The Jim Rutt Show
Crisp conversations with critical thinkers at the leading edge of science, technology, politics, and social systems.
EP 333 Worldviews: Iain McGilchrist
19 Feb 2026
In this Worldviews episode, Jim talks with Iain McGilchrist about consciousness, matter, and the nature of reality. They discuss consciousness as the basis of everything we know, matter as a phase of
EP 332 Worldviews: Jim Rutt
17 Feb 2026
In a special edition of the new Worldviews series, Brendan Graham Dempsey asks Jim about his life and worldview using a faith development interview. They discuss Jim's life chapters from growing up
EP 331 Worldviews: Michael Shermer
29 Jan 2026
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's self-identification as a monist and realist
EP 330 Worldviews: Ben Goertzel
22 Jan 2026
Jim talks with Ben Goertzel about his worldview. They discuss Ben's morning experience of consciousness crystallizing from ambient awareness, his identification as a panpsychic, the concept of
EP 329 Worldviews: David Krakauer
15 Jan 2026
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 David this morning, his commitments to chance and
EP 328 Brendan Graham Dempsey Interviews Jim Rutt on Minimum Viable Metaphysics
4 Nov 2025
In this flipped episode, Brendan Graham Dempsey interviews Jim about the ideas in his recent Substack essays "A Minimum Viable Metaphysics" and "What I Mean by 'Metaphysics'." They discuss
EP 327 Nate Soares on Why Superhuman AI Would Kill Us All
15 Oct 2025
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 All. They discuss the book's claim that mitigating
EP 326 Alex Ebert on New Age, Manifestation, and Collective Hallucination
14 Oct 2025
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 discuss the meanings of New Age and religion, the
EP 325 Joe Edelman on Full-Stack AI Alignment
7 Oct 2025
Jim talks with Joe Edelman about the ideas in the Meaning Alignment Institute's recent paper "Full Stack Alignment: Co-Aligning AI and Institutions with Thick Models of Value." They discuss pluralism
EP40 Eric Smith on the Physics of Living Systems
10 Feb 2020
Eric Smith talks with Jim about geochemistry & the origins of life, monetary systems & dynamics, interdisciplinarity linguistics, sustainability, civil society, and much more...
EP39 John Koza on Bleeding Edges
3 Feb 2020
Jim talks to the multi-talented thinker & creator John Koza about his secure lottery ticket tech, his genetic programming work, how & why he created the National Popular Vote bill, and much more...
EP38 Tristan Harris on Humane Tech
27 Jan 2020
Tristan Harris & Jim talk about his background in design ethics, dangers of ad targeting, game theory, time well spent, the global information war, trends to be optimistic about, and much more...
EP37 Jared Janes on Spirituality
23 Jan 2020
Jared Janes talks with Jim about spiritual language, altered states vs traits, suffering, the confabulated self, embodiment, concentration practices, metaphysics, and more... Meditator &
EP36 Hanzi Freinacht on Metamodernism
20 Jan 2020
Hanzi Freinacht talks with Jim about postmodernism, value memes, cognitive complexity, societal code, the promises/dangers of metamodernism, and much more... Hanzi Freinacht, political
EP35 Ken McCarthy on the History of Online Business
16 Jan 2020
Ken McCarthy talks with Jim about the commercial shift of the internet, the evolution of internet media, online market potential, the high cost of free, and much more... Internet pioneer
EP34 Joe Edelman on the Power of Values
13 Jan 2020
Joe Edelman talks with Jim about values, social norms & ideological commitments, pluralism & coherence, ‘time well spent’, ethical advertising, and much more... Joe Edelman,
EP33 Melanie Mitchell on the Elements of AI
6 Jan 2020
Melanie Mitchell & Jim talk about the many approaches to creating AI, hype cycles, self-driving cars, what can be learned from human intelligence, and much more... Professor & Author
EP32 Jason Brennan on Irrational Democracy & Academia
30 Dec 2019
Author & Professor Jason Brennan talks with Jim about teaching business school, libertarianism, poor incentives/outcomes in democracy & academia, and much more... Author & Research
EP31 Forrest Landry on Building our Future
16 Dec 2019
The multi-talented Forrest Landry talks with Jim about what motivates him, ethics & metaphysics, meaning & sense-making, collective action, collapse, and much more... Forrest Landry,
EP30 Nora Bateson on Complexity & the Transcontextual
9 Dec 2019
Nora Bateson talks with Jim about her recent book, her father & grandfather’s academic impact, thinking transcontextually, Game B, warm data labs, and much more... Nora Bateson,
EP29 Michael Mauboussin on The Success Equation
2 Dec 2019
Michael Mauboussin talks with Jim about his latest book, SFI, investment, using variance & complexity, luck & skill, bias, IQ vs RQ, forecasting, and more... Michael Mauboussin, Director
EP28 Mark Burgess on Promise Theory, AI & Spacetime
25 Nov 2019
Author, founder & scientist Mark Burgess talks with Jim about his career, physics skill set, CFEngine, Promise Theory, AI, free will, spacetime, and much more... Author, founder &
EP27 Jamie Wheal on Flow & the Future of Culture
21 Nov 2019
Jamie Wheal talks to Jim about flow, intrinsic & extrinsic motivation, group flow, GameB, the future of ecstatic state tech, cult leaders, and much more... Author Jamie Wheal talks with
EP26 Jordan Hall on the Game B Emergence
19 Nov 2019
Jordan Hall & Jim outline Game B's advantage over Game A, explore embodied wisdom, meaningfulness, Game B transitions & life, parasitizing Game A, and much more... Jordan Hall and Jim have
EP25 Gary Marcus on Rebooting AI
14 Nov 2019
Author & CEO Gary Marcus talks with Jim about his book, Rebooting AI, driverless cars, AI learning & intelligence, hybrid AI models & AI bias, and much more... Scientist, author &
EP24 Bret Weinstein on Evolving Culture
11 Nov 2019
Bret Weinstein & Jim talk about unsustainable culture, dangerous algorithms, GameB, complexity, trade-offs, social media, today's left, Darwinian religion, and much more... Bret Weinstein
EP23 Jeff Gomez on Narrative & Cultural Change
5 Nov 2019
Jim talks with CEO Jeff Gomez about working on movies, games & media, transmedia storytelling, fandom, working with the US gov, propaganda, Game B, and much more... CEO Jeff Gomez and Jim
EP22 Sara Kindsfater-Yerkes on the Evolution of Business
31 Oct 2019
Consultant Sara Kindsfater-Yerkes & Jim talk about leadership today, HR teams, embracing change, team engagement, honesty, gender dynamics, being offended, and much more... Business
EP21 Roman Yampolskiy on the Outer Limits of AI
28 Oct 2019
AI expert Roman Yampolskiy & Jim have a wide-ranging talk about simulation theory, types of intelligence, AI research & safety, the singularity, and much more... This conversation with Jim
EP20 Pamela McCorduck on Her Life & Times with AI
24 Oct 2019
Author Pamela McCorduck talks to Jim about her new book, the humanities & sciences divide, her friendships with AI pioneers, risks of AI, feminism, and more... Author Pamela McCorduck talks
EP19 John Robb on Asymmetric & Networked Conflict & Strategy
21 Oct 2019
Author, inventor, tech analyst, engineer, and military pilot John Robb talks to Jim about drone attacks, internet-age networks, geopolitics, AGI, and much more... This conversation with
EP18 Stuart Kauffman on Complexity, Biology & T.A.P.
17 Oct 2019
Professor, MacArthur Fellow & author Stuart Kauffman talks with Jim about complexity, biology & the origins of life, social/technical evolution, and much more... Professor, MacArthur
EP17 – Bonnitta Roy on Process Thinking and Complexity
14 Oct 2019
Bonnitta Roy teaches insight practices for individuals who are developing meta-cognitive skills, and hosts collective insight retreats for groups interested in breaking away from limiting patterns of
EP16 Anaconda CTO Peter Wang on The Distributed Internet
7 Oct 2019
Peter Wang is Chief Technology Officer and Co-Founder of Anaconda, the leading Python tools and data analytics company. Peter holds a B.A. in Physics from Cornell University and has been developing
EP15 Futurist David Brin on The Case for Optimism
30 Sep 2019
David Brin is best-known for shining light — plausibly and entertainingly — on technology, society, and countless challenges confronting our rambunctious civilization. His bestselling novels
EP14 Astrophysicist Jill Tarter on SETI and Technosignatures
23 Sep 2019
Jill Tarter received her Bachelor of Engineering Physics Degree with Distinction from Cornell University and her Master’s Degree and a Ph.D. in Astronomy from the University of California,
EP13 Trent McConaghy: Blockchain, AI and DAOs
16 Sep 2019
Trent McConaghy is the Founder of Ocean Protocol. He has 20 years of deep technology experience with a focus on machine learning, data visualization and user experience. He was a researcher at the
EP12 Brian Nosek – Open Science and Reproducibility
12 Sep 2019
Brian Nosek is Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Center for Open Science (COS) that operates the Open Science Framework. COS is enabling open and reproducible research practices worldwide.
EP11 Dave Snowden and Systems Thinking
9 Sep 2019
Dave Snowden is Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Cognitive Edge. His work is international in nature and covers government and industry looking at complex issues relating to strategy and
EP10 David Krakauer: Complexity Science
3 Sep 2019
David Krakauer is President and William H. Miller Professor of Complex Systems at the Santa Fe Institute. David’s research focuses on the evolutionary history of information processing mechanisms
EP9 Joe Norman: Applied Complexity
27 Aug 2019
Joe Norman is an applied complexity scientist with a focus on transforming insights gleaned from complex systems science into practical and implementable strategies and tactics for grappling with an
Special Episode: Zachary Vorhies
21 Aug 2019
Zachary Vorhies recently resigned as a senior software engineer at YouTube. Employed by Google since 2008, Vorhies collected a large cache of documents that he claims demonstrates that Google
EP8 Jordan “Greenhall” Hall and Game B
19 Aug 2019
Jordan is the Co-founder and Executive Chairman of the Neurohacker Collective. He is now in his 17th year of building disruptive technology companies. Jordan's interests in comics, science fiction,
EP7 Daniel Schmachtenberger and the Evolution of Technology
12 Aug 2019
Daniel Schmachtenberger is a founding member of The Consilience Project, aimed at improving public sensemaking and dialogue. The throughline of his interests has to do with ways of improving the
EP 6 Douglas Rushkoff – Memetics, Money + TeamHuman
5 Aug 2019
Douglas Rushkoff is the host of the Team Human podcast and author of Team Human as well as a dozen other bestselling books on media, technology, and culture, including, Throwing Rocks at the Google
EP5 Lee Smolin – Quantum Foundations and Einstein’s Unfinished Revolution
26 Jul 2019
Lee Smolin is a theoretical physicist who has been since 2001 a founding and senior faculty member at Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics. His main contributions have been so far to the
EP4 Cory Doctorow – “Radicalized,” Race and Resilience
19 Jul 2019
Cory Doctorow is a science fiction author, activist, journalist, blogger, and co-editor of Boing Boing. He is the author of Radicalized and Walkaway, science fiction for adults; a young adult graphic
EP3 Dr. Ben Goertzel – OpenCog, AGI and SingularityNET
15 Jul 2019
Dr. Ben Goertzel is Chief Scientist of robotics firm Hanson Robotics and financial prediction firm Aidyia Holdings; Chairman of AI software company Novamente LLC and bioinformatics company Biomind
EP2 Robin Hanson – Decision Making and “The Age of Em”
8 Jul 2019
Robin Hanson is an Associate Professor of Economics, and received his Ph.D in 1997 in social sciences from Caltech. He joined George Mason's economics faculty in 1999 after completing a two-year
EP1 Simon DeDeo – The Evolution of Consciousness
7 Jul 2019
Simon DeDeo is an Assistant Professor at Carnegie Mellon University in the Department of Social and Decision Sciences, and External Professor at the Santa Fe Institute. He is also affiliated with the
