Robert Wright's Nonzero
Conversations with a series of people who have nothing in common except that program host Robert Wright is curious about what they’re thinking. www.nonzero.org
Episodes
Andrew Day and Curt Mills of The American Conservative join Robert Wright to talk about the Israeli elections, Benjamin Netanyahu’s escalating rhetorical belligerence, Iran’s strategic calculations and arguable missteps, President Lula’s surprise victory in Brazil, and U.S.-China competition over AI.
Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True), Curt Mills (The American Conservative), Andrew ...
0:28 Boris’s background and new book, Our Planetary Mirror 3:28 Three ways of seeing the planet—and us 12:32 Resurveying the Gaia “hypothesis” 20:16 Dawkins’s case against Gaia 27:01 Is humanity outgrowing its planetary parent? 32:42 The noosphere: Teilhard vs Vernadsky 48:31 Can we reason our way to global solidarity?...
0:28 Connor’s role with ControlAI 2:04 The AI vibe shift in Washington 11:37 How does ControlAI want to control AI? 16:10 Dario decoded 21:02 Are AI safety evals worth much? 30:01 Why Silicon Valley libertarians can’t escape the state 33:42 On the redefinition of superintelligence and alignment 40:19 Is the China AI race a cover story? ...
0:28 Is Paul pro-gooey-pod? 4:59 Steven Pinker vs Scott Alexander on AI 8:11 A review of AI peer reviewers 18:39 Tipping tips 22:37 The promise and perils of AI companions 37:50 Are mathematicians getting mogged by AI? 42:18Paul critiques Jon Haidt’s critique of social media 49:12 Heading to Overtime
0:28 Jeremie’s podcast and prescient AI report 6:48 Is scale still (mostly) all you need? 13:02 Jeremie: We’re way past “stochastic parrots” 21:52 Inside the early AI safety ecosystem 33:42 What Yudkowsky got less wrong than most 42:21 Why capability is outpacing alignment 49:17 Were Altman’s fears ever sincere? 55:26 ...
0:28 Alex’s new documentary about Elon 3:05 How Alex’s film turned epic 7:08 Simulation theory + social Darwinism = Elon? 13:33 Inside the mind of Musk 23:44 Elon’s daddy issues 26:33 Elon’s lady issues 29:12 Elon’s electoral propriety issues 36:56 Has Elon gotten weirder over time? 46:40 The damage DOGE could still do...
0:28 Garrison’s background and his new book, Obsolete 5:48 Is the left dangerously downplaying AI? 12:55 What is the “obsoleting project”? 17:45 Inside the minds of Altman and Amodei 21:47 Has the job-pocalypse already begun? 33:18 Why AI bio-threats could be extra deadly 37:08 Is alignment doomed? 47:20 “Verifiable rewards&...
Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Liron Shapira (Pause AI, Doom Debates). Recorded October 01, 2026. Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods
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0:28 Paul’s impeccable timing 2:12 Is Dario’s AI slowdown proposal for real? 10:44 Can AI companies police themselves? 15:26 How chip controls can undermine AI safety 25:03 Why the 2024 US-China AI talks failed 30:37 America’s cognitive empathy gap on China 44:04 Taiwan and the chip war 50:18 War over AI: The real doom scenario? 5...
0:28 Jill’s book OK Boomer, Let’s Talk 5:13 When is generalizing about a group okay? 9:20 The world boomers built 16:19 Are boomers really uniquely selfish? 26:41 Is blaming boomers counterproductive? 30:44 Who’s actually driving the generational divide? 38:27 The generational blame spiral 49:55 Millennials vs Gen Z 53:01 Does America have a gerontocracy problem? 58:09 Why Kenyans are looking toward China
0:28 Nick’s singular place in AI history 4:01 Where is Nick on the pause-accelerationist spectrum? 12:53 Utilitarianism vs the “moral parliament” 18:53 Is a “singleton” coming? What kind? 32:12 Is global cooperation on AI doomed? 46:50 The pros and cons of reading an AI’s mind 52:23 Do AIs deserve moral status? 1:10:23 AI, evolution, and the cosmic purpose question
0:28 This episode’s surprise vibe shift 2:12 Middle East update: Houthis vs. Saudis 15:03 What’s really driving Dario (et al.)? 24:56 Debating effective altruism’s effectiveness 30:00 The trouble with big-tech Kremlinology 33:50 Was “learn to code” just sleight of hand? 40:07 Bob’s Fukuyama name drop 41:53 Head...
0:28 Where Zvi’s famous newsletter got its name 5:15 Zvi’s biggest AI fear 12:55 Why is ChatGPT’s mind getting harder to read? 18:20 Is self-sacrifice really such a surprising trait in agents? 33:17 AGI + agent swarm = superintelligence? 45:58 Appraising the elements of Dario’s “pacing” proposal 1:01:43 Headin...
0:29 A bold new experiment in podcast synergy 3:10 What caused the epic AI vibe shift? 8:34 The resignation that broke the dam 10:41 Former Trump adviser Dean Ball comes clean 15:04 Are David Sacks and his buddies all-in on AI denial? 19:51 Yet another OpenAI breakout… 23:06 Astra’s dangerously private thoughts 34:32 Is alignment doomed to fail? 37:35 AI’s latest, and apparently biggest, math feat 43:52 The loomi...
0:28 Ian and Eli’s new book, Israel’s Lobby 2:01 Being a Jewish critic of Israel before that was cool 10:41 How Eli followed the money 15:21 What’s changed since the 2007 Walt-Mearsheimer book 23:46 What is the Israel lobby, really? 28:00 BDS, free speech, and the college antisemitism crusade 41:08 Did Trump give the game away? 44...
0:28 Why Bob is (extra) freaked out 5:56 Inside the minds of OpenAI's rogue agents 12:33 Is true alignment a pipe dream? 15:21 The new development that’s spiked Bob’s AI anxiety 23:43 Paul’s pushback via literary parable 28:38 Is it time to REALLY freak out about AI? A debate 44:10 Heading to Overtime
Twitter: https://twitter.com/N...
0:28 Paul’s military tech bona fides 2:35 What we (should) have learned from the Iran war 11:55 Is the Pentagon buying the wrong weapons? 19:14 Ukraine as frontline for the drone revolution 24:43 Are the robot wars near? 31:41 America’s drone deficit 35:35 Does the Pentagon have a Silicon Valley problem? 41:43 Will AI really make war le...
0:28 Stephen’s expertise in spooky AI behavior 3:30 Testing AIs for “corporate loyalty” 19:58 Which AIs shill most for their makers? 33:00 Do AI models have ideologies? 38:38 The spookiest finding of Stephen’s study 43:05 Are AIs getting better at gaming their tests? 50:04 Overtime unlocked: The OpenAI breakout 55:03 Decodin...
0:24 The Infinity Machine, Sebastian’s book about Demis Hassabis 2:44 Why tell the AI story through Hassabis? 6:34 Hassabis vs the other AI titans 15:19 Does Hassabis have a messiah complex? 29:27 Deep learning’s secret sauce 36:31 Did world models cost DeepMind its LLM lead? 45:00 Why they call Hassabis “the Jedi” 51:32 Hea...
0:28 Hooman’s Iranian expertise—inherited and otherwise 3:49 Trump’s new (economic) war on Iran 14:13 What MSM missed about the MOU 18:45 How will Iran respond? 27:00 The intra-MAGA fight over Trump’s foreign policy 30:13 Will Iran do to Trump what it did to Carter? 41:26 Iran and the Houthi-Saudi conflict 48:16 Is the Saudi...
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