Dwarkesh Podcast

Garett Jones — Immigration, national IQ, & less democracy

Lars Doucet — Progress, poverty, Georgism, & why rent is too damn high

Holden Karnofsky — History's most important century

Bethany McLean — Enron, FTX, 2008, Musk, frauds, & visionaries

Corporate fraud is rarely the result of calculated malice; rather, it stems from profound self-delusion where leaders rationalize unethical behavior as necessary for a greater vision. The boundary between a visionary and a fraudster is porous, often distinguished only by the ability to secure continued funding during c...

Nadia Asparouhova — Tech elites, democracy, open source, & philanthropy

Elite power in the technology sector is shifting from traditional institutional models to decentralized, individual-led movements. Meritocratic tech elites, unlike their aristocratic or Davos-based counterparts, increasingly bypass legacy institutions, favoring direct influence through independent media and targeted pa...

Byrne Hobart - FTX, Drugs, Twitter, Taiwan, & Monasticism

Edward Glaeser - Cities, Terrorism, Housing, & Remote Work

Kenneth T. Jackson - Robert Moses, Hero of New York?

Brian Potter - Future of Construction, Ugly Modernism, & Environmental Review

The construction industry remains slow to industrialize because it is a project-based, highly coupled system where every component affects the others, preventing the modularity seen in software or manufacturing. Unlike software, where code can be scaled infinitely at zero marginal cost, construction requires on-site as...

Bryan Caplan - Feminists, Billionaires, and Demagogues

Tyler Cowen - Talent, Collapse, & Pessimism of Sex

Charles C. Mann - Americas Before Columbus & Scientific Wizardry

Austin Vernon - Energy Superabundance, Starship Missiles, & Finding Alpha

Steve Hsu - Intelligence, Embryo Selection, & The Future of Humanity

Human trait prediction and embryo selection are rapidly evolving through the application of machine learning to vast genomic datasets. Theoretical physicist Steve Hsu explains that the genetic architecture of complex human traits is largely additive and modular, enabling the development of polygenic risk scores that id...

Will MacAskill - Longtermism, Altruism, History, & Technology

Moral and technological progress are not inevitable outcomes of history but are instead shaped by significant contingencies and human choices. William MacAskill, co-founder of the Effective Altruist movement, examines the fragility of current moral values and the necessity of "long reflection" to ensure future generati...

Joseph Carlsmith - Utopia, AI, & Infinite Ethics

Joe Carl Smith, a researcher at Open Philanthropy and doctoral student at Oxford, examines the philosophical foundations of long-termism and existential risk. The discussion centers on the potential for a radically better future, or "Utopia," and the necessity of navigating the risks associated with advanced AI. Smith ...

Fin Moorhouse - Longtermism, Space, & Entrepreneurship

Effective altruism (EA) functions as an anti-fragile movement by actively incentivizing internal criticism and prioritizing long-term, scalable impact. Fin Moorhouse, a research scholar at the Future of Humanity Institute, explains that fostering a culture of public self-correction prevents ideological ossification and...

Alexander Mikaberidze - Napoleon, War, Progress, and Global Order

The Napoleonic Wars fundamentally reshaped global political and economic landscapes, extending far beyond European borders to influence the trajectory of India, the Americas, and the modern nation-state. Historian Alexander Mikaberidze argues that the era served as a catalyst for modernity, introducing centralized admi...

Sam Bankman-Fried - Crypto, Altruism, and Leadership

Effective altruism and the operational realities of scaling high-impact organizations define the career trajectory of FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried. Prioritizing high-variance, altruistically motivated career paths over safe, traditional roles allows individuals to maximize their positive influence on the world. Building s...

Agustin Lebron - Trading, Crypto, and Adverse Selection

Trading principles, particularly the management of adverse selection and risk, provide a robust framework for navigating hiring, software engineering, and organizational strategy. Augustin Lebron, author of The Laws of Trading, argues that firms often fail by prioritizing legible skills over raw potential and "G" intel...