
Ask HN: What were your most impactful podcast episodes from 2019? - rajesh-s
Invest like the best and For Your Innovation are two great podcasts that I came across last year.
======
spikepuppet
For me it's got to be the podcast "On The Metal" by the guys over at Oxide
Computer Company. I was a big fan of a lot of the talks by Bryan Cantrill and
Jess Frazelle, but hearing these two talk to people who worked on such
interesting problems at some amazing points in history makes me so happy.

It was also such a good reminder of why i wanted to do software, and re-
ignited my love of working closer to the metal.

In terms of a single episode though, I would have to go with the interview
with Jeff Rothschild. The guy had such an interesting career with some
hilarious problems. Also, the most recent one with Kenneth Finnegan, while
from 2020 not 2019 is honestly an amazing listen.

Link for those interested:
[https://open.spotify.com/show/4GDUravTUbvTrdJ2oWnzJp](https://open.spotify.com/show/4GDUravTUbvTrdJ2oWnzJp)

~~~
bcantrill
We're so glad you like it! As stupid as it might sound, we're big fans too:
these conversations have been incredible, and a great reminder to everyone
about the singular joy of computers. We have some amazing ones in the pipeline
(i.e., already recorded). In the next few weeks, look for security researcher
Rich Altherr (discoverer of the USBAnywhere vuln), microprocessor aficionado
Jon Masters -- and then our longest episode yet (!) with the incomparable
Jonathan Blow.

~~~
spikepuppet
Right now, I'm trying not to drop to my knees like Wayne in front of Alice
Cooper!!!

I love the enthusiasm you guys have for this though, it's so palpable. I'll
definitely be keeping an eye out for these coming episodes, they all sound
amazing.

------
neotek
So this probably isn't quite what you're looking for, but my favourite podcast
discovery in 2019 was Off Book: The Improvised Musical Podcast.

Each week Jess McKenna, Zach Reino, and their band are joined by a special
guest and together they improvised an entire hour-long musical _from scratch_
without _anything_ prepared ahead of time, including the music.

It's just utterly remarkable how good and clever and funny it is given it's
entirely improvised and off the cuff. In my opinion it's one of the most
astonishing demonstrations of human creativity I've ever seen, and it's doubly
impressive when you remember they do it every single week and still never run
out of ideas.

[http://www.earwolf.com/show/off-book/](http://www.earwolf.com/show/off-book/)

I would also HIGHLY recommend the Futility Closet podcast and website. The
podcast is described as "forgotten stories from the pages of history" but it's
so much more than that, and so is the website. Anyone who enjoys logic
puzzles, mathematics, chess, history, old books, and interesting stories will
love it.

[https://futilitycloset.com](https://futilitycloset.com)

[https://futilitycloset.com/podcast/](https://futilitycloset.com/podcast/)

~~~
charliepark
If you ever get the chance to see them, the Improvised Shakespeare Company
does something in the same vein, and it’s absolutely incredible.

~~~
neotek
Thanks for the recommendation, I'll check them out!

------
rahuldottech
Basically all of The Anthropocene Reviewed:
[https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/anthropocene-
reviewed](https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/anthropocene-reviewed)

Beautiful essays by John Green. I only started listening at the end of
December.

\--

I've also been checking out the Political Philosophy Podcast, and I've liked
what I've heard till now:
[https://www.politicalphilosophypodcast.com/](https://www.politicalphilosophypodcast.com/)

\--

Again, I can't choose specific episodes, but Heavyweight is pretty amazing
too:
[https://gimletmedia.com/shows/heavyweight](https://gimletmedia.com/shows/heavyweight)

~~~
louis-paul
I discovered The Anthropocene Reviewed last year. My favorite review is
Tetris: “Tetris is a game about time and space. Time is always speeding up,
with blocks falling faster and faster, and space is always filling in. There
is no winning, Tetris always ends the same way, no matter how expertly you
place the blocks. You play until you die. It takes five minutes to learn
Tetris. It’s not grand or ambitious. It’s merely perfect.” —
[https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/anthropocene-
reviewed/e...](https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/anthropocene-
reviewed/episodes/anthropocene-reviewed-tetris-and-seed-potatoes-leningrad)

Special mention for the Kauaʻi ʻōʻō:
[https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/anthropocene-
reviewed/e...](https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/anthropocene-
reviewed/episodes/anthropocene-reviewed-qwerty-keyboard-and-kauai-o-o)

~~~
KnMn
What an excerpt! I have to check this out now.

------
Bilters
If you're a history geek you should definitly check out Dan Carlin's Hardcore
History. This year he only made 2 episodes. 'Supernova in the east' II & III.
At a whopping 4 hours each these feel more like an audiobook crammed with
history rather than a Podcast. But I can definitly recommend them both & the
complete works of him of course.

~~~
ngold
I want to like Dan carlin, but their is something weirdly alex jones about his
voice and mannerism. However thehistoryofrome.com and revolutionspodcast.com
are fantastic alternatives.

~~~
chachachoney
>> their is something weirdly alex jones about his voice and mannerism

They are both passionate people whose articulation is rife with some distinct
regional and broadcast (ie. radio) shibboleths.

Only one of them is a post truth raving lunatic dangerous populist performance
artist shill.

You're doing a disservice to Dan Carlin and giving Alex Jones way too much
power/credit by justifying a knee jerk bias based on superficial resemblances.

~~~
Wowfunhappy
Emotions aren't always practical.

I once came across a podcast that seemed interesting. I was enjoying the
content, but I couldn't shake the feeling that the narrator's voice sounded
like a friend who committed suicide. I had to turn it off.

------
K0nserv
Every episode of Darknet Diaries[0]. Episode 49 and the two Xbox Underground
episodes are excellent, but regardless of where you start you cannot go wrong
with Darknet Diaries.

0: [https://darknetdiaries.com/](https://darknetdiaries.com/)

~~~
geophertz
I just finished listening to "Episode 49: Elliot" and I must say, I'm quite
upset by the host's reaction.

He doesn't seem __at all __to be someone in the security research field.

Either he has those reaction because this is a mainstream podcast and
purposely tries to have a "dumb" reaction for his audience (like in a
children's film) or he doesn't seem to understand hacker culture at all.

~~~
tapland
He acts surprised as part of making the podcast available to a broader
audience. It's silly, but the episodes are usually so good I can get over it.

~~~
aboyne42
I think I had a similar reaction to you for this episode. I've listened to all
of them, and love them, but episode 49 rubbed me the wrong way too. I actually
asked him about it and got a response that made me feel better about it:
[https://twitter.com/mknox42/status/1184533813185130502?s=19](https://twitter.com/mknox42/status/1184533813185130502?s=19)

------
sigil
Tyler Cowen interviews Sam Altman — [https://medium.com/conversations-with-
tyler/tyler-cowen-sam-...](https://medium.com/conversations-with-tyler/tyler-
cowen-sam-altman-ai-tech-business-58f530417522)

Naval’s “You Won’t Get Rich Renting Out Your Time” (and the whole series) —
[https://nav.al/renting-time](https://nav.al/renting-time)

The Portal: Werner Herzog —
[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Eua5iPUKw6Y](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Eua5iPUKw6Y)

~~~
d_burfoot
> “You Won’t Get Rich Renting Out Your Time”

This meme is pretty popular among certain circles, but it bears some
examination. For a lot of people, "rich" means "financially independent". And
depending on your particular lifestyle choices, you can certainly become
financially independent by working for a tech BigCo or as a quant, and that
path has enormously lower risk than entrepreneurship.

~~~
nojvek
Working for BigCo definitely throws a lot of things off balance. Making a
million dollars over 5 years in tech is very possible. Lots of companies are
throwing around that kind of money in RSUs/options that vest over 5 years.
It’s quite a bit crazy.

------
alamortsubite
Other podcasts come and fall by the wayside, but I'll always look forward to
the next episode of In Our Time (
[http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/iot](http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/iot)
).

I'm excited to try others listed here that are new to me, though.

~~~
mongol
I also listen to In our time. But maybe it is because I am not native English
speaker, but I find the host quite rude to the experts, often interrupts them
unnecessarily etc?

~~~
flother
I know what you mean, but I think it’s more down to the fact that it’s
broadcast live on BBC radio, and they have 45 minutes to cover as much as they
can of the week’s topic. The host, Melvyn Bragg, has to run a tight ship to
keep the guests from drifting from the topic or going in to too much detail.
(The opposite problem — a poor chairperson — is often why meetings at work can
drag or seem unfocused.)

I love In Our Time. Broadcast since 1998, a podcast since 2004, over 800
episodes. And almost every single one is pure gold.

~~~
tw1010
I agree with you. I find Melvyn Braggs rudeness quite useful. (And it doesn't
seem like the quests mind. I mean, they're adults, they can handle some
pressure to be succinct.)

------
TheAceOfHearts
There's two FoundMyFitness podcasts that positively impacted my life. I've
been telling everyone I know to try a broccoli sprout smoothie because of the
outstanding effect it's been having on my health. I suspect a fair number of
HN readers might also benefit from giving it a try. Since this is still an
active research topic I think it prudent to remind readers to take all health
or medical claims with a grain of salt.

My first smoothie caused a physiological reaction and it lit up something in
my brain. A while after drinking it I messaged a few friends to tell them that
I value our friendship. It appears to make you less autistic, or something
along those lines. There appear to be additional positive effects, although I
hesitate to describe them because they even sounds like bullshit to my own
ears.

"Sulforaphane and Its Effects on Cancer, Mortality, Aging, Brain and Behavior,
Heart Disease & More" [0]:

> Isothiocyanates are some of the most important plant compounds you can get
> in your diet. In this video I make the most comprehensive case for them that
> has ever been made. Short attention span? Skip to your favorite topic by
> clicking one of the time points below. Full timeline below the fold...

"Jed Fahey, Sc.D. on Isothiocyanates, the Nrf2 Pathway, Moringa & Sulforaphane
Supplementation" [1]:

> Dr. Jed W. Fahey is a nutritional biochemist with broad training and
> extensive background in plant physiology, human nutrition, phytochemistry
> and nutritional biochemistry. He is the director of the Cullman
> Chemoprotection Center at Johns Hopkins.

> The reason I've asked him to join us today, in particular, however, is
> because he has been researching isothiocyanates like sulforaphane for over
> 20 years and is an exceptional expert in this arena.

> Dr. Fahey and his colleagues have been, in a big way, at the absolute center
> of what is a staggering amount of research on these very powerful compounds.
> > There is hardly a topic which we can discuss in which he doesn't have an
> anecdote about a study he was involved in, or, in some cases, tribal
> knowledge that may not even be published but is nonetheless interesting and
> an important part of the story that is unique to his particular vantage
> point.

[0]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zz4YVJ4aRfg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zz4YVJ4aRfg)

[1]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0lBVCpq8jc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0lBVCpq8jc)

~~~
cprayingmantis
Could I just eat the sprouts in a salad of sorts? Smoothies aren't really my
thing.

~~~
jfengel
Yes, you absolutely can. They make a sharper alternative to cabbage in a slaw.
I tend to slice then fairly thin, as they can be tough to chew, but having
done that you can use them in a lot of raw applications.

------
watrami
As a guy trying to build something while still in Uni I'd have to name most
episodes of the indiehackers podcast. It's incredibly valuable for me to
listen to established "normal" founders telling their story. It feels like I'm
at a table with them.

One of the best ones was the one with the hotjar founder David Darmanin:
[https://www.indiehackers.com/podcast/036-david-darmanin-
of-h...](https://www.indiehackers.com/podcast/036-david-darmanin-of-hotjar)

It proves that failing at previous projects doesn't mean that you are a
failure yourself.

I'm from southern Germany and the startup scene here is basically non-
existent. So listening to indiehackers is sort of like a replacement for other
meetups.

------
Thersites
I'm happy to see Naval mentioned a bunch, bummed that no one has mentioned the
'After On' podcast by Rob Reid [1]. Rob Reid interviews Naval, ep. 44 & 45,
the 2 part interview/discussion focuses on X-Risks, whether the long-term is
going to exist for our species, automated assassination markets, drone swarms
ending commercial air travel as we know it, fucking awesome. My dad is a 71
year old doctor, a little aspy, loved the podcast so much he shamed me into
supporting it on Patreon. The podcast is on a hiatus at the moment, the back
catalog is well worth exploring. The Fermi's Paradox episode with Stephen
Webb, the Aubrey de Grey episode, and Rick Doblin (of MAPS) episodes are
magic. I also highly recommend Rob Reids sci-fi book named 'After On',
particularly if you work in tech in the bay area.

[1] [https://after-on.com/](https://after-on.com/)

~~~
fetchingwater
Thanks for mentioning the 'After On' podcast with Naval! I was unaware, I'll
give it a listen as I always find his talks fascinating.

------
sien
Artifical Intelligence - AI Podcast with Lex Fridman has been great. In
particular the Donald Knuth, Sebastian Thrun and Peter Norvig episodes were
great.

There is a podcast called Physical Attraction that has done a series on
nuclear fusion that have also been terrific.

The Omega Tau podcast where the host Marcus got to live his childhood dream
and fly an F-16 was also wonderful.

Podcasts were terrific last year. So many great conversations with experts in
various fields.

People often bang on about how internet bubbles deleteriously impact political
conversation with bubbles but don't remark often enough on how experts in
various fields are able to have a direct conversation with thousands of people
for a trivial cost.

------
read_if_gay_
Peter Thiel on Eric Weinstein's The Portal.

John Carmack on Joe Rogan - not really impactful but still a really good
episode.

~~~
tw1010
Eric Weinstein's The Portal really is amazing. A top 5 highlight of 2019 as
far as I'm concerned.

~~~
meowface
His interview with Vitalik Buterin is probably one of the most insightful
podcast episodes I've ever heard. I kind of wish a lot more of my own
conversations were like that one.

------
jodrellblank
Dr David Burns' Feeling Good podcasts: [https://feelinggood.com/list-of-
feeling-good-podcasts/](https://feelinggood.com/list-of-feeling-good-
podcasts/) on the subjects of therapy for depression, anxiety, panic
disorders, OCD, self-defeating thought patterns, guilt, shame, empathy, why
traditional therapy models are broken, and what to do about it all - how to
actually feel good in a couple of hours - such that people can make major
inroads into decades of problems in one or two sessions of therapy.

He was in at the start of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, developed methods for
using it, and spent years wondering why it doesn't work for about half of all
patients - and now developed his answers to that into a thing he calls TEAMS
therapy. Understanding why people don't change their mood during months and
years of normal therapy sessions, and coming up with ways to get past _that_
leads to him claiming massive differences in effectiveness compared to
traditional therapy styles.

The podcast is somewhere as close to "free therapy" as you're likely to get on
the internet, discussing different parts of the TEAMS model, explaining and
justifying them, demonstrating them, there's a few recordings of therapy
sessions with patients, and a lot of anecdotes of putting it into practise.
(It's quite slow and chatty if your mood is "I gotta skim read this in point 2
of a second to extract just the important bits!").

\----

And, for an episode, Sir Roger Penrose interviewed on Joe Rogan,
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEw0ePZUMHA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEw0ePZUMHA)
because it's an hour and a half of Sir Roger Penrose talking about interesting
things, which wasn't from 2019 either but that's when I saw it.

------
astockwell
The Jocko Podcast [1]. Hands-down has changed my attitude and life for the
better. It’s about daily disciplines, leadership, human nature, history, and
BJJ. Discovered it before 2019 but it’s definitely been the most impactful.

[1] [http://jockopodcast.com](http://jockopodcast.com)

~~~
zigzaggy
I also recommend Jocko podcast. I’ve truly enjoyed the perception shift of
leadership and discipline.

------
majos
I enjoyed Tyler Cowen’s interview with Larissa MacFarquhar:

[https://medium.com/conversations-with-tyler/tyler-cowen-
lari...](https://medium.com/conversations-with-tyler/tyler-cowen-larissa-
macfarquhar-writing-altruism-e4767f7bb78d)

She writes for the New Yorker and has spent plenty of time around unusual
notable people. She also wrote a whole book about extreme altruists. Here is
the first bit of the podcast (both transcript and audio are at the link):

> COWEN: First set of question about altruism and extreme altruists. Are very
> virtuous people easy to dislike?

MACFARQUHAR: Not to me, but to many others. And this was actually news to me
when I embarked on the book. I went into it wanting to simply understand the
drive and the motives of people who could sustain the kind of extraordinary
sense of duty and altruism that some of us have some of the time, moved maybe
by a poignant photograph or somebody in front of us, but can’t sustain without
those cues in front of us. But there are other people who can, and I wanted to
know what made them tick. But in my first foray into this field, I was writing
about people who donated one of their kidneys to a stranger, and I discovered
. . . I was talking to people about the people I was meeting, and they would
say, “Well, those people surely are all mentally ill, right? Or they have some
problem, or they are probably very, very censorious or judgmental.” It was
very surprising to me. I understand, of course, that not everyone is going to
be an extreme altruist, but I didn’t realize the extent of the hostility and
suspicion of them until I started writing about them. And I became fascinated
by that. It became a major part of the book, trying to figure out where this
comes from because I don’t think it exists in every time and place in the same
way.

------
Pandabob
I've got two: Andrew McAfee on Econtalk [1] and Margaret Atwood on
Conversations with Tyler [2].

[1]: [https://www.econtalk.org/andrew-mcafee-on-more-from-
less/](https://www.econtalk.org/andrew-mcafee-on-more-from-less/)

[2]: [https://conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/margaret-
atwood/](https://conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/margaret-atwood/)

~~~
therealdrag0
Love EconTalk. I can't find anything else that is as consistently thoughtful
and thought-provoking. Any suggestions?

However, my impression is Andrew McAffee's research didn't take into account
how outsourcing would affect the data! So I'm taking it with a grain of salt.

Someone shared this article with me recently that looks at how trade affects
CO2, but I haven't dug into it yet: [https://ourworldindata.org/consumption-
based-co2](https://ourworldindata.org/consumption-based-co2)

------
lordgrenville
I really like _The Writer 's Voice_, stories from the _New Yorker_ read by the
authors. This episode was about political repression in China. I felt like
listening to this story gave me much more of a feel for it than any reporting
I'd read.

[https://www.newyorker.com/podcast/the-authors-voice/te-
ping-...](https://www.newyorker.com/podcast/the-authors-voice/te-ping-chen-
reads-lulu)

Also on a literary note, the _London Review of Books_ had an amazing series on
the lives and work of selected American and British poets. Each of them is
good; the Larkin one might be my favourite.

[https://www.lrb.co.uk/podcasts-and-videos/podcasts/close-
rea...](https://www.lrb.co.uk/podcasts-and-videos/podcasts/close-readings)

------
myth_buster
I would say Naval Ravikant in Joe Rogan Experience [0]. A bit preachy (similar
to Osho whom he quotes) but there is some things that are actionable and is an
interesting point of view.

I'm catching up on Knowledge Project (which is quite a listen) so these are
not from 2019, I just happened to listen to them last year. The ones that had
the most impact are:

\- Is Sugar Slowly Killing Us? My Conversation with Gary Taubes [1]. I got
interested in this subject following the NYT expose on how sugar lobby shifted
blame onto fat [2]. This builds up on that for me.

\- Survival of the Kindest: Dacher Keltner Reveals the New Rules of Power [3]
This may be a selection bias as I had a feeling "survival of the fittest" is
perhaps productive in short run but would end with species of one. Imho, the
way to succeed is to collaborate and share knowledge else we may never have
survived hunter gathering phase. So this episode resonated with me.

A16Z's Incenting Innovation Inside Loonshots to Moonshots [4]. Having been
through a significant cultural shift at my organization, the analogy of water
freezing at 32F and hysteresis to explain how company culture could change
dynamically or how in the same organization there are pockets that could be at
two extremes on a spectrum, was quite spot on.

[0]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qHkcs3kG44](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qHkcs3kG44)

[1] [https://fs.blog/2017/11/gary-taubes-sugar/](https://fs.blog/2017/11/gary-
taubes-sugar/)

[2] [https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/13/well/eat/how-the-sugar-
in...](https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/13/well/eat/how-the-sugar-industry-
shifted-blame-to-fat.html)

[3] [https://fs.blog/2018/03/dacher-keltner-
power/](https://fs.blog/2018/03/dacher-keltner-power/)

[4] [https://a16z.com/2019/03/24/loonshots-moonshots-
incentives-o...](https://a16z.com/2019/03/24/loonshots-moonshots-incentives-
org-innovation-big-small-phase-transitions/)

------
bloopernova
All Killa No Feminism. A crossover episode between The Guilty Feminist and All
Killa No Filla (crime podcast): [http://guiltyfeminist.libsyn.com/the-guilty-
feminist-crossov...](http://guiltyfeminist.libsyn.com/the-guilty-feminist-
crossover-3-all-killa-no-feminism) \- Hilarious and eye opening.

I think that one was the episode that really drove home some of what women go
through daily. I'd known before, but somehow that particular episode managed
to highlight things in a way that really clicked with me.

------
jjjensen90
Matthew Walker, PhD on sleep - part I and II on The Peter Attia Drive podcast.

It was really a wake up call for sleep hygeine, and prompted me to get a sleep
study, which has changed my life after getting a sleep device.

~~~
TheAceOfHearts
I really enjoyed his book Why We Sleep, but I think it important to inform
people about the criticisms that have been been raised against some of his
claims [0]. If you listen to him remember to take claims with a grain of salt.
HN discussion from two months ago [1].

The thesis is still solid though: sleep is incredibly important for your
health.

[0] [https://guzey.com/books/why-we-sleep/](https://guzey.com/books/why-we-
sleep/)

[1]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21546850](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21546850)

~~~
guzey
>sleep is incredibly important for your health.

do you have a citation on that? Sleep deprivation makes people sleepy and it
does seem to have negative cognitive effects, but I'm not aware of evidence of
negative health effects of lack of sleep.

~~~
P_I_Staker
Right, this is more controversial than people think. I've seen studies that
you don't actually see a higher rate of mortality until the hours are
ridiculously low. Like less than 4 hours, _on average_

------
geden
The episode of Michael Taft's excellent 'Deconstructing Yourself' podcast
featuring Douglas Tataryn was definitely a 2019 highlight.

Excellent exploration of the intersection of psychotherapy and meditation.
With bonus Circling practise and Integral theory talk thrown in.

[https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/meditation-emotions-
bi...](https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/meditation-emotions-bio-emotive-
framework-douglas-tataryn/id1240056193?i=1000444422378)

------
dschnurr
Naval Ravikant on Joe Rogan. Probably the highest wisdom per minute piece of
media I've ever consumed.

~~~
petagonoral
I just listened to the JRE clip from that
ep([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2AbxWr6I4s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2AbxWr6I4s))
- Everyone Can Be Rich. And based on the below excerpt in which he misses the
mark by a million miles, I'm doubting his wisdom.

from 02:13 on ..

> okay imagine if tomorrow we could wave a wand and everybody was trained as a
> scientist or an engineer everybody, even if you weren't very good, you had
> enough understanding computers you could write some code. You could build
> some hardware and don't tell me people can't do it because they can that's
> just a tyranny of soft expectations. That's just you looking down on
> somebody else they can't do it they just have to be educated. Now if they're
> educated all this hardware software engineers scientists biologists
> technicians hard sciences not the social sciences we would all be done
> within five years. Robots would be doing everything from cleaning toilets to
> cooking food to flying airplanes and driving goobers and what would we be
> doing? We would be doing all creative jobs to entertain each other and
> researching science and technology we would have wonderful lives so it is
> really just a question of Education nothing else is this a scale issue

~~~
tlb
Can you explain what's wrong in that excerpt?

~~~
runjake
My (rushed, sorry) take is that Naval expresses a rather naive take on the
future.

I've seen this sort of scenario promised for 5 decades now, and while the
technological benchmarks get met, most people are still slogging away in
boring office or technical jobs, just the same.

This dream would also require a different form of government and economy. As I
see it, it will require some heavily state-controlled economy or a substantial
Universal Basic Income.

Capitalism isn't exactly going to thrive under the pseudo-gig economy that
Naval's take suggests. Most people will continue to have regular, necessary
monthly expenditures. And, they are not going to be saving money as a cushion,
they're going to be buying the new iPhone/Watch/AirPods/TV/Shiny Thing over
and over again every year.

And while I love Naval, I see these naive takes of his , quite often. But
that's OK, because it still provides me with food for thought and hey,
sometimes I find I'm wrong myself.

------
Dowwie
I think this story would make for a great movie:

Radiolab's "The Punchline"
[https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/radio...](https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/radiolab-
punchline) (starts at 3:19)

"John Scott was the professional hockey player that every fan loved to hate. A
tough guy. A brawler. A goon. But when an impish pundit named Puck Daddy
called on fans to vote for Scott to play alongside the world’s greatest
players in the NHL All-Star Game, Scott found himself facing off against fans,
commentators, and the powers that be. Was this the realization of Scott’s
childhood dreams? Or a nightmarish prank gone too far? Today on Radiolab, a
goof on a goon turns into a parable of the agony and the ecstasy of the
internet, and democracy in the age of Boaty McBoatface."

~~~
TooCleverByHalf
I enjoyed this episode greatly and learned a whole lot about the NHL that I
did not know (or intend to know).

------
ned7
The first episode of "the portal" was great. In that episode Eric Weinstein
and Peter Thiel deeply discussed a variety of topics.

[https://youtu.be/nM9f0W2KD5s](https://youtu.be/nM9f0W2KD5s)

~~~
jiscariot
I like Eric Weinstein and he is obviously brilliant, but sometimes he comes
across as liking the sound of his voice a little too much--or too theoretical.
For that reason, I really enjoyed the interview with Tyler Cowen--Tyler
challenged Eric on some things that made for an overall excellent
conversation.

But, yea - there are not a lot of interviews out there with that kind of
access to Thiel, so it was greatly enjoyed.

------
misterman0
Sean Carroll's solo podcast where he explains how the plank lenght is relative
and how we should arrive at quantum gravity through the means of quantum
physics, not by quantizing relativity. Blew my mind several times over.

[https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2019/09/09/63-s...](https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2019/09/09/63-solo-
finding-gravity-within-quantum-mechanics/)

------
kvz
Matthew Walker of Why We Sleep fame, on Joe Rogan
[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pwaWilO_Pig](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pwaWilO_Pig)

------
amykyta
CoRecursive by Adam Gordon Bell is fantastic. I especially liked the episodes
with Hal Abelson (SICP) [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/corecursive-
software-e...](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/corecursive-software-
engineering-interviews/id1330329512?i=1000451891726)

And

Phillip Waddler [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/corecursive-
software-e...](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/corecursive-software-
engineering-interviews/id1330329512)

Bryan Cantrill episode was good too. Lots of variety and Adam Gordon Bell
interviews very well.

------
oxymoran
Andrew Yang on the Joe Rogan Experience

~~~
wan23
+1 for this. They had a great discussion about the effects automation and AI
will have on the workforce. It's long but worth a listen, even if you're
skeptical about UBI as a solution.

------
Pfhreak
_Waypoint_ (aka, Vice Games) -- A games podcast that takes a very lefty,
critical lens towards the games industry. Covering a wide variety of topics
from organizing to reviews of what's happening. It's nice to hear people talk
about games as a medium that deserves some thoughtful critique.

------
porknubbins
Barbell Medicine- you might think sports medicine is not for you if you’re not
a weight lifter or powerlifter but it completely changed my diet, injury
recovery and my understanding of how to talk to doctors and interpret all
kinds of medical research and understand the limits of medical knowledge. The
themed episodes are generally much more information dense than the q&a
episodes, for a start the heart disease episode completely changed my
understanding of blood lipids and risks of saturated fat.

------
rsmets
All of SED... learn so much every time I click play.
[https://softwareengineeringdaily.com/](https://softwareengineeringdaily.com/)

------
nikivi
I quite liked these ones:

[https://wiki.nikitavoloboev.xyz/podcasts#favorite-
episodes](https://wiki.nikitavoloboev.xyz/podcasts#favorite-episodes)

I wish podcast clients had social features builtin. As much as I dislike
Spotify moving into the podcast space and challenging the current free
landscape of RSS feeds. Not one client has the simple ability to add an
episode you liked to a playlist to share.

I have to share the link to myself on Telegram and than bookmark it myself..

~~~
capableweb
> I wish podcast clients had social features builtin.

> As much as I dislike Spotify moving into the podcast space and challenging
> the current free landscape of RSS feeds

Seems like Spotify (as a podcast client) does what you want it to. Why you
then dislike it?

~~~
nikivi
[https://twitter.com/OvercastFM/status/1215005163095838720](https://twitter.com/OvercastFM/status/1215005163095838720)

Aside from above. I dislike the idea of a podcast being available on only one
'platform'.

~~~
meowface
Yeah, I don't use Spotify (I use a competitor that I think is a lot better)
and am always annoyed when people use it to link songs.

Services like YouTube let everyone view everything, even if you don't log in.
That might be your best bet for creating playlists of any kind of audio or
video, though of course there are a lot of copyright infringement concerns if
you're uploading podcast episodes yourself.

------
aaronbrethorst
Episode 3 of the _1619 Project_ 's podcast: The Birth of American Music:
[https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/06/podcasts/1619-black-
ameri...](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/06/podcasts/1619-black-american-
music-appropriation.html)

And generally _Why Is This Happening_ is fantastic. Here are three of my
favorite episodes from the past year:

Michael Lewis of Moneyball fame: [https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/how-
break-federal-gove...](https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/how-break-
federal-government-michael-lewis-podcast-transcript-ncna1000586)

David Wallace-Wells on climate change:
[https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/fighting-climate-
actio...](https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/fighting-climate-action-
uninhabitable-earth-author-david-wallace-wells-podcast-ncna979551)

Jesse Eisinger from ProPublica on the challenges of taxing the super-rich:
[https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/can-we-tax-rich-
jesse-...](https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/can-we-tax-rich-jesse-
eisinger-explains-ncna970581)

~~~
dpeck
I'd recommend episodes 4/5 (one story split over two episodes) of the 1619
Project as well, learned a lot about how finance works in an agriculture
setting.

~~~
aaronbrethorst
Yeah, that absolutely blew me away. The whole podcast series is fantastic, and
Nikole Hannah-Jones is a national treasure.

------
0xabe
The Assembly Line[0] is a podcast from the NES Home brew scene. Was fun to
learn that NES development continues using 6502 assembly. Can be supported via
Patreon[1]

[0]
[https://open.spotify.com/show/2VsQ6qauI2R8yqbfNTnIk7](https://open.spotify.com/show/2VsQ6qauI2R8yqbfNTnIk7)
[1]
[https://www.patreon.com/nesassemblyline](https://www.patreon.com/nesassemblyline)

------
strictnein
So this is cheating a little bit, but we listened to it on a road trip in
2019, and it was by far the most impactful podcast we heard last year:

Radiolab: From Tree to Shining Tree

[https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/from-...](https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/from-
tree-to-shining-tree)

It's from 2016, but it's about the underground network of roots and organisms
that connects a whole forest together and how it functions. And it's amazing.
And it keeps getting more and more amazing as it goes on. My wife and I were
giving each other WTF looks as we were listening.

Just a taste: "Apparently, bears park themselves in places and grab fish out
of the water, and then, you know, take a bite and then throw the carcass down
on the ground. The fungi, you know, after it's rained and snowed and the
carcass has seeped down into the soil a bit, the fungi then go and they drink
the salmon carcass down and then send it off to the tree. ... And the tree has
evidence of salmon consumption. ... Salmon rings in trees."

~~~
tegenlicht
Highly recommend watching this documentary called 'Trees will save our
planet', if this is what fascinates you.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjDWLaGjGi0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjDWLaGjGi0)

------
40acres
Tulsi Gabbard on Joe Rogan. I don't agree with her on everything but listening
to her ideas on US policy was a like getting into a plunge pool.

------
krtkush
Fighter Pilot Podcast -

1) B-52 Stratofortress 2) Mig-29 Fulcrum 3) SR-71 Blackbird

The Seen and The Unseen -

1) Our Colorful Past 2) The 2019 Elections 3) The India-Pakistan Conflict 4)
Kashmir and Article 370

Lapham's Quarterly -

1) William Dairymple

The Joe Rogan Experience -

1). Edward Snoweden

NPR Throughline -

1) The Dark Side Of The Moon

Podcast series -

1) 13 Minutes To The Moon 2) The Chernobyl Podcast

~~~
cushychicken
There's a fighter jet podcast?!

My inner jet-obsessed child is _very_ excited for this.

~~~
sien
The excellent Omega Tau podcast also has lots of interviews with people who
flew or fly various planes including the F-16, F15, Tornado, F-14 and others.

[https://omegataupodcast.net/](https://omegataupodcast.net/)

There is also an excellent episode where the host Markus, got to live his
childhood dream and fly an F-16!

It's also excellent on science and engineering generally.

------
wdella
The Roman Mars Mazda Virus from Reply All and 99% Invisible.

This joint episode is an engaging and hilarious tale of debugging an overly
‘smart’ car stereo, as well as going above and beyond the call of duty out of
sheer love for podcasting.

[https://gimletmedia.com/shows/reply-
all/brh8jm](https://gimletmedia.com/shows/reply-all/brh8jm)

~~~
lamby
Reply All is a good reminder to keep everything... unserious. :)

------
hombre_fatal
Sam Harris speaking to ex-muslim Yasmine Mohammed about the West's double
standard on women's rights and the unique difficulties of leaving Islam.

[https://samharris.org/podcasts/175-leaving-
faith/](https://samharris.org/podcasts/175-leaving-faith/)

It's a major social/political issue of our time with no obvious/imminent end
in sight and I recommend the episode to everyone.

------
dnissley
This American Life: Before things went to hell

[https://www.thisamericanlife.org/665/before-things-went-
to-h...](https://www.thisamericanlife.org/665/before-things-went-to-hell)

An epic immigration compromise was in the works in the 90s... So what
happened?

~~~
damontal
In what way did things go to hell?

~~~
dnissley
Immigration went from an issue that was hard to make progress on (e.g. come to
a compromise) to an issue where that is impossible.

------
teej
Invest Like The Best Podcast. “The search for the truth with the anonymous
master - Jesse Livermore”

[https://open.spotify.com/episode/2POal0mOwBPtLQoeJGa0oL?cont...](https://open.spotify.com/episode/2POal0mOwBPtLQoeJGa0oL?context=spotify%3Auser%3Ateej_m%3Aplaylist%3A49ldecCh83Bh9g9c9t8700&si=cNWi6AbXRqS29oxTXaJ8Qw)

Jesse talks at length about making decisions with intuition vs analysis. He
breaks down when and why each of these work. It seems simple but it feels
groundbreaking.

They also dig into an alternate valuation model for the stock market which I
found interesting.

------
Brajeshwar
\- The Program Audio Series,
[https://programaudioseries.com/](https://programaudioseries.com/)

\- SleepWalkers,
[https://podcasts.apple.com/in/podcast/sleepwalkers/id1449757...](https://podcasts.apple.com/in/podcast/sleepwalkers/id1449757372)

\- Meditative Story, [https://podcasts.apple.com/in/podcast/meditative-
story/id147...](https://podcasts.apple.com/in/podcast/meditative-
story/id1472106563)

------
djhworld
I'm not sure what is meant by impactful, but for me the most interesting
podcasts this year have all been miniseries, namely

* 13 Minutes to the Moon (13 episodes) - a documentary about the 13 minutes leading up to the first moon landing

* The Drop Out (8 episodes) - a documentary about Theranos/Elizabeth Holmes

* The Missing CryptoQueen (10 episodes) - a documentary about the OneCoin scam and how far it has reached, along with the disappearance of its founder.

In terms of stand out episodes:

* Supernova in the East III (Hardcore History) - a continuation of the 'Supernova' series, I recommend listening to the first 2 though.

------
lucb1e
For the Dutch speakers among us:

The Universiteit van Vlaanderen and -Nederland episodes are frequently very
interesting and while the titles are clickbait, the speakers are from academia
and often tell interesting things. I regularly talk about this with friends
and family. As an example, today I learned new things about palliative care
that would apply to anyone who contracts a terminal illness, which is a lot of
us. Another impactful episode was (translated) "Was the holocaust a
predetermined plan?" (from UvNL) which was about how it developed from the
Jews being the blame of everything through multiple intermediate steps to
attempting to kill all Jews. Rather than having been a single man's hate for
those people, it was more about society's mindset combined with that those
people were seen as highly likely to be saboteurs. I think that's good to know
about to try and recognize similar signs, if any, in today's life.

Met Nerds Om Tafel is another general recommendation, though the quality
depends on the episode's topic and the "guest nerd", so I recommend looking at
the title before listening. I liked S05E21 with Mux about electric driving a
lot and it was quite inspiring to see what he does with hardware hacking while
still daring (and being allowed to) to drive the modded car on a public road,
as well as the general mindset of someone who is not just good with tech or
software but also knows electronics really really well. Everything that I take
for granted (motherboards, cars, whatever) is a development board for him.

------
janee
Impactful for me in terms of making my daily 1h commute actually enjoyable...a
bunch of funny, crazy, sad, happy stories about drugs, homelessness, prison
and lots more called "It's All Bad"
[https://www.instagram.com/itisallbad/?hl=en](https://www.instagram.com/itisallbad/?hl=en)

Came across it on a Marc Maron WTF episode..which is also great (WTF podcast)

------
bostik
Motherboard's interview with thegrugq:
[https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/qv7wmv/former-exploit-
bro...](https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/qv7wmv/former-exploit-broker-the-
grugq-talks-election-interference-and-disinformation)

The podcast is otherwise rather unremarkable (I've listened to maybe 10
episodes) but that episode is a real gem.

------
elil17
"The Fight for a True Democracy," from 1619. I've felt recently that feeling
patriotic for my country (America) doesn't line up with my moral views. This
podcast convinced me otherwise.

The series as a whole is about the history of chattel slavery in America. It
does an amazing job of blending the personal and economic narratives together
into a cohesive story.

------
ljm
This might be pretty unconventional, but I have two favourites. One is called
'The Exploring Series', and is essentially a podcast researching and
summarising mythical stories, DnD lore, SCP lore, Lovecraft lore, etc. The
other is Sleep With Me, which is just incessant rambling about a story or an
episode of a TV show.

I don't listen to the for the content. I listen to them because they help me
sleep better in the winter, when I can't open the window to hear the ambient
noise outside without making myself ill. I can't sleep in pure silence, it's
too quiet. Both podcast authors have very warm and soothing voices and it's so
easy to fall asleep with a nice bed time story like that.

We're still children inside, after all.

------
werber
The playwright John Cameron Mitchell was on RuPauls podcast and that episode
really stood out for me. There’s a part in particular about finding your place
in the world and it was a totally different way than I think about it, but it
was really beautiful

------
probinso
Behind the bastards - history of concentration camps

It could happen here - first episode

The foreign American - indigenous people

~~~
Pfhreak
Behind the Bastards -- "The Birth of American Fascism" is an excellent 7 part
series as well.

------
coder1001
There are plenty, but fount his to be a gem!

SuperFastBusiness: [https://www.superfastbusiness.com/list-
all/](https://www.superfastbusiness.com/list-all/)

------
nickloewen
Episodes which I think will stick with me, because they helped me to better
understand the motivations and histories behind political perspectives that I
disagree with:

\- "Citations Needed" ep. 96: The Christian Cinema-GOP Persecution Complex.
(CN is maybe my fave podcast of the year overall, too.) -- Why does the
American religious right align itself with politicians who seem to go against
core 'Christian' values?

\- "Behind the Bastards"' serialization of Robert Evans' audiobook "The War on
Everyone," which started with the episode "Part One: The Eternal Fascist,"
released August 13th 2019. -- How did Neo-Nazism get started in America, how
does it work, why are people attracted to it? How does the behaviour of
current far-right pundits and terrorists connect to earlier history of that
movement?

Episodes which, similarly, let me see the world through the eyes of a
different community:

\- All of "Crackdown," but particularly episodes 1-3. -- What is life like for
illicit drug addicts, particularly in Vancouver's Downtown East Side? What are
their needs, what political moves could help them (what political moves have
failed them)?

\- "Canadaland" ep. 396, "Two Centuries of Blackface" \-- What can Trudeau's
scandal teach us about the history and current experience of racism in Canada?

Podcasts I just enjoyed a lot:

\- "99% Invisible" episode 376, "Great Bitter Lake Association" \-- a little
bit of Suez Crisis history, and some sailors who got bored enough to start a
post office.

\- "S-Town" (seven episode series) -- an incredible piece of journalistic
storytelling about an unhappy man, his small Alabama town, and an apparently
consequence-free murder.

\- "No Such Thing as a Fish" (weekly) -- the best comedy-and-trivia show I
know.

------
ropable
I really enjoyed this lecture about low back pain by Dr Austin Baraki - its
causes, risk reduction and management. It's a really good, accessible
introduction to the modern biopsychosocial model of pain and is well-worth an
hour of your time: [https://soundcloud.com/user-344313169/episode-82-dr-
baraki-o...](https://soundcloud.com/user-344313169/episode-82-dr-baraki-on-
low-back-pain-at-fort-irwin)

------
huijzer
Almost all Jocko podcasts if you ask me. Some tell great war stories while
others go into military leadership lessons. I think these lessons generalise
well to outside the military since bad leadership receives harsh and direct
feedback, that is, bad leadership gets people killed. Also a big pro of the
podcast is Jocko. He might be a bit too much pro-America at times, but he
seems like a down to earth, humble and hardworking person.

------
ace_of_spades
I love the 80,000 hours podcast [1] which goes into depth about how a career
can be used to have a positive impact on the world. They have 2-3 hour
conversations with interesting people like David Chalmers, Peter Singer, Bruce
Schneier, Vitalik Buterin, Glen Weyl, Phil Tetlock, etc.

It‘s quite amazing actually, highly recommend!

1: [https://80000hours.org/podcast/](https://80000hours.org/podcast/)

------
tobr
Scriptnotes #403: How to Write a Movie[1], where screenwriter Craig Mazin
(Chernobyl, The Hangover 2/3) meticulously lays out one approach to crafting a
screenplay around thesis and antithesis. (TLDR: put your characters through
agony.)

It’s the most impactful episode this year because I’ve been keeping these
ideas in mind lately whenever I’ve watched a movie, and it has really given me
a different way to understand what’s going on.

1: The episode itself requires a premium subscription by now, but the
transcript is still free to read: [https://johnaugust.com/2019/scriptnotes-
ep-403-how-to-write-...](https://johnaugust.com/2019/scriptnotes-ep-403-how-
to-write-a-movie-transcript)

~~~
covercash
Scriptnotes in general is a good one for anyone wanting to get a better
understanding of movies, television, and storytelling. Bonus points because
John August builds modern tools for screenwriters including apps for reading
and writing screenplays (Weekend Read & Highland), a new markup and file
format ([https://fountain.io](https://fountain.io)), and they even designed a
new version of the Courier font (Courier Prime). Lots of interesting crossover
between the world of making movies and the world of software development and
startups.

------
jameswestgate
Ear Hustle.

------
konamicode
“13 Minutes to the Moon” by the BBC World Service.

------
imafish
Startups For the Rest of Us #449: Let's talk about Bluetick [0]

Co-host Mike Taber is asked hard questions by Rob Walling about his startup
Bluetick, which is not performing as hoped. (First in a series)

\--

JRE #1330: Bernie Sanders [1]

Someone else mentioned Tulsi and Yang. But there is also Bernie! Did not know
much about him and definitely found the episode interesting.

\--

[0]:
[https://www.startupsfortherestofus.com/episodes/episode-448-...](https://www.startupsfortherestofus.com/episodes/episode-448-lets-
talk-about-bluetick)

[1]:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2O-iLk1G_ng](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2O-iLk1G_ng)

------
hans1729
Two hours and no one mentioned Lex Fridmans podcast on AGI? Interesting.

Hard to pinpoint a specific episode, here is last weeks episode [0] with
Stephen Kotkin, on "Stalin, Putin, and the nature of power".

Fridman has a lineup of one-of-a-kind guests, each providing an individual
perspective on -to me- interesting topics, mostly in the scope of artificial
general intelligence. I'm looking forward to check the other references here!

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCkkjnpS2f8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCkkjnpS2f8)

~~~
spookyuser
Agreed, Lex Fridmin was a standout podcast for me this year. I didn't have any
idea who he was before the podcast but he has been getting some insanely
famous guests on his show in what seems like the very year it was becoming
popular.

My favourite episode of the podcast was his interview with Geohot I think
because I just like hearing Geohot speak and when he's speaking to someone
that's not asking easy questions you end up with George giving some very
interesting answers to questions about AGI and self driving.

[https://pca.st/0773](https://pca.st/0773)

~~~
nojvek
Geohot was great. I immediately bought a comma ai eon kit after listening to
it.

My fav was Gary Marcus though. Really showing what breakthroughs we’d need to
make to truly have intelligent AI. Without it self driving cars and
conversational AIs are always a decade away. I immediately bought his book
“Rebooting AI” afterwards too.

[https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/artificial-
intelligenc...](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/artificial-intelligence-
ai-podcast-with-lex-fridman/id1434243584?i=1000452144918)

~~~
spookyuser
Wow, if your Eon is installed and everything, how is it? Would love to buy a
full eon and everything but I don't have a compatible car yet, will definitely
make sure that my next car is 100% comma compatible though.

Thanks, will check out that episode!

~~~
nojvek
Love the Eon. Use it almost every day. Does what it says it does. Keeps the
car dead center on a lane.

Think about Eon as a device that turns the car into a train that follows rail
tracks. In this instance, the rail tracks are the road lanes. Works amazing on
highways.

------
4thwaywastrel
The 80,000 hours podcast probably had the largest intellectual impact on me of
any media in 2019, not only in terms of actual content but pointers to other
thinkers / ideas.

My favorite episode was probably:
[https://80000hours.org/podcast/episodes/glen-weyl-
radically-...](https://80000hours.org/podcast/episodes/glen-weyl-radically-
reforming-capitalism-and-democracy)

The first time I listened I noped out after the first 20 minutes due to all
the terminology being slung around and (seemingly) ungrounded anti-capitalist
rhetoric. But I gave it another go after the episode with Vitalik Buterin and
I'm very glad I did. Once they get going it's a fascinating introduction to
collective action problems, public goods, and bleeding edge ideas of what we
might do to solve them (pairs well with "Vitalik Buterin on The Portal" first
as a gentler intro to the idea of public goods).

The charter cities institute episode was also great as an exploration of new
ideas that might really move the needle on human suffering

[https://80000hours.org/podcast/episodes/lutter-and-winter-
ch...](https://80000hours.org/podcast/episodes/lutter-and-winter-chater-
cities-innovative-governance/)

~~~
rewq4321
I really enjoyed that 80000 hours episode with Vitalik Buterin. It gave me
some new mental models.

I'll tack on another unrelated suggestion: Leslie Kaelbling's interview on Lex
Friedman's AI podcast. It's probably my favourite from that podcast so far.
She is an exceptionally clear thinker.

Those were probably my two favourite episodes of the year.

------
lars_bx
The Ottoman History Podcast has taught me so much. It's helped me make a
little more sense of the Middle East. It's also introduced me to some broader,
more universal issues that are relevant now but presented within a specific
historic context.

------
tw1010
Can't think of a specific episode, but all the controversial ideas discussed
in the Red Scare podcast have really twisted around my brain (and put words to
things I thought only I were alone in observing) recently.

~~~
nyolfen
ideas about what? i'm dimly familiar with it, or at least the hosts, but
haven't listened to it.

~~~
tw1010
Tbh, some anti-tech ideas (essentially eloquently presenting steelmanned ideas
I'd only had at the periphery of my mind). All their ideas which goes against
the grain, that I find valuable. (Warning tho: there's a lot of dopey-ness,
amateurishness, and ideas in the podcast that I don't agree with. It's not for
everyone. But I've found a lot of value in it the last month of listening to
it.)

------
tony
Attachment Theory Deep Drive from Psychology in Seattle (Dr Kirk Honda). 15+
hours long,
([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ji2QKcKqY7U](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ji2QKcKqY7U))

Schema Therapy Deep Dive from Dr Kirk Honda. 3+ hours long
([https://player.fm/series/psychology-in-seattle-
podcast/schem...](https://player.fm/series/psychology-in-seattle-
podcast/schema-therapy-deep-dive))

They are behind a patreon paywall (sorta like how Hardcore History by Dan
Carlin is)

If just attachment theory: John Bowlby
([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LM0nE81mIE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LM0nE81mIE)),
Ainsworth, Cindy Hazan, Mikulincer, Shaver, Sue Johnson. If you like Bowlby
you probably will like Winnicott:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaZkvvB367I](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaZkvvB367I)
(he influenced Bowlby)

------
mancerayder
History Time, the occasional superb Rogan Podcast when it's not MMA, Fitness
FAQs (calisthenics from a licensed PT), some Alan Thrall podcasts about form
and nutrition, PBS Eons and of course Kurtsgesacht.

------
doe88
Certainly the ones I appreciated the most were two related episodes from
Benjamin Walker's _Theory of everything_ [1], very informative, very personal:

    
    
      - 1984 The Book [2]
      - 1984 The Year [3]
    
    

[1]
[https://theoryofeverythingpodcast.com/](https://theoryofeverythingpodcast.com/)

[2] [https://theoryofeverythingpodcast.com/2019/08/1984-the-
book-...](https://theoryofeverythingpodcast.com/2019/08/1984-the-book-not-the-
year/)

[3] [https://theoryofeverythingpodcast.com/2019/08/1984-the-
year-...](https://theoryofeverythingpodcast.com/2019/08/1984-the-year-not-the-
book-r/)

------
mister_hn
For me, Tiesto's "Club Life" 650 and 654 were the best of 2019

------
nknealk
Those of you who like the business side of things should check out the
Acquired podcast. They’re excellent story tellers and do a great job of
covering a company’s history from founding to IPO or acquisition

------
Pfhreak
_Reading Marx 's_ Capital _with David Harvey_ \-- The People's Forum

It's an academic deconstruction of the text of Karl Marx's _Capital_. It
covers a lot of the foundational language used in contemporary discussion of
Socialism/Neoliberalism/Economics.

It's a 12 part series, and it really helped me understand what people meant
when they said value/commodity/labor/etc. And it's presented in a dry,
academic lecture that I found accessible but not 'pop', if that makes sense.

[https://peoplesforum.org/capitaldavidharvey/](https://peoplesforum.org/capitaldavidharvey/)

------
tomtompl
Weinstein's The Portal with Kasparov <3

------
womitt
"The level-up engineering" podcast had some really valuable insights on
engineering management

------
philefstat
for me, all of heavyweight season 4
[https://gimletmedia.com/shows/heavyweight/episodes](https://gimletmedia.com/shows/heavyweight/episodes)

------
memonkey
the relentless picnic

episode 21

no world

[https://soundcloud.com/relentless-picnic/ep-21-no-
world](https://soundcloud.com/relentless-picnic/ep-21-no-world)

------
nxpnsv
* Cliff Stoll on Numberphile podcast

* Megan phelbs-roper on sam harris

* Max tegmark on sean Carroll’s Mindscape

------
qz_
I really enjoyed Chapo Trap House's interview of Bernie Sanders.

------
anjc
The Hidden Forces podcast is excellent

------
ghettoimp
Scene on radio, men, #7.

------
type0
Megan Phelbs-Roper on JRE

------
scirocco
a16z Podcast: The Environment, Capitalism, Technology, where Marc Andreessen
and Andrew McAfee, author of More from Less: The Surprising Story of How We
Learned to Prosper Using Fewer Resources — and What Happens Next is
participating.

[https://a16z.com/2019/10/03/the-environment-capitalism-
techn...](https://a16z.com/2019/10/03/the-environment-capitalism-technology-
progress-more-from-less/)

------
nostromo
Eric Weinstein interviews Sam Harris on The Portal.

[https://youtu.be/6FQy9BLVzxQ](https://youtu.be/6FQy9BLVzxQ)

------
trenning
This is entirely off-topic, but if you're going through and downvoting people
for posting their favorite podcasts in a thread like this, you should take a
break from here, or the internet for a while, it's not that serious.

~~~
arikr
That's one way to view it, certainly.

The other way is that downvotes are a great tool for ensuring high quality
discussion, and if the thread is about podcast episodes, then downvoting full
podcasts helps keep the thread organized. Downvotes aren't necessarily bad,
they may just mean - hey, this doesn't belong as much in this thread, so I'm
voting on it to help organize the thread for other readers.

~~~
willis936
HN’s rules seem like they fall in line with positive psychology tenants. In
the spirit of HN, downvotes seem like something reserved for mean spirited or
inaccurate posts. If everyone downvotes for differences in purely subjective
opinion, well, I’d just stick to reddit in that case.

~~~
claudiawerner
dang and sctb have stated several times that it's OK to downvote for
disagreement on HN. On the other hand, on Reddit it goes against Reddiquette
(as published by Reddit) to do that - though of course it's very common.

------
GrayTextIsTruth
Digital Minimalism with computer scientist Cal Newport was one of my favorite
episodes of all time. [https://www.richroll.com/podcast/cal-
newport-447/](https://www.richroll.com/podcast/cal-newport-447/)

------
davidw
I don't do podcasts. I can read faster - and more importantly - easily skim
articles. I can't listen to something in the background, because I end up
tuning it out if I'm concentrating on work or whatever. I live somewhere where
I don't have an awful commute.

~~~
tasuki
I take long walks to listen to podcasts and get a bit of mild exercise.

~~~
retsibsi
Walking is a great time to listen. Also when doing (mostly) mindless work,
like washing up or cooking familiar meals or watering the garden. As for
speed, that's controllable -- I find that I sometimes like to listen at real
speed, other times up to 2x or occasionally faster, often somewhere in
between. (This doesn't just depend on the speed of the original, but also its
information density, how important the social/emotional human element is, what
I'm doing, and what mood I'm in.) Faster speeds can actually aid
concentration, because they give your mind less reason to drift away whenever
there's a pause or a predictable sentence or a dull bit. This all goes for
audiobooks, too.

