How would your life change if you found out, beyond all doubt, that you're a robot? What if nothing you’ve ever done was your own free choice? What if your brain just tricks you into feeling like you’re choosing things it already planned?

Josh can't believe that. But the Stanford Professor Robert Sapolsky, one of the world’s leading free-will sceptics, does. His latest book is “Determined: A Science of Life without Free Will”.

Prepare to have your mind blown. If you have one.

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Josh Szeps

𝕁𝕠𝕤𝕙 𝕊𝕫𝕖𝕡𝕤 (@joshzepps) on X

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Today, over 3,200 of Josh’s arts-industry colleagues are engaging in a Palestinian Day of Action, wearing Palestinian scarves during performances nationwide. Josh, you’ll be shocked to learn, has some thoughts.

In a future of digital spying, inflationary economies, incompetent central banks and petty authoritarians, could Bitcoin be the guarantee of all your other freedoms? Josh was on Peter’s blockbuster podcast, What Bitcoin Did, and now Peter stops by the Uncomfy Convos studio on a recent trip to Sydney. He’s a super smart thinker about the role of the individual, the state… and your wallet.

To subscribe to Josh’s premium podcast feed, hit the Substack page at https://uncomfortableconversations.substack.com/subscribe

David Pakman is a progressive American political commentator who hosts one of the world’s most popular left-wing talk shows, with over 1.8 million subscribers. Josh picks his brain about the state of the media, of the Left… and of America.

To subscribe to Josh’s premium podcast feed, hit the Substack page at https://uncomfortableconversations.substack.com/subscribe

There's a LOT going on in the Uncomfy Convo world. You probably have a lot of questions. I'm here to answer them. 

What's wrong with empathy? Is effective altruism better? How did you develop your sense of right and wrong? Is suffering necessary for pleasure? These are the questions the psychologist Paul Bloom wrestles with. Enjoy the ride.

Yippee-ki-yay, Josh has quit his ABC Radio show to double down on Uncomfortable Conversations. Starting in the new year, you'll get additional free episodes, a YouTube channel, a live tour and more. Before embarking on his adventure, Josh wanted to speak with the most successful person who has recently pulled it off. Bari Weiss was an opinion writer and editor at The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. She walked away to do her own thing at The Free Press.

Now more than ever, we need you to subscribe to Josh’s premium podcast feed. Hit the Substack page at https://uncomfortableconversations.substack.com/subscribe

Brian Dunning is an expert on critical thinking, science and skepticism. His weekly podcast, Skeptoid, debunks conspiracy theories, and his new film is “The UFO Movie THEY Don't Want You to See”. Here, Josh tries to get to the bottom of what’s really going on with UFOs.

To subscribe to Josh’s premium podcast feed, hit the Substack page at https://uncomfortableconversations.substack.com/subscribe

Can you work at a corporation or university and openly contradict elite opinion? Can you freel y suggest that gender is binary, land acknowledgments are silly, that there are biological reasons why more men become CEOs, or that racial diversity quotas are patronising? Not without being punished, according to a tsunami of cases being catalogued by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. Its CEO, Greg Lukianoff, who co-wrote the bestseller “The Coddling of the American Mind” , has a new book, “The Cancelling of the American Mind”, with the Gen-Z journalist Rikki Schlott to explain what’s going on.

What does it take to sustain a career in the performing arts? Julia Zemiro is one of Australia’s most beloved perfomers. An actor, improv comic and TV host, she has hosted the official New Year's Eve telecast from Sydney Harbour, the music quiz show “RocKwiz”, and her own beloved television interview show “Julia Zemiro's Home Delivery”, I sit down with her to muse on what it takes to make it in a tough biz.

To subscribe to Josh’s premium podcast feed, hit the Substack page at https://uncomfortableconversations.substack.com/subscribe