Robert Wright's Nonzero

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0:30 Why Gaza’s famine is the "most intense" in decades 4:00 From food secure to starvation: How Gaza unraveled 7:26 Blinken's willful blindness to Israel's obstruction of aid 11:33 How the US muzzled its own famine warning system 15:05 The political power of the term "famine" 19:54 What starvation does to the body—and to society 24:38 The perverse logic of starvation as warfare 26:3 How the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation puts aid in Hamas's hands 29:33 Evaluating Israel's accusation against UNRWA 32:52 How many Gazans are dying of starvation? 36:19 What a real aid response would take now Recorded August 1, 2025. https://twitter.com/NonzeroNews https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

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0:28 Derek and Danny plug their new Crusades series 3:19 This week’s shift in Gaza discourse 12:20 The real danger Gaza poses for Israel 22:05 Does the left’s rhetoric on Israel miss the mark? 32:24 Elite media’s think tank problem 36:27 Is American imperialism really the problem? 40:04 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 July 31, 2025.

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On this crossover edition of the NonZero podcast, Bob is interviewed by Michael Walker of Novara Media on artificial intelligence.

Video on Novara’s YouTube channel:

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0:30 Trump’s AI Action plan 4:00 The contradictions inherent to Trump's plan 6:25 How Trump’s anti-globalism undermines his AI goals 10:52 Anthropic’s leaked memo: Ideals vs Persian Gulf cash 13:06 Bob: Dario Amodei is the true AI ideologue 17:17 How AI “safety” became a hawkish movement 18:18 Why true objectivity in LLMs is a fantasy 22:58 A Palantir exec dives into the movie business 25:16 Is AI surgery around the corner? 33:06 Why the Gaza ceasefire talks are collapsing—again 35:36 Biden and Trump's allergy to using US leverage

Recorded July 25, 2025.

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0:28 Josh’s hopes for post-Assad Syria—revisited 4:12 The challenge(s) facing the Syrian government 8:58 What’s driving Syria’s sectarian violence? 19:44 Josh’s personal window into the al-Sharaa regime’s brutality 22:51 The new regime’s church vs state problem 29:44 How the Druze became central to Israeli-Syrian hostilities 43:05 Why did Israel escalate with Syria, really? 50:35 Josh’s current outlook on Syria's future 55:32 Heading to Overtime

Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Joshua Landis (University of Oklahoma, SyriaComment.com). Recorded July 23, 2025.

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0:28 The full reason for Bob’s absence—revealed 6:41 What’s the real story with Trump and Epstein? 15:02 A peek down the Epstein rabbit hole 31:18 Grok goes full Nazi-pornbot 40:15 The promise and perils of AI companions 47:55 Bob on dealing with cancer in the age of AI 1:10:39 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 July 22, 2025.

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0:30 Why a Chinese invasion of Taiwan is so unlikely 4:01 Taiwan’s terrain: A defender’s dream, an invader’s nightmare 10:55 Why Taipei might be the hardest city in the world to conquer 12:45 Dan: China would need nearly 5 million soldiers to have a chance 14:18 The 2027 invasion theory—and why it doesn’t hold up 16:37 Is China trying to bankrupt the US military? 19:23 A cheaper, smarter way to defend Taiwan 22:42 Submarines: A deterrent with a message 27:47 Comparing a Taiwan invasion to D-Day 31:27 China's long game 35:32 Why a blockade might be worse than an invasion

Recorded July 18, 2025.

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0:00 A brief message from Bob 1:45 Why many intelligent people think we’re living in a simulation 12:44 The philosophical argument that you’re probably not real 28:24 How cosmic rays might (and might not) reveal that reality is fake 36:18 Preston’s dire warning against trying to determine if we’re in a simulation 50:06 Is the simulation hypothesis non-falsifiable? 56:40 Is “the simulation” just religion for atheists?

Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Preston Greene (NTU Singapore). Recorded October 8, 2019.

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0:00 A brief message from Bob 1:55 What Lee means when he says "time is fundamental" 11:40 Understanding the universe as a network 25:59 A (very) tentative theory of consciousness 37:42 Did the laws of physics evolve? 45:23 Is the universe fine-tuned for the emergence of life? 57:21 Applying Lee's theories of time to everyday life

Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Lee Smolin (Perimeter Institute, leesmolin.com). Recorded October 12, 2015.

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0:30 Why Neysun brings American students and scholars to China 3:05 Visiting China after Covid 5:17 Balancing US and Chinese red lines 11:03 When Neysun's students pushed Chinese officials on human rights 14:09 Do US students fear career risks for going to China? 16:08 Cultivating cognitive empathy 18:51 China's obsession with US politics 20:54 Trump's surprisingly consistent approach to Beijing 26:46 Are Chinese students really spies? 31:46 Is China studies becoming the next Kremlinology? 35:37 How Neysun navigates US fears about exchange with China

Recorded July 11, 2025. 

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