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/@CoolWorldsLab

David’s Website: http://davidkipping.co.uk

OUTLINE

00:01:05 Astronomy or Aliens?

00:06:12 How Scientists Get Burned by Alien Research

00:16:52 Three Big Obstacles to UFO Science

00:23:59 What is the Kardashev Scale of Alien Civilizations?

00:30:28 Cloaking Devices

00:33:46 How To Detect Alien Civilizations with Heat Signatures

00:37:21 Other Schemes for Detecting Civilizations

00:47:22 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 Humanity

01:25:05 How Rare Is the Creation of Life From Nothing?

01:31:53 Communicating with Extraterrestrials

01:37:28 What Are Alien Megastructures?

01:47:07 Can We Engineer the Sun to Live Longer?

01:51:08 Clark Belt Detection

01:54:35 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 Telescopes

02:13:35 What Is a Warp Drive and Why Can’t We Build One?

02:21:47 On Time Travel and the Best Time Machines

02:26:40 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.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University.

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%5Eauthor

OUTLINE

00:00:00 Introduction

00:00:43 The Default Condition for AI’s Takeover
00:06:36 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 Humanity
00:29:34 What Is the Alignment Problem?
00:34:11 How To Avoid AI Apocalypse
00:40:25 Would Cyborgs Eliminate Humanity?
00:47:55 AI and the Problem of Gradient Descent
00:55:24 How Do We Solve the Alignment Problem?
01:00:50 How Anthropic’s AI Freed Itself from Human Control
01:08:56 The Pseudo-Alignment Problem
01:19:28 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 Apocalypse
01:42:04 Do AI Corporations Control the Fate of Humanity?
01:43:49 How To Convince the President Not to Let AI Kill Us All
01:52:01 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.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University.

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.com

OUTLINE

00:01:11 Norman’s Predictions for the War

00:10:12 Trump and the End of the Ceasefire

00:14:29 Why Didn’t The Democrats Strike a Ceasefire in Israel?

00:25:50 A Jeremy Corbin Witch Hunt?

00:29:52 On Wokeness and DEI

00:54:01 Bernie Sanders and the Working Class

00:57:16 Bernie Sanders, Chuck Schumer, and Anti-Semitism

01:04:17 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 Academia

01:24:34 How Norman Feels About Being Academically Canceled

01:27:45 On Noam Chomsky’s Deceptiveness

01:29:42 More on the Cancelation

01:34:13 How Should We Define Anti-Semitism?

01:43:45 What Should We Do With Holocaust Deniers?

01:47:14 On W.E.B Du Bois

01:58:31 On Race and IQ

02:01:35 Suppression of Free Speech

02:09:02 How to Prevent Another Holocaust

02:18:18 Chuck Schumer is Wrong About Media Echo Chambers

02:22:01 How to Fight Violent Hate

02:35:58 On Chuck Schumer’s Backstory and the Holocaust

02:40:05 Cleaning the Augean Stables of Gaza Scholarship

02:46:21 What Changed on October 7th

02:48:59 Gaza Is Already Rubble: What’s Next?

Chris Hedges is a Pulitzer Prize–winning author and journalist who was a foreign correspondent for fifteen years for The New York Times. He has covered numerous wars across the decades, written many books—including America: The Farewell Tour and American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America—and has been involved in work for prisoner advocacy. In this episode, Robinson and Chris discuss Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and the rise of American fascism. More particularly, they address comparisons between Trump and Hitler, DOGE, the new crisis for the Democratic Party, Israel and Palestine, the Christian far right, Marxism, and more. Chris’s latest book is A Genocide Foretold (Penguin Random House, 2025).

Chris’s YouTube Channel: https://youtube.com/@chrishedgeschannel?si=XIMAFyQFmWGoYyuO

The Chris Hedges Report Substack: https://chrishedges.substack.com

A Genocide Foretold: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/786808/a-genocide-foretold-by-chris-hedges/

OUTLINE

00:00:00 Introduction

00:00:59 PTSD and Weightlifting

00:06:49 The Decline of the American Empire

00:11:10 The Strongest Dimension of Trump’s Presidency

00:17:20 Was Hitler a Better Speaker than Trump?

00:19:54 How the Democratic Party Sold Out the Working Class

00:22:21 Elon Musk and the Oligarchic Takeover of America

00:28:26 Is Elon Musk Wrong About the Efficiency of Government?

00:31:02 What Is the Deep State?

00:42:46 Is Donald Trump at War with the Deep State?

00:49:23 Infiltrating the Far Right Christian Community

00:54:04 Becoming a Minister

00:57:27 The Christian Right and the Fascist State

01:06:26 The Problem of Evil

01:10:31 On Sadism and the Decline of Empires

01:17:35 Why the Christian Right Supports Israel

01:20:20 How Does Trump Think of Israel?

01:27:38 On How the CIA Attempted to Recruit Him

01:31:06 Is Israel Still Committing Genocide in Gaza?

01:40:25 Chris’s New Book

01:46:24 On His Time with Hamas

01:55:01 Journalism vs Academia

01:58:28 Is Zionism Anti-Semitism?

02:04:52 How to Read the Bible

02:12:01 Where Does Integrity Come From?

02:22:26 Dehumanization in Palestine

02:26:15 On Marxism and Elon Musk

02:31:16 The Farewell Tour

02:35:34 On Trump’s Love of TV

02:37:50 On Reporting the Middle East

02:39:56 Russia and Ukraine

02:42:59 Growing Wealth Disparities in the United States

02:46:56 Fascist Attacks on Education

02:51:39 The Dark Future of the Press

02:57:30 Could the American Empire Be Revived?

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

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University.

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 eighth appearance on Robinson’s Podcast. In his last appearance, episode #243, he and Robinson discussed 2025 and the first weeks of Trump’s presidency, as well as what’s to come. More particularly, they discuss the irrelevance of Donald Trump, his domestic and global policies, China, narratives on the right and left, and the future of the United States. In this episode, they continue the discussion by diving deeper into recent events, Doge, Elon Musk, the relationship between Trump and Hitler, and important historical Marxists. 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

00:00:00 Introduction

00:01:27 What Do Trump and Hitler Have in Common?

00:09:42 Is This the Democratic Party’s Worst Crisis?

00:14:58 Is Trump’s Economic Policy a Hail Mary?

00:26:29 The Mexican Deportation Crisis

00:30:19 Global Retaliation Against American Tariffs

00:33:29 America’s Big Mistake with Russian Sanctions

00:40:50 Trump’s Big TikTok Mistake

00:47:05 How Adolf Hitler Came to Power in Germany

01:08:40 Does Elon Musk Symbolize the End of America?

01:16:07 How Bosses Lie When They Fire You

01:23:08 On Elon Musk’s Chainsaw Public Relations Disaster

01:28:52 On the Drowning American Empire

01:34:36 On Elon Musk and the Self-Destruction of Tesla

01:39:27 Feudalism, Communism, and the Death of Capitalism

01:46:22 Does China Represent a New Breed of Capitalism?

01:55:16 What Can the United States Do to Beat China?

02:03:46 What Makes Mao an Important Marxist?

02:17:56 Richard Wolff’s Mediocre Ivy League Education

02:23:59 How Mao Made the China of Today

02:40:39 The Myth of European Global Dominance

02:52:08 On Antonio Gramsci and Mussolini

02:57:03 Why Is Gramsci One of the Great Marxists?

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

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University.

Dr. Nolan is the Rachford and Carlota A. Harris Professor in the Department of Pathology at Stanford University School of Medicine. He has published over 350 research articles and is the holder of 50 US patents, and has been honored as one of the top 25 inventors at Stanford University. He specializes in groundbreaking cancer and immunotherapy research. Yet Garry is also a world-renowned UAP investigator and Executive Director of the Board at the Sol Foundation, one of whose unofficial mottos is: Science, Policy, and Public Education for a Post-UAP World. In this episode, Robinson and Garry discuss the evidence that aliens exist and have already visited Earth. More particularly, they discuss various hypotheses about what aliens are—interdimensional travelers, visitors from other planets, Boltzmann Brains, and others—the Atacama Mummy, Garry’s own UFO encounter, the relationship between aliens and national security, the Pentagon Videos, the Fermi Paradox, and more. Keep up with Garry through X and the Sol Foundation.

Garry’s X Account: https://x.com/GarryPNolan

The Sol Foundation: https://thesolfoundation.org

OUTLINE

00:00:00 Introduction

00:01:23 Garry’s Interest in Aliens

00:05:03 How Garry’s Medical Research Turned into Alien Investigations

00:14:44 The Alien Controversy Around the Atacama Mummy

00:24:08 What Is the Definitive Proof for Aliens?

00:29:34 What Are UAPs

00:32:46 What Are Interdimensional Aliens??

00:36:03 What Are Ultraterrestrial Aliens?

00:40:01 The Time-Traveling Alien Hypothesis

00:41:13 The Angry-Monkey Alien Hypothesis

00:43:35 The Panspermia Alien Hypothesis

00:48:20 Could Intelligent Aliens Have Come to Earth?

00:54:50 Garry’s Background in Genetics

00:57:13 Does Extraterrestrial Life Need Air and Water to Live?

01:07:16 What Is the Fermi Paradox?

01:15:56 UFOs and Government

01:22:23 Garry’s UAP Experience

01:35:27 On Telepathy and Paranormal Abilities

01:39:31 On the Credibility of Alien Witnesses

01:41:34 Does the Government Suppress UFO Reports?

01:49:11 Why Are Aerospace Companies Hiding UFO Data?

01:51:53 Does the Government Possess Alien Metals?

01:58:29 Is Knowledge of Aliens a National Security Threat?

02:02:15 On Alien Abductions and Animal Mutilations

02:06:28 The Violent Changes to Brains Exposed to UFOs

02:17:56 Garry’s Top Secret Clearance

02:19:15 The Truth About the Tic-Tac UFO Incident

02:37:25 What Is the Skywatcher UAP Contact Program?

02:46:01 The Sol Foundation

02:58:24 Why Alien Research Can Prevent Nuclear War

03:02:03 What Are Transmedium Alien UAPs?

03:04:50 Are UAPs Biological Threats?

03:06:31 On Avi Loeb’s Pioneering UAP Research

03:12:49 Is Jacques Vallee One of the Most Important Alien Researchers?

03:18:17 What Should You Tell Someone Who Doesn’t Believe in Aliens?

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

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University.

Tim Maudlin is Professor of Philosophy at NYU and Founder and Director of the John Bell Institute for the Foundations of Physics. This is Tim’s seventh appearance on the show. He last appeared on episode 237 for a masterclass on Albert Einstein’s theory of special relativity, explaining it from the ground up and elucidating some common misconceptions. In this episode Tim returns for a discussion of another of Einstein’s major impacts on physics: his theory of general relativity. More particularly, Tim and Robinson discuss black holes, time, paradoxes of distance, Penrose diagrams, figures like Leonard Susskind and Richard Feynman, the curvature of space, and more. If you’re interested in the foundations of physics, then please check out the JBI, which is devoted to providing a home for research and education in this important area. Any donations are immensely helpful at this early stage in the institute’s life.

Tim’s Website: www.tim-maudlin.site

The John Bell Institute: https://www.johnbellinstitute.org

00:00:42 An Extended Prelude

00:05:08 Naming Names

00:10:02 The Difference Between Quantum Mechanics and General Relativity

00:13:46 Einstein on General Relativity and Metric

00:27:21 More on Coordinates

00:40:26 A Novel Coordinate System

00:46:25 What Is Special Relativity?

00:50:30 The Conflict Between Quantum Theory and Relativity

01:02:00 Doing Physics with Geometry

01:12:38 Geometry and Special Relativity

01:30:20 More on Geometry and Relativity

01:36:19 Lorentz Frames

01:46:56 Simultaneity

02:02:03 John Bell and Special Relativity

02:11:00 Paradoxes of Distance

02:22:12 A Penrose Diagram

02:27:47 Introducing General Relativity

02:32:23 The Most Important Experiment About Gravity

02:45:52 Changing the Geometry of Spacetime

02:55:28 Curvature of Space

03:02:03 Be Careful with Diagrams in Science

03:05:45 The Basic Idea of General Relativity

03:10:23 The Equivalence Principle

03:19:40 Clocks and Gravity

03:28:09 Richard Feynman on General Relativity

03:37:00 The Cosmological Constant

03:41:56 What Are Black Holes?

03:50:45 What Steven Weinberg Got Wrong About General Relativity

04:01:01 Black Holes and the Centrifugal Force Paradox

04:06:32 Curved Black Holes and Gödel Spacetime

04:19:34 The John Bell Institute

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

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University.

Leonard Susskind is Felix Block Professor of Physics at Stanford University. Along with other accomplishments, he is among the fathers of such revolutionary concepts in physics as string theory, black hole complementarity, the holographic principle, and the string-theoretic landscape. He was also the guest on episode #217, where he and Robinson discussed the fine-tuning problem and the physics of the multiverse. In this episode, Leonard and Robinson get into another topic—black holes and the information paradox. More particularly, they talk about important figures like Stephen Hawking and Gerard ’t Hooft, singularities, chaos, whether the cosmos is a hologram, the end of the universe, and more. For further details, check out Leonard’s book on the title: The Black Hole War (Back Bay Books, 2009).

The Black Hole War: https://a.co/d/3eTOHoZ

The Theoretical Minimum: https://theoreticalminimum.com

OUTLINE

00:00 Introduction

05:21 Black Holes and the War Between Relativity and Quantum Mechanics

11:18 Is The Singularity at the Heart of a Black Hole Real?

21:51 Demystifying the Puzzle of Quantum Information

28:27 What Does The Famous Phrase “It From Bit” Mean?

38:47 Can Information Be Stored on the Surface of a Black Hole?

47:11 Was Stephen Hawking a Good Physicist?

56:21 How Will The Universe End?

1:00:49 What Is the Black Hole Information Paradox?

1:10:47 What Is the Holographic Principle?

1:20:01 How Leonard Susskind Won the Black Hole War Against Stephen Hawking

1:25:09 What Is the Infamous AdS/CFT Correspondence?

1:32:29 Is Physics in a Deep Crisis?

1:39:29 Are String and M-Theory Totally Wrong?

1:43:05 Is String Theory the Theory of Everything?

1:47:43 Is String Theory a Failure?

1:50:15 Does Our World Have Extra Dimensions?

1:53:34 Could Our World Be a Hologram?

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

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University.