you in 38:12 AGI vs ASI 44:20 Alex’s solution to the lock-in problem 51:49 Alex’s ode to “resonance”
Disorder as the New Normal (Robert Wright & Nikita Petrov)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:29 What is Bob doing in Qatar? 3:34 “Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold.” Why Yeats felt this way 7:07 Peter Thiel’s Antichrist theory 9:16 Nikita: COVID was a weird time, and nothing has been the same since 14:27 Why Bob feels things are falling apart 17:58 Were things ever in order? 19:23 “Inner emigration”: tu
Is American Might Right? (Robert Wright & Shadi Hamid)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:30 Shadi’s path to his new book, The Case for American Power 9:50 George W. Bush’s “Freedom Agenda” 13:19 Does America’s role in Gaza undermine Shadi’s case? 16:47 Shadi’s case for US moral supremacy 23:36 What does China want? 34:19 What justifies military intervention? 40:32 Bob: International law is the answer 51:25
Zohran, Epstein, and Two Decades of Bob and Mickey (Robert Wright & Mickey Kaus)
0:28 This week in underappreciated world history 7:19 Were the elections all—or just mostly—bad news for Trump? 28:55 Will Trump invade Venezuela? 36:30 What’s the shutdown fight really about? 43:04 Mickey vs Ezra Klein (in absentia) on healthcare 51:22 Back down the Epstein rabbit hole 1:17:28 Was Tucker playing 4D chess with the Fuentes interview? 1:28:03 What happened to the blogosphere? 1:36:4
Recommended
Bible Tea
TED Talks Daily
Pod Save America
Dateline NBC
صداستان: ساعتی با موسیقی
Becoming: HER with Nikki Spoelstra
Exposing Workplace Bullying
Everyday AI Made Simple - AI For Everyday Tasks
FemTech Focus
Not Too Sensitive - Empowering Highly Sensitive People (HSPs) To Own Their Sensitivity
Mother Daughter Relationship Show
Skin Deep MDs with Dr. Mamina Turegano, Dr. Lindsey Zubritsky and Dr. Jenny Liu
