Science & the Future
Immortality, aliens, simulations, and where we're headed.
1 hr 14 minEp. 47 · September 17, 2026
AI Doomerism is a Psyop We’re Falling For
Everyone's terrified of AI, and the people ringing the loudest alarms happen to be the ones building it. XO asks whether AI doomerism is a psyop, from Bernie Sanders and Steve Bannon teaming up against the "tech oligarchs" to calls to slow down from labs that keep shipping new models, plus China, data centers, and bailout talk.
1 hr 3 minEp. 40 · May 15, 2026
Gabi the Robot Buddhist Monk & Death by Plane
South Korea ordained Gabi, a robot Buddhist monk, and XO has questions about the vows. Then a man walked onto a Denver runway into a Frontier jet at takeoff speed, the airport blamed some deer, and XO argues we're all going to have to pick a side on robots and AI.
1 hr 5 minEp. 39 · May 12, 2026
The First AI Human & Timmy the Whale
Who gets to play God? XO looks at the pitch for AI that moves your muscles for you (and has a better slogan for it), then at Timmy the whale, the feel-good rescue that may not have been so good for Timmy. Like recycling, it's about how releasing him made us feel.
1 hr 0 minEp. 32 · April 12, 2026
$80 Million Eyes, Data Center Wars, & Refrigerator Ads
A Boston biotech raised $80 million to make your eyes younger, and XO is ready to stop squinting. Then Maine leads the war on data centers, and smart fridges start running ads, which XO takes all the way to a love story between a man and his refrigerator.
45 minEp. 29 · March 5, 2026
Where are the f***ing aliens?
Where is everybody? XO takes on the Fermi paradox after Obama casually talks aliens on a podcast and Trump accuses him of leaking classified info. Ancient gods, objects that move from air to water, alien-gift technology theories, and a simple request for the government: just tell us.
55 minEp. 23 · February 5, 2026
Meet every factory worker's new replacement
Meet Boston Dynamics' Atlas, the robot that's probably coming for every factory job and won't stop there. XO plays business owner (who would you hire?), wonders what happens to people whose work is their purpose, and asks why not a single friend or family member thought the video was cool.
37 minEp. 16 · January 9, 2026
Simulation theory, psychedelics, & consciousness
After watching Chase Hughes on the Shawn Ryan Show, XO goes deep on simulation theory, psychedelics, and consciousness: whether reality runs on something other than a computer, why the experts' egos get in the way, the double-slit experiment, and why, if this is a game, you should just play it.
1 hr 15 minEp. 15 · January 7, 2026
What if AI keeps getting smarter?
What if AI keeps getting smarter until it's smarter than all of us combined? XO runs through AGI vs. ASI, the robot's choice in I, Robot, letting an AI run a business for 180 days, how far AI video has come since Will Smith eating spaghetti, and everyone's famous last words: "It won't replace us."
39 minEp. 14 · January 2, 2026
The immortality paradox
If you could drink a potion and live forever, would you? XO works through the immortality paradox: getting stuck at the wrong age, people who say they'd just be bored, The Good Place's version of heaven, and being 500 years old and set in your ways. XO's answer: hell no, unless there's an off switch.
40 minEp. 10 · June 30, 2025
Is our future transhuman?
Picture a future where race, religion, and politics don't divide us. What divides us is whether you're transhuman. XO imagines eyes that see five miles and save memories on command, Neuralink going from medical help to required upgrade, enhanced athletes, and the green-bubble peer pressure that will make most of us sign up.
1 hr 16 minEp. 7 · June 9, 2025
Does the Mandela Effect prove we’re in a simulation?
Berenstain or Berenstein? XO explores the Mandela Effect, from Froot Loops to the Monopoly man, and whether shared false memories prove we're living in a simulation, plus why humans can't stop asking existential questions and why having every answer might make life dull.
1 hr 1 minEp. 3 · May 12, 2025
Can we survive human immortality?
Would you like to live forever? Side effects may include loss of ego and existential questions. XO pitches the totally real Human Immortality Project infomercial-style, then asks what forever would do to meaning, aging, hospice, plastic surgery, and our obsession with brooding immortal vampires.