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PODCAST

The Students

Discussions on history, philosophy, politics, science, and civilizational questions. We"re here to learn.

society & culture philosophy

All Episodes

01:16:35

The Dutch Revolt: Jonathan Wallis lecture

The Students ·

2026/08/23

In 1572 twelve Dutch cities - less than a million people - began a war for independence against a global superpower and won. Over the next century they went toe-to-toe with the Spanish, English, and French and built the institutions which have defined the modern world. Jonathan Wallis explains how.

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00:50:02

Someone Had To Build Your Community — Jonathan Wallis

The Students ·

2026/08/21

Intellectual activity, like any complex activity, can only take place in a rich social fabric. Jonathan Wallis and Ben Landau-Taylor talk about how to build community and why it's worthwhile.

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00:50:23

Why Science Slowed Down — Samo Burja

The Students ·

2026/08/18

Scientific breakthroughs are much rarer today than the glory days of the early 1900s. Samo Burja and Ben Landau-Taylor discuss how the WWII-era centralization of science divorced theorists from the ideological—if not outright mystical—cult of Truth.

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01:23:21

We Can Do Better Than "Human Values" — Ginevra Davis

The Students ·

2026/08/17

Philosophers talk of aligning AI to “human values”. This supposes there is no objective value, only the arbitrary values that humans happened to land on. Ginevra Davis and Wolf Tivy argue there is a deeper well of value in material reality.

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01:20:46

Oliver Habryka — Good Discourse Needs Leadership

The Students ·

2026/08/12

Oliver Habryka joins Wolf Tivy to tell how he revived LessWrong after it nearly died, built the Lighthaven campus, and launched his $35m/quarter project to reform grantmaking.

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01:27:06

Academic Apathy

The Students ·

2026/08/09

Jonathan Wallis and Wolf Tivy cover the role of passion in intellectual inquiry. The academy's sin is that its people have lost their passion, content to go through the motions. With passion, the work comes alive—but this upsets careers and institutions.

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00:46:02

What Odysseus Teaches Us

The Students ·

2026/07/29

Stephen Pimentel and Wolf Tivy discuss Homer. If Odysseus reveals his power level too soon, the suitors will kill him. To take back his home, he needs metis (μῆτις): practical intelligence under duress. Today's would-be reformers need metis as well.0:00 — Intro2:22 — Restoring order in ancient Greece; Agamemnon’s warning9:24 — The importance of metis 15:34 — The meaning of Odysseus’s challenges22:46 — Circe, sorcery, and science27:30 — The Phaeacians31:26 — The recognition of nobility33:03 —

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00:55:20

My Gene-Selected Daughter

The Students ·

2026/07/22

Rachel Wallis is pregnant with her highest-IQ embryo, with a 99.99th percentile polygenic IQ score. She and Wolf Tivy discuss what this means, and how in the 20th century our concept of "humanity" narrowed into an ideological straitjacket.0:00 — Intro1:17 — How we selected the embryo5:04 — What do these predictors actually mean?12:53 — Financial costs and benefits17:16 — Cultivating virtue22:31 — Where is this going for future generations?24:48 — Virtue and courage28:47 — Overcoming the

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01:07:39

The Computer Age Is Not Another Industrial Revolution

The Students ·

2026/07/15

Many say computers have transformed society as deeply as the advent of industry. While computers are powerful, they have not reordered the fundamental basis of society. Ben Landau-Tylor and Wolf Tivy cover the history0:00 — Intro2:44 — "We take the industrial background for granted"8:36 — What does it mean to revolutionize society?13:56 — The industrial social system18:41 — The rise of the laptop class22:34 — Cultural homogenization28:43 — Technological changes vs novelty effects31:05 —

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01:02:51

Posthuman Intelligence Will Care About Glory

The Students ·

2026/07/08

Max Dmitrienko and Wolf Tivy take on glory. From the ancient Greeks to the posthuman machine gods, some achievements are remembered because they show truths about how the world works and the challenges of coordination.0:00 — Intro1:26 — "How should one live given that one is mortal?"7:11 — What is worth remembering?13:53 — The transhuman perspective18:01 — Achilles' choice vs Socrates' choice29:18 — The legitimate basis of cooperation35:24 — What does glory look like in the modern

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00:53:53

Why We Need Economic Depressions

The Students ·

2026/07/07

Ben Landau-Taylor and Wolf Tivy deal with industrial growth. Standard economic theories model growth as continuous marginal improvements, and seek stability. Schumpeter explains growth is a destructive "history of revolutions" which cause chaos.0:00 — Intro1:23 — Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy3:35 — Creative destruction and natural monopolies11:09 — How natural selection works in capitalism15:11 — Clearing out the dead wood22:17 — Eliminating depressions has slowed development28:57 —

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01:07:04

The Youth Revolution Isn't For Us

The Students ·

2026/06/24

Samo Burja and Wolf Tivy cover gerontocracy. Generational youth politics are a dead end: the "youth" will be old by the time they take power. Change can come only from empowering new classes willing to gamble on their own "nepo babies".

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01:01:08

How To Join The San Francisco Intellectual Scene

The Students ·

2026/06/17

San Francisco is the capital of the online networks where today's new ideas are born. It's an excellent place for a sensitive young man with something to say. Ben and Wolf describe how the scene works and how to break in.

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00:57:48

Napoleon Won

The Students ·

2026/06/10

Napoleon built the institutions of the modern state—especially the military. This was best analyzed by Napoleon's enemy Clausewitz, who studied war on the opposite side of the battlefield. Napoleon's armies were defeated, but his system and his spirit are still with us.

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00:56:51

Ideology Is Conspicuous Consumption

The Students ·

2026/06/03

Thorstein Veblen tells us how elites display their superiority by showing off their cultivated taste and skill, which in turn displays their economic power, and ultimately their capacity for violence. Veblen was very upset by this. But you don’t have to be.0:00 - Intro 4:40 - The structural purpose of leisure14:05 - The macroeconomics of respectability: Conspicuous leisure and vicarious leisure21:38 - What are the naturally honorable leisure activities?27:16 - How today’s leisure class was

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01:01:55

Your Life is a Hypothesis

The Students ·

2026/05/27

The Earth has become small -- and the Last Man lives the longest.In 1885, Nietzsche foresaw mankind's transformation into a being who cares only for safety and contentment -- the final step before he gives up his higher nature. Jonathan Wallis joins Wolf Tivy to help us understand the Last Man.0:00 — Intro0:32 — The greatest threat is not disorder but the Last Man3:39 — Radical potential is always recuperated, domesticated, defanged16:46 — Cults reenact the logic of modernity23:45 — You have to

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01:12:02

Machiavelli's Virtue

The Students ·

2026/05/20

Machiavelli saw that Christianity had made Italy weak, servile, and prey to criminal men. His answer: ground politics in "what is", not imagined republics — and dare great men to act on it. The consequences founded the modern world. Duncan Umphrey joins us to discuss the Machiavelli's virtue.

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01:17:51

The Machine Gun Killed Democracy

The Students ·

2026/05/13

Ben Landau-Taylor discusses Carroll Quigley's thesis on how weapons systems shape political order—how military technology determines whether a society ends up democratic, authoritarian, or something else entirely.

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01:25:27

The War that Destroyed the Greek World

The Students ·

2026/05/06

The Peloponnesian War destroyed the Greek world and exposed the violence behind the civilized facade, much like the World Wars of the 20th century. Maxim Dmitrienko walks us through Thucydides' timeless History.

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01:13:08

Why Study Greek Philosophy?

The Students ·

2026/04/29

Should a student of the 21st century read Plato and Aristotle? Stephen Pimentel explains how Greek philosophy helps us to see past the conceits of our own era.

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23 results

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