The Jim Rutt Show

EP 337 Philip Rosedale on Emergent Worlds, Localism, and What Building Second Life Taught Him About Humanity

27 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with Philip Rosedale, founder and CEO of Linden Lab and creator of the game Second Life, about the nature of self, society, and the design o...

EP 336 Rufus Pollock on the Wisdom Gap and the Second Renaissance

17 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with Rufus Pollock—entrepreneur, activist, Zen practitioner, founder of Life Itself and the Open Knowledge Foundation, and author of Open ...

EP 335 Worldviews: Samantha Sweetwater

06 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with Samantha Sweetwater about her book Reimagining Ourselves at the End of Our World and the question of what it means to be human at this ...

EP 334 Worldviews: Joscha Bach

26 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with cognitive scientist and AI researcher Joscha Bach about the computational and representational foundations of consciousness, mind, and ...

EP 333 Worldviews: Iain McGilchrist

19 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In this Worldviews episode, Jim talks with Iain McGilchrist about consciousness, matter, and the nature of reality. They discuss consciousness as the ...

EP 332 Worldviews: Jim Rutt

17 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In a special edition of the new Worldviews series, Brendan Graham Dempsey asks Jim about his life and worldview using a faith development interview. T...

EP 331 Worldviews: Michael Shermer

29 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with Michael Shermer about his worldview and his new book, Truth: What It Is, How to Find It, and Why It Still Matters. They discuss Michael...

EP 330 Worldviews: Ben Goertzel

22 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with Ben Goertzel about his worldview. They discuss Ben's morning experience of consciousness crystallizing from ambient awareness, his iden...

EP 329 Worldviews: David Krakauer

15 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In the inaugural episode of a new series, Jim talks with David Krakauer about his intellectual formation and worldview. They discuss what woke up as D...

EP 328 Brendan Graham Dempsey Interviews Jim Rutt on Minimum Viable Metaphysics

04 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In this flipped episode, Brendan Graham Dempsey interviews Jim about the ideas in his recent Substack essays "A Minimum Viable Metaphysics" and "What ...

EP 327 Nate Soares on Why Superhuman AI Would Kill Us All

15 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with Nate Soares about the ideas in his and Eliezer Yudkowsky's book If Anybody Builds It, Everyone Dies: Why Superhuman AI Would Kill Us A...

EP 326 Alex Ebert on New Age, Manifestation, and Collective Hallucination

14 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with Alex Ebert about the ideas in his Substack essay "New Age and the Religion of Self: The Anatomy of a Rebellion Against Reality." They d...

EP 325 Joe Edelman on Full-Stack AI Alignment

07 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with Joe Edelman about the ideas in the Meaning Alignment Institute's recent paper "Full Stack Alignment: Co-Aligning AI and Institutions wi...

EP 324 John Preston on 40 Flushes to Grow Your Business

11 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with John Preston about his book 40 Flushes to Grow Your Business: The World's #2 Business Series, which is designed to be read during bath...

EP 323 Pablos Holman on Deep Tech

09 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with Pablos Holman about the ideas in his new book Deep Future: Creating Technology That Matters. They discuss deep tech versus shallow tec...

EP 322 Brendan Graham Dempsey on Psyche and Symbolic Learning

04 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with Brendan Graham Dempsey about the ideas in his book Psyche and Symbolic Learning, volume 2 in his Evolution of Meaning series. We discu...

EP 321 James Fadiman and Jordan Gruber on Microdosing Psychedelics

02 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with James Fadiman and Jordan Gruber about the findings in their recent book Microdosing for Health, Healing, and Enhanced Performance. The...

EP 320 David Shapiro on Mastering AI Tools for Research

26 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with David Shapiro about how to use AI language models as research and writing tools. They discuss post-labor economics, the evolution of AI...

EP 319 Lawrence Cahoone on Emergence and Natural Order

21 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with Lawrence Cahoone about his book The Orders of Nature and his systematic approach to naturalist philosophy. They discuss fallibilist & l...

EP 318 Adam B. Levine on Thinking on Demand

14 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with Adam B. Levine about humanity's rapidly changing relationship with AI and "thinking on demand." They discuss the GPT-5 release & pricin...

EP 317 David Shapiro on Post-Labor Economics

12 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with David Shapiro about his six-part series on "post-labor economics." They discuss historical economic transitions, the logic of labor sub...

EP 316 Ken Stanley on the AI Representation Problem

08 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with Ken Stanley about the Fractured Entanglement Representation hypothesis in deep learning neural networks. They discuss open-endedness in...

EP 315 Ed Latimore on Hard Lessons from the Hurt Business

05 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with Ed Latimore about his new book Hard Lessons from the Hurt Business: Boxing and the Art of Life. They discuss Ed's chess playing & stre...

EP 314 Zak Stein and Marc Gafni on the Nature of Everything

01 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with Zak Stein and Marc Gafni about consciousness, attention, and value as fundamental aspects of reality. They explore continuity & discont...

EP 313 Chris Colin on Why Customer Service Sucks

25 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with Chris Colin about his recent Atlantic article "That Dropped Call with Customer Service? It Was on Purpose." They discuss customer servi...

EP 312 Lee Cronin on Automating Chemistry

24 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with Lee Cronin about Chemify, his startup that aims to automate chemistry through "chemifarms" that turn code into molecules. They discuss ...

EP 311 Nicholas Humphrey on the Invention of Consciousness

22 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with Nicholas Humphrey about the ideas in his 2023 book Sentience: The Invention of Consciousness. They discuss the distinction between sen...

EP 310 Samo Burja on Anduril’s Plan to Modernize the US Military

10 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with Samo Burja about his report on the defense startup Anduril's plan to modernize the U.S. military. They discuss "live players vs. dead p...

EP 309 Richard David Hames on the Final Performance of Western Civilization?

08 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with Richard David Hames, picking up from the ideas in his recent Facebook essay about the decline of Western civilization. They discuss the...

EP 308 David Chapman on Rethinking Nobility

03 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with David Chapman about rethinking nobility for the modern age through his recent "nobility tetralogy" of essays. They discuss character & ...

EP 307 Thomas Schindler on Heliogenic Civilization

01 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with Thomas Schindler about heliogenic civilization as a vision for a regenerative future. They discuss the current multipolar trap shitshow...

EP 306 Anders Indset on The Singularity Paradox

25 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with Anders Indset about his book The Singularity Paradox: Bridging the Gap Between Humanity and AI, co-authored with Florian Neutkart. The...

EP 305 J. Doyne Farmer on Complexity Economics

19 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with J. Doyne Farmer about his book Making Sense of Chaos: A Better Economics for a Better World. They discuss deterministic chaos & strange...

EP 304 Samuel Arbesman on The Magic of Code

17 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with Samuel Arbesman about the ideas in his book The Magic of Code: How Digital Language Created and Connects Our World—and Shapes Our Fu...

EP 303 Mark Stahlman on Pope Leo XIV and the Catholic Church’s Missionary Turn

04 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with Mark Stahlman about the new Pope Leo XIV and the Catholic Church's evolving role in a digital age. They discuss Trump as an avatar of ...

EP 302 Daniel Mezick on Games and Governance

30 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with Daniel Mezick on the theme of games and their relationship to governance. They discuss Jane McGonigal's four properties of games, the n...

EP 301 Zak Stein on K-12 Education in the AI Era

27 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with Zak Stein about the psychological and developmental risks of AI in K-12 education. They discuss education vs schooling, technology's ro...

EP 300 Daniel Rodriguez on AI-Assisted Software Development

22 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with Daniel Rodriguez about the state of AI software development and its implementation in industry. They discuss Daniel's background at Mic...

EP 299 Ryan Blosser on Permaculture for Food and Friendship

21 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with Ryan Blosser about the ideas in his book Mulberries in the Rain: Growing Permaculture Plants for Food and Friendship, co-authored with...

EP 298 Adam Lake on Rebooting American Democracy

15 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with Adam Lake about Reboot America, a project aimed at reforming American democracy. They discuss existential threats facing humanity, the ...

EP 297 Sara Walker on the Physics of Life’s Emergence

13 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with Sara Walker about the ideas in her new book Life as No One Knows It: The Physics of Life's Emergence. They discuss Sara's path from the...

EP 296 Ashley Hodgson on Economic Mythology and System Change

15 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with Ashley Hodgson about her YouTube series "The New Enlightenment" and its heterodox perspectives on economics and social systems. They di...

EP 295 John Robb on How a Networked Organization Blitzed D.C.

31 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with John Robb about the ideas in his recent essay "Blitzing DC," about how a networked organization took over Washington. They discuss the ...

EP 294 Timothy Clancy on an AI Cold War

28 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with Timothy Clancy about wicked mess problems & the potential for a new Cold War centered on AI. They discuss the evolution from chat-based...

EP 293 Brendan Graham Dempsey on Cosmic Teleology and Emergence Vectors

25 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with Brendan Graham Dempsey, picking up on a disagreement they had on Facebook about the teleology of the universe. They discuss Aristotle's...

EP 292 Emil Ejner Friis on Building a Listening Society

18 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with Emil Ejner Friis about political metamodernism and what comes after postmodernism. They discuss the "woke vacuum" & its failure to incl...

EP 291 Jeff Sebo on Who Matters, What Matters, and Why

13 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with Jeff Sebo about the ideas in his book The Moral Circle: Who Matters, What Matters, and Why. They discuss the concept of the moral cir...

EP 290 Mark Stahlman on Trump as the Avatar of the Digital Paradigm Shift

11 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with Mark Stahlman about Trump as an avatar of the current digital transformation. They discuss the GameB movement & complexity theory, pred...

EP 289 Adam B. Levine on AI-Powered Programming for Non-Developers

06 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with Adam B. Levine about AI programming aids for non-techies and the future of Bitcoin. They discuss Adam's background as a "technical non-...

EP 288 BJ Campbell on Cops, Belief, and Chainsaw-Faced Robot Dogs

04 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with BJ Campbell about the ideas in his Substack essay "On Cops, Belief, and Chainsaw Faced Robot Dogs." They discuss forms of social contro...

EP 287 Jonathan Rauch on the Epistemic Crisis

27 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with Jonathan Rauch about the ideas in his book The Constitution of Knowledge: A Defense of Truth. They discuss the epistemic crisis, Plato...

EP 286 Bob Levy on the Use and Abuse of Presidential Power

24 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with Bob Levy about presidential powers, their history, and their potential for abuse. They discuss the nature of the presidential pardon, r...

EP 285 Josh Bernoff on AI, Writing, and Thinking

18 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with Josh Bernoff, author of Writing Without Bullshit, about the impact of AI on writing education and professional writing. They discuss ...

EP 284 Jordan Hall on AI, the Commons, and the Church

13 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with Jordan Hall about the relationship between humanity and advanced AI. They discuss the false dichotomy of state vs market control of AI,...

EP 283 Brian Chau on the Trump Administration and AI

11 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with Brian Chau about what the new administration could mean for AI development. They discuss recent actions by the Tump administration incl...

EP 282 Tyson Yunkaporta on Indigenous Law, Lore, and Learning

06 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with Tyson Yunkaporta about the ideas in his new book Right Story, Wrong Story: Adventures in Indigenous Thinking. They discuss a symbolic ...

EP 281 Jeff Hawkins and Viviane Clay on the Thousand Brains Theory

04 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with Jeff Hawkins and Viviane Clay about the Thousand Brains Project and Jeff's book A Thousand Brains: A New Theory of Intelligence. They ...

EP 280 Rob Henderson on Luxury Beliefs

30 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with Rob Henderson about his book Troubled: A Memoir of Foster Care, Family, and Social Class and the concept of luxury beliefs. They discu...

EP 279 Samuel Scarpino on H5N1 (Bird Flu) and Pandemic Risk

09 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with epidemiology expert Samuel Scarpino about the recent spread of H5N1 (bird flu) in dairy cows and its implications for public health. Th...

EP 278 Peter Wang on AI, Copyright, and the Future of Intelligence

02 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Jim has a wide-ranging conversation with recurring guest Peter Wang on AI copyright frameworks and the rapidly changing tech landscape. They discuss "...

EP 277 Kristian Rönn on Darwinian Traps and How to Escape Them

20 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with Kristian Rönn, co-founder of the carbon accounting tech company Normative, about his book The Darwinian Trap: The Hidden Evolutionary...

EP 276 Carolyn Dicey Jennings on Attention and Mental Control

19 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with philosopher and cognitive scientist Carolyn Dicey Jennings about her book Attention and Mental Control. They discuss mental control vs...

EP 275 Rachel Winkler on Mass Deportation

17 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with lawyer and former DHS policy person Rachel Winkler about Trump's promise to carry out a large-scale deportation operation. They discuss...

EP 274 Richard Overy on Why War?

13 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with historian Richard Overy about his new book Why War? They discuss historians' shyness in thinking about the nature of war, a correspon...

EP 273 Gregg Henriques on the Unified Theory of Knowledge

03 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with Gregg Henriques about his new book UTOK: The Unified Theory of Knowledge. They discuss the problem the book addresses, 3 vectors of kn...

EP 272 Loribeth Ford Jarrell on Bespoke Education

19 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with Loribeth Ford Jarrell, the director of Sumplicity Math, a mathematics enrichment program for children. They discuss working with the n...

EP 271 Lorraine Besser on the Art of the Interesting

05 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with Lorraine Besser about the ideas in her book The Art of the Interesting: What We Miss in the Pursuit of the Good Life and How to Cultiv...

EP 270 Nancy Jacobson on No Labels and the 2024 Election

30 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with Nancy Jacobson, the founder and CEO of the No Labels political organization, in the last of four conversations featuring non-partisan t...

EP 269 Alex Ebert on the War on Genius

29 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with Alex Ebert about his recent essay "Suboptimal Revolution: In Defense of Inefficiencies." They discuss what optimization does, genius vs...

EP 268 Brendan Graham Dempsey on the Evolution of Meaning

25 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with Brendan Graham Dempsey about the ideas in his new book, The Evolution of Meaning: A Universal Learning Process. They discuss Jim's lo...

EP 267 Richard Hanania on the Presidential Election and More

23 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with Richard Hanania in the third of four interviews with heterodox political thinkers on the upcoming US presidential election. They discus...

EP 266 Marcia Gralha on the Common Core of Psychotherapy and Wokeism in Academia

22 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with Marcia Gralha about her and Gregg Henriques's work identifying the common core of psychotherapeutic traditions. They discuss her collab...

EP 265 Aravind Srinivas on Perplexity AI

17 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with Aravind Srinivas, co-founder and CEO of the AI-powered search engine Perplexity. They discuss Jim's use of Perplexity, its wide range o...

EP 264 Bret Weinstein and Jim Argue Politics

13 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with Bret Weinstein in the second of four episodes featuring heterodox political thinkers on the 2024 presidential election. They discuss Br...

EP 263 Evan McMullen on Self-Driving Cars

09 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with Evan McMullen about the state of self-driving car technology, with a special focus on simulators. They discuss the purpose of simulator...

EP 262 Cliff Maloney on a Libertarian’s Case for Trump

06 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with Cliff Maloney about the November election and his get-out-the-vote campaign, The Pennsylvania Chase. They discuss Cliff's libertari...

EP 261 Nikos Salingaros on What Went Wrong with Architecture

03 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with Nikos Salingaros about architectural theory, urbanism, and urban planning. They discuss inherited knowledge, the capability to distingu...

EP 260 Ben Goertzel and Trent McConaghy on a Crypto Merger for AGI/ASI

01 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with Trent McConaghy and Ben Goertzel about the merger of Ben's SingularityNET AGIX token, Trent's Ocean Protocol, and Fetch. They discuss...

EP 259 Toufi Saliba on a Peer-to-Peer Network for AI Agents

10 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with Toufi Saliba about the Toda/IP protocol and HyperCycle, a decentralized network for AI-to-AI communication. They discuss the high-level...

EP 258 Stephen Webb on Where Are the Aliens?

29 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with Stephen Webb about his book If the Universe Is Teeming With Aliens... Where Is Everybody?: Seventy-Five Solutions to the Fermi Paradox...

EP 257 Malcolm and Simone Collins on Fertility Rates and Pronatalism

27 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with Malcolm and Simone Collins about declining worldwide fertility rates and pronatalism. They discuss when fertility started declining, th...

EP 256 Glenn Loury on Confessions of a Black Conservative

22 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with Glenn Loury about his recent memoir, Late Admissions: Confessions of a Black Conservative. They discuss the problem of self-regard, Gle...

EP 255 Is God Real? (with Jordan Hall)

20 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Jordan Hall tries to convince Jim that the reality of the Christian God is logically necessary. They discuss points of agreement & resonance between t...

EP 254 John Robb on What Went Wrong with America

19 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with John Robb about the ideas in his recent Substack essay, "What Went Wrong With America?" They discuss why there's a need to address what...

EP 253 Alexander Bard Part 3: Process and Event

15 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with Alexander Bard in the last of three conversations about his and Jan Söderqvist’s recent book Process and Event. They discuss the ba...

EP 252 Alexander Bard Part 2: Process and Event

13 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with Alexander Bard in the second of three conversations about his and Jan Söderqvist's recent book Process and Event. They discuss evento...

EP 251 Pamela Denise Long on Kamala Harris and Blackness in America

09 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with Pamela Denise Long about the nomination of Kamala Harris and what it might mean for American Freedmen. They discuss the meaning & value...

EP 250 Alexander Bard Part 1: Process and Event

08 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with Alexander Bard for the first in a series of conversations about his and Jan Söderqvist's recent book Process and Event. They discuss J...

EP 249 Seth Lloyd on Measuring Complexity

06 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with Seth Lloyd about the many ways of measuring complexity. They discuss the difficulty of measuring complexity, the metabolism of bacter...

EP 248 Timothy Clancy on the Israel-Hamas War

16 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with Timothy Clancy about the Israel-Hamas War following Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel. They discuss the sorting-out period that follow...

EP 247 Sergey Kuprienko on Drone Warfare in Ukraine

11 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with Sergey Kuprienko, CEO and co-founder of Swarmer, about drone warfare in the Russo-Ukrainian War. They discuss the parallels between dro...

EP 246 A.M. Hickman on Hitchhiking in America

05 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Jim and A.M. Hickman trade stories about the pleasures and tribulations of hitchhiking. They discuss Andy & his wife's recent hitchhiking honeymoon, h...

EP 245 Bob Levy on the Second Amendment and the Supreme Court

02 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with Bob Levy about the Second Amendment, the right to keep and bear arms, in the Supreme Court. They discuss Bob's late-career move to law...

EP 244 Samo Burja on Lessons from the Russo-Ukrainian War

27 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with Samo Burja about lessons military strategists should take from the Russo-Ukrainian War so far. They discuss why military stockpiles are...

EP 243 Yaroslav Trofimov on Ukraine’s War of Independence

25 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with Yaroslav Trofimov about his new book Our Enemies Will Vanish: The Russian Invasion and Ukraine's War of Independence. They discuss the...

EP 242 Magatte Wade on a Vision for African Economic Development

06 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with Magatte Wade about the ideas in her book The Heart of A Cheetah: How We Have Been Lied to about African Poverty, and What That Mean...

EP 241 Tor Nørretranders on the User Illusion of Consciousness

04 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with Tor Nørretranders about the ideas in his 1991 book The User Illusion: Cutting Consciousness Down to Size. They discuss the dialogue be...

EP 240 Stuart Kauffman on a New Approach to Cosmology

24 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with Stuart Kauffman about cosmology, fundamental physics, and the nature of dark matter, dark energy, and inflation. They discuss how Stuar...

EP 239 Alex Fink on Improving Information Quality

21 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with Alex Fink about his company Otherweb, which uses AI to filter out fake news and create a more reliable news ecosystem. They discuss how...

EP 238 Sam Sammane on Humanity’s Role in an AI-Dominated Future

14 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Jim talks with Sam Sammane about the ideas in his new book The Singularity of Hope: Humanity's Role in an AI-Dominated Future. They discuss the hype...