The Wright Show (audio)

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:29 Van's new book, The Rivalry Peril 2:28 What policymakers forget about the first Cold War 12:54 The roots of the US-China cold war 19:33 The end of globalization and the rise of economic nationalism 26:54 How rivalry deepens inequality in both the US and ChinaRecorded February 12, 2025.Read this week's edition of the Earthling: https://www.nonzero.org/p/a-very-bad-week-for-ai-safetyhttps://twitter.com/NonzeroNewshttps://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:28 The newly united state of Canada 9:21 What’s Elon’s endgame? 17:32 Ross Douthat gives doubting Paul pause 22:56 Which AI ad won the Super Bowl? 31:57 The real stakes of Elon’s OpenAI bid 38:27 Trump 2.0's free speech hypocrisy 44:14 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 February 12, 2025.Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:28 Musa’s track record as Trump-reader and his new book, We Have Never Been Woke 2:19 The reason Trump won—twice 14:49 Messaging that works for the working class 20:58 Has the left lost the faith(ful)? 27:39 Who is wokeness even for? 33:44 Biden’s bad messaging 36:04 Why elites failed to deliver on social justice 51:28 Heading to OvertimeRobert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Musa al-Gharbi (Stony Brook University, We Have Never Been Woke, https://musaalgharbi.substack.com/). Recorded January 29, 2025.Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:00 Housekeeping 3:20 Making sense of the USAID cuts 15:52 Trump's push for ethnic cleansing in Gaza 24:27 How Trump's tariffs undermine US power 32:54 Deep Research and the AI arms raceRecorded February 07, 2025.https://twitter.com/NonzeroNewshttps://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:28 Paul’s new newsletter, AIStackDecrypted 2:33 Sketchy DeepSeek narratives: debunked 15:15 How connected are DeepSeek and the Chinese government? 27:22 China, Meta, and the open source AI debate(s) 38:58 Paul’s problem with AGI “takeoff” 47:23 The real lesson to take from DeepSeek 55:05 Did the chip war on China really backfire? 59:20 Heading to OvertimeRobert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Paul Triolo (Albright Stonebridge Group, https://pstaidecrypted.substack.com/). Recorded February 05, 2025.Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:28 Mark’s newsletter, podcast, and Bloggingheads roots 3:45 Is Trump really anti-internationalist? 8:30 Who was the most pro-UN post-Cold-War president? 13:25 Is global governance doomed? 17:16 Scoring the UN’s post-Cold War track record 24:08 ICC and ICJ 101 33:17 Why the WHO matters 39:48 Heading to OvertimeRobert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Mark Leon Goldberg (Global Dispatches, To Save Us From Hell). Recorded January 30, 2025.Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:13 Some brief NonZero World housekeeping 5:37 Trump, China and AI 31:35 Connor's interview with national security law expert Elizabeth Beavers about Trump's use of terror designationsRecorded January 31, 2025.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:28 Two theories of Musk’s “salute” 6:18 DeepSeek-R1: Salvo or olive branch? 16:23 The misappropriation of Musk’s AI doomerism 23:43 Is the AI avatar era already upon us? 39:26 Paul fills Bob in on his “empty threat” theory 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 January 29, 2025.Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.orgRobert Wright and Connor Echols discuss the panic over R1, a new, open-source AI model from Chinese startup DeepSeek.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:28 Peter’s new book, Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza 1:42 Is it anti-Semitic to say Israeli policies foster anti-Semitism? 7:24 Zionism’s many meanings 10:44 How are American Jews grappling with Israel-Gaza? 16:44 The Democrats’ Israel bind 24:11 Is all hope lost for a two-state solution? 30:54 Anti-Semitic tropes, the Israel lobby, and Elon’s “gesture” 43:05 The unusual nature of Jewish identity 47:54 How Israel’s defenders get Israel wrongRobert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Peter Beinart (Jewish Currents, CUNY, https://peterbeinart.substack.com/). Recorded January 22, 2025.Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

0:00 Intro 1:35 Natasha's new book, Another World Is Possible: Lessons for America from Around the GlobeRecorded January 14, 2025.https://twitter.com/NonzeroNewshttps://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 Kanjun’s role as CEO of AI research lab Imbue 2:45 Worrying about a “Wall-E world” 13:32 Building human-centric AI agents 22:05 How far away is truly “agentic” AI? 32:00 The road to AI serfdom 40:42 Does the AI revolution call for a psychological revolution? 45:24 Heading to OvertimeRobert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Kanjun Qiu (Imbue). Recorded January 15, 2025.Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

0:00 Tom’s Pulitzer-Prize hat trick 1:03 Why Beijing is relatively calm about Trump’s reelection 9:33 China hawkism in the AI community 15:24 What’s Trump’s logic re Greenland and Panama? 22:44 On Israel-Palestine, is a two-state solution still possible? 31:06 How a stable ceasefire in Gaza could transform Israeli politics 36:17 Why Trump may be better than Biden on Israel-Palestine 43:46 Bob and Tom debate a possible strike on Iran 52:42 Prospects for peace in Ukraine under Trump 55:24 How America is making a Chinese invasion of Taiwan more likelyRobert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Thomas Friedman (The New York Times). Recorded January 21, 2025. 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.com0:30 News bites 17:28 Gaza ceasefire deep dive 33:24 Bob joins to talk about Biden's legacy and Trump's imminent return to the White HouseRead this week's edition of the Earthling: https://nonzero.substack.com/p/the-looming-tech-takeoverRecorded January 17, 2025.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit nonzero.substack.com0:28 Bob and Paul battle for audience sympathy 4:29 Canada as 51st state: y’eh or n’eh? 15:09 How Trump-y is Canada’s likely next leader? 19:45 The humiliation theory of American politics 27:33 Trump, Elon, and the two paths to bullying 35:59 Facebook’s free speech about-face 39:24 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 January 16, 2025.Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit nonzero.substack.com0:28 Tim’s got a new podcast, and NonZero is hiring 3:31 Is large language model progress reaching a plateau? 15:20 Some shortcomings of AI today 25:42 Human cognition compared to AI 33:27 The impressive progress of "multimodal" AI 41:33 Heading to OvertimeRobert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Timothy B. Lee (Full Stack Economics, Understanding AI). Recorded January 14, 2025.Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit nonzero.substack.com0:30 News bites 17:18 The bipartisan push to bomb Iran 30:05 Bob joins to discuss changes at NonZero as well as new developments in AIRecorded January 10, 2025.Read this week's edition of the Earthling: https://nonzero.substack.com/p/bomb-iran-goes-bipartisanhttps://twitter.com/NonzeroNewshttps://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit nonzero.substack.com0:28 The NonZero-American Prestige punk-rock crossover continues 2:12 Is it time to freak out about Trump? 9:30 Are international norms eroding? 21:40 Jimmy Carter’s legacy 29:02 Heading to OvertimeRobert 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 January 09, 2025.Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit nonzero.substack.com0:28 Toward a non-woolly-minded one-worldism 8:08 Has the unipolar moment passed for good? 10:23 International law vs the “rules-based order” 21:06 Is major UN reform possible? 38:30 AI, US-China, and multipolarity 48:21 Rewriting the sanctions playbook 53:49 Heading to OvertimeRobert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Trita Parsi (Quincy Institute). Recorded December 17, 2024.Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPodsOvertime titles:

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit nonzero.substack.comWelcome to the first NonZero Newsletter of 2025! Most of the NZN team is still recovering from holiday overindulgence, so it fell upon me to generate some Friday content. And here it is: My annual (assuming I do this again next year) State of NonZero and of the World Address. (My SONZAOTW Address, as it will be called in mainstream media accounts upon second reference.) The video version is below, and below that is the transcript. And, if you’d rather absorb my wisdom without having to look at me (though tbh I think my new eyewear has upgraded my visual appeal), this monologue is also available in the Nonzero Podcast feed.Plus there’s this bonus: The transcript of my conversation with Google’s most powerful AI, “Gemini 2.0 Experimental Advanced,” about the prospects for the human species. I summarize the conversation in my SONZAOTW Address, but it goes by pretty fast, so you may want to check out the transcript itself. And, fina