20 March 2025
Does God Exist?
New York Times columnist Ross Douthat, author of the new book Believe, lays out his case for an affirmative answer to Robert Wright.
Play entire video
In this video:
- Ross’s new book, Believe: Why Everyone Should Be Religious
- An argument for cosmic purpose
- The mysterious persistence of weird shit
- Does human consciousness point to something bigger?
- Tensions between science and Christian orthodoxy
- A few more words about consciousness
- A few more words about weirdness
- Why doesn’t the weirdness show up in controlled studies?
- Heading to Overtime
Canada, Tesla, and Other Trump-Musk Troubles
Robert Wright and psychologist Paul Bloom discuss Trump vs. Canada updates, Elon’s Tesla problem, Trump’s free speech crackdown, how elite universities are reacting—or failing to—and more.
50 Days of Trump 2.0
Eric Levitz of Vox and Robert Wright discuss Elon’s ups and downs (and his darkly weird grandfather); tariff chaos; worthwhile Canadian backlash; free speech threats; oligarchic milestones; and more.
Trump’s Disruptive Foreign Policy
Robert Wright and American Prestige podcast hosts Derek Davison and Daniel Bessner look for upsides of Trump’s foreign policy—and also find downsides for Gaza, Ukraine, and America.
Mutually Assured AI Malfunction
Robert Wright and Dan Hendrycks, co-author of the new paper “Superintelligence Strategy,” discuss the risks of a race toward superpowerful AI—including how it could fuel US-China conflict.
How to Slash the Pentagon Budget
Julia Gledhill explains how to cut $60 billion in military spending this year, in a conversation with Connor Echols.
Trump 2.0 and the Law
Robert Wright and legal scholar Jack Goldsmith discuss the Pentagon and DOJ purges, the Musk chaos, the coming SCOTUS test of “unitary executive theory,” the role of laws and norms in sustaining democracy, and more.
Interpreting AI’s Acceleration
Robert Wright and Nora Belrose of EleutherAI discuss the pace of AI development and its impacts. Plus: how chain-of-thought works, AI “thinking” vs human thinking, how near we are to singularity, and more.
The Perils of a New Cold War
Connor Echols and Van Jackson, co-author of The Rivalry Peril, discuss the US-China “cold war”—its origins, its consequences, how it echoes the mistakes of the first Cold War, and more.
Nonzero (The Wright Show)
Trump 2.0: Making “autarkic imperialism” great again?
Jeet Heer of The Nation and Robert Wright discuss the ideological roots of Trumpism, from William McKinley through Pat Buchanan and beyond.
Nonzero (The Wright Show)
Another DeepSeek Moment?
Connor Echols and Robert Wright break down the Manus AI mania and also discuss the Columbia free speech case, Trump’s Russia-Ukraine strategy, and more.
Nonzero (The Wright Show)
Trump vs. Zelensky: The Morning After
Robert Wright and Andrew Day discuss the Oval Office fracas and its implications for Ukraine and Europe.
Nonzero (The Wright Show)
Hockey, Trump, and Other US-Canada Issues
Robert Wright and psychologist Paul Bloom discuss whether Trump represents America, Canada’s worthwhile anti-Elon initiative, a “fix” for hockey fights, the essence of James Bond, and more.
Nonzero (The Wright Show)
Trump: Peacemaker or Chaos Agent?
Connor Echols and Robert Wright discuss the president’s big, complicated week on Ukraine—and what it could signal for the future of US foreign policy. Plus: The latest on Musk’s whirlwind makeover of Washington.
Nonzero (The Wright Show)
Canada vs Trump, OpenAI vs Google (and Musk)
