Any other suggestions?
(Asked the same question 2 weeks ago but didn’t get any traction. Sorry if it’s against the rules to send again)
[0] - https://lexfridman.com/podcast/
[1] - https://darknetdiaries.com/
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.
[0] https://www.dancarlin.com/product/hardcore-history-death-thr...
Other History Of podcasts are also interesting, such as the one on China, I haven't gotten too deep into that one yet.
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.
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...
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/
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
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.
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.
It's great stuff.
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
As far as a single episode, I really enjoyed this Lex Fridman podcast with John Carmack: https://lexfridman.com/john-carmack/
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.
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...
Seconded. Great storytelling, great voice, very interesting (and often heartbreaking) subject matter.
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.
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.
#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...
https://open.spotify.com/episode/1R4mEpogS2auhyKnppCmrD?si=1...
- 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...
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.
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/
- 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.
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...
[0] - https://www.volts.wtf/
Planet Money (economics and finance intersecting with everything else)
Heavyweight (investigate lost connections)
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.
Assuming that is the show they are talking about.
God, I hate these walled gardens
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.
[1] https://decoding-the-gurus.captivate.fm/
[2] https://www.iheart.com/podcast/105-behind-the-bastards-29236...
"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/
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.
So good I'm going to pay for the rest when I remember.
[0] https://play.acast.com/s/blindboy
[1] https://play.acast.com/s/blindboy/the-quantum-bones-of-st-ro...
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.
Your Kickstarter Sucks. consumer markets, economic trends, web entrepreneurship - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/your-kickstarter-sucks...
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.
Well written with lots of source material from news archives and the Library of Congress.
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...
1. Criminal - https://thisiscriminal.com/
2. Darknet Diaries - https://darknetdiaries.com/
3. Other Peoples Lives - https://oplshow.com/
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.
They've covered a few of the decisions in their episodes. It's an excellent listen
Decoding the Gurus: https://decoding-the-gurus.captivate.fm/
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.
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.
https://lexfridman.com/michael-levin/
I had to pause it multiple times to let it sink in.
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
#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.
> "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."
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.
- 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.
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.
"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.
I think it's the best storytelling podcast there ( or Marketing ).
with its archives, it has more than 15 years of productions.
- 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
This one, by far. At least of the ones in English.
Know your Enemy - analysis of the US right-wing. Excellent and personable hosts, Matthew and Sam.
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.
A Slight Change of Plans
Indie Hackers
Darknet Diaries
2. Lex Fridman
3. Sam Harris
* 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.
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.)