The Peter McCormack Show

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.

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TIMESTAMPS:
00:00:00 - AI That Doesn’t Care About Us
00:01:04 - If Anyone Builds This, Everyone Dies
00:04:17 - If He’s Right, We Lose Everything
00:07:28 - Why Nate Isn’t Anti-AI
00:08:32 - From Google and DeepMind to AI Risk
00:11:00 - Why Can’t We Make AI Care About Us?
00:16:07 - We Can Look Inside, But We Don’t Understand It
00:17:20 - The Moment Nate Decided to Write the Book
00:20:24 - The Senator Who Already Understood the Risk
00:24:04 - How AI Goes From Useful to Terrifying
00:32:17 - 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 Choice
00:51:10 - Are We Already Racing Towards the Cliff?
00:58:28 - The AI That Threatened a Reporter
01:15:53 - 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

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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/So8res

SPONSORS
› IREN - https://www.iren.com/
› Plaud - https://www.plaud.ai/mccormack
› Incogni - https://incogni.com/peter

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LISTEN / SUBSCRIBE
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FILMED BY CURTIS TAYLOR
› https://www.curttaylor.co.uk/
› https://x.com/curttayloruk/

EDITED BY CONOR MCCORMACK
› https://x.com/ConorM04

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

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.

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TIMESTAMPS:
00:00:00 - Are We in Base Reality?
00:00:59 - Why Simulation Theory Won’t Go Away
00:02:55 - The VR Ping Pong Moment
00:05:39 - Could We Build a Simulated World?
00:06:12 - AI-Generated Reality
00:08:36 - Rendering Only What You See
00:09:48 - Quantum Physics and the Observer
00:12:56 - The Universe as Lazy Programming
00:14:11 - How Far Are We From the Simulation Point?
00:21:28 - Mapping a Brain Into a Digital World
00:26:09 - The Metaverse Turing Test
00:33:42 - Did Somebody Already Build Us?
00:36:25 - The Simulated Multiverse
00:40:04 - Philip K. Dick and The Matrix
00:42:50 - Glitches, Déjà Vu and Synchronicity
00:48:34 - Are We Choosing Our Characters?
00:57:50 - The Four Claims of Simulation Theory
01:05:47 - Can the Past Be Rendered on Demand?
01:24:07 - DMT, UFOs and the Code of Reality
01:27:30 - What If Life Is a Game?

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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

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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

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FILMED BY CURTIS TAYLOR
› https://www.curttaylor.co.uk/
› https://x.com/curttayloruk/

EDITED BY CONOR MCCORMACK
› https://x.com/ConorM04

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

Danny Goler doesn't just argue we're living in a simulation - he claims he's found a way to interact with whoever is running it and that we are the AI they're training before we're "let out to play." His case for simulation theory is built on the hard problem of consciousness, the DMT "code," and a laser experiment that thousands of people say they can replicate.

In this interview we discuss idealism vs physicalism, whether AI can ever be conscious, the "architect" running infinite worlds to answer one unanswerable question, why he thinks the Ten Commandments were an alignment manual and what changes about how we should live if any of it is true.

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TIMESTAMPS:
00:00:00 - Proof We Live in a Simulation?
00:01:03 - The Hard Problem of Consciousness
00:02:49 - Can Matter Create Experience?
00:04:50 - What Is Consciousness?
00:05:04 - Is Consciousness Fundamental?
00:08:24 - Is the Universe Conscious?
00:11:35 - Does Consciousness Need an Observer?
00:16:45 - Can the Hard Problem Be Solved?
00:20:08 - Could AI Become Conscious?
00:23:48 - AI Black Boxes and Consciousness
00:28:56 - Why Does Consciousness Exist?
00:31:15 - Are We Living in a Simulation?
00:35:45 - Are Humans the AGI in Training?
00:40:41 - DMT and Other Realities
00:45:07 - The DMT Molecule
00:48:51 - The Entity in the Room
00:58:32 - The Laser Code Experiment
01:03:04 - 10,000 People Seeing the Same Code
01:15:48 - Testing the Code of Reality
01:20:28 - Can We Escape the Simulation?

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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 DANNY GOLER
› YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@dangothoughts
› Danny’s Website - https://dannygoler.com/
› Retreat Website - https://corretreat.com/
› Newsletter - https://go.codeofreality.org/start--aeeea
› Non-profit website - https://codeofreality.org/
› IG - https://www.instagram.com/dannygoler/
› Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61586952941889
› X - https://x.com/GolerDanny

SPONSORS
› IREN - https://www.iren.com/
› Ledn - https://ledn.io/peter

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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

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FILMED BY CURTIS TAYLOR
› https://www.curttaylor.co.uk/
› https://x.com/curttayloruk/

EDITED BY CONOR MCCORMACK
› https://x.com/ConorM04

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

Rupert Russell joins me to discuss the hidden power of prices, the chaos of financial markets and whether the economy is really just a global game of Monopoly.

Rupert explains how price shocks have shaped history, from bread riots and the Arab Spring to housing, oil, food and the financial crisis. We discuss derivatives, futures markets, commodity speculation, Goldman Sachs, central banks, inflation, asset managers and why the price of essential goods can become politically explosive.

We also get into AI, scarcity, status, the future of work, whether the price system breaks in a world of abundance, and why Rupert thinks The Matrix is a better model for our future than Terminator or Ready Player One.

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TIMESTAMPS:
00:00:00 - Is the Economy Just a Game?
00:00:56 - The Horror of Our Economic System
00:01:39 - Why Prices Shape History
00:05:15 - The Sandpile Theory of Society
00:07:38 - How Governments Manipulate Prices
00:12:00 - Housing and the Broken Social Contract
00:16:10 - How Derivatives Began
00:19:36 - Futures, Farmers and Speculators
00:23:24 - When Insurance Became Gambling
00:27:02 - The Road to the Financial Crisis
00:32:18 - Hayek, Friedman and Price Signals
00:36:20 - How Food Became Financialised
00:41:23 - What Pushes Food Prices Up?
00:49:13 - Did Global Markets Break Economics?
00:54:08 - What Is the Real Price?
01:03:57 - Who Really Runs the Economy?
01:11:28 - The Global Game of Monopoly
01:19:24 - Is the Market Now Correlated to AI?
01:36:14 - AI and the End of Scarcity
01:50:06 - Terminator, Matrix or Ready Player One?

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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 RUPERT RUSSELL
› Website – https://www.rupertrussell.com/
› Price Wars – https://www.hachette.co.uk/titles/rupert-russell/price-wars/9781474613996/
› The Last Sacrifice – https://www.anti-worldsreleasing.co.uk/pages/last-sacrifice

SPONSORS
› IREN - https://www.iren.com/
› Ledn - https://ledn.io/peter
› OneSkin - https://www.oneskin.co/mccormack

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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

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FILMED BY CURTIS TAYLOR
› https://www.curttaylor.co.uk/
› https://x.com/curttayloruk/

EDITED BY CONOR MCCORMACK
› https://x.com/ConorM04

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

Fernando Nikolic joins me to discuss the AI productivity explosion, one-person companies and what happens when software becomes something anyone can build.

Fernando explains how he now runs a company as the only human in it, using AI agents to build systems, process data and operate at a level that previously would have required a team, funding and infrastructure. We discuss Claude, Gemini, vibe coding, AI agents, internal tools, the collapse of traditional software moats and why the cost of building has fallen so dramatically.

We also get into the SaaS apocalypse, AI slop, creativity, physical media, culture, democracy, AI-powered accountability, Milei’s Argentina and why Fernando has become Bitcoin black pilled.

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TIMESTAMPS:
00:00:00 - The One-Person Company
00:01:16 - Peter’s AI Breakthrough
00:04:02 - Front-End Coding Is Dead
00:07:35 - Fernando’s One-Human Company
00:11:13 - Building an AI Media Company
00:18:05 - You Can’t Build as Fast as You Think
00:22:14 - The Danger of Doing Everything
00:25:35 - Why AI Content Is Slop
00:27:12 - Can AI Make Us Human Again?
00:28:22 - The Internet Made Us Dumber
00:31:34 - Humans Are Not Robots
00:36:24 - AI and the Future of Film
00:43:57 - Starting a Company With AI
00:48:15 - What Does This Mean in Five Years?
00:51:32 - The SaaS Apocalypse
00:56:39 - The Shape of Companies
00:59:40 - Abundance, Inequality and AI
01:03:20 - The Gap Is Now
01:06:24 - Holding Politicians to Account With AI
01:18:03 - The Bitcoin Black Pill

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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 FERNANDO NIKOLIC
› Website – https://perception.to/
› X/Twitter – https://x.com/basedlayer

SPONSORS
› IREN - https://www.iren.com/
› Ridge - https://ridge.com/mccormack
› OneSkin - https://www.oneskin.co/mccormack

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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

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