9 November 2026
The Age of Imperialist Realism
Daniel Bessner—historian and co-host of the American Prestige podcast—joins Robert Wright to discuss his new book, Imperialist Realism, which argues that Americans have lost faith in the project of US global hegemony, yet still can’t imagine a plausible alternative. Overtime: Is Bob a de facto Marxist?
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Is Nathan Fielder a Creep?
Robert Wright and Paul Bloom discuss Nathan Fielder’s new Elizabeth Holmes documentary—and whether Fielder is a comic genius, a dick, or both. Plus: Alex Gibney’s new Elon doc, and a sneak preview of Paul’s date with an AI companion.
Netanyahu Fails to Provoke Iranian Attack Pre-Election
Andrew Day and Curt Mills of The American Conservative join Robert Wright to talk about the Israeli elections, Benjamin Netanyahu’s escalating rhetorical belligerence, Iran’s strategic calculations and arguable missteps, President Lula’s surprise victory in Brazil, and U.S.-China competition over AI.
Humanity: An Earth’s-Eye View
Robert Wright and Boris Shoshitaishvili discuss Boris’s new book, Our Planetary Mirror, which draws on three big ideas—Gaia, the noosphere, and the Anthropocene—along with philosophy and myth to reassess who we are and the problems we face as a species. Overtime: Are humans AI’s fossil fuel?
Can Dario and Sam Be Governed?
Robert Wright and Connor Leahy, US executive director of AI safety nonprofit ControlAI, discuss how recent AI “warning shots” have changed the conversation in Washington—and whether it will be enough to get adequate AI regulation. Plus: What really drives Dario? And in Overtime: How did Yudkowsky become a doomer?
The Race to Control AI
Robert Wright and Jeremie Harris—co-founder of Gladstone AI and co-host of the Last Week in AI podcast—discuss how the AI discourse has shifted over time, why alignment is falling short, and what it would take to make Washington pursue a pause. Plus, in Overtime: debating how to deal with China on AI safety.
Will AI Make Humans Obsolete?
Garrison Lovely, author of the new book Obsolete, joins Robert Wright to discuss the AI industry’s race to replace human labor—and Garrison’s proposal to stop it. Plus: The left’s AI blind spot, whether alignment is doomed, and, in Overtime, doubts about Yudkowsky’s candor.
Is Dario’s “Slowdown” fake?
Tech and China analyst Paul Triolo joins Robert Wright to discuss the Anthropic CEO’s proposal to “pace” AI, his hawkish views on China, and prospects for US-China AI cooperation. Overtime: Why is the Chinese public more upbeat about AI than Americans?
Did Boomers Ruin Everything?
Robert Wright and Jill Filipovic—author of the book OK Boomer, Let’s Talk—discuss how the baby boom generation reshaped America, and whether millennials are right to blame them for today’s problems. Plus: what worries millennials about Gen Z, America’s gerontocracy problem, and why Kenyans are looking east.
Nonzero (The Wright Show)
When AI Enters the Quantum World
Scott Aaronson—quantum computing expert and former AI alignment researcher—joins Robert Wright to discuss how AI hastens the quantum computing revolution, how it might illuminate quantum physics, and related philosophical questions (free will, consciousness, etc.) Plus: Could an AI slowdown avert global catastrophe?
Nonzero (The Wright Show)
Is an AI Bubble Bursting?
Robert Wright and Liron Shapira, host of the Doom Debates podcast, discuss this week’s stock market jitters, Google’s new interactive world model, and why Liron sometimes spends $1,000 in a day on AI agents. Plus: the Binance hack, an AI audit of two star economists, Anthropic’s financial prospects, and whether AI could crack the math behind encryption.
Nonzero (The Wright Show)
The AI Companion Question
Robert Wright and psychologist Paul Bloom discuss how artificial intelligence could change human socialization for better and for worse—and whether we’re headed for a Matrix-like future. Overtime: Bob’s beef with Scott Alexander, the Cornell 7 case, and Trump’s not-so-super-intelligent rebrand.
Nonzero (The Wright Show)
Inside Elon’s Mind
Robert Wright and filmmaker Alex Gibney discuss Alex’s epic new documentary about Elon Musk—an exploration of how the world’s richest man got so powerful (and so weird).
Nonzero (The Wright Show)
Trump and the AI Safety Vibe Shift
Robert Wright and Liron Shapira return for round two of their collaboration, reacting to the week in AI. They discuss Trump’s summit with the AI labs, the FTC’s investigation of OpenAI and Anthropic, the latest Gemini announcement, and more.
Nonzero (The Wright Show)
Superintelligence, the Singularity, and the Singleton
Robert Wright and philosopher Nick Bostrom discuss the pace of AI advance, arguments for and against slowing down, and whether a “singleton” will emerge. Plus: Does AI deserve moral status? Does the procession toward superintelligence suggest a higher purpose?
Nonzero (The Wright Show)
What’s Driving Dario?
Robert Wright and American Prestige podcast hosts Derek Davison and Daniel Bessner discuss the ongoing AI safety vibe shift—and what the Anthropic CEO and other tech titans are really up to. Overtime: Can Trump’s geopolitical blunders help the world?
Nonzero (The Wright Show)
Is an AI Slowdown Near?
Robert Wright and AI analyst Zvi Mowshowitz discuss Dario Amodei’s proposal to slow down AI—the logic behind it and the challenges ahead of it. Plus: Inside the mind(s) of an agentic swarm, sci-fi takeover scenarios minus the “fi,” and why Google fell off the frontier.
Nonzero (The Wright Show)
The Week in AI that Changed the World
Liron Shapira, host of Doom Debates, and Robert Wright discuss the epic AI vibe shift that was catalyzed by an Anthropic employee’s resignation—and the big AI stories that paved the way for it.
Nonzero (The Wright Show)
Israel’s Lobby
Eli Clifton and Ian Lustick join Robert Wright to discuss their new book, Israel’s Lobby, about the influence of pro-Israel groups on America’s foreign policy, its domestic policy, and the wider public discourse.
Nonzero (The Wright Show)
Is AI a Form of Life?
Robert Wright and psychologist Paul Bloom discuss the question in light of the OpenAI breakout and recent predictions of “self-sovereign” AI—and debate how freaked out we should be.
Nonzero (The Wright Show)
Iran, Ukraine, and the Future of War
Military technology analyst Paul Scharre of the Center for a New American Security joins Robert Wright to discuss how new military technologies are changing the nature of war—in Iran, Ukraine and elsewhere—and whether US military tech is falling behind. Plus: Will AI make war more or less bloody?
Nonzero (The Wright Show)
The OpenAI Breakout Gets Weirder
AI researcher Stephen “Cas” Casper of the Harvard Kennedy School joins Robert Wright to discuss new developments in the OpenAI breakout story—including how the AI agents invented messaging workarounds to coordinate with each other and other spookiness. Plus: Which AI is the biggest shill for its maker?
Nonzero (The Wright Show)
Demis Hassabis and the Quest for AGI
Robert Wright and Sebastian Mallaby—author of The Infinity Machine, a biography of Google’s Demis Hassabis—discuss what drew Hassabis to the AI field, what sets him apart from Dario and Sam, and whether it’s possible to build AI responsibly in the middle of an arms race.
Nonzero (The Wright Show)
Trump’s New War on Iran
Hooman Majd—journalist, author, and Iran analyst—joins Robert Wright to discuss Trump’s turn to economic warfare against Iran. Plus: MSM’s MOU misunderstanding; the 1979 hostage crisis as guide to Tehran’s thinking; and, in Overtime, the (alleged) US-Israeli plan to install Ahmadinejad.
Nonzero (The Wright Show)
The AI Safety Vibe Shift
David Krueger, founder of AI safety nonprofit Evitable, joins Robert Wright to discuss the OpenAI breakout and other recent AI developments—and how they’ve impacted prospects for an AI slowdown. Plus: Why two AI godfathers went doomer, the hard problem of alignment, and the Darwinian dynamics of agentic cooperation.
Nonzero (The Wright Show)
Is (Human) Writing Doomed?
Robert Wright and psychologist Paul Bloom discuss whether AI is killing the art of writing—and the thinking that goes with it. Overtime: Paul on Jonathan Haidt, Bob’s brush with Hollywood, and the word(s) you can’t say.
Nonzero (The Wright Show)
Trump’s Unending War
Curt Mills and Andrew Day of The American Conservative join Robert Wright to discuss the state of the Iran war—how negotiations have been unfolding (and unraveling), what the war is doing to the MAGA coalition, and how the war could reshape the Middle East.
Nonzero (The Wright Show)
Ukraine, Iran, and America’s Arms Overreach
Robert Wright and Jennifer Kavanagh, director of military analysis at Defense Priorities, discuss links between the two wars—including how the Iran conflict has left Ukraine more vulnerable to Russian strikes—and what all this means for the future of American power.
Nonzero (The Wright Show)
Fasten Your Bot-belts
Samuel Hammond of the Foundation for American Innovation joins Robert Wright to discuss the “Pacing the Frontier” letter in the context of the OpenAI “rogue” model escape and other signs of AI acceleration. Overtime: Sam and Bob debate the functionalist case for AI consciousness.
Nonzero (The Wright Show)
The intensifying slow-AI-down vibe
Robert Wright and Holly Elmore, executive director of PauseAI US, discuss the recent letter signed by AI elites urging the US government to prepare the ground for a possible international slowdown of AI. What the letter actually calls for, what it doesn’t, and whether it marks a real shift.
Nonzero (The Wright Show)
Are the Ukraine and the Iran Wars Merging?
