Bhtv: Science Faction (fast)

Barry’s new novel, ‘The System’ ... CIA lessons & seeing like a Martian ... Fiction, empathy, and geopolitics ... No cartoon villains ... How power really works in DC ... Feinstein vs. Brennan: the 'sit down' ... Why we excuse ourselves ... Jobs, jets & hidden threats ... The problem with the House ... Valeria’s dilemma: bend or break ... How power corrupts ... Humiliation and geopolitics ...

Teaser ... The dueling Sam Altman biographies ... Who is the real Sam Altman? ... OpenAI’s origin—did Sam scam Elon? ... Why the OpenAI board coup failed ... Good and bad critiques of OpenAI ... Heading to Overtime ...

Courtney’s and Alex’s Always at War podcast ... Have restrainers given up on Trump? ... The legacies of Hamilton Jordan ... Courtney: Money drives war ... Palantir cashes in ... Alex: Blame American exceptionalism first ... Trump’s biggest Jan 6 transgression ... Is the Republic at stake? ... Heading to Overtime ...

Headlines ... - Washington ... - Silicon Valley ... - China ... - Africa ... - Europe ... Bob joins to discuss the Israel-Iran war ... Has Trump had a change of heart? ... The Pandora's Box of a US attack ... Connor makes the pro-bombing-Iran argument ... Bob: A diplomatic solution would have been 'trivially easy' ... Trump's missed opportunity for a win ... Where Israeli and American interests diverge ... Israel’s risky calculus: Escalation over negotiation ... Why won't Trump use his leverage to rein in Israel? ...

Teaser ... The time Alex blocked everyone's view of Jennifer Aniston ... How Alex acquired the Bibi interrogation tapes ... What the Bibi Files suggest about the Gaza war ... Bibi's bribes ... Bibi-Trump parallels ... Barriers to getting the movie distributed (and where to watch it) ... Heading to Overtime (and Bob’s and Alex's unfinished film) ...

Headlines ... - Israel-Iran ... - Sanctions ... - NATO ... - Revolving doors ... - US-China trade war ... How China views the Israel-Iran crisis ... Why the Iran attacks undermine US-China talks ... How the US and China reached the brink of all-out trade war ... China's not-so-secret weapon in trade talks ... Why China won't back down ... Trump vs. his advisers ... Structural obstacles to US-China cooperation ... The zero-sum trap: Can both sides grow? ...

The Trump-Musk blowup, reconciliation, and fallout ... Trump vs Elon: a psycho-analysis ... Where do Trump and Elon go from here? ... Remembering Brian Wilson and Sly Stone ... Will AI turn us all into narcissists? ... Heading to Overtime ...

Steven’s years at OpenAI ... An insider's view of the AI boom ... The real meaning of “Feel the AGI” ... AI safety’s rationalist kernel ... What’s really driving the AI arms race(s)? ... Is stifling China’s AI development smart? ... Dario Amodei’s geopolitical naivete ... Heading to Overtime ...

Headlines ... Jennifer: Why Trump should walk away from Ukraine ... Can Ukraine survive without US support? ... Why a comprehensive peace deal is unlikely ... The perils of US mediation ... Are the peace talks making progress? ... How grinding wars end ... Understanding Russia's battlefield advantage ... Ukraine's shrinking army ... Striking Russian bombers: morale boost vs. nuclear risk ...

A sublime Nonzero-TAC crossover event ... Some bad MSM reporting on US-Iran negotiations ... Would Kamala have been better than Trump on Gaza? ... Is a two-state solution conceivable? ... Buchananite conservatives on China ... China, AI, and Covid-19 ... Heading to Overtime ...

The scope of Trump's assault on Harvard ... What Trump demanded from Harvard ... What makes certain universities vulnerable ... Ideology and “viewpoint diversity” at Harvard ... Trump’s attacks on media and cultural institutions ... The costs of lost research ... How woke was Harvard? ... Antisemitism and philosemitism at Harvard ... Steve's new FP piece on the importance of global rules (Heading to Overtime) ...

Headlines ... Trump's sanctions dilemma: Migration crackdown vs. regime change ... The power of 'secondary sanctions' ... How sanctions drove inflation, hunger, and state failure ... From Venezuela to the US: Understanding the migrant wave ... Inside the Trump split: Rubio’s hardline vs. Grenell’s dealmaking ... Francisco: The US needs to be more realistic about Maduro ... The path to restoring democracy in Venezuela ...

A note about this podcast ... Paul aces Bob’s worthwhile Canadian pop-quiz ... Trump’s corruption: Illegal or just unprecedentedly gross? ... Elon bows out ... Trump’s crusade against elite colleges continues ... Is JD Vance more dangerous than Trump? ... Are AI doomers walking their talk? ... Trump makes Canada a golden offer ... Heading to Overtime ...

Why Max helped organize the 2023 “Pause AI” letter ... AI as a species not a technology ... The rate of AI progress since 2023 ... Loss of control is the biggest risk ... How to get the NatSec community’s attention ... How we could lose control ... He we stay in control ... Heading to Overtime ...

Headlines ... Bob joins to talk foreign policy ... The DC shootings and the war in Gaza ... Israel's growing isolation ... Are we headed toward an arms race in space? ... An end to the era of arms control? ... Heading to Overtime—and a programming update ...

How significant are the Middle East data center deals? ... Why did AI safety hawks quit talking about international cooperation? ... Why build data centers in the Middle East? ... Microchips and security risks ... The unexamined assumptions of Sinophobia ... What ever happened to peace, love, and understanding? ... AI Czar David Sacks takes on his critics ... Heading to Overtime ...

Headlines ... Why the PKK's disbanding should be the biggest news of the week ... How did Turkey get the PKK to lay down arms? ... A breakthrough for Turkey-Iraq relations ... How Syrian Kurds are trying to make nice with Damascus ... The end of US sanctions on Syria ... Rebuilding a shattered state ... Turkey and Israel: Syria caught in the middle ...

Is Kanye’s new song really pro-Hitler? ... How free should free speech be? ... Substack economics ... Welcome to Sam Altman’s orb ... Can higher education survive AI? ... Did Carney tame Trump? ... Good and bad signs from Trump 2.0 ... Heading to Overtime ...

The week's major international stories ... Trump's approach to everything ... The Houthi deal ... Trump's Middle East trip and Gaza ... India-Pakistan conflict ... Media coverage of Trump 2.0 ... Trump’s biggest Jan 6 transgression ... Is the Republic at stake? ... Heading to Overtime ...

Headlines ... Is Trump breaking with Israel? ... Making sense of the US-Houthi ceasefire ... Will the US give Saudi Arabia nuclear power? ... Reading the tea leaves on US-Iran talks ... Is Trump putting the US on track for war with China? ... Would Trump really go to war with Iran? ... Are restrainers gaining ground in the Trump administration? ... How Israel could undermine US-Iran talks ...