Robert Wright's Nonzero

2:35 Trump’s Iran blockade breaks the ceasefire 6:04 A Chinese tanker calls Trump’s bluff 10:50 Bob’s case for an Iranian “tollgate” 16:07 Anthropic’s Mythos model is too dangerous to release 23:27 Nikita’s big idea: AI as world peace mediator 39:39 Heading to Overtime

Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Nikita Petrov (https://psychopolitica.substack.com). Recorded April 14, 2026.Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

0:24 A brief message from Bob 3:50 Shakeel’s newsletter, Transformer, and its mission 7:41 The case(s) against Sam Altman 13:23 OpenAI President Greg Brockman’s political spending 17:40 The founding doctrines of the leading AI labs 23:36 The singleton and the singularity 28:24 How market forces overwhelm good intentions 33:00 Is the singularity near? 41:55 Sam vs. Dario vs. Demis 46:39 Heading into Overtime

Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True), Shakeel Hashim (Transformer). Recorded April 7, 2026. Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

0:28 Bob and Eli’s history of (civil) disagreement on Iran 2:02 Is Trump’s war on Iran legal? Does it matter? 8:11 Who’s the real rogue state? 19:26 Israel’s nukes and Iran’s nuclear program 30:05 Is Israel more moral than Iran? 38:45 How Hamas became Hamas 46:04 “Proxy,” “theocracy,” and other fighting words 54:44 Heading to Overtime

Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True), Eli Lake (The Free Press, Breaking History, The Re-Education). Recorded April 6, 2026.Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

0:28 Would America benefit from Iran “winning”? 3:34 Trump’s last exit ramp? 13:20 What’s China’s angle on the war? 17:35 Trump: psychoanalyzed 20:46 Israel: psychoanalyzed 25:15 Iran’s plans for the Strait of Hormuz 30:51 Is this Trump’s biggest blunder? 40:49 The intra-MAGA war over Iran (and Israel) 53:48 Where are the Democrats? 59:49 Antisemitism, alleged and real 1:06:14 Heading to Overtime

Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True), Curt Mills (The American Conservative), Andrew Day (The American Conservative). Recorded March 31, 2026.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

0:28 Defining (and preventing) superintelligence 6:00 Where the nuclear analogy holds (and where it breaks) 10:38 Imagining an AI inspections regime 14:56 The superintelligence precursors to watch for 18:41 Our dangerous lack of government oversight 25:59 ControlAI’s “bottom-up” approach to AI policy 30:14 The mounting geopolitical challenges to AI governance 47:18 Heading into Overtime

Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Andrea Miotti (Control AI). Recorded March 17, 2026. Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

0:00 Teaser 1:00 Holy Week in Andalusia, and the Christian cross as branding 6:18 Why Bob is skeptical of Trump's diplomacy 10:37 Trump's hand got weaker and he doesn't even know it 13:39 Killing Iran's navy chief won't reopen the Strait of Hormuz 16:43 Nikita: "I find him weirdly persuasive on a hypnotist kind of level" 19:54 The Iran war's secret winner: Vladimir Putin 24:17 Bob checked back into AI podcasts and came out scared 29:23 "Every time I see tribalism on parade, I think: we're toast on AI" 35:13 Russia's Internet shutdowns 47:03 Heading to Overtime

Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Nikita Petrov (https://psychopolitica.substack.com). Recorded March 26, 2026. Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

0:28 What (or who) is the Iran war for? 13:00 Joe Kent and the MAGA rift over Israel 24:03 Does antisemitism speech policing foment antisemitism? 38:58 What Ron’s Substack has that others don’t 43:59 Heading to Overtime

Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Ron Kampeas (https://ronkampeas.substack.com, Jewish Telegraphic Agency). Recorded March 24, 2026. Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

0:28 Overtime preview: a civil(-ish) debate on Israel-Palestine 3:46 How vibe-coding changed Liron’s life 9:23 Portents of the AI jobpocalypse 18:20 What can humans do that AI agents can’t? 27:28 The Darwinian case for AI doom 30:50 OpenClaw vs SkyNet 37:12 Liron: I love AI! We need to stop it. 43:51 Amodei, Altman, and the Pentagon triangle 52:28 Heading to Overtime

Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Liron Shapira (Pause AI, Doom Debates). Recorded March 10, 2026.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

0:28 Is Iran inflicting much damage on Israel? 9:26 Iran has a strategy. Does America? Does Israel? 17:35 Where Trump and Bibi differ 23:41 Why Daniel is no longer a Zionist 30:06 Bibi vs the Israeli security establishment 34:35 The Gulf States’ dilemma 45:24 Daniel on Bibi’s true endgame 49:56 Heading to Overtime

Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Daniel Levy (Prospects for Peace, NAF, The Century Foundation). Recorded March 16, 2026. Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

0:28 How we got here 10:18 Understanding Iran’s strategy and goals 15:38 Turkey, Europe, and the Gulf States 18:38 Will the Iranian regime survive? 20:24 The specious leadership of Reza Pahlavi 26:23 The many missed opportunities for US-Iran entente 39:05 Heading to Overtime

Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Hooman Majd (Minister Without Portfolio, The Ayatollahs' Democracy). Recorded March 11, 2026. Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods