Robert Wright's Nonzero

Nonzero

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Philosophy
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Conversations with a series of people who have nothing in common except that program host Robert Wright is curious about what they’re thinking. www.nonzero.org

1 day ago

Jensen Huang and the Deep State (Robert Wright, Liron Shapira, and Chinese mystery guest)

0:28 A brief message from Bob 0:59 Introductions 2:31 Jensen Huang Resigns from Nvidia 5:31 Who’s Defending Jensen? 10:38 What Did Jensen Do Wrong? 12:52 Was Alice Huang a Chinese Spy? 18:32 Does Decapitation Work? 22:03 The Great Man Theory of Tech 24:27 Where Will AI’s Value Accrue? 27:43 What’s Next for Jensen? 30:02 METR: AI Is Doubling Anthropic’s Research Speed 35:30 AI Is Solving Open Math Problems 37:53 AI Agents Negotiating Deals 40:32 My AI vs. My CPA 43:07 Bob’s AI Caught His Doctor’s Error 44:49 Whatever Happened to Hallucinations? 46:04 Formal Verification and Lean 51:16 Andrew Wiles and the Human Cost 54:39 The All-In Podcast’s Blind Spot 57:44 Can We Formally Verify Alignment? 1:00:24 Yudkowsky vs. Irving at ILIAD 1:01:50 Will Jensen’s Fall Help Anthropic’s IPO? 1:07:17 The March for an AI Treaty 1:08:31 Introducing Walter, a Chinese AI Journalist 1:09:51 How China Reacted to Jensen’s Resignation 1:16:12 Chinese Theories About Anthropic’s Role 1:23:16 How China Censored the Spy Allegation 1:25:02 Does China Trust an AI Pause? 1:27:28 AI Layoffs and a Chili Sauce Boycott 1:33:19 Does Beijing Listen to Public Opinion? 1:37:11 China’s Limits on AI Companions for Kids 01:39:58 Will China Move on Taiwan? Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Liron Shapira (Pause AI, Doom Debates). Recorded November 12, 2026.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 www.nonzero.org/subscribe
4 days ago

The Age of Big Math (Robert Wright & Steven Strogatz)

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org 0:28 Steve’s new book, Big Math: The Hidden Codes that Run Our World 3:43 What is “big math”? And why do we need it? 11:38 The key to the neural network’s power 18:25 AI’s black box problem 23:44 Is human insight going extinct? 32:26 How math has continually changed humanity 42:59 Insight via 100 ants 51:09 The intersecting origins of network theory and a jazz legend 57:26Heading to Overtime Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Steven Strogatz (Cornell University, Infinite Powers, Big Math). Recorded October 13, 2026.Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods
5 Nov

The Age of Imperialist Realism (Robert Wright & Daniel Bessner)

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org 0:24 Bob and Danny get experimental 3:20 Danny’s new(ish) book, Imperialist Realism 12:37 Is US imperialism natural? 16:27 America vs other empires 26:13 The three features of imperialist realism 39:46 When did US foreign policy turn cynical? 48:22 Imperialist realism: the video game 52:44 Heading to Overtime Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Daniel Bessner (American Prestige, Imperialist Realism, University of Washington). Recorded October 12, 2026.Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods
5 Nov

UNLOCKED: Debating the AI-China Question (Robert Wright & Jeremie Harris)

This is the public release of the Overtime segment from the episode “The Race to Control AI” with Jeremie Harris originally published October 13, 2026. Titles: Bob’s beef with “kumbaya. ”Will it take an AI Chernobyl to convince the skeptics? Is China-hawkism the safest option?The case for “organic transparency” with China. How alignment progress could backfire. Has China infiltrated US tech? Breaking down Dario’s democracy bloc idea. Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Jeremie Harris (Gladstone AI, Last Week in AI). Recorded October 10, 2026. 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 www.nonzero.org/subscribe
3 Nov

When AI Enters the Quantum World (Robert Wright & Scott Aaronson)

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org 0:28 Scott’s diverse portfolio of expertise 2:24 Is AI hastening the quantum computing revolution? 9:29 Interpreting the many-worlds interpretation 12:46 Scott tries to make quantum physics coherent 22:04 Many-worlds vs Bohmian mechanics 28:37 Could quantum computing settle quantum questions? 32:49 The Y2K of quantum computing 39:25 Are Bitcoin’s days numbered? 45:44 Why AI scares Scott more than quantum computing 53:43 What kind of AI pause is practical? 59:16 The AI-China question(s) 1:06:01 Heading to Overtime Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Scott Aaronson (University of Texas, Quantum Computing Since Democritus). Recorded November 03, 2026. Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods
31 Oct

Is an AI Bubble Bursting? (Robert Wright & Liron Shapira)

0:28 Nonzero Doom returns 3:35 A foom in slow motion 8:16 Is AI winter canceled forever? 11:02 Will Google’s Genie 4 lure us into the Matrix? 17:23 Liron’s bull case for Google stock 25:03 Does Google have big-company disease? 28:57 Could a slowdown actually help Anthropic and OpenAI? 30:41 Was OpenAI’s “pause” just PR? 40:30 Social science judgment day is coming 47:41 Why even AI’s upsides could tear society apart 51:41 Does OpenAI’s alignment approach improve on Asimov? 55:35 Sam and Satya pivot on alignment 59:03 Crypto and the AI hacking threat 1:04:11 Could AI crack the math behind encryption? 1:09:21 Liron’s $1,000-a-day AI coding habit 1:15:52 Explaining the missing productivity boost 1:17:55 Does Anthropic’s S-1 sink the AI bubble thesis? Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Liron Shapira (Pause AI, Doom Debates). Recorded October 30, 2026.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 www.nonzero.org/subscribe
30 Oct

Is Nathan Fielder a Creep? (Robert Wright & Paul Bloom)

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org 0:28 Paul attains potato hegemony 4:17 Bob’s book: Gateway drug to AI doomerism? 7:39 Nathan Fielder’s view of Elizabeth Holmes (via Paul) 22:24 Bob TORCHES Fielder 33:59 Are art and artist really separable? 38:47 What Trump and Musk say about our times 44:17 Heading to Overtime Robert 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 October 27, 2026.Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods
27 Oct

Netanyahu Fails to Provoke Iranian Attack Pre-Election (Robert Wright, Andrew Day, and Curt Mills)

Andrew Day and Curt Mills of The American Conservative join Robert Wright to talk about the Israeli elections, Benjamin Netanyahu’s escalating rhetorical belligerence, Iran’s strategic calculations and arguable missteps, President Lula’s surprise victory in Brazil, and U.S.-China competition over AI. Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True), Curt Mills (The American Conservative), Andrew Day (The American Conservative). Recorded October 26, 2026.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 www.nonzero.org/subscribe

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Conversations with a series of people who have nothing in common except that program host Robert Wright is curious about what they’re thinking. www.nonzero.org