Jan 24, 2025 · 45 min
RW
Society & Culture
Robert Wright's Nonzero
Nonzero
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
- 586 episodes
- Updated Friday
Episodes586
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Jan 23, 2025 · 47 minHuman Agency vs "Agentic” AI (Robert Wright & Kanjun Qiu)
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: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods
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Jan 22, 2025 · 1 hr 4 minTrump 2.0 and US Foreign Policy (Robert Wright & Thomas Friedman)
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 America is making a Chinese invasion of Taiwan more likely Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Thomas Friedman (The New York Times). Recorded January 21, 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
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Jan 18, 2025 · 50 minTrump’s Gaza Win, Biden’s Legacy Woes | NonZero World Feat. Robert Wright
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.
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Jan 17, 2025 · 41 minWorthwhile Canadian Humiliation (Robert Wright & Paul Bloom)
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, University of Toronto, The Sweet Spot, Against Empathy). Recorded January 16, 2025. Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods
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Jan 15, 2025 · 43 minIs the AI “Revolution” Overblown? (Robert Wright & Timothy B. Lee)
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: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods
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Jan 10, 2025 · 52 min'Bomb Iran' Goes Bipartisan | NonZero World Feat. Robert Wright
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
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Jan 10, 2025 · 31 minJimmy Carter vs. Donald Trump (Robert Wright, Derek Davison, and Daniel Bessner)
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, 2025. Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods
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Jan 6, 2025 · 54 minFixing the International Order (Robert Wright & Trita Parsi)
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: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods Overtime titles:
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Jan 3, 2025 · 23 minThe State of the NonZero Media Empire
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 transcript. And, if you’d rather absorb my wisdom without having to look at me (though tbh I think my new eyewear has upgraded my visual appeal), this monologue is also available in the Nonzero Podcast feed. Plus there’s this bonus: The transcript of my conversation with Google’s most powerful AI, “Gemini 2.0 Experimental Advanced,” about the prospects for the human species. I summarize the conversation in my SONZAOTW Address, but it goes by pretty fast, so you may want to check out the transcript itself. And, finally, here is my 2021 piece on the cognitive bias known as attribution error, which I also mention; this piece captures something important, even critical, about the modern conception of attribution error that seems to have eluded Gemini 2.0.
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Dec 31, 2024 · 1 hr 2 minGlenn Loury Interviews Bob (Glenn Loury & Robert Wright)
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, ethnic cleansing 45:27 Missed opportunities to turn the temperature down in Israel 53:41 Bob: The international community has little sway over Israel 56:37 The advantages of cognitive empathy Glenn Loury (Brown University, Manhattan Institute, Late Admissions) and Robert Wright (Nonzero, Why Buddhism Is True). Recorded December 17, 2024. 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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Dec 28, 2024 · 45 minQuasi-Year-End Edition (Robert Wright & Paul Bloom)
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://smallpotatoes.paulbloom.net, University of Toronto, The Sweet Spot, Against Empathy). Recorded December 27, 2024. Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods
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Dec 20, 2024 · 52 minHow to End the Ukraine War | NonZero World Feat. Anatol Lieven
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/NonzeroNewshttps://twitter.com/NonzeroPods
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Dec 19, 2024 · 37 minMarriage on the Rocks (Robert Wright & Conn Carroll)
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 December 06, 2024. Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods Overtime titles: 0:00 Why monogamous marriage is on the rocks 11:28 Conn’s proposals to fix America’s marital issue 15:14 Would income redistribution make for more marriages? 19:19 Porn, gambling, and other anti-marriage forces
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Dec 17, 2024 · 51 minThree Decades of Bad Foreign Policy (Robert Wright & Scott Horton)
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 (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Scott Horton (The Scott Horton Show, Fool's Errand, Provoked). Recorded December 11, 2024. Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods
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Dec 14, 2024 · 51 minAre Neocons Taking over Trump 2.0? | NonZero World Feat. James Carden
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/NonzeroNewshttps://twitter.com/NonzeroPods
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Dec 12, 2024 · 41 minReassembling Syria (Robert Wright & Josh Landis)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org 0:28 Syria’s uncertain political future 11:10 Has the Islamist rebel group HTS actually moderated? 19:25 The extent of retributive violence since Assad fell 29:58 Syria's complicated factional divides 36:44 America's control of Syrian oil fields 40:41 Heading to Overtime Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Joshua Landis (University of Oklahoma, SyriaComment.com). Recorded December 11, 2024.
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Dec 10, 2024 · 1 hr 1 minCovid: The Evidence Against Natural Origin (Robert Wright & Yuri Deigin)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org 0:00 Yuri’s high-stakes debate on Covid’s origins 3:42 Pros and cons of Covid vaccines 10:04 Do Covid “coincidences” point to a lab leak? 21:55 Does the pattern of Covid’s initial spread suggest zoonotic origin? 27:51 Why the Wuhan market may have amplified Covid’s spread 38:59 Covid’s lineages A and B 53:29 US-China collaboration in the Wuhan lab’s virology research Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Yuri Deigin (YouthBio Therapeutics). Recorded December 03, 2024.
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Dec 7, 2024 · 49 minIs the Assad Regime Collapsing? | NonZero World Feat. Bassam Barabandi
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 the rapid rebel offensive in Syria with Bassam Barabandi, a former Syrian diplomat who defected in 2013. Recorded December 06, 2024. https://twitter.com/NonzeroNewshttps://twitter.com/NonzeroPods
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Dec 5, 2024 · 50 minDebating the Hunter Biden Pardon (Robert Wright & Paul Bloom)
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org 0:28 A masterclass in audience alienation 3:50 Paul defends Biden’s paternal pardon 9:43 Should family come before societal good? 18:51 The costs of the Hunter pardon 32:18 Was Hunter the victim of a witch hunt? 37:52 Elon sues OpenAI (again) 45:12 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 Empathy). Recorded December 04, 2024. Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods