Robert Wright's Nonzero

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:28 Nora’s work on AI alignment and interpretability 2:21 Is *a* singularity near? 9:52 Nora: AI may take my job within two years 14:56 The reason(ing) behind AI’s latest acceleration 24:14 Thinking through the “chain-of-thought” process 41:44 AI “thinking” vs human thinking 47:21 Heading to OvertimeRobert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Nora Belrose (EleutherAI). Recorded February 18, 2024.Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

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.