Bloggingheads.tv

Is “black heterodoxy” a euphemism for “black conservatism”? ... Classical liberalism’s role in Free Black Thought ... Erec: I saw things while working as a diversity officer that I can’t unsee ... Why the Democratic Party doesn’t like Erec ... How Free Black Thought is fostering agency in the black community ... Erec: The onus is on us, not affirmative action, to prepare black students for college ... What is rhetoric, anyway? ...

Bob and Tim seek Substack synergy ... What was the OpenAI drama really about? ... Viewing the drama through a (cynical) psychological lens ... Were reports of a safety vs speed schism greatly exaggerated? ... Larry Summers joins OpenAI’s board… time to panic? ... Superintelligence, Sam Altman, and the singularity ... Altman’s not so veiled ignorance ... Overtime preview: superintelligence skepticism, the truth about effective altruism, self-driving car speed bumps, and more ...

Matt sees a path for Nikki Haley, Bill does not ... Can big endorsements help DeSantis in Iowa? ... Matt's Iowa/New Hampshire prediction ... Should Democrats stop freaking out? ...

The state of campus speech after 10/7 ... Daniel: Why are critics of cancel culture silent when it comes to Israel? ... “Explaining” Hamas vs. “excusing” Hamas ... Tyler: American Jewish students worried about their safety have been primed by modern identity politics ... The tension between DEI and antisemitism response teams ... The linguistic ambiguity of “From the river to the sea” ... The irreconcilable conflict between campus social justice and donor funding ... If not liberalism, then what? ... Tyler: Postwar political conservatism is coming apart ...

Biden’s vexing political calculus on Israel-Palestine ... Israel-Palestine compared to Russia-Ukraine ... If Israel eliminates Hamas, what happens next? ... Can anything good come out of the present crisis? ... The meaning of “From the river to the sea…” ... Why the 2000 Camp David Summit failed ... Where is Palestine's Nelson Mandela? ... Assessing US media coverage of the Gaza war ...

Preamble: The OpenAI drama and this conversation ... Preamble: The OpenAI drama and this conversation ... Is safe AI possible without international cooperation? ... Are we selecting AI for truth or engagement? ... Using “psychology” to understand—and control—AI ... The worrisome Darwinian dynamics of AI development ... Life after an AI takeover ... How structural incentives make AI safety harder ...

Tom’s new book, Getting Russia Right ... Does Putin want to take more territory before talking peace? ... Putin’s "messianic" transformation ... America’s failed effort to Americanize Russia ... Does the US focus too much on other nations’ internal affairs? ... The 2004 event that sunk US-Russia relations ... Why Tom supports a diplomatic reset ...

How to watch WKRP's "Turkeys Away" ... How the Mideast crisis is roiling the left and the right ... How serious is the rise of anti-Semitism ... The history of Democratic bedwetting ... How Israel impacted the 1948 election ...

A quick announcement ... What led Yascha to write about identity ... An intellectual history of “identity synthesis” ... What’s so bad about “strategic essentialism”? ... From postmodernism to post-civil rights ... The three key claims of identity synthesis ... What led up to the summer of 2020? ... The hermetically sealed ideology of Kendi and DiAngelo ... Yascha’s defense of universalism ...

Susan’s new book, Overreach: How China Derailed Its Peaceful Rise ... China’s turn to more assertive policies in 2007 ... The well-intentioned reform that produced big authoritarian consequences ... How public opinion influences autocratic leaders ... Xi Jinping’s purge of suspect officials ... Does Beijing feel threatened by America? ... Heading to Overtime ...

Will Israel-Palestine cost Biden the election? ... What Hamas hoped to accomplish on October 7 ... The surprising origins of cancel culture ... Matt defends his ratioed tweet ... The persistent psychological impact of the Holocaust ... Is a one-state solution realistic? ... What Ukrainians and Palestinians have in common ... Anti-Palestine sentiment and Christian Zionism in America ... How the current crisis could lead to war with Iran ... Bob gives Matt podcasting advice ...

Persia at the turn of the twentieth century ... Woodrow Wilson’s contradictions ... Did Howard Baskerville escape the prejudices of his time? ... How Baskerville got involved in Persia’s democratic revolution ... How Tsar Nicholas II aided the counter-revolution ... The erasure of Baskerville in post-1979 Iran ... The theological origin of the Islamic Republic of Iran ... Reza: Ordinary Iranians actually love American culture ... The internal and external pressures on Iran ... The amorality of foreign policy ...

Why can't Republicans sell a 15-week abortion ban? ... What did the GOP presidential debate tell us about GOP foreign policy? ... Where did Joe Manchin go wrong? ...

Is Paul Bloom the next Tony Robbins? ... Things to know about the noosphere ... How Bob and Paul work ... What Michael Lewis’s SBF bio reveals about SBF (and Michael Lewis) ... SBF and Elon Musk: compare and contrast ... Are SBF’s parents to blame? ... Heading to Overtime ...

Ron’s initial reaction to the October 7 atrocities ... How Israel’s far right undermined Israel’s national security ... Support for the Gaza war in Israel ... The trouble with “eradicating” Hamas ... How American Jews are responding to recent events ... Post-October-7 prospects for solving Israel-Palestine ... The rhetorical abuse of the Holocaust ... The origins and meaning of “From the river to the sea…” ... Could the Gaza war cost Biden the election? ... Competing visions of Zionism ... How terrorism impacts the Palestinian cause ...

Why John thinks pro-Hamas sentiment on the American left is racist ... Distinguishing between anti-colonialism and antisemitism ... There are great crimes in America’s past. But we shouldn’t let them define us. ... Glenn: We’re standing on the precipice of something catastrophic ... John’s proposal for the US’s role in Israel’s domestic conflict ... Is it right for people to lose their jobs over opposing Israel? ... Why are pro-Hamas leftists supporting an anti-liberal regime? ... Glenn and John’s responsibilities as teachers ... What’s next on TGS ...

What Iran hopes to gain from the Israel-Hamas war ... Did Hamas expect such a massive retaliation from Israel? ... Why Israel’s campaign in Gaza could backfire ... What Hezbollah is and how it got started ... Does Israel have an exit strategy in Gaza? ... Why the Arab world might unite in the years ahead ... How China could benefit from the current crisis ... Why the US hasn’t pushed harder to resolve Israel-Palestine ... Is a one-state solution the best path forward? ... Can the Israeli government rein in West Bank settlers? ... How Israel-Palestine damages America’s, and Biden’s, credibility ...

Matt and Bill talk Halloween ... Reflections on Richard Moll and Matthew Perry ... How's Speaker Mike Johnson doin'? ... Will Biden's approach to the Israel-Hamas war hurt him in 2024? ... Is Nikki Haley for real? ...

The significance of Jerusalem in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict ... Will the current crisis explode into a wider war? ... Israel’s ultra-nationalist minister of national security ... Settler attacks intensify in the West Bank ... The two-state solution is dead—can it be revived? ... Has Israel lost the support of western young people? ... What Hamas hoped to accomplish on October 7 ... How hopelessness drives support for Hamas ... Can one-state aspirations produce a two-state solution? ...

Why John thinks Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was rational ... How small states deal with world powers ... If Russia’s action were rational, were the US’s? ... John: The Ukraine invasion violates international law, but Russia has reason to see it as just ... The risk of escalation ... Zelensky’s expert manipulation of the West ... Is it a coincidence that so many recent presidential scandals involve Ukraine? ... Can tolerant liberals tolerate illiberal societies? ... American Russophobia didn’t cause the war, but it’s not helping ... John: If Putin is overthrown, his replacement will probably be even more brutal ... The foreign policy establishment’s grip on both Democrats and Republicans ...