Favorite Podcast Episodes of 2023?

SBF on Odd Lots describing yield farming [1]. For context, this was before the FTX meltdown or any allegations about Alameda using FTX customer funds. Was honestly stunning to hear someone unintentionally explaining their business as a ponzi scheme.

[1] - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sam-bankman-fried-and-...

- "Review" of "Programming as theory building" paper by Peter Naur (of BNF fame): https://overcast.fm/+JrqaObyhE/. The idea that the code is actually a physical manifestation of an _idea_ was so mind-blowing to me. Goes on to explain why team churn is bad for the software, why re-writes happen, how software dies.

- Non-human Biologics, UFO Encounters, and Mexico’s Alien Bodies https://overcast.fm/+WO2ETzarQ/ -- a conversation with one of the navy pilots that testified before congress about UAP. crazy stuff.

- Data-Backed Answers to Personal Finance Controversies: https://overcast.fm/+0OUMIFTyg A few interesting tidbits bits like: "Only one and seven retirees ends up running down the principal" and "Average transaction costs are 6% and average appreciation is. 6% so you need to be in a home for 10 years" before you flip.

Acquired's overview of Costco is a pleasant 3 hours https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/costco

I'm a big fan of listening to Oxide and Friends [1] on my commute. Two of my favorites this year were "On Silicon Valley Bank with Eric Vishria" [1] and "DTrace at 20" [2]. The SVB episode in particular was super interesting to hear from their perspective.

[1] https://oxide.computer/podcasts/oxide-and-friends/1255721

[2] https://oxide.computer/podcasts/oxide-and-friends/1503057

- Scott Aaronson: The Greatest Unsolved Problem in Math / Theories of Everything https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/scott-aaronson-the-gre...

- Marc Andreessen: Future of the Internet, Technology, and AI / Lex Fridman Podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/386-marc-andreessen-fu...

- Solo: The Crisis in Physics / Sean Carroll's Mindscape https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/solo-the-crisis-in-phy...

Most (almost all) of Dan Carlin's podcasts are nothing short of excellent. Twilight of the Æsir Parts I and II are top quality.

Apart from that I used to listen to Mike Duncan's Revolutions series, even though he finished up that project in 2022.

Likewise the BBC produced an Apollo-era podcast called 13 Minute to the Moon, which was excellent, and technical enough to keep even a space nerd like me interested. Shout-out too to the Space Above Us, for technical excellence in all things Mercury to STS.

Wild card was any of the Anomalous Podcast Network's output, which seems to have stopped around May. Look for anything with Dave Clarke or Graeme Rendall in it.

Lazarus Lake on Conversations with Tyler: https://open.spotify.com/episode/75PyLxu7sZa7GkZtOUI3lJ?si=E... (Lazarus Lake organizes ultramarathons. He's a legend. You don't need to be a runner to enjoy this)

Amir Srinivasan on CWT too: https://open.spotify.com/episode/496WOLb5hZmrcH7vt1OqFq?si=6... (I recall the arguing being fun, but not many of the details)

Carl Shulman on Dwarkesh: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3ij1JOaafeXoqT0m6sXtBl?si=_...

(Carl thinks seriously about how to reason about AI scale-up)

Overall Dwarkesh seems like the most underrated podcast atm, with Conversations with Tyler being the best. I also enjoyed some Sean Carroll interviews.

Can’t recommend Ezra Klien’s episodes on Israel and Palestine enough.

There is no specific episode that stands out more than the rest. But any of the content since 10/7 is really great.

I find his coverage to be very nuanced and he’s brought on a bunch of guest with a wide range of viewpoints.

The Call, Episode 809 of This American Life touched me deeply. It's an hour of radio I'll never forget.

https://www.thisamericanlife.org/809/the-call

Three episodes that I really enjoyed (from an engineer-turned-investor's POV):

https://podcasts.apple.com/dk/podcast/palmer-luckey-inventin... (Palmer Luckey)

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a-conversation-with-ch... (Charlie Munger)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcWqzZ3I2cY (Jeff Bezos)

Trueanon’s series about the Falun Gong was pretty funny: https://youtu.be/SzzQkblfF3Q?feature=shared

Didn’t know Shin Yun was so wacky and how a lot of the Chinese organ harvesting myths originated from the Falun Gong.

Last year they did a series called The Game on California’s Synanon cult and that was really good too.

Just a warning: they’ve got some pretty edgy humor (and long rambling intros) and it’s not for everybody.

You Are Not So Smart #257 with Celeste Kidd covers her research on conceptual overlap. https://direct.mit.edu/opmi/article/doi/10.1162/opmi_a_00072... It's psychology for STEM folks.

podcast link: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1a5HmrGiV6K8q9HYlhjLnm

Mindscape 229 with Nita Farahany on Ethics, Law, and Neurotechnology is a banger too. https://open.spotify.com/episode/5F2xk9MicNS7mELYoe9rt5

Age of Miracles [1] - 10 episode series on nuclear energy.

Possible: Saul Griffith on a Clean Energy Future [2] - A great intro to the argument for complete electrification.

[1] https://ageofmiracles.co/

[2] https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/saul-griffith-on-a-cle...

The Freakonomics series on airlines was really great, probably my all round favourite this year.

If it's okay when I've first listened to it in 2023 (if I enjoy a podcast, I listen to the series' previous episodes, so most of my listening is from the last few years, similar to how I don't only read books that were written this year..), provided it's still accurate/contemporary, then these are my recommendations:

English: Lingthusiasm 34: Emoji are Gesture Because Internet (can emojis be used as a language? They discuss what makes a language a language, and why sign languages are languages but "gestures" in general are not and what similarities emojis show from the latter category)

German: AstroGeo episodes "Asteroseismologie" (starquakes) and "Der Atomreaktor Oklo" (a natural nuclear reactor)

Dutch: Napleiten #16: "Stomdronken een ongeluk veroorzaken maar toch onschuldig" (legally causing a vehicle accident on public roads despite being drunk AF)

Andrew Huberman’s “Goals Toolkit” is responsible for me finally losing some stubborn weight this year, and I plan to apply it to other things I want to achieve.

https://www.hubermanlab.com/episode/goals-toolkit-how-to-set...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CrtR12PBKb0

I haven't gone back to re-listen, but here's a selection from what I favorited in my podcast app:

- Changelog and Friends - Even the best rides come to an end (Kelsey Hightower) - https://changelog.com/friends/6

- The Changelog - What it takes to scale engineering (Rachel Potvin) - https://changelog.com/podcast/527

- Ship It - Rust efficiencies at AWS scale (Tim McNamara) - https://changelog.com/shipit/89

- Practical AI - Generative models: exploration to deployment - https://changelog.com/practicalai/240

- Soft Skills Engineering - Staying at a sinking ship and behavioral interview questions - https://softskills.audio/2023/08/14/episode-369-staying-at-a...

- Developer Tea - Career Growth Starts with Improving your Clarity - https://developertea.com/episodes/ae130e5f-239a-450c-9505-9d...

- You Are Not So Smart - Procrastination (Britt Frank) - https://youarenotsosmart.com/2023/02/06/yanss-252-why-procra...

I was blown away by Shelved by Genre [1] this year. It’s a group of 3 reading and discussing Gene Wolfe’s Book of the New Sun series in a sort of book club format.

They’re a pretty academic lot and I’ve found their perspective on the books very rewarding as I read along. Highly recommend!

[1] http://rangedtouch.com/shelved-by-genre/

Playdate Podcast on Ratcheteer[1]

I absolutely adore Links Awakening for the Gameboy and it was a lot of fun listening to game designers talk about it and how they made their own game inspired by it. Includes a healthy dose of video game music composing and inspiration too.

1. https://podcast.play.date/episodes/s01e26/

I love Dan Carlin too, but you have to listen with a critical ear. He endorsed the standard, but very questionable, idea that the US basically had to atom bomb two Japanese cities because if we didn't they'd fight to the last grandmother.

IIRC he also endorsed the now largely discredited idea that the atom bomb attack is what caused the Japanese to surrender.

The two part “Why’d I take speed for twenty years?” episode of Search Engine by PJ Vogt

Part 1: https://overcast.fm/+BBVQRWO5g8

Part 2: https://overcast.fm/+BBVQSkynRM

I've been really into comedy DnD podcasts this year, and highly recommend "Dragon Friends" ( https://thedragonfriends.com/ ), a comedy DnD podcast by Australian comedians done live, with musical accompaniment, every month. I haven't actually caught up to current though, so it doesn't quite fit the brief.

A single 2023 episode I did quite enjoy was the McElroy's live Adventure Zone in Columbus where they all play as reanimated skeletons: https://maximumfun.org/episodes/adventure-zone/the-adventure...

I’ve really been enjoying the “Safety Third” podcasts from William Osman and co - not particularly informational but very entertaining, especially given most of the guys are from a science and engineering background.

Darknet Diaries is also one I recommend - Jack is a great host and storyteller.

https://80000hours.org/podcast/episodes/bryan-caplan-stop-re...

Actionable, sound advice. I class HN as being allowed.

Mel Robbins, episode 84: “Change Your Relationship With Alcohol – How to Control Your Urge to Drink” [1]

[1] https://www.melrobbins.com/podcasts/episode-84

Fear and loathing in new Jerusalem. I gave it a second listen to remember the context behind the recent events in the region. It's fantastic and very close in style to Dan Carlin's Hardcore History.

https://corecursive.com/category/podcast/index.html

These are always interesting

I enjoyed the Heather Radke episode of the "You're Wrong About" podcast. They discuss the book "Butts: A Backstory", which I'm wrapping up here on the holiday break. Insightful stuff.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-most-normal-girl-i...

Steve Coast (OSM founder) on Minds behind Maps [1].

Erik Prince on Shawn Ryan show - the host is a bit cringe but Erik has very unique perspective.

My dream podcast for 2024 would be Erik Prince w/ Dwarkesh (someone a bit smarter to push back and get more insight).

[1] https://youtu.be/uB9NxbnE1i0?si=C8gU9tkmh37kStBd

Radiolab's "The Interstitium" https://radiolab.org/podcast/interstitium

"Who Owns Our Code" parts 1 and 2, by the Go Time podcast

- https://changelog.com/gotime/252

- https://changelog.com/gotime/263

Or "Examining Capitalism's chokepoints" with Cory Doctorow on the Changelog

- https://changelog.com/podcast/535

or "Modernizing packages to ESM" with Mark Eriksen

- https://changelog.com/jsparty/290

Anderson Cooper’s All There Is podcast is overall amazing, but I particularly enjoyed his conversation with Stephen Colbert

Here are two of my favorite odd lots episodes.

How banking worked before computers: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kYpe_K8PzbQ

What it takes to convert commercial buildings to residential buildings: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HNkLcD3PKyk

Sharing YouTube links because they don't have paywall free podcast pages, though the podcast is free to subscribe to (with ads).

+1 on those two Hardcore History podcasts, they were really interesting.

Joscha Bach is always an interesting guy, this was his latest appearance on Lex Fridman's podcast [0].

Edit: If we're including longform video essays, Down The Rabbit Hole made a 6 hour video on the history of Eve Online [1]. It's interesting to see how pure capitalist systems evolved and shaped the game.

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8qJsk1j2zE

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCSeISYcoyI

Surprised there's not more Lex Fridman recommendations. This past year I really enjoyed his discussions with Roger Penrose, Stephen Wolfram, Sam Altman, John Carmack, Sam Harris, Jordan Peterson.. but if I had to pick one it would be either Edward Frenkel or Joscha Bach.

2023 is the year I divorced podcasts. Don't feel like I missed much.