Robinson's Podcast

• 254 - The Yale US-China Forum: Slavoj Žižek, Richard Wolff, Yannis Varoufakis, Robin Visser, Yascha Mounk, Pei Wang, Daniel Mattingly

  In this special episode, Robinson and Karl Zheng Wang co-host at the Yale US-China Forum. Return guests from the show include Slavoj Žižek, Richard Wolff, and Yascha Mounk. Slavoj Žižek is international director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities at the University of London, visiting professor at New York University, and a senior researcher at the University of Ljubljana’s Department of Philosophy. 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. Yascha Mounk is a Professor of the Practice of International Affairs at Johns Hopkins University. He is also a Contributing Editor at the Atlantic, a Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, and the host of The Good Fight podcast. Yannis Varoufakis is a Greek economist and politician, and current Secretary-General of the Democracy in Europe Movement 2025. Robin Visser is Professor in the Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she researches modern Chinese and Sinophone literatures, urban cultural studies, and environmental studies. Pei Wang is Professor in the Chinese History and Culture Program at the University of Hong Kong, where she specializes in comparative philosophy, psychoanalysis, and more. Daniel Mattingly is Professor in the Department of Political Science at Yale University, where he studies the domestic and international politics of authoritarian regimes, with a focus on China.  OUTLINE00:00:00 Introduction00:01:46 The Future of Europe and China00:10:40 There Is No Such Thing as Trade Wars, They Are All Class Wars00:15:50 How Wall Street’s Failures Fueled the Rise of Tech00:20:02 Why Is There a New Cold War Between the US and China?00:27:18 Why the United States Is Abandoning Democracy and Why China is Yannis Varoufakis’s Only Hope00:29:26 Richard Wolff to Yannis Varoufakis: Are We Heading Toward Nuclear War with China?00:35:58 How Class WARFARE Shaped the World Superpowers CLIP00:41:01 Is China Capitalism’s Final Form?00:52:03 Is There Any Way that China and the United Stated Could Avert Conflict?00:59:16 Varoufakis to Wolff: Is a Tariff Hail Mary Trump’s Only Remaining Option?01:03:39 Daniel Mattingly on China’s Sociopolitical Organization01:08:39 How Does Xi Jinping Talk About Socialism?01:13:47 Yascha Mounk on US-China Competition01:22:36 Philosophy, Socialism, and Capitalism01:48:40 Pei Wang on the Hero and Father in US-China Competition01:54:31 Hero and Father Archetypes in PoliticsRobinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.comRobinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University.

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• 253 - Peter Zeihan: China’s Fall, America’s Rise, and the End of the World Order

  Peter Zeihan is a geopolitical analyst, futurist, and best-selling author who researches and strategizes around demography, economics, energy, politics, technology, and security. In this episode, Peter and Robinson focus on revisiting content from his latest book—The End of the World is Just the Beginning—in the context of today’s developments. More particularly, they discuss, Donald Trump, tariffs, ICE Raids, deportations, how demography and geography will affect the future balance of world powers, the impact of AI on global economics, what the end of the world order could look like, Trump’s immigration policies, and more. You can keep up with Peter through his website or YouTube channel, links to which are below.Peter’s Website: https://zeihan.comPeter’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ZeihanonGeopoliticsThe End of the World is Just the Beginning: https://a.co/d/bZJES4tOUTLINE00:00:00 Introduction00:01:09 Trump and the End of the American-Led World Order00:06:49 Does AI Change the Economics of the Future?00:14:39 The 2,000,000,000$ Failure of the F-35 Fighter Jet00:25:00 Why the United States Needs Immigrants00:33:03 Is There Any Strategy Behind Donald Trump?00:41:43 Why Food Will Become Weaponized in the Near Future00:50:39 Why China’s Economy is Doomed to Recession00:53:55 How Do We Prepare For China’s Collapse?01:00:37 Trump’s Tariffs and the Fall of America01:01:54 Was Russia Doomed to Fall Even Before Ukraine?01:05:51 The Biggest Underestimated Global ConflictsRobinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.comRobinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University.

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• 252 - David Kipping: Alien Civilizations, Megastructures, Spacecraft, and Artificial Intelligence

  David Kipping is a Professor of Astronomy at Columbia University, where he runs Cool Worlds Lab and researches planets and moons that revolve around stars other than our own, in addition to his own work on the search for—and theorization about—alien life. In this episode, David and Robinson have a wide-ranging conversation about extraterrestrials. They discuss  alien civilizations, propulsion, megastructures, Oumuamua, quantum immortality, Dyson spheres, simulation theory, ancient aliens, and much more. David also runs the YouTube channel Cool Worlds Lab, where he has produced many videos on these topics.Cool Worlds Lab (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/@CoolWorldsLabDavid’s Website: http://davidkipping.co.ukOUTLINE00:01:05 Astronomy or Aliens?00:06:12 How Scientists Get Burned by Alien Research00:16:52 Three Big Obstacles to UFO Science00:23:59 What is the Kardashev Scale of Alien Civilizations?00:30:28 Cloaking Devices00:33:46 How To Detect Alien Civilizations with Heat Signatures00:37:21 Other Schemes for Detecting Civilizations00:47:22 Does Alien Life Need Water to Exist?00:51:46 Why Would Aliens Have Very Different Technology From Us?00:55:54 When Did the First Life Form in the Universe?01:07:23 Is the Universe Filled with Ancient Alien Civilizations?01:16:45 What Is the Great Filter Hypothesis For Alien Life?01:19:31 Artificial Intelligence, Aliens, and the End of Humanity01:25:05 How Rare Is the Creation of Life From Nothing?01:31:53 Communicating with Extraterrestrials01:37:28 What Are Alien Megastructures?01:47:07 Can We Engineer the Sun to Live Longer?01:51:08 Clark Belt Detection01:54:35 Should We Look for Alien Life on Exomoons?02:01:33 Could We Find Alien Life on Planets in the Interstellar Medium?02:04:34 Future Telescopes02:13:35 What Is a Warp Drive and Why Can’t We Build One?02:21:47 On Time Travel and the Best Time Machines02:26:40 What Are the Best Interstellar Propulsion Technologies?02:34:07 Was Oumuamua an Alien Spacecraft?02:43:09 Are the TicTac UFOs Alien Spacecraft?02:56:58 Do We Live in a Simulation?03:00:17 What Is Quantum Immortality?Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.comRobinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University.

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• 251 - Eliezer Yudkowsky: Artificial Intelligence and the End of Humanity

  Eliezer Yudkowsky is a decision theorist, computer scientist, and author who co-founded and leads research at the Machine Intelligence Research Institute. He is best known for his work on the alignment problem—how and whether we can ensure that AI is aligned with human values to avoid catastrophe and harness its power. In this episode, Robinson and Eliezer run the gamut on questions related to AI and the danger it poses to human civilization as we know it. More particularly, they discuss the alignment problem, gradient descent, consciousness, the singularity, cyborgs, ChatGPT, OpenAI, Anthropic, Claude, how long we have until doomsday, whether it can be averted, and the various reasons why and ways in which AI might wipe out human life on earth.The Machine Intelligence Research Institute: https://intelligence.org/about/Eliezer’s X Account: https://x.com/ESYudkowsky?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5EauthorOUTLINE00:00:00 Introduction00:00:43 The Default Condition for AI’s Takeover00:06:36 Could a Future AI Country Be Our Trade Partner?00:11:18 What Is Artificial Intelligence?00:21:23 Why AIs Having Goals Could Mean the End of Humanity00:29:34 What Is the Alignment Problem?00:34:11 How To Avoid AI Apocalypse00:40:25 Would Cyborgs Eliminate Humanity?00:47:55 AI and the Problem of Gradient Descent00:55:24 How Do We Solve the Alignment Problem?01:00:50 How Anthropic’s AI Freed Itself from Human Control01:08:56 The Pseudo-Alignment Problem01:19:28 Why Are People Wrong About AI Not Taking Over the World?01:23:23 How Certain Is It that AI Will Wipe Out Humanity?01:38:35 Is Eliezer Yudkowski Wrong About The AI Apocalypse01:42:04 Do AI Corporations Control the Fate of Humanity?01:43:49 How To Convince the President Not to Let AI Kill Us All01:52:01 How Will ChatGPT’s Descendants Wipe Out Humanity?02:24:11 Could AI Destroy us with New Science?02:39:37 Could AI Destroy us with Advanced Biology?02:47:29 How Will AI Actually Destroy Humanity?Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.comRobinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University.

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• 250 - Norman Finkelstein: Trump, Israel, Gaza, and the Criminalization of Dissent

  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, and 244, 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, the current state of Gaza, the fate of Palestine, wokeness, Bernies Sanders, Chuck Schumer, antisemitism, free speech, and other topics. Norman’s most recent book is I’ll Burn That Bridge When I Get to It! Heretical Thoughts on Identity Politics, Cancel Culture, and Academic Freedom (Sublation Media, 2023).Norman’s Website: https://www.normanfinkelstein.comOUTLINE00:01:11 Norman’s Predictions for the War00:10:12 Trump and the End of the Ceasefire00:14:29 Why Didn’t The Democrats Strike a Ceasefire in Israel?00:25:50 A Jeremy Corbin Witch Hunt?00:29:52 On Wokeness and DEI00:54:01 Bernie Sanders and the Working Class00:57:16 Bernie Sanders, Chuck Schumer, and Anti-Semitism01:04:17 Is Trump a Slave to Money, Power, and Putin?01:11:02 Is Chuck Schumer’s Definition of Anti-Semitism Terrible?01:19:52 Free Speech and Academia01:24:34 How Norman Feels About Being Academically Canceled01:27:45 On Noam Chomsky’s Deceptiveness01:29:42 More on the Cancelation01:34:13 How Should We Define Anti-Semitism?01:43:45 What Should We Do With Holocaust Deniers?01:47:14 On W.E.B Du Bois01:58:31 On Race and IQ02:01:35 Suppression of Free Speech02:09:02 How to Prevent Another Holocaust02:18:18 Chuck Schumer is Wrong About Media Echo Chambers02:22:01 How to Fight Violent Hate02:35:58 On Chuck Schumer’s Backstory and the Holocaust02:40:05 Cleaning the Augean Stables of Gaza Scholarship02:46:21 What Changed on October 7th02:48:59 Gaza Is Already Rubble: What’s Next?

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