Chris Williamson Podcast

Dr. David Spiegel is a psychiatrist, Stanford professor, and leading authority on hypnosis and stress-related health. What exactly is hypnosis? Most of us picture it as a magician’s trick, when someone dangles a watch, your eyes get heavy, and suddenly you’re suggestible. But that barely scratches the surface. The real question is, what’s the true purpose of hypnosis? And what if we aren’t just hypnotized during those sessions, but in some sense all the time, walking through life under subtle trances we don’t even notice? ...

MacKenzie Price is an entrepreneur, podcaster, and co-founder of Alpha Schools. Just how broken is education? For fifty years, lofty promises in education have yielded dismal results. Now, with AI, infinite knowledge at our fingertips, and personalized one-on-one learning, how radically different could the school of the future look? Expect to learn what is fundamentally broken about the current education and school system, what kills motivation to excel in school for kids the most, if the issue with addiction to screen time and technology is to blame for lack of performance, how AI will revolutionize the education sector and which schools are already ahead of the curve, How Alpha school convinces skeptical parents that this radically different system will benefit their child, and much more… ...

Dwarkesh Patel is a writer, researcher & podcaster. The rise of AI marks the next great technological revolution, one that could reshape every aspect of our lives in just a few years. But how close are we to its golden age? And what warnings does the global AI race hold about the double-edged nature of progress? Expect to learn what Dwarkesh has realised about human learning and human intelligence from architecting AI learning, if AGI is right around the corner and how far away it might be, if most Job Displacement Predictions right or wrong, why recent studies show that tools such as ChatGPT make our brains less active and our writing less original, what Dwarkesh’s favourite answer to AI’s creativity question, what he biggest things about America/West that China doesn’t understand, the best bull case for AI growth ahead and much more… ...

Spencer Greenberg is a mathematician, founder, CEO & creator of ClearerThinking.org How much does IQ really matter? Most of us have met people on both ends of the spectrum and wondered where we stand and what that means for our future. But is IQ truly fixed, or can it be shaped in some very surprising ways? Expect to learn how much IQ matters in all areas of your life, what the pubic misunderstands about IQ, if we should be treating intelligence more like a skill than an inherent trait, why the obsession with IQ might just be a form of intellectual status-signaling, why imposter syndrome is shockingly common and some counterintuitive benefits to imposter syndrome, if traits like narcissism or sociopathy can ever be adaptive or useful, the most common misinterpretations of the Dunning-Kruger effect, and much more… ...

Dr Robert King is a psychologist, professor at University College Cork, and researcher on the evolutionary function of female orgasm. What makes the female orgasm so mysterious? For generations, men across the globe have sought to decipher it, and many women share their curiosity as well. So why does the female orgasm even exist? What’s its evolutionary purpose? And have scientists like Dr. Robert King finally cracked the code? Expect to learn what most people don’t understand about the female orgasm, why women have multiple orgasms and men don’t, the biggest predictors of the female orgasm, how much female desire of men is driven by other female’s desire of those men, what women want in men sexually, if penis size and length are as bog of factors as men tend to think, if there are similarities in reproductive anatomy across males and females, and much more… ...

Ray Dalio is the founder of Bridgewater Associates, billionaire investor, philanthropist and an author. How do countries actually go broke? In a world of abundance, it’s easy to think the good times will last. But with global debt soaring, we may be nearing an unprecedented economic reckoning. History shows these cycles repeat; the question is, can we escape collapse and find a path to prosperity before it’s too late? Expect to learn why Ray got interested in how and why countries go broke, how money and debt actually work, the 5 major forces that shaped history, how the debt cycle works to make the rich richer, how politics impact they global world order, what AI will do to disrupt the world as we know it, what most people get wrong about how countries actually fall apart, and much more… ...

James Bloodworth is a journalist reporting on working-class life and society, podcaster, and an author. The manosphere isn’t what you think. Even though it is often labeled as toxic and extreme, the truth is a bit more complicated. So what’s really going on with men, dating, and masculinity as of today? Expect to learn what the current state of the “manosphere” is, what constitutes being a part of it and what most people get wrong about it, what the rise and fall of the pickup community tell us about what men actually want versus what they’ve been told they should want, why the manosphere got harder and more political as started to grow, why gyms now serve as sanctuaries for disempowered men, what a truly male-inclusive progressive politics would look like, and much more… ...

Joe Folley is a philosopher, writer, and host of the Unsolicited Advice YouTube channel. Philosophy has a way of finding us in one form or another, sometimes in a book, sometimes in a moment of crisis. Thinkers like Nietzsche and Camus have helped shape how we see life, death, and everything in between. But can these ideas truly help us live better, or are we just dressing up our confusion in big words? ...

Rory Sutherland is one of the world’s leading consumer behaviour experts, the Vice Chairman of Ogilvy Advertising and an author. The world is evolving at an unprecedented pace. With the rise of AI, we’re witnessing a collision between the old world and the new. As technology advances, the question becomes: how can innovation repair outdated systems and shape the future in marketing and beyond? Expect to learn about Rory’s first experience to Buccee’s, what Rory’s thoughts are on Waymo, Autonomous driving and the current experience of going through airports, what are some unknown gems in the UK to visit that no one knows about, how Rory would improve food delivery apps, the future of AI in marketing and AI wearables, Rory’s advice for what people should do to optimise for attention, and much more… ...

I hit 3.7 million Subscribers on YouTube!! To celebrate, I asked for questions from YouTube, X, and Instagram, so here’s another 90 minutes of me trying to answer as many as possible. Expect to learn all about my new hairstyle, how to best deal with procrastination, which people are up next on my “Mount Rushmore” of podcast guests, what the current state of my health is, the best tips to manage stress, when podcast merch will be coming to a closet near you, which future music guests I want on the pod, the real power of money, and much more… ...