The Wright Show (audio)

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:28 Annelle’s Middle East bona fides 2:18 The state of play in Iran 7:37 A deepening fissure between Gulf Arab states 21:28 Explaining the Trump-Biden continuity on Middle East policy 26:08 Will the Middle East realign away from America? 34:09 Turkey and the moral hazard of US aid to Israel 39:23 Can Iran mend ties with the Gulf states? 47:03 Heading to OvertimeRobert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Annelle Sheline (The Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft). Recorded May 07, 2026. Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:28 Bob’s big personal news 3:37 The US counter-blockade backfires 10:20 Iran retains escalation dominance 16:19 Why the Iranian regime is built to absorb assassinations 22:39 “Donald, it’s too late for that.” Bob says Trump has to take the L 25:27 Putin’s Victory Day ceasefire (with a threat) 28:25 Russia’s vibe shift: drone attacks, airport shutdowns, Internet blackouts 32:05 Instagram influencer rants at the Tsar 39:00 Siloviki vs. civilian elites 48:12 Heading to Overtime: The Matrix, AI, DMT, interdimensional crocodilesRobert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Nikita Petrov (https://psychopolitica.substack.com). Recorded May 05, 2026. Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:28 How powerful is Anthropic’s Mythos? 7:16 How Mythos looks to China 9:40 Does Mythos mark a new phase in the US-China arms race? 20:45 Can Anthropic contain Mythos? 26:16 Could superhacker AIs bring cooperation? 37:41 How scary is China, really? 45:45 Heading to OvertimeRobert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Lennart Heim (Stealth). Recorded April 29, 2026. Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:28 Rebecca’s past work on mind and matter(ing) 3:48 Rebecca’s new book, The Mattering Instinct 8:24 Varieties of mattering experience 15:08 Mattering type 1: Heroic Strivers 18:29 Mattering type 2: Socializers 26:20 Mattering type 3: Transcenders 30:37 Mattering type 4: Competitors 40:08 “The” meaning of life problem 43:19 Does what drives us divide us? 49:24 Heading to OvertimeRobert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Rebecca Newberger Goldstein (The Mind-Body Problem, Plato at the Googleplex, Betraying Spinoza, The Mattering Instinct). Recorded April 27, 2026. Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:28 Paul’s new baby is reportedly cute 6:34 The Tucker-Trump fracture 11:56 Parenting later in life 19:16 Paul’s TED talk on AI and loneliness 25:05 When does embryo screening become eugenics? 33:53 Is intelligence a positional good? 42:40 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 April 22, 2026. Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:28 Rob’s role in the Obama nuclear deal 2:07 A deal that could work for both Trump and Iran 12:34 Iran’s security “guarantee” problem 20:02 Bob: If I were Iran, I would say… 25:00 What Obama’s negotiators had that Trump’s don’t 29:50 How unified is the Iranian side? 38:08 Is Iran’s Hormuz leverage running dry? 41:28 Heading to Overtime Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Robert Malley (Yale - Jackson School of Global Affairs, Tomorrow is Yesterday). Recorded April 21, 2026.Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:24 Trump’s Middle East chaos continues 5:34 Is Iran more about America’s hegemony or Israel’s? 12:52 Who will win the Hormuz blockade duel? 22:41 Ukraine, China, and the drone wars 27:28 America’s “emergency” emergency 31:41 Is an Iran peace deal possible? 43:04 Overtime preview: The Anthropic Mythos scareRobert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True), Derek Davison (Foreign Exchanges, American Prestige, Discontents), and Daniel Bessner (American Prestige, University of Washington). Recorded April 16, 2026. Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org2:35 Trump’s Iran blockade breaks the ceasefire 6:04 A Chinese tanker calls Trump’s bluff 10:50 Bob’s case for an Iranian “tollgate” 16:07 Anthropic’s Mythos model is too dangerous to release 23:27 Nikita’s big idea: AI as world peace mediator 39:39 Heading to OvertimeRobert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Nikita Petrov (https://psychopolitica.substack.com). Recorded April 14, 2026.Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:24 A brief message from Bob 3:50 Shakeel’s newsletter, Transformer, and its mission 7:41 The case(s) against Sam Altman 13:23 OpenAI President Greg Brockman’s political spending 17:40 The founding doctrines of the leading AI labs 23:36 The singleton and the singularity 28:24 How market forces overwhelm good intentions 33:00 Is the singularity near? 41:55 Sam vs. Dario vs. Demis 46:39 Heading into OvertimeRobert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True), Shakeel Hashim (Transformer). Recorded April 7, 2026. Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:28 Bob and Eli’s history of (civil) disagreement on Iran 2:02 Is Trump’s war on Iran legal? Does it matter? 8:11 Who’s the real rogue state? 19:26 Israel’s nukes and Iran’s nuclear program 30:05 Is Israel more moral than Iran? 38:45 How Hamas became Hamas 46:04 “Proxy,” “theocracy,” and other fighting words 54:44 Heading to OvertimeRobert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True), Eli Lake (The Free Press, Breaking History, The Re-Education). Recorded April 6, 2026.Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:28 Would America benefit from Iran “winning”? 3:34 Trump’s last exit ramp? 13:20 What’s China’s angle on the war? 17:35 Trump: psychoanalyzed 20:46 Israel: psychoanalyzed 25:15 Iran’s plans for the Strait of Hormuz 30:51 Is this Trump’s biggest blunder? 40:49 The intra-MAGA war over Iran (and Israel) 53:48 Where are the Democrats? 59:49 Antisemitism, alleged and real 1:06:14 Heading to OvertimeRobert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True), Curt Mills (The American Conservative), Andrew Day (The American Conservative). Recorded March 31, 2026.Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:28 Defining (and preventing) superintelligence 6:00 Where the nuclear analogy holds (and where it breaks) 10:38 Imagining an AI inspections regime 14:56 The superintelligence precursors to watch for 18:41 Our dangerous lack of government oversight 25:59 ControlAI’s “bottom-up” approach to AI policy 30:14 The mounting geopolitical challenges to AI governance 47:18 Heading into OvertimeRobert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Andrea Miotti (Control AI). Recorded March 17, 2026. Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:00 Teaser 1:00 Holy Week in Andalusia, and the Christian cross as branding 6:18 Why Bob is skeptical of Trump's diplomacy 10:37 Trump's hand got weaker and he doesn't even know it 13:39 Killing Iran's navy chief won't reopen the Strait of Hormuz 16:43 Nikita: "I find him weirdly persuasive on a hypnotist kind of level" 19:54 The Iran war's secret winner: Vladimir Putin 24:17 Bob checked back into AI podcasts and came out scared 29:23 "Every time I see tribalism on parade, I think: we're toast on AI" 35:13 Russia's Internet shutdowns 47:03 Heading to OvertimeRobert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Nikita Petrov (https://psychopolitica.substack.com). Recorded March 26, 2026. Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:28 What (or who) is the Iran war for? 13:00 Joe Kent and the MAGA rift over Israel 24:03 Does antisemitism speech policing foment antisemitism? 38:58 What Ron’s Substack has that others don’t 43:59 Heading to OvertimeRobert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Ron Kampeas (https://ronkampeas.substack.com, Jewish Telegraphic Agency). Recorded March 24, 2026. Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:28 Overtime preview: a civil(-ish) debate on Israel-Palestine 3:46 How vibe-coding changed Liron’s life 9:23 Portents of the AI jobpocalypse 18:20 What can humans do that AI agents can’t? 27:28 The Darwinian case for AI doom 30:50 OpenClaw vs SkyNet 37:12 Liron: I love AI! We need to stop it. 43:51 Amodei, Altman, and the Pentagon triangle 52:28 Heading to Overtime Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Liron Shapira (Pause AI, Doom Debates). Recorded March 10, 2026.Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:28 Is Iran inflicting much damage on Israel? 9:26 Iran has a strategy. Does America? Does Israel? 17:35 Where Trump and Bibi differ 23:41 Why Daniel is no longer a Zionist 30:06 Bibi vs the Israeli security establishment 34:35 The Gulf States’ dilemma 45:24 Daniel on Bibi’s true endgame 49:56 Heading to OvertimeRobert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Daniel Levy (Prospects for Peace, NAF, The Century Foundation). Recorded March 16, 2026. Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:28 How we got here 10:18 Understanding Iran’s strategy and goals 15:38 Turkey, Europe, and the Gulf States 18:38 Will the Iranian regime survive? 20:24 The specious leadership of Reza Pahlavi 26:23 The many missed opportunities for US-Iran entente 39:05 Heading to OvertimeRobert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Hooman Majd (Minister Without Portfolio, The Ayatollahs' Democracy). Recorded March 11, 2026. Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:28 Will the Iran war supercharge antisemitism? 8:49 Varieties of Israeli-Jewish conflation 14:23 The Epstein effect 16:08 Tucker v. Israel vs Fuentes v. Israel 23:14 Does MSM have a pro-Israel bias? 27:14 The ADL’s counterproductive speech policing 34:58 Heading to OvertimeRobert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Peter Beinart (Jewish Currents, CUNY, https://peterbeinart.substack.com/). Recorded March 09, 2026. Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:00 Marco Rubio’s Israel faux pas 3:28 What are Trump’s new goalposts? 10:23 The regime after Khamenei 14:36 Can a regime be changed by air strikes alone? 20:49 Will Turkey be drawn in? 25:18 The logic of Iran’s response 31:32 The pathetic European (and Canadian) response 34:58 Heading into OvertimeRobert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True), Derek Davison (Foreign Exchanges, American Prestige, Discontents), and Daniel Bessner (American Prestige, University of Washington). Recorded March 05, 2026.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.nonzero.org0:28 Spain: the one country that got it right 1:56 When US rhetoric starts sounding like the Kremlin 3:07 Nukes, regime change, military threat—pick one 4:05 Rubio’s “ridiculous” explanation for attacking Iran 5:20 Iran’s restraint: from Soleimani to Khamenei 9:55 Trump had leverage over Bibi. He didn’t use it. 12:22 Is this Israel’s war or America’s? 14:40 Tommy Vietor goes after the ADL—a political first 19:30 How fear sells papers and starts wars 24:33 The nuclear deal: the last thing America got right 25:04 Nikita: Trump’s dopamine addiction to “starting s**t” 29:19 How the Iran strike buried the Anthropic story 37:59 Does Israel want a stable Middle East? 39:35 Heading to OvertimeRobert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Nikita Petrov (https://psychopolitica.substack.com). Recorded March 03, 2026. Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods