Podcasts are amazing and something that keeps me running (metaphorically during work, and literally when exercising.) Pocketcast is my preferred player, but with one exception… Here are my go-tos, in no particular order:
- Lex Fridman Podcast: a long-format discussion, sometimes about technology, but also frequently about current events. Recent guests (at the time of writing this) include: Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, and George Hotz.
- WAVEFORM: the podcast hosted and produce by MKBHD and his team, and which generally covers consumer technology
- The Ben Shapiro Show: The only strictly political show on this list, Ben and his team at the Daily Wire produce this show daily, which has been my go-to for current events for years. He owns his conservative approach and discloses it upfront, too, which I appreciate. I think I discovered the guy back in mid-2019.
- Chris Williamson: The newest addition to the list, Chris Williamson recently moved from the UK and brings a fresh and curious voice to the world of long-format shows. His discussions aren’t technical, but rather casual discussions that are easy to digest, and I’m inspired by his ability to ask smart questions.
- The Darkhorse Podcast: Host by the couple, Phds Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying are former biology professors, and their background in evolutionary biology specific bring helpful explanations to some modern problems.
- Honestly with Bari Weiss: I don’t know much about Bari herself but I think I heard her name for the first time a year or two ago, likely as a guest on another one of these shows. She brings a liberal perspective to current issues and I’ve come to really appreciate the balance. It’s helped me realize that there are things I can agree with liberals about, as far as values and a common good. I do also distinguish liberal from leftist.
- Huberman Labs: This show has really picked up steam; it’s on the Top 25 Spotify podcasts (#6 in the U.S, and #3 globally,) and also one of those that I hear about in real life (the upstate-NY running community, most recently.) In terms of the information that’s discussed, it has one of the high quality-to-quantity ratios of any show on this list.
- The Joe Rogan Experience : The JRE isn’t pictured above because it’s a Spotify exclusive (and thus the only podcast I don’t listen to on Pocketcast) The legendary show needs no introduction, especially after another 1st-place ranking on Spotify charts, and landing a $200M exclusive deal with Spotify a couple of years ago. source “Joe Rogan has been clearly net-positive for science bringing about lots of different conversations about tons of topics.” – Dr Andrew Huberman, Oct 30, 2023
I enjoy a healthy variety of topics including consumer tech, politics, and world events, and absolutely prefer long-format discussions. The shorter-form content, particularly videos propagated by TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter/X, are terribly detrimental to us, but that’s something for another time… For now, I simply choose to support the healthier and more informative content.