0:28 Hooman’s Iranian expertise—inherited and otherwise 3:49 Trump’s new (economic) war on Iran 14:13 What MSM missed about the MOU 18:45 How will Iran respond? 27:00 The intra-MAGA fight over Trump’s foreign policy 30:13 Will Iran do to Trump what it did to Carter? 41:26 Iran and the Houthi-Saudi conflict 48:16 Is the Saudi-Pakistan-Turkey alliance for real? 50:49 Heading to Overtime

Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Hooman Majd (Minister Without Portfolio, The Ayatollahs' Democracy). Recorded August 20, 2026.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

0:28 David’s AI safety work, past and present 2:28 Has there been a vibe shift in AI? 7:49 Why two AI godfathers went doomer 12:00 The OpenAI breakout as the warning shot heard round the world 20:38 Breaking down the OpenAI breakout 28:53 AI agents are cooperating. Why? 37:32 Is an AI pause near? 42:22 The hard problem of AI alignment 47:16 Heading to Overtime

Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and David Krueger (The University of Montréal, Evitable). Recorded August 13, 2026. Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

0:28 Bob channels Dick Cheney 4:25 Is AI killing writing? And thinking? 16:43 How Bob and Paul actually use AI 24:03 The cognitive vs economic value of writing 30:28 AIs aping “Memento” and other frontier freakiness 38:00 Bob: Reckless AI is just good business 41:32 Heading to Overtime

obert 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 August 12, 2026. Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

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0:28 How is MAGA feeling about Trump 2.0? 3:31 Bob’s good ol’ days at The New Republic 6:13 The biggest threat to the Trump coalition 18:31 Why the MoU unraveled 31:40 Is Iran's regime really divided? 36:41 Part two: This pod’s auspicious return from tech hell 37:54 Trump’s covert catering-truck op 45:50 Have Iran’s demands really gotten more extreme? 53:26 Saudi Arabia vs the Houthis 58:20 Is a post-American Middle East emerging? 1:07:10 A low-key end to the episode Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True), Curt Mills (The American Conservative), Andrew Day (The American Conservative). Recorded August 10 and 11, 2026.Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

0:28 Jennifer’s foreign policy bona fides 1:31 Could Ukraine and Iran merge into one big war? 6:17 Is Ukraine really “turning the tide”? 15:28 America’s (and Ukraine’s) missile defense issue 19:08 Putin’s ceasefire conditions 25:59 What—and who—are America’s missiles for, really? 30:11 How not to open the Hormuz Strait 41:33 How will the Iran war truly end? 51:29 Heading to Overtime

Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Jennifer Kavanagh (Defense Priorities). Recorded August 06, 2026. Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

0:28 Sam’s ideological leanings 3:44 Sam’s AI Manhattan Project–revisited 7:44 What does the “Pacing” letter say about the state of AI? 18:53 Mythos, Astra, and AI’s accelerating acceleration 27:50 The OpenAI “rogue” model escape 36:30 Recursive self-improvement: Red line or red herring? 42:24 How frontier AI is getting (and will get) freakier 52:10 How is open-source AI like DEI? 56:00 Heading to Overtime

Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Samuel Hammond (Foundation for American Innovation, https://www.secondbest.ca/). Recorded August 03, 2026. Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

0:28 The “Pacing the Frontier” letter signed by AI elites 10:15 Why so many China-hawk AI-safety-hawks? 14:16 Was the “Pacing” letter too small an ask? 27:14 The striking AI vibe shift 36:28 Are AI builders “just following orders”? 45:46 Recursive self-improvement: The wrong red line? 51:23 Heading to Overtime

Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Holly Elmore (PauseAI US, https://hollyelmore.substack.com/). Recorded July 30, 2026.Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

0:28 Why did Ukraine hit an Iranian ship 500 miles from Ukraine? 14:09 Ukraine’s war on Russia’s Amazon 19:39 Why Zelensky fired his defense minister and commander-in-chief 23:01 Bob: Ukraine may lose like people go bankrupt—gradually, then suddenly 25:17 Nikita: Why both sides are ready to keep fighting 31:26 Kazakh President to Putin: Nobody understands this war 35:43 Bob: Everybody thinks they’re fighting a defensive war 46:04 Heading to Overtime: The globalist elite vs. the globalist precariat, and an AI path to WW3

Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Nikita Petrov (https://psychopolitica.substack.com). Recorded July 28, 2026.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods