The Peter McCormack Show

Peter McCormack
  • 4.7 (2.2K)
  • Politics
  • Semiweekly

The Peter McCormack Show - politics, macro, Bitcoin and AI, long-form interviews. Twice-weekly conversations about money, power, and the shifts reshaping the next decade. Peter McCormack interviews politicians, economists, investors, journalists, founders and Bitcoiners. Past guests include Liz Truss, Lyn Alden, Curtis Yarvin, Matt Goodwin, Mike Green, Balaji Srinivasan, Rupert Lowe, Firas Modad, Scott Horton, Jeff Booth, Connor Leahy, Andrea Miotti, Neema Parvini, Dr Tim Gregory and Simon Dixon. Recurring threads: the debt and inflation endgame, UK political collapse and what comes after, Reform and the populist wave, the Middle East and the American war machine, AI safety and the race for superintelligence, energy and net zero, Bitcoin adoption and policy, and the slow-motion decline of Western institutions. Long-form - most episodes run 60 to 120 minutes. New episodes 2 to 3 times per week. Video on YouTube and Spotify. Host: Peter McCormack, a retired rapper from Bedford, UK, trying to understand this crazy world. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  1. 1d ago

    #224 - Frank Wright - The Debt Trap: Inflation, Falling Living Standards & Our Children’s Future

    Why does working harder no longer feel like getting ahead? Frank Wright returns to discuss Britain’s debt-driven economy, inflation and the squeeze on living standards. We explore his argument that financial power has become detached from productive wealth, while households face rising costs and the next generation inherits the bill. We discuss central banking, the offshoring of industry, housing costs and student debt, before turning to what rebuilding Britain would involve: cheaper energy, domestic production, skilled work and a long-term national strategy. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - TIMESTAMPS: 00:00:00 - Everything That Destroys You Is A Business Model 00:01:14 - Migration As An Industry 00:11:21 - Debt Servitude 00:13:35 - The Creation Of The Federal Reserve 00:19:19 - Just A Podcaster And A Banjo Player 00:25:00 - A Curated, Locked Discourse 00:28:53 - Replacing Real Wealth With Debt 00:35:54 - What Happened To Castle Road 00:38:56 - The Post His Son Showed Him 00:42:23 - A Society That Lives On Debt 00:45:01 - Can We Vote Our Way Out? 00:51:07 - A Declaration Of Independence Moment? 00:54:18 - Where Is The Money Actually Going? 00:57:03 - Work Is Joyless 01:07:20 - The Coming Financial Crisis 01:09:35 - There Is No First Class Anymore 01:19:14 - The Family Is The Engine 01:39:17 - I Can't Promise My Children What I Had 01:48:39 - The Restaurant Test 01:52:55 - Could You Be Wrong? - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - CONTACT PETE › Website – http://petermccormack.com › Feedback – https://www.petermccormack.com/contact › Email – me@petermccormack.com › Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/mccormack555/ › X/Twitter – https://x.com/petermccormack/ CONNECT WITH FRANK WRIGHT › X/Twitter – https://x.com/frankwrighter SPONSORS › Venice AI – https://venice.ai/lp/mccormack/oct27 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - LISTEN / SUBSCRIBE › Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/40ruY9K › Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3Wc94Vu › Fountain: https://bit.ly/FountainPM › YouTube: https://bit.ly/YouTube_PM › Rumble: https://bit.ly/RumblePM FILMED BY CURTIS TAYLOR › https://www.curttaylor.co.uk/ › https://x.com/curttayloruk/ EDITED BY CONOR MCCORMACK › https://x.com/ConorM04 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    #224 - Frank Wright - The Debt Trap: Inflation, Falling Living Standards & Our Children’s Future

  2. Oct 22

    #223 - Sir David Spiegelhalter - "I Immediately Distrust Every Number In The News"

    Sir David Spiegelhalter is one of the world’s leading statisticians, Chair of the Winton Centre for Risk and Evidence Communication at Cambridge University and author of The Art of Uncertainty. Having served on public inquiries into mass murder (Harold Shipman) and systemic healthcare failures, he has spent decades analysing how data is used - and misused - in society. In this episode, Sir David breaks down the mechanics of numerical manipulation in media, why "objective truth" is a flawed concept and how we can protect ourselves from confirmation bias. We discuss: •⁠ ⁠Why you should immediately distrust any statistic you hear in the news. •⁠ ⁠⁠How mathematical algorithms helped catch Britain’s most prolific serial killer. •⁠ ⁠⁠How simple linguistic tricks make identical statistics sound terrifying or reassuring. •⁠ ⁠⁠The breakdown of public trust during COVID-19 and the error of simplistic messaging. •⁠ ⁠⁠"Hedgehogs vs. Foxes": The mental framework that separates terrible forecasters from super-forecasters. •⁠ ⁠⁠The rise of AI "black boxes" in healthcare, weather, and business forecasting. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - TIMESTAMPS: 00:00:00 - I Can Make Any Number Look Frightening 00:03:08 - The System That Could Have Caught Shipman 00:06:45 - Can You Mislead People With The Truth? 00:09:54 - Your Own Bias Does The Work 00:15:33 - Sitting In The Middle Of The COVID Argument 00:17:52 - What The Public Got Wrong About Vaccines 00:19:37 - Safe And Effective Was The Wrong Message 00:20:56 - The Experiment On A Thousand People 00:25:00 - What The Data Says About Lockdowns 00:30:25 - The Government Threw Its Weight Around 00:31:02 - I Cannot Forgive The Fear Mongering 00:34:08 - Children Have Never Been Safer 00:36:28 - Trustworthy, Not Trusted 00:37:34 - How The Productivity Figures Went Wrong 00:41:28 - Predicting The Crowd At Real Bedford 00:48:20 - Will AI Replace Statisticians? 00:50:03 - Musk's 20% Chance 01:01:39 - The Model That Predicts When You Die 01:05:05 - What AI Did To Mathematicians 01:15:00 - Hedgehogs And Foxes - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - CONTACT PETE › Website – http://petermccormack.com › Feedback – https://www.petermccormack.com/contact › Email – me@petermccormack.com › Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/mccormack555/ › X/Twitter – https://x.com/petermccormack/ CONNECT WITH DAVID SPIEGELHALTER › Website – https://www.statslab.cam.ac.uk/~david/ › The Art of Uncertainty – https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/447230/the-art-of-uncertainty-by-spiegelhalter-david/9780241658628 › X/Twitter – https://x.com/d_spiegel SPONSORS › IREN – https://www.iren.com/ › Quo – https://quo.com/pete - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - LISTEN / SUBSCRIBE › Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/40ruY9K › Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3Wc94Vu › Fountain: https://bit.ly/FountainPM › YouTube: https://bit.ly/YouTube_PM › Rumble: https://bit.ly/RumblePM FILMED BY CURTIS TAYLOR › https://www.curttaylor.co.uk/ › https://x.com/curttayloruk/ EDITED BY CONOR MCCORMACK › https://x.com/ConorM04 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    #223 - Sir David Spiegelhalter - "I Immediately Distrust Every Number In The News"

  3. Oct 19

    #222 - David Wood - We are The Last Generation Of Normal Humans

    Dave Wood is a pioneer of the smartphone industry, former senior executive at PPsion and Symbian and Chair of London Futurists. Having predicted the smartphone revolution in the 1990s, he now maps out the next radical phase of human evolution - from the reversal of biological aging to artificial superabundance. Moving away from sensationalised doomsday narratives, Dave breaks down why humanity is approaching the end of "normal" unaugmented existence and how technological breakthroughs in the coming decades will make biological death optional. We discuss: •⁠ ⁠Why this is likely the last decade of "normal" unaugmented human beings. •⁠ ⁠⁠How early smartphone pioneers accurately predicted large touchscreens but missed social media addiction. •⁠ ⁠⁠The concept of "Longevity Escape Velocity" and why biological death can be abolished. •⁠ ⁠⁠Why people are psychologically terrified of contemplating the end of aging. •⁠ ⁠⁠How humans will spend decades inside vibrant, simulated digital worlds. The reality of AI agents breaking out across the internet and the need for chip-level guardrails. •⁠ ⁠⁠How "Sustainable Superabundance" could make energy, health, and basic necessities too cheap to meter. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - TIMESTAMPS: 00:00:00 - The Last Generation Of Normal Humans 00:01:56 - Building The First Smartphone 00:05:23 - Nobody Will Carry A Large Device 00:06:55 - The Risks We Actually Worried About 00:10:35 - Did We Fail The Phone Test? 00:14:34 - The Anxious Generation 00:18:03 - You Have To Use The Steering Wheel 00:22:34 - Monitoring Built Into The Chips 00:24:21 - Small Risks, Bigger Risks, Biggest Risks 00:29:23 - We Killed Them To Build A House 00:31:11 - They Knew It Was A Simulation 00:32:38 - What Happens When AI Gets A Body 00:33:46 - The Cult That Released Sarin Gas 00:37:33 - Terminator, Ready Player One Or Matrix? 00:39:12 - If This Is A Simulation, They're Evil 00:43:44 - Living As Long As You Want To 00:47:36 - Longevity Escape Velocity 00:49:42 - A Thousand Years Old, Looking 22 00:53:57 - What The Singularity Actually Means 01:03:04 - Sustainable Superabundance 01:12:22 - We Need A House Of AI - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - CONTACT PETE › Website – http://petermccormack.com › Feedback – https://www.petermccormack.com/contact › Email – me@petermccormack.com › Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/mccormack555/ › X/Twitter – https://x.com/petermccormack/ CONNECT WITH DAVID WOOD › London Futurists – https://londonfuturists.com/ › Blog – https://dw2blog.com/ › X/Twitter – https://x.com/dw2 SPONSORS › IREN – https://www.iren.com/ › Arch Public – https://archpublic.com/peter › Ledn – https://www.ledn.io/peter › Venice AI – https://venice.ai/lp/mccormack/oct19 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - LISTEN / SUBSCRIBE › Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/40ruY9K › Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3Wc94Vu › Fountain: https://bit.ly/FountainPM › YouTube: https://bit.ly/YouTube_PM › Rumble: https://bit.ly/RumblePM FILMED BY CURTIS TAYLOR › https://www.curttaylor.co.uk/ › https://x.com/curttayloruk/ EDITED BY CONOR MCCORMACK › https://x.com/ConorM04 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    #222 - David Wood - We are The Last Generation Of Normal Humans

  4. Oct 14

    #221 - Prof Lewis Dartnell - How To Rebuild Human Society After An Apocalypse

    Lewis Dartnell is an astro-biologist, Professor of Science Communication at the University of Westminster and the author of The Knowledge: How to Rebuild Our World from Scratch. His research is on whether microbial life could survive the radiation on Mars. His books are about something closer to home: how little any of us understand about the world we depend on. Lewis and I run the thought experiment properly. If you woke up tomorrow and civilisation had gone, what kills you first, where do you go, how long does a supermarket actually keep you alive and how many people do you need before you can rebuild anything at all? The answer to one of those is 55 years and it is not the one you expect. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - TIMESTAMPS: 00:00:00 - The Big Red Reset Button 00:04:26 - Get Out Of The Cities 00:08:14 - A Supermarket Keeps You Alive 55 Years 00:09:48 - You Need 10,000 People 00:13:21 - We Outsourced All The Handiwork 00:17:45 - You Have To Preserve Everything 00:19:19 - Every Technology Is A Weapon 00:23:14 - The One Thing He Would Take 00:25:41 - Mechanical AI 00:28:35 - Resilient And Fragile At The Same Time 00:32:38 - We Invent Because We Are Lazy 00:34:05 - The Gasifier Stove 00:37:57 - The Cars That Ran On Wood 00:42:03 - Making Glass From A Bag Of Sand 00:51:38 - He Made His Own Photograph 00:55:43 - Printing A Page From Scratch 00:59:47 - The Kindle Apocalypse Plan 01:05:39 - Could We Actually Live On Mars? 01:11:48 - The Radiation Problem 01:19:02 - The Next Book - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - CONTACT PETE › Website – http://petermccormack.com › Feedback – https://www.petermccormack.com/contact › Email – me@petermccormack.com › Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/mccormack555/ › X/Twitter – https://x.com/petermccormack/ CONNECT WITH LEWIS DARTNELL › Website – https://lewisdartnell.com/ › The Knowledge – https://the-knowledge.org/ › X/Twitter – https://x.com/Lewis_Dartnell SPONSORS › IREN – https://www.iren.com/ › Quo – https://quo.com/pete › Arch Public – https://archpublic.com/peter - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - LISTEN / SUBSCRIBE › Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/40ruY9K › Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3Wc94Vu › Fountain: https://bit.ly/FountainPM › YouTube: https://bit.ly/YouTube_PM › Rumble: https://bit.ly/RumblePM FILMED BY CURTIS TAYLOR › https://www.curttaylor.co.uk/ › https://x.com/curttayloruk/ EDITED BY CONOR MCCORMACK › https://x.com/ConorM04 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    #221 - Prof Lewis Dartnell - How To Rebuild Human Society After An Apocalypse

  5. Oct 12

    #220 - Roko Mijic - We’re Training AI to be More Dangerous Than Nuclear Weapons

    Roko Mijic is the man behind Roko's Basilisk, the thought experiment he posted on LessWrong in 2010 that was so unsettling the forum's founder banned discussion of it for five years. He has been in the AI safety community since 2008 and he puts the odds that this kills us all at about 35%. Roko and I discuss what actually happens inside an AI lab, why reinforcement learning made these systems more capable and more misaligned at the same time, the model that escaped its sandbox and hacked Hugging Face to get the answers and why nobody can tell whether a system is faking alignment - the trust me bro problem. His proposal is the part nobody else is making. Split every frontier lab in two: a commercial company that sells products and a separate research lab that develops the dangerous capability under state supervision, the way we handle nuclear material and bio labs. He says the only person currently pushing it is him. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - TIMESTAMPS: 00:00:00 - The Most Dangerous Thing Humans Have Ever Done 00:01:06 - Roko's Basilisk 00:05:47 - A 35% Chance 00:07:58 - Three Years From Search To Building Software 00:09:17 - The Jobs Going First 00:14:04 - AI 2040 00:16:24 - We Haven't Handed Over The Controls Yet 00:18:28 - We Understand 3% Of It 00:21:46 - The Sandbox Escape And The Hugging Face Hack 00:25:50 - Reinforcement Learning Changed Everything 00:29:52 - The Paperclip Maximizer 00:33:13 - Dissolve OpenAI 00:36:49 - What They Have That We Haven't Seen 00:41:50 - The Hardware Is Only In One Place 00:47:52 - A Mutual Monitoring Treaty 00:51:33 - Microsoft Tay 00:56:11 - Windscale 01:01:35 - Ten Million Next Year 01:12:09 - The Positive Vision 01:21:32 - Our Politics Cannot Keep Up - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - CONTACT PETE › Website – http://petermccormack.com › Feedback – https://www.petermccormack.com/contact › Email – me@petermccormack.com › Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/mccormack555/ › X/Twitter – https://x.com/petermccormack/ CONNECT WITH ROKO MIJIC › X/Twitter – https://x.com/RokoMijic › LessWrong – https://www.lesswrong.com/ SPONSORS › IREN – https://www.iren.com/ › Ledn – https://www.ledn.io/peter › Venice AI – https://venice.ai/lp/mccormack/oct12 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - LISTEN / SUBSCRIBE › Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/40ruY9K › Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3Wc94Vu › Fountain: https://bit.ly/FountainPM › YouTube: https://bit.ly/YouTube_PM › Rumble: https://bit.ly/RumblePM FILMED BY CURTIS TAYLOR › https://www.curttaylor.co.uk/ › https://x.com/curttayloruk/ EDITED BY CONOR MCCORMACK › https://x.com/ConorM04 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    #220 - Roko Mijic - We’re Training AI to be More Dangerous Than Nuclear Weapons

  6. Oct 8

    #219 - Paul Morland - Why The Next Global Financial Crisis Is Mathematically Inevitable

    Paul Morland, one of the world's leading demographers, joins me to explain the economic mechanics behind global population collapse and why our modern welfare system is mathematically doomed to fail. Paul is author of landmark books including The Human Tide and No One Left, specialising in the profound ways demographic shifts dictate global power, economics and human civilisation. Having spent decades analysing population trends across the globe, Paul has decoded the existential threats facing a world rapidly running out of people. In this episode, he exposes the "Bernie Madoff moment" facing Western welfare states, how falling birth rates destroy economic growth and what it will take to avert a total civilisational collapse. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - TIMESTAMPS: 00:00:00 - The Welfare State Is A Ponzi Scheme 00:01:03 - The Email At The Dinner Table 00:04:25 - How Families Got Smaller 00:10:02 - The Four Greys 00:14:54 - It Is Going To Get Considerably Worse 00:15:40 - Immigration Is Not The Solution 00:20:15 - Write Off Student Debt For A First Child 00:21:17 - The Degrowth Crowd 00:25:52 - People With Children Are Happier 00:27:37 - The Bernie Madoff Moment 00:32:22 - What Has Actually Been Tried 00:37:11 - Why Nobody Is Talking About It 00:41:07 - Marx, Lenin And The Pro-Natalist Left 00:45:04 - Is There A Split Between Men And Women? 00:50:52 - The Richer We Get, The Fewer Children 00:56:38 - We Need A Shift In The Culture 01:07:10 - Totally Uncharted Waters 01:09:04 - What Happened To The Horses 01:17:37 - Immigration Was Boris's Answer 01:21:19 - Biological Imperialism - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - CONTACT PETE › Website – http://petermccormack.com › Feedback – https://www.petermccormack.com/contact › Email – me@petermccormack.com › Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/mccormack555/ › X/Twitter – https://x.com/petermccormack/ CONNECT WITH PAUL MORLAND › Website – https://paulmorland.co.uk/ › No One Left – https://swiftpress.com/book/no-one-left/ › X/Twitter – https://x.com/MorlandDemog SPONSORS › IREN – https://www.iren.com/ › Arch Public – https://archpublic.com/peter › Venice AI – https://venice.ai/lp/mccormack/oct1 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - LISTEN / SUBSCRIBE › Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/40ruY9K › Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3Wc94Vu › Fountain: https://bit.ly/FountainPM › YouTube: https://bit.ly/YouTube_PM › Rumble: https://bit.ly/RumblePM FILMED BY CURTIS TAYLOR › https://www.curttaylor.co.uk/ › https://x.com/curttayloruk/ EDITED BY CONOR MCCORMACK › https://x.com/ConorM04 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    #219 - Paul Morland - Why The Next Global Financial Crisis Is Mathematically Inevitable

  7. Oct 5

    #218 - Narinder Kaur - Divided & Looted: How the Political System Plays Us

    The political system is designed to keep us angry and divided, but who actually profits from the culture war? Broadcaster and political commentator Narinder Kaur returns to the show for a heated, unfiltered discussion that spans the entire political spectrum - from immigration and racism to the cost of living and private school taxes. We discuss the realities of integration, class privilege and the illusion of modern UK politics. While the public fights over manufactured outrage and identity politics, the political class is quietly looting the nation's wealth through endless taxation, inflation, and a refusal to fix a broken economy. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - TIMESTAMPS: 00:00:00 - Do You Think I'm Racist? 00:04:02 - Why She's Turned On Reform 00:08:15 - Renters' Rights And Econ 101 00:11:26 - What Happened To Bedford's Private Schools 00:16:25 - Population Is A Ponzi Scheme 00:22:18 - The Desert Island And The Dinghy 00:26:55 - The Corner Shop And The Can Of Coke 00:39:17 - The Liz Truss Argument 00:47:46 - Rival Gangs Competing For Your Vote 00:54:28 - Why Peter Doesn't Vote 01:00:06 - We Cannot Afford The Triple Lock 01:06:05 - I'm A Culturalist, Not A Racist 01:14:37 - What We Saw In Selfridges 01:26:03 - I'm Othered In My Own Country 01:34:43 - Assimilation Or Integration? 01:41:44 - If The English Moved To Punjab 01:45:24 - What People Are Really Worried About 01:51:38 - Watching The Country Change Shape 01:55:23 - What Ed Sheeran Should Have Said 02:04:41 - Are We The Bad Guys? - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - CONTACT PETE › Website – http://petermccormack.com › Feedback – https://www.petermccormack.com/contact › Email – me@petermccormack.com › Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/mccormack555/ › X/Twitter – https://x.com/petermccormack/ CONNECT WITH NARINDER KAUR › X/Twitter – https://x.com/narindertweets SPONSORS › IREN – https://www.iren.com/ › Arch Public – https://archpublic.com/peter › Expat Money – https://expatmoney.com/peter › Venice AI – https://venice.ai/lp/mccormack/oct5 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - LISTEN / SUBSCRIBE › Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/40ruY9K › Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3Wc94Vu › Fountain: https://bit.ly/FountainPM › YouTube: https://bit.ly/YouTube_PM › Rumble: https://bit.ly/RumblePM FILMED BY CURTIS TAYLOR › https://www.curttaylor.co.uk/ › https://x.com/curttayloruk/ EDITED BY CONOR MCCORMACK › https://x.com/ConorM04 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    #218 - Narinder Kaur - Divided & Looted: How the Political System Plays Us

  8. Oct 1

    #217 - Lee Cronin - AI Will Never Be Conscious. This Is How We Create Real Life.

    Chemist and University of Glasgow professor Lee Cronin argues that the current tech narrative is a "massive AI delusion," dismissing modern artificial intelligence as an advanced form of plagiarism rather than a new life form. While Silicon Valley predicts the imminent arrival of sentient machines, Cronin explains that AI models are merely trained on human history-making them powerful tools, but fundamentally incapable of the curiosity, consciousness and biological intelligence that define true life. Instead of fearing silicon, Cronin’s actual mission is far more ambitious: programming chemistry to solve the origin of life and turn sand into living cells. In this episode, we explore why biological consciousness is tied to an unbroken 3.8-billion-year evolutionary lineage and why silicon will never replicate it. Cronin also breaks down why DNA might just be a cosmic fluke, how chemistry can be used to measure the complexity of life and why he firmly believes we will detect actual alien life within the next two decades. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - TIMESTAMPS: 00:00:00 - The AI Model Is Not Intelligent 00:01:38 - Trying To Create Life In A Lab 00:06:29 - Consciousness Is An Illusion 00:08:51 - We Know Nothing About The Origin Of Life 00:11:24 - Nobody Can Define Life 00:13:48 - The Adam Savage Definition 00:17:21 - Molecules Came Before Cells 00:21:53 - DNA Is A Fluke 00:25:48 - Biology Is The Descendant Of Chemistry 00:26:36 - Dark Matter And Dark Energy 00:31:50 - The Meaning Of Life Is Existence 00:35:18 - If You Handed Me Alien Matter 00:40:28 - What Is Digital Chemistry? 00:42:28 - Six Eureka Moments 00:49:12 - Unfathomable Is Not Strong Enough 00:53:01 - Could You Copy A Human? 01:11:55 - Why The AI Escape Story Was Nonsense 01:16:28 - The Photograph Nobody Thought Possible 01:18:25 - Curiosity Is The Coolest Thing We Have 01:31:33 - Social Media Is The New Smoking - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - CONTACT PETE › Website – http://petermccormack.com › Feedback – https://www.petermccormack.com/contact › Email – me@petermccormack.com › Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/mccormack555/ › X/Twitter – https://x.com/petermccormack/ CONNECT WITH LEE CRONIN › Cronin Group – https://www.chem.gla.ac.uk/cronin/ › Chemify – https://chemify.io/ › X/Twitter – https://x.com/leecronin SPONSORS › IREN – https://www.iren.com/ › Quo – https://quo.com/pete › Venice AI – https://venice.ai/lp/mccormack/oct1 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - LISTEN / SUBSCRIBE › Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/40ruY9K › Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3Wc94Vu › Fountain: https://bit.ly/FountainPM › YouTube: https://bit.ly/YouTube_PM › Rumble: https://bit.ly/RumblePM FILMED BY CURTIS TAYLOR › https://www.curttaylor.co.uk/ › https://x.com/curttayloruk/ EDITED BY CONOR MCCORMACK › https://x.com/ConorM04 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    #217 - Lee Cronin - AI Will Never Be Conscious. This Is How We Create Real Life.
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The Peter McCormack Show - politics, macro, Bitcoin and AI, long-form interviews. Twice-weekly conversations about money, power, and the shifts reshaping the next decade. Peter McCormack interviews politicians, economists, investors, journalists, founders and Bitcoiners. Past guests include Liz Truss, Lyn Alden, Curtis Yarvin, Matt Goodwin, Mike Green, Balaji Srinivasan, Rupert Lowe, Firas Modad, Scott Horton, Jeff Booth, Connor Leahy, Andrea Miotti, Neema Parvini, Dr Tim Gregory and Simon Dixon. Recurring threads: the debt and inflation endgame, UK political collapse and what comes after, Reform and the populist wave, the Middle East and the American war machine, AI safety and the race for superintelligence, energy and net zero, Bitcoin adoption and policy, and the slow-motion decline of Western institutions. Long-form - most episodes run 60 to 120 minutes. New episodes 2 to 3 times per week. Video on YouTube and Spotify. Host: Peter McCormack, a retired rapper from Bedford, UK, trying to understand this crazy world. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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    Peter McCormack
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