Conversations with a series of people who have nothing in common except that program host Robert Wright is curious about what they’re thinking. www.nonzero.org
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Nonzero Podcasts
Why is America seemingly always at war? Join the Quincy Institute’s Courtney Rawlings and Alex Jordan as they expose the monied interests, outdated ideologies, and entrenched powers that have driven the U.S. to wage nearly 400 wars and interventions. Each episode, they’ll be joined by journalists, advocates, and experts to uncover who profits from America’s endless conflicts, and to imagine how we can build a better, more peaceful U.S. foreign policy. Learn more about the Quincy Institute: q ...
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How We Mishandled the Covid Pandemic (Robert Wright & Stephen Macedo)
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This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org 0:28 Steve’s book In Covid’s Wake: How Our Politics Failed Us 10:26 Were school closures smart policy? 17:48 The mask mandate question 23:57 Did medical experts get too much say? 30:24 The role of social class and political tribe 37:17 How dissent was suppressed 45:23 Bob…
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Courtney and Alex discuss why the leaders of both of America’s major political parties still support America’s disastrous pursuit of global military primacy, and take a look at some of the individuals and interests that help uphold our crappy foreign policy consensus. ### Why is America seemingly always at war? Join the Quincy Institute’s Courtney …
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Why the Israel-Palestine Conflict Persists (Robert Wright & Robert Malley)
1:01:22
1:01:22
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This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org 0:28 The deal Hamas offered Bibi before October 7 12:14 How October 7 changed the landscape 22:58 Why Clinton’s Camp David talks failed 38:08 What Arafat was actually offered at Camp David 46:25 The centrality of the right of return 51:59 Beyond two states 56:21 Heading i…
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Two Visions of AI Apocalypse (Robert Wright & David Krueger)
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57:21
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This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org 0:00 How Eliezer Yudkowsky’s new book envisions AI takeover 8:24 Will we ever really know how AI works? 15:10 The “paperclip maximizer” problem revisited 26:13 Will advanced AIs be insatiable? 31:39 David’s alternative takeover scenario: gradual disempowerment 43:31 Can—a…
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In this episode of Always at War, hosts Courtney Rawlings and Alex Jordan are joined by Greg Grandin — Professor of History at Yale University and author of America, América: A New History of the New World — to discuss the USA's relationship with the other America: Latin America. Together, they explore the missed opportunities for true fraternity b…
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Israel, Gaza, and Free Speech in America (Robert Wright & Glenn Loury)
1:03:38
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0:30 Glenn’s latest book, Self-Censorship 3:55 Why the Manhattan Institute dropped Glenn 13:25 Glenn on Gaza: “I can’t bear it.” 26:52 “Genocide” and other Israel speech code flashpoints 36:26 Has Trump’s anti-antisemitism push chilled campus speech? 42:30 The irony of the antisemitism crackdown 50:48 A few kind and less kind words for Bari Weiss 5…
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Free Speech After Charlie Kirk (Robert Wright & Paul Bloom)
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This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org 0:28 Free speech after Charlie Kirk 20:28 Tyler Robinson’s strange messages 28:20 How influential was Kirk? 35:59 Do violent video games encourage violence? 48:31 Overtime topics: Paul’s debate triumph, Redford’s legacy, etc. 55:32 Heading into Overtime Robert Wright (Non…
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Tribalism and the Charlie Kirk Killing (Robert Wright & Glenn Loury)
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52:11
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0:28 How this conversation came to be 1:59 What surprised Glenn most about the Kirk killing 8:02 Who (or what) is driving our polarization? 17:03 Cognitive empathy for MAGA 2451 Reacting to Charlie Kirk on affirmative action 43:58 Are we re-running the 1960s? 51:14 Coming up in part 2: Israel-Gaza Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why B…
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The Motives of the AI Moguls (Robert Wright & Holly Elmore)
1:02:48
1:02:48
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This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org 0:28 Has the pace of AI progress slowed? 12:25 How the tech CEOs are learning to stop worrying 14:34 Mark Zuckerberg 23:12 Sam Altman 30:23 OpenAI’s attempt to shed its non-profit status 53:29 Dario Amodei 59:51 Heading into Overtime Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution …
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Trump’s Epstein Problem and His Authoritarian Slide (Robert Wright & Nikita Petrov)
1:08:25
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This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org 0:28 "Would Putin send a weird sexually suggestive birthday greeting to a famous affluent well-connected pedophile?" 5:55 Decoding Trump's message in the greeting 13:19 Conspiracy theories vs official silence 19:14 Why is Ezra Klein content with "We'll never know"? 24:42 …
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Does having 750 military base sites all around the world make America safer—or does it just make war more convenient? In this episode of Always at War, hosts Courtney Rawlings and Alex Jordan reveal the costs and consequences of America's massive worldwide military footprint and examine how it enables Washington's disastrous quest to maintain globa…
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Epstein, AI, and the Xi-Putin Path to Immortality (Robert Wright & Paul Bloom)
56:27
56:27
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This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org 0:28 The Bob-Paul secret sauce—spilled! 3:49 Mickey Kaus's latest contribution to Epsteinology 13:28 Paul fact-checks Mickey, gets fact-checked 20:16 What’s better: AI or indoor plumbing? 29:06 What Gary Marcus gets right—and (very) wrong—about AI 38:09 Has TV made us sma…
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Drugs and Mayhem in the US Special Forces (Robert Wright & Seth Harp)
48:28
48:28
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This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org 0:30 Seth’s new NYT bestseller, The Fort Bragg Cartel 2:47 What is Delta Force? 8:02 The growth of Delta Force's covert ops and unaccountability 14:35 American "death squads" 18:51 Why cops and prosecutors cover up crimes by elite soldiers 26:33 The mysterious murder of B…
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Is Trump Becoming Putin? (Robert Wright & Nikita Petrov)
1:36:57
1:36:57
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0:28 Bob welcomes Nikita back to the Nonzero team 6:41 WSJ's report on Trump's authoritarian drift 9:10 Three levers: streets, media, education system 13:22 Trump the businessman and Trump the politician 15:14 Why Putin was compelling in 1999, when Russia was a young democracy 23:01 Laws vs norms 29:29 Trump and lawfare: how independent is the US j…
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The MAGA Case Against AI Accelerationism (Robert Wright & Joe Allen)
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This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org 0:28 Joe’s notable background 3:39 Is most of the MAGA coalition accelerationist? 7:52 Transhumanism, big tech, Klaus Schwab, and the noosphere 20:58 How the pandemic sparked a MAGA tech backlash 34:26 Palantir as bipartisan bête noire 40:41 The conservative case for AI r…
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How Think Tanks Sell War with Ben Freeman & Nick Cleveland-Stout
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In this episode of Always at War, hosts Courtney Rawlings and Alex Jordan are joined by the Quincy Institute's Ben Freeman & Nick Cleveland-Stout to discuss how America's top think tanks profoundly shape our country's approach to the world — and the golden opportunity these institutions represent for arms companies and foreign governments trying to…
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Trump's Failures in Israel and Ukraine | NonZero World feat. Robert Wright
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48:38
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This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org 0:30 Connor’s farewell 3:28 What’s next at NonZero 8:20 The looming invasion of Gaza City 11:28 Israel's one-state solution 16:25 Why did Trump give up on Gaza? 21:04 The "blame-it-on-Bibi" farce 31:32 A disappointing week for Ukraine 33:31 How to make security guarantees…
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Feeling the GPT-5 (Robert Wright & Paul Bloom)
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54:55
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This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org 0:28 Bob defends the Unabomber (kind of) 3:05 Paul nurses his Mickey-inflicted wounds 15:55 Bob deflates the GPT-5 deflation 25:19 How big a deal are LLM hallucinations? 28:10 AI's coming social and economic disruptions 35:17 How Bob and Paul use AI 39:16 The ideas of Han…
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Can Trump and Putin Make a Deal? | NonZero World feat. George Beebe
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This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org 0:30 What’s at stake in Alaska 1:25 George: Don’t try to do too much 4:34 EU yes, NATO no 6:10 How to get the Ukrainians on board 10:59 Could Putin dupe Trump into a bad deal? 20:26 Sanctions: painful, but not decisive 25:19 What Russian media is saying about the talks 30…
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The Open Source AI Question (Robert Wright & Nathan Lambert)
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This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org 0:28 Nathan’s work at AI2—and his p(doom) 5:00 What does “open source AI” mean? 11:01 How Nathan taught a Llama new tricks 18:05 Pros and cons of open sourcing AI 29:21 Nathan's ATOM Project to boost American open models 37:58 What's behind OpenAI's open source play? 40:2…
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Jeffrey Epstein and Donald Trump (Robert Wright & Mickey Kaus)
1:51:46
1:51:46
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0:28 Epstein's Israel connections 9:35 Epstein's history of blackmail 22:43 Was it suicide? 27:09 Epstein's creepy relationship with Trump 32:16 Why won’t Trump release the files? 38:59 The Israel connection(s) 51:21 Some Epstein-Wexner weirdness 57:23 What’s the deal with Ghislaine? 1:03:51 Was it suicide? (cont’d) 1:16:11 Influence operation or p…
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In this episode of Always at War, hosts Courtney Rawlings and Alex Jordan discuss how the headlines about Gaza in most mainstream U.S. media outlets have consistently obfuscated the reality of Israel's genocidal campaign, and downplayed America's role in enabling and defending Israeli war crimes. ### Why is America seemingly always at war? Join the…
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Does America’s “China Consensus” Make Sense? A Debate (Robert Wright & Jordan Schneider)
1:08:56
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This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org 0:28 Jordan’s ChinaTalk podcast 3:01 Making sense of America’s “China consensus” 11:03 Are fears of Chinese global ambitions overblown? 29:51 The logic (or is it illogic?) of the AI arms race 33:14 China and the Ukraine War 41:30 Influence operations: Chinese vs American …
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Must We Discuss Sydney Sweeney? (Robert Wright & Paul Bloom)
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51:42
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This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org 0:28 Substack glory and livestream anxiety 02:58 Reading eugenics into a dopey jeans ad 11:37 Does Sydney Sweeney spell the end of “inclusive marketing”? 15:25 Bob vs. Paul on IQ and “general intelligence” 22:10 Paul reviews the new Billy Joel documentary 28:07 The Epstei…
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Anatomy of a Man-Made Famine | NonZero World feat. Alex de Waal
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This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org 0:30 Why Gaza’s famine is the "most intense" in decades 4:00 From food secure to starvation: How Gaza unraveled 7:26 Blinken's willful blindness to Israel's obstruction of aid 11:33 How the US muzzled its own famine warning system 15:05 The political power of the term "fa…
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Gaza Awareness Week (Robert Wright, Derek Davison, and Daniel Bessner)
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41:35
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This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org 0:28 Derek and Danny plug their new Crusades series 3:19 This week’s shift in Gaza discourse 12:20 The real danger Gaza poses for Israel 22:05 Does the left’s rhetoric on Israel miss the mark? 32:24 Elite media’s think tank problem 36:27 Is American imperialism really the…
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Are We Taking AI Seriously Enough? (Robert Wright & Michael Walker)
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On this crossover edition of the NonZero podcast, Bob is interviewed by Michael Walker of Novara Media on artificial intelligence. Video on Novara’s YouTube channel: This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.nonzero.org/subscribe…
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Trump's Plan for Global AI Dominance | NonZero World feat. Robert Wright
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45:19
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This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org 0:30 Trump’s AI Action plan 4:00 The contradictions inherent to Trump's plan 6:25 How Trump’s anti-globalism undermines his AI goals 10:52 Anthropic’s leaked memo: Ideals vs Persian Gulf cash 13:06 Bob: Dario Amodei is the true AI ideologue 17:17 How AI “safety” became a …
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