NonZero Newsletter
Robert Wright's Nonzero
The Iran War and the Singularity (Robert Wright & Nikita Petrov)
Preview
0:00
-49:53

The Iran War and the Singularity (Robert Wright & Nikita Petrov)

This episode includes an Overtime segment that’s available to paid subscribers. If you’re not a paid subscriber, we of course encourage you to become one. If you are a paid subscriber, you can access the complete conversation either via the audio and video on this post or by setting up the paid-subscriber podcast feed, which includes all exclusive audio content. To set that up, simply grab the RSS feed from this page (by first clicking the “...” icon on the audio player) and paste it into your favorite podcast app. If you have trouble completing the process, check out this super-simple how-to guide.

0:00 Teaser
1:00 Holy Week in Andalusia, and the Christian cross as branding
6:50 Why Bob is skeptical of Trump's diplomacy
11:09 Trump's hand got weaker and he doesn't even know it
14:11 Killing Iran's navy chief won't reopen the Strait of Hormuz
17:20 Nikita: "I find him weirdly persuasive on a hypnotist kind of level"
20:26 The Iran war's secret winner: Vladimir Putin
24:49 Bob checked back into AI podcasts and came out scared
29:55 "Every time I see tribalism on parade, I think: we're toast on AI"
35:45 Russia's Internet shutdowns
47:35 Heading to Overtime

Robert Wright (Nonzero, The Evolution of God, Why Buddhism Is True) and Nikita Petrov (https://psychopolitica.substack.com). Recorded March 26, 2026.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

Nikita’s newsletter:

Overtime titles:
Bill Maher’s Mark Twain Prize: why Twain would be horrified.
$20K drones vs. million-dollar Patriots.
Who rebuilds world order after this?
AI arbitration and a council of sovereign AIs.
ICE at airports and Bannon’s polling station plan.
How Spain’s cannabis clubs emerged through courts.
How smoking bans changed Central Park.
Gummies, CBD, and THC.
When AI agents start negotiating with each other.
Spain’s Semana Santa.

Overtime video:

This post is for paid subscribers