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 (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Sam Tanenhaus (Louis Armstrong: Musician, Whittaker Chambers: A Biography, Buckley: The Life and Revolution That Changed America). Recorded November 25, 2025. Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods
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 modern trends in online media. They also consider whether Twitter still has any use for journalists, the pros and cons of Substack, and whether Culturally Determined should pivot back to video.Recorded October 28, 2025Links Included:Max Read on his Substack statsAndrew Thompson on the economics of Substack and money vs. attentionhttps://components.news/the-desire-distribution/MeaningOfLife.tvhttps://meaningoflife.tv/Follow Bob on Twitter: https://x.com/robertwrighterFollow Aryeh on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/aryehcw.bsky.social 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.org0:30 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, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Kaiser Kuo (https://www.sinicapodcast.com/). Recorded November 19, 2025. Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods
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 feminization” debate; AI “bubble” update; 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 November 20, 2025.Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods
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”Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Alex Komoroske (Common Tools, https://www.thinkinginpublic.net/). Recorded November 18, 2025. Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods
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”: tuning out the world as self-care 22:08 A reaction to a drone strike: “Loud noises don’t wake me up” 25:27 Young people are turning away from social media 26:35 When Spain lost all power and cellular coverage 30:06 War as a “major inconvenience” 33:58 Bob’s prediction about Ukraine’s future retaliation for Pokrovsk 38:26 Nikita’s impressions from Europe 41:37 Nonzero Reading Club THIS SATURDAY: Norbert Wiener’s God & Golem, Inc. 46:38 Deepfakes and the future of news 51:34 Russia’s first humanoid robot falls downRobert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Nikita Petrov (https://psychopolitica.substack.com). Recorded November 12, 2025.Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPodsJoin NonZero’s newly established Discord server: https://discord.gg/Zy4jAhTQMFBook a time to chat with Nikita: https://calendly.com/psychopolitica/office-hoursSave the date for the first-ever NonZero Reading Club discussion on Zoom this Saturday (Nov. 15th) at 1pm ET: https://www.addevent.com/event/1yxb9cr5nk0z
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 Heading to OvertimeRobert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Shadi Hamid (The Washington Post, The Case for American Power). Recorded October 29, 2025.Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPodsOvertime titles:0:00 More on Chinese aspirations 4:52 America, f—k yea? 9:15 How the Iraq war propelled Donald Trump’s rise 14:46 Moscow’s view of American behavior 24:42 Could the US have shaped a better Putin path?Overtime video:
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? 1:36:42 The case for (and against) Bari Weiss 1:40:17 AI doom in fiction vs reality 1:44:49 The AI bubble: Dot-com déjà vu? 1:47:41 AOC in 2028? 1:53:23 Mickey: Beware of gym girls!Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Mickey Kaus (kausfiles, The End of Equality). Recorded November 06, 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 The Carlson-Fuentes interview controversy 4:32 Paul: Candidate Carlson is coming 7:04 Is gatekeeping dead? 13:40 Is Carlson’s show respectable? 20:17 Carlson and Fuentes on the Israel lobby 25:28 William F. Buckley as MAGA precursor 38:20 Is antisemitism more organic on the right or left? 46:13 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 November 04, 2025. Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:28 Bob tries to lower American Prestige’s self-esteem 3:31 The Trump-Xi trade talks 7:08 Making sense of Trump’s nuclear saber-rattling 10:58 Signs of a US-China vibe shift 17:00 Is AI accelerating science? 23:49 Bill Gates’s climate change of heart 29:54 This week’s Gaza ceasefire death toll 34:43 Overtime preview: Bob vs Danny on international lawRobert 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 October 30, 2025.Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.orgThis episode includes an Overtime segment that’s available to paid subscribers. If you’re not a paid subscriber, we of course encourage you to become one. If you are a paid subscriber, you can access the complete conversation either via the audio and video on this post or by setting up the paid-subscriber podcast feed, which includes all exclusive audio content. To set that up, simply grab the RSS feed from this page (by first clicking the “...” icon on the audio player) and paste it into your favorite podcast app. If you have trouble completing the process, check out this super-simple how-to guide.Join NonZero’s newly established Discord server: https://discord.gg/Zy4jAhTQMFLink to schedule chat with Nikita: https://calendly.com/psychopolitica/office-hours0:00 Teaser 1:55 Trump on drug cartels: “We’re gonna kill them. They’re gonna be like, dead.” 4:31 Venezuela: Regime change disguised as drug war 5:44 Marco Rubio holds all the foreign policy power 8:24 Trump Doctrine candidate #1: “Jump at the chance to use force” 11:37 Trump Doctrine candidate #2: Monroe 2.0 17:36 Roy Cohn’s philosophy: “It is a nation of men, not laws” 22:22 Bob: There’s value in hypocrisy 30:02 Trump is paving the way for a more competent tyrant 31:46 Could Trump actually be good for the world? 36:37 Trump the comedian 42:17 Heading to Overtime: Bob’s mysterious invitation-only conferenceRobert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Nikita Petrov (https://psychopolitica.substack.com). Recorded October 27, 2025. Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPodsOvertime titles:How to network when you hate networking.The Non-Zero mission and Peter Thiel’s “Antichrist.”What dreams are for.Nikita’s dream about the nature of modern media.Overtime video:
Via the post on the Buddhist Geeks Substack: In this Buddhist Geeks episode, Vince Fakhoury Horn and Robert Wright explore the intersection of Buddhism, ethics, and geopolitics as they reflect on Palestine, Jewish-Buddhist responses, moral responsibility, and the role of mindfulness amid global violence. 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 What triggered Trump’s 100-percent tariff threat? 9:39 How China is mirroring the US playbook 17:14 The real escalation: America's "50% rule" 25:57 Why has US media coverage been so bad? 28:37 Biden's role in fueling the trade war 40:08 US China policy as cognitive empathy failure 48:06 Heading to OvertimeRobert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Paul Triolo (Albright Stonebridge Group, https://pstaidecrypted.substack.com/). Recorded October 17, 2025.Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:28 Why Liron became a Yudkowskian 4:47 Eliezer Yudkowsky’s vision of AI apocalypse 12:15 Does intelligence want power? 18:54 Decoding Yudkowsky’s key Darwinian metaphor 30:42 Is doomerism crowding out other AI worries? 40:08 Liron: The silent majority is very AI anxious 45:11 Heading to OvertimeRobert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Liron Shapira (Pause AI, Relationship Hero). Recorded October 15, 2025.Join NonZero’s newly established Discord server: https://discord.gg/FByzCzWfTwitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:28 Amazing Bob-Paul discount deal! 2:36 The Bari Weiss trivia test 19:18 Lasting peace in Gaza? 21:55 Why did Trump finally get tough on Bibi? 27:18 MAGA free speech debates 31:22 Is the AI bubble about to burst? 34:11 If anyone builds it, will everyone die? 41:48 Heading into Overtime: Ian McEwan, George Harrison, OpenAI, One Battle After AnotherRobert 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 October 9, 2025.Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.orgJoin NonZero’s newly established Discord server: https://discord.gg/FByzCzWf0:28 Was the Free Press bought “to control US media”? 9:14 Why pay $150M for a Substack? 11:23 Netanyahu on the TikTok deal and “giving direction” to the Jewish people 13:46 Pro-Israel donors giving a $2M ultimatum to Charlie Kirk about his ties to Tucker Carlson 17:54 How much influence does Israel have over US media? 24:56 Why Tucker Carlson’s appeal to Christians is a problem for Bibi 33:14 Trump: “I would make TikTok 100% MAGA related if I could” 41:24 Why Hamas would be crazy to trust Trump on his Gaza deal 51:19 Prigozhin conspiracy theory: Why would the Russian government want people to think he’s alive? 57:31 Cognitive sovereignty 1:00:25 Heading to OvertimeRobert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Nikita Petrov (https://psychopolitica.substack.com). Recorded October 7, 2025.Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:28 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 takes a jab at Jay Bhattacharya 48:16 Heading to OT: Why Steve wrote the bookRobert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Stephen Macedo (Princeton University, In Covid’s Wake). Recorded September 16, 2025.Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:28 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 into OT: Abandoning false optimism is not pessimismRobert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Robert Malley (Yale - Jackson School of Global Affairs, Tomorrow is Yesterday). Recorded September 23, 2025.Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:00 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—and should—we keep humans in the loop? 51:46 Heading to OvertimeRobert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and David Krueger (The University of Montréal). Recorded September 24, 2025.Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods
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 56:10 Are Israel’s defenders hurting their cause? 1:01:49 Glenn’s next big projectRobert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Glenn Loury (https://glennloury.substack.com/, Brown University, Hoover Institution, Late Admissions). Recorded September 15, 2025.Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPodsGlenn's Substack: 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
Jon Rosenfield
what an ass of an interviewer this guy is.
Amir H. Khoshaman
the greatest show on earth
Joshua Brooks
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,
Amir H. Khoshaman
The most underrated podcast. The content is absolutely superb.
Joshua Brooks
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.