Claim OwnershipRobert Wright's Nonzero
Subscribed: 1,128Played: 106,822
Subscribe
© Nonzero
Description
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
www.nonzero.org
543 Episodes
Reverse
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 this Israel’s war or America’s? 14:40 Tommy Vietor goes after the ADL—a political first 19:30 How fear sells papers and starts wars 24:33 The nuclear deal: the last thing America got right 25:04 Nikita: Trump’s dopamine addiction to “starting s**t” 29:19 How the Iran strike buried the Anthropic story 37:59 Does Israel want a stable Middle East? 39:35 Heading to OvertimeRobert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Nikita Petrov (https://psychopolitica.substack.com). Recorded March 03, 2026. Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods
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 emerging ? 48:01 Heading to OvertimeRobert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Joshua Landis (University of Oklahoma, SyriaComment.com). Recorded February 23, 2026. Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods
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 30:19The 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 Heading into Overtime: The pros and cons of naming and shamingRobert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Holly Elmore (PauseAI US, https://hollyelmore.substack.com/). Recorded February 18, 2026. Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods
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 Buddhism Is True) and Paul Bloom (https://smallpotatoes.paulbloom.net, University of Toronto, The Sweet Spot, Against Empathy). Recorded February 16, 2026. Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods
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 22:02 Will people use their free time well — or sit on a couch and inject heroin? 2436 Why Spanish festival culture might survive AI better than anyone 30:12 Bots on the street, humans in the parlor: the future of online spaces 37:24 Reading a comment and being depressed by both possibilitiesRobert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Nikita Petrov (https://psychopolitica.substack.com). Recorded February 12, 2026. Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods
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) and Timothy B. Lee (Full Stack Economics, Understanding AI, AI Summer). Recorded February 9, 2026. Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods
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 1:04:43 Does Xi think his Taiwan window is closing?Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True), Andrew Day (The American Conservative), and Curt Mills (The American Conservative). Recorded February 04, 2026.Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods 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
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 Files, the strangest thing Bob’s ever done for money and more.Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Paul Bloom (https://smallpotatoes.paulbloom.net, University of Toronto, The Sweet Spot, Against Empathy). Recorded February 02, 2026. Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods
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 Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Nikita Petrov (https://psychopolitica.substack.com). Recorded January 30, 2026. Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods
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 How “neural” are neural nets, really?Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True), Alex Hanna (The AI Con, Distributed AI Research Institute) and Emily Bender (The AI Con, director of the Computational Linguistics Laboratory). Recorded January 20, 2026.Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods 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
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, Worthwhile Canadian Prime MinisterRobert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True), Derek Davison (Foreign Exchanges, American Prestige, Discontents), and Daniel Bessner (American Prestige, University of Washington). Recorded January 22, 2026.
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 scenarios to avoid 49:04 Heading into OvertimeRobert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Dan Faggella (Emerj AI Research, The Trajectory). Recorded January 7, 2026. Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods
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? 48:49 The consequences of paying college athletes 1:00:08 Mike’s comprehensive take on sports gambling 1:06:45 Heading into OT: The perils of opining on IsraelRobert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Mike Pesca (The Gist). Recorded December 23, 2025. Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods
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 (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Paul Bloom (https://smallpotatoes.paulbloom.net, University of Toronto, The Sweet Spot, Against Empathy). Recorded January 12, 2026. Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods
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 (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Cameron Berg (AE Studio, Truity). Recorded December 17, 2025. Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods
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 Achenbach (The Grand Idea, Captured by Aliens, A Hole at the Bottom of the Sea). Recorded December 22, 2025. Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods
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 Musk, Alex Karp, and the age of the “manifestly crazy” 41:08 Can the Supreme Court stop Trump? 44:18 JD Vance’s identity crisis: Tech bro or populist? 49:15 The “Black Swan”: When AI starts killing people 53:10 AI scientific breakthroughs to come 1:00:22 Bob and Paul’s 2025 Entertainment Awards 1:04:52 Which jobs are truly AI-proof? 1:18:39 Bob’s Epstein document deep-dive 1:27:39 Bill Ackman’s conspiracy-theory-brained year 1:31:08 Are US arms sales pushing China to invade Taiwan? 1:37:13 Barry Weiss’s journalistic scruples Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Paul Bloom (https://smallpotatoes.paulbloom.net, University of Toronto, The Sweet Spot, Against Empathy). Recorded December 29, 2025. Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods 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
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 international biotech monitoring 18:55 Vaccine geopolitics 23:38 Biothreat from existing AI models 25:02 Bob’s candidate: We let machines guide our attention 31:21 Technological progress is like a cocaine high 32:35 How common is the idea that AI will be a big deal? 34:16 AI music is proliferating 39:28 When music is high stakes. Russian street musicians get arrested 41:00 Heading to OvertimeRobert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Nikita Petrov (https://psychopolitica.substack.com). Recorded December 22, 2025. Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods
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 1:11:51 Europe learns to speak TrumpRobert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True), Andrew Day (The American Conservative), and Connor Echols (Responsible Statecraft). Recorded December 18, 2025. Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods 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
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 (https://smallpotatoes.paulbloom.net, University of Toronto, The Sweet Spot, Against Empathy). Recorded December 16, 2025.Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods
Download from Google Play
Download from App Store
United States
what an ass of an interviewer this guy is.
the greatest show on earth
A comment for Josh. You tell about looking for the driver of the wandering to see how it rests in one of the 5 hindrances. But here's a thought I've been meditating on. When we look for a "cause" or a driver, we're always telling ourselves a story as to what that cause is. It's a narrative that we've essentially invented. That narrative doesn't have to be "true." In fact, I think that attributing the cause to a hinderence is a projection, a way of trying to externalize the driver. Because when we were forming our identity as a child, there was some external force, or dysfunction, that impinged on our true perfect self. Let's say we developed a sense of jealous desire because our family of origin gave us the (incorrect) message that we weren't good enough. So we developed a desire or need to be better than we were. The narrative behind the hinderence is arbitrary. Suppose you keep looking to find that what underlies that "hinderence" narrative is actually a strength - a perfect self,
The most underrated podcast. The content is absolutely superb.
The following is what Silver has been saying for days, and Wright says that 538 shows it is tightening. I mean I get PTSD, but that's just inexcusable sloppy > "There just hasn’t been any real sign that the race is tightening. If anything, Joe Biden’s margins are expanding slightly in the Upper Midwest." Bob - stop coasting and do some prep. What's up with a Buddhist just steaming money like this? You've been consistently spouting stuff a out the polling that is just wrong. For example, there's no actual evidence to support a" shy Trump voter¥ effect. It's not true that 538 relies only on polling, etc.
Robert needs to stop interrupting his guests.
awesome
Thank you for doing this show Robert! Huge fan of your writing and I'm finding more authors through listening to this podcast. So many of the topics you touch are ideas that prior have been left ruminating in my head so it's incredible to hear someone else going in depth on them. Keep this up, I'll be listening.