Podcasts about nonzero

The bi-monthly collaboration between AP and Nonzero Newsletter continues! Our dear paid subscribers also get access to the additional "Overtime" conversation and a discounted membership to Nonzero, so ⁠subscribe now for that and much more content⁠! Part One Video 0:00 The week's major international stories2:58 Trump's approach to everything8:40 The Houthi deal11:23 Trump's Middle East trip and Gaza15:26 India-Pakistan conflict19:58 Media coverage of Trump 2.023:46 Trump's biggest Jan 6 transgression30:15 Is the Republic at stake?31:20 Heading into overtime Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jon and Ben discuss the highlights of the 1.79 and 1.80 releases of Rust. Contributing to Rustacean Station Rustacean Station is a community project; get in touch with us if you'd like to suggest an idea for an episode or offer your services as a host or audio editor! Twitter: @rustaceanfm Discord: Rustacean Station Github: @rustacean-station Email: hello@rustacean-station.org Timestamps & referenced resources [@01:02] - Rust 1.79 [@01:02] - Inline const expressions [@08:33] - Bounds in associated type position [@14:11] - Extending automatic temporary lifetime extension Mara's blog post on temporary lifetimes [@21:55] - Frame pointers enabled in standard library builds Does omitting the frame pointer really affect performance? [@25:37] - Stabilized APIs [@25:37] - {integer}::unchecked_add [@27:39] - ::len [@29:21] - ::utf8_chunks [@31:21] - CStr::count_bytes [@32:41] - num::NonZero [@36:30] - io::Error::downcast [@36:50] - path::absolute [@38:18] - Changelog deep-dive [@38:31] - Stabilize WASM target features that are in phase 4 and 5 [@39:15] - Document overrides of clone_from() in core/std [@41:46] - Switch to using gitoxide by default for listing files in cargo [@43:03] - Stabilize lint unnameable_types [@44:46] - manual_clamp lint [@45:46] - Rust 1.80 [@46:09] - LazyCell and LazyLock [@53:42] - Checked cfg names and values Detailed blog post on checked cfg [@56:41] - Exclusive ranges in patterns [@58:52] - Stabilized APIs [@59:05] - Vec::::into_flattened ::as_flattened [@1:00:31] - ::trim_ascii [@1:02:06] - NonNull::add and other ptr-like methods [@1:03:41] - impl IntoIterator for Box [@1:05:46] - Option::take_if [@1:07:30] - Ipv4Addr::to_bits [@1:09:10] - Changelog deep-dive [@1:09:25] - x86_64-unknown-linux-none [@1:11:07] - Add size_of and align_of to the prelude [@1:12:34] - Never type fallback flowing into unsafe [@1:17:29] - New panics and aborts in the standard library Abort when OwnedFd is violated Panic if set_extension adds / [@1:20:28] - Restore enum variants in rustdoc for type aliases [@1:21:12] - Change assigning_clones lint to pedantic [@1:22:15] - Turn lints into hard errors [@1:22:49] - env::set_var regression [@1:24:34] - StdoutLock regression [@1:26:00] - Rust 1.80.1 Fixes miscompilation when comparing floats and false positives in the dead_code lint. Credits Intro Theme: Aerocity Audio Editing: Jon Gjengset Hosting Infrastructure: Jon Gjengset Show Notes: Jon Gjengset Hosts: Jon Gjengset and Ben Striegel

Audio of the livestream titled “The Psychopolitics of the Noosphere,” the first installment in an ongoing—and evolving—collaboration between Nonzero and Psychopolitica. ...

Audio of the livestream titled “The Psychopolitics of the Noosphere,” the first installment in an ongoing—and evolving—collaboration between Nonzero and Psychopolitica. ...

The bi-monthly collaboration between AP and Nonzero Newsletter continues! Our dear paid subscribers also get access to the additional "Overtime" conversation and a discounted membership to Nonzero, so subscribe now for that and much more content! Video 0:00 What could go right with Trump's foreign policy? 7:47 Trump's Bibi-pleasing Middle East path   13:25 How would Europe-led defence of Europe work? 15:31 What most miss about the Oval Office blowup 19:20 Has relying on America doomed Ukraine? 26:29 Heading to Overtime Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tim's got a new podcast, and NonZero is hiring ... Is large language model progress reaching a plateau? ... Some shortcomings of AI today ... Human cognition compared to AI ... The impressive progress of "multimodal" AI ... Heading to Overtime ...

Tim's got a new podcast, and NonZero is hiring ... Is large language model progress reaching a plateau? ... Some shortcomings of AI today ... Human cognition compared to AI ... The impressive progress of "multimodal" AI ... Heading to Overtime ...

The bi-monthly collaboration between AP and Nonzero Newsletter continues! Our dear paid subscribers also get access to the additional "Overtime" conversation and a discounted membership to Nonzero, so subscribe now for that and much more content! Video 0:00 The NonZero-American Prestige punk-rock crossover continues 1:49 Is it time to freak out about Trump? 9:06 Are international norms eroding? 21:16 Jimmy Carter's legacy 28:38 Heading to Overtime Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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In this episode of The Cognitive Revolution, Nathan explores the complex intersection of AI development and international relations with Robert Wright, publisher of the Nonzero Newsletter. They examine the growing militarization of AI, US-China relations, and the concerning trajectory of what Wright calls "the chip war." Drawing from Nathan's recent experience at The Curve conference and an AI wargame simulation, they discuss the risks of an AI arms race and search for alternative paths to avoid catastrophic conflict between global powers. Join us for this crucial conversation about the future of AI governance and international cooperation. Subscribe to The NonZero Newsletter at https://nonzero.substack.com Be notified early when Turpentine's drops new publication: https://www.turpentine.co/exclusiveaccess RECOMMENDED PODCAST: Unpack Pricing - Dive into the dark arts of SaaS pricing with Metronome CEO Scott Woody and tech leaders. Learn how strategic pricing drives explosive revenue growth in today's biggest companies like Snowflake, Cockroach Labs, Dropbox and more. Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id1765716600 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/38DK3W1Fq1xxQalhDSueFg SPONSORS: Notion: Notion offers powerful workflow and automation templates, perfect for streamlining processes and laying the groundwork for AI-driven automation. With Notion AI, you can search across thousands of documents from various platforms, generating highly relevant analysis and content tailored just for you - try it for free at https://notion.com/cognitiverevolution 80,000 Hours: 80,000 Hours offers free one-on-one career advising for Cognitive Revolution listeners aiming to tackle global challenges, especially in AI. They connect high-potential individuals with experts, opportunities, and personalized career plans to maximize positive impact. Apply for a free call at https://80000hours.org/cognitiverevolution to accelerate your career and contribute to solving pressing AI-related issues. SelectQuote: Finding the right life insurance shouldn't be another task you put off. SelectQuote compares top-rated policies to get you the best coverage at the right price. Even in our AI-driven world, protecting your family's future remains essential. Get your personalized quote at https://selectquote.com/cognitive Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI): Oracle's next-generation cloud platform delivers blazing-fast AI and ML performance with 50% less for compute and 80% less for outbound networking compared to other cloud providers13. OCI powers industry leaders with secure infrastructure and application development capabilities. New U.S. customers can get their cloud bill cut in half by switching to OCI before December 31, 2024 at https://oracle.com/cognitive CHAPTERS: (00:00:00) Teaser (00:00:59) Sponsors: Incogni (00:02:20) About the Episode (00:05:56) Introducing AI2 (00:09:56) Tulu: Deep Dive (Part 1) (00:17:43) Sponsors: Notion | Shopify (00:20:38) Open vs. Closed Recipes (00:29:48) Compute & Value (Part 1) (00:34:22) Sponsors: Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) | 80,000 Hours (00:37:02) Compute & Value (Part 2) (00:42:41) Model Weight Evolution (00:53:16) DPO vs. PPO (01:06:36) Project Trajectory (01:20:39) Synthetic Data & LLM Judge (01:27:39) Verifiable RL (01:38:17) Advice for Practitioners (01:44:01) Open Source vs. Closed (01:49:18) Outro SOCIAL LINKS: Website: https://www.cognitiverevolution.ai Twitter (Podcast): https://x.com/cogrev_podcast Twitter (Nathan): https://x.com/labenz LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathanlabenz/ Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@CognitiveRevolutionPodcast

How do Americans overcome political polarization? Is not having a monolithic Latino or Black vote good for America? What are some benefits and drawbacks to a Trump presidency? Zachary and Emma speak with Robert Wright, author of "Why Buddhism is True” and host of the podcast and newsletter "NonZero.” They discuss Trump's possible impact and strategies, and the potential implications for U.S. relations with China and Iran. What Could Go Right? is produced by The Progress Network and The Podglomerate. For transcripts, to join the newsletter, and for more information, visit: theprogressnetwork.org Watch the podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/theprogressnetwork And follow us on X, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok: @progressntwrk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's another edition of the bi-monthly collaboration between AP and Nonzero Newsletter continues! For the full version of this episode, subscribe now at Supporting Cast, where you'll also get a discounted subscription for Nonzero Newsletter! Part one video 0:00 Another high-synergy, brilliant collaboration 1:15 Is Elon our first true oligarch?  9:57 Trump assembles his Justice League of hawks 16:29 Biden's awful foreign policy team 21:25 Trump's plan to purge the military  33:06 Will Trump go full-on authoritarian? 40:21 Left-wing capitalists—and a discount offer

Mike and Rico discuss MSU football and if there's a chance Jonathan Smith can lead them to success in his first season as head coach.

This week, we discuss public transit, biking, Industry season 3, Emily In Paris season 4, fine dining, the DNC, Robert Wright's Nonzero podcast, the Lions Led by Donkeys coverage of the "merchant of death" Viktor Bout, and finish our conversation about the main characters of the Paris Olympics.

In this episode, I am joined by one of my favorite scholars in the public square, Robert Wright, the editor of the Nonzero Newsletter. This is a captivating discussion about artificial intelligence, consciousness, and the future of humanity. We explore Wright's extensive work, including 'Nonzero,' 'The Evolution of God,' and 'Why Buddhism is True,' while delving into the intersections of science, religion, and philosophy. Discover the implications of AI for humanity, the critical role of international cooperation in technology governance, and the moral and spiritual dimensions needed to navigate rapid technological changes. The conversation also addresses the complexities of sentience, cognitive empathy, and the evolutionary drives in AI, with insights from philosophers like Teilhard de Chardin and Alfred North Whitehead. Robert Wright is president of The Nonzero Foundation. He is the author, most recently, of Why Buddhism Is True. His previous book, The Evolution of God (2009), was a New York Times bestseller and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. His other books include The Moral Animal, Nonzero, and Three Scientists and Their Gods. He has written for Time, Slate, The Atlantic, The New Yorker, The New Republic, The New York Times Magazine, Foreign Policy, and the op-ed pages of The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Financial Times. In 2009 Foreign Policy magazine named him as one of the top 100 global thinkers. He has taught courses in philosophy and religion at Princeton and the University of Pennsylvania. He is Visiting Professor of Science and Religion at Union Theological Seminary in New York, and is editor-in-chief of the websites Bloggingheads.tv and MeaningofLife.tv. WATCH the conversation on YouTube Previous Episodes with Robert Wright From Mindful Resistance to the New Agnosticism The Evolution of God _____________________ Join my Substack - Process This! Join our upcoming class - THE GOD OF THE BIBLE: An Absolutely Clear and Final Guide to Ultimate Mystery ;) Come to THEOLOGY BEER CAMP. Follow the podcast, drop a review, send feedback/questions or become a member of the HBC Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this special crossover episode of The Cognitive Revolution, Nathan Labenz joins Robert Wright of the Nonzero newsletter and podcast to explore pressing questions about AI development. They discuss the nature of understanding in large language models, multimodal AI systems, reasoning capabilities, and the potential for AI to accelerate scientific discovery. The conversation also covers AI interpretability, ethics, open-sourcing models, and the implications of US-China relations on AI development. Subscribe to The Nonzero Newsletter at https://nonzero.substack.com and Podcast at https://www.youtube.com/@Nonzero/videos Apply to join over 400 founders and execs in the Turpentine Network: https://hmplogxqz0y.typeform.com/to/JCkphVqj RECOMMENDED PODCAST: History 102 Every week, creator of WhatifAltHist Rudyard Lynch and Erik Torenberg cover a major topic in history in depth -- in under an hour. This season will cover classical Greece, early America, the Vikings, medieval Islam, ancient China, the fall of the Roman Empire, and more.Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/36Kqo3BMMUBGTDo1IEYihm Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/history-102-with-whatifalthists-rudyard-lynch-and/id1730633913 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@History102-qg5oj SPONSORS: Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) is a single platform for your infrastructure, database, application development, and AI needs. OCI has four to eight times the bandwidth of other clouds; offers one consistent price, and nobody does data better than Oracle. If you want to do more and spend less, take a free test drive of OCI at https://oracle.com/cognitive The Brave search API can be used to assemble a data set to train your AI models and help with retrieval augmentation at the time of inference. All while remaining affordable with developer first pricing, integrating the Brave search API into your workflow translates to more ethical data sourcing and more human representative data sets. Try the Brave search API for free for up to 2000 queries per month at https://bit.ly/BraveTCR Omneky is an omnichannel creative generation platform that lets you launch hundreds of thousands of ad iterations that actually work customized across all platforms, with a click of a button. Omneky combines generative AI and real-time advertising data. Mention "Cog Rev" for 10% off https://www.omneky.com/ Head to Squad to access global engineering without the headache and at a fraction of the cost: head to https://choosesquad.com/ and mention “Turpentine” to skip the waitlist. CHAPTERS: (00:00:00) About the Show (00:00:22) About the Episode (00:03:39) Introduction and Background (00:06:58) AI Capabilities and Understanding (00:12:22) Discussing Martin Casado's Views (Part 1) (00:14:44) Sponsors: Oracle | Brave (00:16:48) Discussing Martin Casado's Views (Part 2) (00:21:51) Multimodal AI and Concept Representation (Part 1) (00:31:40) Sponsors: Omneky | Squad (00:33:26) Multimodal AI and Concept Representation (Part 2) (00:38:05) AI's Potential and Limitations (00:45:35) AI Safety and Risk Assessment (00:53:31) AI Development and Global Implications (01:03:30) Open Source AI and International Relations (01:11:27) AI Ethics and Human Values (01:22:06) AI Risk and Existential Threats (01:31:21) Open Source AI Concerns (01:38:20) China-US AI Relations (01:48:36) State Space Models in AI (02:02:32) Conclusion and Recommendations (02:03:54) Outro --- SOCIAL LINKS: Website : https://www.cognitiverevolution.ai Twitter (Podcast) : https://x.com/cogrev_podcast Twitter (Nathan) : https://x.com/labenz

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.americanprestigepod.comThe bi-monthly collaboration between AP and Nonzero Newsletter continues! Paid subscribers get a discounted membership to Nonzero— just scroll below the paywall near the bottom of the description, where you'll also find the video for the Overtime segment.0:00 The Nonzero-American Prestige all-star team1:49 Why didn't the Trump shooting matter more?6:52 What anti-Trump historians get wrong17:41 Why Kamala shouldn't demonize Trump29:35 Heading to Overtime—and a discount deal

Mickey makes his (iconic) return to Nonzero! ... Did Trump blow his RNC acceptance speech? ... The escalating Democratic civil war over Biden ... Trump vs Biden (vs Josh Shapiro) on national unity ... Drafting the ideal Dem electoral strategy ... J.D. Vance: paradox or phony? ... Is Trump the lesser evil on foreign policy? ... Has Mickey felt the “vibe shift”? ... The Parrot Room's reputation precedes it ...

Mickey makes his (iconic) return to Nonzero! ... Did Trump blow his RNC acceptance speech? ... The escalating Democratic civil war over Biden ... Trump vs Biden (vs Josh Shapiro) on national unity ... Drafting the ideal Dem electoral strategy ... J.D. Vance: paradox or phony? ... Is Trump the lesser evil on foreign policy? ... Has Mickey felt the “vibe shift”? ... The Parrot Room's reputation precedes it ...

Peter & Kasia are joined by author and journalist Robert Wright. Robert Wright is the New York Times bestselling author of The Evolution of God (a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize), Nonzero, The Moral Animal, Three Scientists and their Gods, and Why Buddhism Is True. The discussion delves into the evolutionary explanations for altruism and sympathy, and how human sexual psychology impacts societal norms. The role of technology and non-zero-sum interactions in human history is explored, alongside the ethical challenges posed by artificial intelligence. Robert discusses moral realism, and the concept of being judged by a higher power.Keep up to date with Peter!Website: www.petersinger.infoSubstack: https://boldreasoningwithpetersinger.substack.com/YouTube: www.youtube.com/@peter_singerKeep up to date with Kasia!https://www.facebook.com/katarzyna.delazariradek Executive Producer: Rachel BarrettSpecial Thanks to Suzi Jamil! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Writers of the Future 40 winners Lance Robinson ("Five Days Until Sunset"), Stephannie Tallent ("Live and Death and Love in the Bayou"), and Tom Vandermolen ("Nonzero") meet on the last day of the Writer Workshop Week (this being the second winner podcast) and we discuss their personal journeys and the value of the Contest to aspiring writers. We also discuss the value of the Contest to the military as two of the speakers are ex-military. Learn about each of them at: Lance Robinson - https://lancerobinsonwriter.com Stephannie Tallent - http://www.stephannietallent.com Tom Vandermolen - https://tomvandermolen.com

Bob re-enters reality ... Elon's X-rated horse-trading ... What do LLMs really say about the “blank slate” view of the mind? ... Bob challenges Paul to meditate—will Paul retreat? ... Have Bob's views changed since writing Nonzero? ... Paul's and Bob's (semi-compatible) views on free ... Heading to Overtime ...

Bob re-enters reality ... Elon's X-rated horse-trading ... What do LLMs really say about the “blank slate” view of the mind? ... Bob challenges Paul to meditate—will Paul retreat? ... Have Bob's views changed since writing Nonzero? ... Paul's and Bob's (semi-compatible) views on free ... Heading to Overtime ...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.americanprestigepod.comWe're back with the fifth episode of the collaboration between AP and Nonzero Newsletter! Paid subscribers get a discounted membership to Nonzero— just scroll below the paywall near the bottom of the description, where you'll also find the video for the Overtime segment.00:07 The Nonzero-American Prestige apocalypse aversion project1:29 Are Bob, Derek, and Danny surprised the Gaza war is still going on? 4:31 Biden's simple political calculus on Gaza 13:08 Would Trump greenlight the ethnic cleansing of Gaza?25:12 Israel's plan (or lack thereof) for post-war Gaza  31:49 Heading to Overtime

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.americanprestigepod.comWelcome the fourth episode of the collaboration between AP and Nonzero Newsletter! Paid subscribers get a discounted membership to Nonzero— just scroll below the paywall near the bottom of the description, where you'll also find the video for the Overtime segment.0:02 Derek and Danny stumble into Bob's Zoom room 1:01 Israel's doubly out-of-control week10:02 How Biden's Gaza failures will shape the Democratic Party24:32 Biden's political incentives on Israel-Palestine28:02 Heading to Overtime Nonzero Newsletter on Substack:Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

This is a cross-post of an interview Rob Wiblin did on Robert Wright's Nonzero podcast in January 2024. You can get access to full episodes of that show by subscribing to the Nonzero Newsletter. They talk about Sam Bankman-Fried, virtue ethics, the growing influence of longtermism, what role EA played in the OpenAI board drama, the culture of local effective altruism groups, where Rob thinks people get EA most seriously wrong, what Rob fears most about rogue AI, the double-edged sword of AI-empowered governments, and flattening the curve of AI's social disruption.And if you enjoy this, you could also check out episode 101 of The 80,000 Hours Podcast: Robert Wright on using cognitive empathy to save the world. 

Journalist and author Robert Wright invited EconTalk's Russ Roberts to his podcast, NonZero, to discuss the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, knowing that there would be plenty to disagree about. The two then agreed to release their back-and-forth on their respective podcasts. The result is a lively but respectful discussion that is more debate than the usual EconTalk episode. We hope there will still be much to learn from this slightly more combative than usual episode.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.americanprestigepod.comWelcome to the third installment of the collaboration between AP and Nonzero Newsletter! Paid subscribers get a discounted membership to Nonzero— just scroll below the paywall near the bottom of the description, where you'll also find the video for the Overtime segment.0:00 Another high-synergy collaborative episode1:14 Do mainstream Israelis support ethnic cleansing?10:28 Biden's electoral (mis?)calculations on Israel-Palestine 20:46 What does a left-wing foreign policy vision look like today? Nonzero Newsletter on Substack:Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.americanprestigepod.comWelcome to episode two of the collaboration between AP and Nonzero Newsletter! For those who missed the first one, we decided to join forces every couple of months and put out crossover episodes between the two projects. Paid subscribers get an extra 40 minutes of discussion plus a discounted membership to Nonzero— just scroll below the paywall near the bottom of the description, where you'll also find the video for the Overtime segment.Public video:  Title: The Gaza War and the Palestine Question0:00 A bold experiment in podcast synergy continues3:35 The dire humanitarian situation in Gaza9:51 Is full-on ethnic cleansing more likely than a political solution?19:21 If Biden loses in 2024, will elites rethink Israel-Palestine?29:23 The changing perception of Israel35:29 Heading to Overtime Subscribe to Nonzero on Substack:Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

Are you considering or struggling with replacing much of the interactivity of your Django app with frontend JavaScript frameworks? After all, your users do expect an interactive and modern app, right? Before you make a rash decision, you owe it to yourself to check out HTMX. It goes well with Django. We have Christopher Trudeau to run through a whole awesome list of HTMX and Python and tell us about his new HTMX + Django course. Links from the show Chris on ExTwitter: @cltrudeau Django in Action book: manning.com Django: djangoproject.com HTMX + Django course: talkpython.fm HTMX: htmx.org awesome-htmx: github.com awesome-python-htmx: github.com django-js-lib-htmx: github.com htmxflask: github.com fastapi-sse-htmx: github.com django-htmx-patterns: github.com jinja2-fragments: github.com jinja_partials: github.com chameleon_partials: github.com django-render-block: github.com flask-htmx: github.com htmx-flask: github.com asgi-htmx: github.com hx-requests: github.com django-dashboards: github.com A Real World React -> htmx Port: htmx.org 3 IRL use cases for Python and HTMX: bitecode.dev owela-club: github.com Watch this episode on YouTube: youtube.com Episode transcripts: talkpython.fm --- Stay in touch with us --- Subscribe to us on YouTube: youtube.com Follow Talk Python on Mastodon: talkpython Follow Michael on Mastodon: mkennedy Sponsors IRL Podcast Sentry Error Monitoring, Code TALKPYTHON Talk Python Training

Paul's humble new ventures with Substack and Nonzero ... Israel-Palestine, exploitative media, and the pitfalls of empathy ... Paul's plaudits for Mickey and the Parrot Room ... Elon Musk and Derek Parfit: compare and contrast ... Is there a method to Musk's mad genius? ... The radical rationalism that forged SBF ... How real is implicit bias? ... How real is SBF? ... Heading to Overtime ...

Paul's humble new ventures with Substack and Nonzero ... Israel-Palestine, exploitative media, and the pitfalls of empathy ... Paul's plaudits for Mickey and the Parrot Room ... Elon Musk and Derek Parfit: compare and contrast ... Is there a method to Musk's mad genius? ... The radical rationalism that forged SBF ... How real is implicit bias? ... How real is SBF? ... Heading to Overtime ...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.americanprestigepod.comWelcome to the first installment of a collaboration we're trying between AP and Nonzero Newsletter! Basically, we love the work of Bob and the team so much that we are going to periodically put out crossover episodes between the two projects. Paid subscribers get a discounted membership to Nonzero— just scroll below the paywall near the bottom of the description, where you'll also find the video for the Overtime segment. (0:05) Nonzero/American Prestige cocktail with a hybrid episode twist (1:55) Was Hamas's attack a predictable response to conditions in Gaza? (14:15) Did Biden's foreign policy make the attack more likely? (24:52) America's unstrategic Middle East strategy (30:07) Can anything good come out of the current crisis? (39:28) The Nonzero/American Prestige crossover arc (42:11) How to stay sane as a critic of US foreign policy (47:55) Biden vs Trump: Who's the lesser evil on foreign policy? (51:44) Strains within the restrainer coalition (57:09) Is there any hope left for international law? (1:06:51) Bob's pitch for (sober) AI alarmism (1:11:52) Heading to Overtime—and a special offer for listeners!Nonzero Newsletter on Substack: Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit nonzero.substack.com1:37 Azerbaijan attacks Nagorno-Karabakh 6:28 Preview of this week's Biden-Zelensky meeting in DC 16:26 Does the new technology of war favor defense? 24:26 Is Zelensky thinking clearly about Ukraine's military chances? 30:09 What Anatol learned from his discussions with wounded Ukrainian soldiers 36:34 If the US pushed for peace, would Putin be ready to make a deal? 48:08 Heading to OvertimeRobert Wright (Bloggingheads.tv, The Evolution of God, Nonzero, Why Buddhism Is True) and Anatol Lieven (The Quincy Institute). Recorded September 19, 2023.

2:38 Walter Isaacson's Elon-Ukraine walk-back 7:01 Debating Biden replacement theories 16:02 Bob's hurricane-induced bandwidth problems 20:03 Biden's age-induced bandwidth problems 30:48 Ukraine war update 40:48 Mitt Romney bows out 51:11 The smoke-filled room shortage 56:28 Parrot room preview: UAW strike; JFK assassination revelation; Where in the world is Tim Scott's girlfriend?; Poverty stat controversy; knives out for Noem; Bob's agent on Bob; Mickey's fashion cornerRobert Wright (Bloggingheads.tv, The Evolution of God, Nonzero, Why Buddhism Is True) and Mickey Kaus (kausfiles, The End of Equality). Recorded September 15, 2023.Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit nonzero.substack.com/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit nonzero.substack.com(Overtime segment available to paid subscribers below the paywall.)1:23 Almut's work as a feminist activist in the former Soviet Union 11:53 How economic anxiety helped tear Ukraine apart 23:12 The very complex coalition behind the Maidan Revolution 30:24 Could wiser European Union policy have averted the Russia-Ukraine conflict? 37:11 Queer feminists and the ultra-right in Ukraine 48:20 The nature of Ukrainian nationalism 59:12 Heading into OvertimeRobert Wright (Bloggingheads.tv, The Evolution of God, Nonzero, Why Buddhism Is True) and Almut Rochowanski (https://discomfortzone.substack.com/). Recorded September 12, 2023.Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

Subscribe to The Parrot Room at https://patreon.com/parrotroom0:42 Nikki Haley beats Biden in new poll 8:14 How big is Ukraine's military "breakthrough"? 15:35 Signs that Russia is ready for peace talks 26:49 Why are Americans feeling down on the economy? 33:52 DeSantis takes care of business in hurricane-wrecked Florida 41:06 Are the punishments for January 6 rioters too severe? 51:42 How much time is there for a formidable Democrat to challenge Biden for the nomination? 56:57 Bob and Mickey make big announcementRobert Wright (Bloggingheads.tv, The Evolution of God, Nonzero, Why Buddhism Is True) and Mickey Kaus (kausfiles, The End of Equality). Recorded September 08, 2023.Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit nonzero.substack.com/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit nonzero.substack.com(Overtime segment available to paid subscribers below the paywall.)0:33 Tim's article explaining large language models 03:23 Do LLMs reverse engineer the human mind? 11:24 GPT's mesmerizing emergent properties 17:43 The ‘T' in Chat-GPT 30:33 How AI models evolve during training 41:59 Human intelligence compared to artificial intelligence 49:10 Heading to OvertimeRobert Wright (Bloggingheads.tv, The Evolution of God, Nonzero, Why Buddhism Is True) and Timothy B. Lee (Full Stack Economics, Understanding AI). Recorded August 16, 2023.Tim's Substack newsletter: understandingAI.orgTwitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit nonzero.substack.comSeems like only last week I was saying there wouldn't be a Nonzero Newsletter sent out today, owing to the end-of-summer quasi-vacation granted to hard-working NZN staffers. And it's true that the Earthling, the weekend edition of NZN, is skipping this week and next. However, yesterday I had a conversation that was so timely and interesting that I figured I'd share some transcript excerpts—below—with NZN subscribers.The conversation is with Nikita Petrov, who left Russia shortly after the invasion of Ukraine but is monitoring the Russian zeitgeist (and publishing his newsletter Psychopolitica) from Armenia. The subject of the conversation is Yevgeny Prigozhin, long-time leader of the mercenary Wagner Group.This June, you might remember, Prigozhin staged a short-lived mutiny against Russia's military leadership. So when his plane blew up a couple of days ago, pretty much everyone suspected Putin's handiwork. (Although, as Nikita explains, according to a conspiracy theory circulating in Russia, there's less to Prigozhin's apparent death than meets the eye.)Paid subscribers can listen to the full conversation via the audio player above or via their NZN member podcast feed. (To set up that feed, if you're a paid subscriber and haven't done that already, click “Listen on” in the audio player and follow the directions.) Hope you enjoy the excerpts below. More of the conversation will be available in the public podcast we post next week, though the Overtime segment—the final 40 minutes or so—will remain exclusive to paid subscribers.—BobBob: We're taping this on the day after a plane went down that apparently included Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner Group, along with his top commander, the guy from whom the Wagner Group got its name—“Wagner” was his call sign. Nikita: Yep.Bob: And I actually haven't even looked at the news this morning, but it didn't seem to me there was that much doubt, even though they hadn't identified bodies or anything. I assume no one's doubting that he's— Nikita: Well, there are two main theories that I've been hearing. One is the straightforward one: Prigozhin and the top command are dead, and Putin is behind it. The other version is: This is Prigozhin's disappearance. He's somewhere on an island right now drinking a martini, and this is his way out of the business. Normally I would say there's no reason whatsoever to contemplate that approach. But since this is Prigozhin, and we've seen like six fake passports of his with toupees and beards and whatnot. And generally, he's, you know, a peculiar character, he's fighting in Africa, and then he's in Ukraine, and he also has a catering business, and a troll farm. I think that's not a zero-chance probability, but I don't think it's a high-chance probability either.Bob: On the other hand, Russia has always been a hotbed for this kind of theorizing, right? Nikita: Yes. Yes. It's a normal thing for Russians. Whatever happens, there's always a conspiracy theory right away.Bob: So there's a pretty high false positive rate on conspiracy theories in Russia—and increasingly in America. Maybe this can bring the two nations together, that we have this in common.Nikita: I think there is some overlap. I mean, before the war, there were tribes within Russia and the US who were growing closer together, like the QAnon people. And even with the war—Bob: That kind of makes sense actually. Go ahead.Nikita: I was surprised. About a month and a half ago, RFK [Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.] got into that scandal because he said something about Covid, and the way his words were interpreted was that there is a chance that it was designed by the Chinese in a lab and it targets certain groups more than others.Bob: Right. Nikita: And he started talking about bioweapons and whatnot. I think he talked about biolabs in Ukraine. Bob: Yeah. That's a thing. That's a talking point.Nikita: Until then, I was not aware that anybody in the West thinks that. But it was a big part of the Russian propaganda, some versions of which are very strange. On the one hand, according to Russian state propaganda, the Russians and Ukrainians are really the same people, but also, there are biolabs in Ukraine that were designing viruses that would target specifically Russians.Bob: It's a very discerning virus! It picks up on the most subtle differences in DNA. . . .Bob: But, on Prigozhin, tell me… presumably the [staged disappearance] theory is that he actually feared something like this happening for real, right? I mean, he didn't feel safe in this world. Nikita: Either that, or another version of the same theory would be that he made a deal with Putin, that this is how I'm gonna go out. Bob: Oh, and then you [Putin] will look like you were the tough guy and did crack down. Nikita: That's right. And I'll [Prigozhin] get my pension and I'm fine. Bob: I've got a feeling he doesn't need a pension. I forget how much cash was found in his apartment, but I suspect that he's got stashes in various places. Nikita: [laughter] That's right.  Bob: So anyway, your sense is, not that you're in Russia, but your sense is that this will be a minority interpretation anyway, that he's not actually dead?Nikita: From what I've heard so far, most people say there's also this possibility, but it's probably a low possibility. So, I haven't met a true believer in this theory so far. I mean, it's been a day—it's been less than a day. But it's brought up and discussed as a low probability option. And we will never know, I suppose, because the bodies are burned. We're not going to see a picture of Prigozhin that we can recognize. And the people who will tell us (and they might have already; I saw some reports that sounded more official than what I saw last evening, saying yes, this is Prigozhin and Utkin and the other passengers who were supposed to be on the plane) the people who are going to tell us this are the authorities, which if they are the ones who decided to do this staged disappearance, you know, you're not supposed to trust them.Bob: Right. Nikita: But I don't think it matters, frankly. I think that's the low probability version, and I don't think it matters, because both options lead to Prigozhin not being here anymore. If he lives a private life on an island somewhere—Bob: He seems out of the picture. And everyone else will act on the assumption that Putin did it.Nikita: That's right. Bob: Is your sense that among those Russians who do believe Prigozhin's dead, overwhelmingly the assumption is Putin decided to take him out? Nikita: Yes. Yes. Bob: I can't even come up with another theory. Has it been confirmed that there was an anti-aircraft missile fired at the plane, or is that still—Nikita: No, I think they are saying now that there was an explosive in the chassis, the wheel of the plane. And they say they have a suspect, Prigozhin's private pilot, who was supposed to be on the flight maybe, or at least was able to access the plane. And he's MIA somewhere. Some friend of his said that he's trekking in Siberia, or something along those lines. So, they have a suspect and a theory. It doesn't go further than that guy so far, like, why would his pilot do this? But I think that might become the official narrative. This is what I'm seeing this morning.Bob: So is it confirmed that the pilot was not on the plane, the regular pilot? Nikita: I think. He was called Prigozhin's private pilot.  I'm not sure he was supposed to be on this plane. He just flew with Prigozhin before, so they are singling him out as a suspect. Bob: I see. Do you think Putin would go to the trouble to frame somebody, and do the whole court proceeding, and put them in prison? I mean, it's weird, because presumably Putin wants a certain crowd to know he did it, including possibly much of the world, right? He wants some people to think, yeah, Putin cracked down, let's don't plot any mutinies anytime soon. I mean, that's the thing about this. It's so blatant, right? With most of the past assassinations attributed to Putin, there wasn't rock solid evidence. And in fact, I would run into smart people who paid attention, and I'd say, what do you think the chances are that this guy was taken out by Putin? They'd say, well, probably, or 90 per cent or 95 per cent. I don't think you're going to hear many people as low as 95 per cent on this one. It seems like this time, it's a more unabashed assassination.Nikita: I think that's true. But also, nobody tried to, you know, take his private army and march on Moscow before. Bob: Right, right. Absolutely. You know, right after this happened, right after the mutiny, and after the deal was negotiated, American Russia hawks like Michael McFaul said, see, all this stuff about how Putin if you corner him is dangerous, is wrong. We don't need to worry about pushing them out of Crimea and back into Russia and even, what is happening now, attacks on Russian territory. McFaul said, this just shows he'll fold; it's a bluff.  What McFaul said is that he capitulated. And first of all, I pointed out, he did not capitulate. He didn't meet Prigozhin's demands. That's capitulation, if you do fire Shoigu and Gerasimov, the two military chiefs he wanted fired. And I'd be interested in your take on this. Leave aside the fact that apparently, ultimately, Prigozhin paid the ultimate price. I thought, given the situation Putin was in, he didn't handle it that badly. I mean, you've got 5,000 troops marching to Moscow. Things could get seriously out of hand, even if you're confident you can put it down. These people are considered war heroes by a lot of Russians, right? They're the guys who did Bakhmut. They have a base. And after Wagner had shot down the planes, to get out of it with no further bloodshed… Leaving aside the fact that ultimately Putin had it both ways, he finessed it without a big confrontation and got Prigozhin killed, what did you think after the event?Nikita: Well, first of all, during the event itself, and the few days after, the prevalent feeling among all the Russians I know, whether inside or outside Russia, was just how bizarre this whole thing is. Especially as the events were unfolding, like, he started to march, you start to get these audio messages, you get updates in Telegram from Prigozhin himself.For a while, it wasn't clear whether this is actually happening or not. He's saying that they're marching on Rostov and it's like, is he? I haven't seen any pictures. It's just Prigozhin saying that, and he's known for playing games. And then suddenly there are tanks in Rostov.And then he's saying he's marching on Moscow. My brother was in Moscow at the time, and he went into the streets, and he said it was a weird, weird feeling, having been there for a long time, that the cops and the people are on the same side, because the cops in Moscow and people in Moscow were expecting this army to show up. And the cops seemed nervous and unsure what to do.. . .Nikita: So the prevalent feeling from this whole experience was just: This is bizarre and weird. When the analysis started to come in three days, four days after the thing, I had the feeling that maybe this is us trying to pretend that we understand what is going on. Because these past couple of days, nobody knew what was happening. Every theory was thrown out there, whether it's staged, whether it's real. You've heard these, you know, Prigozhin agreed with Putin that he's going to do this thing to find the people who are actually not loyal enough. There was all of this, and nobody had a good theory because the straightforward one seemed also too weird.Bob: Yeah.Nikita: But now in the aftermath, I agree with you that Putin did not lose control. And now, the Russian word they use is signal. This is a strong signal that he's sending that if you try to do this, you're going to blow up.But I think a lot of people did feel as this was happening, surely, that this is not the behavior of a strong leader, because he was nowhere to be found. The day of, Peskov, his spokesperson, said that Putin knows about the situation. But that was all. And then in the morning, he [Putin] made this speech. And during the day, as this was happening, there weren't a lot of people who really jumped in front of the situation and said, I support the president of my country and this is mutiny. They started saying that as the situation progressed and it became more clear that this is what you're supposed to be doing.. . .(Overtime segment available to paid subscribers below the paywall.)0:42 Nikita's life as an expatriate 5:18 Theories among Russians about Prigozhin's death 17:29 Putin's handling of the Wagner mutiny, reassessed 25:46 Did Prigozhin lose his mind? 35:36 How worried should Putin be about Prigozhin's supporters? 43:15 Russians' evolving views of the invasion 50:50 Is Putin feeling heat from the nationalist right? Robert Wright (Bloggingheads.tv, The Evolution of God, Nonzero, Why Buddhism Is True) and Nikita Petrov (https://psychopolitica.substack.com/). Recorded August 24, 2023.Comments on BhTV: http://bloggingheads.tv/videos/66636 Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

Subscribe to The Parrot Room at https://patreon.com/parrotroom0:33 Mickey gets a C on the news quiz 10:11 Prigozhin postmortem: Is Putin's regime more secure now? 17:31 The Ukraine war as “politics by other means” 20:24 The good, the bad, and the ugly of the GOP debate 25:45 Will the indictments help Trump in the general election? 34:21 Parrot room preview: Why Bob finds Vivek scary and “Rich Men North of Richmond” icky; Extraordinary Attorney Woo; Hurricane Hilary hype; retail “shrink” hits the big time; Bidenomics and E.J. Dionne; Do presidential candidates need to be optimistic?Robert Wright (Bloggingheads.tv, The Evolution of God, Nonzero, Why Buddhism Is True) and Mickey Kaus (kausfiles, The End of Equality). Recorded August 25, 2023.Comments on BhTV: http://bloggingheads.tv/videos/66623 Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit nonzero.substack.com/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit nonzero.substack.com0:33 Has David's grim outlook on the climate changed? 20:15 How “global warming” became “climate change” 13:38 What wilder wildfires signal about the environment 25:02 Which climate measures are the surest bet? 31:41 Climate science's time-scale problem 39:03 The pros and cons of carbon capture 48:20 Heading to OvertimeRobert Wright (Bloggingheads.tv, The Evolution of God, Nonzero, Why Buddhism Is True) and David Wallace-Wells (The New York Times, The Uninhabitable Earth). Recorded August 17, 2023.Comments on BhTV: http://bloggingheads.tv/videos/66601 Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

Subscribe to The Parrot Room at https://patreon.com/parrotroom2:52 Yet another Trump indictment—How strong is the case? 12:46 Is America becoming a banana republic? 20:47 DeSantis debate strategy goes public 31:35 Bob floats secret elite plot to get Biden off the Democratic ticket 37:07 Why Ukraine's stalled offensive is politically hazardous for Biden 48:47 Parrot Room preview: US-China war games; Sam Bankman-Fried back in jail; Hunter Biden scandal updates; populist anthem sweeps America; colorful LA character passes away; San Diego's successful homeless policy; Twitter versus Threads; and signs of AI enlightenment.Robert Wright (Bloggingheads.tv, The Evolution of God, Nonzero, Why Buddhism Is True) and Mickey Kaus (kausfiles, The End of Equality). Recorded August 18, 2023.Comments on BhTV: http://bloggingheads.tv/videos/66569 Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit nonzero.substack.com/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit nonzero.substack.comRobert Wright and Tamler Sommers discuss what you can and can't say about UFOs.Robert Wright (Bloggingheads.tv, The Evolution of God, Nonzero, Why Buddhism Is True) and Tamler Sommers (Very Bad Wizards, University of Houston, Why Honor Matters). Recorded August 03, 2023.Nonzero Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods Very Bad Wizards: https://verybadwizards.com/

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit nonzero.substack.com(Overtime segment available to paid subscribers below the paywall.)0:33 Sohrab's idiosyncratic ideological journey 10:04 What makes Sohrab a conservative? 15:58 Sohrab's new book Tyranny, Inc.—a critique of neoliberal capitalism's effects on American life 24:09 What happened to the labor movement in America? 36:12 Private equity's role in Sears's demise 45:19 “Ghost papers”: Wall Street's effect on local news 51:22 Overtime preview: Sohrab's foreign policy; supporting Donald Trump; re-industrializing without Cold War II; and what is to be done?Robert Wright (Bloggingheads.tv, The Evolution of God, Nonzero, Why Buddhism Is True) and Sohrab Ahmari (Compact Magazine, Tyranny, Inc.). Recorded August 15, 2023.Comments on BhTV: http://bloggingheads.tv/videos/66557 Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

Subscribe to The Parrot Room at https://patreon.com/parrotroom0:33 New challenges for Ukraine 7:06 What do lead pipes have to do with climate migrants? Ask Biden 14:07 Are the Bidens corruption “disruptors”? 23:41 Mickey's craziest theory of the week 26:32 Another wrinkle in the Hunter Biden scandal 32:20 What mainstream media won't tell you about Iran 37:53 Mickey's searing critique of Obama 47:24 Parrot room preview: Mickey on the Trump cases; RIP Robbie Robertson; Tim Scott's campaign expense weirdness; Biden's strange Saudi-Israel plan; Code Pink; assessing the UFO whistleblower; San Francisco's autonomous cabs; Michael Lind vs Richard Hanania; losing Sugar Man; Oppenheimer (the documentary); Sohrab Ahmari; a cornucopia of commentsRobert Wright (Bloggingheads.tv, The Evolution of God, Nonzero, Why Buddhism Is True) and Mickey Kaus (kausfiles, The End of Equality). Recorded August 11, 2023.Comments on BhTV: http://bloggingheads.tv/videos/66546 Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit nonzero.substack.com/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit nonzero.substack.com1:41 How US-China rivalry is shaking up the region 12:44 Why Washington wants to control the Middle East oil spigot 25:01 The odds of an imminent confrontation with Iran 30:49 Is America breaking international law in Syria? 42:55 What would a Middle East without US intervention look like? 48:25 Why Israel lacks a written constitution 55:27 Heading to OvertimeRobert Wright (Bloggingheads.tv, The Evolution of God, Nonzero, Why Buddhism Is True) and Joshua Landis (University of Oklahoma, SyriaComment.com). Recorded August 08, 2023.Comments on BhTV: http://bloggingheads.tv/videos/66533 Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

Subscribe to The Parrot Room at https://patreon.com/parrotroom0:33 Jeffrey Goldberg becomes King of Washington 5:24 Does Trump prosecutor Jack Smith have the goods? 21:48 Hunter Biden's corruption defense: It was all an illusion 31:52 President Biden's Ukraine quagmire 41:25 What Trump gets right about Russia-Ukraine 48:17 Is West Africa heading toward a major war? 52:08 Parrot Room preview: A PBS lament; Mickey's border worries; Bob's reflection on jury duty; the economics of electric vehicles; the UFO files; Italy pivots away from guaranteed income; over-the-counter Alzheimer's test; US-China decoupling; room-temperature superconductors; and the limits of AIRobert Wright (Bloggingheads.tv, The Evolution of God, Nonzero, Why Buddhism Is True) and Mickey Kaus (kausfiles, The End of Equality). Recorded August 04, 2023.Comments on BhTV: http://bloggingheads.tv/videos/66526 Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit nonzero.substack.com/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit nonzero.substack.com(Overtime segment available to paid subscribers below the paywall.)1:06 Bob and Dan reminisce about blogging and Bloggingheads 8:17 Was the first year of Russia's invasion a success for US foreign policy? 17:45 When will Putin be ready to cut a deal? 23:13 The odds of a wider war—or a nuclear one 27:45 What good can come from continuing the war? 41:08 Has the US mismanaged its relationship with Putin's Russia? 50:56 Putin's fear of western-backed color revolutionsRobert Wright (Bloggingheads.tv, The Evolution of God, Nonzero, Why Buddhism Is True) and Daniel Drezner (PostEverything, Tufts University, Drezner's World). Recorded July 31, 2023.Comments on BhTV: http://bloggingheads.tv/videos/66511 Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

Subscribe to The Parrot Room at https://patreon.com/parrotroom0:34 Bob extols the virtues of jury duty 4:27 Ukraine's counter offensive surge 16:42 What does Hunter's failed plea deal mean for Joe? 24:03 In search of a DeSantis strategy 32:13 The Niger coup and Cold War II 44:12 Parrot room preview: Israel's issues; musings on late musicians; Is Ramaswamy surging?; New lab leak controversy; Mickey's border question for Biden; Is DEI d-e-a-d?; A crazy (ex-)Twitter theory; AI self-regulationRobert Wright (Bloggingheads.tv, The Evolution of God, Nonzero, Why Buddhism Is True) and Mickey Kaus (kausfiles, The End of Equality). Recorded July 28, 2023.Comments on BhTV: http://bloggingheads.tv/videos/66501 Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit nonzero.substack.com/subscribe