This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org 1:18 Why Leonid considers his nationality “journalist” 8:40 How the West alienated Russia 14:36 Are Russia’s pro-Ukraine “liberals” actually far right? 25:30 How Putin is responding to Israel's war on Hamas 35:25 Are western experts more clear-minded about Israel-Hamas than Russia-Ukraine? 39:47 Is Ukraine at risk of losing significant amounts of territory? 50:51 Heading to Overtime Robert Wright (Bloggingheads.tv, The...
Oct 27, 2023•55 min
2:06 Why hasn’t the ground invasion happened yet? 8:22 Do conditions in Gaza make terrorism more likely? 16:37 Palestinian violence compared to Israeli violence 27:05 Did Israel really offer the Palestinians a state two decades ago? 32:43 Does Hamas have much support in the West? 39:55 What should be done about Hamas? 51:09 Israel’s blockade of Gaza and strategy of massive retaliation 58:27 Indignities suffered by Palestinians in the West Bank 1:08:21 Should West Bank Palestinians focus on deman...
Oct 25, 2023•1 hr 17 min
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org Recorded October 20, 2023.
Oct 21, 2023•36 min
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org 0:34 The Unspeakeasy, the newest arm of the Meghan-industrial complex 7:53 Meghan’s prestigious place in Parrot Room history 11:20 Has wokeness won? 19:48 How common is anti-semitism on the left? 32:40 Israel-Palestine’s destructive non-zero-sum dynamics 50:02 Meghan’s highly therapeutic Unspeakeasy retreats Robert Wright (Bloggingheads.tv, The Evolution of God, Nonzero, Why Buddhism Is True) and Meghan Daum (https://m...
Oct 20, 2023•1 hr 3 min
2:05 Israel’s military plans for northern Gaza 5:05 How does international law apply to Israel and Hamas? 16:15 The first casualty of war is truth 24:50 Do Israel’s actions in Gaza constitute ethnic cleansing? 32:06 The evolving definition of genocide 39:36 How the US and Israel helped Hamas seize power 50:18 America’s ill-fated push for Arab-Israeli normalization 53:17 The hazards of overreacting to Hamas’s attack 1:01:26 How western media has covered the conflict so far Robert Wright (Blogging...
Oct 16, 2023•1 hr 8 min
Recorded October 13, 2023. 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
Oct 14, 2023•1 hr 8 min
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org 0:33 Paul’s humble new ventures with Substack and Nonzero 6:07 Israel-Palestine, exploitative media, and the pitfalls of empathy 19:04 Paul’s plaudits for Mickey and the Parrot Room 22:11 Elon Musk and Derek Parfit: compare and contrast 29:24 Is there a method to Musk’s mad genius? 36:01 The radical rationalism that forged SBF 43:07 How real is implicit bias? 55:48 How real is SBF? 58:25 Heading to Overtime Robert Wrig...
Oct 13, 2023•1 hr 1 min
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org (Overtime segment and American Prestige discount subscription link available to paid subscribers below the paywall.) 0:33 Nonzero/American Prestige cocktail with a hybrid episode twist 2:23 Was Hamas’s attack a predictable response to conditions in Gaza? 14:43 Did Biden’s foreign policy make the attack more likely? 25:20 America’s unstrategic Middle East strategy 30:35 Can anything good come out of the current crisis? ...
Oct 09, 2023•1 hr 16 min
1:52 Important reminder about the Friday podcast 3:33 Sam Bankman-Fried’s plan to stop Trump 8:20 Biden’s new policy: Build the wall! 17:28 Why is life expectancy dropping for some demographics in America? 20:07 Should Democrats have helped Kevin McCarthy remain speaker? 27:28 The Blob starts to think like Bob on Russia-Ukraine 34:45 Should the US impose conditions on aid to Ukraine? 45:08 What war with China over Taiwan would look like 49:12 Parrot Room preview: McCarthyism at the news outlet S...
Oct 07, 2023•1 hr 1 min
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org (Overtime segment available to paid subscribers below the paywall.) 2:16 Has Biden abandoned longstanding US policy on Taiwan? 9:31 The sobering results of recent US-China war games 19:33 Would China ever accept defeat in Taiwan? 28:17 Why the US might bomb Taiwan’s microchip factories 34:44 How war over Taiwan could unfold 48:33 Lyle: DC think tanks are underestimating China's military 55:43 Heading to Overtime Robert...
Oct 03, 2023•58 min
0:33 Mickey, the man from the future, times out on this week’s quiz 8:00 Winners, losers, and bigger losers of the GOP debate 20:18 Semafor’s Iran influence exposé: (semi-)exposed! 28:04 How is Menendez still standing? Mickey has a theory 33:15 Bad socio-economic omens for Biden’s 2024 bid 39:05 Ukraine war update 45:47 Is elite opinion on immigration shifting? 52:23 Next week: The final Parrot Room Robert Wright (Bloggingheads.tv, The Evolution of God, Nonzero, Why Buddhism Is True) and Mickey ...
Sep 29, 2023•54 min
2:02 Senator Bob Menendez accused of brazen corruption6:46 The issue that could sink Trump's campaign17:29 Unpacking the mystery of America’s open border24:47 Is Biden worried about a coup by Democratic Party elites?34:35 Ukraine’s international support shows signs of waning44:54 Democrats downgrade Senate dress code49:48 Parrot Room preview: Marty Peretz’s new book; UAW strike; insidious AI sexbots Robert Wright (Bloggingheads.tv, The Evolution of God, Nonzero, Why Buddhism Is True) and Mickey ...
Sep 23, 2023•53 min
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org 1:37 Azerbaijan attacks Nagorno-Karabakh 6:28 Preview of this week’s Biden-Zelensky meeting in DC 16:26 Does the new technology of war favor defense? 24:26 Is Zelensky thinking clearly about Ukraine’s military chances? 30:09 What Anatol learned from his discussions with wounded Ukrainian soldiers 36:34 If the US pushed for peace, would Putin be ready to make a deal? 48:08 Heading to Overtime Robert Wright (Blogginghead...
Sep 19, 2023•50 min
2:38 Walter Isaacson’s Elon-Ukraine walk-back 7:01 Debating Biden replacement theories 16:02 Bob’s hurricane-induced bandwidth problems 20:03 Biden’s age-induced bandwidth problems 30:48 Ukraine war update 40:48 Mitt Romney bows out 51:11 The smoke-filled room shortage 56:28 Parrot room preview: UAW strike; JFK assassination revelation; Where in the world is Tim Scott’s girlfriend?; Poverty stat controversy; knives out for Noem; Bob’s agent on Bob; Mickey’s fashion corner Robert Wright (Blogging...
Sep 16, 2023•1 hr
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org (Overtime segment available to paid subscribers below the paywall.) 1:23 Almut’s work as a feminist activist in the former Soviet Union 11:53 How economic anxiety helped tear Ukraine apart 23:12 The very complex coalition behind the Maidan Revolution 30:24 Could wiser European Union policy have averted the Russia-Ukraine conflict? 37:11 Queer feminists and the ultra-right in Ukraine 48:20 The nature of Ukrainian nation...
Sep 12, 2023•1 hr 2 min
Subscribe to The Parrot Room at https://patreon.com/parrotroom 0:42 Nikki Haley beats Biden in new poll 8:14 How big is Ukraine’s military "breakthrough"? 15:35 Signs that Russia is ready for peace talks 26:49 Why are Americans feeling down on the economy? 33:52 DeSantis takes care of business in hurricane-wrecked Florida 41:06 Are the punishments for January 6 rioters too severe? 51:42 How much time is there for a formidable Democrat to challenge Biden for the nomination? 56:57 Bob and Mickey m...
Sep 09, 2023•1 hr 9 min
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org (Overtime segment available to paid subscribers below the paywall.) 0:33 Tim’s article explaining large language models 03:23 Do LLMs reverse engineer the human mind? 11:24 GPT’s mesmerizing emergent properties 17:43 The ‘T’ in Chat-GPT 30:33 How AI models evolve during training 41:59 Human intelligence compared to artificial intelligence 49:10 Heading to Overtime Robert Wright (Bloggingheads.tv, The Evolution of God, ...
Sep 05, 2023•52 min
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org Seems like only last week I was saying there wouldn’t be a Nonzero Newsletter sent out today, owing to the end-of-summer quasi-vacation granted to hard-working NZN staffers. And it’s true that the Earthling, the weekend edition of NZN, is skipping this week and next. However, yesterday I had a conversation that was so timely and interesting that I figured I’d share some transcript excerpts—below—with NZN subscribers. T...
Aug 28, 2023•1 hr
Subscribe to The Parrot Room at https://patreon.com/parrotroom 0:33 Mickey gets a C on the news quiz 10:11 Prigozhin postmortem: Is Putin’s regime more secure now? 17:31 The Ukraine war as “politics by other means” 20:24 The good, the bad, and the ugly of the GOP debate 25:45 Will the indictments help Trump in the general election? 34:21 Parrot room preview: Why Bob finds Vivek scary and “Rich Men North of Richmond” icky; Extraordinary Attorney Woo; Hurricane Hilary hype; retail “shrink” hits th...
Aug 26, 2023•38 min
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org 0:33 Has David’s grim outlook on the climate changed? 20:15 How “global warming” became “climate change” 13:38 What wilder wildfires signal about the environment 25:02 Which climate measures are the surest bet? 31:41 Climate science’s time-scale problem 39:03 The pros and cons of carbon capture 48:20 Heading to Overtime Robert Wright (Bloggingheads.tv, The Evolution of God, Nonzero, Why Buddhism Is True) and David Wall...
Aug 22, 2023•52 min
Subscribe to The Parrot Room at https://patreon.com/parrotroom 2:52 Yet another Trump indictment—How strong is the case? 12:46 Is America becoming a banana republic? 20:47 DeSantis debate strategy goes public 31:35 Bob floats secret elite plot to get Biden off the Democratic ticket 37:07 Why Ukraine’s stalled offensive is politically hazardous for Biden 48:47 Parrot Room preview: US-China war games; Sam Bankman-Fried back in jail; Hunter Biden scandal updates; populist anthem sweeps America; col...
Aug 19, 2023•56 min
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org Robert Wright and Tamler Sommers discuss what you can and can't say about UFOs. Robert Wright (Bloggingheads.tv, The Evolution of God, Nonzero, Why Buddhism Is True) and Tamler Sommers (Very Bad Wizards, University of Houston, Why Honor Matters). Recorded August 03, 2023. Nonzero Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods Very Bad Wizards: https://verybadwizards.com/...
Aug 16, 2023•25 min
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org (Overtime segment available to paid subscribers below the paywall.) 0:33 Sohrab’s idiosyncratic ideological journey 10:04 What makes Sohrab a conservative? 15:58 Sohrab’s new book Tyranny, Inc.—a critique of neoliberal capitalism’s effects on American life 24:09 What happened to the labor movement in America? 36:12 Private equity’s role in Sears’s demise 45:19 “Ghost papers”: Wall Street's effect on local news 51:22 Ov...
Aug 16, 2023•52 min
Subscribe to The Parrot Room at https://patreon.com/parrotroom 0:33 New challenges for Ukraine 7:06 What do lead pipes have to do with climate migrants? Ask Biden 14:07 Are the Bidens corruption “disruptors”? 23:41 Mickey’s craziest theory of the week 26:32 Another wrinkle in the Hunter Biden scandal 32:20 What mainstream media won’t tell you about Iran 37:53 Mickey’s searing critique of Obama 47:24 Parrot room preview: Mickey on the Trump cases; RIP Robbie Robertson; Tim Scott’s campaign expens...
Aug 12, 2023•54 min
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org 1:41 How US-China rivalry is shaking up the region 12:44 Why Washington wants to control the Middle East oil spigot 25:01 The odds of an imminent confrontation with Iran 30:49 Is America breaking international law in Syria? 42:55 What would a Middle East without US intervention look like? 48:25 Why Israel lacks a written constitution 55:27 Heading to Overtime Robert Wright (Bloggingheads.tv, The Evolution of God, Nonze...
Aug 09, 2023•58 min
Subscribe to The Parrot Room at https://patreon.com/parrotroom 0:33 Jeffrey Goldberg becomes King of Washington 5:24 Does Trump prosecutor Jack Smith have the goods? 21:48 Hunter Biden’s corruption defense: It was all an illusion 31:52 President Biden’s Ukraine quagmire 41:25 What Trump gets right about Russia-Ukraine 48:17 Is West Africa heading toward a major war? 52:08 Parrot Room preview: A PBS lament; Mickey’s border worries; Bob’s reflection on jury duty; the economics of electric vehicles...
Aug 05, 2023•59 min
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org (Overtime segment available to paid subscribers below the paywall.) 1:06 Bob and Dan reminisce about blogging and Bloggingheads 8:17 Was the first year of Russia’s invasion a success for US foreign policy? 17:45 When will Putin be ready to cut a deal? 23:13 The odds of a wider war—or a nuclear one 27:45 What good can come from continuing the war? 41:08 Has the US mismanaged its relationship with Putin’s Russia? 50:56 P...
Aug 01, 2023•55 min
Subscribe to The Parrot Room at https://patreon.com/parrotroom 0:34 Bob extols the virtues of jury duty 4:27 Ukraine’s counter offensive surge 16:42 What does Hunter’s failed plea deal mean for Joe? 24:03 In search of a DeSantis strategy 32:13 The Niger coup and Cold War II 44:12 Parrot room preview: Israel’s issues; musings on late musicians; Is Ramaswamy surging?; New lab leak controversy; Mickey’s border question for Biden; Is DEI d-e-a-d?; A crazy (ex-)Twitter theory; AI self-regulation Robe...
Jul 29, 2023•49 min
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org (Overtime segment available to paid subscribers below the paywall.) 2:21 Where AI fits in Connor’s tech threat taxonomy 15:10 What does the “general” in artificial general intelligence actually mean? 22:26 What should worry us about AI right now? 30:01 Connor: Don’t put your trust in AI companies 39:28 The promise and perils of open-sourcing AI 49:52 Why "interpretability" matters 56:31 What would an aligned AI actuall...
Jul 25, 2023•1 hr 6 min
Subscribe to The Parrot Room at https://patreon.com/parrotroom 0:34 Senator Chris Murphy declares war on loneliness 8:58 Why is the Ukraine offensive going badly? 14:51 Why Biden should push for peace talks now 24:37 Threads unravels 35:23 Was RFK’s Covid conjecture anti-Semitic? 43:11 Mickey reviews the MSM version of DeSantis 52:15 American diplomacy update: murky scandals and trash talk 56:39 Parrot Room preview: Biden corruption scandal; electric car paranoia; what Trump will do if he wins; ...
Jul 22, 2023•1 hr 2 min
