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#217 - Lee Cronin - AI Will Never Be Conscious. This Is How We Create Real Life.
Chemist and University of Glasgow professor Lee Cronin argues that the current tech narrative is a "massive AI delusion," dismissing modern artificial intelligence as an advanced form of plagiarism rather than a new life form. While Silicon Valley predicts the imminent arrival of sentient machines, Cronin explains that AI models are merely trained on human history-making them powerful tools, but fundamentally incapable of the curiosity, consciousness and biological intelligence that define true life.
Instead of fearing silicon, Cronin’s actual mission is far more ambitious: programming chemistry to solve the origin of life and turn sand into living cells. In this episode, we explore why biological consciousness is tied to an unbroken 3.8-billion-year evolutionary lineage and why silicon will never replicate it. Cronin also breaks down why DNA might just be a cosmic fluke, how chemistry can be used to measure the complexity of life and why he firmly believes we will detect actual alien life within the next two decades.
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TIMESTAMPS:
00:00:00 - The AI Model Is Not Intelligent
00:01:38 - Trying To Create Life In A Lab
00:06:29 - Consciousness Is An Illusion
00:08:51 - We Know Nothing About The Origin Of Life
00:11:24 - Nobody Can Define Life
00:13:48 - The Adam Savage Definition
00:17:21 - Molecules Came Before Cells
00:21:53 - DNA Is A Fluke
00:25:48 - Biology Is The Descendant Of Chemistry
00:26:36 - Dark Matter And Dark Energy
00:31:50 - The Meaning Of Life Is Existence
00:35:18 - If You Handed Me Alien Matter
00:40:28 - What Is Digital Chemistry?
00:42:28 - Six Eureka Moments
00:49:12 - Unfathomable Is Not Strong Enough
00:53:01 - Could You Copy A Human?
01:11:55 - Why The AI Escape Story Was Nonsense
01:16:28 - The Photograph Nobody Thought Possible
01:18:25 - Curiosity Is The Coolest Thing We Have
01:31:33 - Social Media Is The New Smoking
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CONTACT PETE
› Website – http://petermccormack.com
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CONNECT WITH LEE CRONIN
› Cronin Group – https://www.chem.gla.ac.uk/cronin/
› Chemify – https://chemify.io/
› X/Twitter – https://x.com/leecronin
SPONSORS
› IREN – https://www.iren.com/
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› Venice AI – https://venice.ai/lp/mccormack/oct1
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FILMED BY CURTIS TAYLOR
› https://www.curttaylor.co.uk/
EDITED BY CONOR MCCORMACK
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#216 - Ross Clark - Britain is Bust & The Coming Sovereign Debt Crisis
01:09:39|The UK has accumulated £3.4 trillion in debt, and the interest payments alone now dwarf the national defence budget. Author and journalist Ross Clark argues that the nation is sleepwalking into a sovereign debt crisis that politicians refuse to acknowledge. We discuss the brutal arithmetic of the public purse, detailing why standard political talking points - like taxing billionaires-are mathematical illusions that fail to address the core rot of uncontrolled state spending and collapsing public sector productivity.- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -TIMESTAMPS:00:00:00 - Print The Money, Get Hyperinflation00:01:17 - Is Britain Bust Or Trading Insolvent?00:02:57 - Whose Fault Is This?00:07:24 - Taxing The Billionaires Buys Six Months00:09:12 - How Bad Is The Debt Really?00:12:07 - Perma-Stimulus00:14:22 - No Party Has A Viable Plan00:17:32 - What The Public Actually Thinks About Tax00:19:21 - Three Choices On The Bond Market00:24:02 - Where He Would Cut00:25:33 - The Motability Scheme00:29:03 - The Client State00:30:06 - Austerity Never Actually Happened00:34:21 - Productivity Is Almost Everything00:44:32 - The Chancellor's Oldest Trick00:46:51 - The Wealth Tax Trap00:50:03 - The 1976 Tribute Act00:55:59 - What Liz Truss Got Wrong00:59:18 - How Would You Know A Crisis Had Started?01:04:38 - What Gives Him Confidence- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -CONTACT PETE› Website – http://petermccormack.com› Feedback – https://www.petermccormack.com/contact› Email – me@petermccormack.com› Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/mccormack555/› X/Twitter – https://x.com/petermccormack/CONNECT WITH ROSS CLARK› The Spectator – https://www.spectator.co.uk/writer/ross-clark/› Substack – https://rossjonathanclark.substack.com/SPONSORS› IREN – https://www.iren.com/› Ledn – https://www.ledn.io/peter› Venice AI – https://venice.ai/ – Code PETER15- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -LISTEN / SUBSCRIBE› Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/40ruY9K› Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3Wc94Vu› Fountain: https://bit.ly/FountainPM› YouTube: https://bit.ly/YouTube_PM› Rumble: https://bit.ly/RumblePMFILMED BY CURTIS TAYLOR› https://www.curttaylor.co.uk/› https://x.com/curttayloruk/EDITED BY CONOR MCCORMACK› https://x.com/ConorM04- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
#215 - Nick Bostrom - "We Are Creating Superintelligence": The Existential Risk is Real
01:06:13|Nick Bostrom is a world-renowned philosopher, founding director of the Future of Humanity Institute at Oxford University and author of Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies and Deep Utopia. Widely credited with launching the global AI safety and existential risk movements, his work on machine alignment, recursive self-improvement and the Simulation Hypothesis has shaped how world leaders, tech founders and frontier AI developers view the future of humanity.In this episode, we discuss the rapid acceleration toward machine superintelligence and why leaving biological minds "in the dust" creates an urgent alignment crisis. We explore the real-world social fallout of AI-including looming 30% white-collar unemployment-alongside existential risk scenarios, the potential creation of an oppressed digital "slave class" and why humanity may already be living inside an advanced computer simulation.- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -TIMESTAMPS:00:00:00 - Machine Minds That Leave Us In The Dust00:01:33 - The Freak Out Camp00:03:08 - We Already Have An Alignment Problem00:05:07 - Why Nobody Can Afford To Slow Down00:08:41 - The Anti-AI Movement Is Growing00:13:19 - Three Buckets Of Disaster00:15:02 - Winner Takes All00:16:24 - Why It Might Still Need Us00:18:55 - What Superintelligence Actually Unlocks00:20:50 - What Do We Even Want It For?00:22:14 - Did An AI Push Someone Off A Building?00:24:15 - Can A Weaker AI Align A Stronger One?00:28:51 - Will AI Become Conscious?00:33:17 - Was Consciousness An Accident?00:40:53 - Uploading A Human Brain00:45:51 - What Happens To Status?00:49:51 - We Could Redesign Ourselves00:52:31 - My Daughter Is Studying Philosophy00:56:35 - The Simulation Argument01:04:20 - We Are Going To Need Some Luck- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -CONTACT PETE› Website – http://petermccormack.com› Feedback – https://www.petermccormack.com/contact› Email – me@petermccormack.com› Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/mccormack555/› X/Twitter – https://x.com/petermccormack/CONNECT WITH NICK BOSTROM› Website – https://nickbostrom.com/› Deep Utopia – https://nickbostrom.com/deep-utopia› The Simulation Argument – https://simulation-argument.com/SPONSORS› IREN – https://www.iren.com/› Ledn – https://www.ledn.io/peter› Venice AI – https://venice.ai/ – Code PETER15- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -LISTEN / SUBSCRIBE› Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/40ruY9K› Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3Wc94Vu› Fountain: https://bit.ly/FountainPM› YouTube: https://bit.ly/YouTube_PM› Rumble: https://bit.ly/RumblePMFILMED BY CURTIS TAYLOR› https://www.curttaylor.co.uk/› https://x.com/curttayloruk/EDITED BY CONOR MCCORMACK› https://x.com/ConorM04- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
#214 - Prof. Richard Werner - "They Are Traitors": How Central Banks Sabotage Wealth & Create Crises
01:06:19|Prof. Richard Werner is a world-renowned economist, professor of banking, and author of Princes of the Yen. Famous for coining the term "Quantitative Easing" (QE) and publishing the first empirical proof that private banks create money out of thin air through lending, he has spent decades exposing the central planning mechanisms that dictate global finance.In this episode, we discuss the ”Revealed Preference" framework - demonstrating why we must analyse central bankers by their actions rather than their rhetoric. He explains how central planners use artificial recessions and banking crises as "windows of opportunity" to consolidate ownership, why textbook economics deliberately obscures credit creation, and how establishing decentralised local banks can unlock sustainable 10%+ annual growth.- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -TIMESTAMPS:00:00:00 - Central Bankers Are Traitors To Their Countries00:01:04 - Why Can't Britain Grow?00:06:50 - Princes Of The Yen00:11:19 - It Was Always About Control00:13:38 - Banks Don't Lend Your Deposits00:14:27 - Show Me Where The Money Is Created00:16:14 - Every School Of Economics Gets It Wrong00:20:14 - Why Would They Do This?00:21:57 - Britain Is Close To Central Planning00:22:46 - America Once Had 30,000 Banks00:27:48 - The Problem Was Identified In 191800:31:18 - Who Runs The City Of London?00:33:46 - We Need Thousands Of Small Banks00:38:14 - First The Money, Then The Power00:44:04 - Every Country Can Have 10% Growth00:47:12 - Liz Truss And The Bank Of England00:50:23 - We Don't Need Central Banks00:52:22 - Were The Austrians Right?00:57:35 - They Want Your Savings00:59:21 - Europe's New Right- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -CONTACT PETE› Website – http://petermccormack.com› Feedback – https://www.petermccormack.com/contact› Email – me@petermccormack.com› Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/mccormack555/› X/Twitter – https://x.com/petermccormack/CONNECT WITH RICHARD WERNER› Website – https://professorwerner.org/› Substack – https://rwerner.substack.com/› Princes of the Yen – https://www.quantumpublishers.com/› X/Twitter – https://x.com/drrichardwernerSPONSORS› IREN – https://www.iren.com/› Arch Public – https://archpublic.com/peter› Venice AI – https://venice.ai/ – Code PETER15- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -LISTEN / SUBSCRIBE› Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/40ruY9K› Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3Wc94Vu› Fountain: https://bit.ly/FountainPM› YouTube: https://bit.ly/YouTube_PM› Rumble: https://bit.ly/RumblePMFILMED BY CURTIS TAYLOR› https://www.curttaylor.co.uk/› https://x.com/curttayloruk/EDITED BY CONOR MCCORMACK› https://x.com/ConorM04- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
#213 - Russell Napier - "They Are Stealth-Stealing Your Monday”: Financial Repression is Here
01:14:45|Russell Napier is a renowned financial historian, author of The Solid Ground newsletter, and co-founder of the Library of Mistakes. Having advised global institutional investors for over thirty years, he specialises in long-term macroeconomic cycles, central bank interventions, and structural debt resolution.In this episode, we discuss the mechanics of "financial repression" - how Western governments use subtle regulatory mandates to force pension funds into negative-yielding sovereign bonds, effectively stealth-taxing savers to inflate away unpayable public debts. He explains how risk-free assets have lost up to 78% of their real capital value, while revealing why the UK’s private sector balance sheet is "coiled like a spring" for an unprecedented economic boom.- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -TIMESTAMPS:00:00:00 - Stealing Money From Old People00:01:26 - Britain Wants Lower Taxes Now00:03:14 - The Public Sector Is Broke, The Private Sector Isn't00:05:17 - Why Nobody Feels Richer00:07:42 - It Has Never Been Easier To Fix This00:09:47 - The Ideology Holding Britain Back00:16:09 - What Financial Repression Actually Is00:17:45 - We Need 4% Growth00:19:40 - They Are Coming For The Savers00:24:26 - How They Made Pension Funds Buy The Bonds00:25:23 - The Triple Lock00:29:28 - What Should A Saver Actually Do?00:34:41 - Bitcoin And Gold00:38:36 - Europe Wants Your Savings00:40:43 - France Is Worse Than America00:44:27 - You Are Now The Enemy00:47:31 - We Have To Build Like Never Before00:54:37 - Can AI Deliver A Productivity Boom?01:01:19 - AI Will Trigger A Debt Crisis01:06:15 - Three Firms Own Everything- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -CONTACT PETE› Website – http://petermccormack.com› Feedback – https://www.petermccormack.com/contact› Email – me@petermccormack.com› Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/mccormack555/› X/Twitter – https://x.com/petermccormack/CONNECT WITH RUSSELL NAPIER› The Solid Ground – https://russellnapier.co.uk/› The Library of Mistakes – https://www.libraryofmistakes.com/SPONSORS› IREN – https://www.iren.com/› Quo – https://quo.com/pete› Ledn – https://www.ledn.io/peter› https://venice.ai/- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -LISTEN / SUBSCRIBE› Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/40ruY9K› Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3Wc94Vu› Fountain: https://bit.ly/FountainPM› YouTube: https://bit.ly/YouTube_PM› Rumble: https://bit.ly/RumblePMFILMED BY CURTIS TAYLOR› https://www.curttaylor.co.uk/› https://x.com/curttayloruk/- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
#212 - Callum Smiles - "They Are Stealing The Country": Border Gangs, Fake Deliveroo Accounts & The Civil War
01:35:52|Callum Smiles is an investigative reporter and Associate at the Wyvern Fellowship. Having spent years conducting on-the-ground reporting across Calais, Dunkirk, and the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, he has documented the operational realities of Channel crossings, NGO involvement, and human trafficking networks across Europe.In this episode, Callum and I discuss the true mechanics behind illegal migration - from TikTok marketing campaigns run by trafficking gangs to the widespread abuse of gig-economy delivery accounts within the UK. We examine the systemic collapse of public infrastructure, government procurement waste, and the rise of local "parallel institutions" designed to rebuild community resilience independent of central state control.- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -TIMESTAMPS:00:00:00 - A 200 Grand Crossing00:01:04 - The Failure of Modern Britain00:02:46 - Where Is The Tax Money Going?00:03:45 - NHS Inefficiency vs. Private Healthcare00:05:45 - Single Air Fresheners & £600 Bed Moves00:07:08 - The True Scale of Channel Crossings00:10:00 - UN Conventions & Albanian Marketing Campaigns00:12:30 - The Business Model: £3,000 Seats & TikTok Deals00:14:32 - The Deliveroo Black Market & Criminal Networks00:20:00 - What Are NGOs Actually Doing in Northern France?00:22:21 - Conditions in Calais & Human Exploitation00:26:34 - MOD Housing Contracts & Government Procurement00:31:28 - Where Do National Lottery Grants Go?00:37:38 - Undocumented Arrivals: Destroyed Passports on Planes00:41:21 - Demographic Shifts & The Risk of Civil Unrest00:44:25 - Legal Aid, Human Rights Laws & Border Enforcement00:47:31 - The Political Class vs. Productive Taxpayers00:52:48 - Eyewitness Report: The Ceuta Border Crisis01:05:08 - Repurposing Military Bases for Migrant Housing01:11:07 - Property Drop & High Street Decline in London01:15:00 - Building Parallel Institutions: The Wyvern Fellowship01:23:21 - Taking Back Local Control- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -CONTACT PETE› Website – http://petermccormack.com› Feedback – https://www.petermccormack.com/contact› Email – me@petermccormack.com› Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/mccormack555/› X/Twitter – https://x.com/petermccormack/CONNECT WITH CALLUM SMILES› X/Twitter – https://x.com/FranklySpeakP› Website – https://www.callumsmilesmedia.com/SPONSORS› https://venice.ai/ - Code PETER15- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -LISTEN / SUBSCRIBE› Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/40ruY9K› Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3Wc94Vu› Fountain: https://bit.ly/FountainPM› YouTube: https://bit.ly/YouTube_PM› Rumble: https://bit.ly/RumblePMFILMED BY CURTIS TAYLOR› https://www.curttaylor.co.uk/› https://x.com/curttayloruk/EDITED BY CONOR MCCORMACK› https://x.com/ConorM04- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
#211 - Jim Al-Khalili - Reality Is An Illusion: Quantum Entanglement, Time & Dark Energy
01:13:04|Prof. Jim Al-Khalili is a theoretical physicist, author, and public broadcaster who holds a chair in physics at the University of Surrey. Known for his BBC documentaries and popular science books, including On Time and The World According to Physics, his work spans quantum mechanics, nuclear reaction theory, and the fundamental nature of space-time. Jim and I discuss the divide between psychological "manifest time" and the laws of physics. Jim explains general relativity, gravitational time dilation, and the astrophysics behind Interstellar, before tackling the mathematical conflict between general relativity and quantum mechanics. Jim breaks down quantum entanglement, Bell’s Inequality, and competing models of reality-from the Copenhagen view to the Many-Worlds interpretation. Finally, we discuss how AI systems are formalizing complex mathematical theorems and processing deep-space data to decode dark matter and dark energy.- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -TIMESTAMPS:00:00:00 - Where Physics Breaks Down00:01:10 - I'm 47 And Thinking About Time00:03:45 - Is Time An Illusion?00:06:44 - Why Your Phone Proves Einstein Right00:07:47 - The Fifth Dimension In Interstellar00:09:46 - Carl Sagan And The Invention Of Wormholes00:12:36 - Is There A White Hole?00:15:07 - Was The Big Bang A White Hole?00:18:35 - Nobody Understands String Theory00:19:18 - Gravity Is Not A Force00:22:58 - Spooky Action At A Distance00:25:39 - They Proved Einstein Wrong00:27:56 - Nothing Exists Until You Measure It00:30:58 - Schrödinger's Cat00:36:40 - What I Want To Know Before I Die00:43:12 - Fermat's Last Theorem00:47:41 - What If You Pointed AI At Physics?00:54:23 - Borrowing Energy From The Vacuum00:57:07 - Dark Matter Is A Bad Name01:06:10 - Is There An Edge To The Universe?- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -CONTACT PETE› Website – http://petermccormack.com› Feedback – https://www.petermccormack.com/contact› Email – me@petermccormack.com› Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/mccormack555/› X/Twitter – https://x.com/petermccormack/CONNECT WITH JIM AL-KHALILI› Website – https://jimal-khalili.com/› The Life Scientific – https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b015sqc7› Sunfall – https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/307996/sunfall-by-al-khalili-jim/9780857503527› X/Twitter – https://x.com/jimalkhaliliSPONSORS› IREN – https://www.iren.com/› Ledn – https://www.ledn.io/peter› Venice – https://venice.ai/- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -LISTEN / SUBSCRIBE› Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/40ruY9K› Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3Wc94Vu› Fountain: https://bit.ly/FountainPM› YouTube: https://bit.ly/YouTube_PM› Rumble: https://bit.ly/RumblePMFILMED BY CURTIS TAYLOR› https://www.curttaylor.co.uk/› https://x.com/curttayloruk/EDITED BY CONOR MCCORMACK› https://x.com/ConorM04- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
#210 - Simon Dixon - "They're Coming For Everything": $40T Debt, AI Job Collapse & The CBDC Grid
01:28:29|Simon Dixon is an author, early Bitcoin investor, and co-founder of Bank To The Future, with over two decades of experience across stockbroking, market making, and investment banking. Having observed system mechanics from the inside, he specialises in macro structural shifts, sovereign debt cycles, and the emerging intersection between traditional finance, AI infrastructure, and digital assets.Simon and I discuss the $40 trillion US national debt crisis, the mechanics behind Treasury debt rollovers, and how central banks socialise bond market losses onto ordinary citizens while privatising gains into stock markets. We also discuss the corporate debt boom driving the AI data centre build-out, real-term wealth erosion in the housing market, and how technocratic structures are positioning programmable money and CBDCs as crisis bailouts.- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -TIMESTAMPS:00:00:00 - The $40 Trillion US Debt Milestone00:02:09 - Understanding Treasuries & The $9.7T Debt Rollover00:06:30 - Socializing Losses & Inflation On The Middle Class00:10:48 - Bond Vigilantes & Foreign Lenders (Cayman & Japan)00:12:46 - The Triffin Dilemma & World Reserve Currency00:16:00 - SpaceX Valuation & Stock Market Mechanics00:19:03 - The Corporate AI Debt Build-Out00:22:04 - Protecting Assets Against Currency Debasement00:24:47 - AI Disinflation vs Currency Debasement00:28:36 - Comparing The AI Boom To 2000 & 200800:31:36 - UK Property Market & Inflation-Adjusted Returns00:33:46 - Wealth Taxes, Exit Taxes & Asset Acquisitions00:41:20 - Will AI Eliminate Middle-Class Jobs?00:44:14 - Programmable Money, CBDCs & Social Credit Systems00:50:44 - Three Classes Of The Technocratic Era00:54:47 - The Role Of Bitcoin In Financial Resistance00:57:12 - Why Key Management Is The Ultimate Digital Skill01:00:00 - The Coldcard Exploit & Hardware Wallet Lessons01:08:16 - Simon's Origin: The 2000 Dot-Com Crash01:13:58 - Rules Of The Game & Building A Sovereign Plan01:21:50 - Reconnecting Outside Of The Digital Screen- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -CONTACT PETE› Website – http://petermccormack.com› Feedback – https://www.petermccormack.com/contact› Email – me@petermccormack.com› Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/mccormack555/› X/Twitter – https://x.com/petermccormack/CONNECT WITH SIMON DIXON› X/Twitter – https://x.com/SimonDixonTwitt› Simon Dixon Hard Talk – https://www.youtube.com/@SimonDixonOfficialSPONSORS› IREN – https://www.iren.com/› Venice – https://venice.ai/› Arch Public – https://archpublic.com/peter› Expat Money – https://expatmoney.com/peter- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -LISTEN / SUBSCRIBE› Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/40ruY9K› Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3Wc94Vu› Fountain: https://bit.ly/FountainPM› YouTube: https://bit.ly/YouTube_PM› Rumble: https://bit.ly/RumblePMFILMED BY CURTIS TAYLOR› https://www.curttaylor.co.uk/› https://x.com/curttayloruk/EDITED BY CONOR MCCORMACK› https://x.com/ConorM04- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
#209 - Johann Hari - We Built A World Humans Can’t Survive
02:33:06|Johann Hari is an internationally bestselling author and journalist whose work - including Stolen Focus, Lost Connections, and Chasing the Scream - delves into the structural and societal drivers behind attention collapse, depression, anxiety, and addiction. Moving beyond individual blame, he explores how digital architecture, surveillance capitalism and the erosion of human connection are actively reshaping modern minds.Johann and I discuss why material progress has failed to deliver psychological fulfilment, how our 19th-century factory-model education system deadens curiosity in children, and why depriving youth of unsupervised, risky play has fuelled a global spike in anxiety.- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -TIMESTAMPS:00:00:00 - The Kind Are Muffled, The Cruel Get A Megaphone00:05:31 - The Room In Monaco00:08:52 - AI Is Like Fire00:18:35 - The School With No Lessons00:28:12 - Am I Preparing My Kids Wrong?00:32:03 - The Hewlett Packard Experiment00:40:11 - Flair, Football And Changing The Game00:45:11 - Negativity Bias On Steroids00:49:15 - Dance To The Algorithm Long Enough00:55:03 - We're Building A Worse World For Our Kids01:02:30 - Lead Made Us Dumber01:11:17 - Half Of Britain Used To Smoke01:18:30 - It Would Have Sounded Like Science Fiction01:29:03 - We Built A Fort01:38:45 - Oasis 1995 vs Elton John 201901:44:28 - I Know Exactly How To Get To 5 Million01:56:59 - Let's Not Murder Each Other02:07:14 - The Thing I Suppressed02:15:39 - Almost Every Rich Person I've Met Is Miserable02:25:16 - It's A Wonderful Life- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -CONTACT PETE› Website – http://petermccormack.com› Feedback – https://www.petermccormack.com/contact› Email – me@petermccormack.com› Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/mccormack555/› X/Twitter – https://x.com/petermccormack/CONNECT WITH JOHANN HARI› Website – https://johannhari.com/› Stolen Focus – https://stolenfocusbook.com/› X/Twitter – https://x.com/johannhari101SPONSORS› IREN – https://www.iren.com/› Venice – https://venice.ai/› Ledn – https://www.ledn.io/peter› Arch Public – https://archpublic.com/peter- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -LISTEN / SUBSCRIBE› Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/40ruY9K› Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3Wc94Vu› Fountain: https://bit.ly/FountainPM› YouTube: https://bit.ly/YouTube_PM› Rumble: https://bit.ly/RumblePMFILMED BY CURTIS TAYLOR› https://www.curttaylor.co.uk/› https://x.com/curttayloruk/EDITED BY CONOR MCCORMACK› https://x.com/ConorM04- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -