Robert Wright's Nonzero

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:00 Is Ukraine’s Kursk invasion failing? 6:05 Why Russia may outlast the West in Ukraine 14:20 Zelensky’s cabinet shakeup 16:50 Prospects for a peace deal 26:25 Russian elites’ views on the war 36:44 How the Global South can help end the conflict 42:40 Heading to OvertimeRobert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Anatol Lieven (The Quincy Institute). Recorded September 05, 2024.Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

(Description from Tripp Fuller’s Homebrewed Christianity podcast.)In this episode, I am joined by one of my favorite scholars in the public square, Robert Wright, the editor of the Nonzero Newsletter. This is a captivating discussion about artificial intelligence, consciousness, and the future of humanity. We explore Wright's extensive work, including 'Nonzero,' 'The Evolution of God,' and 'Why Buddhism is True,' while delving into the intersections of science, religion, and philosophy. Discover the implications of AI for humanity, the critical role of international cooperation in technology governance, and the moral and spiritual dimensions needed to navigate rapid technological changes. The conversation also addresses the complexities of sentience, cognitive empathy, and the evolutionary drives in AI, with insights from philosophers like Teilhard de Chardin and Alfred North Whitehead.Tripp’s Substack: https://processthis.substack.com/Originally published August 19, 2024 by Homebrewed Christianity .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

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:28 Steve’s books, The Hell of Good Intentions and The Israel Lobby 1:15 How Israel helped spawn Hezbollah 13:19 Why US leaders abet Israel’s self-destructive behavior 29:14 Netanyahu’s longstanding opposition to a Palestinian state 42:14 The Israeli policy that doomed Israel-Palestine relations 51:39 Steve’s writings on US foreign policy and the electionRobert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Stephen Walt (Harvard University, Foreign Policy). Recorded August 26, 2024.Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:28 Bob and Paul’s time-warping podcast experiment 3:34 Does thinking in bets better your thinking? 9:38 Past prediction 1: Will the presidential race tighten up? 17:10 J.D. Vance memes of yester-month 22:41 Past prediction 2: Who will Kamala pick for VP? 28:52 When reality gets weird 39:26 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 July 26, 2024.Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:28 Emma’s forthcoming book on US grand strategy 4:40 Gaza, Ukraine, and Mearsheimer’s realism 13:38 The DC establishment’s dark view of world affairs 24:43 How the Gaza war hurts American interests—and America itself 30:10 Is the time ripe for realism and restraint? 36:25 National problems that require international cooperation 49:59 Heading to OvertimeRobert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Emma Ashford (Stimson Center, Foreign Policy). Recorded August 14, 2024.Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.orgThis episode includes an Overtime segment that’s available to paid subscribers. If you’re not a paid subscriber, we of course encourage you to become one. If you are a paid subscriber, you can access the complete conversation either via the audio and video on this post or by setting up the paid-subscriber podcast feed, which includes all exclusive audio content. To set that up, simply grab the RSS feed from this page (by first clicking the “...” icon on the audio player) and paste it into your favorite podcast app.If you have trouble completing the process, check out this super-simple how-to guide.Robert Wright and Andrew Day discuss items from this week’s Earthling. Read it here:Recorded August 16, 2024.https://twitter.com/NonzeroNewshttps://twitter.com/NonzeroPodsOvertime:

028 Nathan's podcast, The Cognitive Revolution 3:50 The enduring enigmas of AI 7:39 Conceptualizing how LLMs conceptualize 16:22 Do AIs actually understand things? 33:08 Why AI doesn’t need to be superhuman to be revolutionary 43:40 Human vs AI representations of the world 57:09 Thinking through high-dimensional AI brain space 1:05:22 Nathan on AI risk: Doomer? Accelerationist? Both? 1:21:59 The open source question and Cold War II 1:41:34 Do LLMs “naturally” learn human values? 1:45:20 Mamba: a new approach to building large language modelsRobert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Nathan Labenz (Cognitive Revolution, Waymark AI). Recorded August 06, 2024.Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPodsThe Cognitive Revolution podcast: https://www.cognitiverevolution.ai/ Waymark AI: https://waymark.com/ 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

0:28 Peter’s background and (Root)claim to fame 4:14 How Peter caught the Covid origins bug 9:49 The Wuhan wet market: source or amplifier? 14:47 Holes in the lab leak theory 24:57 The patient zero problem 28:25 A statistical deep dive into the wet market 43:13 What the genetic evidence can (and can’t) tell us 1:01:46 Can we “trust the science” on Covid? 1:07:39 Has tribalism made resolving the debate impossible? 1:13:32 Why lab leak matters—even if it didn’t happenRobert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Peter Miller (https://medium.com/@tgof137, https://www.youtube.com/@tgof137). Recorded August 06, 2024.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

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org2:11 Who was Haniyeh—and why’d Israel kill him? 6:12 Why Netanyahu may want a US-Iran war 14:15 Are pro-Israel groups at peak power? 22:33 Israel’s escalating conflict with Hezbollah 31:15 The logic of Iranian retaliation 41:07 Israel’s lack of a viable endgame in Gaza 46:31 Heading to OvertimeRobert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Joshua Landis (University of Oklahoma, SyriaComment.com). Recorded August 05, 2024.Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:28 Nick’s influential book Superintelligence and his new book Deep Utopia 3:13 Has Nick flipped on AI doom? 10:57 Life in the “solved world” of an AI utopia 20:44 Can technology address the deepest problems of human nature? 30:07 Meaning, artificial purpose, and the value of golf 46:22 The promise and perils of virtual reality 51:23 Heading to OvertimeRobert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Nick Bostrom (Superintelligence, Macrostrategy Research Initiative, Deep Utopia). Recorded July 11, 2024.Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods