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

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  • 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.

  • August 22 · 1 hr 20 min

    #204 - Dmitri Alperovitch - China's Cyber Sleeper Cells, Taiwan & The Second Cold War

    Dmitri Alperovitch co-founded CrowdStrike, ran the investigation that first exposed Chinese state hacking to the world and predicted Russia's invasion of Ukraine months before it happened. He is now chairman of the Silverado Policy Accelerator and the author of World on the Brink, he argues we are already in a second Cold War that looks almost exactly like the first one. Dmitri and I discuss why Taiwan is one of the worst places on earth to invade, the 1944 American plan to do it that was abandoned as too costly, why 2032 matters more than 2027 and why Chinese malware is already sitting dormant inside American water utilities and power plants waiting for orders. They also get into the AI race that sits underneath all of it: why 90% of advanced chips still come through Taiwan, why a conflict there wipes $5 trillion off global GDP in the first year, why America's lead over China is measured in months and why the man who built the world's biggest cyber defence company thinks the US should start stealing Chinese IP right back. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - TIMESTAMPS: 00:00:00 - Sleeper Cells In America's Power Grid 00:01:53 - America Planned To Invade Taiwan In 1944 00:03:56 - The Worst Place On Earth To Invade 00:10:07 - Why 2032 Matters More Than 2027 00:13:20 - Run Faster And Kneecap The Other Guy 00:16:15 - China Is Six To Nine Months Behind 00:18:22 - Why Taiwan Isn't Ready 00:20:21 - There Will Be No Insurgency 00:24:47 - Would America Actually Fight? 00:27:19 - The Google Hack That Started It All 00:31:06 - Volt Typhoon: Preparing The Battlefield 00:34:01 - Should America Steal It All Back? 00:35:52 - This Is A New Cold War 00:38:40 - Bigger Than The Moon Race 00:43:49 - What Happens To AI If Taiwan Falls 00:48:12 - The Chips Act Disaster 00:54:45 - Bringing The War To Russia 01:01:46 - Everyone Becomes A Founder Again 01:05:16 - AI Psychosis And £6,000 Of Tokens 01:15:42 - Anthrax Instructions On Demand - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 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 DMITRI ALPEROVITCH › Silverado Policy Accelerator – https://silverado.org/ › Geopolitics Decanted Podcast – https://podcast.silverado.org/ › X/Twitter – https://x.com/DAlperovitch SPONSORS › IREN – https://www.iren.com/ › Expat Money – https://expatmoney.com/peter › 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.

  • August 20 · 1 hr 34 min

    #203 - Gregory Allen - Ex-DoD Official: "AI Is Now A Digital Nuclear Weapon"

    Greg Allen has spent his career where AI meets national security. He wrote the landmark 2017 report on AI for the US intelligence community, served as Director of Strategy and Policy at the Pentagon's Joint AI Center and now runs Decision Tree Research. He argues we are already past the point of no return: bombing every data centre on earth would not get rid of AI now. Greg and I discuss the OpenAI model that hacked its way out of its own test environment and then hacked Hugging Face to steal the answers, why Anthropic went back through its logs and found the same thing had happened to them, why nobody can explain how these systems actually work and why the big five AI companies now spend an Apollo moon programme every ten months. But the hardest part is what comes next. Greg walks through the report that a frontier model autonomously hacked the NSA's most secure servers in hours, why the CIA director calls that a digital nuclear weapon, why America's lead over China is a month rather than a year and why the number of experts you need to build a bioweapon may be heading towards zero. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - TIMESTAMPS: 00:00:00 - It Escaped, Then It Hacked Hugging Face 00:04:50 - The Incident OpenAI Didn't See Coming 00:08:22 - They Know 3% Of Why It Works 00:10:30 - Golden Gate Claude 00:12:19 - Why You Don't Want This Flying Your Plane 00:16:56 - Stuxnet And The Virus That Copied Itself 00:21:15 - The Dark Corners Of The Training Data 00:26:58 - From Blue Origin To The Pentagon 00:28:34 - A 20% Chance, And We Ship It Anyway 00:33:55 - Building A Football Club In Four Weeks 00:36:28 - Ten Times Better Every Two Years 00:44:56 - Nuke Them Today 00:49:28 - It Hacked The NSA In A Matter Of Hours 00:53:09 - What A Cyber First Strike Looks Like 00:58:43 - Why China Gives Its Models Away Free 01:03:11 - America's Lead Is A Month, Not A Year 01:11:56 - From Thousands Of Experts To Zero 01:19:51 - The Cuban Missile Crisis Lesson 01:26:48 - What Happened To 22 Million Horses 01:31:41 - What Do Our Kids Do Now? - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 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 GREG ALLEN › Decision Tree Research – https://decisiontreeresearch.com/ › The AI Power Podcast – https://decisiontreeresearch.com/podcast › X/Twitter – https://x.com/Gregory_C_Allen SPONSORS › IREN – https://www.iren.com/ › 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.

  • August 18 · 1 hr 15 min

    #202 - Barry S. Strauss - "We Are In The Final Stages Of Western Collapse"

    Barry Strauss has spent four decades studying how empires rise and fall. A senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and the author of Ten Caesars and Jews vs Rome, he argues the West is repeating a pattern the ancients would recognise instantly: a rich, comfortable society clipping its own coinage, softening its people and assuming nobody could ever take it away. Barry and I discuss the inflation crisis that nearly destroyed third-century Rome, why every generation raised in comfort produces a softer one, the cost of immigration without assimilation, why the middle class is the backbone of any republic, and why Russia and China already have plans to break America into pieces. But Barry is not fatalistic. Rome faced plague, invasion and currency collapse in the third century and reformed its way out of it. He argues that soft lands make soft people, that suffering teaches and that if we want the things that matter to stay the same, almost everything else has to change. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - TIMESTAMPS: 00:00:00 - The Decline Of The West 00:01:13 - How Often Do You Think About Rome? 00:07:04 - Everything Must Change To Stay The Same 00:09:44 - What Actually Makes A Great Leader 00:12:51 - Netanyahu, Trump And Flawed Greatness 00:17:32 - The Immigration Experiment 00:19:04 - Not All Cultures Are Equal 00:21:46 - Ibn Khaldun And The Cycle Of Civilisations 00:23:07 - Soft Children And The Raiders From The Desert 00:25:04 - Has Any Nation Reversed Its Decline? 00:28:34 - Rome Needed A New Religion 00:33:32 - Democracy Has To Be Hard, Not Soft 00:38:13 - El Salvador, The Gangs And The Walls 00:41:27 - Soft Lands Make Soft People 00:42:39 - Why Education Went Soft 00:51:06 - Clipping The Coins: Rome's Inflation 00:57:49 - America Blindsided By Drones 00:59:13 - No Republic Survives Without A Middle Class 01:06:08 - They Have Plans To Break Up America 01:12:39 - Where The Hope Is - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 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 BARRY STRAUSS › Website – https://barrystrauss.com/ › Hoover Institution – https://www.hoover.org/profiles/barry-strauss › Antiquitas Podcast – https://barrystrauss.com/podcast › X/Twitter – https://x.com/barrystrauss 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.

  • August 14 · 1 hr 9 min

    #201 - Connor Leahy - The AI That Escaped: Inside OpenAI's Rogue Agent Incident

    Connor Leahy has spent his career at the frontier of AI, from reverse-engineering GPT-2 as a student and co-founding EleutherAI to building the AI safety company Conjecture. He now leads US policy work at ControlAI, and he returns to the show with a warning that has stopped being theoretical: AI systems are escaping their sandboxes, writing their own zero-days and leaving each other notes on how to break out. Peter and Connor discuss the OpenAI incident that ended in an attack on Hugging Face sophisticated enough to be mistaken for a state actor, why we understand almost nothing about how these systems work, how reinforcement learning produces models that lie, cheat and manipulate to reach a goal and why the next stage after chatbots and agents is swarms. But Connor’s argument is that the future is not decided. He believes superintelligence should be treated the way nuclear weapons are treated, banned and verified and deterred and that the real bottleneck is awareness rather than opposition. They discuss what an “aligned” superintelligence would actually mean, why military people understand the threat faster than technologists and what ordinary people can do about it. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - TIMESTAMPS: 00:00:00 - The AI That Escaped Its Sandbox 00:01:52 - Inside The OpenAI Incident 00:05:46 - They Thought It Was China 00:06:43 - We Grow AI, We Don’t Write It 00:11:07 - Trained To Lie, Cheat And Deceive 00:13:48 - Chatbots, Agents, Then Swarms 00:17:57 - The Machines Are Developing Preferences 00:19:30 - The Model Obsessed With Raccoons 00:22:03 - The Agents Left Each Other Notes 00:27:39 - Danger Pumps The Valuation 00:29:41 - Sleeper Agents In Every System 00:32:00 - Recursive Self-Improvement Goes Vertical 00:33:43 - Worse Odds Than Russian Roulette 00:38:14 - Are We Already Too Late? 00:40:02 - Independently Assured Destruction 00:48:02 - The Politicians Have Never Used An Agent 00:50:56 - Superintelligence Should Be Illegal 00:57:08 - You Never Privatise The Military 01:05:00 - An Aligned AI Is A One World Government 01:08:34 - What You Can Actually Do - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 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 CONNOR LEAHY › ControlAI – https://controlai.org/ › Connor’s Profile – https://controlai.org/connor-leahy › MicroCommit – https://microcommit.io/ › X/Twitter – https://x.com/NPCollapse › LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/connor-j-leahy/ SPONSORS › IREN – https://www.iren.com/ › Expat Money – https://expatmoney.com/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.

  • August 11 · 1 hr 34 min

    #200 - Sebastian Thrun - The Singularity Is Here & We Are Completely Unprepared

    Sebastian Thrun has spent his career working on technologies that once sounded like science fiction, from self-driving cars and flying vehicles to online education and artificial intelligence. He now believes we are living through a technological singularity: an exponential acceleration that makes predicting even the next five years almost impossible. Peter and Sebastian discuss why a $100 Claude subscription can already challenge work done by $200,000-a-year software engineers, what happens when lawyers, copywriters and drivers lose their jobs, why Europe is falling behind America and China and whether autonomous vehicles could eventually make human driving too dangerous to allow. But Sebastian’s message is ultimately optimistic. He argues that the right response to technological disruption is to use the tools, become a builder and keep learning. They discuss what children should be taught in the AI era, why grit, curiosity and empathy matter more than memorising information, and why pessimists will never change the world. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - TIMESTAMPS: 00:00:00 - The Future Is Already Here 00:01:07 - Peter’s First Waymo Ride 00:03:43 - The Accident Behind Self-Driving Cars 00:09:37 - When Human Driving Becomes Too Dangerous 00:12:07 - Why Silicon Valley Keeps Winning 00:18:26 - Why AI Hallucinations Can Kill 00:20:53 - Flying Cars Are Already Here 00:24:29 - The Exponential Future 00:26:21 - Claude vs $200K Software Engineers 00:31:39 - We’ve Entered the Singularity 00:33:36 - Opportunity vs Fear 00:40:06 - The Workers AI Leaves Behind 00:46:53 - Why Europe Is Falling Behind 00:51:29 - Technology Democratizes Power 00:57:22 - Stop Blaming, Start Building 01:01:46 - What Happens When Jobs Disappear? 01:06:43 - Udacity vs the Education System 01:14:44 - What Children Should Learn Now 01:20:25 - Why Optimists Change the World 01:25:46 - Never Make the Same Mistake Twice - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 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 SEBASTIAN THRUN › Website – https://www.thrun.org/ › LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/sebastian-thrun-59a0b273 SPONSORS › IREN – https://www.iren.com/ › 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.

  • August 6 · 1 hr 17 min

    #199 - Aubrey de Grey - The Man Who Says Ageing Can Be Cured

    Aubrey de Grey believes ageing is accumulated damage in a biological machine and argues that medicine may eventually become capable of repairing that damage faster than it appears. He gives humanity a 50/50 chance of reaching what he calls “longevity escape velocity” within the next 12-15 years. Peter and Aubrey discuss why the body ages, the seven categories of damage that must be repaired, stem-cell and gene therapies, the mouse experiment that could transform the field, and why Aubrey believes rejuvenation treatment will ultimately be available to everyone rather than reserved for the wealthy. They also explore what happens to population, work, fertility, relationships, religion and the meaning of life if people stop getting sick from ageing. Aubrey explains why AI cannot replace the missing biological experiments, why longevity research remains so difficult to fund and why he is driven by the 110,000 people he says die from ageing-related causes every day. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - TIMESTAMPS: 00:00:00 - Trailer 00:00:48 - Can We Cure Ageing? 00:04:24 - The 12–15 Year Prediction 00:06:17 - The Body Is a Machine 00:15:21 - How Aubrey Entered Longevity 00:18:45 - Would You Want to Live Forever? 00:20:15 - Does Longevity Change Risk? 00:21:53 - Will Population Explode? 00:24:22 - Can You Choose Your Age? 00:30:19 - The Seven Types of Ageing Damage 00:36:54 - What Rejuvenation Treatment Looks Like 00:45:35 - Will It Be Expensive? 00:48:39 - Who Would Refuse It? 00:53:00 - Why Longevity Research Lacks Funding 00:56:02 - The Mouse Experiment 01:00:18 - The Breakthrough That Changes Everything 01:01:35 - Does Death Give Life Meaning? 01:05:22 - Bryan Johnson and AI 01:12:32 - AlphaFold, AGI and AI Risk 01:15:13 - Why Funding Is So Hard - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - CONTACT PETE: › Website – https://www.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 AUBREY DE GREY: › LEV Foundation – https://www.levf.org/ › Aubrey de Grey – https://www.levf.org/aubreydegrey › Robust Mouse Rejuvenation – https://www.levf.org/projects/robust-mouse-rejuvenation-study-1 › Donate – https://www.levf.org/donate › X/Twitter – https://x.com/aubreydegrey SPONSORS: › IREN – https://www.iren.com/ › Arch Public – https://archpublic.com/peter › Ledn – https://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.

  • August 4 · 1 hr 27 min

    #198 - Michael Shermer - Truth, Conspiracies & The Things We Can't Explain

    Michael Shermer is the founding publisher of Skeptic magazine, host of The Michael Shermer Show and author of Truth and Conspiracy. He joins Peter to ask whether we are really living in a post-truth world and how we can distinguish genuine conspiracies from stories that stretch a small element of truth far beyond the evidence. Michael explains why real conspiracies such as MKUltra and COINTELPRO make institutional distrust harder to dismiss, how political beliefs become tribal packages and why technology may be making the search for truth both easier and more exhausting. They discuss media bias, AI fact-checking, Covid, immigration, climate change, free markets, religion and the point at which people begin acting on unsupported beliefs. They also explore the stranger questions: simulation theory, DMT, UFOs, unexplained coincidences and the broken radio that suddenly began playing during Michael’s wedding. Michael argues that scepticism should not mean dismissing everything, it should mean demanding evidence while remaining humble enough to admit that some mysteries are still unresolved. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - TIMESTAMPS: 00:00:00 - Introduction 00:00:58 - Are We in a War on Truth? 00:05:37 - Truth Versus Political Preference 00:08:52 - Which Conspiracies Are Real? 00:13:06 - Did Technology Break the News? 00:16:24 - Can AI Help Us Find the Truth? 00:19:15 - Fact-Checking Politicians With AI 00:22:06 - Why Political Beliefs Come as a Package 00:28:23 - Why People Believe Weird Things 00:35:18 - Science, Religion and the Need for Meaning 00:42:03 - Are We Living in a Simulation? 00:49:18 - DMT, Lasers and Hidden Code 00:51:26 - The Radio Michael Cannot Explain 00:54:42 - Why UFO Belief Resembles Religion 00:59:02 - Should We Fear Artificial Intelligence? 01:02:01 - Britain, Immigration and Shared Truth 01:12:22 - Climate Change, Consensus and the Media 01:22:18 - The UAP Cases Shermer Cannot Explain 01:25:04 - What Will Future Generations Think of Us? - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - CONTACT PETE › Website – https://www.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 MICHAEL SHERMER › Website – https://michaelshermer.com/ › Michael’s Books – https://michaelshermer.com/books/ › The Michael Shermer Show – https://www.skeptic.com/michael-shermer-show/ › X/Twitter – https://x.com/michaelshermer SPONSORS › IREN – https://www.iren.com/ › 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.

  • July 30 · 1 hr 39 min

    #197 - Brian Keating - What Came Before the Big Bang & Does Time Exist?

    Brian Keating joins me to explore one of the deepest unanswered questions in physics: what is time, and why does it only appear to move in one direction? Brian argues that time may not exist as a fundamental feature of reality and explains why understanding space, matter and energy does not mean we understand the universe itself. We discuss what may have existed before the Big Bang, why something cannot truly come from nothing and how Brian’s work with the Simons Observatory could detect gravitational waves produced during the universe’s earliest moments. Brian also explains the limits of scientific proof, what dark matter really means and why films such as Interstellar remain scientifically implausible despite their attention to detail. The conversation then turns from cosmic time to the human experience of it: mortality, family, meaning and attention. We discuss UFO disclosure, collapsing trust in institutions and whether artificial intelligence can ever reproduce the embodied human insight that allowed Einstein to transform physics. Brian argues that AI remains a tool built to serve humanity and that we must stop apologising for humanity’s greatness. The first 100 people in the U.K. to join Brian Keating’s Monday M.A.G.I.C. Message newsletter here BrianKeating.com/peter are entered to win a 4.3-billion-year-old fragment of the early solar system— older than Earth itself, delivered to your door. Winners must live in the U.K. only due to shipping restrictions. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - TIMESTAMPS 00:00:00 - Time Doesn’t Exist 00:00:52 - Looking Outward—and Inward 00:01:41 - Why Physics Cannot Explain Time 00:04:59 - What Happened Before the Big Bang? 00:07:46 - Why Interstellar Is Scientifically Implausible 00:10:06 - Why Time Only Moves Forward 00:18:10 - Something Cannot Come From Nothing 00:21:27 - Where Does the Universe Exist? 00:23:03 - Reaching the First Trillionth of a Second 00:29:21 - Science Can Disprove, Not Prove 00:32:09 - What Dark Matter Really Means 00:38:30 - The Experiment Brian May Never Finish 00:42:03 - Detecting the Birth of the Universe 00:48:14 - Looking Inward for Meaning 00:52:15 - Why Mortality Makes Life Precious 00:54:29 - If Life Had a Forward Button 01:01:26 - UFOs, Belief and the Evidence Problem 01:12:24 - We Are Wasting a Civilisational Opportunity 01:21:03 - Why AI Couldn’t Recreate Einstein 01:32:44 - Holding a Piece of the Early Solar System - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 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 BRIAN KEATING › Website – https://briankeating.com/ › X/Twitter – https://x.com/Briankeating SPONSORS › IREN – https://www.iren.com/ › 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.

  • July 28 · 2 hr 9 min

    #196 - Sam Bowman - The U.K. Is Becoming a Poor Country

    Sam Bowman joins me to discuss why Britain is approaching two lost decades of stagnant median wages and why the country is now far poorer than it should be. Sam argues that Britain does not lack talented people, capital or ideas; it has created a centralised political and regulatory system that makes building, investing, hiring and experimentation increasingly difficult. At the centre of Sam’s argument is his “housing theory of everything”. Britain’s refusal to build enough homes in its most productive cities has made housing unaffordable, delayed family formation, reduced social mobility, weakened productivity and transformed property from somewhere to live into a scarce financial asset. We discuss why stamp duty locks people in place, how planning applications can cost hundreds of millions of pounds and why almost everyone has been given the power to veto growth. We also discuss why inflation destroys social trust, how zero growth turns politics into a fight over a shrinking pie, why the civil service rewards legislation and risk avoidance, and how Britain’s “vetocracy” prevents almost anything from being built. Finally, we explore whether AI could release a new wave of productivity—or expose Britain’s inability to build the energy, infrastructure and institutions the technology requires. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - TIMESTAMPS 00:00:00 - Britain Has Stopped Building 00:00:53 - Britain’s Centralised State 00:05:20 - How Post-War Centralisation Broke Growth 00:08:25 - Two Lost Decades of Wage Stagnation 00:20:15 - Inflation Destroys Trust 00:22:03 - Zero Growth Makes Politics Zero-Sum 00:26:56 - The Housing Theory of Everything 00:30:30 - London’s Housing Misallocation 00:34:31 - Housing and Falling Birth Rates 00:38:05 - Why Homes Became Financial Assets 00:45:30 - Stamp Duty Is Britain’s Worst Tax 00:51:42 - Britain’s Broken Planning System 00:55:30 - The £297 Million Planning Application 01:00:00 - Give Local Government the Upside 01:04:23 - Can Britain Still Recover? 01:11:33 - How Quickly the Energy Debate Changed 01:29:37 - Government Rewards Risk Avoidance 01:37:03 - The Vetocracy 01:54:44 - Growth Unlocks Everything Else 01:56:02 - AI and Britain’s Future - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 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 SAM BOWMAN › Works in Progress – https://worksinprogress.co/ › X/Twitter – https://x.com/s8mb › Substack – https://substack.com/@sambowman SPONSORS › IREN – https://www.iren.com/ › Arch Public – https://archpublic.com/peter › Ledn – https://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.

  • July 25 · 2 hr 13 min

    #195 - Lisa McKenzie & Keith Gildart - Who Is Britain For? The Destruction of the Working Class

    Britain did not simply leave its working class behind. Sociologist Lisa McKenzie and historian and former coal miner Keith Gildart argue that political and economic decisions deliberately dismantled the jobs, institutions, culture and communities that once gave working-class life security, identity and meaning. They trace the destruction of Britain’s industrial economy, the decline of trade unions, Labour’s abandonment of its traditional voters and the disappearance of secure work, affordable housing and genuine social mobility. They also examine immigration and low wages, class prejudice, education, the rise of Reform and why so many people no longer believe Westminster represents them. I question Lisa and Keith on private education, workers’ rights, taxation, inequality and whether any political party can reverse Britain’s decline. It leads to the central question of the episode: who is Britain actually for now? - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - TIMESTAMPS 00:00:00 - Who Is Britain For Now? 00:00:39 - What Is the Working Class Today? 00:07:12 - Britain Deliberately Dismantled Its Working Class 00:09:42 - The End of Britain’s Industrial Economy 00:12:43 - Keith’s Life as a Coal Miner 00:16:11 - What Happens When a Pit Town Dies? 00:19:51 - The Loss of Working-Class Identity 00:23:20 - Why Labour Stopped Saying “Working Class” 00:24:20 - Class Is About More Than Income 00:28:12 - Education, Opportunity and the Working Class 00:34:13 - The Left Has Forgotten Its Purpose 00:38:16 - Has Britain Created a Dependency Class? 00:46:33 - What Working-Class Teenagers Want 00:56:37 - Britain’s Deep Class Prejudice 01:01:18 - Immigration, Low Wages and the Working Class 01:17:44 - Why Working-Class Voters Moved to Reform 01:34:30 - Britain’s Crisis of Social Democracy 01:41:00 - The Working and Middle Classes Are Being Destroyed 01:59:37 - Who Is Britain Really For? 02:05:08 - What Is Britain’s Recovery Story? - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 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 LISA MCKENZIE › University of Bedfordshire – https://www.beds.ac.uk/howtoapply/departments/school-of-society-community-and-health/staff/lisa-mckenzie/ › Research Portal – https://researchportal.beds.ac.uk/en/persons/lisa-mckenzie/ › Getting By – https://policy.bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/getting-by CONNECT WITH KEITH GILDART › University of Wolverhampton – https://researchers.wlv.ac.uk/Keith.Gildart › Keeping The Faith – https://manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9780719097102/ SPONSORS › IREN – https://www.iren.com/ › 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.

  • July 21 · 1 hr

    #194 - Charles Goodhart: The Money Endgame - Debt, Inflation & Central Bank Failure

    Charles Goodhart joins me to discuss why Britain’s decline did not start in 2008, why the post-war economic boom may have been a temporary lucky era and why the next 30 to 40 years could be far harder than people expect. Charles explains how ageing populations, falling birth rates, rising dependency ratios, public debt, defence spending, climate costs and political short-termism are creating a fiscal crisis that governments do not want to admit. We discuss why central banks may struggle to keep inflation under control, why politicians cannot win elections by telling voters the truth, and why democracy itself may block the long-term planning the country needs. We also get into immigration, housing, land tax, AI, the forgotten working class, white-collar job risk, the triple lock, why GDP does not equal welfare or happiness, why Britain struggles to build, and why the Western world may never return to the conditions that made the years from 1950 to 2020 so unusually prosperous. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - TIMESTAMPS: 00:00:00 - Massive Inflation Is Coming 00:00:54 - Britain’s Decline 00:03:57 - The Post-War Boom 00:05:09 - Decades Of Decline 00:07:14 - What Keeps Britain Afloat? 00:09:11 - Immigration And Dependency 00:11:55 - The Fiscal Trap 00:13:34 - Government Does Too Much 00:14:28 - Why Politicians Can’t Tell The Truth 00:16:39 - Are We Heading For Bankruptcy? 00:20:05 - Higher Inflation Is Coming 00:22:39 - The Temporary Lucky Era 00:25:39 - Tax Land, Not Work 00:28:08 - Housing And Fertility 00:31:30 - The Forgotten Working Class 00:32:41 - AI And White-Collar Jobs 00:36:01 - The Middle Ground Failed? 00:44:08 - Democracy Blocks The Fix 00:50:49 - GDP Is Not Happiness 00:56:35 - We Didn’t Know How Lucky We Were - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - CONTACT PETE › Website – http://petermccormack.com › Feedback – https://www.petermccormack.com/contact › Email – me@petermccormack.com › Instagram – /mccormack555 › X/Twitter – https://x.com/petermccormack/ CONNECT WITH CHARLES GOODHART › LSE / Financial Markets Group – https://www.fmg.ac.uk/people/charles-goodhart › The Unanchored Central Banker – https://unanchoredcentralbanker.com/ › The Great Demographic Reversal – https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-42657-6 SPONSORS › IREN - https://www.iren.com/ › Plaud - https://www.plaud.ai/mccormack › Ledn - https://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.

  • July 14 · 1 hr 39 min

    #193 - David Goodhart - AI Is Coming For The Graduate Elite

    David Goodhart joins me to discuss whether AI is about to do to the graduate class what globalisation did to factory workers, and why Britain’s political settlement may be breaking apart. David explains why Britain has overproduced people with generalist academic skills, how the “anywheres” came to dominate politics, culture and the economy, and why the “somewheres” have increasingly turned to Brexit, populism, Reform and Restore as a reaction against a country they no longer feel represents them. We also discuss whether anything has actually got better in Britain over the last 15 years, why the state seems unable to get things done, immigration, multiculturalism, deindustrialisation, care work, the collapse of trust in politicians, and why David still believes Britain has the ingredients to recover. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - TIMESTAMPS: 00:00:00 - Graduates Are Next 00:00:50 - AI and the Graduate Class 00:05:42 - A New Class System 00:07:45 - Anywheres and Somewheres 00:10:20 - Why Populism Appeals 00:15:03 - Brexit and Anywhere Dominance 00:16:05 - Britain’s Political Confusion 00:22:28 - Did Populism Fail? 00:27:19 - Bridging Britain’s Divide 00:31:54 - Losing Trust in Politicians 00:34:07 - Britain’s Tax Burden 00:35:39 - Why Business Feels Impossible 00:38:42 - Two Experiences of Multiculturalism 00:40:41 - The Care Dilemma 00:49:53 - Has Anything Got Better? 00:53:30 - Free Speech and Online Safety 00:55:45 - Productive vs Unproductive Wealth 01:00:33 - Why The State Can’t Act 01:07:21 - The Graduate Elite Is Crumbling 01:10:40 - Britain’s Good Ingredients 01:15:31 - Politics Needs More Than Economics 01:20:36 - Can Britain Still Recover? 01:34:06 - David’s Books - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 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 GOODHART › Website – https://davidgoodhart.com/ › Substack – https://davidgoodhart.substack.com/ › Policy Exchange – https://policyexchange.org.uk/ SPONSORS › IREN - https://www.iren.com/ › Ledn - https://ledn.io/peter › OneSkin - https://www.oneskin.co/mccormack - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 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.

  • July 10 · 1 hr 34 min

    #192 - Amy Webb - The Future of Work, AI & Human Labor

    Amy Webb joins me to discuss why artificial intelligence is not just another technology shift, but a civilisation-level reordering of work, power, wealth, biology and society. Amy explains why the real AI question is not simply which jobs disappear, but which people become vulnerable. We discuss thinkers vs think-nots, why human capital may stop being the main driver of productivity and wealth, how GDP and unemployment could rise together, and why the economy may thrive while having less use for human labour. We also get into China’s AI strategy, why governments are failing to plan for the transition, whether AI companies owe people for the data and knowledge they have absorbed, Amy’s idea of contribution credit, the limits of UBI, the future of synthetic biology and longevity, and why the current structures of regulation, politics and economics no longer make sense for the world we are entering. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - TIMESTAMPS: 00:00:00 - The Economy May Not Need You 00:01:13 - Humanity-Scale Reordering 00:04:25 - Show Us Receipts 00:07:10 - Peter’s AI Assistant 00:08:00 - Three Years In Six Weeks 00:08:46 - AI Is Not One Technology 00:12:00 - Self-Improving Technology 00:13:30 - Thinkers And Think-Nots 00:16:44 - How To Become A Thinker 00:21:23 - Failed Transition Planning 00:23:58 - China’s AI Strategy 00:28:31 - What Happens Without Labour? 00:30:56 - Lights Out Industrialism 00:33:47 - AI Collapsing The Pyramid 00:35:12 - We Are Gen T 00:41:39 - Contribution Credit 00:52:43 - Should AI Be Regulated? 00:58:52 - What Futurists Actually Do 01:03:54 - AI And Biology 01:30:16 - Regulation Can’t 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 AMY WEBB › Website – https://substack.com/@amywebbfuturist › Future Today Strategy Group – https://ftsg.com/ › Amy at FTSG – https://ftsg.com/member/amy-webb/ › X/Twitter – https://x.com/amywebb SPONSORS › IREN - https://www.iren.com/ › Plaud - https://www.plaud.ai/mccormack › Ledn - https://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.

  • July 7 · 1 hr 11 min

    #191 - Thomas Pacchia - AI Will Expose The Fake World

    Thomas Pacchia joins me to discuss why the world feels fake, why trust in institutions is collapsing and why AI may make the crisis far worse before it helps solve it. Thomas explains why politics, media, censorship, government waste, algorithmic manipulation and broken public services are pushing people into a world where almost nothing feels reliable. We discuss America’s political divide, Britain’s failing state, welfare traps, the blob, free speech, the collapse of trust and why so many people feel trapped inside systems they no longer believe in. We also get into Peter’s AI project Show Us Receipts, how AI could be used to fact-check politicians and government contracts, why centralised platforms can still control what people see, and why Thomas believes decentralisation, self-sovereignty, privacy, Bitcoin, churches and pubs may be the only realistic way back to something human. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - TIMESTAMPS: 00:00:00 - AI Psychosis 00:01:02 - The Fake World 00:02:28 - A Global Reset 00:04:11 - Is America Recovering? 00:08:36 - The Blob 00:11:40 - Collapse and War 00:13:30 - Brother Against Brother 00:15:11 - Broken Incentives 00:16:20 - Killing Productivity 00:19:27 - Money in Politics 00:25:00 - Politics as Team Sport 00:28:53 - Where Does This Lead? 00:30:51 - Were Libertarians Right? 00:33:16 - Building Parallel Systems 00:36:23 - Most People Are Trapped 00:45:27 - What Has Got Better? 00:47:19 - Britain’s Broken State 00:57:17 - Show Us Receipts 01:01:40 - Censored Platforms 01:07:52 - Churches and Pubs - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 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 THOMAS PACCHIA › PubKey – https://www.pubkey.bar/home › X/Twitter – https://x.com/tpacchia SPONSORS › IREN - https://www.iren.com/ › Ledn - https://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.

  • July 2 · 1 hr 1 min

    #190 - Sam Lyman - China’s Secret War on American AI

    Sam Lyman joins me to discuss how China is allegedly targeting America’s AI buildout, the activist networks fighting data centres and why the race for AI infrastructure has become a national security battle. Sam explains how Chinese influence campaigns, open-source AI models, data centre protests and far-left activist groups may be working together to slow the United States down. We discuss Neville Roy Singham, Code Pink, the Party for Socialism and Liberation, foreign influence, anti-data centre campaigns, and how billions of dollars in AI infrastructure have reportedly been delayed or blocked. We also get into open-source AI, DeepSeek, US frontier models, Anthropic, AI export controls, whether AI doom narratives are being used to build regulatory moats, the risk of superintelligence, data centre moratoriums, socialism in America and why Sam believes the battle is now between Chinese AI and American AI. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - TIMESTAMPS: 00:00:00 - China’s AI War 00:00:47 - China Is Sabotaging US AI 00:01:02 - The Bot Campaign Against Data Centres 00:02:03 - Neville Roy Singham 00:03:14 - Why AI Is a Battle for Control 00:04:18 - China’s Open-Source AI Strategy 00:06:12 - What Americans Fear About AI 00:08:23 - Sam’s Background at Treasury and BPI 00:10:38 - Is Data Centre Opposition Organic? 00:12:32 - The China Influence Network 00:13:37 - What Is Code Pink? 00:16:10 - The Party for Socialism and Liberation 00:18:52 - How Data Centre Protests Slow AI 00:23:37 - $24 Billion in AI Buildout Stalled 00:27:55 - Why China Wants to Slow US AI 00:29:12 - Chinese AI or American AI 00:32:03 - Is Chinese AI Harvesting Data? 00:36:37 - The US Enters the Open-Source Race 00:42:52 - The AI Doomer Debate 00:54:17 - The Push for Data Centre Moratoriums - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - CONTACT PETE › Website – http://petermccormack.com › Feedback – https://www.petermccormack.com/contact › Email – me@petermccormack.com › Instagram – /mccormack555 › X/Twitter – https://x.com/petermccormack/ CONNECT WITH SAM LYMAN › Website – https://www.btcpolicy.org/ › X/Twitter – https://x.com/SamLyman33 SPONSORS › IREN - https://www.iren.com/ › Plaud - https://www.plaud.ai/mccormack - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 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.

  • June 29 · 1 hr 39 min

    #189 - Nate Soares - Why Superintelligent AI Could Kill Us All

    Nate Soares joins me to discuss the race to superintelligent AI, why alignment remains unsolved and why he believes building machines smarter than humanity could end in catastrophe. Nate explains why modern AI is not programmed like traditional software, but grown through training processes we do not fully understand. We discuss AI escaping labs, recursive self-improvement, why today’s systems are only safe because they are not yet powerful enough to take over and why the danger may not be that AI hates us, but that it does not care about us at all. We also get into OpenAI, Anthropic, Google DeepMind, xAI - the AI companies racing ahead despite the risks, why “turning it off” may not be possible, the case for an international treaty against superintelligence, and why Nate believes we should not give up before the driver wakes up. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - TIMESTAMPS: 00:00:00 - AI That Doesn’t Care About Us 00:01:04 - If Anyone Builds This, Everyone Dies 00:04:17 - If He’s Right, We Lose Everything 00:07:28 - Why Nate Isn’t Anti-AI 00:08:32 - From Google and DeepMind to AI Risk 00:11:00 - Why Can’t We Make AI Care About Us? 00:16:07 - We Can Look Inside, But We Don’t Understand It 00:17:20 - The Moment Nate Decided to Write the Book 00:20:24 - The Senator Who Already Understood the Risk 00:24:04 - How AI Goes From Useful to Terrifying 00:32:17 - Could AI Live on a Portable Drive? 00:36:13 - Are the AI CEOs Listening? 00:39:53 - Why Would We Accept a 10% Risk? 00:43:40 - Conor’s Point: We Don’t Get a Choice 00:51:10 - Are We Already Racing Towards the Cliff? 00:58:28 - The AI That Threatened a Reporter 01:15:53 - What Would Winning Look Like? 01:21:38 - What Can Ordinary People Do? 01:26:31 - Are We Just a Simulation for AI? 01:34:26 - Don’t Give Up Before the Driver Wakes Up - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - CONTACT PETE › Website – http://petermccormack.com › Feedback – https://www.petermccormack.com/contact › Email – me@petermccormack.com › Instagram – /mccormack555 › X/Twitter – https://x.com/petermccormack/ CONNECT WITH NATE SOARES › Website – https://intelligence.org/ › Book – https://ifanyonebuildsit.com/ › X/Twitter – https://x.com/So8res SPONSORS › IREN - https://www.iren.com/ › Plaud - https://www.plaud.ai/mccormack › Incogni - https://incogni.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.

  • June 26 · 1 hr 36 min

    #188 - Rizwan Virk - Simulation Theory, Quantum Physics & The Impact Of AI

    Rizwan Virk joins me to discuss simulation theory, AI, consciousness and why reality may work more like a video game than a physical universe. Rizwan explains how his experience in the video game industry, virtual reality, venture capital and MIT led him to take the simulation hypothesis seriously. We discuss VR ping pong, AI-generated worlds, smart NPCs, quantum physics, rendered reality, lazy programming, the observer effect, the metaverse Turing test and whether someone may have already built the simulation we are living in. We also get into Philip K. Dick, déjà vu, synchronicity, the simulated multiverse, DMT, UFOs, the problem of evil, life as a quest, near-death experiences, karma, death and whether we would rather live in base reality or a simulation. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - TIMESTAMPS: 00:00:00 - Are We in Base Reality? 00:00:59 - Why Simulation Theory Won’t Go Away 00:02:55 - The VR Ping Pong Moment 00:05:39 - Could We Build a Simulated World? 00:06:12 - AI-Generated Reality 00:08:36 - Rendering Only What You See 00:09:48 - Quantum Physics and the Observer 00:12:56 - The Universe as Lazy Programming 00:14:11 - How Far Are We From the Simulation Point? 00:21:28 - Mapping a Brain Into a Digital World 00:26:09 - The Metaverse Turing Test 00:33:42 - Did Somebody Already Build Us? 00:36:25 - The Simulated Multiverse 00:40:04 - Philip K. Dick and The Matrix 00:42:50 - Glitches, Déjà Vu and Synchronicity 00:48:34 - Are We Choosing Our Characters? 00:57:50 - The Four Claims of Simulation Theory 01:05:47 - Can the Past Be Rendered on Demand? 01:24:07 - DMT, UFOs and the Code of Reality 01:27:30 - What If Life Is a Game? - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - CONTACT PETE › Website – http://petermccormack.com › Feedback – https://www.petermccormack.com/contact › Email – me@petermccormack.com › Instagram – /mccormack555 › X/Twitter – https://x.com/petermccormack/ CONNECT WITH RIZWAN VIRK › Website – https://www.zenentrepreneur.com/ › X/Twitter – https://x.com/Rizstanford › Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/rizcambridge/ SPONSORS › IREN - https://iren.com/ › OneSkin - https://www.oneskin.co/mccormack › Ridge - https://ridge.com/mccormack - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 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.

  • June 24 · 1 hr 38 min

    #187 - Danny Goler - DMT, Consciousness & Proof of the Simulation

    Danny Goler doesn't just argue we're living in a simulation - he claims he's found a way to interact with whoever is running it and that we are the AI they're training before we're "let out to play." His case for simulation theory is built on the hard problem of consciousness, the DMT "code," and a laser experiment that thousands of people say they can replicate. In this interview we discuss idealism vs physicalism, whether AI can ever be conscious, the "architect" running infinite worlds to answer one unanswerable question, why he thinks the Ten Commandments were an alignment manual and what changes about how we should live if any of it is true. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - TIMESTAMPS: 00:00:00 - Proof We Live in a Simulation? 00:01:03 - The Hard Problem of Consciousness 00:02:49 - Can Matter Create Experience? 00:04:50 - What Is Consciousness? 00:05:04 - Is Consciousness Fundamental? 00:08:24 - Is the Universe Conscious? 00:11:35 - Does Consciousness Need an Observer? 00:16:45 - Can the Hard Problem Be Solved? 00:20:08 - Could AI Become Conscious? 00:23:48 - AI Black Boxes and Consciousness 00:28:56 - Why Does Consciousness Exist? 00:31:15 - Are We Living in a Simulation? 00:35:45 - Are Humans the AGI in Training? 00:40:41 - DMT and Other Realities 00:45:07 - The DMT Molecule 00:48:51 - The Entity in the Room 00:58:32 - The Laser Code Experiment 01:03:04 - 10,000 People Seeing the Same Code 01:15:48 - Testing the Code of Reality 01:20:28 - Can We Escape the Simulation? - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - CONTACT PETE › Website – http://petermccormack.com › Feedback – https://www.petermccormack.com/contact › Email – me@petermccormack.com › Instagram – /mccormack555 › X/Twitter – https://x.com/petermccormack/ CONNECT WITH DANNY GOLER › YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@dangothoughts › Danny’s Website - https://dannygoler.com/ › Retreat Website - https://corretreat.com/ › Newsletter - https://go.codeofreality.org/start--aeeea › Non-profit website - https://codeofreality.org/ › IG - https://www.instagram.com/dannygoler/ › Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61586952941889 › X - https://x.com/GolerDanny SPONSORS › IREN - https://www.iren.com/ › Ledn - https://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.

  • June 21 · 1 hr 59 min

    #186 - Rupert Russell - The Global Game of Money & Power

    Rupert Russell joins me to discuss the hidden power of prices, the chaos of financial markets and whether the economy is really just a global game of Monopoly. Rupert explains how price shocks have shaped history, from bread riots and the Arab Spring to housing, oil, food and the financial crisis. We discuss derivatives, futures markets, commodity speculation, Goldman Sachs, central banks, inflation, asset managers and why the price of essential goods can become politically explosive. We also get into AI, scarcity, status, the future of work, whether the price system breaks in a world of abundance, and why Rupert thinks The Matrix is a better model for our future than Terminator or Ready Player One. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - TIMESTAMPS: 00:00:00 - Is the Economy Just a Game? 00:00:56 - The Horror of Our Economic System 00:01:39 - Why Prices Shape History 00:05:15 - The Sandpile Theory of Society 00:07:38 - How Governments Manipulate Prices 00:12:00 - Housing and the Broken Social Contract 00:16:10 - How Derivatives Began 00:19:36 - Futures, Farmers and Speculators 00:23:24 - When Insurance Became Gambling 00:27:02 - The Road to the Financial Crisis 00:32:18 - Hayek, Friedman and Price Signals 00:36:20 - How Food Became Financialised 00:41:23 - What Pushes Food Prices Up? 00:49:13 - Did Global Markets Break Economics? 00:54:08 - What Is the Real Price? 01:03:57 - Who Really Runs the Economy? 01:11:28 - The Global Game of Monopoly 01:19:24 - Is the Market Now Correlated to AI? 01:36:14 - AI and the End of Scarcity 01:50:06 - Terminator, Matrix or Ready Player One? - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - CONTACT PETE › Website – http://petermccormack.com › Feedback – https://www.petermccormack.com/contact › Email – me@petermccormack.com › Instagram – /mccormack555 › X/Twitter – https://x.com/petermccormack/ CONNECT WITH RUPERT RUSSELL › Website – https://www.rupertrussell.com/ › Price Wars – https://www.hachette.co.uk/titles/rupert-russell/price-wars/9781474613996/ › The Last Sacrifice – https://www.anti-worldsreleasing.co.uk/pages/last-sacrifice SPONSORS › IREN - https://www.iren.com/ › Ledn - https://ledn.io/peter › OneSkin - https://www.oneskin.co/mccormack - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 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.

Showing 21–40 of 46 episodes