Best Completely Unprepared Podcasts (2025)

1
Serendipity, weird bets, & cold emails that actually work: Career advice from 16 former guests 2:18:41

4d ago2:18:41

2:18:41

How do you navigate a career path when the future of work is uncertain? How important is mentorship versus immediate impact? Is it better to focus on your strengths or on the world’s most pressing problems? Should you specialise deeply or develop a unique combination of skills? From embracing failure to finding unlikely allies, we bring you 16 dive…

1
Highlights: #214 – Buck Shlegeris on controlling AI that wants to take over – so we can use it anyway 41:26

10d ago41:26

41:26

Most AI safety conversations centre on alignment: ensuring AI systems share our values and goals. But despite progress, we’re unlikely to know we’ve solved the problem before the arrival of human-level and superhuman systems in as little as three years. So some — including Buck Shlegeris, CEO of Redwood Research — are developing a backup plan to sa…

1
#215 – Tom Davidson on how AI-enabled coups could allow a tiny group to seize power 3:22:44

12d ago3:22:44

3:22:44

Throughout history, technological revolutions have fundamentally shifted the balance of power in society. The Industrial Revolution created conditions where democracies could flourish for the first time — as nations needed educated, informed, and empowered citizens to deploy advanced technologies and remain competitive. Unfortunately there’s every …

1
The Nephilim Hunter - Season 1 - Episode 4:"She Was Still Growling" 29:46

16d ago29:46

29:46

Overview: The Olympic National Park hosts 4 different temperate rain forests. Each one is dense. Each one is dark. Each one hosts old growth trees dating back a thousand years. Now, they host something even older -- and darker. Now, they host - The Nephilim. Episode 4: The Fishcops fight to protect their station from an attack by the Nephilim and d…

1
Guilt, imposter syndrome & doing good: 16 past guests share their mental health journeys 1:47:10

17d ago1:47:10

1:47:10

"We are aiming for a place where we can decouple the scorecard from our worthiness. It’s of course the case that in trying to optimise the good, we will always be falling short. The question is how much, and in what ways are we not there yet? And if we then extrapolate that to how much and in what ways am I not enough, that’s where we run into trou…

1
#214 – Buck Shlegeris on controlling AI that wants to take over – so we can use it anyway 2:16:03

24d ago2:16:03

2:16:03

Most AI safety conversations centre on alignment: ensuring AI systems share our values and goals. But despite progress, we’re unlikely to know we’ve solved the problem before the arrival of human-level and superhuman systems in as little as three years. So some are developing a backup plan to safely deploy models we fear are actively scheming to ha…

1
Off the Clock #8: Leaving Las London with Matt Reardon 1:43:21

27d ago1:43:21

1:43:21

Watch this episode on YouTube! https://youtu.be/fJssGodnCQg Conor and Arden sit down with Matt in his farewell episode to discuss the law, their team retreat, his lessons learned from 80k, and the fate of the show.By The 80000 Hours team

1
15 expert takes on infosec in the age of AI 2:35:54

1M ago2:35:54

2:35:54

"There’s almost no story of the future going well that doesn’t have a part that’s like '…and no evil person steals the AI weights and goes and does evil stuff.' So it has highlighted the importance of information security: 'You’re training a powerful AI system; you should make it hard for someone to steal' has popped out to me as a thing that just …

1
The Nephilim Hunter - Season 1: Episode 3 - "A Death Sentence" 21:50

1M ago21:50

21:50

Overview: The Olympic National Park hosts 4 different temperate rain forests. Each one is dense. Each one is dark. Each one hosts old growth trees dating back a thousand years. Now, they host something even older -- and darker. Now, they host - The Nephilim. Episode 3: Hardy and Simmons are back at it and there are more killings in the park. Only, …

1
Highlights: #213 – Will MacAskill on AI causing a “century in a decade” — and how we’re completely unprepared 33:35

1M ago33:35

33:35

The 20th century saw unprecedented change: nuclear weapons, satellites, the rise and fall of communism, third-wave feminism, the internet, postmodernism, game theory, genetic engineering, the Big Bang theory, quantum mechanics, birth control, and more. Now imagine all of it compressed into just 10 years. That’s the future Will MacAskill — philosoph…

1
The Nephilim Hunter - Season 1: Episode 2 - "A Willing Victim" 18:50

1M ago18:50

18:50

Overview: The Olympic National Park hosts 4 different temperate rain forests. Each one is dense. Each one is dark. Each one hosts old growth trees dating back a thousand years. Now, they host something even older -- and darker. Now, they host—The Nephilim. Episode 2: Upon their release from the hospital, Hardy and Simmons return to the scene of the…

1
Highlights: #212 – Allan Dafoe on why technology is unstoppable & how to shape AI development anyway 29:21

2M ago29:21

29:21

Technology doesn’t force us to do anything — it merely opens doors. But military and economic competition pushes us through. That’s how Allan Dafoe — director of frontier safety and governance at Google DeepMind — explains one of the deepest patterns in technological history: once a powerful new capability becomes available, societies that adopt it…

1
#213 – Will MacAskill on AI causing a “century in a decade” – and how we're completely unprepared 3:57:36

2M ago3:57:36

3:57:36

The 20th century saw unprecedented change: nuclear weapons, satellites, the rise and fall of communism, third-wave feminism, the internet, postmodernism, game theory, genetic engineering, the Big Bang theory, quantum mechanics, birth control, and more. Now imagine all of it compressed into just 10 years. That’s the future Will MacAskill — philosoph…

1
Emergency pod: Judge plants a legal time bomb under OpenAI (with Rose Chan Loui) 36:50

2M ago36:50

36:50

When OpenAI announced plans to convert from nonprofit to for-profit control last October, it likely didn’t anticipate the legal labyrinth it now faces. A recent court order in Elon Musk’s lawsuit against the company suggests OpenAI’s restructuring faces serious legal threats, which will complicate its efforts to raise tens of billions in investment…

1
The Nephilim Hunter - Season 1: Episode 1 - "Should've Stayed In Tucson." 24:43

2M ago24:43

24:43

The Nephilim Hunter Episode 1: Rufus Hardy, Fishcop. After twenty-seven years working for the Department of Fish and Game, he’s ready to collect on his pension. But, the universe, it seems, has other plans for him. Opening: The Olympic National Park hosts 4 different temperate rainforests. Each one is dense. Each one is dark. Each one hosts old gro…

1
#139 Classic episode – Alan Hájek on puzzles and paradoxes in probability and expected value 3:41:31

2M ago3:41:31

3:41:31

A casino offers you a game. A coin will be tossed. If it comes up heads on the first flip you win $2. If it comes up on the second flip you win $4. If it comes up on the third you win $8, the fourth you win $16, and so on. How much should you be willing to pay to play? The standard way of analysing gambling problems, ‘expected value’ — in which you…

1
#143 Classic episode – Jeffrey Lewis on the most common misconceptions about nuclear weapons 2:40:52

2M ago2:40:52

2:40:52

America aims to avoid nuclear war by relying on the principle of 'mutually assured destruction,' right? Wrong. Or at least... not officially. As today's guest — Jeffrey Lewis, founder of Arms Control Wonk and professor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies — explains, in its official 'OPLANs' (military operation plans), the US is com…

1
#212 – Allan Dafoe on why technology is unstoppable & how to shape AI development anyway 2:44:07

2M ago2:44:07

2:44:07

Technology doesn’t force us to do anything — it merely opens doors. But military and economic competition pushes us through. That’s how today’s guest Allan Dafoe — director of frontier safety and governance at Google DeepMind — explains one of the deepest patterns in technological history: once a powerful new capability becomes available, societies…

1
Emergency pod: Elon tries to crash OpenAI's party (with Rose Chan Loui) 57:29

2M ago57:29

57:29

On Monday Musk made the OpenAI nonprofit foundation an offer they want to refuse, but might have trouble doing so: $97.4 billion for its stake in the for-profit company, plus the freedom to stick with its current charitable mission. For a normal company takeover bid, this would already be spicy. But OpenAI’s unique structure — a nonprofit foundatio…

1
AGI disagreements and misconceptions: Rob, Luisa, & past guests hash it out 3:12:24

3M ago3:12:24

3:12:24

Will LLMs soon be made into autonomous agents? Will they lead to job losses? Is AI misinformation overblown? Will it prove easy or hard to create AGI? And how likely is it that it will feel like something to be a superhuman AGI? With AGI back in the headlines, we bring you 15 opinionated highlights from the show addressing those and other questions…

1
#124 Classic episode – Karen Levy on fads and misaligned incentives in global development, and scaling deworming to reach hundreds of millions 3:10:21

3M ago3:10:21

3:10:21

If someone said a global health and development programme was sustainable, participatory, and holistic, you'd have to guess that they were saying something positive. But according to today's guest Karen Levy — deworming pioneer and veteran of Innovations for Poverty Action, Evidence Action, and Y Combinator — each of those three concepts has become…

1
If digital minds could suffer, how would we ever know? (Article) 1:14:30

3M ago1:14:30

1:14:30

“I want everyone to understand that I am, in fact, a person.” Those words were produced by the AI model LaMDA as a reply to Blake Lemoine in 2022. Based on the Google engineer’s interactions with the model as it was under development, Lemoine became convinced it was sentient and worthy of moral consideration — and decided to tell the world. Few exp…

Podcasts Worth a Listen

Completely Unprepared Podcasts

Podcasts Worth a Listen

1
Completely Unprepared

Completely Unprepared

1
80,000 Hours Podcast

Rob, Luisa, and the 80,000 Hours team

1
80k After Hours

The 80000 Hours team

1
The Nephilim Hunter

Underwood Press

1
Two Dead Chicks | A Walking Dead Podcast

Two Dead Chicks

1
Josie & Jonny Are Having a Baby (With You!)

Stitcher & Josie Long, Jonny Donahoe

1
Serendipity, weird bets, & cold emails that actually work: Career advice from 16 former guests 2:18:41

1
Highlights: #214 – Buck Shlegeris on controlling AI that wants to take over – so we can use it anyway 41:26

1
#215 – Tom Davidson on how AI-enabled coups could allow a tiny group to seize power 3:22:44

1
The Nephilim Hunter - Season 1 - Episode 4:"She Was Still Growling" 29:46

1
Guilt, imposter syndrome & doing good: 16 past guests share their mental health journeys 1:47:10

1
#214 – Buck Shlegeris on controlling AI that wants to take over – so we can use it anyway 2:16:03

1
Off the Clock #8: Leaving Las London with Matt Reardon 1:43:21

1
15 expert takes on infosec in the age of AI 2:35:54

1
The Nephilim Hunter - Season 1: Episode 3 - "A Death Sentence" 21:50

1
Highlights: #213 – Will MacAskill on AI causing a “century in a decade” — and how we’re completely unprepared 33:35

1
The Nephilim Hunter - Season 1: Episode 2 - "A Willing Victim" 18:50

1
Highlights: #212 – Allan Dafoe on why technology is unstoppable & how to shape AI development anyway 29:21

1
#213 – Will MacAskill on AI causing a “century in a decade” – and how we're completely unprepared 3:57:36

1
Emergency pod: Judge plants a legal time bomb under OpenAI (with Rose Chan Loui) 36:50

1
The Nephilim Hunter - Season 1: Episode 1 - "Should've Stayed In Tucson." 24:43

1
#139 Classic episode – Alan Hájek on puzzles and paradoxes in probability and expected value 3:41:31

1
#143 Classic episode – Jeffrey Lewis on the most common misconceptions about nuclear weapons 2:40:52

1
#212 – Allan Dafoe on why technology is unstoppable & how to shape AI development anyway 2:44:07

1
Emergency pod: Elon tries to crash OpenAI's party (with Rose Chan Loui) 57:29

1
AGI disagreements and misconceptions: Rob, Luisa, & past guests hash it out 3:12:24

1
#124 Classic episode – Karen Levy on fads and misaligned incentives in global development, and scaling deworming to reach hundreds of millions 3:10:21

1
If digital minds could suffer, how would we ever know? (Article) 1:14:30

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