This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org 0:28 Paul’s cold take on US-Canada relations 4:38 How representative is representative government, really? 11:36 Bob’s plan to end hockey fights 17:24 A worthwhile Canadian initiative to dump Musk 21:55 What makes James Bond James Bond? 32:05 Bob’s reign as TV analysis king continues (claims Bob) 36:31 Heading to Overtime—and a special discount deal! Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) a...
Feb 27, 2025•42 min
0:28 Jack’s experience with presidential power 1:56 Unpacking Trump’s Pentagon and DOJ purges 10:57 Which legal battles could Trump win? 19:39 The Trump-Musk chaos: bug or feature? 27:07 How Trump is putting “unitary executive theory” into practice 36:34 Is a unitary executive unconstitutional? 50:33 Heading to Overtime Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Jack Goldsmith (Harvard Law School, In Hoffa's Shadow, https://executivefunctions.substack.com/). Recorded...
Feb 25, 2025•1 hr 49 min
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org 0:30 Intro and housekeeping 2:02 Trump's very good, very bad week on Ukraine 13:18 Trump vs his foreign policy team? 19:42 Great-power competition and its discontents 24:32 Musk runs roughshod over DC Recorded February 21, 2025. Read this week's edition of the Earthling: https://www.nonzero.org/p/trumps-very-good-very-bad-week-on https://twitter.com/NonzeroNews https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods...
Feb 21, 2025•37 min
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org 0:28 Nora’s work on AI alignment and interpretability 2:21 Is *a* singularity near? 9:52 Nora: AI may take my job within two years 14:56 The reason(ing) behind AI’s latest acceleration 24:14 Thinking through the “chain-of-thought” process 41:44 AI “thinking” vs human thinking 47:21 Heading to Overtime Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Nora Belrose (EleutherAI). Recorded February 18...
Feb 19, 2025•51 min
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org 0:29 Van's new book, The Rivalry Peril 2:28 What policymakers forget about the first Cold War 12:54 The roots of the US-China cold war 19:33 The end of globalization and the rise of economic nationalism 26:54 How rivalry deepens inequality in both the US and China Recorded February 12, 2025. Read this week's edition of the Earthling: https://www.nonzero.org/p/a-very-bad-week-for-ai-safety https://twitter.com/NonzeroNew...
Feb 14, 2025•34 min
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org 0:28 The newly united state of Canada 9:21 What’s Elon’s endgame? 17:32 Ross Douthat gives doubting Paul pause 22:56 Which AI ad won the Super Bowl? 31:57 The real stakes of Elon’s OpenAI bid 38:27 Trump 2.0's free speech hypocrisy 44:14 Heading to Overtime Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Paul Bloom (https://smallpotatoes.paulbloom.net, University of Toronto, The Sweet Spot, Agai...
Feb 13, 2025•46 min
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org 0:28 Musa’s track record as Trump-reader and his new book, We Have Never Been Woke 2:19 The reason Trump won—twice 14:49 Messaging that works for the working class 20:58 Has the left lost the faith(ful)? 27:39 Who is wokeness even for? 33:44 Biden’s bad messaging 36:04 Why elites failed to deliver on social justice 51:28 Heading to Overtime Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Musa al...
Feb 10, 2025•55 min
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org 0:00 Housekeeping 3:20 Making sense of the USAID cuts 15:52 Trump's push for ethnic cleansing in Gaza 24:27 How Trump's tariffs undermine US power 32:54 Deep Research and the AI arms race Recorded February 07, 2025. https://twitter.com/Nonzero Newshttps://twitter.com/NonzeroPods...
Feb 08, 2025•42 min
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org 0:28 Paul’s new newsletter, AIStackDecrypted 2:33 Sketchy DeepSeek narratives: debunked 15:15 How connected are DeepSeek and the Chinese government? 27:22 China, Meta, and the open source AI debate(s) 38:58 Paul’s problem with AGI “takeoff” 47:23 The real lesson to take from DeepSeek 55:05 Did the chip war on China really backfire? 59:20 Heading to Overtime Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is ...
Feb 06, 2025•1 hr 1 min
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org 0:28 Mark’s newsletter, podcast, and Bloggingheads roots 3:45 Is Trump really anti-internationalist? 8:30 Who was the most pro-UN post-Cold-War president? 13:25 Is global governance doomed? 17:16 Scoring the UN’s post-Cold War track record 24:08 ICC and ICJ 101 33:17 Why the WHO matters 39:48 Heading to Overtime Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Mark Leon Goldberg (Global Dispatche...
Feb 03, 2025•41 min
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org 0:13 Some brief NonZero World housekeeping 5:37 Trump, China and AI 31:35 Connor's interview with national security law expert Elizabeth Beavers about Trump's use of terror designations Recorded January 31, 2025.
Jan 31, 2025•53 min
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org 0:28 Two theories of Musk’s “salute” 6:18 DeepSeek-R1: Salvo or olive branch? 16:23 The misappropriation of Musk’s AI doomerism 23:43 Is the AI avatar era already upon us? 39:26 Paul fills Bob in on his “empty threat” theory 43:44 Heading to Overtime 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 Emp...
Jan 30, 2025•45 min
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org Robert Wright and Connor Echols discuss the panic over R1, a new, open-source AI model from Chinese startup DeepSeek.
Jan 28, 2025•13 min
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org 0:28 Peter’s new book, Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza 1:42 Is it anti-Semitic to say Israeli policies foster anti-Semitism? 7:24 Zionism’s many meanings 10:44 How are American Jews grappling with Israel-Gaza? 16:44 The Democrats’ Israel bind 24:11 Is all hope lost for a two-state solution? 30:54 Anti-Semitic tropes, the Israel lobby, and Elon’s “gesture” 43:05 The unusual nature of Jewish identity 47:54 How...
Jan 28, 2025•54 min
0:00 Intro 1:35 Natasha's new book, Another World Is Possible: Lessons for America from Around the Globe Recorded January 14, 2025. https://twitter.com/NonzeroNewshttps://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...
Jan 24, 2025•46 min
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org 0:28 Kanjun’s role as CEO of AI research lab Imbue 2:45 Worrying about a “Wall-E world” 13:32 Building human-centric AI agents 22:05 How far away is truly “agentic” AI? 32:00 The road to AI serfdom 40:42 Does the AI revolution call for a psychological revolution? 45:24 Heading to Overtime Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Kanjun Qiu (Imbue). Recorded January 15, 2025. Twitter: http...
Jan 23, 2025•48 min
0:00 Tom’s Pulitzer-Prize hat trick 1:03 Why Beijing is relatively calm about Trump’s reelection 9:33 China hawkism in the AI community 15:24 What’s Trump’s logic re Greenland and Panama? 22:44 On Israel-Palestine, is a two-state solution still possible? 31:06 How a stable ceasefire in Gaza could transform Israeli politics 36:17 Why Trump may be better than Biden on Israel-Palestine 43:46 Bob and Tom debate a possible strike on Iran 52:42 Prospects for peace in Ukraine under Trump 55:24 How Amer...
Jan 22, 2025•1 hr 5 min
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org 0:30 News bites 17:28 Gaza ceasefire deep dive 33:24 Bob joins to talk about Biden's legacy and Trump's imminent return to the White House Read this week's edition of the Earthling: https://nonzero.substack.com/p/the-looming-tech-takeover Recorded January 17, 2025.
Jan 18, 2025•51 min
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org 0:28 Bob and Paul battle for audience sympathy 4:29 Canada as 51st state: y’eh or n’eh? 15:09 How Trump-y is Canada’s likely next leader? 19:45 The humiliation theory of American politics 27:33 Trump, Elon, and the two paths to bullying 35:59 Facebook’s free speech about-face 39:24 Heading to Overtime Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Paul Bloom (https://smallpotatoes.paulbloom.net...
Jan 17, 2025•42 min
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org 0:28 Tim’s got a new podcast, and NonZero is hiring 3:31 Is large language model progress reaching a plateau? 15:20 Some shortcomings of AI today 25:42 Human cognition compared to AI 33:27 The impressive progress of "multimodal" AI 41:33 Heading to Overtime Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Timothy B. Lee (Full Stack Economics, Understanding AI). Recorded January 14, 2025. Twitter:...
Jan 15, 2025•43 min
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org 0:30 News bites 17:18 The bipartisan push to bomb Iran 30:05 Bob joins to discuss changes at NonZero as well as new developments in AI Recorded January 10, 2025. Read this week's edition of the Earthling: https://nonzero.substack.com/p/bomb-iran-goes-bipartisan https://twitter.com/NonzeroNews https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods...
Jan 10, 2025•52 min
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org 0:28 The NonZero-American Prestige punk-rock crossover continues 2:12 Is it time to freak out about Trump? 9:30 Are international norms eroding? 21:40 Jimmy Carter’s legacy 29:02 Heading to Overtime Robert 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 09, ...
Jan 10, 2025•31 min
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org 0:28 Toward a non-woolly-minded one-worldism 8:08 Has the unipolar moment passed for good? 10:23 International law vs the “rules-based order” 21:06 Is major UN reform possible? 38:30 AI, US-China, and multipolarity 48:21 Rewriting the sanctions playbook 53:49 Heading to Overtime Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Trita Parsi (Quincy Institute). Recorded December 17, 2024. Twitter: h...
Jan 06, 2025•55 min
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org Welcome to the first NonZero Newsletter of 2025! Most of the NZN team is still recovering from holiday overindulgence, so it fell upon me to generate some Friday content. And here it is: My annual (assuming I do this again next year) State of NonZero and of the World Address. (My SONZAOTW Address, as it will be called in mainstream media accounts upon second reference.) The video version is below, and below that is the...
Jan 03, 2025•24 min
2:12 The uncertain future of AI 6:58 What would it mean to “lose the AI race” to China? 10:27 The promise and peril of artificial general intelligence 14:13 The international policy challenges of AI16:44 Can Trump deliver peace between Russia and Ukraine?20:58 Are there any good arguments for Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense? 26:07 Bob: With Iran weakened, Israel faces a decision: bombs or diplomacy 30:41 The continuing assault on Gaza 34:45 Antiwar speech codes 40:09 Apartheid, genocide, et...
Dec 31, 2024•1 hr 2 min
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org 0:28 Worthwhile Canadian conquest 5:19 Late takes on Luigi Mangione 10:27 Elon’s AI motivation 14:23 Is the successor species sentient? (It matters!) 18:39 Paul’s AI freakout has arrived 23:39 AI buzzword of the year revealed 29:24 Bluesky brutality 35:44 Google’s experimental AI groks humanity 43:44 Heading to Overtime Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Paul Bloom (https://smallpot...
Dec 28, 2024•46 min
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org 0:30 News Round-up 15:20 How progressives should approach Trump's foreign policy 30:23 Anatol Lieven joins to discuss Russia-Ukraine peace talks Recorded December 20, 2024. https://twitter.com/NonzeroNews https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods...
Dec 20, 2024•53 min
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org 0:28 Conn and the ancestry of this podcast 2:29 Conn’s new book, Sex and the Citizen: How the Assault on Marriage Is Destroying Democracy 9:34 Modern matrimony by the numbers 18:44 Are monogamous societies more egalitarian? 24:10 Why the West went monogamous 35:15 Heading to Overtime Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Conn Carroll (Washington Examiner, Sex and the Citizen). Recorded...
Dec 19, 2024•37 min
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org 0:28 Scott’s anti-war libertarianism and his new book, Provoked: How Washington Started the New Cold War with Russia and the Catastrophe in Ukraine 8:22 How the US made the Russia-Ukraine war more likely 13:10 Was Ukraine’s Maidan Revolution a US-backed coup? 30:26 America’s promise to the Soviet Union not to expand NATO 38:04 Do US officials misunderstand Russia’s perspective? 51:17 Heading to Overtime Robert Wright (...
Dec 17, 2024•52 min
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org Andrew Day and Connor Echols discuss the foreign policy news of the week. In this episode, Day and Echols also discuss Trump’s foreign policy team with James Carden of the American Conservative. Recorded December 13, 2024. https://twitter.com/NonzeroNews https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods...
Dec 14, 2024•51 min
