As an aside, I really wish Lex Fridman would make his interviews shorter and edit them a bit. Plus, I'm not trying to diss him but genuinely asking - he's not a particularly remarkable or interesting or entertaining interviewer (he's okay, and smart, but nothing out of the ordinary), how did he become such a prominent podcaster?

Huh, it's interesting to see someone else's perspective here! Personally, I think Lex is a particularly remarkable/interesting/entertaining interviewer! He's one of the few where I don't feel like I'm wasting my time listening to his work. I can't speak for everyone, but I feel that his rise to prominence comes from his exceptional skill in navigating difficult conversations with esoteric or difficult people.

I listen to a lot of his episodes, but it's always because of the guest. He has amazing guests, no doubt about it.

His guests can definitely be really interesting, but I feel like it isn't so much because of him "navigating difficult conversations" and more of "not making them have difficult conversations". He gives them a platform to voice sometimes very questionable viewpoints for hours mostly unchallenged.

How he became a prominent podcaster- that I don't know.

I can tell you why I like him.

It's because he gives so much space to his guests, and these podcasts are solely structured as interviews.

Many other podcasters think highly of themselves and talk too much- like an equal conversation.

That annoys me.

And I like his long-form content.

I find the era of tiktok and short-everything distasteful. There should be long-form content out there.

I just listen to the episodes that I am interested in.

And he asks mundane questions and big questions. Like Carmack was asked what's his setup. Also how AI will change gaming. I like that.

And also, I find that contents that are edited to be made short try to tell a story, and desparately so.

And, I dislike the narrative creating in other interviewers like mainstream press.

Mainstream press wants to decide your conclusion for you.

Whereas in Lex Fridman podcast, the conversation transcends branches, fields, and no conclusion is shoved down your throat, and you are free to draw your own conclusion.

That is why I like him.

It seems to be a combination of his academic credibility and interest generated from multiple appearances on JRE, which was also likely sparked in part of he and Rogan's mutual interest in BJJ and MMA. This was previously discussed on HN[0].

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31777328

I'm not following that whole universe so I guess I missed it, I started following him when it was this little podcast interviewing computer scientists about AI, and now it's this huge thing, and I never figured how it went from A to B.

I have no idea what any of those TLAs mean.

Joe Rogan Experience, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Mixed Martial Arts.

After he had the horrible judgement to interview Kanye West, I feel he lost credibility. He was never very insightful in the first place. Largely a veneer of sincerity papering over poor discernment of bad actors who don't deserve a seat at the table.

I enjoy his show but have never listened in podcast form. Rather, I just consume it via (some of) the clips he puts out on YouTube. You may enjoy it the same way.

I listened to 20 or 30 of his podcasts and enjoyed them. But then let it slide. It felt more like Lex was asking interviewees for thoughts on his ideas and worldview than letting their own ideas breathe.

Lex is Jordan Peterson marketed to coders.

Not tech-related, but “Conversations with Tyler”, Tyler Cowen (of Marginal Revolution’s) podcast[1]. It’s consistently thought-provoking and he has some amazing guests on.

[1] https://conversationswithtyler.com/

Strongly agree here. It is the only podcast where I more or less listen to every episode even if I don't find the topic or guest particularly intriguing at first glance.

Hardcore History by Dan Carlin [1] is by far the best podcast I've ever had the pleasure of listening to. I'm currently on the WW1 series and it is absolutely jaw-dropping stuff.

[1] https://www.dancarlin.com/hardcore-history-series/

My favorite series of Hardcore History is Death Throes of the Republic[0]. It discusses the rise and fall of the Roman Republic and particularly Julius Caesar. This time period has an abundance of resources that provide plentiful discussion, and it’s full of incredible characters. I should probably find a book on the topic because I was glued to every word of each episode.

[0] https://www.dancarlin.com/product/hardcore-history-death-thr...

If you like that, try the History of Rome podcast, it goes through each and every single era of Western Roman history. It took me a few months to get through all of it and another few months to get through the History of Byzantium one which is still ongoing.

Other History Of podcasts are also interesting, such as the one on China, I haven't gotten too deep into that one yet.

Ghosts of the Ostfront and Supernova in the East are also genuinely incredible. The length can seem overwhelming, but he’s so engaging that you’ll be sad it isn’t twice as long.

Agreed. Quality stuff for sure.

And crucially he will tell you right as he’s about to fill in gaps with his own assumptions for the sake of the story telling. Makes it easier to trust him.

Agreed. The World War One series is fantastic. I learned way more through this than I did back in school.

New to me in the 12 months.

Fall of Civilizations - catalogue is now 16 long (3 hour) episodes.

https://fallofcivilizationspodcast.com/

Sweet Bobby - crazy phishing story, told in 6 tight episodes.

https://www.tortoisemedia.com/listen/sweet-bobby/

Proof: a True Crime Podcast - investigative true crime as it should be.

https://www.proofcrimepod.com/

The Trojan Horse Affair - the ugly underbelly of politics and more.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/podcasts/trojan-hor...

Omega Tau, a science & engineering podcast, with a light focus on aviation. For each episode, they invite a technical expert (e.g. they've had astronauts, various types of pilots, scientists/engineers, etc. on) and go in depth for 1-3 hours. They let their guests speak and they don't dumb it down too much, as they assume that most of their audience has some type of science/engineering background. No music / other filler content. It's from a German team but half the episodes are in English (and many of their guests are native English speakers). https://omegataupodcast.net/category/podcast-en/

Fighter Pilot Podcast. Exactly what it says. A former US Navy F/A-18 pilot invites other military aviation people to talk about military aviation related topics - "the aircraft, the weapons systems and the people" - an hour at a time. Somewhat technical at times, but generally focuses more on the people and the culture. It does get a bit repetitive after a hundred episodes or so (when they do one aircraft per episode), but the early episodes were great. https://www.fighterpilotpodcast.com/

I really enjoy this one - https://callingbullshitpodcast.com/episodes/ It is about the gap between companies' stated goals and their actual behavior.

Citations needed - https://citationsneeded.libsyn.com/ I think I found it on HN. Well worth your time

Behind the bastards - exactly what it says on the title. Every episode is about a shitty human being (some alive, most dead). Listen to the episodes on Henry Kissinger - it is a crime he was given the Nobel peace prize

There's a bizarre formula that Citations Needed uses in their titles to describe something they seem to disagree with in a way to immediately distance it from truth. They'll use the following words as synonyms: narrative, cliche, talking points, media, machine, stories, mythmaking, discourse, sentiment, framing, messaging, notions, theater, demagoguery, dogma, rhetoric, diatribe.

Pointing this out helps diminish whatever propaganda they might be distributing. Curiously, they seem to refrain from applying the word 'propaganda' to whatever it is they're describing, as that would reveal them as biased and their trick.

Huge fan of Avery Trufelman's Articles of Interest (https://www.radiotopia.fm/podcasts/articles-of-interest).

She used to be a correspondent on 99% Invisible and originally developed the series as a subsection of 99PI. She also briefly worked on a podcast called "Nice Try!" in the same vein: deeply exploring weird facets of the world around us. Articles of Interest does that, but for clothes, and the latest season has been especially interesting to me as it dives into the history of US colleges and their influence on fashion. Well produced content, very talk-radio-y, Avery really sticks to a narrative.

I also recently discovered Switched on Pop, a brilliant podcast that digs deep into pop songs from the last few decades, dissecting why they're catchy, why they work... and why they sometimes don't. If you're a Taylor Swift fan, their Taylor Swift episodes are especially fun. More conversational production, but still well cut.

Yes! I love Articles of Interest. I am very much not into fashion, but fashion is also a game you can't not play; the fact that I'm so ignorant of it I think is part of why I really like the historical analysis.

It's great stuff.

By far the most entertaining is the All In podcast, four Silicon Valley rich guys debate the topics of the day. Extra special is Friedman's science pieces https://www.youtube.com/@allin

If you want to follow Michigan politics, the oddball and quirky No BS News Hour led by the Pulitzer winning Charlie LeDuff is a must, he is a fearless old school reporter who goes after both the Right and the Left

https://www.youtube.com/@NoBSNewshour

The Drive [0] by Peter Attia. Smart, educational and possibly life-changing.

[0] - https://peterattiamd.com/podcast/

Episode #226 - "The science of happiness" was the best one this year:

https://peterattiamd.com/arthurbrooks/

Risky Business podcast (https://risky.biz/) is by far the best InfoSec news podcast in my opinion.

As far as a single episode, I really enjoyed this Lex Fridman podcast with John Carmack: https://lexfridman.com/john-carmack/

I'll second Fridman + Carmack. Probably the one podcast episode that everyone in this community would enjoy. Carmack is quite the inspiring character, and Lex's obvious reverence of him was a joy to experience.

The other podcast I frequent is econtalk, mostly because I find Russ to be thoughtful and he's a good steelmanner for libertarian and Friedmanist arguments I commonly disagree with.

Not exactly tech-related, but I like Opening Arguments [0]. It's good at deconstructing the legal happenings in the news, and they avoid overhyping things. I don't always agree with their takes, but it's an enjoyable listen all the same.

0: https://openargs.com/

Revolutions podcast by Mike Duncan. The series is wrapping up after almost a decade, and the 13 appendix episodes he's just finished releasing are a great summary of the causes, courses, and effects of revolutions throughout history. https://thehistoryofrome.typepad.com/revolutions_podcast/

The Prince by Sue-Lin Wong of the Economist. 10 episodes, but see also the followup weekly podcast from them called Drum Tower. It's interesting as a biography of Xi Jinping, but more insightful, I thought, as a recent history of the Chinese Communist Party's efforts to control society. https://www.economist.com/theprincepod and https://www.economist.com/drum-tower-pod / https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/633ebf6dfc7f5a0012acdc9...

> Revolutions podcast by Mike Duncan

Seconded. Great storytelling, great voice, very interesting (and often heartbreaking) subject matter.

Quirks & Quarks

While this has been around for a LONG time, and not really a 'podcast'; I can't recommend enough: Quirks & Quarks

It's hosted by the CBC (Canadian Broadcast Corp), and it's a "Weekly Science Journal". It has fairly up-to-date news and fascinating interviews. I started listening to it 30 years ago on the radio and still love it today.

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/quirks

You used to be able to download MP3's or OGG's of each show, don't know if you still can. Several of the popular podcast platforms carry it as well.

Maintenance Phase!

Michael Hobbs and Aubrey Gordon have amazing chemistry and are doing the Lord's work by debunking the fitness industry one diet at a time.

Michael's new podcast, "If Books Could Kill", is showing strong potential.

These two are very niche and primarily oriented towards record producers and audio engineers, but what sets them apart are the depth and holistic approach to the craft.

#1 Live With Matt Rad - A weekly interview series where producer Matt Radosevich has an hour long interview with world class audio engineers, mixers and producers.

It ranges from extremely technical and deep to discussions of soft skills as a working audio professional. In both cases the discussions really fill in gaps in understanding that are rarely touched-on in the world of audio production media. It’s worth it’s weight in gold.

Link: www.livewithmattrad.com

#2 - Conversations - Generically titled, but like the first podcast it fills in many many cracks in the learning process for audio professionals.

The format is a roundtable discussion between four high-level audio professionals. It’s not technical in the slightest, although each host’s pedigree is remarkable. The focus is on conceptual approaches to art, business, self-realization, experience, and soft skills, among many topics.

I consider it to be a companion to the first podcast. Together the two podcasts contribute an immense amount of value to the audio/music space that is barely being addressed anywhere else. They really fill in the cracks and make for a well-rounded record maker in today’s world.

https://open.spotify.com/show/6WF1JqT86wcLrLqoyAp6Jj?si=k2Cu...

Swindled is one of the best produced podcasts I've heard. They tell stories about financial and corporate crimes.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/1R4mEpogS2auhyKnppCmrD?si=1...

https://valuedlistener.com

Swindled's coverage of Enron was fantastic!

Two podcasts mainly related to history:

- El Weekly listen [0] from Engelsberg Ideas and I recommand this episode [1].

- Jacobin's Long reads by Daniel Finn, only available from Jacobin's main feed (just search 'long reads') [2], and for instance I recommand this episode on Belgium [3].

[0] https://audioboom.com/channels/5029938.rss

[1] https://audioboom.com/posts/7839871-ei-weekly-listen-iskande...

[2] https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/619be5c0705138001b9c847...

[3] https://shows.acast.com/jacobin-radio/episodes/long-reads-an...

60 Songs that Explain the 90s

The podcast is from a music critic who works his way to the title song by showing how other songs influenced the title song, or the band who made it. It’s been so good they expanded it to 90 episode.

https://www.theringer.com/60-songs-that-explain-the-90s

If you are interested in investing in stocks, Joseph Carlson is a nice podcast. I would recommend starting from first few episodes, after some basics you might switch to recent videos. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbta0n8i6Rljh0obO7HzG9A

I'm all into OSR RPGs, but I think Monster Man [0] may have a general appeal. It's a gentle deconstruction of the monsters from Dungeons and Dragons, with a lot of the history and mythical underpinnings thrown in. Short (usually <10 mins), easy listening, and always delightful insights from a history professor with a passion for tabletop gaming.

Also G.Lo.P. [1] Curmudgeonly looks at current events in the culture, with lots of stories from old Hollywood movies/TV. When they dip into politics, it's conservative Happy Warrior stuff, nothing to be afraid of.

[0] - https://monsterman.libsyn.com/ [1] - https://ricochet.com/series/goldberg-long-podhoretz/

"SmartLess" with Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, & Will Arnett

Well, there's...

- the by now ubiquitous Lex Friedman because of the interesting guests he manages to snare.

- James Lindsay's 'New Discourses' because he dares to shine a light on the cesspit which is academia nowadays - rather important for me seeing how as my daughter is intent on taking up English language and literature, a discipline which has become infested with the type of critical theory nonsense Lindsay has been dissecting for the last years.

- I used to listen to Joe Rogan - going so far as to make a tool to enable the use of standard RSS podcast tools with Spotify-hosted netcasts [1] - but more or less stopped doing so due to a lack of interest, mostly due to a lack of what I consider to be interesting guests. As a rule I come to these types of netcasts for the guests, not for the host.

[1] https://github.com/Yetangitu/Spodcast

A Tradition of Violence [0]

Cerise Castle is doing some blockbuster investigative journalism on gangs operating within the LA Sheriff's department. She blew this open with written articles last year. [1]

This has been one of the best shows I've listened to. There are (I think) four episodes remaining in the series.

[0]https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-a-tradition-of-violence-..., https://open.spotify.com/show/2jp3drHcyofNXbEvuMbtbU

[1] https://knock-la.com/tradition-of-violence-lasd-gang-history...

"Volts" by David Roberts![0] A lot of subjects covered related to decarbonization and getting and using more renewable electricity, usually by interviewing a variety of experts

[0] - https://www.volts.wtf/

The Moth (story telling)

Planet Money (economics and finance intersecting with everything else)

Heavyweight (investigate lost connections)

+100 to Heavyweight, it's my favorite podcast. Each one is like a little gem.

More tech related, and excellent podcasts:

Offline, a new-ish podcast from Crooked (the Pod Save America guys). It has a very anti silicon valley agenda that is sometimes annoying but there are some excellent interviews there.

Hard Fork, a tech news podcast from NYT, that gives a nice weekly roundup and some deeper dives on the week's drama in tech, in a mostly funny manner.

I was so bummed when they ended the Heavyweight podcast and made it a Spotify exclusive. It was one of the very few shows I would have conversations with people about the day after it dropped.

Can you give a link to "Heavyweight"? I searched for it in my podcast app but there are loads of results - I'm not sure which one you're talking about

I did the same, looks like it is Spotify only? https://gimletmedia.com/shows/heavyweight/episodes#show-tab-...

Assuming that is the show they are talking about.

God, I hate these walled gardens

It's exclusive to Spotify, sadly (didn't use to be) https://open.spotify.com/show/5c26B28vZMN8PG0Nppmn5G

Yeah, Spotify only nowadays. I don't have a subscription, though, so you can still listen to it for free.

On going:

The Arms Control Wonk. It's event driven so there is not a regular schedule. It's really detailed in an area I don't know well but very Accessible

https://armscontrolwonk.libsyn.com/rss

ChinaTalk

Insightful discussion of everything from Australias new nuclear subs to WeChat to the inside story of those who fall from grace in the CCP.

https://chinatalkshow.libsyn.com/rss

Limited Series

The Bomb. The story of espionage around nuclear secrets during and after ww2. Really compelling true events type thing.

https://podcasts.files.bbci.co.uk/p08llv8n.rss

I've been listening obsessively to The Rest Is Politics, mainly about UK politics, but including all kinds of interesting debates.

https://shows.acast.com/the-rest-is-politics

Would have to be “Decoding the Gurus” [1]. It’s hosted by a Behavioral Anthropologist and a Psychologist, and they do a great job exposing popular grifters like Jordan Peterson. “Behind the Bastards” [2] is a close second. They give a more modern dissection of horrible people and prominent organizations throughout history. Not so coincidentally, they also have a mini-series on Jordan Peterson.

[1] https://decoding-the-gurus.captivate.fm/

[2] https://www.iheart.com/podcast/105-behind-the-bastards-29236...

If you like mysteries, The Strait Times did a mini-series on "The Unsolved Mysteries of South East Asia" [0] which were (other than MH 370) totally new to me.

"Arms Control Wonk" [1] has episodes on North Korea missile tests, open source intel methods, etc. which often get simplified by regular press.

[0] - https://omny.fm/shows/the-unsolved-mysteries-of-south-east-a...

[1] - https://www.armscontrolwonk.com/archive/author/podcast/

I love my history but it seems most of my fav podcasts have already been mentioned on here. However, no one has mentioned this one which is a podcast of lectures from the late great Joseph Campbell:

https://pathways-with-joseph-campbell.simplecast.com/episode...

If you enjoy superb analysis of ancient myths and religion check it out. Campbell was a major influence on people like George Lucas and others.

The audio is surprisingly good considering some of lectures are from the 60s and 70s.

I honestly can't get enough of this podcast.

Mike Bennett released a new series of Underwood and Flinch: https://mikebennett.libsyn.com/

So good I'm going to pay for the rest when I remember.

The Blindboy Boatclub podcast [0] - it can be a little hit and miss, but when it hits it's just the best. This was the episode I started at [1] and it turned out to be a really good place to start.

[0] https://play.acast.com/s/blindboy

[1] https://play.acast.com/s/blindboy/the-quantum-bones-of-st-ro...

No Such Thing As A Fish is fantastic. Mostly lighthearted and always interesting and entertaining

https://www.nosuchthingasafish.com/

This is by far my favourite podcast to relax to. They're usually funny, I learn completely nonsensical, but factual, trivia and it's well edited so there are no bits where they yammer on about something.

There's also a HUGE backlog of stuff you can listen to (Currently at episode 457) and each episode has 4 facts, you can pause between each if stopping in the middle feels as wrong to you as it does to me.

They do contain a few running jokes, so listening in order is suggested but not mandatory.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hector_Martin_(hacker) https://youtu.be/dF2YQ92WKpM Hector Martin of Asahi Linux. Some talks on reversing M1, I thought it was one of the best I've heard this year.

Are You Garbage? https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/are-you-garbage-comedy...

All-In https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/all-in-with-chamath-ja...

TrueAnon. history, science, culture, and politics - https://www.patreon.com/TrueAnonPod/posts

Your Kickstarter Sucks. consumer markets, economic trends, web entrepreneurship - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/your-kickstarter-sucks...

The single best episode for me was this:

Climate Change Debate: Bjørn Lomborg and Andrew Revkin | Lex Fridman Podcast #339

Getting climate change out of the framing of "if we don't stop all CO2 emissions by 2030 we're going to roast the world" and into "yes, it's important, and we need to deal with it, in a reasonable manner" was quite a relief.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Gk9gIpGvSE

There were way too many factually wrong things in this episode for me to reccomend it. It was particularly cringe when they discussed electric cars.

What did they say that is wrong? I thought it was a fair and balanced treatment of the subject.

The Filmanalysis[0] - originally a German podcast, now also publishes episodes in english. While superficially a movie critic, the host Wolfgang M. Schmitt digs deep on the ideology side. He analyses the world view proposed by the creators of a piece, referencing works from sociology, psychology and philosophy.

[0] https://www.youtube.com/@thefilmanalysis2044

The episodic podcast that I was hooked on was “Rachel Maddow Presents: Ultra” [1] about the plot to overthrow the United States government in the 1940s by members of Congress who were white nationalists and Natzi sympathizers.

Well written with lots of source material from news archives and the Library of Congress.

[1]: https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-presents-ultra

This Is Important

It's just the Workaholics guys podcast where they riff on whatever for an hour but I just relate to them and their sense of humor a lot being around the same age and their nostalgic angle of the 90s/2000s on everything.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/this-is-important/id15...

Peak Salvation, [1] which chronicles the experience of an Amazon Fulfillment associate (who just so happens to be a successful former FB'er). It illuminates class divides while also shedding light on the downsides of having achieved immense career and financial success at a relatively young age.

1: https://peaksalvation.com/

I like the Josh Barro podcasts for keeping up with US news and politics -- Serious Trouble (https://www.serioustrouble.show/) and Very Serious (https://www.joshbarro.com/podcast).

Top 3 for this year:

1. Criminal - https://thisiscriminal.com/

2. Darknet Diaries - https://darknetdiaries.com/

3. Other Peoples Lives - https://oplshow.com/

The Back Page Podcast

A video games podcast hosted by two former games magazines journalists. Actual great discussion of games especially in the early 2000s, early 2010s and while funny they don’t go on incredibly boring, unrelated tangents like a lot of podcasts.

https://www.patreon.com/backpagepod

5-4: a wonderful podcast about the supreme court of the United States: https://pca.st/podcast/e14f0f00-2e7f-0138-96e0-0acc26574db2

They've covered a few of the decisions in their episodes. It's an excellent listen

The Adventure Zone: https://maximumfun.org/podcasts/adventure-zone/

Decoding the Gurus: https://decoding-the-gurus.captivate.fm/

Articles of Interest [0]. It's a podcast about clothes. I have little interest in fashion but for some reason this really clicked with me.

[0] https://www.radiotopia.fm/podcasts/articles-of-interest

Look I deeply love Star Trek, but I also realize that a lot of it is pretty goofy.

My favourite pod in the world is The Greatest Generation: A [comedy] Star Trek podcast by two guys who are a little bit embarrassed to have a Star Trek podcast.

https://gagh.biz/

I enjoy in-depth by first-round review[0], which explores what goes into building companies and teams through conversations with people that have successfully done so.

0: https://review.firstround.com/podcast

Intelligence Matters is pretty amazing. Former Interim CIA Director interviews people from all over the Intelligence Community and related private entities/think tanks to discuss global happenings. Really insightful stuff, a valuable peek into "the establishment."

Cortex by CGP Grey and Myke Hurley. Hon mentions to Accidental Tech Podcast, Connected, and Upgrade.

Not quite a podcast but https://stocksandjocks.net/ radio show is really good and has guests on for 30-60 min

Penn's Sunday School

He changed his podcast intro to be nonbinary-inclusive and is generally pro-queer, so that meme that depicts him throwing pronouns in the garbage is really weird. The show is mostly him talking about show business with guests.

The Michael Levin episode of the Lex Fridman podcast blew me away.

https://lexfridman.com/michael-levin/

I had to pause it multiple times to let it sink in.

Skeptic's Guide to the Universe - science news & scientific skepticism

Insert Credit - casual, mostly retro, video game jokes

Unboxing - a new podcast about the business side of gaming

Podouken - arcade video games

Shop Talk Live - casual woodworking podcast from Fine Woodworking magazine

Acquired. Particularly, episodes on Nvidia, Qualcomm, Benchmark, Enron, and Walmart.

Specific episode of Lex Fridman:

#198 – Sara Walker: The Origin of Life on Earth and Alien Worlds

This episode feels like it’s from the future. Sara introduces a completely different approach to defining life, one that feels revolutionary and appropriate.

"Security Cryptography Whatever" is my discovery of the year

https://securitycryptographywhatever.buzzsprout.com/

The Harvard After Hours podcast is consistently excellent and thought-provoking on business and strategy

https://harvardafterhours.com/

Capitalisn't [0]

> "Is capitalism the engine of destruction or the engine of prosperity? On this podcast we talk about the ways capitalism is—or more often isn’t—working in our world today. Hosted by Vanity Fair contributing editor, Bethany McLean and world renowned economics professor Luigi Zingales, we explain how capitalism can go wrong, and what we can do to fix it."

EconTalk [1]

> "Econlib carries the podcast, EconTalk, hosted by Russ Roberts. The weekly talk show features one-on-one discussions with an eclectic mix of authors, professors, Nobel Laureates, entrepreneurs, leaders of charities and businesses, and people on the street. The emphases are on using topical books and the news to illustrate economic principles. Exploring how economics emerges in practice is a primary theme."

[0] https://www.capitalisnt.com/

[1] https://www.econtalk.org/

I've been listening to EconTalk since 2007. It's one of the only podcasts that I never skip an episode, even if the topic or author doesn't initially seem too interesting.

Great to hear you are a fan. A long time one albeit. Its been interesting seeing Russ Roberts evolve over the years. His interests have moved from quantitative to qualitative questions. What makes for a good life? What makes us happy? What gives us meaning? How should one conduct themselves? The harder questions in life. Questions that are difficult to articulate. Difficult to measure. But are vital to identify, because the economic policies we pursue mold our world which can either facilitate or hinder these interests.

Bethany McLean is terrific. The guests are terrific.

Luigi... Not so much. Regurgitates Chicago School phrases, context independent, like magnet poetry for neoliberals.

Luigi's response to Cory Doctorow and Chokepoint Capitalism was lacking. Expects Cory to have a fix for regulatory capture, a problem which has confounded economists for generations. Then is unsatisfied with Cory's prescribed remedies, which adroitly side steps the damage. ("I don't want to wait generations for creatives to get paid for their work." Preach, brother.) Then, predictably, Luigi doesn't think creatives are entitled to any of the wealth generated by their cultural output, while parasitic corporate gatekeepers rake in billions from those same efforts. By mere virtue of being the rent seekers. (Ignoring one of conservative economics' central criticisms of capitalism.) Unironically, obliviously proving Doctorow's whole thesis.

Luigi is just so maddeningly, depressingly, typical.

So I just fast forward thru Luigi's blather.

I wonder why McLean suffers Luigi. Maybe her cunning plan is to let the vacuousness of Chicagoian School self-invalidate and she trusts her listenership to see thru the Great Oz's charade.

Fascinant! In french on ICI Radio Canada. Very much a contemporary Cosmos Lite experience from Charles Tisseyre interviewing many large players in Quebec including astronauts. A+

Pretty much binge listened to these this year:

- Startups for the Rest of Us (https://www.startupsfortherestofus.com/): Great podcast for any aspiring entrepreneur and bootstrapper.

- The Knowledge Project (https://fs.blog/knowledge-project-podcast/): Great interview podcast around a variety of topics

- The REWORK podcast (https://37signals.com/podcast/): Probably don't need lots of introduction here. Read the books in the past, but its great to actually hear Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson to actually talk about those things.

Appreciate the shout, Torte!

I really loved Lex's episodes with Carmack and Karpathy

To my surprise, his interview with Shapiro was also really good! I strongly disagree with Shapiro on many fronts, but his appearance on Lex's podcast is the most pleasant I've seen him act in any situation. It was fascinating.

"The rest is politics" Mostly UK focused. https://linktr.ee/restispolitics

I didn't particularly enjoy the The Rest is Politics—can't stick Alasdair Campbell. But "The Rest is History" from the same production company is excellent.

Lewis Mumford's Technics and Civilization - Part 1

https://youtu.be/vxkg_klE5Xw

Probably Rick Rubin talking to Tom Jones on Broken Record. I also dug the five hour John Carmack interview, but you’ve certainly already heard that one.

Dubcast with Dubside. I recently got curious of Greenlandic culture and kayaking. There's lots if insight to Inuit culture and to the sport here.

Not tech related but the Always Sunny in Philadelphia podcast. Just a bunch of funny people being funny live rather than scripted.

TESD, Tell Em Steve Dave. But of course I'd never post this true answer under my real account as it's not high brow enough.

Alzabo Soup (https://www.alzabosoup.com/)

In English, Blowback. [0]

[0] https://blowback.show/

I'm still enjoying good old syntax.fm. I really like their new Friday "super club" interview series.

Lex is great. Eurodollar University has been a great way to get some alternative insight into the shadow banking system and how the central banks of the world are mostly working on an entirely outdated idea of how the world works that hasn't been accurate since the 50s or so (and explains why so much of what they're doing on a regular basis fails so badly).

Around the Empire has mostly been quite good for following some geopolitical goings on -- the host is somewhat left leaning and anti-war, so be warned if your political sensibilities will be ruffled.

I also enjoy Gold, Goats, and Guns, but if you're big on masks and/or mRNA vaccines this one likely will offend. Same with Geopolitics and Empire, who admittedly brings on plenty of guests he doesn't himself agree with, so some episodes are better than others.

Other than that, I just catch a bunch of Bloomberg, Motley Fool, and a blend of mainstream news just to keep things rounded out.

On another note though, if your workouts are on a treadmill or elliptical or otherwise prone to being in front of a TV, I've recently started auditing a class on Coursera, and have found it to be a great way to work out my body and mind all at the same time. I'm auditing The Economics of Money and Banking from Columbia University, taught by Perry Mehrling at the moment, and it's done wonders to fill in a lot of gaps in my understanding having learned most of what I know about the monetary system piecemeal rather than methodically in the past.

Making Sense with Sam Harris. There are so many good podcast episodes. If you don’t like the first one you listen to, browse the list of episodes. There’s a ton of evergreens.

My favourite this year is the Time management series by Oliver Burkeman via WakingUp app.

I can heartily recommend the Jordan Harbinger show. He interviews some truly fascinating people.

I'll give three:

"Philosophize This" by Stephen West is a quite good and accessible series on philosophy. It's largely worked through the historical overview and several of the recent segments have been on (reasonably) modern and unfamiliar (to me) topics, with the "Ethics of Care" episode this post August being standout excellent.

<https://www.philosophizethis.org/>

Ethics of Care episode: <https://www.philosophizethis.org/podcast/episode-158-the-cre...>

My notes on EoC: <https://diaspora.glasswings.com/posts/60cf1410e72f013a68ef44...>

Peter Adamson's "History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps" is now well into its third decade, 400th episode (in the mainstream podcast), and the 16th century (Jean Bodin). I rank it after West's effort only because I feel West can use the advocacy more. Both podcasts are excellent, Adamson is well supported through a tenured faculty position and institutional funding. Older philosophy provides insights into the development, and history of ideas, including (many, many, many, many) false starts and wild-goose chases, but also often startlingly modern thinking in ancient times. Having caught up with the full back-catalogue, I've returned to the beginning for a second listen.

<https://historyofphilosophy.net/>

A third excellent series is "Complexity" from the Santa Fe Institute, largely looking at systems and complexity research. Topics, production, and editing are excellent, and definitely definitely definitely check out the show notes for additional references.

Actually, that last goes for all three of these podcasts, which really put the additional effort into documenting what was discussed.

Complexity: <https://www.santafe.edu/culture/podcasts#Complexity>

All of the above are commercial-free (West does solicit Patreon support at the beginning of each episode, Complexity notes SFI goings-on, both are brief and appropriate), which I find makes a huge difference for me in how approach and rate podcasts. There are any number of podcasts which include commercial spots which I have to steel myself to listen to.

I'll throw in a "fourth" as a cheat: the New Books Network, which is not a single podcast but literally a collection of well over a hundred channels on academic topics (though many individual episodes will appear on multiple channels). This is the project of Marshall Poe.

Quality is uneven, both in production and hosting, and there is advertising, often sudden and intrusive. Still, as a place to find academic work and deep dives into topics very often not dominating news cycles or other cultural coverage, and for the huge back-catalogue (dating to the mid-aughts), again, an excellent resource. Some hosts are excellent, others ... grating with time. But I find myself returning frequently and being well rewarded more often than not.

<https://newbooksnetwork.com/>

There are a number of other academic and book-related podcasts, including from the London School of Economics, Yale Press, Intelligence Squared (both UK and US), and more which I can't help but mention, though the four pods listed above deserve top billing. I'm also increasingly listening to a number of foreign-language / foreign-service podcasts, in a number of languages, which I'm finding useful as a learning tool.

Readers may note that none of these podcasts feature current or technical topics. I consider both aspects strong positives, as overexposure to both news and tech has been a constant. Deep dives into specialised topics outside the mainstream is useful for surfacing new (and old) ideas and associations.

I have well over 100 subscriptions, which I dip into as informational, entertainment, and relaxation resources. I've listened to nearly 2,500 hours of podcasts so far in 2022, including several not listed above.

Darknet diaries for sure. Xbox episodes top my all time favourites list.

Either Odd Lots, the The History of Rome, or the history of Byzantium

Sean Carroll’s Mindscape.

Ahh, forgot about this one! I'll definitely give it a go. Also there's one from Quanta magazine, with Steven Strogatz. Hm, I see the last one, with him, was from august. Still they've continued with someone else I guess.

The Huberman Lab Podcast

Dungeons and Daddies and Corecuraive are a tie for me.

under the influence by terry o'reilly

I think it's the best storytelling podcast there ( or Marketing ).

with its archives, it has more than 15 years of productions.

Martyrmade by Darryl Cooper is fantastic. His series “God’s Socialist” provides a backdrop for current events and paints a picture of the 60s and 70s in America they is often not shown; its heartbreaking.

Not tech related although often touching on AI:

- Making sense with Sam Harris: https://www.samharris.org/podcasts

If you're interested in bootstrapping and indie hacking I can also recommend:

- The bootstrapped founder: https://bootstrapped-founder.transistor.fm/episodes

Blowback

Ah, just posted the same before I did a search. :D

This one, by far. At least of the ones in English.

The Dig - political left with structural / material analysis of world around us. The back catalogue is vast. Excellent host, Daniel Denver

Know your Enemy - analysis of the US right-wing. Excellent and personable hosts, Matthew and Sam.

"The Coming Storm" is terrific.

Interesting gentle analysis on Sovereign Citizen / QAnon. Doesn't shine n positive light, but at the same time it does try to understand why people fall for it.

Knowledge Fight

Diary of a CEO

Hidden Brain

A Slight Change of Plans

Indie Hackers

Darknet Diaries

1. Andrew Huberman (Probably the greatest podcast ever). Provided so many useful scientific tools to improve my overall health.

2. Lex Fridman

3. Sam Harris

I enjoy all of these:

* Geopolitics - "The Duran" [realist foreign policy school] (on youtube). Two Greeks, one a reporter and one a former lawyer/civil servant in the UK. Alexander Mercouris is fantastic and has his own daily short videos.

* History - "Revolutions" podcast [Academic/liberal]. Formerly "The History of Rome" A great series on the transition of the West towards liberalism, and very well researched. On Spotify and perhaps other platforms.

* History/Education -- "Historia Civilis" [Academic/Educational]. A great podcast with animations suitable for educational use. Very entertaining and well researched. On youtube. If you want to know about the Constitution of Sparta or the Battle of Actium, this is the series for you!

* Music/Education -- "Everything Music" by Rick Beato [Music theory]. A great podcast where musical theory is applied to contemporary music, the structure of songs is often analyzed. On youtube.

* Journalism/Foreign Affairs -- "The Grayzone" [UK Independent Alt Media]. A group of independent journalists in the spirit of "The Intercept", if you want to know about what's going on in Burkina Faso, or ties between British Intelligence and various troll armies, then this is the podcast for you. A thorn in the side of Perfidious Albion and constantly under investigation in the UK. Episodes on youtube and they also have a media site online.

* Politics/Book Reviews -- "The Worthy House" by Charles Haywood [Hard Right Politics]. A series of 20 minute book reviews featuring primarily right politics but also some history and philosophy. On youtube. Charles reads each book and then critiques their ideas.

Non-podcast but off the beaten path online sources:

* Journalism/Foreign Affairs -- "MROnline" [Socialist/Alt Media]. Old School New York commie publication that was a platform for I. F. Stone and others. If you want to know why capitalism is slavery or the latest Western offenses against Venezuela, then this is the website for you. They have some high quality content that makes it worthwhile even though there is lots of cliche stuff as well.

* Diplomacy/Geopolitics -- "Indian Punchline" [Geopolitics/Non-Aligned] https://www.indianpunchline.com/ - A former Indian Diplomat covers geopolitcs, very interesting. Often covers important events ignored in Western media (e.g. the recent killing of 100 children in Kabul) and puts them in a larger geopolitical context from the Indian perspective.

* News/Geopolitics - "AZGeopolitics" [Eurasian Geopolitics] https://azgeopolitics.com If you want to know about the latest negotiations between Iran and Saudi Arabia, or what China is doing in Pakistan, or how Russia is organizing a gas cartel similar to OPEC with Uzbekistan, then this is the news source for you. Also has Africa coverage. All from a pro-Eurasia/anti-West perspective.

Let me also make a shout out to the "Deadliest Roads" documentary series on youtube, which was originally produced by France Television, and is absolutely fantastic.

No Agenda with Adam Curry and John C Dvorak. 6 hours a week of media deconstruction

I spent all of 2022 being perpetually one to three months behind on No Agenda, and I found that this was actually a great way to listen to it. listening to analysis of world events a good month or so after they occurred was fascinating. sometimes I would be listening to an episode from two months ago and hear mention of something that was happening in the present (SBF & FBX, as an example). other times I would hear the hosts discuss a seemingly major news story that had, by the time I was listening, already be long-since forgotten.

I just finished #1500 and I'm probably going to be all caught up in the coming weeks what with holiday travel and all but yeah if anyone else wants to listen to NA but is overwhelmed with the amount of content they put out each week, I can't recommend listening a few months behind enough, for the additional dimension of interesting perspective it gives.

also, unrelated, but Hoteps BEEN Told You is another great listen, however most here will find it to be quite the acquired taste. (disclaimer: I made a website for them.)

Been listening since episode one. This is the show I look forward to every week.

In the morning