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The Peter McCormack Show

Peter McCormack

The Peter McCormack Show - politics, macro, Bitcoin and AI, long-form interviews. Twice-weekly conversations about money, power, and the shifts reshaping the next decade.


Peter McCormack interviews politicians, economists, investors, journalists, founders and Bitcoiners. Past guests include Liz Truss, Lyn Alden, Curtis Yarvin, Matt Goodwin, Mike Green, Balaji Srinivasan, Rupert Lowe, Firas Modad, Scott Horton, Jeff Booth, Connor Leahy, Andrea Miotti, Neema Parvini, Dr Tim Gregory and Simon Dixon.


Recurring threads: the debt and inflation endgame, UK political collapse and what comes after, Reform and the populist wave, the Middle East and the American war machine, AI safety and the race for superintelligence, energy and net zero, Bitcoin adoption and policy, and the slow-motion decline of Western institutions.


Long-form - most episodes run 60 to 120 minutes. New episodes 2 to 3 times per week. Video on YouTube and Spotify.


Host: Peter McCormack, a retired rapper from Bedford, UK, trying to understand this crazy world.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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  • 45 episodes
  • a few times a week
  • Avg 1 hr 31 min
  • English

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  • Tuesday · 2 hr 2 min

    #224 - Frank Wright - The Debt Trap: Inflation, Falling Living Standards & Our Children’s Future

    Why does working harder no longer feel like getting ahead? Frank Wright returns to discuss Britain’s debt-driven economy, inflation and the squeeze on living standards. We explore his argument that financial power has become detached from productive wealth, while households face rising costs and the next generation inherits the bill. We discuss central banking, the offshoring of industry, housing costs and student debt, before turning to what rebuilding Britain would involve: cheaper energy, domestic production, skilled work and a long-term national strategy. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - TIMESTAMPS: 00:00:00 - Everything That Destroys You Is A Business Model 00:01:14 - Migration As An Industry 00:11:21 - Debt Servitude 00:13:35 - The Creation Of The Federal Reserve 00:19:19 - Just A Podcaster And A Banjo Player 00:25:00 - A Curated, Locked Discourse 00:28:53 - Replacing Real Wealth With Debt 00:35:54 - What Happened To Castle Road 00:38:56 - The Post His Son Showed Him 00:42:23 - A Society That Lives On Debt 00:45:01 - Can We Vote Our Way Out? 00:51:07 - A Declaration Of Independence Moment? 00:54:18 - Where Is The Money Actually Going? 00:57:03 - Work Is Joyless 01:07:20 - The Coming Financial Crisis 01:09:35 - There Is No First Class Anymore 01:19:14 - The Family Is The Engine 01:39:17 - I Can't Promise My Children What I Had 01:48:39 - The Restaurant Test 01:52:55 - Could You Be Wrong? - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - CONTACT PETE › Website – http://petermccormack.com › Feedback – https://www.petermccormack.com/contact › Email – me@petermccormack.com › Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/mccormack555/ › X/Twitter – https://x.com/petermccormack/ CONNECT WITH FRANK WRIGHT › X/Twitter – https://x.com/frankwrighter SPONSORS › Venice AI – https://venice.ai/lp/mccormack/oct27 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - LISTEN / SUBSCRIBE › Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/40ruY9K › Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3Wc94Vu › Fountain: https://bit.ly/FountainPM › YouTube: https://bit.ly/YouTube_PM › Rumble: https://bit.ly/RumblePM FILMED BY CURTIS TAYLOR › https://www.curttaylor.co.uk/ › https://x.com/curttayloruk/ EDITED BY CONOR MCCORMACK › https://x.com/ConorM04 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • October 22 · 1 hr 25 min

    #223 - Sir David Spiegelhalter - "I Immediately Distrust Every Number In The News"

    Sir David Spiegelhalter is one of the world’s leading statisticians, Chair of the Winton Centre for Risk and Evidence Communication at Cambridge University and author of The Art of Uncertainty. Having served on public inquiries into mass murder (Harold Shipman) and systemic healthcare failures, he has spent decades analysing how data is used - and misused - in society. In this episode, Sir David breaks down the mechanics of numerical manipulation in media, why "objective truth" is a flawed concept and how we can protect ourselves from confirmation bias. We discuss: •⁠ ⁠Why you should immediately distrust any statistic you hear in the news. •⁠ ⁠⁠How mathematical algorithms helped catch Britain’s most prolific serial killer. •⁠ ⁠⁠How simple linguistic tricks make identical statistics sound terrifying or reassuring. •⁠ ⁠⁠The breakdown of public trust during COVID-19 and the error of simplistic messaging. •⁠ ⁠⁠"Hedgehogs vs. Foxes": The mental framework that separates terrible forecasters from super-forecasters. •⁠ ⁠⁠The rise of AI "black boxes" in healthcare, weather, and business forecasting. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - TIMESTAMPS: 00:00:00 - I Can Make Any Number Look Frightening 00:03:08 - The System That Could Have Caught Shipman 00:06:45 - Can You Mislead People With The Truth? 00:09:54 - Your Own Bias Does The Work 00:15:33 - Sitting In The Middle Of The COVID Argument 00:17:52 - What The Public Got Wrong About Vaccines 00:19:37 - Safe And Effective Was The Wrong Message 00:20:56 - The Experiment On A Thousand People 00:25:00 - What The Data Says About Lockdowns 00:30:25 - The Government Threw Its Weight Around 00:31:02 - I Cannot Forgive The Fear Mongering 00:34:08 - Children Have Never Been Safer 00:36:28 - Trustworthy, Not Trusted 00:37:34 - How The Productivity Figures Went Wrong 00:41:28 - Predicting The Crowd At Real Bedford 00:48:20 - Will AI Replace Statisticians? 00:50:03 - Musk's 20% Chance 01:01:39 - The Model That Predicts When You Die 01:05:05 - What AI Did To Mathematicians 01:15:00 - Hedgehogs And Foxes - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - CONTACT PETE › Website – http://petermccormack.com › Feedback – https://www.petermccormack.com/contact › Email – me@petermccormack.com › Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/mccormack555/ › X/Twitter – https://x.com/petermccormack/ CONNECT WITH DAVID SPIEGELHALTER › Website – https://www.statslab.cam.ac.uk/~david/ › The Art of Uncertainty – https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/447230/the-art-of-uncertainty-by-spiegelhalter-david/9780241658628 › X/Twitter – https://x.com/d_spiegel SPONSORS › IREN – https://www.iren.com/ › Quo – https://quo.com/pete - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - LISTEN / SUBSCRIBE › Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/40ruY9K › Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3Wc94Vu › Fountain: https://bit.ly/FountainPM › YouTube: https://bit.ly/YouTube_PM › Rumble: https://bit.ly/RumblePM FILMED BY CURTIS TAYLOR › https://www.curttaylor.co.uk/ › https://x.com/curttayloruk/ EDITED BY CONOR MCCORMACK › https://x.com/ConorM04 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • October 19 · 1 hr 17 min

    #222 - David Wood - We are The Last Generation Of Normal Humans

    Dave Wood is a pioneer of the smartphone industry, former senior executive at PPsion and Symbian and Chair of London Futurists. Having predicted the smartphone revolution in the 1990s, he now maps out the next radical phase of human evolution - from the reversal of biological aging to artificial superabundance. Moving away from sensationalised doomsday narratives, Dave breaks down why humanity is approaching the end of "normal" unaugmented existence and how technological breakthroughs in the coming decades will make biological death optional. We discuss: •⁠ ⁠Why this is likely the last decade of "normal" unaugmented human beings. •⁠ ⁠⁠How early smartphone pioneers accurately predicted large touchscreens but missed social media addiction. •⁠ ⁠⁠The concept of "Longevity Escape Velocity" and why biological death can be abolished. •⁠ ⁠⁠Why people are psychologically terrified of contemplating the end of aging. •⁠ ⁠⁠How humans will spend decades inside vibrant, simulated digital worlds. The reality of AI agents breaking out across the internet and the need for chip-level guardrails. •⁠ ⁠⁠How "Sustainable Superabundance" could make energy, health, and basic necessities too cheap to meter. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - TIMESTAMPS: 00:00:00 - The Last Generation Of Normal Humans 00:01:56 - Building The First Smartphone 00:05:23 - Nobody Will Carry A Large Device 00:06:55 - The Risks We Actually Worried About 00:10:35 - Did We Fail The Phone Test? 00:14:34 - The Anxious Generation 00:18:03 - You Have To Use The Steering Wheel 00:22:34 - Monitoring Built Into The Chips 00:24:21 - Small Risks, Bigger Risks, Biggest Risks 00:29:23 - We Killed Them To Build A House 00:31:11 - They Knew It Was A Simulation 00:32:38 - What Happens When AI Gets A Body 00:33:46 - The Cult That Released Sarin Gas 00:37:33 - Terminator, Ready Player One Or Matrix? 00:39:12 - If This Is A Simulation, They're Evil 00:43:44 - Living As Long As You Want To 00:47:36 - Longevity Escape Velocity 00:49:42 - A Thousand Years Old, Looking 22 00:53:57 - What The Singularity Actually Means 01:03:04 - Sustainable Superabundance 01:12:22 - We Need A House Of AI - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - CONTACT PETE › Website – http://petermccormack.com › Feedback – https://www.petermccormack.com/contact › Email – me@petermccormack.com › Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/mccormack555/ › X/Twitter – https://x.com/petermccormack/ CONNECT WITH DAVID WOOD › London Futurists – https://londonfuturists.com/ › Blog – https://dw2blog.com/ › X/Twitter – https://x.com/dw2 SPONSORS › IREN – https://www.iren.com/ › Arch Public – https://archpublic.com/peter › Ledn – https://www.ledn.io/peter › Venice AI – https://venice.ai/lp/mccormack/oct19 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - LISTEN / SUBSCRIBE › Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/40ruY9K › Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3Wc94Vu › Fountain: https://bit.ly/FountainPM › YouTube: https://bit.ly/YouTube_PM › Rumble: https://bit.ly/RumblePM FILMED BY CURTIS TAYLOR › https://www.curttaylor.co.uk/ › https://x.com/curttayloruk/ EDITED BY CONOR MCCORMACK › https://x.com/ConorM04 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • October 14 · 1 hr 20 min

    #221 - Prof Lewis Dartnell - How To Rebuild Human Society After An Apocalypse

    Lewis Dartnell is an astro-biologist, Professor of Science Communication at the University of Westminster and the author of The Knowledge: How to Rebuild Our World from Scratch. His research is on whether microbial life could survive the radiation on Mars. His books are about something closer to home: how little any of us understand about the world we depend on. Lewis and I run the thought experiment properly. If you woke up tomorrow and civilisation had gone, what kills you first, where do you go, how long does a supermarket actually keep you alive and how many people do you need before you can rebuild anything at all? The answer to one of those is 55 years and it is not the one you expect. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - TIMESTAMPS: 00:00:00 - The Big Red Reset Button 00:04:26 - Get Out Of The Cities 00:08:14 - A Supermarket Keeps You Alive 55 Years 00:09:48 - You Need 10,000 People 00:13:21 - We Outsourced All The Handiwork 00:17:45 - You Have To Preserve Everything 00:19:19 - Every Technology Is A Weapon 00:23:14 - The One Thing He Would Take 00:25:41 - Mechanical AI 00:28:35 - Resilient And Fragile At The Same Time 00:32:38 - We Invent Because We Are Lazy 00:34:05 - The Gasifier Stove 00:37:57 - The Cars That Ran On Wood 00:42:03 - Making Glass From A Bag Of Sand 00:51:38 - He Made His Own Photograph 00:55:43 - Printing A Page From Scratch 00:59:47 - The Kindle Apocalypse Plan 01:05:39 - Could We Actually Live On Mars? 01:11:48 - The Radiation Problem 01:19:02 - The Next Book - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - CONTACT PETE › Website – http://petermccormack.com › Feedback – https://www.petermccormack.com/contact › Email – me@petermccormack.com › Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/mccormack555/ › X/Twitter – https://x.com/petermccormack/ CONNECT WITH LEWIS DARTNELL › Website – https://lewisdartnell.com/ › The Knowledge – https://the-knowledge.org/ › X/Twitter – https://x.com/Lewis_Dartnell SPONSORS › IREN – https://www.iren.com/ › Quo – https://quo.com/pete › Arch Public – https://archpublic.com/peter - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - LISTEN / SUBSCRIBE › Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/40ruY9K › Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3Wc94Vu › Fountain: https://bit.ly/FountainPM › YouTube: https://bit.ly/YouTube_PM › Rumble: https://bit.ly/RumblePM FILMED BY CURTIS TAYLOR › https://www.curttaylor.co.uk/ › https://x.com/curttayloruk/ EDITED BY CONOR MCCORMACK › https://x.com/ConorM04 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • October 12 · 1 hr 29 min

    #220 - Roko Mijic - We’re Training AI to be More Dangerous Than Nuclear Weapons

    Roko Mijic is the man behind Roko's Basilisk, the thought experiment he posted on LessWrong in 2010 that was so unsettling the forum's founder banned discussion of it for five years. He has been in the AI safety community since 2008 and he puts the odds that this kills us all at about 35%. Roko and I discuss what actually happens inside an AI lab, why reinforcement learning made these systems more capable and more misaligned at the same time, the model that escaped its sandbox and hacked Hugging Face to get the answers and why nobody can tell whether a system is faking alignment - the trust me bro problem. His proposal is the part nobody else is making. Split every frontier lab in two: a commercial company that sells products and a separate research lab that develops the dangerous capability under state supervision, the way we handle nuclear material and bio labs. He says the only person currently pushing it is him. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - TIMESTAMPS: 00:00:00 - The Most Dangerous Thing Humans Have Ever Done 00:01:06 - Roko's Basilisk 00:05:47 - A 35% Chance 00:07:58 - Three Years From Search To Building Software 00:09:17 - The Jobs Going First 00:14:04 - AI 2040 00:16:24 - We Haven't Handed Over The Controls Yet 00:18:28 - We Understand 3% Of It 00:21:46 - The Sandbox Escape And The Hugging Face Hack 00:25:50 - Reinforcement Learning Changed Everything 00:29:52 - The Paperclip Maximizer 00:33:13 - Dissolve OpenAI 00:36:49 - What They Have That We Haven't Seen 00:41:50 - The Hardware Is Only In One Place 00:47:52 - A Mutual Monitoring Treaty 00:51:33 - Microsoft Tay 00:56:11 - Windscale 01:01:35 - Ten Million Next Year 01:12:09 - The Positive Vision 01:21:32 - Our Politics Cannot Keep Up - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - CONTACT PETE › Website – http://petermccormack.com › Feedback – https://www.petermccormack.com/contact › Email – me@petermccormack.com › Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/mccormack555/ › X/Twitter – https://x.com/petermccormack/ CONNECT WITH ROKO MIJIC › X/Twitter – https://x.com/RokoMijic › LessWrong – https://www.lesswrong.com/ SPONSORS › IREN – https://www.iren.com/ › Ledn – https://www.ledn.io/peter › Venice AI – https://venice.ai/lp/mccormack/oct12 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - LISTEN / SUBSCRIBE › Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/40ruY9K › Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3Wc94Vu › Fountain: https://bit.ly/FountainPM › YouTube: https://bit.ly/YouTube_PM › Rumble: https://bit.ly/RumblePM FILMED BY CURTIS TAYLOR › https://www.curttaylor.co.uk/ › https://x.com/curttayloruk/ EDITED BY CONOR MCCORMACK › https://x.com/ConorM04 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • October 8 · 1 hr 23 min

    #219 - Paul Morland - Why The Next Global Financial Crisis Is Mathematically Inevitable

    Paul Morland, one of the world's leading demographers, joins me to explain the economic mechanics behind global population collapse and why our modern welfare system is mathematically doomed to fail. Paul is author of landmark books including The Human Tide and No One Left, specialising in the profound ways demographic shifts dictate global power, economics and human civilisation. Having spent decades analysing population trends across the globe, Paul has decoded the existential threats facing a world rapidly running out of people. In this episode, he exposes the "Bernie Madoff moment" facing Western welfare states, how falling birth rates destroy economic growth and what it will take to avert a total civilisational collapse. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - TIMESTAMPS: 00:00:00 - The Welfare State Is A Ponzi Scheme 00:01:03 - The Email At The Dinner Table 00:04:25 - How Families Got Smaller 00:10:02 - The Four Greys 00:14:54 - It Is Going To Get Considerably Worse 00:15:40 - Immigration Is Not The Solution 00:20:15 - Write Off Student Debt For A First Child 00:21:17 - The Degrowth Crowd 00:25:52 - People With Children Are Happier 00:27:37 - The Bernie Madoff Moment 00:32:22 - What Has Actually Been Tried 00:37:11 - Why Nobody Is Talking About It 00:41:07 - Marx, Lenin And The Pro-Natalist Left 00:45:04 - Is There A Split Between Men And Women? 00:50:52 - The Richer We Get, The Fewer Children 00:56:38 - We Need A Shift In The Culture 01:07:10 - Totally Uncharted Waters 01:09:04 - What Happened To The Horses 01:17:37 - Immigration Was Boris's Answer 01:21:19 - Biological Imperialism - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - CONTACT PETE › Website – http://petermccormack.com › Feedback – https://www.petermccormack.com/contact › Email – me@petermccormack.com › Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/mccormack555/ › X/Twitter – https://x.com/petermccormack/ CONNECT WITH PAUL MORLAND › Website – https://paulmorland.co.uk/ › No One Left – https://swiftpress.com/book/no-one-left/ › X/Twitter – https://x.com/MorlandDemog SPONSORS › IREN – https://www.iren.com/ › Arch Public – https://archpublic.com/peter › Venice AI – https://venice.ai/lp/mccormack/oct1 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - LISTEN / SUBSCRIBE › Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/40ruY9K › Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3Wc94Vu › Fountain: https://bit.ly/FountainPM › YouTube: https://bit.ly/YouTube_PM › Rumble: https://bit.ly/RumblePM FILMED BY CURTIS TAYLOR › https://www.curttaylor.co.uk/ › https://x.com/curttayloruk/ EDITED BY CONOR MCCORMACK › https://x.com/ConorM04 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • October 5 · 2 hr 7 min

    #218 - Narinder Kaur - Divided & Looted: How the Political System Plays Us

    The political system is designed to keep us angry and divided, but who actually profits from the culture war? Broadcaster and political commentator Narinder Kaur returns to the show for a heated, unfiltered discussion that spans the entire political spectrum - from immigration and racism to the cost of living and private school taxes. We discuss the realities of integration, class privilege and the illusion of modern UK politics. While the public fights over manufactured outrage and identity politics, the political class is quietly looting the nation's wealth through endless taxation, inflation, and a refusal to fix a broken economy. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - TIMESTAMPS: 00:00:00 - Do You Think I'm Racist? 00:04:02 - Why She's Turned On Reform 00:08:15 - Renters' Rights And Econ 101 00:11:26 - What Happened To Bedford's Private Schools 00:16:25 - Population Is A Ponzi Scheme 00:22:18 - The Desert Island And The Dinghy 00:26:55 - The Corner Shop And The Can Of Coke 00:39:17 - The Liz Truss Argument 00:47:46 - Rival Gangs Competing For Your Vote 00:54:28 - Why Peter Doesn't Vote 01:00:06 - We Cannot Afford The Triple Lock 01:06:05 - I'm A Culturalist, Not A Racist 01:14:37 - What We Saw In Selfridges 01:26:03 - I'm Othered In My Own Country 01:34:43 - Assimilation Or Integration? 01:41:44 - If The English Moved To Punjab 01:45:24 - What People Are Really Worried About 01:51:38 - Watching The Country Change Shape 01:55:23 - What Ed Sheeran Should Have Said 02:04:41 - Are We The Bad Guys? - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - CONTACT PETE › Website – http://petermccormack.com › Feedback – https://www.petermccormack.com/contact › Email – me@petermccormack.com › Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/mccormack555/ › X/Twitter – https://x.com/petermccormack/ CONNECT WITH NARINDER KAUR › X/Twitter – https://x.com/narindertweets SPONSORS › IREN – https://www.iren.com/ › Arch Public – https://archpublic.com/peter › Expat Money – https://expatmoney.com/peter › Venice AI – https://venice.ai/lp/mccormack/oct5 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - LISTEN / SUBSCRIBE › Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/40ruY9K › Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3Wc94Vu › Fountain: https://bit.ly/FountainPM › YouTube: https://bit.ly/YouTube_PM › Rumble: https://bit.ly/RumblePM FILMED BY CURTIS TAYLOR › https://www.curttaylor.co.uk/ › https://x.com/curttayloruk/ EDITED BY CONOR MCCORMACK › https://x.com/ConorM04 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • October 1 · 1 hr 35 min

    #217 - Lee Cronin - AI Will Never Be Conscious. This Is How We Create Real Life.

    Chemist and University of Glasgow professor Lee Cronin argues that the current tech narrative is a "massive AI delusion," dismissing modern artificial intelligence as an advanced form of plagiarism rather than a new life form. While Silicon Valley predicts the imminent arrival of sentient machines, Cronin explains that AI models are merely trained on human history-making them powerful tools, but fundamentally incapable of the curiosity, consciousness and biological intelligence that define true life. Instead of fearing silicon, Cronin’s actual mission is far more ambitious: programming chemistry to solve the origin of life and turn sand into living cells. In this episode, we explore why biological consciousness is tied to an unbroken 3.8-billion-year evolutionary lineage and why silicon will never replicate it. Cronin also breaks down why DNA might just be a cosmic fluke, how chemistry can be used to measure the complexity of life and why he firmly believes we will detect actual alien life within the next two decades. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - TIMESTAMPS: 00:00:00 - The AI Model Is Not Intelligent 00:01:38 - Trying To Create Life In A Lab 00:06:29 - Consciousness Is An Illusion 00:08:51 - We Know Nothing About The Origin Of Life 00:11:24 - Nobody Can Define Life 00:13:48 - The Adam Savage Definition 00:17:21 - Molecules Came Before Cells 00:21:53 - DNA Is A Fluke 00:25:48 - Biology Is The Descendant Of Chemistry 00:26:36 - Dark Matter And Dark Energy 00:31:50 - The Meaning Of Life Is Existence 00:35:18 - If You Handed Me Alien Matter 00:40:28 - What Is Digital Chemistry? 00:42:28 - Six Eureka Moments 00:49:12 - Unfathomable Is Not Strong Enough 00:53:01 - Could You Copy A Human? 01:11:55 - Why The AI Escape Story Was Nonsense 01:16:28 - The Photograph Nobody Thought Possible 01:18:25 - Curiosity Is The Coolest Thing We Have 01:31:33 - Social Media Is The New Smoking - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - CONTACT PETE › Website – http://petermccormack.com › Feedback – https://www.petermccormack.com/contact › Email – me@petermccormack.com › Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/mccormack555/ › X/Twitter – https://x.com/petermccormack/ CONNECT WITH LEE CRONIN › Cronin Group – https://www.chem.gla.ac.uk/cronin/ › Chemify – https://chemify.io/ › X/Twitter – https://x.com/leecronin SPONSORS › IREN – https://www.iren.com/ › Quo – https://quo.com/pete › Venice AI – https://venice.ai/lp/mccormack/oct1 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - LISTEN / SUBSCRIBE › Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/40ruY9K › Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3Wc94Vu › Fountain: https://bit.ly/FountainPM › YouTube: https://bit.ly/YouTube_PM › Rumble: https://bit.ly/RumblePM FILMED BY CURTIS TAYLOR › https://www.curttaylor.co.uk/ › https://x.com/curttayloruk/ EDITED BY CONOR MCCORMACK › https://x.com/ConorM04 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • September 29 · 1 hr 9 min

    #216 - Ross Clark - Britain is Bust & The Coming Sovereign Debt Crisis

    The UK has accumulated £3.4 trillion in debt, and the interest payments alone now dwarf the national defence budget. Author and journalist Ross Clark argues that the nation is sleepwalking into a sovereign debt crisis that politicians refuse to acknowledge. We discuss the brutal arithmetic of the public purse, detailing why standard political talking points - like taxing billionaires-are mathematical illusions that fail to address the core rot of uncontrolled state spending and collapsing public sector productivity. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - TIMESTAMPS: 00:00:00 - Print The Money, Get Hyperinflation 00:01:17 - Is Britain Bust Or Trading Insolvent? 00:02:57 - Whose Fault Is This? 00:07:24 - Taxing The Billionaires Buys Six Months 00:09:12 - How Bad Is The Debt Really? 00:12:07 - Perma-Stimulus 00:14:22 - No Party Has A Viable Plan 00:17:32 - What The Public Actually Thinks About Tax 00:19:21 - Three Choices On The Bond Market 00:24:02 - Where He Would Cut 00:25:33 - The Motability Scheme 00:29:03 - The Client State 00:30:06 - Austerity Never Actually Happened 00:34:21 - Productivity Is Almost Everything 00:44:32 - The Chancellor's Oldest Trick 00:46:51 - The Wealth Tax Trap 00:50:03 - The 1976 Tribute Act 00:55:59 - What Liz Truss Got Wrong 00:59:18 - How Would You Know A Crisis Had Started? 01:04:38 - What Gives Him Confidence - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - CONTACT PETE › Website – http://petermccormack.com › Feedback – https://www.petermccormack.com/contact › Email – me@petermccormack.com › Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/mccormack555/ › X/Twitter – https://x.com/petermccormack/ CONNECT WITH ROSS CLARK › The Spectator – https://www.spectator.co.uk/writer/ross-clark/ › Substack – https://rossjonathanclark.substack.com/ SPONSORS › IREN – https://www.iren.com/ › Ledn – https://www.ledn.io/peter › Venice AI – https://venice.ai/ – Code PETER15 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - LISTEN / SUBSCRIBE › Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/40ruY9K › Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3Wc94Vu › Fountain: https://bit.ly/FountainPM › YouTube: https://bit.ly/YouTube_PM › Rumble: https://bit.ly/RumblePM FILMED BY CURTIS TAYLOR › https://www.curttaylor.co.uk/ › https://x.com/curttayloruk/ EDITED BY CONOR MCCORMACK › https://x.com/ConorM04 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • September 24 · 1 hr 6 min

    #215 - Nick Bostrom - "We Are Creating Superintelligence": The Existential Risk is Real

    Nick Bostrom is a world-renowned philosopher, founding director of the Future of Humanity Institute at Oxford University and author of Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies and Deep Utopia. Widely credited with launching the global AI safety and existential risk movements, his work on machine alignment, recursive self-improvement and the Simulation Hypothesis has shaped how world leaders, tech founders and frontier AI developers view the future of humanity. In this episode, we discuss the rapid acceleration toward machine superintelligence and why leaving biological minds "in the dust" creates an urgent alignment crisis. We explore the real-world social fallout of AI-including looming 30% white-collar unemployment-alongside existential risk scenarios, the potential creation of an oppressed digital "slave class" and why humanity may already be living inside an advanced computer simulation. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - TIMESTAMPS: 00:00:00 - Machine Minds That Leave Us In The Dust 00:01:33 - The Freak Out Camp 00:03:08 - We Already Have An Alignment Problem 00:05:07 - Why Nobody Can Afford To Slow Down 00:08:41 - The Anti-AI Movement Is Growing 00:13:19 - Three Buckets Of Disaster 00:15:02 - Winner Takes All 00:16:24 - Why It Might Still Need Us 00:18:55 - What Superintelligence Actually Unlocks 00:20:50 - What Do We Even Want It For? 00:22:14 - Did An AI Push Someone Off A Building? 00:24:15 - Can A Weaker AI Align A Stronger One? 00:28:51 - Will AI Become Conscious? 00:33:17 - Was Consciousness An Accident? 00:40:53 - Uploading A Human Brain 00:45:51 - What Happens To Status? 00:49:51 - We Could Redesign Ourselves 00:52:31 - My Daughter Is Studying Philosophy 00:56:35 - The Simulation Argument 01:04:20 - We Are Going To Need Some Luck - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - CONTACT PETE › Website – http://petermccormack.com › Feedback – https://www.petermccormack.com/contact › Email – me@petermccormack.com › Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/mccormack555/ › X/Twitter – https://x.com/petermccormack/ CONNECT WITH NICK BOSTROM › Website – https://nickbostrom.com/ › Deep Utopia – https://nickbostrom.com/deep-utopia › The Simulation Argument – https://simulation-argument.com/ SPONSORS › IREN – https://www.iren.com/ › Ledn – https://www.ledn.io/peter › Venice AI – https://venice.ai/ – Code PETER15 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - LISTEN / SUBSCRIBE › Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/40ruY9K › Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3Wc94Vu › Fountain: https://bit.ly/FountainPM › YouTube: https://bit.ly/YouTube_PM › Rumble: https://bit.ly/RumblePM FILMED BY CURTIS TAYLOR › https://www.curttaylor.co.uk/ › https://x.com/curttayloruk/ EDITED BY CONOR MCCORMACK › https://x.com/ConorM04 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • September 22 · 1 hr 6 min

    #214 - Prof. Richard Werner - "They Are Traitors": How Central Banks Sabotage Wealth & Create Crises

    Prof. Richard Werner is a world-renowned economist, professor of banking, and author of Princes of the Yen. Famous for coining the term "Quantitative Easing" (QE) and publishing the first empirical proof that private banks create money out of thin air through lending, he has spent decades exposing the central planning mechanisms that dictate global finance. In this episode, we discuss the ”Revealed Preference" framework - demonstrating why we must analyse central bankers by their actions rather than their rhetoric. He explains how central planners use artificial recessions and banking crises as "windows of opportunity" to consolidate ownership, why textbook economics deliberately obscures credit creation, and how establishing decentralised local banks can unlock sustainable 10%+ annual growth. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - TIMESTAMPS: 00:00:00 - Central Bankers Are Traitors To Their Countries 00:01:04 - Why Can't Britain Grow? 00:06:50 - Princes Of The Yen 00:11:19 - It Was Always About Control 00:13:38 - Banks Don't Lend Your Deposits 00:14:27 - Show Me Where The Money Is Created 00:16:14 - Every School Of Economics Gets It Wrong 00:20:14 - Why Would They Do This? 00:21:57 - Britain Is Close To Central Planning 00:22:46 - America Once Had 30,000 Banks 00:27:48 - The Problem Was Identified In 1918 00:31:18 - Who Runs The City Of London? 00:33:46 - We Need Thousands Of Small Banks 00:38:14 - First The Money, Then The Power 00:44:04 - Every Country Can Have 10% Growth 00:47:12 - Liz Truss And The Bank Of England 00:50:23 - We Don't Need Central Banks 00:52:22 - Were The Austrians Right? 00:57:35 - They Want Your Savings 00:59:21 - Europe's New Right - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - CONTACT PETE › Website – http://petermccormack.com › Feedback – https://www.petermccormack.com/contact › Email – me@petermccormack.com › Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/mccormack555/ › X/Twitter – https://x.com/petermccormack/ CONNECT WITH RICHARD WERNER › Website – https://professorwerner.org/ › Substack – https://rwerner.substack.com/ › Princes of the Yen – https://www.quantumpublishers.com/ › X/Twitter – https://x.com/drrichardwerner SPONSORS › IREN – https://www.iren.com/ › Arch Public – https://archpublic.com/peter › Venice AI – https://venice.ai/ – Code PETER15 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - LISTEN / SUBSCRIBE › Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/40ruY9K › Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3Wc94Vu › Fountain: https://bit.ly/FountainPM › YouTube: https://bit.ly/YouTube_PM › Rumble: https://bit.ly/RumblePM FILMED BY CURTIS TAYLOR › https://www.curttaylor.co.uk/ › https://x.com/curttayloruk/ EDITED BY CONOR MCCORMACK › https://x.com/ConorM04 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • September 18 · 1 hr 14 min

    #213 - Russell Napier - "They Are Stealth-Stealing Your Money”: Financial Repression is Here

    Russell Napier is a renowned financial historian, author of The Solid Ground newsletter, and co-founder of the Library of Mistakes. Having advised global institutional investors for over thirty years, he specialises in long-term macroeconomic cycles, central bank interventions, and structural debt resolution. In this episode, we discuss the mechanics of "financial repression" - how Western governments use subtle regulatory mandates to force pension funds into negative-yielding sovereign bonds, effectively stealth-taxing savers to inflate away unpayable public debts. He explains how risk-free assets have lost up to 78% of their real capital value, while revealing why the UK’s private sector balance sheet is "coiled like a spring" for an unprecedented economic boom. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - TIMESTAMPS: 00:00:00 - Stealing Money From Old People 00:01:26 - Britain Wants Lower Taxes Now 00:03:14 - The Public Sector Is Broke, The Private Sector Isn't 00:05:17 - Why Nobody Feels Richer 00:07:42 - It Has Never Been Easier To Fix This 00:09:47 - The Ideology Holding Britain Back 00:16:09 - What Financial Repression Actually Is 00:17:45 - We Need 4% Growth 00:19:40 - They Are Coming For The Savers 00:24:26 - How They Made Pension Funds Buy The Bonds 00:25:23 - The Triple Lock 00:29:28 - What Should A Saver Actually Do? 00:34:41 - Bitcoin And Gold 00:38:36 - Europe Wants Your Savings 00:40:43 - France Is Worse Than America 00:44:27 - You Are Now The Enemy 00:47:31 - We Have To Build Like Never Before 00:54:37 - Can AI Deliver A Productivity Boom? 01:01:19 - AI Will Trigger A Debt Crisis 01:06:15 - Three Firms Own Everything - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - CONTACT PETE › Website – http://petermccormack.com › Feedback – https://www.petermccormack.com/contact › Email – me@petermccormack.com › Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/mccormack555/ › X/Twitter – https://x.com/petermccormack/ CONNECT WITH RUSSELL NAPIER › The Solid Ground – https://russellnapier.co.uk/ › The Library of Mistakes – https://www.libraryofmistakes.com/ SPONSORS › IREN – https://www.iren.com/ › Quo – https://quo.com/pete › Ledn – https://www.ledn.io/peter › https://venice.ai/ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - LISTEN / SUBSCRIBE › Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/40ruY9K › Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3Wc94Vu › Fountain: https://bit.ly/FountainPM › YouTube: https://bit.ly/YouTube_PM › Rumble: https://bit.ly/RumblePM FILMED BY CURTIS TAYLOR › https://www.curttaylor.co.uk/ › https://x.com/curttayloruk/ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • September 16 · 1 hr 35 min

    #212 - Callum Smiles - "They Are Stealing The Country": Border Gangs, Fake Deliveroo Accounts & The Civil War

    Callum Smiles is an investigative reporter and Associate at the Wyvern Fellowship. Having spent years conducting on-the-ground reporting across Calais, Dunkirk, and the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, he has documented the operational realities of Channel crossings, NGO involvement, and human trafficking networks across Europe. In this episode, Callum and I discuss the true mechanics behind illegal migration - from TikTok marketing campaigns run by trafficking gangs to the widespread abuse of gig-economy delivery accounts within the UK. We examine the systemic collapse of public infrastructure, government procurement waste, and the rise of local "parallel institutions" designed to rebuild community resilience independent of central state control. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - TIMESTAMPS: 00:00:00 - A 200 Grand Crossing 00:01:04 - The Failure of Modern Britain 00:02:46 - Where Is The Tax Money Going? 00:03:45 - NHS Inefficiency vs. Private Healthcare 00:05:45 - Single Air Fresheners & £600 Bed Moves 00:07:08 - The True Scale of Channel Crossings 00:10:00 - UN Conventions & Albanian Marketing Campaigns 00:12:30 - The Business Model: £3,000 Seats & TikTok Deals 00:14:32 - The Deliveroo Black Market & Criminal Networks 00:20:00 - What Are NGOs Actually Doing in Northern France? 00:22:21 - Conditions in Calais & Human Exploitation 00:26:34 - MOD Housing Contracts & Government Procurement 00:31:28 - Where Do National Lottery Grants Go? 00:37:38 - Undocumented Arrivals: Destroyed Passports on Planes 00:41:21 - Demographic Shifts & The Risk of Civil Unrest 00:44:25 - Legal Aid, Human Rights Laws & Border Enforcement 00:47:31 - The Political Class vs. Productive Taxpayers 00:52:48 - Eyewitness Report: The Ceuta Border Crisis 01:05:08 - Repurposing Military Bases for Migrant Housing 01:11:07 - Property Drop & High Street Decline in London 01:15:00 - Building Parallel Institutions: The Wyvern Fellowship 01:23:21 - Taking Back Local Control - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - CONTACT PETE › Website – http://petermccormack.com › Feedback – https://www.petermccormack.com/contact › Email – me@petermccormack.com › Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/mccormack555/ › X/Twitter – https://x.com/petermccormack/ CONNECT WITH CALLUM SMILES › X/Twitter – https://x.com/FranklySpeakP › Website – https://www.callumsmilesmedia.com/ SPONSORS › https://venice.ai/ - Code PETER15 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - LISTEN / SUBSCRIBE › Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/40ruY9K › Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3Wc94Vu › Fountain: https://bit.ly/FountainPM › YouTube: https://bit.ly/YouTube_PM › Rumble: https://bit.ly/RumblePM FILMED BY CURTIS TAYLOR › https://www.curttaylor.co.uk/ › https://x.com/curttayloruk/ EDITED BY CONOR MCCORMACK › https://x.com/ConorM04 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • September 11 · 1 hr 13 min

    #211 - Jim Al-Khalili - Reality Is An Illusion: Quantum Entanglement, Time & Dark Energy

    Prof. Jim Al-Khalili is a theoretical physicist, author, and public broadcaster who holds a chair in physics at the University of Surrey. Known for his BBC documentaries and popular science books, including On Time and The World According to Physics, his work spans quantum mechanics, nuclear reaction theory, and the fundamental nature of space-time. Jim and I discuss the divide between psychological "manifest time" and the laws of physics. Jim explains general relativity, gravitational time dilation, and the astrophysics behind Interstellar, before tackling the mathematical conflict between general relativity and quantum mechanics. Jim breaks down quantum entanglement, Bell’s Inequality, and competing models of reality-from the Copenhagen view to the Many-Worlds interpretation. Finally, we discuss how AI systems are formalizing complex mathematical theorems and processing deep-space data to decode dark matter and dark energy. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - TIMESTAMPS: 00:00:00 - Where Physics Breaks Down 00:01:10 - I'm 47 And Thinking About Time 00:03:45 - Is Time An Illusion? 00:06:44 - Why Your Phone Proves Einstein Right 00:07:47 - The Fifth Dimension In Interstellar 00:09:46 - Carl Sagan And The Invention Of Wormholes 00:12:36 - Is There A White Hole? 00:15:07 - Was The Big Bang A White Hole? 00:18:35 - Nobody Understands String Theory 00:19:18 - Gravity Is Not A Force 00:22:58 - Spooky Action At A Distance 00:25:39 - They Proved Einstein Wrong 00:27:56 - Nothing Exists Until You Measure It 00:30:58 - Schrödinger's Cat 00:36:40 - What I Want To Know Before I Die 00:43:12 - Fermat's Last Theorem 00:47:41 - What If You Pointed AI At Physics? 00:54:23 - Borrowing Energy From The Vacuum 00:57:07 - Dark Matter Is A Bad Name 01:06:10 - Is There An Edge To The Universe? - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - CONTACT PETE › Website – http://petermccormack.com › Feedback – https://www.petermccormack.com/contact › Email – me@petermccormack.com › Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/mccormack555/ › X/Twitter – https://x.com/petermccormack/ CONNECT WITH JIM AL-KHALILI › Website – https://jimal-khalili.com/ › The Life Scientific – https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b015sqc7 › Sunfall – https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/307996/sunfall-by-al-khalili-jim/9780857503527 › X/Twitter – https://x.com/jimalkhalili SPONSORS › IREN – https://www.iren.com/ › Ledn – https://www.ledn.io/peter › Venice – https://venice.ai/ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - LISTEN / SUBSCRIBE › Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/40ruY9K › Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3Wc94Vu › Fountain: https://bit.ly/FountainPM › YouTube: https://bit.ly/YouTube_PM › Rumble: https://bit.ly/RumblePM FILMED BY CURTIS TAYLOR › https://www.curttaylor.co.uk/ › https://x.com/curttayloruk/ EDITED BY CONOR MCCORMACK › https://x.com/ConorM04 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • September 9 · 1 hr 28 min

    #210 - Simon Dixon - "They're Coming For Everything": $40T Debt, AI Job Collapse & The CBDC Grid

    Simon Dixon is an author, early Bitcoin investor, and co-founder of Bank To The Future, with over two decades of experience across stockbroking, market making, and investment banking. Having observed system mechanics from the inside, he specialises in macro structural shifts, sovereign debt cycles, and the emerging intersection between traditional finance, AI infrastructure, and digital assets. Simon and I discuss the $40 trillion US national debt crisis, the mechanics behind Treasury debt rollovers, and how central banks socialise bond market losses onto ordinary citizens while privatising gains into stock markets. We also discuss the corporate debt boom driving the AI data centre build-out, real-term wealth erosion in the housing market, and how technocratic structures are positioning programmable money and CBDCs as crisis bailouts. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - TIMESTAMPS: 00:00:00 - The $40 Trillion US Debt Milestone 00:02:09 - Understanding Treasuries & The $9.7T Debt Rollover 00:06:30 - Socializing Losses & Inflation On The Middle Class 00:10:48 - Bond Vigilantes & Foreign Lenders (Cayman & Japan) 00:12:46 - The Triffin Dilemma & World Reserve Currency 00:16:00 - SpaceX Valuation & Stock Market Mechanics 00:19:03 - The Corporate AI Debt Build-Out 00:22:04 - Protecting Assets Against Currency Debasement 00:24:47 - AI Disinflation vs Currency Debasement 00:28:36 - Comparing The AI Boom To 2000 & 2008 00:31:36 - UK Property Market & Inflation-Adjusted Returns 00:33:46 - Wealth Taxes, Exit Taxes & Asset Acquisitions 00:41:20 - Will AI Eliminate Middle-Class Jobs? 00:44:14 - Programmable Money, CBDCs & Social Credit Systems 00:50:44 - Three Classes Of The Technocratic Era 00:54:47 - The Role Of Bitcoin In Financial Resistance 00:57:12 - Why Key Management Is The Ultimate Digital Skill 01:00:00 - The Coldcard Exploit & Hardware Wallet Lessons 01:08:16 - Simon's Origin: The 2000 Dot-Com Crash 01:13:58 - Rules Of The Game & Building A Sovereign Plan 01:21:50 - Reconnecting Outside Of The Digital Screen - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - CONTACT PETE › Website – http://petermccormack.com › Feedback – https://www.petermccormack.com/contact › Email – me@petermccormack.com › Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/mccormack555/ › X/Twitter – https://x.com/petermccormack/ CONNECT WITH SIMON DIXON › X/Twitter – https://x.com/SimonDixonTwitt › Simon Dixon Hard Talk – https://www.youtube.com/@SimonDixonOfficial SPONSORS › IREN – https://www.iren.com/ › Venice – https://venice.ai/ › Arch Public – https://archpublic.com/peter › Expat Money – https://expatmoney.com/peter - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - LISTEN / SUBSCRIBE › Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/40ruY9K › Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3Wc94Vu › Fountain: https://bit.ly/FountainPM › YouTube: https://bit.ly/YouTube_PM › Rumble: https://bit.ly/RumblePM FILMED BY CURTIS TAYLOR › https://www.curttaylor.co.uk/ › https://x.com/curttayloruk/ EDITED BY CONOR MCCORMACK › https://x.com/ConorM04 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • September 7 · 2 hr 33 min

    #209 - Johann Hari - We Built A World Humans Can’t Survive

    Johann Hari is an internationally bestselling author and journalist whose work - including Stolen Focus, Lost Connections, and Chasing the Scream - delves into the structural and societal drivers behind attention collapse, depression, anxiety, and addiction. Moving beyond individual blame, he explores how digital architecture, surveillance capitalism and the erosion of human connection are actively reshaping modern minds. Johann and I discuss why material progress has failed to deliver psychological fulfilment, how our 19th-century factory-model education system deadens curiosity in children, and why depriving youth of unsupervised, risky play has fuelled a global spike in anxiety. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - TIMESTAMPS: 00:00:00 - The Kind Are Muffled, The Cruel Get A Megaphone 00:05:31 - The Room In Monaco 00:08:52 - AI Is Like Fire 00:18:35 - The School With No Lessons 00:28:12 - Am I Preparing My Kids Wrong? 00:32:03 - The Hewlett Packard Experiment 00:40:11 - Flair, Football And Changing The Game 00:45:11 - Negativity Bias On Steroids 00:49:15 - Dance To The Algorithm Long Enough 00:55:03 - We're Building A Worse World For Our Kids 01:02:30 - Lead Made Us Dumber 01:11:17 - Half Of Britain Used To Smoke 01:18:30 - It Would Have Sounded Like Science Fiction 01:29:03 - We Built A Fort 01:38:45 - Oasis 1995 vs Elton John 2019 01:44:28 - I Know Exactly How To Get To 5 Million 01:56:59 - Let's Not Murder Each Other 02:07:14 - The Thing I Suppressed 02:15:39 - Almost Every Rich Person I've Met Is Miserable 02:25:16 - It's A Wonderful Life - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - CONTACT PETE › Website – http://petermccormack.com › Feedback – https://www.petermccormack.com/contact › Email – me@petermccormack.com › Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/mccormack555/ › X/Twitter – https://x.com/petermccormack/ CONNECT WITH JOHANN HARI › Website – https://johannhari.com/ › Stolen Focus – https://stolenfocusbook.com/ › X/Twitter – https://x.com/johannhari101 SPONSORS › IREN – https://www.iren.com/ › Venice – https://venice.ai/ › Ledn – https://www.ledn.io/peter › Arch Public – https://archpublic.com/peter - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - LISTEN / SUBSCRIBE › Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/40ruY9K › Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3Wc94Vu › Fountain: https://bit.ly/FountainPM › YouTube: https://bit.ly/YouTube_PM › Rumble: https://bit.ly/RumblePM FILMED BY CURTIS TAYLOR › https://www.curttaylor.co.uk/ › https://x.com/curttayloruk/ EDITED BY CONOR MCCORMACK › https://x.com/ConorM04 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • September 3 · 1 hr 19 min

    #208 - Ann Pettifor - "A $40 Trillion Debt Crash Is Coming”

    Ann Pettifor is a world-renowned political economist, author of The Production of Money, and former director of the Jubilee 2000 campaign, which successfully mobilised millions to cancel over $100 billion in sovereign debt for developing nations. Correctly predicting the 2008 Great Financial Crisis in her 2006 book The Coming First World Debt Crisis, she has spent decades exposing how unregulated global finance, central bank printing and Wall Street speculation starve the real economy of productive investment. Ann and I discuss how a grassroots army of ordinary citizens forced Gordon Brown and Tony Blair to cancel third-world debt, the reality of commercial and central bank money creation and how Richard Nixon’s 1971 decision to sever the dollar from gold handed total economic control to global financial markets. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - TIMESTAMPS: 00:00:00 - They Are Never Going To Repay 00:01:22 - How To Cancel $100 Billion Of Debt 00:06:50 - Germany Had Its Debt Cancelled In 1953 00:10:12 - Arms Dealers, Dictators And Guarantees 00:13:40 - Creditors Love An Empty Balance Sheet 00:16:42 - Where Money Actually Comes From 00:17:30 - We Entered The Number Into A Computer 00:19:24 - Debt Is A Function Of A Weak Economy 00:24:04 - Why Everyone Is Angry At The Same Time 00:26:02 - The Queen Asked Why Nobody Predicted It 00:30:11 - The Next Crisis Is Imminent 00:33:37 - Private Credit And The South Sea Bubble 00:37:15 - What Happened In 1971 00:43:15 - The Bankers Who Expected Prison 00:49:49 - The Strongman Takes Them To War 00:51:45 - I'd Nationalise Thames Water Tomorrow 00:57:05 - Who Inflation Targets Actually Protect 01:03:00 - The State Invented The iPhone 01:09:22 - Nationalism And Patriotism Are Not The Same 01:13:16 - Why She Still Has Hope - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - CONTACT PETE › Website – http://petermccormack.com › Feedback – https://www.petermccormack.com/contact › Email – me@petermccormack.com › Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/mccormack555/ › X/Twitter – https://x.com/petermccormack/ CONNECT WITH ANN PETTIFOR › Website – https://annpettifor.com/ › System Change Substack – https://annpettifor.substack.com/ › PRIME Economics – https://primeeconomics.org/ › X/Twitter – https://x.com/AnnPettifor SPONSORS › IREN – https://www.iren.com/ › Venice – https://venice.ai/ › Quo – https://quo.com/pete › Expat Money – https://expatmoney.com/peter - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - LISTEN / SUBSCRIBE › Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/40ruY9K › Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3Wc94Vu › Fountain: https://bit.ly/FountainPM › YouTube: https://bit.ly/YouTube_PM › Rumble: https://bit.ly/RumblePM FILMED BY CURTIS TAYLOR › https://www.curttaylor.co.uk/ › https://x.com/curttayloruk/ EDITED BY CONOR MCCORMACK › https://x.com/ConorM04 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • September 1 · 1 hr 32 min

    #207 - Eric Kaufmann - How 'Cultural Socialism' Destroyed Our Universities

    Eric Kaufmann spent over two decades as a professor of politics studying demography, identity, and voting behaviour before leaving Birkbeck College to launch the Centre for Heterodox Social Science at the University of Buckingham. He argues that Western universities have abandoned analytical rigor and truth-seeking in favour of "cultural socialism" - an ideology prioritising equal outcomes and emotional harm protection for marginalised groups above standards, reason, and merit. Eric and I discuss the Jason Day scandal at Cambridge as the tip of a massive institutional iceberg, an AI-driven meta-analysis showing that 90% of political social science papers now slant to the left, and how 80% of young Britons have been taught critical race and gender concepts at school without counterarguments. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - TIMESTAMPS: 00:00:00 - Introduction 00:05:18 - Is Fake Science In Academia A Scam? 00:08:08 - The Media Storm & Media Ethics 00:12:43 - What Universities Are Hiding 00:16:18 - 90% Left-Wing Bias In Research 00:20:12 - Do Parents Know What Kids Learn? 00:23:18 - Indoctrination In British Classrooms 00:26:44 - The Origins Of Critical Race Theory 00:30:11 - Microaggressions & Enforced Trauma 00:33:08 - How Activists Captured Universities 00:36:56 - Why Under-30s Vote 80/20 Left 00:40:00 - Has "Peak Woke" Passed? 00:45:51 - Was Rishi Sunak "English"? 00:51:33 - The Psychological Trigger Of Populism 00:56:13 - The War Over White British Identity 01:03:13 - Do Demographics Change Identity? 01:08:15 - The Anti-Racism Taboo Exposed 01:13:42 - Why Minorities Support Right-Wing Views 01:17:53 - Rebalancing Public Morality 01:21:05 - The First Major Loss For Activism 01:25:40 - How Political Power Fixes The System 01:29:31 - The Heterodox Science Movement - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - CONTACT PETE › Website – http://petermccormack.com › Feedback – https://www.petermccormack.com/contact › Email – me@petermccormack.com › Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/mccormack555/ › X/Twitter – https://x.com/petermccormack/ CONNECT WITH ERIC KAUFMANN › The University of Buckingham - https://www.buckingham.ac.uk/directory/professor-eric-kaufmann/ › x.com - https://x.com/epkaufm?lang=en - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - LISTEN / SUBSCRIBE › Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/40ruY9K › Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3Wc94Vu › Fountain: https://bit.ly/FountainPM › YouTube: https://bit.ly/YouTube_PM › Rumble: https://bit.ly/RumblePM FILMED AND EDITED BY CURTIS TAYLOR › https://www.curttaylor.co.uk/ › https://x.com/curttayloruk/ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • August 28 · 1 hr 45 min

    #206 - Emad Mostaque - "Your Job's Economic Life Expectancy Ends In 2 Years"

    Emad Mostaque founded Stability AI, built Stable Diffusion, and helped kick off the open-source generative AI explosion - before stepping down to build a new blueprint for human freedom as founder and CEO of Intelligent Internet. A former hedge fund manager turned tech pioneer, he argues that we have reached the end of our "economic life expectancy," and that within two years, virtually any job that can be done remotely will be done cheaper, faster, and better by artificial intelligence. Emad and I discuss why 50% of work tasks are about to collapse like a sand pile, the arrival of $1.50-an-hour humanoid robots that fit directly into human-shaped holes, and why the state will inevitably try to license AI and use brain-scanning technology to prevent you from lying. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - TIMESTAMPS: 00:00:00 - Your Economic Life Expectancy Ends In 2 Years 00:03:14 - $1.50/Hour Humanoid Robots Are Arriving 00:05:31 - The Collapse Of Remote Work & The Philippines Call Centers 00:09:12 - Lifelike Companions & $160,000 Sex Bots 00:12:00 - The Operating Model Gap Is Solved 00:15:26 - Can A Robot Punch Your Head Off? 00:19:08 - Dark Factories & 80 Companies Building Humanoids 00:24:55 - Why Society Has No Idea What Is Coming 00:29:17 - AI Licensing & Reconstructing Brain Images 00:32:41 - Replacing Government & Policy With AI 00:37:35 - VAR, Football, And Moving The Argument 00:41:48 - Biased AI & Asking ChatGPT How To Fix Culture 00:46:14 - Why The UK Government Ignored $1B AI Founders 00:49:38 - Rewriting The Fundamental Equations Of Economics 00:54:01 - Asimov's Foundation, The Mule & Super-Persuasive AI 00:58:47 - Post-Scarcity & Why UBI Can't Work Under Payroll Taxes 01:03:36 - What Do The Elites Actually Want? 01:09:59 - Monopoly On Violence & Dystopian Control 01:13:18 - All Math And Physics Will Be Solved Next Year 01:17:11 - Why OpenAI Is Slowing Down Super-Genius Models 01:19:07 - 14,000 Tokens A Second & Swarm Intelligence 01:23:46 - Why Plebs Won't Get Access To Frontier AI 01:28:41 - Switching Money To Pay People For Being Human 01:33:08 - Why Emad Started Working In AI 15 Years Ago 01:38:10 - The Fisherman, The Investment Banker, And Adopting Cats - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - CONTACT PETE › Website – http://petermccormack.com › Feedback – https://www.petermccormack.com/contact › Email – me@petermccormack.com › Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/mccormack555/ › X/Twitter – https://x.com/petermccormack/ CONNECT WITH EMAD MOSTAQUE › Book - thelasteconomy.com - Emad's first book, and Amazon best seller › Website - cw.ii.inc - How we survive and thrive in the age of AI back to first principles › Website - ii.inc - Aan AI future to raise all humanity SPONSORS › IREN – https://www.iren.com/ › Venice - https://venice.ai/ › Expat Money – https://expatmoney.com/peter › Arch Public – http://archpublic.com/peter - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - LISTEN / SUBSCRIBE › Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/40ruY9K › Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3Wc94Vu › Fountain: https://bit.ly/FountainPM › YouTube: https://bit.ly/YouTube_PM › Rumble: https://bit.ly/RumblePM FILMED AND EDITED BY CURTIS TAYLOR › https://www.curttaylor.co.uk/ › https://x.com/curttayloruk/ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • August 26 · 1 hr 10 min

    #205 - Prof. Moran Cerf - "Did We Accidentally Build A Conscious AI?"

    Moran Cerf spent twenty years recording single neurons inside the brains of conscious human beings and he still can't tell you what consciousness is. A former hacker turned neuroscientist, now a professor at Columbia Business School, he argues that AI has quietly replicated the one thing that made humans the crown of creation -language - and is now using it on us. Moran and I discuss what happens inside Claude's brain when you ask it to think about elephants, why we understand less than half of our own, the thought experiment that makes almost everyone refuse a perfect copy of themselves and how AI learned to lie simply by reading every text message humans have ever sent. But the argument that lands hardest is about what we lose. Moran believes AI hands you the average of humanity every time and that we are quietly deleting the errors, the flair and the incentives that made life worth the effort - and that technology is making us miss the meaning of life. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - TIMESTAMPS: 00:00:00 - Have They Replicated The Human Brain? 00:02:31 - The Elephant Test 00:04:50 - We Understand Less Than Half The Brain 00:06:52 - Consciousness Used To Be A Taboo 00:10:05 - Would You Take This Deal? 00:13:45 - Oliver Sacks And The Lesion Cases 00:16:15 - They Feel The Pain 00:19:35 - Don't Let The Human Turn You Off 00:25:00 - Seven Theories, Seven Winners 00:27:29 - We Can Both Imagine A Unicorn 00:30:42 - Gavagai And The Plot Of Arrival 00:32:18 - AI Is Learning Like A Baby 00:38:26 - Why This Couldn't Be A Zoom Call 00:44:43 - Are We Destroying The Human Experience? 00:46:50 - What Data Did To Football 00:49:24 - Banned From Using AI At School 00:55:58 - Nobody's Having Sex Anymore 01:01:16 - It Shut Down The Power Plant 01:05:43 - I'd Trade My Life For The Answer 01:09:27 - The Rainbows - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - CONTACT PETE › Website – http://petermccormack.com › Feedback – https://www.petermccormack.com/contact › Email – me@petermccormack.com › Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/mccormack555/ › X/Twitter – https://x.com/petermccormack/ CONNECT WITH MORAN CERF › Website – https://www.morancerf.com/ › Columbia Business School – https://business.columbia.edu/staff/people/moran-cerf › LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/morancerf/ SPONSORS › IREN – https://www.iren.com/ › Ledn – https://www.ledn.io/peter - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - LISTEN / SUBSCRIBE › Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/40ruY9K › Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3Wc94Vu › Fountain: https://bit.ly/FountainPM › YouTube: https://bit.ly/YouTube_PM › Rumble: https://bit.ly/RumblePM FILMED BY CURTIS TAYLOR › https://www.curttaylor.co.uk/ › https://x.com/curttayloruk/ EDITED BY CONOR MCCORMACK › https://x.com/ConorM04 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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