Robert Wright's Nonzero

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org

0:29 What is Bob doing in Qatar? 3:34 “Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold.” Why Yeats felt this way 7:07 Peter Thiel’s Antichrist theory 9:16 Nikita: COVID was a weird time, and nothing has been the same since 14:27 Why Bob feels things are falling apart 17:58 Were things ever in order? 19:23 “Inner emigration”: tuning out the world as self-care 22:08 A reaction to a drone strike: “Loud noises don’t wake me up” 25:27 Young people are turning away from social media 26:35 When Spain lost all power and cellular coverage 30:06 War as a “major inconvenience” 33:58 Bob’s prediction about Ukraine’s future retaliation for Pokrovsk 38:26 Nikita’s impressions from Europe 41:37 Nonzero Reading Club THIS SATURDAY: Norbert Wiener’s God & Golem, Inc. 46:38 Deepfakes and the future of news 51:34 Russia’s first humanoid robot falls down

Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Nikita Petrov (https://psychopolitica.substack.com). Recorded November 12, 2025.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

Join NonZero’s newly established Discord server: https://discord.gg/Zy4jAhTQMFBook a time to chat with Nikita: https://calendly.com/psychopolitica/office-hoursSave the date for the first-ever NonZero Reading Club discussion on Zoom this Saturday (Nov. 15th) at 1pm ET: https://www.addevent.com/event/1yxb9cr5nk0z

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org

0:30 Shadi’s path to his new book, The Case for American Power 9:50 George W. Bush’s “Freedom Agenda” 13:19 Does America’s role in Gaza undermine Shadi’s case? 16:47 Shadi’s case for US moral supremacy 23:36 What does China want? 34:19 What justifies military intervention? 40:32 Bob: International law is the answer 51:25 Heading to Overtime

Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Shadi Hamid (The Washington Post, The Case for American Power). Recorded October 29, 2025.Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

Overtime titles:

0:00 More on Chinese aspirations 4:52 America, f—k yea? 9:15 How the Iraq war propelled Donald Trump’s rise 14:46 Moscow’s view of American behavior 24:42 Could the US have shaped a better Putin path?

Overtime video:

0:28 This week in underappreciated world history 7:19 Were the elections all—or just mostly—bad news for Trump? 28:55 Will Trump invade Venezuela? 36:30 What’s the shutdown fight really about? 43:04 Mickey vs Ezra Klein (in absentia) on healthcare 51:22 Back down the Epstein rabbit hole 1:17:28 Was Tucker playing 4D chess with the Fuentes interview? 1:28:03 What happened to the blogosphere? 1:36:42 The case for (and against) Bari Weiss 1:40:17 AI doom in fiction vs reality 1:44:49 The AI bubble: Dot-com déjà vu? 1:47:41 AOC in 2028? 1:53:23 Mickey: Beware of gym girls!

Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Mickey Kaus (kausfiles, The End of Equality). Recorded November 06, 2025.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.nonzero.org/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org

0:28 The Carlson-Fuentes interview controversy 4:32 Paul: Candidate Carlson is coming 7:04 Is gatekeeping dead? 13:40 Is Carlson’s show respectable? 20:17 Carlson and Fuentes on the Israel lobby 25:28 William F. Buckley as MAGA precursor 38:20 Is antisemitism more organic on the right or left? 46:13 Heading to Overtime

Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Paul Bloom (https://smallpotatoes.paulbloom.net, University of Toronto, The Sweet Spot, Against Empathy). Recorded November 04, 2025.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org

0:28 Bob tries to lower American Prestige’s self-esteem 3:31 The Trump-Xi trade talks 7:08 Making sense of Trump’s nuclear saber-rattling 10:58 Signs of a US-China vibe shift 17:00 Is AI accelerating science? 23:49 Bill Gates’s climate change of heart 29:54 This week’s Gaza ceasefire death toll 34:43 Overtime preview: Bob vs Danny on international law

Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True), Derek Davison (Foreign Exchanges, American Prestige, Discontents), and Daniel Bessner (American Prestige, University of Washington). Recorded October 30, 2025.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org

This episode includes an Overtime segment that’s available to paid subscribers. If you’re not a paid subscriber, we of course encourage you to become one. If you are a paid subscriber, you can access the complete conversation either via the audio and video on this post or by setting up the paid-subscriber podcast feed, which includes all exclusive audio content. To set that up, simply grab the RSS feed from this page (by first clicking the “...” icon on the audio player) and paste it into your favorite podcast app. If you have trouble completing the process, check out this super-simple how-to guide.

Join NonZero’s newly established Discord server: https://discord.gg/Zy4jAhTQMFLink to schedule chat with Nikita: https://calendly.com/psychopolitica/office-hours

0:00 Teaser 1:55 Trump on drug cartels: “We’re gonna kill them. They’re gonna be like, dead.” 4:31 Venezuela: Regime change disguised as drug war 5:44 Marco Rubio holds all the foreign policy power 8:24 Trump Doctrine candidate #1: “Jump at the chance to use force” 11:37 Trump Doctrine candidate #2: Monroe 2.0 17:36 Roy Cohn’s philosophy: “It is a nation of men, not laws” 22:22 Bob: There’s value in hypocrisy 30:02 Trump is paving the way for a more competent tyrant 31:46 Could Trump actually be good for the world? 36:37 Trump the comedian 42:17 Heading to Overtime: Bob’s mysterious invitation-only conference

Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Nikita Petrov (https://psychopolitica.substack.com). Recorded October 27, 2025.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

Overtime titles:

How to network when you hate networking.The Non-Zero mission and Peter Thiel’s “Antichrist.”What dreams are for.Nikita’s dream about the nature of modern media.

Overtime video:

Via the post on the Buddhist Geeks Substack:

In this Buddhist Geeks episode, Vince Fakhoury Horn and Robert Wright explore the intersection of Buddhism, ethics, and geopolitics as they reflect on Palestine, Jewish-Buddhist responses, moral responsibility, and the role of mindfulness amid global violence.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.nonzero.org/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org

0:28 What triggered Trump’s 100-percent tariff threat? 9:39 How China is mirroring the US playbook 17:14 The real escalation: America's "50% rule" 25:57 Why has US media coverage been so bad? 28:37 Biden's role in fueling the trade war 40:08 US China policy as cognitive empathy failure 48:06 Heading to Overtime

Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Paul Triolo (Albright Stonebridge Group, https://pstaidecrypted.substack.com/). Recorded October 17, 2025.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org

0:28 Why Liron became a Yudkowskian 4:47 Eliezer Yudkowsky’s vision of AI apocalypse 12:15 Does intelligence want power? 18:54 Decoding Yudkowsky’s key Darwinian metaphor 30:42 Is doomerism crowding out other AI worries? 40:08 Liron: The silent majority is very AI anxious 45:11 Heading to Overtime

Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Liron Shapira (Pause AI, Relationship Hero). Recorded October 15, 2025.

Join NonZero’s newly established Discord server: https://discord.gg/FByzCzWf

Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org

0:28 Amazing Bob-Paul discount deal! 2:36 The Bari Weiss trivia test 19:18 Lasting peace in Gaza? 21:55 Why did Trump finally get tough on Bibi? 27:18 MAGA free speech debates 31:22 Is the AI bubble about to burst? 34:11 If anyone builds it, will everyone die? 41:48 Heading into Overtime: Ian McEwan, George Harrison, OpenAI, One Battle After Another

Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Paul Bloom (https://smallpotatoes.paulbloom.net, University of Toronto, The Sweet Spot, Against Empathy). Recorded October 9, 2025.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods