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The Peter McCormack Show

The Peter McCormack Show

By: Peter McCormack
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The Peter McCormack Show - politics, macro, Bitcoin and AI, long-form interviews. Twice-weekly conversations about money, power, and the shifts reshaping the next decade.


Peter McCormack interviews politicians, economists, investors, journalists, founders and Bitcoiners. Past guests include Liz Truss, Lyn Alden, Curtis Yarvin, Matt Goodwin, Mike Green, Balaji Srinivasan, Rupert Lowe, Firas Modad, Scott Horton, Jeff Booth, Connor Leahy, Andrea Miotti, Neema Parvini, Dr Tim Gregory and Simon Dixon.


Recurring threads: the debt and inflation endgame, UK political collapse and what comes after, Reform and the populist wave, the Middle East and the American war machine, AI safety and the race for superintelligence, energy and net zero, Bitcoin adoption and policy, and the slow-motion decline of Western institutions.


Long-form - most episodes run 60 to 120 minutes. New episodes 2 to 3 times per week. Video on YouTube and Spotify.


Host: Peter McCormack, a retired rapper from Bedford, UK, trying to understand this crazy world.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Peter McCormack Political Science Politics & Government Social Sciences
Episodes
  • #190 - Sam Lyman - China’s Secret War on American AI

    #190 - Sam Lyman - China’s Secret War on American AI
    Jul 2 2026
    Sam Lyman joins me to discuss how China is allegedly targeting America’s AI buildout, the activist networks fighting data centres and why the race for AI infrastructure has become a national security battle.Sam explains how Chinese influence campaigns, open-source AI models, data centre protests and far-left activist groups may be working together to slow the United States down. We discuss Neville Roy Singham, Code Pink, the Party for Socialism and Liberation, foreign influence, anti-data centre campaigns, and how billions of dollars in AI infrastructure have reportedly been delayed or blocked.We also get into open-source AI, DeepSeek, US frontier models, Anthropic, AI export controls, whether AI doom narratives are being used to build regulatory moats, the risk of superintelligence, data centre moratoriums, socialism in America and why Sam believes the battle is now between Chinese AI and American AI.- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -TIMESTAMPS:00:00:00 - China’s AI War00:00:47 - China Is Sabotaging US AI00:01:02 - The Bot Campaign Against Data Centres00:02:03 - Neville Roy Singham00:03:14 - Why AI Is a Battle for Control00:04:18 - China’s Open-Source AI Strategy00:06:12 - What Americans Fear About AI00:08:23 - Sam’s Background at Treasury and BPI00:10:38 - Is Data Centre Opposition Organic?00:12:32 - The China Influence Network00:13:37 - What Is Code Pink?00:16:10 - The Party for Socialism and Liberation00:18:52 - How Data Centre Protests Slow AI00:23:37 - $24 Billion in AI Buildout Stalled00:27:55 - Why China Wants to Slow US AI00:29:12 - Chinese AI or American AI00:32:03 - Is Chinese AI Harvesting Data?00:36:37 - The US Enters the Open-Source Race00:42:52 - The AI Doomer Debate00:54:17 - The Push for Data Centre Moratoriums- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -CONTACT PETE› Website – http://petermccormack.com› Feedback – https://www.petermccormack.com/contact› Email – me@petermccormack.com› Instagram – /mccormack555› X/Twitter – https://x.com/petermccormack/CONNECT WITH SAM LYMAN› Website – https://www.btcpolicy.org/› X/Twitter – https://x.com/SamLyman33SPONSORS› IREN - https://www.iren.com/› Plaud - https://www.plaud.ai/mccormack- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -LISTEN / SUBSCRIBE› Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/40ruY9K› Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3Wc94Vu› Fountain: https://bit.ly/FountainPM› YouTube: https://bit.ly/YouTube_PM› Rumble: https://bit.ly/RumblePMFILMED BY CURTIS TAYLOR› https://www.curttaylor.co.uk/› https://x.com/curttayloruk/EDITED BY CONOR MCCORMACK› https://x.com/ConorM04- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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    1 hr and 2 mins
  • #189 - Nate Soares - Why Superintelligent AI Could Kill Us All

    #189 - Nate Soares - Why Superintelligent AI Could Kill Us All
    Jun 29 2026
    Nate Soares joins me to discuss the race to superintelligent AI, why alignment remains unsolved and why he believes building machines smarter than humanity could end in catastrophe.Nate explains why modern AI is not programmed like traditional software, but grown through training processes we do not fully understand. We discuss AI escaping labs, recursive self-improvement, why today’s systems are only safe because they are not yet powerful enough to take over and why the danger may not be that AI hates us, but that it does not care about us at all.We also get into OpenAI, Anthropic, Google DeepMind, xAI - the AI companies racing ahead despite the risks, why “turning it off” may not be possible, the case for an international treaty against superintelligence, and why Nate believes we should not give up before the driver wakes up.- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -TIMESTAMPS:00:00:00 - AI That Doesn’t Care About Us00:01:04 - If Anyone Builds This, Everyone Dies00:04:17 - If He’s Right, We Lose Everything00:07:28 - Why Nate Isn’t Anti-AI00:08:32 - From Google and DeepMind to AI Risk00:11:00 - Why Can’t We Make AI Care About Us?00:16:07 - We Can Look Inside, But We Don’t Understand It00:17:20 - The Moment Nate Decided to Write the Book00:20:24 - The Senator Who Already Understood the Risk00:24:04 - How AI Goes From Useful to Terrifying00:32:17 - Could AI Live on a Portable Drive?00:36:13 - Are the AI CEOs Listening?00:39:53 - Why Would We Accept a 10% Risk?00:43:40 - Conor’s Point: We Don’t Get a Choice00:51:10 - Are We Already Racing Towards the Cliff?00:58:28 - The AI That Threatened a Reporter01:15:53 - What Would Winning Look Like?01:21:38 - What Can Ordinary People Do?01:26:31 - Are We Just a Simulation for AI?01:34:26 - Don’t Give Up Before the Driver Wakes Up- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -CONTACT PETE› Website – http://petermccormack.com› Feedback – https://www.petermccormack.com/contact› Email – me@petermccormack.com› Instagram – /mccormack555› X/Twitter – https://x.com/petermccormack/CONNECT WITH NATE SOARES› Website – https://intelligence.org/› Book – https://ifanyonebuildsit.com/› X/Twitter – https://x.com/So8resSPONSORS› IREN - https://www.iren.com/› Plaud - https://www.plaud.ai/mccormack› Incogni - https://incogni.com/peter- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -LISTEN / SUBSCRIBE› Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/40ruY9K› Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3Wc94Vu› Fountain: https://bit.ly/FountainPM› YouTube: https://bit.ly/YouTube_PM› Rumble: https://bit.ly/RumblePMFILMED BY CURTIS TAYLOR› https://www.curttaylor.co.uk/› https://x.com/curttayloruk/EDITED BY CONOR MCCORMACK› https://x.com/ConorM04- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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    1 hr and 40 mins
  • #188 - Rizwan Virk - Simulation Theory, Quantum Physics & The Impact Of AI

    #188 - Rizwan Virk - Simulation Theory, Quantum Physics & The Impact Of AI
    Jun 26 2026
    Rizwan Virk joins me to discuss simulation theory, AI, consciousness and why reality may work more like a video game than a physical universe.Rizwan explains how his experience in the video game industry, virtual reality, venture capital and MIT led him to take the simulation hypothesis seriously. We discuss VR ping pong, AI-generated worlds, smart NPCs, quantum physics, rendered reality, lazy programming, the observer effect, the metaverse Turing test and whether someone may have already built the simulation we are living in.We also get into Philip K. Dick, déjà vu, synchronicity, the simulated multiverse, DMT, UFOs, the problem of evil, life as a quest, near-death experiences, karma, death and whether we would rather live in base reality or a simulation.- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -TIMESTAMPS:00:00:00 - Are We in Base Reality?00:00:59 - Why Simulation Theory Won’t Go Away00:02:55 - The VR Ping Pong Moment00:05:39 - Could We Build a Simulated World?00:06:12 - AI-Generated Reality00:08:36 - Rendering Only What You See00:09:48 - Quantum Physics and the Observer00:12:56 - The Universe as Lazy Programming00:14:11 - How Far Are We From the Simulation Point?00:21:28 - Mapping a Brain Into a Digital World00:26:09 - The Metaverse Turing Test00:33:42 - Did Somebody Already Build Us?00:36:25 - The Simulated Multiverse00:40:04 - Philip K. Dick and The Matrix00:42:50 - Glitches, Déjà Vu and Synchronicity00:48:34 - Are We Choosing Our Characters?00:57:50 - The Four Claims of Simulation Theory01:05:47 - Can the Past Be Rendered on Demand?01:24:07 - DMT, UFOs and the Code of Reality01:27:30 - What If Life Is a Game?- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -CONTACT PETE› Website – http://petermccormack.com› Feedback – https://www.petermccormack.com/contact› Email – me@petermccormack.com› Instagram – /mccormack555› X/Twitter – https://x.com/petermccormack/CONNECT WITH RIZWAN VIRK› Website – https://www.zenentrepreneur.com/› X/Twitter – https://x.com/Rizstanford› Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/rizcambridge/SPONSORS› IREN - https://iren.com/› OneSkin - https://www.oneskin.co/mccormack› Ridge - https://ridge.com/mccormack- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -LISTEN / SUBSCRIBE› Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/40ruY9K› Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3Wc94Vu› Fountain: https://bit.ly/FountainPM› YouTube: https://bit.ly/YouTube_PM› Rumble: https://bit.ly/RumblePM- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -FILMED BY CURTIS TAYLOR› https://www.curttaylor.co.uk/› https://x.com/curttayloruk/EDITED BY CONOR MCCORMACK› https://x.com/ConorM04- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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    1 hr and 37 mins
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In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.