Favorite Podcast Episode of 2021?

There are about 3 or 4 Darknet Diaries, but here's my fav. OK it's a tie:

   https://darknetdiaries.com/episode/90/
   Jenny
   Meet Jenny Radcliffe, the People Hacker. She’s a social 
   engineer and physical penetration tester. Which means she 
   gets paid to break into buildings and test their 
   security. In this episode she tells us a few stories of 
   some penetration testing jobs she’s done.

   https://darknetdiaries.com/episode/95/
   Jon & Brian's Big Adventure
   Jon and Brian are penetration testers who both worked at 
   a place called RedTeam Security. They’re paid to break 
   into buildings and hack into networks to test the 
   security of those buildings. In this episode they bring 
   us a story of how they prepare and execute a mission like 
   this. But even with all the preparation, something still 
   goes terribly wrong.

Episodes 84 and 81 also. GREAT stuff. But 90 and 95 are my faves. I don't have time for other podcasts so its DND for me.

Dan Carlin's Supernova in the East VI.

Given the insane brutality of the Pacific war, the stranglehold the Japanese military had on its society, and the utterly unbreakable Japanese will that just kept going loss after brutal loss even when it was clear to everyone involved that there was no possible way left for them to win, Carlin makes it clear that the leaders of the day certainly felt justified with their decisions to first firebomb and then atomic bomb Japanese civilians and cities.

A couple of weeks later a friend told me that he believed that you should be willing to fight to the death, and even the death of others, for what you believe is right. I think morally of course you should be committed to your beliefs, but if you replicate that to that extent on a society-wide scale, you might end up with another Imperial Japan.

https://www.dancarlin.com/product/hardcore-history-67-supern...

(Of course, as Carlin will often tell you, he's not a historian and is more interested in an emotional story than 100% true facts. I'll also recommend Ian Toll's Pacific War book trilogy for a more accurate take on events. Plus, it covers the incredibly brutal Battle of Manila that Carlin leaves out.)

Undoubtedly that personal award goes to Citations Needed Episode 73: Western Media’s Narrow, Colonial Definition of ‘Corruption’. You can read the transcript on Medium [1] or listen on Spotify [2].

It may seem a bit bromide for HN, but it really shattered my world view. Or at least was the impetus of a rather radical shift in how I viewed global power structures, old wealth, and the evil systems in place today that continue to perpetuate global inequality. In the episode, they dig into these popular "corruption" indices, why the Global South is always painted as the "most corrupt", true sources of institutionalized corruption, where the real tax havens and how they operate. It even highlights a (previously unknown to me at least!) stark and admittedly macabre distinction between London, the city in England and the ancient The City of London [3]. Yes there is a huge difference with the latter being a 1,000 British colonial-era holdover that's home to the largest tax haven hub in the world.

As a bonus, it features Jason Hickel, an economic anthropologist who wrote The Divide [4]. Which, for reasons outlined above, is also one of my favorite books ever. If you find my poor attempt of summary or the article/podcast interesting, I'd implore you to buy the book and learn something new.

All the world is a stage and indeed we are merely players.

[1] - https://citationsneeded.medium.com/episode-73-western-medias...

[2] - https://open.spotify.com/episode/7cf3g7670FYKrD9OE6vHQd?si=v...

[3] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_of_London

[4] - https://www.jasonhickel.org/the-divide

Edit: Just to clarify, this episode is from 2019. I did not interpret the question clearly and assumed it was in the spirit of "Favorite podcast episode you listened to this year". Hope this helps.

Hands down this Lex's interview with Joscha Bach. Very inspiring and a lot of interesting viewpoints. https://lexfridman.com/joscha-bach-2/

EDIT For German Speakers i'd also recommend these two episodes: - http://www.jungundnaiv-podcast.de/2021/09/535-aladin-el-mafa... - https://www.zeit.de/gesellschaft/2021-03/maja-goepel-intervi...

I’m not a fan of the podcast normally but I was sent this one because my ex-wife knew it would be good for me. Spark Bird by This American Life. First off - I’ve tried to pick up birding a little bit. But most importantly - about 35 minutes in - there’s a story about Birdly. This family that sounds utterly insane and has six imaginary birds as part of their family. It’s a really well told story - much better than the podcast normally has.

Well - anyway - it turns out there are other couples/families out there that do this. We had this with our “family.” In our case (my ex’s and I) we had three stuffed animal children. The podcast really will show the full gradient of how far you can push what is “real”. We took our children across the world and they had stories, purpose, meaning, and lots of love to share. I don’t spend as much time with “the children” now. They live in different but sharable dimensions/realities/universes more often now since their mom and dad aren’t together. It’s rough being a single dad of 3. Get a lot of questions but is what it is. She asks about them when she calls.

We planned to have children the more traditional way as well. We just never got there before we split up.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/0fm0Ntx2IxuWEM2ieYZasv?si=n...

Tim Ferriss's second episode with Balaji was great. It was around 4-5 hours, and Tim just steps aside letting Balaji brain dump on all sorts of interesting topics and ideas.

https://tim.blog/2021/11/15/balaji-srinivasan-2/

The Sam Bankman-Fried episode of Odd Lots: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2p2Mfr20nDNmRxdNjCcmJe?si=2...

Specifically, the 7 minutes from ~19:40 - 26:30 where he talks about the $30M/day profit he made in 2017 by arb-ing the different prices of Bitcoin on Japanese vs. US exchanges. This demonstrated the difference between complex and complicated problems and how much of success in business is simply schlepping.

(Obligatory pg post: http://paulgraham.com/schlep.html)

I'm not usually a Joe Rogan listener, but I keep thinking about the interview he did with Carl Hart: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4xMbq7gLEjFioOQ5gpSw2l

Hart claims that the inherent addictiveness of even the most addictive drugs (he talks mostly about heroin) is exaggerated, because most of the worst addicts are dealing with psychological, social, and financial difficulties in addition to drug addiction, and drugs are often unfairly blamed for all their problems. I don't necessarily agree with everything he says, but he has a very interesting perspective.

Darknet Diaries: Money Maker https://darknetdiaries.com/episode/102/

The Real Story of “The Central Park Karen”

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/honestly-with-bari-wei...

Remember the story about the off leash dog walker and the bird watcher in central park that went viral right around the time when the murder of George Floyd took place? In all of the ensuing frenzy I had personally believed the horrible portrait the media painted of this woman, but this podcast showed just how wrong that portrayal was.

I’ve listened to too many to pick a favourite but this one from Lex Friedman is a random pick. Difficult subject matter but quite moving:

#220 – Niels Jorgensen: New York Firefighters and the Heroes of 9/11

https://pca.st/episode/cb175a0c-b0c1-4200-a8e3-9702ebf0525c

Edit: and here’s an oddball recommendation on the other end of the spectrum, and outside of the normal HN bubble. For the Brits here and those who may enjoy extremely juvenile British humour (like me):

RHLSTP 268 - Charlie Brooker

https://pca.st/episode/57ee8b54-2d47-4506-924a-bb7636362f9e

(Charlie Brooker is the British writer behind Black Mirror.)

I loved Lex Friedman and Brandon Eich this year.

I was astonished by the intellect and wisdom of Eich. I always understood him to be rather smart inventing JS in a matter of days, but his insight in the history of the web paint an even more impressive picture.

He's been much more influential to our lives than many might guess and it's shocking to hear it from himself and his authority.

I really enjoyed listening to Dark Net Diaries - The Spy https://darknetdiaries.com/episode/99/

I find it challenging to choose one but Andrew Huberman's podcast is exceptional. Latest in neuroscience/neurobiology which is accessible to the general public. From topics like sleep, anxiety, learning, performance etc. I have learned so much and applying the protocols have been great.

Felix Biederman interviews former Gov. of Illinois and convicted felon Rod Blagojevich on Chapo Trap House: https://otter.ai/u/B_VZ8fzEK4S-c0jVmRQ2_wYHCCA https://soundcloud.com/chapo-trap-house/561-teaser-blago-hat...

Steve Yegge’s tech predictions for the next 10-30 years:

https://youtu.be/8xwSRB3eGXY

Peter Attia’s podcast with Tom Catena. He’s a doctor in war torn Africa and I’d argue one of most inspirational people alive. Turned down money, resources and a comfortable life in the US to make a greater impact in Africa. Peter Attia being a fellow doctor adds tons to the discussion.

Tim Ferris #542 with Chris Dixon and Naval was the podcast that made me think maybe there might be something to web3 and it was at least worth investigating.

2 months later I'm still not yet sure. So take that for what it's worth.

https://tim.blog/2021/10/28/chris-dixon-naval-ravikant/

As an honorable mention I'll also say that I've been listening to Dan Carlin's series on Japan in WW2 and it has been incredible as I've come to expect from his work.

Mike Duncan’s Revolutions podcast has been the Russian Revolution in 2021 and as always, is very detailed and informative.

TrueAnon's trilogy on Tesla

https://soundcloud.com/trueanonpod/lamest-show-1

> how a nerdy dot-com gold chaser hacked the self-satisfied neoliberal green political regime and orchestrated a cacophonous symphony of thirsty social media marketeers, auto industry executives, captured and bought off media, and the bull market ride of the century. At the center of all of this is the pied piper of the redditmen, our very own epic bacon PT Barnum — Elon Musk — who rightly understands that branding really is everything and that so long as you can keep the music going the party doesn’t have to end.

Non-tech related: Anthropocene Reviewed - Orbital Sunrise

https://pod.link/1342003491

Sean Carroll and David Wallace, who know their sh*t, doing a deep dive on entropy and how it relates to time and the "past hypothesis".

https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2021/08/02/158-...

I liked one with Kevin (first CEO of Instagram)

https://overcast.fm/+eZyDZHzsI

Corecursive podcast #069 "The Original Remote Developer" about Paul Lutus and writing software for the Apple II - and making it rich. Quite an orthogonal thinker, which made it inspiring even if it isn't 1985 any more.

https://corecursive.com/remote-developer/

For excellent reporting on a dystopian intersection of tech and politics:

Darknet Diaries Episode 100: NSO

On a different note: a whimsical, impossible, and hilarious improvised musical:

Mission to Zyxx Episode 507: A Little ‘Ditty about Jack and Shai’an

My favorite is easily Rationally Speaking by Julia Galef.

The episode that pulled my in initially was "Are Boomers to blame for Millenials' struggles?" from November of last year, but all episodes since have the same features that enamoured me initially. The episode was a master class in talking beyond the rhetoric and digging into the meat beyond. In the aforementioned episodes, she digs into policies that may have affected Millenials', as well as looking into voting demographics that brought about said policies. It resulted in an incredibly nuanced view (For the Boomers here on HN who may be put off by the title, it's not the typical generational hitpiece, but an addressal of them).

Julia puts in a lot of work for these episodes, making sure to read up extensively on the topics before the episode, and inviting guests of varying stances with meaningful experience to contribute. Going as far as inviting multiple guests for an episode, and reading all of said guests published books on the topic before recording. She will often go back after the interviews to offer clarifications to hanging questions that occured during the conversation.

http://rationallyspeakingpodcast.org/245-are-boomers-to-blam...

Julia for me sets the bar for what empathetic and reasoned conversation can be if one is willing to put in the effort.

I enjoyed many of the "The Rest Is History" episodes but oddly not any of the ones that they did in December.

https://play.acast.com/s/the-rest-is-history-podcast

Two really stand out to me 1. Matt Wensing on a life of entrepreneurship and software dev. Pretty recent but I’ve listened twice already.

https://www.indiehackers.com/podcast/236_matt_wensing

2. Ben Carpenter on the James Smith podcast. Two PTs talking about massive life changes seeking happiness and the downsides of life in the UK and mental health. Have listened to this three times now.

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/ben-carpenter/id144472...

These two challenged my beliefs about the state of the environment:

  S4: E18 – Ten Global Trends Every Smart Person Should Know | Marian Tupy
  https://www.jordanbpeterson.com/podcast/s4-e-18-ten-global-trends-marian-tupy/

  S4: E:51 – Apocalypse Never? | Michael Shellenberger
  https://www.jordanbpeterson.com/podcast/s4e51/

This one was riveting, terrifying, and made me realize how important it is to preserve our democracies, if we're lucky enough to live in one:

  S4: E26 – Tyranny, Slavery and Columbia U | Yeonmi Park
  https://www.jordanbpeterson.com/podcast/s4e26/

The Off Menu with Bridget Christie as the guest (it has zero to do with tech):

https://play.acast.com/s/offmenu/ep130-bridgetchristie

Ezra Klein's interview with Noam Chomsky - https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/the-ezra-klein-show/id154...

Even though I was familiar with most of Chomsky's spiel, this was a total joy to listen to and I was very inspired by the great righteous indignation and moral clarity that Chomsky still speaks with and only he can summon. Lots of provocative thoughts on capitalism, class, American politics and a breadth of other topics, as a bonus.

By far, The Program Audio Series has been my favorite podcast of all time. It's a dys/u/topian story of a world where money, god, tech, and society all merge together into one, told in a very interesting format.

It's so good that I reached out to the creator and hired him haha.

He had a very interesting episode about humanity that was my favorite episode of the year: https://www.programaudioseries.com/19-abandonware/

As a disclaimer, I sponsored this episode --- but only because it's awesome.

Many good ones this year, maybe "Short History Of..." - Space race and Moon landing

https://podfollow.com/short-history-of/episode/2966a9d948fb7...

https://podfollow.com/short-history-of/episode/8588f87525136...

I love these kinds of threads, thanks for making it. Favouriting it for later.

My recommendation: Hinge Points podcast, especially Episode 6: Let's Roll. (https://www.patreon.com/posts/hinge-points-6-59759286)

Goes over the influence of 9/11 on the history of the 21st century, especially concerning USA. Incisive and almost terse in how well it describes why 9/11 happened, and if it didn't, how the world would be different.

Odd not to see an episode from the Odd Lots podcast here (going by how often it gets cited in economic/supply chain discussions around here)

My favorite would certainly be an Amp Hour Episode if I knew which one to pick. Have still held out for the annual Keyzermas Episode so that one could easily take the title.Chris Gammell is just an all-around cool dude who's always asking the right questions to get the most out of his guests.

Honorable Mention goes to some reverse engineering podcast that must remain unnamed. Its great but far to infrequent.

Pretty much all early episodes of https://hubermanlab.com — Though it's become a bit lengthy and repetitive lately.

Lex Friedman #199: Roger Reeves: Smuggling Drugs for Pablo Escobar and the Medellin Cartel

Incredible conversation, and Lex did a wonderful job approaching this conversation from an unconventional perspective.

Unexpectedly, Lex Fridman's interview with Richard Wrangham about the role of violance in human history and how we're similar and different from other big apes was really thought provoking and introduced some new interesting concepts/distinctions to me.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/3txWhPWf2YuGN25cIJxm0e?si=J...

A recent 99% Invisible episode on alphabetical order was pretty fascinating. It's based on Judith Flanders's new book about alphabetical order, A Place for Everything. Among things I hadn't considered is how in Chinese "alphabetical order" is based on the number of strokes in the character.

https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/alphabetical-order/

Two other goods ones from the always enjoyable Decoder Ring:

Truly Tasteless Jokes - How "free speech" moved from being a largely left-wing phenomenon to a right-wing phenomenon through an '80s joke book: https://slate.com/podcasts/decoder-ring/2021/12/decoder-ring...

The Tootsie Shot - About filming in New York and an iconic shot you've seen from countless films - https://slate.com/podcasts/decoder-ring/2021/06/tootsie-shot

Finally, both seasons of TMC's The Plot Thickens that aired this year were good listens. Season 2 is on the failed film adaptation of The Bonfire of the Vanities. Season 3 is on Lucille Ball. https://theplotthickens.tcm.com/

And heck, one more film podcast. The Mubi Podcast's episode on the Chinese film "Dream Factory" and how it basically built up that country's film industry was a great story I had never heard before: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mubi-podcast/id1569229...

Huberman Labs podcast is exceptional.

So many episodes are great on their own. But the one on how to optimize your health condenses a lot of the protocols: https://open.spotify.com/episode/7yCNZihpjlmyNLI93SjmO0?si=8...

This is pretty different than most of the other recommendations on here, but the "Johnny Keys" story from Sammy Gravano's podcast, which starts at the end of episode 6, and continues to the beginning of episode 8:

https://youtu.be/oEFjWlgOu1k?t=1260 (this is the point in ep. 6 that the story starts)

It's a little bit ethically questionable to listen to, since the guy is a killer, and he's profiting from it. However, the storytelling in this thing is leagues better than any movie i've seen in the last few years. He's literally sitting in his armchair just talking, and it's so much more engaging than most professionally written stories.

Can’t believe no one has mentioned Acquired! The episode on Standard Oil is extremely good https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/standard-oil-part-i

THE PRIVATDOZENT PODCAST Episode 2: Kurt Gödel's Brilliant Madness

https://www.privatdozent.co/p/episode-2-kurt-godels-brillian...

It’s hard for me to pick one, as I’ve listened to many :)

Here’s my master playlist (the only rss I subscribe on overcast): https://lnns.co/3iXVgJq5MRa

The second round of Jim Keller on the Lex Friedman podcast was my top episode of the year

https://lexfridman.com/jim-keller-2/

Shawn Ryan Show #015 Former Seal Team Six operator goes deep into his mental and physical training, injuries, addictions, relationships, and more. Powerful is the most apt description. Takes him a few minutes to warm up, but is unbelievable after.

Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/episode/0ozFFhC6NS5fZcfRXhM2LZ?si=a... YouTube - https://youtu.be/dWJ_WwWSabw

Lex Fridman talks to Jamie Metzl about the Lab Leak theory. Absolutely fascinating.

https://lexfridman.com/jamie-metzl/

I like a mixture of fiction and nonfiction podcasts. It's harder to say specific episodes for fictional ones without spoilers.

But I'll try. The Magnus Archives wrapped up it's 200 episode run this year, and it's worth a listen if you like spooky story podcasts.

One of my favorite episodes of The Dollop this year was on Trapper Nelson. A man who ate possums, buried his money in his yard, and ran a successful zoo and tourist attraction (he was part of the attraction) in the early 20th century. Truly a case of "they don't make them like that anymore."

Alison McDowell on THC. Really good primer on web 3.0/spatial web, impact investing, ESG, Outcome Based Education, smart contracts, human capital markets, and predatory philanthropy. In general I can't recommend her work enough at wrenchinthegears.com but this episode was a really good starting point.

https://www.thehighersidechats.com/alison-mcdowell-human-cap...

I’ve yet to ever listen to a podcast episode twice, but this Akira the Done album is basically Naval’s podcast set to music and I’ve listened to it too many times now: https://open.spotify.com/album/4SGFW7Rig34Me2NPPA7Eur

This example customer interview on The Software Social Podcast: https://softwaresocial.dev/episodes/customer-interview-part-...

It inspired my to create a podcast dedicate to more like it.

I enjoyed being part of one (if that counts)...

https://www.gcppodcast.com/post/episode-265-sharkmob-games-w...

these threads always bring the worst of my FOMO.

My was this 4-episode mini-series about the development of Halo 2's multiplayer component. Links here: https://smarturl.it/H2Pod

I enjoy Developing Leadership a lot. So much good content: https://www.developingleadership.co/

Wow, I opened this to recommend Fall of Civilizations, but I'm glad to see it's already recommended by the OP.

I have two: Darknet Diaries episode 92 on the pirate bay and the Huberman Lab episode 22 on hypertrophy.

1. The Dan Harmon episode of Good One - a podcast about jokes.

If you like Community, Rick and Morty & love comedy writing this is a fantastic episode, it starts off being about a specific joke, but after that it goes into his writing philosophy/method, being a bad boss and getting better after fucking everything up, and story structure.

https://podtail.com/en/podcast/good-one-a-podcast-about-joke...

2. Interdependence episode 39: World Fairs, WorldBuilding, the bicameral mind, the nightmare of organizing research and the art of memory with Kantbot

A dizzying interview with Kantbot (the Adam Curtis of weird twitter) by musical artist's/technologists Holly Herndon and Mat Dryhurst. Hard to describe but gives you a lot of threads to investigate further.

https://interdependence.fm/episodes/world-fairs-worldbuildin...

3. True Anon Episode 181: 9/11: Twenty Years On the Road

Hosts Brace Belden & Liz Franczak discuss the 20th anniversary of 9/11 with writer Prof. Peter Dale Scott (Deep Politics and the Death of JFK) and editor of Covert Action magazine Aaron Good.

https://soundcloud.com/trueanonpod/911-twenty-years-on-the-r...

4. Wong Notes - Michael League

Rhythm guitarist & producer Cory Wong (Vulfpeck, Cory Wong and the Wongnotes) interviews jazz-fusion bassist / band leader Michael League (Snarky Puppy) about music, artistry, self-worth.

https://wongnotes.captivate.fm/episode/michael-league

5. WTF with Marc Maron episode 1278 - "Cancelled Comedy" w/ Kliph Nesteroff and David Bianculli

Gives some needed historical perspective on comedians complaining about being cancelled. Talks about the history of censorship in comedy. With comedy historian Kliph Nesteroff and Smothers Brothers biographer David Bianculli.

https://www.wtfpod.com/podcast/episode-1278-canceled-comedy-...

PS: It's not freely accessible, but I would also highly recommend the Episode 292 of Radio War Nerd: No Plan for Afghanistan, or "Always Bet Against the American Elite" and Episode 293: The Forever Analogy: Saigon vs Afghanistan., for a superb breakdown of America's involvement in Afghanistan and the reasons it was doomed to fail.

World's Greatest Con: 0101: How To Fool Hitler https://worldsgreatestcon.fireside.fm/2

The whole season is really good, but this is the first episode

Jordan Peterson's interviews with Roland Griffiths and Iain McGilchrist.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGIP-3Q-p_s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Zld-MX11lA

How to save the world, in three easy steps. Bret Weinstein | DarkHorse Podcast

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-to-save-the-world-...

I personally find this to be my favorite because I found it to be the most impactful. Particularly to myself, I ended up reaching out because I saw the jump in heart related issues (likely related to vaccines) while tracking COVID19. I reached out as I saw this podcast and was able to validate several of the items discussed via CDC data.

That put me on a whirlwind journey of being connected to quite a few different people and on conference calls with highly regarded scientists and billionaires, which I never expected -_-

There's a lot more recent and relevant information, particularly on Joe Rogan's podcast (#1747 - Dr. Peter A. McCullough):

https://open.spotify.com/episode/0aZte37vtFTkYT7b0b04Qz?si=A...

Anyway, I don't know generally about favorite in terms of content to others, but it did put me on quite an adventure.