Best Rob Nixon Podcasts (2025)

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How to Make an Algorithm in the Microwave with Poet MAYA SALAMEH 38:26

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14h ago38:26

38:26

“Poetry is like one of the great loves of my life, and I think it's probably the longest relationship I'll ever have. I read a lot of poetry. I also wrote these short stories even when I was pretty young, like in second grade, and the stories kept getting shorter and shorter. My family used to go to Damascus in Syria and Lebanon every summer for th…

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Donald Rumsfeld in the Movies with William Cooper 59:26

4d ago59:26

59:26

BASED ON A TRUE STORY (BOATS EP. 375) — Donald Rumsfeld served as the U.S. Secretary of Defense twice in his career, including during the 9/11 attacks. Today, we'll learn how the movies "Vice", "W." bring a fictional portrayal of Rumsfeld. We'll also look into the accuracy of the documentary "The Unknown Known" which interviews Rumsfeld himself. ⁠G…

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Empire of AI: Dreams & Nightmares in Sam Altman's Open AI with KAREN HAO 43:40

6d ago43:40

43:40

“My book is called Empire of AI because I'm trying to articulate this argument and illustrate that these companies operate exactly like empires of old. I highlight four features that essentially encapsulate the three things you read. However, I started talking about it in a different way after writing the book. The four features are: they lay claim…

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Why We Need Stories in Times of Crisis: ETGAR KERET on Healing, Connection & Creativity in the Age of AI - Highlights 19:13

12d ago19:13

19:13

“I feel that when you don't tell your story, it's as if you have a limited existence. We can always have some kind of choice, but I'm saying that the story we choose may be the most crucial choice that we make, because this story will affect all the other choices.” Etgar Keret is one of the most inventive and celebrated short story writers of his g…

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Finding Humanity Through Storytelling with Author & Filmmaker ETGAR KERET 1:08:23

12d ago1:08:23

1:08:23

“When I write my stories, I don't want to solve things in life. I just want to persuade myself that there is a way out. Maybe I am in a cell, maybe I'm trapped. Maybe I won't make it, but if I can imagine a plan for escape, then I'll be less trapped because at least in my mind, there is a way. I think that my parents are survivors. They always talk…

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Arabic Literature, Palestine & The Art of Translation with HUDA FAKHREDDINE

12d ago

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“I'm Lebanese. I grew up in Lebanon during the Civil War, and I came to the United States as a graduate student with the intention of going back. I never wanted to stay here. I really thought that my life would happen in Beirut, in a city that I loved and hated in the healthiest of ways. My investments, both literary and intellectual, were rooted t…

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Young Guns II with Josh from The Wild West Extravaganza 1:27:15

20d ago1:27:15

1:27:15

BASED ON A TRUE STORY (BOATS EP. 374) — Today we'll rejoin Billy the Kid's outlaw gang as they continue their attempts to escape the law following the events in Young Guns (BOATS EP. 146). Was Brushy Bill Roberts a real person? Was he Billy the Kid? What other creative liberties did the filmmakers take in telling the true story of Billy the Kid? Wh…

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The Poetics & Pedagogy of Toni Cade Bambara, June Jordan, Audre Lorde &Adrienne Rich in the Era of Free College w/ DANICA SAVONICK 42:56

27d ago42:56

42:56

“As I was reading Hooks and Freire, a colleague recommended Adrian Rich's essay "Teaching Language in Open Admissions." It was in that essay that I first read about her experiences teaching at CUNY during open admissions, learning that she taught alongside June Jordan, Audre Lorde, and Toni Cade Bambara. Eventually, that essay led me to their archi…

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Amelia with Chris Williamson 1:11:31

1M ago1:11:31

1:11:31

BASED ON A TRUE STORY (BOATS EP. 373) — Learn about legendary aviator Amelia Earhart as she was portrayed onscreen by Hilary Swank in the 2009 biopic. To uncover the true story, today we'll talk with author, documentarian, and host of Chasing Earhart , the only podcast dedicated entirely to Amelia Earhart: Chris Williamson. Where to watch Amelia Ge…

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What Do We Do with the One Life We’re Given? - Scientists, Writers, Philosophers & Changemakers Share their Stories 16:09

1M ago16:09

16:09

In this time of rapid technological change, how do we hold onto our humanity? How do stories, traditions, and community help us find meaning in loss and face an uncertain future? How can science, art, and spirituality open new pathways to understanding ourselves and the human experience? PAUL SHRIVASTAVA (Co-President of The Club of Rome) discusses…

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Every Monument Will Fall - DAN HICKS Explores Remembering & Forgetting 55:59

1M ago55:59

55:59

“I work in between archeology and anthropology in this field called either historical archeology or contemporary archeology. At the heart of that is the relationship between objects and humans. How do we write about the past or the present in terms of listening to human voices or evidence from things where maybe human voices have been erased or hav…

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Trail of Vengeance with Rob Hilliard 1:33:51

2M ago1:33:51

1:33:51

BASED ON A TRUE STORY (BOATS EP. 372) — Travel back to the Old West for a tale of revenge, Pinkerton agents, and frontier justice in the wake of the Civil War. One of those former Pinkerton agents in the movie is John Scobell (Gbenga Akinnagbe), making 2025's Trail of Vengeance the first movie to feature John Scobell as one of its main characters. …

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AI, UFOs, Perception & Reality with Artist, Geographer, Author TREVOR PAGLEN - Highlights 14:14

2M ago14:14

14:14

“If we look at the entire history of the human experience, if you saw some text or you heard some spoken language, you could 100 percent reliably infer that there was a human who created that. Our experience of having that text or that image generated for us is very akin to the experience of a magic trick, and we sort of pre-subconsciously want to …

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How AI is Shaping Perception w/ Artist TREVOR PAGLEN, Author of Trevor Paglen: Adversarially Evolved Hallucinations 55:26

2M ago55:26

55:26

“There's a word for this brain rot, right? I think that's very real. There are studies coming out now that are showing that the more and more of our cognitive labor we offload to AI systems, the less creative we become, the less critical we become, and the less of our human faculties for reason we use. There's something sad about that, but there’s …

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Art, Empathy & Resilience with CADY McCLAIN, Actor, Director, Writer, Artist, Musician - Highlights 11:20

2M ago11:20

11:20

“I had to become the father of my family very young because my parents divorced when I was 12. My situation was a little bit unusual in that my father kind of disappeared, and I had been making a fair amount of money as a kid, doing commercials and television and film. We needed money, and I kind of became the breadwinner. But I had this amazing wo…

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37) Chris Bartel (CA) 22:35

1M ago22:35

22:35

Chris is a 3rd generation beekeeper from Canada. His family specialise in imports of packages and queens. You can find the family’s business at https://www.bartelbeeco.ca/ Comment or leave feedback on the episode post in the Facebook group for this podcast https://www.facebook.com/groups/breedingthehoneybee This podcast is proudly brought to you by…

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A Life in Acting with Emmy Award-winning Actor, Director, Writer CADY McCLAIN 1:06:02

2M ago1:06:02

1:06:02

“I won my first Emmy when I was 21, which was the result of absolutely devoting myself day and night for two years to doing all the scene work. I attended classes simultaneously and did plays until my mother died. I studied with Michael Howard for eight years. Even when I was so tired I couldn't get up to do a scene, he would say, "Get up and do a …

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Exploring Organic, Biodynamic & Regenerative Agriculture with LOUIS DE JAEGER - Highlights 11:50

2M ago11:50

11:50

“We as humans can destroy things in a couple of years that have taken thousands or even millions of years to form. So in the snap of a finger, we can destroy so much work. That's an observation I’ve seen in all biomes, and it's pretty scary. On the other hand, nature regenerates pretty fast. It heals itself. If humans help this healing process, it …

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SOS: Save Our Soils: How regenerative food & farming will save your health & the planet w/ LOUIS DE JAEGER 1:02:35

2M ago1:02:35

1:02:35

“The Earth started as one big rock, and soil did not exist. Without soil, you can't really grow trees or any crops whatsoever. We are depleting soils super fast, and it is predicted that in less than 25 years, 90% of our soils will be degraded. We as humans, we can destroy things in a couple of years that have taken thousands or even millions of ye…

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Abolish Silicon Valley—How to Liberate Technology from Capitalism 48:54

2M ago48:54

48:54

“Abolishing Silicon Valley means freeing the development of technology from a system that will always relegate it to a subordinate role, that of entrenching existing power relations. It means designing a new system that isn't deluged in the logic of the bucket. It means liberating our worlds from the illegitimate ring of capital. Perhaps this sound…

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Classic: Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story with Matthew Polly 54:39

2M ago54:39

54:39

BASED ON A TRUE STORY (BOATS EP. 371) — How well do you know about the real Bruce Lee? There are a lot of myths that came out of the movie "Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story" so today we'll pull another classic episode from the Based on a True Story vault. Where to watch Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story ⁠Get Matthew's book⁠ Matthew Polly authored "Bruce Lee: …

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Ten Cases of Hope for Our Future w/ MONICA FERIA-TINTA - Highlights 15:10

2M ago15:10

15:10

“I guess the book was about giving hope because I realized how much we could do together. I believe that ordinary people are the ones bringing changes here. I believe that the communities gathering together – for example, I am seeing that in this country around the protection of rivers – are the ones that will mark the change. It's not going to com…

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The 1932 Crime That Birthed Superman 48:47

2M ago48:47

48:47

Superman is everywhere this summer, but today's bonus episode has nothing to do with James Gunn or David Corenswet. Let's go back to the beginning, when young Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster first conjured up the character. Superman may have never seen the light of day if not for a real crime that changed the duo’s lives forever. * This bonus episode …

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The Theory of Water with LEANNE BETASAMOSAKE SIMPSON 43:11

2M ago43:11

43:11

“So I think that part of colonialism for Indigenous peoples has been this idea that Indigenous peoples aren't thinking peoples and that we don't have thought on a kind of systemic level. One of the things that I was interested in doing is intervening in that because I think Indigenous people have a lot of beautiful, very intellectual, theoretical c…

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On Writing, America's Forever Wars & Challenging Power with Author VIET THANH NGUYEN 1:02:34

3M ago1:02:34

1:02:34

“What I've discovered as a writer is that fear is a good indicator that there is a truth. To speak the truth in a society is oftentimes an act that requires some courage. Those processes of being an other for me in the United States were obviously very fundamental to shaping who I am as a person and as a writer. It was very difficult to undergo, bu…

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Hush! The Battle Over 'Goodnight Moon' 49:13

3M ago49:13

49:13

Today, Margaret Wise Brown's Goodnight Moon is considered a classic. The deceptively complex children’s book has been passed down for generations. But if the New York Public Library had gotten its way, you’d have never even heard of it. * Thanks to our Very Special guests Amy Gary, author of In the Great Green Room; and writer, children's book auth…

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On Borges, Gore Vidal, Robert Frost & The Writing Life with Author & Filmmaker JAY PARINI 30:47

3M ago30:47

30:47

“Poetry is the prince of the literary arts to me. It's at the very top because it's language refined to its apex of memorability. I am interested in poetry as memorability and poetry as something you live by. These are the words you live by. These words stay in your brain and guide your life. That's what I am interested in. My memoir slash autofict…

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Everything for Everyone: An Oral History of the New York Commune, 2052-2072 44:11

3M ago44:11

44:11

In this episode on Speaking Out of Place podcast Professor David Palumbo-Liu talks with M. E. O’Brien and Eman Abdelhadi about their dazzling and challenging book, Everything for Everyone: An Oral History of the New York Commune, 2052 to 2072. They imagine a world haunted by genocide, ecocide, disease, fascism, and viral capitalism, but rather than…