Deep Questions with Cal Newport
Cal Newport is a computer science professor and a New York Times bestselling author who writes about the impact of technology on society, and the struggle to work and live deeply in a world increasingly mired in digital distractions. On this podcast, he answers questions from his readers and offers advice about cultivating focus, productivity, and meaning amidst the noise that pervades our lives.
Episodes
September 21, 2026 • 52 mins
A recent New York Times op-ed reveals the true nature of “brain rot,” and in doing so reveals a much larger problem affecting us all. In this episode, Cal explores this broader problem then draws from an unlikely source from his childhood to help identify a dramatic solution.
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September 14, 2026 • 71 mins
After a week spent debating AI’s impact on humanity, Cal wants to turn his attention back to AI’s impact on humans. To support this shift, he brings on the writer Brad Stulberg who recently decided that he was “done” with AI. They explore whether this is a resistance movement in the making…
Video from today’s episode: youtube.com/calnewportmedia
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September 10, 2026 • 39 mins
Cal Newport takes a critical look at recent AI News.
Video from today’s episode: youtube.com/calnewportmedia
(0:00) How Worrisome is GPT-6’s “Stealth Thinking”?
(8:58) Reasoning models
(15:30) Astra
(21:02) The Good
(24:48) The Bad
(28:28) The Hype
Links:
Buy Cal’s latest book, “Slow Productivity” at www.calnewport.com/slow
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QNsdr-...
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September 7, 2026 • 51 mins
It’s that time of year again when Cal tunes up his organizational systems for the onslaught of the fall. In this episode, Cal walks through the exact system he’s personally adopting for the next few months. He also discusses why such systems are key to thriving in our current frenetic technological world, why it’s important to continue to tweak your systems, and best practices for constructing your own setup.
B...
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September 3, 2026 • 26 mins
Cal Newport takes a critical look at recent AI News.
Video from today’s episode: youtube.com/calnewportmedia
(0:00) Does OpenAI create “secret AI civilizations”?
(1:59) What’s the deal with “agent swarms”?
(8:54) Should we be worried that the agents are plotting?
(17:39) How should we be thinking about all of this?
Links:
Buy Cal’s latest book, “Slow Productivity” a...
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August 31, 2026 • 80 mins
Back in 2023, Cal released an episode on a lifestyle design strategy I called the Deep Life Stack. Today, almost three years later, Cal revisits this idea and replaces it with a more robust concept that he calls “The Deep Life Map.”
Below are the questions covered in today's episode (with their timestamps). Get your questions answered by Cal! Here’s the link: https://bit.ly/3U3sTvo
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August 27, 2026 • 35 mins
Cal Newport takes a critical look at recent AI News.
Video from today’s episode: youtube.com/calnewportmedia
(0:00) Has AI “Gone Rogue”
(2:25) Observation #1 - Most Superhuman AI is well behaved
(4:28) Observation #2 - A specific type of AI system is causing these problems
(9:59) Observation #3 - This specific type of system is a bad idea
(21:25) Observation #4 - The AI companies are negligent
(27:04) O...
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August 24, 2026 • 62 mins
In the world of physical health, we use so-called “key performance indicators” (KPIs) to help measure and improve our fitness. In today’s episode, Cal proposes a collection of three KPIs for measuring and improving your *cognitive* capabilities – a small step toward his larger vision of a cognitive fitness revolution.
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August 17, 2026 • 57 mins
The best way to kick your scrolling habit is to introduce more “high quality leisure” into your life. But how do you accomplish this goal? In this replay of a classic episode from February, 2024, Cal walks through six new habits – what he calls a “high quality leisure toolkit” – for rebuilding your life around more meaningful activities.
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August 10, 2026 • 64 mins
Only 8% of people finish their yearly goals. At the same time, the percentage of people feeling a sense of meaning of purpose in their life is falling. These two numbers are connected: the more we struggle to accomplish meaningful projects, the less meaningful our lives might feel. In this episode, Cal looks back to a classic article he wrote nearly twenty years ago to both better understand why this problem is getting worse and ho...
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August 6, 2026 • 29 mins
Cal Newport takes a critical look at recent AI News.
Video from today’s episode: youtube.com/calnewportmedia
(0:00) Does Open AI’s Astra mean AGI has arrived?
(3:07) What actually happened?
(11:35) What does this mean for mathematics?
(21:35) What does this mean for OpenAI?
Links:
Buy Cal’s latest book, “Slow Productivity” at www.calnewport.com/slow
https://x.com/polynoamial/s...
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August 3, 2026 • 75 mins
In this replay of a classic episode from January 1st, 2024, Cal walks through the process of learning hard things. The good news is that most people can learn most things. The bad news is that learning is harder than we think. This advice has never been more relevant for those looking to move past the easy dopamine hits offered by their devices and find something deeper.
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July 30, 2026 • 33 mins
Cal Newport takes a critical look at recent AI News.
Video from today’s episode: youtube.com/calnewportmedia
(0:00) Did OpenAI’s model “go rogue”
(11:29) The implications
(11:42) Did this attack reveal surprising new capabilities we didn’t know AI systems possessed?
(12:48) Did the system’s decision to escape the test environment and autonomously attack another company indicate an emergi...
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July 27, 2026 • 70 mins
Why do digital detoxes fail to create lasting change? What works better? To answer these questions, Cal draws from the book “A Brief History of Intelligence” to reveal the relevant neuroscience at play, and then use this understanding to figure out a better method for improving your relationship with your devices.
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July 20, 2026 • 76 mins
Cal Newport talks with Brad Stulberg to explain the optimization paradox in Episode 414 of the Deep Questions podcast.
Below are the questions covered in today's episode (with their timestamps). Get your questions answered by Cal! Here’s the link: https://bit.ly/3U3sTvo
Video from today’s episode: youtube.com/calnewportmedia
(0:00) The Optimization Paradox
(2:12) Interview with Brad Stulberg
(35:12) Hea...
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July 16, 2026 • 31 mins
Cal Newport takes a critical look at recent AI News.
Video from today’s episode: youtube.com/calnewportmedia
(0:00) Anthropic’s new research report
(2:05) Digging into the paper
(3:32) High level tutorial on LLMs
(6:18) Detail on annotations
(13:50) What the Anthropic paper found
(20:39) Why this is interesting research
(26:28) Conclusion on consciousness
Links:
Buy Cal’s latest book, “Slow Pro...
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July 13, 2026 • 61 mins
Tell me if this sounds familiar: you buy a beautiful notebook, excited by all its possibilities to help refine your thoughts and generate new insights. Then it sits unused until you forget about it. The problem is not *what* notebooks you own but instead *how* you use them. In this episode, Cal walks through the four different notebooks he owns, and the four different ways he uses them.
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July 9, 2026 • 19 mins
Cal Newport takes a critical look at recent AI News.
Video from today’s episode: youtube.com/calnewportmedia
(0:00) Does business actually understand AI?
(2:52) Quote #2
(6:20) Taking a step back
(7:06) Quote #3
(11:39) Quote #4
(17:02) Idea for journalists
Links:
Buy Cal’s latest book, “Slow Productivity” at www.calnewport.com/slow
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/02/world/europe/germany-sap-ai-jobs-skil...
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July 6, 2026 • 62 mins
It’s a dream a lot of us have: to finally say “enough!”, and turn off the internet inside our homes, returning us to a lifestyle that requires more presence, introspection, and connection. But is this even possible? And what would it really be like? In this episode, Cal seeks answers to these questions by talking to Chris Moody, a journalism professor at Appalachian State, who lives with his wife and young son in ...
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June 29, 2026 • 56 mins
Back in 2019, Cal published one of the first books arguing that we rethink our personal relationship with online tools. Can his advice still work in an age of TikTok and ChatGPT? In today’s episode, Cal dives deep into the
r/DigitalMinimalism sub-reddit to see what advice contemporary digital
minimalists are following and offers his own thoughts and
recommendations.
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