Uncomfortable Conversations with Josh Szeps

Is there something broken about a world where some people are absurdly, insanely rich? Or is inequality the price we pay for innovation? What do Bezos, Gates, Musk & Zuck tell us about what's malfunctioning in our societies? Would be better with no billionaires, or is the anti-rich movement an impoverished politics of envy? Professor Carl Rhodes was the dean of the business school at the University of Technology, Sydney. His new book is "Stinking Rich: The Four Myths of the Good Billionaire". Carl and Josh debate fairness, democratic socialism, Bernie Sanders, Steve Jobs, diversity, whiteness, wokeness and wealth. Watch this conversation on YouTube. And you’re missing out on our best ad-free content if you haven’t popped over to the Uncomfy Convos Substack page. http://twitter.com/joshzepps http://instagram.com/joshszeps/ http://tiktok.com/@uncomfyconversations

What if the problem for the Palestinian people was not Israel, but the encouragement by the international community of a fantasy that, one day, Palestinians will return to Israel proper? That’s the thesis of 'The War of Return’ by former Labor parliamentarian and foreign policy advisor to Prime Minister Shimon Peres, Einat Wilf. She opposes settlement-building but is otherwise a left-wing hawk. Wilf argues that the main reason why the conflict endures - and why Palestinians remain stateless - is the ongoing refusal by every Palestinian leader to accept that Israel is here to stay and there's no coming back. To discuss her views and how the conflict has unfolded since October 7th, Einat joined Josh in our Sydney studios. This conversation took place at almost exactly the moment Israel began striking Iran, before the Iran news broke. Watch this conversation on YouTube. And you’re missing out on our best ad-free content if you haven’t popped over to the Uncomfy Convos Substack page. http://twitter.com/joshzepps http://instagram.com/joshszeps/ http://tiktok.com/@uncomfyconversations

Let's take a break from the news cycle for a moment, shall we? There's a lot of cool shit to ponder that's more important and more fascinating. Like, how does the gooey blob of atoms between your ears generate all of your experiences? And are we on track to producing machines that feel as alive as you? Eric Schwitzgebel is a legendary professor of philosophy at UC Berkeley and an important voice in Silicon Valley's conversations about ethical artificial sentience. He and Josh muse on the various explanations of what your experiences actually are at their most profound level; why you probably don't have a soul; whether sufficiently intelligent machines will ever feel internally emotional alive... and how we'll even be able to tell.  Watch this conversation on YouTube. And you’re missing out on our best ad-free content if you haven’t popped over to the Uncomfy Convos Substack page. http://twitter.com/joshzepps http://instagram.com/joshszeps/ http://tiktok.com/@uncomfyconversations

Are we too spoilt to be creative? Are we succumbing to decadent decline? How do you dissent when the incentives are to conform? How do the French retain the art of disagreement while the Anglosphere gets stuck in predictable squabbles? How can we grow a pair of collective cojones and defiantly create a better future? Today's episode would normally be paywalled. We're offering it as a free example of the kind of unstructured, unpredictable, unedited, freewheeling, thought-provoking clashes Josh does live on Substack, versus the more buttoned-up, pre-recorded tone of the podcast.  Sarah Wilson is a former media high-flyer - the editor of Cosmopolitan magazine, host of MasterChef Australia, big-time wellness columnist - who turned her back on her fabulously materialistic life, sold all her possessions, and became a nomadic creator. She doesn't have a home but spends most of her time now in Paris, where she preaches her secular wisdom of sanity to fans around the world.  Josh and Sarah have a relationship of respectful disagreement and curious admiration. They streamed live this week with no particular agenda (except to save the world). Treat yourself to more conversations like this by registering here and downloading the Substack app. Watch this conversation on YouTube. And you’re missing out on our best ad-free content if you haven’t popped over to the Uncomfy Convos Substack page. 𝕁𝕠𝕤𝕙 𝕊𝕫𝕖𝕡𝕤 (@joshzepps) on X Instagram (@joshszeps) Josh Szeps on TikTok

Anti-Zionism, antisemitism, Palestinians, Hamas, Israeli Arabs, diaspora Jews, Gaza, and now an all-out war with Iran. It's head-spinning, trying to make sense of Israel right now.  Today, Josh comes to you battered and bruised by the slings and arrows of a national pile-on. He wrote the lead opinion piece in the big thumping weekend edition of Sydney's and Melbourne's biggest broadsheet newspapers, in which he argued for diaspora Jews to stop reflexively making excuses for Israel.  The backlash has been as savage as you'd expect on a topic where nuance goes to die. From the fallout, Josh takes a crack at wrestling with tribalism, group-think, moral honesty, and the unfolding Israel-Iran war. Watch this conversation on YouTube. And you’re missing out on our best ad-free content if you haven’t popped over to the Uncomfy Convos Substack page. 𝕁𝕠𝕤𝕙 𝕊𝕫𝕖𝕡𝕤 (@joshzepps) on X Instagram (@joshszeps) Josh Szeps on TikTok

Chris Uhlmann is one of the most experienced and well-known journalists Down Under. He worked for decades as either the host or the chief political reporter on many of the country's most respected news shows: The 7.30 Report, ABC News, Nine News, and ABC Radio's flagship current affairs show "A.M." He's made the leap to Substack, and joined Josh to discuss his regrets as a leading journalist, objectivity, fairness, thought bubbles, the flaws of media (old and new), climate change, immigration, and what it was like to interview Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Watch this conversation on YouTube. And you’re missing out on our best ad-free content if you haven’t popped over to the Uncomfy Convos Substack page. http://twitter.com/joshzepps http://instagram.com/joshszeps/ http://tiktok.com/@uncomfyconversations  

Over the weekend, the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play went to Eureka Day, a brave, hilarious satire of wokeness, vaccine denial, identity politics and social justice. Fresh from Broadway, the Sydney production is on now at the Seymour Centre. Its playwright, Jonathan Spector, joined Josh from California before his Tony triumph. Eureka Day is playing in Sydney until the 21st June 2025 at the Seymour Centre. You can find out more here.

If you want to feel optimistic about the mind-boggling potential of the renewable energy revolution, listen to Saul Griffith, one of the world's leading experts in electrification, decarbonisation and renewable energy technologies. He's founded a dozen Silicon Valley technology companies, R&D labs, and non-partisan organizations, and he was instrumental in developing the Biden Administration's climate action plan. Saul's U.S. research labs were recently eviscerated by Elon Musk's DOGE cuts. He begins this conversation in a gloomy mood about the state of American scientific research, but peps up about the potential for overhauling how we generate, deliver and manage clean electricity. It's a wild rebuke to the climate hysterics on both sides. While the rest of the country argues about nuclear energy, solar panels and fossil fuels, enjoy this electrifying chat about how we could be on the brink of electrifying everything. Watch this conversation on YouTube. And you’re missing out on our best ad-free content if you haven’t popped over to the Uncomfy Convos Substack page. http://twitter.com/joshzepps http://instagram.com/joshszeps/ http://tiktok.com/@uncomfyconversations

While the showdown continues over Trump's military deployment against Los Angeles protestors, can we take heart from the resurgence of anti-Trump liberalism in Canada, Australia, the U.K. and Europe? Could the Democrats capture that energy? If the culture has moved on from "wokeness", then what's the next paradigm for the Left? How should we think about immigration, multiculturalism, infrastructure, abundance, Obama’s legacy, and big-vs-small government in the next chapter of American political life? And can it really be true that Mississippians are richer than Italians? Yascha Mounk is one of Josh's favourite thinkers on how to hold liberal democracies together in a destabilising time. Yascha will rejoin Josh on a Szeps Live Substack Livestream next Tuesday June 17th at 9pm ET to answer your questions about this conversation (11am Sydney-time on Wed 18th). Be sure you're subscribed to notifications here to stay abreast of all the additional content - it's free to watch (but comments are only for paid subscribers). This interview was recorded before the Los Angeles protests. Enjoy this sanity-inducing chat about the state of liberalism in 2025 and beyond. Watch this conversation on YouTube. And you’re missing out on our best ad-free content if you haven’t popped over to the Uncomfy Convos Substack page. http://twitter.com/joshzepps http://instagram.com/joshszeps/ http://tiktok.com/@uncomfyconversations

At 26, Hannah Ferguson is one of the most influential young women in Australia. Her media company, Cheek Media, boasts an army of politically-engaged, progressive female fans. Ferguson co-hosts the smash hit podcast Big Small Talk, which breaks down politics and pop culture. An unapologetic progressive, she recently interviewed the prime minister and earned the honour of speaking at one of Australia's most prestigious forums, the National Press Club address. Ferguson intends to run for the senate and to someday be prime minister. She and Josh wrestle with new media and old, feminism, schisms in the online mediaverse, Rupert Murdoch, and holding guests - and themselves - to account. Watch this conversation on YouTube. And you’re missing out on our best ad-free content if you haven’t popped over to the Uncomfy Convos Substack page. http://twitter.com/joshzepps http://instagram.com/joshszeps/ http://tiktok.com/@uncomfyconversations