UC
Uncomfortable Conversations with Josh Szeps
Josh Szeps
The world has never been more connected. Yet never more divided. We yell at each other from inside our echo chambers. But change doesn’t happen inside an echo chamber. It’s time to get out, to stretch our legs, to step on some land mines. It's time to have an uncomfortable conversation with Josh Szeps.
A DM Podcast
- 38 episodes
- a few times a week
- Avg 1 hr 2 min
- English
Counted on this page — what you have heard stays on this device, so it is not something the list can be paged by.
- UCMonday · 1 hr 5 min
How A.I. is "Demolishing" Mathematics
A.I. is unleashing a “judgment day” on everything from algebra and geometry to probability and logic. What happens to human knowledge when it's dropped in our laps instead of being understood? It was just days ago that OpenAI dumped 722 new mathematics papers online, claiming extraordinary mathematical breakthroughs. Professional mathematicians are stupefied. Many of them are worried that A.I. risks prematurely shutting down lines of inquiry. Will humans receive ready-made insights with no new techniques, questions or, ultimately, understanding? One leading mathematician even needed to use A.I. to read the A.I.’s proof of the problem she spent years working on. Adam Spencer is a mathematics communicator and broadcaster whose Substack, NerdNews, discusses math, A.I. and general geekiness. He joins Josh to describe the shockwaves in the field and to wrestle with the pros and cons of super-intelligent machines solving humankind's deepest questions for us. Read Adam Spencer’s Substack https://adambspencer.substack.com/
- Transcript
- UCOctober 8 · 1 hr 23 min
Consent and the "Cornell 7"
A female university student visits a male frat house at night. She is drugged and raped, for seven hours, by seven male students. She reports it but the university authorities sweep it under the rug. No charges are laid. That's the story that has lit up the media and sparked thousands of online arguments since the young woman filed a 101-page civil complaint. She names seven of the young men and seven organisations, including Cornell University itself. Seven rapists, seven hours, seven organisations. Yesterday, Cornell students occupied a dining hall on campus in solidarity... for seven hours. The district attorney reopened the case. The state governor appointed a special prosecutor. A special committee was set up. A review was launched. The university's president says this is a turning point in Cornell’s history. Students are calling for his resignation. The story depicted above, though, of being drugged and gang raped, is not the accuser's own account of what happened. It's folklore being repeated by politicians, activists, celebrities and commentators. The woman's own story is more subtle, more intriguing, and more challenging. Kat Rosenfield is a culture writer and podcaster on Substack and for the Free Press. She's an unflinching analyst of female sexuality, male violence, justice, and consent. Kat takes Josh to the heart of the profound but uncomfortable questions that usually make conversations about male violence and female safety so fraught.
- Transcript
- UCOctober 6 · 1 hr 4 min
JUST JOSH: Conspiracies & FlyDubai, Oh My
When does healthy scepticism become unhinged suspicion? How do you know if you’re being gullible or sensible? What are the cognitive traps that social media pulls us into? And why should you care? As soon as news broke of a violent attack in the cockpit of a FlyDubai 737 en route to Tel Aviv, the internet pushed back. Something was fishy. There were anomalies in the official story. Viral videos from both the left and the right hinted at an Israeli plot. Josh is on vacation, but he interrupted his important work reviewing Texas rodeos to bring you this emergency livestream. He reflects on the difference between clear thinking and muddled thinking about uncertain events. Using Carl Sagan, The Simpsons and The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, he presents the FlyDubai incident as a lesson in how to protect the most valuable asset you own — your rationality.
- Transcript
- UCOctober 1 · 1 hr 26 min
Why do smart people believe stupid things?
Every human mind is a propaganda machine. It manufactures certainty, reinforces old narratives, and keeps us loyal to beliefs that no longer serve us. In an era of infinite information and AI-generated content, these internal distortions make it tricky to distinguish between insights and self-bullshit. Owen Fitzpatrick is a social psychologist who's travelled to more than 100 countries and studied propaganda first-hand in places like North Korea, Rwanda, and Afghanistan. He now sees it operating insidiously at home, as well. Owen joins Josh to discuss his new book "Inner Propaganda: Leading Hearts and Minds Through Turbulent Times". They wrestle with dictatorships, a free media, misinformation, echo chambers, polarisation, fragmentation... and how understanding our own stories can help us bridge divides, rather than deepen them.
- Transcript
- UCSeptember 28 · 1 hr 45 min
Free speech, hate speech, and the limits of Liberal tolerance with Sami Shah
What do we actually owe each other in a society trying to hold pluralism, free speech, and real religious and ethnic tension together at the same time? Josh sits down with comedian, writer, and Crikey columnist Sami Shah, born Muslim in Pakistan, where his satirical writing on religious extremism drew death threats and a fatwa before he found his way to Australia. They cover an extraordinary amount of ground: the strange mirror-image psychology of ex-Muslims who drift right and anti-Zionist Jews who drift left, the conditional condolences that followed the Bondi terrorist attack, whether the Anti-Semitism Royal Commission was ever built to answer the question it was created for, and the big philosophical difference between America's individual-rights conception of free speech and Australia's more communitarian one.
- Transcript
- UCSeptember 24 · 1 hr 22 min
Who's hacking you right now? with ethical hacker Assadi Youssef
When you read news about a data breach which might have exposed your information, do you even care? Who’s behind all this hacking: China, Russia, or a nerd in his parents’ basement? Are our water and electrical systems at risk? And is A.I. going to make things more secure, or will it destroy privacy altogether? Assadi Youssef got into computer hacking as an eleven-year-old boy before becoming an “ethical hacker”, meaning he’d find vulnerabilities in supposedly impenetrable systems. He’s now an online security genius, advising banks and critical infrastructure companies on how to protect their systems from catastrophic attack. He joins Josh to explore who’s doing all this hacking, whether you need a universal digital I.D, how A.I is changing the game, and whether you really even need two-factor authentication, after all.
- Transcript
- UCSeptember 22 · 54 min
William Shatner Doesn’t Want to Die, from The Moynihan Report
Today we’re sharing a bonus episode from The Moynihan Report. William Shatner sits down with Michael Moynihan in Los Angeles for a conversation about life, time, and knowledge. They talk about death, God, AI, Blue Origin, The Intruder, and the relentless curiosity that keeps Shatner looking for whatever comes next. Oh yeah, and at 95 years old, he’s releasing a heavy metal album.
- Transcript
- UCSeptember 21 · 58 min
Social media broke our ability to agree, with Jonathan Haidt
Jonathan Haidt is considered one of the world's most influential living psychologists. He joins Josh on this new instalment of Permission To Think - a collaboration with The University of Technology Sydney School of Social Sciences. This episode is part of The Best Of series and was originally posted on 20th April, 2026. At the time of recording, Jonathan penned a piece for The Atlantic titled ‘Why The Past Ten Years Of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid’ that looks at how social media erodes trust, shared narrative and social capital.
- Transcript
- UCSeptember 17 · 19 min
“So… *Does* God Hate F*gs?” with Megan Phelps-Roper
What do our modern-day culture wars have to teach us about cult-like thinking, moral puritanism, judgment and compassion? And if you lose religious faith, how are you left thinking about agnosticism, atheism, the purpose of the cosmos, and the meaning of life? What, if anything, is worth keeping from the Bible? Megan Phelps-Roper was raised in the Westboro Baptist Church, the fundamentalist cult that picketed soldiers’ funerals with placards saying “God Hates Fags”. She appeared in Louis Theroux’s documentary about the church, as its spokesperson and the granddaughter of its founder. Megan left the church, lost her family and her faith. Her TED Talk about polarization was viewed tens of millions of times. She hosted a smash-hit audio documentary series, The Witch Trials of J.K. Rowling, about the moral righteousness on both sides of the transgender debate. Her latest production is Book Keeper, a podcast about returning to the Bible, as an atheist, to figure out what stories are worth keeping. You can listen to Megan’s first appearance on this show here (https://uncomfortableconversations.substack.com/p/the-witch-trials-of-jk-rowling-with). She returns now to discuss atheism, the internal logic of religion, tribal thinking, social media and the way out of our self-certain culture-war bubbles.
- Transcript
- UCSeptember 14 · 1 hr 16 min
Is there any Room left for moderates? With Jeff Maurer
Is there any room left for the political centre, or has it been swallowed by two competing extremes with nothing but contempt for the middle? Josh chats with comedy writer and author of I Might Be Wrong, Jeff Maurer, for a wide-ranging conversation about the collapse of moderate politics in America. They dig into the strange case of Abdul El-Sayed campaigning with Hasan Piker in the Michigan primary and why that alliance, once worn as a badge of honour, is now something El-Sayed can't stop running from. They also cover Milo Yiannopoulos's deportation, the Democratic Socialists of America's growing foothold in progressive media.
- Transcript
- UCSeptember 10 · 2 hr 39 min
JUST JOSH: The Unlearned Lesson of 9/11
It's a quarter-century since 9/11. What do we need to understand about its legacy, so as to handle the next quarter-century better? Josh was a college student visiting the World Trade Towers the summer before the September 11th attacks. In this marathon editorial, he reflects on the day itself, the complacency of the 1990s, the "clash of civilisations", popular misconceptions about al Qaeda's motivations, the extraordinary backstory of the Saudi royals and Osama bin Laden, and the moral conundrums of terrorism and war. Lastly, Josh offers the insight you need to take away from September 11th to avoid being blindsided by the civilisational challenges of today.
- Transcript
- UCSeptember 7 · 1 hr 20 min
Jewish Comedy at the Bondi Attack
Has a secret in your ancestry ever changed who you are? Imagine being a non-Jewish comedian who suddenly finds out he's Jewish. What do you do? You put on a comedy show on the site of the worst antisemitic terrorist attack in the country's history. Of course. David Rose found out his great-grandfather was a famous 19th-century caricature of the stereotypical "Hebrew comic", who performed with the Marx Brothers. Suddenly, David found that audiences expected him to account for Gaza. After the Bondi Beach terrorist attack, the newly Jewish (but still uncircumcised) David Rose staged a show at the Bondi Beach Pavilion entitled "Nepo Great Grandbaby", wrestling with the Jewish sense of humour before Nazism, after Nazism, before Gaza and after Gaza. Fresh from the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, he swung by the Uncomfortable Conversations studios to discuss the craft of comedy, terrorism, trigger warnings, Vaudeville jokes and anti-Jewish sentiment. David's show returns to Sydney and Melbourne next week. Get tickets at https://www.davidrosecomedy.com/
- Transcript
- UCSeptember 3 · 26 min
Are Men Toxic?
A sex scandal involving star players for the Sydney Swans has rocked Australia. Coinciding with a spate of violence against women, the country is revisiting its all-too-familiar conversation about how “Men must do better”. What does that look like, exactly? How do we explain and reduce male misbehaviour against women? Ben Vasiliou is the CEO of Australia's leading preventative mental health charity for teenage boys, The Man Cave. He joins Josh to discuss loneliness, identity, women’s rights activism, male relationships and the influence of the manosphere. Ben’s new book is “Better Man: Reclaiming masculinity for good”.
- Transcript
- UCAugust 31 · 1 hr 53 min
What is Elon Up To?: An Idiot’s Guide to Space and Why You Need to Pay Attention
You may not realise it, but humankind is on the cusp of an extraordinary space race. Are we about to become a multi-planetary civilisation? Do we really need a super-fuel-tanker floating in space? Just how many A.I. data centres does Elon want floating high above your head? Anthony Colangelo is a proud space nerd who knows anything and everything about the latest state of play between SpaceX, Blue Origin, NASA and the Mars mission. He hosts two podcasts, Main Engine Cut Off and Off-Nominal, and he joins Josh for brain-tickling banter about why the space shuttle sucked, why satellite communication constellations like Starlink will become indispensable, and everything you need to know about the unfolding revolution in humanity’s adventures off the face of this planet.
- Transcript
- UCAugust 27 · 26 min
Glenn Loury: Are we censoring ourselves to death?
In this recording of a live event at the Festival of Dangerous Ideas, Josh hosts a one-on-one conversation with the legendary American intellectual, Glenn Loury. Loury is one of America's most influential thinkers about self-censorship, cancel culture, race relations and polarisation. As a Reagan conservative in the 1980s, he was a controversial dissenter from mainstream Black thought... but a hero to the likes of Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas. Loury argues that self-censorship isn’t just a personal failure of nerve, but a social epidemic. Every society enforces norms. But have we become so intolerant of dissent that we’ve stopped being able to think freely in public? This episode is a one-of-a-kind opportunity to listen in to a sold-out event. Our thanks to the Festival of Dangerous Ideas for bringing Glenn to Sydney for this special Uncomfortable Conversations collaboration.
- Transcript
- UC
August 24 · 30 minJason Arday, Suey Park & the Identity Hunger Games
Josh has been reflecting on what the tragedy of Cambridge University's youngest-ever Black professor reveals about the high-stakes identity game we've all been enlisted into. In this solo episode, he issues a call to arms to defy the whole sanctimonious circus and assert your own glorious human messiness. Be real, humans.
- Transcript
- UC
August 20 · 22 minHow the Public Shaming Machine was Built with Jon Ronson
What should we make of the public shaming machine we have built? Following the death of the Cambridge academic Jason Arday, Josh checks in with the godfather of public shaming, Jon Ronson. His 2015 book So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed was the first blockbuster analysis of what we now call “cancel culture”, and even inspired an episode of Black Mirror. Ronson was Louis Theroux before Louis Theroux. His BBC podcast, Things Fell Apart, is about the culture wars. He’s a contributor to This American Life, the New York Times Magazine, GQ and The Guardian UK. His TED Talk, Strange answers to the Psychopath Test, has nearly 60 million views. Jon joins Josh to to revisit his ideas about cancel culture; how the “shaming machine” has been weaponised; the new identitarian “woke right”... and to discuss the best sightseeing spots in Sydney. His new book is The Castle, and he’ll be touring the UK & Australia later this year.
- Transcript
- UC
August 17 · 1 hr 35 minThe Case Against Israel with Peter Beinart
Peter Beinart is arguably the world’s most influential Jewish anti-Zionist. He’s a journalist and a professor of journalism and political science. But in American and Jewish cultural life, he’s far more than that -- a lightning rod, a traitor, a truth-speaker, a coward, a hero. Applauded, derided, beloved, loathed. Peter is an orthodox New York Jew who keeps kosher, attends synagogue, and sends his kids to Jewish schools. He was originally a pro-Iraq-War liberal hawk, who wrote muscular books like “The Good Fight: Why Liberals—and Only Liberals—Can Win the War on Terror”. His worldview changed, especially regarding Israel, after numerous visits to the West Bank. He no longer argues for a two-state solution but for a single state between the river and the sea in which Jews and Palestinians live as equals. Is that pie-in-the-sky, or the only way out for Jews and Palestinians alike? Peter’s latest book is “Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza”. Peter has written for Time, The Atlantic, The New York Review of Books and is a contributing opinion columnist at The New York Times. On the eve of his trip to Australia to appear at the Festival of Dangerous Ideas (where Josh will appear in conversation with Glenn Loury - stay tuned for that), Peter joins Josh to wrestle with Zionism, anti-Zionism, Palestinianism, Gaza, ethnic supremacy, and the future of the Jewish people.
- Transcript
- UC
August 13 · 16 minHow Branding Replaced Facts in Politics
What unites Trump and Obama, Pepsi and Coca-Cola, the far right and the far left? They’re all brilliant at defining their brands. They have a clear narrative. They can tell a compelling story about the world and their place in it. So much of life, of business, of social media, of political parties and social movements is shaped, these days, not by facts but by “alternative facts”, by feelings, by storylines. You, yourself, may even have a personal brand: the disrupter, the carer, the loyalist, the contrarian, the lover. Matt Jones was a political strategist and speechwriter for the British Conservative party in the early 2000s. He went on to deploy his brand expertise in the private sector, where he co-created a small gin company which was sold for a fortune less than a decade later on the strength of its brand reputation. Matt joins Josh to explore how storytelling is shaping your life more than you realise, from the supermarket to the ballot box, and how we might bring sanity back to public life. Matt’s new podcast is StoryWork.
- Transcript