Robinson's Podcast

Norman's Upcoming Book, Gaza's Gravediggers: https://orbooks.com/catalog/gazas-gravediggers/

Norman Finkelstein received his PhD from the Princeton University Politics Department, and is best known for his research on Israel and Palestine.  Norman also appeared on episodes 192, 218, 228, 244, and 250, where he addressed the facts and fictions generated by the Israel-Hamas War, October 6th, allegations of genocide and apartheid, Hezbollah, the Holocaust, and more. In this episode, Robinson and Norman discuss Trump, Netanyahu, Putin, the wars in Ukraine and Iran, and more. Norman’s new book is Gaza’s Gravediggers: An Inquiry into Corruption in High Places (OR Books, 2026).

Norman’s Website: https://www.normanfinkelstein.com

OUTLINE
00:00 No Investigation, No Right to Speak
02:15 Why the War with Iran is Unjustified
09:07 Israel Violated Article II of the UN Charter
13:44 Will the Iran War the End the World in Nuclear War?
21:03 Why Trump Is Underestimating Iran
30:55 How Israel and the United States Tried to Deceive the World About Iran
38:27 Is Israel’s Mentality “Homicidal”?
44:43 What’s Less Justified: Putin’s War on Ukraine or Netanyahu’s on Iran?
01:00:00 More on Ukraine
01:12:31 What Should We Make of Joe Kent?
01:21:00 More on Kent

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University, where he is also a JD candidate in the Law School.

Richard Wolff is Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a visiting professor at The New School, where he works on economics in the Marxist tradition. This is Richard’s tenth  appearance on Robinson’s Podcast. In this episode, Richard and Robinson discuss the ongoing war in Iran. More particularly, they discuss whether it was predictable, how it will affect the United States, Israel, and Europe, what really motivated the war, and more. Richard’s latest book is Understanding Capitalism (Democracy at Work, 2024).

Understanding Capitalism (Book): https://www.democracyatwork.info/understanding_capitalism

Richard’s Website: https://www.rdwolff.com

Economic Update: https://www.democracyatwork.info/economicupdate

OUTLINE
00:00 Was the Iran War Predictable?
05:43 How History Made Trump’s War with Iran Inevitable
15:00 The Historical Perspective
24:45 The War in Iran Is a Catastrophic Mistake for Israel
32:03 Will Europe Survive the War in Iran?
46:32 Is the Iran War the Last Straw for Donald Trump?
53:48 Why China Is Obliterating American Companies
01:03:17 How Trump and Israel Are Ending the American Empire
01:08:35 Is the United States Turning on Donald Trump?
01:13:54 Why Mamdani Is Winning Over New Yorkers
01:17:20 The Iran War Is Really About Oil
01:28:20 What Happens When The People of Iran Say “No More”?
01:39:13 Does AI Mean the End of Capitalism?
01:50:55 Will the United States Lose the War in Iran?

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University, where he is also a JD candidate in the Law School.

Michael Hudson is Distinguished Research Professor of Economics at the University of Missouri, Kansas City and President of the Institute for the Study of Long-Term Economic Trends. He researches domestic and international finance, the history of economics, and the role of debt in shaping class stratification, among many other topics. This is Michael’s sixth appearance on the show. On past episodes, including with Richard Wolff, he and Robinson have neoliberalism, industrial capitalism, the rentier economy, Marxism, and the role of economics in political history. In this episode, Michael and Robinson talk about Donald Trump, the war in Iran, Russia and Ukraine, Israel, China, and the possibility of World War III. Michael’s most recent book is Temples of Enterprise (ISLET, 2024). 

Michael’s Website: https://michael-hudson.com

Temples of Enterprise: https://a.co/d/a3c53dm

OUTLINE
00:10 How Oil Controls US Foreign Policy
10:44 How American Foreign Policy Is Leading to World War III
31:03 Trump’s Neocon War Strategy
34:56 Why Does the United States Need Israel for its Iran War?
41:26 Does the US Finance Terrorism in Ukraine and Israel?
44:16 How the West Provoked Russia’s War in Ukraine
52:53 Why Does the US Support Ukraine?
56:10 How China Became an Economic Superpower
59:49 AI and the Economic War for Global Dominance
01:10:21 Oil, Renewable Energy, and the Shifting Global Power Structure
01:12:25 The US Economy After WWI
01:24:21 Why Europe Fell from WWII to the Present
01:36:45 How Trump Ignores the First Amendment
01:40:20 The Apex of American Power after WWII
01:43:12 Who Will Win the Economic World War?
01:49:25 Why Iran Is Crucial to the World’s Future
01:53:38 The Dismal Future of the American Empire

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University, where he is also a JD candidate in the Law School.

Sara Imari Walker is Professor in the School of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University, where she is Deputy Director of the Beyond Center. Sara is an astrobiologist and theoretical physicist, with research interests in the origins of life, artificial life, life and detection on other worlds. Lee Cronin is Regius Chair of Chemistry at the University of Glasgow. Among his many pursuits are the digitization of chemistry, the discovery of alien life, and the creation of artificial life. In this episode, Robinson, Sara, and Lee discuss the relationship between philosophy and science, quantum physics, time, determinism, AI, and the origin of Life.

Life as No One Knows It: https://a.co/d/2fdKa2e

Lee’s Website: https://www.chem.gla.ac.uk/cronin/

Lee’s Twitter: https://x.com/leecronin

OUTLINE
00:00 Chemistry, Biology, Physics, and Philosophy
07:57 Philosophy and Science
20:58 Is Time an Object?
30:00 More on Time
44:38 On Time and Entropy
51:13 Is the Universe Deterministic?
01:08:54 What’s Wrong with Quantum Physics?
01:17:08 Contingency, Selection, and Evolution
01:29:05 Scientific Temperament
01:44:18 Do We Experience ChatGPT as Human?

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University, where he is also a JD candidate in the Law School.

Tim Maudlin is Professor of Philosophy at NYU and Founder and Director of the John Bell Institute for the Foundations of Physics. Jacob Barandes is Senior Preceptor in Physics at Harvard University, where he works widely across the philosophy of physics, with focuses on the foundations of quantum mechanics, the philosophy of spacetime, and the metaphysics of laws. In this episode, Robinson, Tim, and Jacob discuss Jacob’s novel approach to quantum mechanics, which he calls the “Indivisible Approach”. More particularly, they discuss the problems at the core of quantum mechanics, the ontology of the theory, causality and quantum phenomena, probability, and more. If you’re interested in the foundations of physics, then please check out the JBI, which is devoted to providing a home for research and education in this important area. Any donations are immensely helpful at this early stage in the institute’s life.

Tim’s Website: www.tim-maudlin.site

The John Bell Institute: https://www.johnbellinstitute.org

Jacob’s Website: https://www.jacobbarandes.com

The Stochastic-Quantum Correspondence: https://philosophyofphysics.lse.ac.uk/articles/10.31389/pop.186

Historical Debates over the Physical Reality of the Wave Function: https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.09397

Pilot-Wave Theories as Hidden Markov Models: https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.10569

OUTLINE
00:21 The Problems at the Foundations of Quantum Mechanics
13:00 More on the Problems
26:09 Is the Wave Function a Real Thing?
32:48 Causation, Correlation, and Quantum Mechanics
42:03 Terminological Issues
44:34 Causal Models and the Markov Condition
01:00:57 Can Time Exist Without Change?
01:15:00 On Time and Change
01:30:38 Newtonian Mechanics and the Markov Condition
1:45:00 More on Newtonian Mechanics
2:00:00 More on the Markov Condition
02:17:49 Tim’s Response
02:28:18 Philosophy and Physics
02:32:38 More on Probability
02:42:13 Probability and the Double Slit Experiment
 02:59:42 Why Tim Remains Puzzled

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University, where he is also a JD candidate in the Law School.