Robert Wright and Connor Echols discuss the panic over R1, a new, open-source AI model from Chinese startup DeepSeek.

0:28 Peter’s new book, Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza 1:42 Is it anti-Semitic to say Israeli policies foster anti-Semitism? 7:24 Zionism’s many meanings 10:44 How are American Jews grappling with Israel-Gaza? 16:44 The Democrats’ Israel bind 24:11 Is all hope lost for a two-state solution? 30:54 Anti-Semitic tropes, the Israel lobby, and Elon’s “gesture” 43:05 The unusual nature of Jewish identity 47:54 How Israel’s defenders get Israel wrong

Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Peter Beinart (Jewish Currents, CUNY, https://peterbeinart.substack.com/). Recorded January 22, 2025.

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0:00 Intro 1:35 Natasha's new book, Another World Is Possible: Lessons for America from Around the Globe

Recorded January 14, 2025.

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0:28 Kanjun’s role as CEO of AI research lab Imbue 2:45 Worrying about a “Wall-E world” 13:32 Building human-centric AI agents 22:05 How far away is truly “agentic” AI? 32:00 The road to AI serfdom 40:42 Does the AI revolution call for a psychological revolution? 45:24 Heading to Overtime

Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Kanjun Qiu (Imbue). Recorded January 15, 2025.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

0:00 Tom’s Pulitzer-Prize hat trick 1:03 Why Beijing is relatively calm about Trump’s reelection 9:33 China hawkism in the AI community 15:24 What’s Trump’s logic re Greenland and Panama? 22:44 On Israel-Palestine, is a two-state solution still possible? 31:06 How a stable ceasefire in Gaza could transform Israeli politics 36:17 Why Trump may be better than Biden on Israel-Palestine 43:46 Bob and Tom debate a possible strike on Iran 52:42 Prospects for peace in Ukraine under Trump 55:24 How America is making a Chinese invasion of Taiwan more likely

Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Thomas Friedman (The New York Times). Recorded January 21, 2025.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

0:30 News bites 17:28 Gaza ceasefire deep dive 33:24 Bob joins to talk about Biden's legacy and Trump's imminent return to the White House

Read this week's edition of the Earthling: https://nonzero.substack.com/p/the-looming-tech-takeover

Recorded January 17, 2025.

0:28 Bob and Paul battle for audience sympathy 4:29 Canada as 51st state: y’eh or n’eh? 15:09 How Trump-y is Canada’s likely next leader? 19:45 The humiliation theory of American politics 27:33 Trump, Elon, and the two paths to bullying 35:59 Facebook’s free speech about-face 39:24 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 January 16, 2025.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

0:28 Tim’s got a new podcast, and NonZero is hiring 3:31 Is large language model progress reaching a plateau? 15:20 Some shortcomings of AI today 25:42 Human cognition compared to AI 33:27 The impressive progress of "multimodal" AI 41:33 Heading to Overtime

Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Timothy B. Lee (Full Stack Economics, Understanding AI). Recorded January 14, 2025.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

0:30 News bites 17:18 The bipartisan push to bomb Iran 30:05 Bob joins to discuss changes at NonZero as well as new developments in AI

Recorded January 10, 2025.

Read this week's edition of the Earthling: https://nonzero.substack.com/p/bomb-iran-goes-bipartisan

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0:28 The NonZero-American Prestige punk-rock crossover continues 2:12 Is it time to freak out about Trump? 9:30 Are international norms eroding? 21:40 Jimmy Carter’s legacy 29:02 Heading to Overtime

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 January 09, 2025.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods