The Wright Show (audio)

2:12 The uncertain future of AI 6:58 What would it mean to “lose the AI race” to China? 10:27 The promise and peril of artificial general intelligence 14:13 The international policy challenges of AI16:44 Can Trump deliver peace between Russia and Ukraine?20:58 Are there any good arguments for Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense? 26:07 Bob: With Iran weakened, Israel faces a decision: bombs or diplomacy 30:41 The continuing assault on Gaza 34:45 Antiwar speech codes 40:09 Apartheid, genocide, ethnic cleansing 45:27 Missed opportunities to turn the temperature down in Israel 53:41 Bob: The international community has little sway over Israel 56:37 The advantages of cognitive empathyGlenn Loury (Brown University, Manhattan Institute, Late Admissions) and Robert Wright (Nonzero, Why Buddhism Is True). Recorded December 17, 2024. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit nonzero.substack.com/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit nonzero.substack.com0:28 Worthwhile Canadian conquest 5:19 Late takes on Luigi Mangione 10:27 Elon’s AI motivation 14:23 Is the successor species sentient? (It matters!) 18:39 Paul’s AI freakout has arrived 23:39 AI buzzword of the year revealed 29:24 Bluesky brutality 35:44 Google’s experimental AI groks humanity 43:44 Heading to OvertimeRobert 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 December 27, 2024.Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit nonzero.substack.com0:30 News Round-up 15:20 How progressives should approach Trump's foreign policy 30:23 Anatol Lieven joins to discuss Russia-Ukraine peace talksRecorded December 20, 2024.https://twitter.com/NonzeroNewshttps://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit nonzero.substack.com0:28 Conn and the ancestry of this podcast 2:29 Conn’s new book, Sex and the Citizen: How the Assault on Marriage Is Destroying Democracy 9:34 Modern matrimony by the numbers 18:44 Are monogamous societies more egalitarian? 24:10 Why the West went monogamous 35:15 Heading to OvertimeRobert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Conn Carroll (Washington Examiner, Sex and the Citizen). Recorded December 06, 2024.Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPodsOvertime titles:0:00 Why monogamous marriage is on the rocks 11:28 Conn’s proposals to fix America’s marital issue 15:14 Would income redistribution make for more marriages? 19:19 Porn, gambling, and other anti-marriage forces

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit nonzero.substack.com0:28 Scott’s anti-war libertarianism and his new book, Provoked: How Washington Started the New Cold War with Russia and the Catastrophe in Ukraine 8:22 How the US made the Russia-Ukraine war more likely 13:10 Was Ukraine’s Maidan Revolution a US-backed coup? 30:26 America’s promise to the Soviet Union not to expand NATO 38:04 Do US officials misunderstand Russia’s perspective? 51:17 Heading to OvertimeRobert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Scott Horton (The Scott Horton Show, Fool's Errand, Provoked). Recorded December 11, 2024.Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit nonzero.substack.comAndrew Day and Connor Echols discuss the foreign policy news of the week. In this episode, Day and Echols also discuss Trump’s foreign policy team with James Carden of the American Conservative.Recorded December 13, 2024.https://twitter.com/NonzeroNewshttps://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit nonzero.substack.com0:28 Syria’s uncertain political future 11:10 Has the Islamist rebel group HTS actually moderated? 19:25 The extent of retributive violence since Assad fell 29:58 Syria's complicated factional divides 36:44 America's control of Syrian oil fields 40:41 Heading to OvertimeRobert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Joshua Landis (University of Oklahoma, SyriaComment.com). Recorded December 11, 2024.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit nonzero.substack.com0:00 Yuri’s high-stakes debate on Covid’s origins 3:42 Pros and cons of Covid vaccines 10:04 Do Covid “coincidences” point to a lab leak? 21:55 Does the pattern of Covid’s initial spread suggest zoonotic origin? 27:51 Why the Wuhan market may have amplified Covid’s spread 38:59 Covid’s lineages A and B 53:29 US-China collaboration in the Wuhan lab’s virology researchRobert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Yuri Deigin (YouthBio Therapeutics). Recorded December 03, 2024.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit nonzero.substack.comAndrew Day and Connor Echols discuss the foreign policy news of the week. In this episode, Day and Echols also discuss the rapid rebel offensive in Syria with Bassam Barabandi, a former Syrian diplomat who defected in 2013.Recorded December 06, 2024.https://twitter.com/NonzeroNewshttps://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit nonzero.substack.com0:28 A masterclass in audience alienation 3:50 Paul defends Biden’s paternal pardon 9:43 Should family come before societal good? 18:51 The costs of the Hunter pardon 32:18 Was Hunter the victim of a witch hunt? 37:52 Elon sues OpenAI (again) 45:12 Heading to OvertimeRobert 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 December 04, 2024.Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit nonzero.substack.com0:28 Anthropic’s CEO comes out as a China hawk 6:38 Why so many China hawks in the AI community? 22:49 Gaming out the AGI takeoff timeline 30:31 Last year’s OpenAI coup: What did Ilya see? 36:43 Underappreciated dangers of the China chip war 53:41 Are US tech leaders seeing China’s perspective clearly? 1:05:32 Heading to OvertimeRobert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Nathan Labenz (Cognitive Revolution, Waymark AI). Recorded November 26, 2024.Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit nonzero.substack.comRobert Wright, Andrew Day, and Connor Echols discuss items from this week’s Earthling. Recorded November 22, 2024.https://twitter.com/NonzeroNewshttps://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit nonzero.substack.com0:30 Bob’s trip down the JFK rabbit hole gets real 3:07 Will Trump release the JFK files? 7:35 What the CIA actually knew about Oswald, pre-assassination 12:13 The damning Oswald-CIA connection Jeff uncovered 24:59 Was there a second shooter? Bob’s on-the-ground research 35:31 Bob’s research cont’d: grassy knoll geometry 45:44 Was the alleged CIA cover-up just CYA? 49:29 Heading to OvertimeRobert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Jefferson Morley (JFK Facts, Snow-Storm in August). Recorded November 12, 2024.Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit nonzero.substack.com0:28 Are Bluesky pastures really greener? 10:12 Dissecting SciAm editor’s Bluesky blowup 21:32 Elon’s free speech stolen valor 31:05 The “highlights” of the Paul-Tyson “fight” 39:48 Has the military-industrial complex conquered the AI industry? 48:39 Heading to OvertimeRobert 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 November 19, 2024.Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit nonzero.substack.com0:28 Another high-synergy, brilliant collaboration 1:39 Is Elon our first true oligarch? 10:21 Trump assembles his Justice League of hawks 16:53 Biden’s awful foreign policy team 21:49 Trump’s plan to purge the military 33:30 Will Trump go full-on authoritarian? 40:45 Left-wing capitalists—and a discount offerRobert 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 November 14, 2024.Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit nonzero.substack.com0:28 Sam’s place on the AI accelerationist-pauser spectrum 4:55 Predicting AI’s near-term impact 12:17 Is regulating AI a fool’s errand? 18:32 Does strong AI governance court authoritarianism? 30:26 Can Trump and Elon be trusted on AI? 37:08 How Sam thinks AI should be regulated 51:13 Heading to OvertimeRobert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Samuel Hammond (Foundation for American Innovation, https://www.secondbest.ca/). Recorded November 12, 2024.Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPodsOvertime titles:The China question Elon as an AI asset for TrumpWill Trump ease or heighten tensions over Taiwan? Taking AI takeover seriously AI, consciousness, and the human-to-AI handoff

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit nonzero.substack.comRobert Wright, Andrew Day, and Connor Echols discuss items from this week’s Earthling. Read it here: https://nonzero.substack.com/p/how-to-fight-trump-mindfullyRecorded November 08, 2024.https://twitter.com/NonzeroNewshttps://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit nonzero.substack.com0:28 Election 2024: The view from Canada 5:44 Paul praises Bob’s pre-election sermonette 10:37 Why did Trump win? And who’s to blame? 18:47 Did DEI doom Kamala? 25:32 A Kamala campaign post-mortem 33:33 What policies will President Trump 2.0 prioritize? 37:12 The art of the Trump 45:05 Heading to OvertimeRobert 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 November 06, 2024.Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

0:28 Is Mickey all-in on Trump? 4:26 The “garbage” wars and their aftermath 7:54 Kamala’s path(s) to victory 10:29 Mickey explains the logic of voting for Trump 19:44 Why Trump sucks, why Kamala sucks 26:05 Bob doles out (p)recriminations 35:37 Will Israel-Iran escalate? 45:00 How Kamala could win Mickey’s vote 49:23 Why did Kamala go negative? 55:27 Mickey plays pundit defender 1:10:02 Which swing state looks worst for Kamala?1:15:55 How Biden made war in Taiwan more likely 1:21:24 Four Dem sex “scandals”1:30:53 Bob trashes Trump’s tariffs 1:41:55 Bob looks for a silver-lining to a second Trump term 1:47:31 Elon Musk, the oligarch’s oligarchRobert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Mickey Kaus (kausfiles, The End of Equality). Recorded October 30, 2024.Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit nonzero.substack.com/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit nonzero.substack.com0:28 Peter’s new book, Other Rivers: A Chinese Education 3:24 Have Chinese people become less hostile to America? 13:12 What Americans get wrong about China 17:38 Why Peter thinks Covid didn’t come from a lab 20:59 China’s transformative recent decades 31:10 Respect for authority in Chinese culture 40:26 Change in China between Peter’s two teaching stints there 54:41 Why the Chinese political system may change dramaticallyRobert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Peter Hessler (River Town, Other Rivers). Recorded September 17, 2024.Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods