Robinson's Podcast

Nate Soares is the President of the Machine Intelligence Research Institute, and plays a central role in setting MIRI’s vision and strategy. Soares has been working in the field for over a decade, and is the author of a large body of technical and semi-technical writing on AI alignment, including foundational work on value learning, decision theory, and power-seeking incentives in smarter-than-human AIs. Prior to MIRI, Soares worked as an engineer at Google and Microsoft, as a research associate at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and as a contractor for the US Department of Defense. In this episode, Nate and Robinson discuss the problems of AI from the ground up. They touch on how AI is trained, why it will surpass human intelligence, why this is dangerous, how it could wipe out humankind, and more. Nate’s recent book, co-written with Eliezer Yudkowsky, is If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies (Little, Brown and Company, 2025).

If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies

Nate’s X: https://x.com/So8res

MIRI: https://intelligence.org

OUTLINE
00:00 Nate’s Existential Dread
07:11 What’s the REAL Problem with Artificial Intelligence?
11:39 How Is AI Trained?
17:15 The Vital Importance of Interpreting AI
20:53 Why AI Will Soon Surpass Human Intelligence
32:58 Why Solving the AI Alignment Problem is Crucial to Human Survival
38:40 Will AI Render Human Software Engineers Obsolete?
48:03 Does It Make Sense to Say AI Has Goals?
01:00:02 Why AI Consciousness Is Unimportant
01:11:33 How, Realistically, Could AI Wipe Out Humanity?
01:35:27 A Sci-Fi (But Realistic) AI Doomsday Scenario
01:44:34 Is There Hope that Humans Will Survive AI?

Norman's Upcoming Book, Gaza's Gravediggers: https://orbooks.com/catalog/gazas-gravediggers/

Norman Finkelstein received his PhD from the Princeton University Politics Department, and is best known for his research on Israel and Palestine.  Norman also appeared on episodes 192, 218, 228, 244, and 250, where he addressed the facts and fictions generated by the Israel-Hamas War, October 6th, allegations of genocide and apartheid, Hezbollah, the Holocaust, and more. In this episode, Robinson and Norman discuss Trump, Netanyahu, Putin, the wars in Ukraine and Iran, and more. Norman’s new book is Gaza’s Gravediggers: An Inquiry into Corruption in High Places (OR Books, 2026).

Norman’s Website: https://www.normanfinkelstein.com

OUTLINE
00:00 No Investigation, No Right to Speak
02:15 Why the War with Iran is Unjustified
09:07 Israel Violated Article II of the UN Charter
13:44 Will the Iran War the End the World in Nuclear War?
21:03 Why Trump Is Underestimating Iran
30:55 How Israel and the United States Tried to Deceive the World About Iran
38:27 Is Israel’s Mentality “Homicidal”?
44:43 What’s Less Justified: Putin’s War on Ukraine or Netanyahu’s on Iran?
01:00:00 More on Ukraine
01:12:31 What Should We Make of Joe Kent?
01:21:00 More on Kent

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University, where he is also a JD candidate in the Law School.

Richard Wolff is Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a visiting professor at The New School, where he works on economics in the Marxist tradition. This is Richard’s tenth  appearance on Robinson’s Podcast. In this episode, Richard and Robinson discuss the ongoing war in Iran. More particularly, they discuss whether it was predictable, how it will affect the United States, Israel, and Europe, what really motivated the war, and more. Richard’s latest book is Understanding Capitalism (Democracy at Work, 2024).

Understanding Capitalism (Book): https://www.democracyatwork.info/understanding_capitalism

Richard’s Website: https://www.rdwolff.com

Economic Update: https://www.democracyatwork.info/economicupdate

OUTLINE
00:00 Was the Iran War Predictable?
05:43 How History Made Trump’s War with Iran Inevitable
15:00 The Historical Perspective
24:45 The War in Iran Is a Catastrophic Mistake for Israel
32:03 Will Europe Survive the War in Iran?
46:32 Is the Iran War the Last Straw for Donald Trump?
53:48 Why China Is Obliterating American Companies
01:03:17 How Trump and Israel Are Ending the American Empire
01:08:35 Is the United States Turning on Donald Trump?
01:13:54 Why Mamdani Is Winning Over New Yorkers
01:17:20 The Iran War Is Really About Oil
01:28:20 What Happens When The People of Iran Say “No More”?
01:39:13 Does AI Mean the End of Capitalism?
01:50:55 Will the United States Lose the War in Iran?

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University, where he is also a JD candidate in the Law School.

Michael Hudson is Distinguished Research Professor of Economics at the University of Missouri, Kansas City and President of the Institute for the Study of Long-Term Economic Trends. He researches domestic and international finance, the history of economics, and the role of debt in shaping class stratification, among many other topics. This is Michael’s sixth appearance on the show. On past episodes, including with Richard Wolff, he and Robinson have neoliberalism, industrial capitalism, the rentier economy, Marxism, and the role of economics in political history. In this episode, Michael and Robinson talk about Donald Trump, the war in Iran, Russia and Ukraine, Israel, China, and the possibility of World War III. Michael’s most recent book is Temples of Enterprise (ISLET, 2024). 

Michael’s Website: https://michael-hudson.com

Temples of Enterprise: https://a.co/d/a3c53dm

OUTLINE
00:10 How Oil Controls US Foreign Policy
10:44 How American Foreign Policy Is Leading to World War III
31:03 Trump’s Neocon War Strategy
34:56 Why Does the United States Need Israel for its Iran War?
41:26 Does the US Finance Terrorism in Ukraine and Israel?
44:16 How the West Provoked Russia’s War in Ukraine
52:53 Why Does the US Support Ukraine?
56:10 How China Became an Economic Superpower
59:49 AI and the Economic War for Global Dominance
01:10:21 Oil, Renewable Energy, and the Shifting Global Power Structure
01:12:25 The US Economy After WWI
01:24:21 Why Europe Fell from WWII to the Present
01:36:45 How Trump Ignores the First Amendment
01:40:20 The Apex of American Power after WWII
01:43:12 Who Will Win the Economic World War?
01:49:25 Why Iran Is Crucial to the World’s Future
01:53:38 The Dismal Future of the American Empire

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University, where he is also a JD candidate in the Law School.

Sara Imari Walker is Professor in the School of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University, where she is Deputy Director of the Beyond Center. Sara is an astrobiologist and theoretical physicist, with research interests in the origins of life, artificial life, life and detection on other worlds. Lee Cronin is Regius Chair of Chemistry at the University of Glasgow. Among his many pursuits are the digitization of chemistry, the discovery of alien life, and the creation of artificial life. In this episode, Robinson, Sara, and Lee discuss the relationship between philosophy and science, quantum physics, time, determinism, AI, and the origin of Life.

Life as No One Knows It: https://a.co/d/2fdKa2e

Lee’s Website: https://www.chem.gla.ac.uk/cronin/

Lee’s Twitter: https://x.com/leecronin

OUTLINE
00:00 Chemistry, Biology, Physics, and Philosophy
07:57 Philosophy and Science
20:58 Is Time an Object?
30:00 More on Time
44:38 On Time and Entropy
51:13 Is the Universe Deterministic?
01:08:54 What’s Wrong with Quantum Physics?
01:17:08 Contingency, Selection, and Evolution
01:29:05 Scientific Temperament
01:44:18 Do We Experience ChatGPT as Human?

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University, where he is also a JD candidate in the Law School.