Robert Wright's Nonzero

0:00 A brief message from Bob 1:51 Greg’s new book, The Gutfeld Monologues 10:49 How going to Berkeley pushed Greg toward conservatism 17:03 Trumpism creates strange ideological bedfellows 26:10 Bob offers a magic solution to the freedom vs. security dilemma 32:19 Was Obama right to avoid the phrase “Islamic radicalism”? 47:56 Trump’s savvy use of identity politics 55:48 The secret ingredient to Greg’s meditation practice

Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Greg Gutfeld (Fox News). Recorded September 25, 2018.

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0:00 A brief message from Bob 1:49 Why consciousness is so weird 11:29 Is consciousness like your brain’s shadow? 19:10 If David was a zombie, would anyone know? 23:21 Bob’s wacky theory about consciousness 44:49 Is consciousness what collapses the quantum wave function? 1:02:59 Can there be a true science of consciousness?

Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and David Chalmers (New York University, The Australian National University). Recorded October 24, 2016.

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0:30 Are US-Iran talks dead? 4:24 Do normal Iranians care about the nuclear program? 6:40 Understanding Iran’s enrichment red line 9:42 Assessing the damage to Iran's nuclear facilities 12:25 Iran's decision to kick out inspectors 15:38 Could Iran build a bomb in secret? 17:52 Trump's "desultory" approach to talks with Iran 21:16 Alan's experience negotiating with the Iranians 24:33 How Obama managed to get a deal 29:34 Iran's focus on projecting strength 32:23 Does Iran really want a bomb? 34:57 Iran's dim view of international law

Recorded July 3, 2025.

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0:00 A brief message from Bob 1:40 John’s upcoming book, How States Think: The Rationality of Foreign Policy 4:31 Is the US to blame for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine? 11:40 Is Putin less rational than John assumes? 24:00 Why John is a Russia dove and a China hawk 31:30 Does China pose a threat to freedom around the world? 38:33 Why John thinks China’s rise threatens American security 49:32 Has globalization made great-power peace possible? 57:54 Should the US defend Taiwan against a Chinese invasion?

Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and John Mearsheimer (University of Chicago, The Great Delusion). Recorded April 19, 2023.

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0:00 A brief message from Bob 1:53 Why neocons like enemies 19:09 How to use power deftly 25:59 Is a nuclear Iran really all that scary? 31:31 Bob's arms-control dreams dashed again 41:18 China problem solved in under three minutes 44:03 Some cheerful thoughts about Hamas

Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Francis Fukuyama (Stanford University, The End of History and the Last Man, Liberalism and Its Discontents). Recorded April 21, 2006.

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0:30 Barry’s new novel, ‘The System’ 2:33 CIA lessons & seeing like a Martian 7:17 Fiction, empathy, and geopolitics 9:55 No cartoon villains 10:58 How power really works in DC 15:25 Feinstein vs. Brennan: the 'sit down' 18:32 Why we excuse ourselves 20:05 Jobs, jets & hidden threats 21:28 The problem with the House 26:15 Valeria’s dilemma: bend or break 30:10 How power corrupts 37:35 Humiliation and geopolitics

Recorded June 27, 2025.

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0:28 The dueling Sam Altman biographies 4:36 Who is the real Sam Altman? 16:06 OpenAI’s origin—did Sam scam Elon? 20:50 Why the OpenAI board coup failed 35:27 Good and bad critiques of OpenAI 47:14 Heading to Overtime

Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Timothy B. Lee (Full Stack Economics, Understanding AI, AI Summer). Recorded June 16, 2025.

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0:28 Courtney’s and Alex’s Always at War podcast 2:54 Have restrainers given up on Trump? 11:10 The legacies of Hamilton Jordan 16:31 Courtney: Money drives war 25:40 Palantir cashes in 32:45 Alex: Blame American exceptionalism first

Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True), Alex Jordan (The Quincy Institute, Always at War), and Courtney Rawlings (The Quincy Institute, Always at War). Recorded June 23, 2025.

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0:30 Headlines 1:27 - Washington 2:08 - Silicon Valley 2:47 - China 3:31 - Africa 4:10 - Europe 5:01 Bob joins to discuss the Israel-Iran war 08:51 Has Trump had a change of heart? 13:44 The Pandora's Box of a US attack 18:21 Connor makes the pro-bombing-Iran argument 22:09 Bob: A diplomatic solution would have been 'trivially easy' 28:09 Trump's missed opportunity for a win 32:11 Where Israeli and American interests diverge 34:45 Israel’s risky calculus: Escalation over negotiation 40:53 Why won't Trump use his leverage to rein in Israel?

Recorded June 20, 2025.

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0:30 The time Alex blocked everyone's view of Jennifer Aniston 4:40 How Alex acquired the Bibi interrogation tapes 9:00 What the Bibi Files suggest about the Gaza war 11:58 Bibi's bribes 16:40 Bibi-Trump parallels 27:03 Barriers to getting the movie distributed (and where to watch it) 42:10 Heading to Overtime (and Bob’s and Alex's unfinished film)

Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Alex Gibney (Going Clear, Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, Taxi to the Dark Side, The Bibi Files). Recorded June 10, 2025.

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