Dilemma Podcast

Daniel Klein was born and raised in Efrat, one of the largest religious Zionist settlements in the occupied West Bank. His family helped build the settlement movement, and he grew up immersed in its schools, institutions, theology, politics, and culture before serving as an IDF tank commander. In this conversation, Daniel shares an insider's account of life inside the religious Zionist world, the psychology of belief, the realities of the settlement project, and how Zionism can present a different face to different people while maintaining a powerful hold over identity and belonging.We discuss Efrat, the West Bank, violent settlers, the relationship between Judaism and Zionism, the dehumanization of Palestinians, military service, nationalism, religious identity, cognitive dissonance, moral injury, and the personal costs of dissent. Daniel explains why leaving Zionism can mean losing family, friends, community, status, and purpose. He describes the process by which ideological systems reproduce themselves, how Israelis are taught to understand Palestinians, and why so many people remain trapped inside narratives.We also explore Daniel's awakening during COVID, what caused his worldview to unravel, why he believes Israeli society is entering a period of profound crisis, and what lessons his journey offers for all of us.00:00:00 Coming Up...00:01:44 Three Big Announcements00:04:44 Introducing Daniel & Centering Jewish Trauma00:09:26 Growing Up in Efrat00:12:07 Who Are Settlers?00:15:02 Zionist Schools Are Crazy00:20:53 Zionism Meets You Where You're At00:23:34 When Daniel Visited Auschwitz00:26:57 Israelis Were Celebrities To Me00:35:22 Supporting Israel Except The Settlers00:42:12 The Intellectual And Emotional Crack00:50:23 It Happens Quickly, During COVID01:02:30 Free Fall Collapse Of Israel01:09:47 A Smiling Grandmother With a Sweater01:19:44 The Violent Supernova At The EndBECOME A MEMBER - MONTHLY MEMBERS ONLY LIVESTREAM https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5NIku35U9thGG9WBJjE0sw/joinFor more from Jay visit whatjaythinks.com

In this conversation with geopolitical scholar Mia Bennett, we explore why the Arctic is no longer a frozen periphery but the front line of global power. From Vladimir Putin planting a Russian flag beneath the North Pole seabed to renewed nuclear tensions across the polar region, the Arctic has become a stage for military posturing, resource competition, and great-power rivalry. As climate change rapidly melts sea ice, new shipping routes open and vast reserves of oil, gas, and critical minerals become accessible — intensifying what some call a new era of frontier capitalism. We discuss the long history of colonization in the far north, the strategic obsession with places like Greenland (including Donald Trump’s attempt to purchase it), and the often-overlooked role of Indigenous Arctic peoples navigating sovereignty, survival, and self-determination amid global ambition. The Arctic is a “cold canary in the coal mine” — revealing how environmental collapse, geopolitical rivalry, and extractive economics converge at the top of the world. What happens there will shape the century ahead.00:00 Coming Up01:18 Intro (Epstein News cycle )05:13 Mia's Path to the North07:51 Where is the Arctic?16:48 The Very Crowded Arctic20:59 The Cold Canary24:25 Why Does Trump Want Greenland?26:45 Colonialization of the Arctic30:58 Who Would Fight?33:01 Frontier Capitalism37:21 Global Warming and Getting Attention in the Arctic41:20 Taking Greenland Who Fights Back?44:11 A Story about Space and the Arctic46:58 Who Owns Space?50:39 Trusting Russia and the Arctic53:56 The Broken Global Order and the Arctic59:53 Does WW3 Start in the Arctic?BECOME A MEMBER - MONTHLY MEMBERS ONLY LIVESTREAM https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5NIku35U9thGG9WBJjE0sw/joinFor more from Jay visit whatjaythinks.com

In this conversation, Joseph Margulies and I explore the difficult moral territory at the heart of his new book Cast Out: A Call for a Forgiving Society in an Age of Incarceration. What does a society gain—or lose—when it decides that certain people are beyond redemption? We talk about the stories of people Margulies encountered through his work, including Lisa Montgomery, David Medina, Klete Keller, Lucas Whaley, and Eric Matthews, and the disturbing realities of the American prison system. We also confront a fundamental question about who gets to tell the stories of people who have committed horrific crimes, and whether understanding those stories can coexist with genuine accountability.Margulies brings decades of experience as a criminal defense attorney to this question, including his defense of Palestinian Abu Zubaydah, who remains imprisoned at Guantánamo Bay without ever having been charged and who was subjected to brutal torture by the United States. We discuss what American prisons reveal about our attitudes toward human beings who have done terrible things, and how these questions extend beyond the prison system into Israel-Palestine and the broader politics of punishment, victimhood, and moral judgment.At the center of the conversation is a distinction that may be essential to any meaningful idea of forgiveness: an explanation is not an excuse. To understand why someone committed a terrible act does not mean absolving them of responsibility. But if accountability is part of forgiveness rather than its opposite, what should accountability actually look like? And can we build a society capable of condemning terrible acts without deciding that the people who commit them are themselves irredeemable? This conversation is an exploration of punishment, responsibility, storytelling, torture, forgiveness, and what it means to remain human in the face of the worst things human beings do.00:00:00 Coming Up...00:01:39 Introduction to Cast Out00:06:29 Joseph Margulies Story And Work00:08:08 A Book Not About Prison But About Us00:09:50 The Problem is Not Drug Offenders, Let's Be Honest00:13:09 Klete Keller Gets His Story Told00:17:03 Accountability Matters And Lisa Montgomery00:20:21 What Happened? With Lisa Montgomery00:32:05 Lucas Whaley And The Addiction to Rage00:45:18 The Belief Of Just One Person and Eric Matthews00:54:31 What Should Prison Look Like In a Forgiving Society?01:02:02 "Abu Zubaydah Is My Client" & The Palestine Narrative01:09:10 But What About REALLY Bad People? & Abu Zubaydah's Story01:20:27 The Desperate Need For Radical Extension of Compassion01:25:21 My Own Frustrations And Failure To Tell A Story01:28:23 Go Watch "Alabama Solution" and "The Work"BECOME A MEMBER - MONTHLY MEMBERS ONLY LIVESTREAM https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5NIku35U9thGG9WBJjE0sw/joinFor more from Jay visit whatjaythinks.com

Luke Kemp is a researcher of existential risk whose work spans the rise and fall of civilizations, the psychology of empire, and the future of humanity. In this wide-ranging conversation, we explore whether history follows deeper patterns than we usually recognize—from the Paleolithic origins of human society and the agricultural revolution to the emergence of empires, colonialism, capitalism, and today's "Silicon Goliaths." Along the way, we discuss Madrid's Royal Palace, Montezuma and the Spanish conquest, October 7th, Donald Trump, and why understanding the past may be the key to understanding the crises of the present.At the center of our discussion is Luke's idea of the "Goliath Curse": the tendency for increasingly large and complex societies to generate extraordinary power while simultaneously becoming more fragile, unequal, and difficult to govern. We examine what made European capitalist colonialism historically unique, how the global expansion of empire transformed the planet, and whether today's technology giants represent the latest evolution of the same pattern. We also dive into the role of Dark Triad psychology in leadership, why civilizations repeatedly overextend themselves, and how power scales from kingdoms to multinational corporations.Finally, we turn to the existential risks confronting humanity in the twenty-first century. From climate change, artificial intelligence, and engineered pandemics to nuclear weapons and geopolitical instability, we ask whether modern technology is accelerating humanity toward an increasingly dangerous future—or whether history offers reasons for cautious optimism. This conversation connects archaeology, psychology, philosophy, geopolitics, and big history to ask one of the biggest questions imaginable: how did we get here, and where are we going next?00:00:00 Coming Up...00:01:36 Intro to Luke Kemp and Goliath's Curse00:09:09 Kemp To Harari, Pinker, Wengrew, Diamond00:14:08 Goliath Fuel and The Material Conditions for Domination00:18:59 Are Goliath's Inevitable? And The Indus Valley Exception00:21:27 Paleolithic Anti Dominance Strategies00:24:06 Is Collapse Actually Good?00:29:09 Did We Choose Goliaths?00:32:50 Dark Triad Psychology00:38:34 Romanticizing the Paleolithic00:43:47 Drought and Climate Change As the Final Nail?00:49:05 European Capitalist Colonialism As A Supercharged Global Goliath00:55:45 The "Nation State" As Empire?00:59:43 Collaborators Of The Goliath01:03:00 The World Wars of the 20th Century and Global Goliath Stumbling01:08:07 The Silicon Goliath and Climate Change01:14:16 Do All Goliath's Collapse?01:20:15 Slaying Goliath Through Democracy or Anarchy01:29:30 The Surveillance of Goliath and Distrust of Ourselves01:34:56 Human Agency... Even of Our Own Death?01:41:13 Outro and Luke's Next BookBECOME A MEMBER - MONTHLY MEMBERS ONLY LIVESTREAM https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5NIku35U9thGG9WBJjE0sw/joinFor more from Jay visit whatjaythinks.com

Michael Sawyer is the author of The Door of No Return, a sweeping work that challenges conventional ideas about race, history, memory, and modernity. In this conversation, we explore his concept of anti-Blackness as something deeper than prejudice or discrimination—an organizing logic embedded within the modern world itself. Sawyer explains why the Middle Passage remains central to understanding contemporary society, dismantles Hegel's philosophy of history, critiques the limitations of Négritude and Afro-pessimism, and introduces the idea of "rememory" as a radically different way of relating to the past.We also discuss the killing of Elijah McClain, the evolution of Ta-Nehisi Coates' writing after Palestine, and Sawyer's deeply personal reflections on racism, including experiences growing up and playing basketball. Along the way, we examine how Shakespeare's Macbeth, the music of Bob Marley, and the lyrics of The Notorious B.I.G. illuminate questions of violence, identity, power, and survival in ways that philosophy often cannot.This is an expansive conversation connecting literature, history, music, politics, and lived experience. Whether unpacking the legacy of slavery, questioning the assumptions of Western philosophy, or imagining what might exist beyond the structures of anti-Blackness, Michael Sawyer offers a powerful framework for thinking about the past—and what a genuinely different future could look like.00:00 Coming Up...01:27 Intro to Sawyer & Why Bob Marley Is Doing Philosophy08:41 Paralysis & The Anti-Black World After the Middle Passage14:14 The Diagram That Explains the Entire Book21:55 W.E.B Du Bois & What Hegel Got Wrong About History27:17 The Free Throw Line as The Racial Bursting Apart36:44 What Is The Title of This Book... Actually?39:19 Tackling Hegel's Philosophy & Where it Fails To Be About Blackness51:25 The Murder of Elijah McClain1:02:50 Sawyer Illuminates The Words of McClain In The Anti-Black World1:09:10 Slavery's Afterlife and Anti-Blackness as Gravity1:14:00 Whitey On The Moon and Who Gets To Participate in Language Architecture1:23:25 Mick Jagger Couldn't Clap Along to Aretha1:30:38 Your Oppression Will Not Save You and Why Ta-Nehisi Coates Changed1:37:55 Final Thoughts and Upcoming GuestsBECOME A MEMBER - MONTHLY MEMBERS ONLY LIVESTREAM https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5NIku35U9thGG9WBJjE0sw/joinFor more from Jay visit whatjaythinks.com

In this essay, I respond to Sam Harris's recent comments on Israel, Gaza, Hamas, and why he refuses to debate many of his critics. My argument is not primarily about genocide, proportionality, international law, or even the details of Israel's military response. It is about something more fundamental: the framing of violence itself.Sam Harris often frames Hamas and similar movements as expressions of jihadism—forms of violence rooted primarily in religious belief, metaphysical commitments, and interpretations of sacred texts. If that framing is accepted, then the moral conversation largely becomes a discussion about how to manage or contain a dangerous ideology. But what happens if that framing is incomplete? What if history, colonialism, dispossession, and resistance are not peripheral details but central parts of the story?Drawing on examples from anti-colonial struggles around the world, Zionist historical sources, and broader questions about moral reasoning, I explore why historical context matters when evaluating violence. The question is not whether violence is horrific—it always is. The question is whether our explanation of that violence determines the moral conclusions we reach before the discussion even begins.Pre-order my upcoming book: *Insufficient Rewards: How We Traded Integrity for Comfort and Outsourced Morality*https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Insufficient-Rewards/Jay-Shapiro/9781803419985#SamHarris #Gaza #IsraelPalestine #Philosophy #History #Colonialism #Zionism #MiddleEast #Politics #EthicsBECOME A MEMBER - MONTHLY MEMBERS ONLY LIVESTREAM https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5NIku35U9thGG9WBJjE0sw/joinFor more from Jay visit whatjaythinks.com00:00 Another Response to Sam Harris00:20 The Jihadism Framework02:34 Why This Leads to "Mowing the Lawn"04:59 Why Critics Can't Reach Harris07:36 The Real Disagreement: Framing Violence09:15 Can the Jihadism Frame Be Challenged?11:23 Harris's "Five Myths About Gaza" Give Away The Game & The Colonialism Question14:20 Resistance, Religion, and History and Intertwined Ideas and Motives16:53 What Zionist Sources Actually Say19:00 Reframing Hamas as Resistance Plus Other Things20:38 What Changes If The Frame Changes? & Why History Matters23:00 Peace As Emergent Property of Justice Pursued24:43 Why Genocide Debates Miss The Point26:32 Preorder My New Book

For decades, the word "genocide" has occupied a unique place in international law, collective memory, and political debate. But what exactly does it mean—and has the definition become too narrow to describe the forms of violence we witness today? In this conversation, Holocaust and genocide scholar Dirk Moses joins me to discuss the crisis unfolding within genocide studies, the fierce disputes over how the term should be defined, and why debates about Gaza have exposed deep fractures in academia, international institutions, and public discourse.We explore the controversy surrounding Moses's influential essay on Germany's "catechism," the role Holocaust memory plays in shaping political culture, and whether modern societies have become trapped by an understanding of evil that struggles to recognize violence outside familiar historical frameworks. Along the way, we discuss Anne Frank and Hind Rajab, the stigma attached to genocide accusations, colonial violence, the ICC and ICJ, and the growing generational divide over how atrocities are remembered and understood.Most importantly, we examine a little-known proposal put forward by the Dutch delegation during the drafting of the UN Genocide Convention in 1948. The proposal attempted to address what its authors called "camouflaged genocide"—forms of destruction that operate indirectly and may not fit neatly into the legal framework that ultimately emerged. Moses argues that revisiting this forgotten history may offer a way to repair a definition many scholars now see as increasingly inadequate. Whether you agree or disagree with his conclusions, this discussion raises fundamental questions about memory, law, history, and the language we use to describe humanity's gravest crimes.Pre-order my upcoming book: *Insufficient Rewards: How We Traded Integrity for Comfort and Outsourced Morality*https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Insufficient-Rewards/Jay-Shapiro/9781803419985BECOME A MEMBER - MONTHLY MEMBERS ONLY LIVESTREAM https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5NIku35U9thGG9WBJjE0sw/joinFor more from Jay visit whatjaythinks.com00:00:00 Coming Up...00:01:52 Intro To the Genocide Tug-o-War00:11:34 The State of Genocide Studies Now00:15:20 Dirk Touched The Third Rail In Germany00:21:32 The Five Elements of the Catechism00:24:32 The Problems of Genocide And Can Something Be Worse?00:28:32 Israel Testimony Of Genocide00:33:24 The Stigma Of Genocide00:37:07 Las Casas on the Devastation of the Indies and Language of Outrage00:41:24 The Word As Advocacy or Legal Crime00:47:15 The Question of Intent The Rohingya and Gaza00:52:05 What The Court Says And Hind Rajab And Anne Frank01:01:34 The Symbolic Term And The Focus on Palestine01:07:18 The ICC Trial Israel Didn't Want To See01:13:52 Convincing People They Aren't Free And Hamas's Undemocratic Choice To Act01:18:55 Camouflaged Genocide The Key To the Door01:27:44 Proving Camouflaged Genocide As A TestBECOME A MEMBER - MONTHLY MEMBERS ONLY LIVESTREAM https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5NIku35U9thGG9WBJjE0sw/joinFor more from Jay visit whatjaythinks.com

Born in Iran in 1974, just years before the Iranian Revolution transformed the country forever, Trita Parsi has spent his life at the intersection of some of the most consequential political conflicts of the modern era. In this conversation, we trace his journey from childhood in pre-revolutionary Iran to exile and life in Sweden, exploring how displacement, identity, and history shaped his understanding of power, nationalism, and the Middle East. Along the way, we discuss the rise of the Islamic Republic, the experience of the Iranian diaspora, and how growing up between cultures influenced his worldview.From there, the conversation turns to Israel, Zionism, American foreign policy, and the decades-long struggle to reshape the political order of the Middle East. Parsi reflects on the assumptions that have guided policymakers in Washington and Tel Aviv for generations, the repeated efforts to isolate or transform Iran, and why so many of those strategies failed to produce the outcomes their architects expected. We explore the deep historical roots of today's conflicts, the changing balance of power in the region, and the gap between political rhetoric and geopolitical reality.Finally, we look ahead. What happens when the world's most powerful countries fail to achieve their stated goals? What new order emerges from that failure? Has the era of unchallenged American influence come to an end? And what does the future hold for Iran, Israel, the United States, and the wider world? This conversation is not only a look back at one remarkable life, but also an attempt to understand a historic turning point whose consequences will shape the decades ahead.00:00 Coming Up01:05 Intro to Trita Parsi 05:08 Parsi Born Into a Political Earthquake in Iran07:17 Growing Up In Sweden And Accepting It08:31 An Enemy of the Shah and The Islamic Republic10:06 Not Going Back To Iran13:48 What Don't We Get About 1979?18:01 The Simmering Revolution, Delayed By Intervention22:05 Dispersed Power of the Islamic Republic24:52 Iran's Incentives For Prolonging War28:40 Israel's Intentions Revealed About Turning Iran Back34:00 What About the Iranian Women's Freedom?40:48 Does Iran Care About the Palestinians?44:16 Zionism And Israel's Capacity Problem of Friends and Enemies47:01 Zionism Is The Problem47:57 The New Reality for the GCC and Saudi52:03 Who Would Be The Problem Then?52:47 Like, Subscribe, Share, Comment, And Next GuestsBECOME A MEMBER - MONTHLY MEMBERS ONLY LIVESTREAM https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5NIku35U9thGG9WBJjE0sw/joinFor more from Jay visit whatjaythinks.com

In round two with Rabbi Yaakov Shapiro, the conversation expands far beyond politics into morality, theology, identity, and the strange psychological world created by modern Zionism. We explore the deep divide between Judaism as a religious covenant and Zionism as a nationalist political project, asking whether the modern state of Israel fundamentally transformed — or even replaced — Judaism for millions of Jews in the diaspora. Along the way we discuss figures like Benjamin Netanyahu and Itamar Ben-Gvir, the rise of religious nationalism in Israel, and why some Orthodox rabbis see Zionism not as the fulfillment of Judaism but as a revolt against it.The discussion also turns surprisingly personal and philosophical. We debate veganism, eating animals, moral obligation, atheism, divine command theory, and whether morality comes from God, reason, empathy, or something deeper built into consciousness itself. Rabbi Shapiro lays out the highly legal and covenantal logic of traditional Judaism, while I push from a humanist and philosophical perspective shaped more by moral intuition and existential questions than religious law. What follows is not a hostile debate but a genuinely curious and wide-ranging exchange about free will, suffering, identity, tradition, and the uncomfortable contradictions many modern Jews feel when trying to separate Judaism from Israel.We also get into antisemitism, pro-Palestine activism, Holocaust memory, diaspora identity, and the growing confusion around what words like “Jew,” “Zionist,” and “anti-Zionist” even mean anymore. Can someone reject Zionism without rejecting Jews? Did Zionism “steal” Judaism and redefine Jewish identity around nationalism and the state? Why do so many secular Jews feel trapped inside an identity they no longer religiously believe in? And what happens when a centuries-old spiritual tradition becomes fused to military power and ethnic politics? It’s a dense, funny, provocative, and deeply philosophical conversation that moves from Talmudic reasoning to modern propaganda, from theology to vegan ethics, and from suburban American Judaism to the crisis unfolding in Israel and Palestine today.For more from Jay visit whatjaythinks.com 00:00:00 Coming Up…00:01:43 Roadmap To the Conversation00:05:28 A Strange Debate About Veganism and the Jewish God00:07:53 Golda Meir’s Masada Complex00:13:25 Dear Palestine, on Jewish Pacifism and the IDF00:18:35 Amalek and Canaan00:25:40 Interpretation of Texts00:29:06 How Flexible are the Texts00:37:41 How Popular Are His Views? Can You Tell By Looking?00:47:00 The Zionists Have A Country, What Do We Have?00:53:49 The Illusion of Zionism00:59:12 Real Jews and Rabbi Shach01:03:31 Palestine or Zionism? The Moral Character of the Jewish God01:09:59 1967 and The Diaspora Jew01:13:53 Jonathan Pollard and the Diaspora Jew01:21:11 DEBATE: Is Judaism Pacifist?01:28:02 David Hume, the Is-Ought Problem, and the Uncaused Cause01:34:07 God, Perfection, and Free Will01:41:03 Child Drowning in a Shallow Pond01:47:33 Humanism, Veganism, and Human Access to the Oughts01:54:40 If the Theology is Right The Slaughterhouse Disgust is a misguided Feeling01:58:08 Rabbi’s Daughter Stopped Eating Chicken02:01:13 Feelings Versus Theology And the God Question02:06:43 Why Is There Something… Moral? And Literal Torah02:13:13 Why Does This Moral Grounding Difference Matter?02:17:26 Rabbi Calls Me Authoritarian02:18:16 Rabbi Choses Veganism All Things Being Equal02:25:07 Rabbi’s 51st State Solution Actually Ends Yaakov’s Problem02:27:53 Alex Hershaft Holocaust Survivor Turned Animal Rights Activist02:29:14 OUTRO Moral Philosophy Response - Steel manning God02:33:53 What Humanism Actually Means02:39:30 Strange Bedfellows Against Zionism

In this conversation, Holocaust survivor Stephen Kapos reflects on surviving Nazi-occupied Hungary, the trauma of the Holocaust, and why he believes Israel’s actions in Gaza amount to genocide. Kapos describes the terrifying atmosphere of Budapest in 1944, the yellow star houses, the deportations to Auschwitz, and his family’s connection to the infamous Kastner rescue train, one of the most morally controversial episodes of the Holocaust. Together, we unpack the legacy of Rudolf Kastner, the negotiations with Adolf Eichmann, Bergen-Belsen, and the impossible moral dilemmas faced by European Jews under Nazi rule.But this conversation goes beyond history. We explore how the Holocaust shaped Zionism and the creation of a “new Jew” in early Israel, one that rejected weakness, compromise, and even many Holocaust survivors themselves. Kapos explains why some survivors became fiercely nationalistic while others, like him, came to see the dehumanization of Palestinians as a tragic repetition of history. We discuss Hannah Arendt, the Eichmann trial, the discrimination Holocaust survivors faced in Israel, and the psychological transformation of trauma into permanent militarization and fear.This is not a simple conversation, and it is not always comfortable. It is about memory, nationalism, survival, collaboration, propaganda, and the moral weight of history. Whether you agree or disagree, Stephen Kapos offers a perspective that is increasingly rare: a firsthand witness to the Holocaust speaking openly about Gaza, Zionism, and the lessons he believes humanity failed to learn. If this conversation matters to you, please like, subscribe, and share it so these stories are not lost.00:00 — Coming Up...01:21 — Intro Essay: Why This Conversation Matters06:18 — The Story of Rudolf Kasztner & the Rescue Train09:22 — The Moral Dilemma of the Kasztner Deal11:47 — Eichmann, Hannah Arendt & the “Banality of Evil”18:00 — Interview: Why Stephen Speaks Out at 88 Years Old22:15 — Nazi Occupation of Hungary & the Fall of Budapest28:13 — Jewish Life in Hungary Before the Holocaust30:22 — Why Stephen’s Family Rejected Zionism34:33 — Adolf Eichmann Arrives in Hungary38:45 — Who Was Rudolf Kastner?42:30 — “Blood for Goods”: Negotiating With the Nazis44:29 — Inside the Kasztner Holding Camp Columbus Street Camp46:35 — Escaping the Holding Camp & Going Into Hiding47:47 — Bergen-Belsen & Waiting for Switzerland51:14 — Hiding From the Nazis in Hungarian Villas53:31 — Was Kastner a Hero or a Collaborator?56:45 — Why Holocaust Survivors Were Discriminated Against in Israel59:32 — Stephen Kapos on Kastner’s Guilt01:02:55 — How Trauma Turned Into Israeli Nationalism01:04:30 — Fear, Propaganda & the Creation of Racism01:06:18 — “I Was Just Happy to See a Jewish Soldier”01:08:13 — When Zionism Became Impossible to Defend01:09:03 — Gaza, Dehumanization & the Failure to Learn From History01:11:35 — Trauma Loops and Seeing Nazis Everywhere01:15:22 — Germans Platoons Avoiding Children01:19:20 — Stephen Kapos On Hope And What Has Changed01:22:00 — Become A Monster To Avoid Monster01:25:00 — Why Are The Palestinians So Forgiving?01:27:40 — Palestinians Understand The Holocaust01:31:07 — "I Am Not Risking Anything At This Stage"01:32:28 — Outro And Next GuestBECOME A MEMBER - MONTHLY MEMBERS ONLY LIVESTREAM https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5NIku35U9thGG9WBJjE0sw/joinFor more from Jay visit whatjaythinks.com

Philosopher Justin Smith-Ruiu joins me for a deep conversation on Metaphysics, Consciousness, Philosophy of Science, Anthropology of Mind. Psychedelics, Ritual, Religion, Phenomenology, and the limits of modern materialism, centered around his new book ON DRUGS. Drawing on thinkers like Plato, Heidegger, Husserl, Descartes, Leibniz, Huxley, McKenna, and Claude Lévi-Strauss, Smith explores whether psychedelic experiences merely distort reality or instead reveal hidden dimensions of consciousness that modern Western philosophy has trained us to suppress. We discuss qualia, synesthesia, dreams, analogy versus truth, and the strange inadequacy of language when attempting to describe altered states. Along the way we explore object-oriented ontology, mysticism, the “excluded middle,” and why psychedelic experience often feels more real than ordinary waking life.The conversation moves far beyond the usual clichés about mushrooms and self-help. We discuss Aldous Huxley, R.C. Zaehner, Gordon Wasson, shamanism, cave paintings, ritual dance, Scythian burial mounds, Norse berserkers, Aztec peyote ceremonies, and the long human history of using drugs not merely for pleasure but for metaphysical exploration, warfare, revelation, and meaning-making. Smith argues that psychedelics do not contain some universal message, but instead “release a latent discourse,” amplifying symbols and structures already embedded within culture and consciousness itself. We explore why Western modern secular realism became so hostile to inner experience, why dreams and visions were downgraded in Western thought, and whether technological modernity flattened older modes of awe, transcendence, and participation in the cosmos.Toward the end, the discussion becomes deeply personal: atheism, ritual, Judaism, nostalgia, political religion, collective belief, and the moral dilemma of disenchantment. We talk about the difference between icons and idols, why ritual may possess value independent of literal belief, and whether humans—as Smith beautifully puts it—are creatures who “need the unnecessary.” From Apollo astronauts experiencing cosmic consciousness to psychedelic experiences that dissolve the boundary between self and world, this conversation asks a difficult question at the center of Smith’s book: do psychedelics actually help us think more clearly about reality, or do they simply force us to confront how mysterious consciousness already is?00:00 Coming Up...01:52 Intro to Justin Smith, Caveats on Drugs05:04 Mind and World: Philosophies Biggest Puzzle08:38 Some Channel Organization10:41 What Problem Is This Book Trying to Solve?16:13 Psychedelics, Synesthesia & Consciousness19:54 Breaking the Hallucination22:38 Plato vs Heidegger on Psychedelic Experience29:55 Phenomenology, Qualia & Reality33:24 Auto Experimentation39:46 Psychedelics and the “Excluded Middle”42:51 Oneiromancy vs Aristotle and Modern Science49:43 Witchcraft and Taking Seriously the Non Scientific52:48 Psychedelics as Rediscovery and Coming Home01:00:23 Levi-Strauss & “Latent Discourse”01:03:50 The Ethnographic Wassons01:09:45 “Humans Need the Unnecessary”01:15:21 Drugs In History01:19:03 More Than a Feeling01:21:31 The Apollo Astronaut Psychedelic Experience01:21:09 Galaxy Brain & Cosmic Consciousness01:25:05 Liebniz and Christianity01:30:52 Icon vs Idol01:40:46 Ritual, Religion & Collective Experience & The Moral Dilemma of Disenchantment01:48:00 Theology and Belief Commitment Variations01:54:40 Final Thoughts on Thinking Through PsychedelicsBECOME A MEMBER - MONTHLY MEMBERS ONLY LIVESTREAM https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5NIku35U9thGG9WBJjE0sw/joinFor more from Jay visit whatjaythinks.com

How do we know what is real anymore?In this conversation with Professor Siwei Lyu of the University at Buffalo, one of the leading researchers in AI generated imagery and deepfake detection, we explore the unsettling world of synthetic images, cloned voices, fake influencers, and manipulated video. From AI girlfriends and scam artists to political propaganda and fake breaking news, we are entering a world where seeing is no longer believing.We talk about why “AI detectors” may be the wrong solution, why most people are already past the point of spotting fake images with the naked eye, and how verification itself is becoming unstable. If every image is already a processed representation of reality, what does authenticity even mean? We also discuss deepfake scams, revenge pornography, misinformation, metadata, provenance systems, and whether regulation can keep up with a technology that mutates faster than anyone can track.This is less about robot apocalypse fantasies and more about the quieter, more immediate danger, the erosion of trust, truth, and human connection. If AI is our generation’s splitting-the-atom moment, the real question is not whether the technology is good or bad, but whether society is prepared for what comes next.00:00 Intro01:43 The Real AI Threat Nobody Is Talking About03:38 Real or Fake? Entering the Deepfake Rabbit Hole06:01 AI Influencers, Fake Lives, and Digital Seduction08:09 Why AI Detection Is Failing10:47 Political Deepfakes and the IDF Hoodie Example12:04 Truth Is Slipping Away13:21 Testing AI Bias with Pro Palestine vs Pro Israel Images16:43 Why AGI Panic Distracts From the Real Problem17:00 Meet Siwei Lyu, Deepfake Forensics Expert18:21 How He Got Into AI Detection34:32 “Are You Real?” The Human Detection Problem44:22 Deepfakes as a Mutating Virus46:41 Can Machines Still Detect Synthetic Images?53:13 Authenticity vs Is It AI?59:00 Can Regulation Solve This?01:02:52 Voice Cloning, Scams, and Revenge Pornography01:07:17 How to Watermark Your Own Reality01:08:22 Politics, Propaganda, and the Collapse of Trust01:12:58 Can Society Adapt?01:15:08 Is This Worse Than Covid?01:18:05 Final Thoughts: Slow Down and BreatheBECOME A MEMBER - MONTHLY MEMBERS ONLY LIVESTREAM https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5NIku35U9thGG9WBJjE0sw/joinFor more from Jay visit whatjaythinks.com

What is “Muskism”? In this conversation, I sit down with Ben Tarnoff and Quinn Slobodian to unpack the political and moral philosophy behind Elon Musk—not just the man, but the ideology forming around him. Instead of another biography, we explore Musk as a symbol of a broader Silicon Valley worldview shared by figures like Peter Thiel, Alex Karp, and the Palantir elite: a fusion of techno-utopianism, libertarian rhetoric, state power, surveillance, and anti-democratic ambition.We discuss Musk’s South African upbringing and its collaboration with Israel, the idea of “fortress futurism,” apartheid’s psychological legacy, and how those ideas evolved into a worldview obsessed with conquering politics rather than solving it. From simulation theory and Nick Bostrom’s superintelligence to the “woke mind virus,” transhumanism, and the erasure of the human person, we examine how Muskism turns morality into math and justice into an irrationality. Why does empathy become a threat? Why does “wokeness” become a virus? And what happens when billionaires start seeing themselves as the bootloaders for post-human civilization?We also explore Peter Thiel, PayPal, Thank You for Smoking, Sam Harris, Jared Kushner’s Gaza fantasies, AI hype, and whether Muskism is already collapsing under its own contradictions. Is Elon Musk a nihilist? A capitalist realist? A techno-messianic prophet? Or simply the final form of capitalism itself? This is a deep philosophical conversation about power, morality, technology, and what kind of future we are actually being asked, or forced, to accept.00:00 Coming Up...02:00 Intro to Muskism08:00 Finding a Through Line in Musk Madness11:21 Methodology to Understand the Chaos12:58 Psychological Profile of the Non-Introspective13:57 The Trouble with The Intellectual Portrait of the Digital Capitalist16:28 South Africa, Fortress Futurism, and Elon Musk's Childhood20:20 The Mecha and Transformers22:18 Beyond Musk, What Happened to the Utopian Internet Libertarianism27:04 Karp's Manifesto and the Honesty of the New Moment31:44 Thank You For Smoking and Post 9-11 Nihilism37:50 Soul Searching and Moral Philosophy42:44 Shadow People and NPC's49:09 Simulation Theory, Bostrom, and Transhumanism52:55 The Woke Mind Virus, Origins and Obsessions59:50 San Francisco as a Musk Microcosm 01:02:08 Steelmaning Musk's Future01:05:47 Wokeness as Justice or Legitimacy and Class Consent?01:11:18 Other "ism's" That Can Fight Muskism - Socialism01:17:35 End of Binary of the State and the Market01:23:13 Muskism is Hitting It's Limits01:25:58 The Answer At The Back of the BookBECOME A MEMBER - MONTHLY MEMBERS ONLY LIVESTREAM https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5NIku35U9thGG9WBJjE0sw/joinFor more from Jay visit whatjaythinks.com

In this long-form conversation, I sit down with Rabbi Yaakov Shapiro—one of the most outspoken anti-Zionist ultra-Orthodox rabbis—to explore one of the most misunderstood questions in modern politics: what is the relationship between Judaism and Zionism? Raised in suburban American Conservative Judaism with Israeli flags on the bimah, Hebrew school, bar mitzvahs, and an unspoken expectation to support Israel, I wanted to understand what exactly I inherited—and whether it had anything to do with Judaism as a religion at all.We begin with my own family story: my great-great-grandfather, a Satmar Jew in Hungary, was murdered in Auschwitz, while his daughter had left that world decades earlier for America. A few generations later, I inherited a version of Jewish identity shaped less by theology than by Holocaust memory and Zionist politics. Rabbi Shapiro argues that Zionism fundamentally transformed Judaism from a religion of covenant, law, and exile into a political nationalism—and in doing so, created deep moral and philosophical confusion for Jews like me who never believed in the theology but were still expected to defend the state of Israel.From the Holocaust and 1967 to female rabbis, the orange on the Seder plate, chosenness, antisemitism, and whether Judaism is a religion or an ethnicity, this conversation goes far beyond headlines. We discuss whether Zionism is a form of idolatry, why many religious Jews see Israel as a theological violation, and why the phrase “let Judaism be a religion and let Israel be a foreign country” might be the clearest way to understand the crisis. A serious philosophical conversation about faith, identity, history, and the moral catastrophe of Zionism... for the world... and for Judaism.00:00 Coming Up...01:46 Intro My Family Story: Satmar Roots, Auschwitz, and America11:27 My Opening Question: What Did I Actually Get Growing Up?21:13 What Do I Have To Do To Be A Jew?32:14 Jabotinsky and the Zionist Rejection of the “Exile Jew”39:19 I Didn’t Get Judaism—I Got Israel42:11 “Let Judaism Be a Religion, Let Israel Be a Country” Rabbi Shapiro’s Definition of Zionism57:06 Chosen People, Christians, and Jewish Identity01:04:00 Who Gets to Define Who Is a Jew?01:10:29 Are Religious Zionists Actually Religious?01:19:21 Holocaust Identity and Postwar American Judaism01:21:18 Moral Philosophy vs Divine Command01:27:12 Different Roads, Same Conclusion: Zionism Is Wrong01:44:18 The Best Zionist Argument: The Fear of Another Holocaust01:51:24 Would You Go Quietly? Zionists Killing Jews: The Case of Jacob de Haan01:55:48 1967 and the Zionist Transformation of American Judaism01:58:18 Final Thoughts: Obligation, Opportunity, and Another RoundBECOME A MEMBER - MONTHLY MEMBERS ONLY LIVESTREAM https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5NIku35U9thGG9WBJjE0sw/joinFor more from Jay visit whatjaythinks.com

The attitudes in American on Israel and Palestine have flipped, we can't ignore the fact that violence may have "worked."There’s a deeply uncomfortable question at the center of political history: is violence ever justified—or even necessary—in the pursuit of freedom? In a widely shared debate, Steven Pinker argues that nonviolent movements are not only more moral, but more effective, citing a dataset from Harvard’s Kennedy School as empirical proof. But when you actually examine that data, the argument starts to unravel. In this essay, I take a close look at how complex resistance movements are reduced to simplistic binaries—success or failure, violent or nonviolent—and how that kind of “counting” can distort reality to produce clean, convenient conclusions... which might be very wrong.Along the way, I explore the psychology of cognitive dissonance, the narratives we build to justify violence, and the difficulty—perhaps impossibility—of measuring something like liberation. This isn’t an argument in favor of violence, but a challenge to the idea that history, morality, and revolution can be neatly captured in a spreadsheet.00:00 Intro00:47 Is Violence Ever Justified?05:18 Pacifism and Violence What is Moral and What Works?07:23 Cognitive Dissonance Explained12:04 Three Pieces of the Argument on Liberation17:03 The Harvard Database25:11 Palestine Liberation and October 7th28:30 The Oppressors Know What They Are Doing31:40 Ghassan Kanafani: Poetry and Armed ResistanceBECOME A MEMBER - MONTHLY MEMBERS ONLY LIVESTREAM https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5NIku35U9thGG9WBJjE0sw/joinFor more from Jay visit whatjaythinks.com

I went into this conversation knowing almost nothing about the Roma. Which, as it turns out, is kind of an intentional result.Margareta Matache is a historian, author, and one of the leading voices on Roma history and anti-Roma racism. In this conversation, she walks me through a story that most of us were never taught—one that spans centuries of exclusion, slavery, and persecution across Europe.We talk about:Who the Roma actually are (and why that’s a harder question than it sounds)The long history of Roma slavery in EuropeWhy anti-Roma racism still exists—and often goes unnoticedThe role of law and institutions in blocking assimilationThe Roma experience during the The HolocaustAnd how memory, politics, and identity shape what we choose to remember—and what we don’tThere’s also a moment in here where I ask a question that… reveals my own ignorance. She handles it with a level of grace that honestly made the conversation better. We also touch on language—specifically the word “gypsy,” which is controversial and, for many, offensive. The conversation ends with something really powerful: a reading inspired by James Baldwin’s famous letter to his nephew.00:00 Intro 01:36 Why I Held This Conversation Back 02:38 Discovering the Roma Story 04:03 Who Are the Roma? 08:00 Roma Slavery Explained 13:09 Origins: India to Europe 19:43 Poverty, Perception, and Stereotypes 26:59 The Problem with the Word “Gypsy” 33:24 What Is Anti-Roma Racism? 34:13 Why Assimilation Was Blocked 38:27 Race, Identity, and Power 49:03 The Roma in World War II 53:17 The Overlooked Holocaust Experience 01:00:49 Memory, History, and Justice 01:07:06 Baldwin, Letters, and Legacy 01:12:55 Final Reading 01:15:03 Where to Learn More BECOME A MEMBER - MONTHLY MEMBERS ONLY LIVESTREAM https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5NIku35U9thGG9WBJjE0sw/joinFor more from Jay visit whatjaythinks.com

This conversation with Emily Jashinsky dives into one of the strangest political moments in recent memory — where parts of the left and right are beginning to sound eerily similar. From “America First” to anti-war sentiment, distrust of institutions, and critiques of empire, we explore whether this convergence is real… or just a temporary alignment before everything snaps back.We get into the deeper philosophical divide driving politics today: how history should relate to the present. Is the United States acting as a global policeman — or an empire? And if it is an empire, can conservatives reconcile that with their own instincts toward nationalism and independence? Along the way, we confront difficult questions around Israel, Iran, the Rapture, Christian Zionism, and the economic realities underpinning global power.The conversation ultimately turns toward moral philosophy — justice, power, religion, and whether peace is something we can achieve, or only something that emerges from a deeper pursuit of justice. This is a rare, open dialogue across ideological lines — not to agree, but to understand before the window for these conversations closes.00:00:00 – Coming Up...00:01:38 – Intro to the Horseshoe00:05:27 – Who is Emily Jashinsky? Background & Political Identity00:09:45 – Where Is the Conservative Movement After Donald Trump?00:16:33 – Did Trump Cross the Line with Iran?00:20:10 – Why Did the U.S. Go to War in Iran?00:23:55 – The Left vs Right Divide on History (1953, Empire, and Iran)00:30:26 – Are Conservatives Breaking Away Over Israel?00:39:22 – Fear, Power, and Human Nature (Hobbes vs Alternatives)00:41:05 – Is Justice Even Possible — Or Just an Illusion?00:47:14 – Can Belief in the “Good West” Survive This Moment?00:54:20 – Why Are We Really at War? Power, Oil, and Economics01:03:23 – Would You Accept Empire If It Fed Your Family?01:11:15 – The Left’s Blind Spots: Religion, Culture, and Third Rails01:15:44 – Where To Find EmilyBECOME A MEMBER - MONTHLY MEMBERS ONLY LIVESTREAM https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5NIku35U9thGG9WBJjE0sw/joinFor more from Jay visit whatjaythinks.com

This conversation started with hesitation — both from my audience and from me. Professor Jiang has become a rapidly growing and deeply controversial figure online, with many warning me not to platform him at all. Accusations, clips, and labels were sent my way before we even spoke. So I went into this discussion with an open mind, but also with a responsibility to ask direct questions — about his views on the Holocaust, his use of language, and the frameworks he relies on to interpret the world. What followed wasn’t a takedown or an endorsement, but something more difficult and, I think, more valuable: a real attempt to engage with a lightning rod of narrative rejection.We cover a wide range of ground — from Jiang’s sudden rise on the internet to the deeper roots of how he sees history and power, as well as the painful childhood which shaped him and his battles with depression and alcohol. We get into secret societies, eschatology, and whether ideas like the Illuminati or Freemasons are meant literally or as interpretive tools. We debate the role of myth in shaping reality and national projects — from Masada to the Dead Sea Scrolls to modern geopolitics — and whether narratives around events like the Holocaust have been simplified, mythologized, or politicized in ways that both clarify and distort truth. Throughout, I push back on where I think explanations go too far, while also acknowledging where mainstream narratives can feel incomplete or unsatisfying.But what surprised me most was the personal side of the conversation. Behind the “Professor Jiang” persona is a teacher navigating sudden internet fame, scrutiny, and a very strange digital landscape. We talk about why people are drawn to voices like his right now — a growing distrust in institutions, a sense that official stories no longer hold, and the risk that comes with replacing one form of certainty with another. At its core, this is a conversation about how we search for truth in a world full of competing narratives — and how easy it is to lose our footing in the process.00:00 – Coming Up...02:08 – Intro and Caveats: Who Is Professor Jiang?05:00 – Origins: Childhood, Bullying & Path to Teaching10:22 – Credentials, Titles, and Intellectual Authority "Professor"12:12 – Predicting the Future: How Accurate Are You?14:04 – Secret Societies & Pattern Thinking Freemasons, numerology,20:12 – Myth vs Reality: How We’re Taught History22:40 – Holocaust Questions & the Search for Truth29:37 – When Myth Overtakes Truth33:26 – Masada: A Case Study in Myth-Making39:33 – Do These Frameworks Actually Predict Anything?43:15 – Where Conspiracy Thinking Goes Too Far48:33 – Religion, Power, and Human Behavior Judaism, Islam, and how belief systems shape conflict55:07 – My Own Experience with Judaism Personal reflection, upbringing, and interpretation01:02:27 – Kabbalah, Mysticism, and Meaning01:08:13 – Fear, Freedom, and the Human Condition Erich Fromm, existential anxiety01:10:21 – Should Some Truths Stay Hidden?01:18:16 – The Responsibility of Asking Questions01:23:16 – Why People Are Drawn to Him Now, Distrust, collapsing narratives01:28:18 – Final reflections on Bullsh!t High School History, Dead Sea Scrolls and DoubtBECOME A MEMBER - MONTHLY MEMBERS ONLY LIVESTREAM https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5NIku35U9thGG9WBJjE0sw/joinFor more from Jay visit whatjaythinks.com

I sat down again with Peter Beinart to talk through what feels like a rapidly escalating and confusing moment — not just politically, but inside Judaism itself. We start with a question I’ve been asking a lot of people lately: how to talk about the Jeffrey Epstein files honestly, without dodging it, but also without feeding into something darker. That opens into a broader conversation about antisemitism, where the line is now, and whether that line has been blurred beyond recognition.From there we get into Judaism as religion vs ethnicity, the weird tension that creates, and how that plays into conversations about power, responsibility, and group identity. We talk about the Talmud, some of the passages that are going viral right now, and why pulling lines out of context is both dangerous and, at the same time, something people are obviously going to keep doing. We also come back to real-world experiences — synagogues, Israeli flags, community pressure, and what it actually feels like to navigate that space right now.At the end we zoom out to Israel, Iran, and where all of this might be heading. Beinart makes the case that you can talk about power, influence, and what Israel is doing without falling into antisemitic thinking — but also acknowledges how hard that’s becoming in the current climate. I’m trying to push on these questions as directly as I can, because I don’t think ignoring them is going to end well.00:00 Coming Up...02:10 Intro to Peter Beinart and Why I Keep Asking about Epstein's Religion06:49 A Flashback to "Not being and A$$hole"13:00 Where Are We Now (Let's Talk Epstein's Religion22:18 Jewish Doctrine and Harm23:19 An Attack on "Jewish Ambulances"30:50 The Talmud Says Some Crazy Stuff38:13 What if a Synagogue Supports Israel Publicly40:55 Religion and Dealing With Having Power46:00 Israel Leading America to War with Iran51:20 Why Didn't Epstein's Jewishness Help Him Not Do Harm?57:22 How Does the War on Iran Affect Jewish Conversation1:00:02 Jewishness as "Ethnicity, Race, Nationality, Religion"BECOME A MEMBER - MONTHLY MEMBERS ONLY LIVESTREAM https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5NIku35U9thGG9WBJjE0sw/joinFor more from Jay visit whatjaythinks.com

As tensions escalate between Iran, Israel, and the United States, the question of nuclear war no longer feels abstract—it feels immediate. With ongoing strikes, threats to critical infrastructure, and fears of further escalation across the region, the possibility of a nuclear weapon being used is no longer confined to history books. Ward Wilson joins me at a moment where the stakes are not theoretical: governments are actively making decisions that could shape whether this conflict stays conventional—or crosses a line humanity hasn’t crossed in 80 years.But underneath this urgency is something even more unsettling: the possibility that much of what we believe about nuclear weapons—their power, their usefulness, even their role in ending World War II—is based on myths. In this conversation, we unpack those assumptions while looking directly at the present crisis. If nuclear weapons don’t actually “win wars” or meaningfully improve military outcomes, then what exactly would happen if one were used in Iran? Would it change anything—or just kill hundreds of thousands and push the world into something far worse? This is a conversation about how dangerous ideas from the past are shaping decisions right now—and why misunderstanding nuclear weapons might be one of the biggest risks we face today.Ward Wilson Substack: https://substack.com/@wardhayeswilson00:00 – Coming Up01:13 – Intro to Ward Wilson and Next Dilemma Guests06:10 – A Hopeful Start07:10 – The Hiroshima Myth (Did the Bombs End WWII?)18:25 – Do We Overestimate Nuclear Weapons?20:25 – Deterrence Fails23:25 – Cuban Missile Crisis and the Apocalypse29:14 – The Real "Realists"34:03 – Who Actually Has Nuclear Weapons Today?41:40 – Do Nukes Prevent Invasions? (North Korea Argument)47:10 – Iran, Israel, Trump: Real Risk of Use?53:10 – Could Trump Just Press the Button? (No Failsafes?)57:16 – The Psychology of Using Nuclear Weapons01:05:02 – Final Thoughts: Hope vs RealityBECOME A MEMBER - MONTHLY MEMBERS ONLY LIVESTREAM https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5NIku35U9thGG9WBJjE0sw/joinFor more from Jay visit whatjaythinks.com