Podcast · Tech & Science

The Last Invention

The AI revolution has begun – the product of a seventy-year quest by scientists, mathematicians, and visionaries who set out to build machines that could think. But what began as a fringe idea has now become one of the most powerful forces of the 21st century. This is the story of that journey: its

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New episodes: Weekly
Typical length: 52 min
Latest: 24 Sep 2026
Language: English

Latest episode

24 Sep 2026 · 51 min

Street Fight Part III: Can We End It?

Everyone agrees that street homelessness is a problem to solve. But that’s where the agreement ends. Today, we explore the two camps that think they’ve found an answer — one that argues for more resources and the other that argues for more rule of law. THIS EPISODE FEATURES: Iain De Jong, Stephen Eide, Estela Lopez, Mark Horvath, Traci Park LINKS: ⁠Louis C.K. bit⁠ ⁠Iain De Jong's company⁠ ⁠Iain De Jong’s book, The Book on Ending Homelessness⁠ ⁠A few⁠ ⁠studies⁠ ⁠on Housing First⁠ ⁠The Daily Show segment on Housing First⁠ ⁠Stephen Eide’s critique of Housing First⁠ ⁠2019 progress report on…

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Earlier episodes 17 most recent

17 Sep 2026 · 38 min

Street Fight Part II: Cruel & Unusual

Homelessness today looks very different than it did in the 1980s, when American cities first woke up to this crisis. Today, we explore the legal battles that turned survival outside into a constitutional question. You can hear the full series right now when you become a Longview subscriber by visiting us⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠ THIS EPISODE FEATURES: Estela Lopez, Kevin Cope LINKS: ⁠⁠⁠⁠Estela Lopez’s organization⁠ ⁠Los Angeles magazine article that features Lopez⁠ ⁠Jones v. City of Los Angeles settlement⁠ ⁠Martin v. City of Boise initial opinion⁠ ⁠Martin v. City of Boise amended opinion⁠ ⁠NPR story…
10 Sep 2026 · 43 min

Street Fight Part I: Hobos, Bums, and the Homeless

What we call “homelessness” is a relatively modern phenomenon. Today, we tell the story of its emergence and why, in the 1980s, one woman fought so fervently for her right to live on a New York City street corner. You can hear the full series right now when you become a Longview subscriber by visiting us⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠here⁠THIS EPISODE FEATURES:Stephen EideLINKS:⁠60 Minutes segment on Joyce Brown⁠⁠Stephen Eide at the Manhattan Institute⁠⁠The New York Civil Liberties Union⁠ ⁠Jack London’s memoir of his hobo years, The Road⁠⁠Joyce Brown’s obituary⁠⁠New York magazine story on Brown⁠⁠Retro Report piece…
20 Jul 2026 · 53 min

Presenting: Book Keeper

Today we are sharing with you the first episode of a new series we’ve made here at Longview, called Book Keeper. In our first episode of this series, host Megan Phelps-Roper, more than 10 years after leaving the Westboro Baptist Church, returns to the Bible. Even though she is no longer what most would consider a “believer,” she wants to explore what ancient wisdom still lives in these stories. And she begins with a tale of profound betrayal and reconciliation. RESOURCES: The Book of Genesis — Chapters 37 to 45 CREDITS: This episode of Book Keeper was produced by Matthew Boll, with editing…
S1 · E13 · 16 Apr 2026 · 21 min

Sam Altman’s Attacker, In His Own Words

In this episode we talk with Daniel Alejandro Moreno-Gama, the man who was recently arrested and charged with attempting to kill Sam Altman. Several months before the attack, our team contacted a young man posting on Discord under the handle "Butlerian Jihadist," who referenced “Luigi-ing tech CEOs” to our producer. He agreed to an interview and to answer questions about his background and how he came to believe that AGI must be stopped for humanity to survive. To leave a comment and sign up for our mailing list visit us at our website ⁠here.⁠ To support our ability to report more stories…
S1 · E12 · 9 Apr 2026 · 40 min

Wetwear

This episode was originally reported on our podcast Reflector. You can hear this story and many more by visiting us here What if the next great leap in computing wasn't made of silicon — but of living human brain cells? Reporter Greg Warner takes us inside the lab of Hon Weng Chong, an Australian computer engineer who has built a biological computer: a device that houses actual human neurons in a petri dish, teaches them to play Pong using reward and punishment, and is now being sold to medical researchers, crypto gamers, and roboticists with very big dreams. Along the way, Andy and Greg dig…
S1 · E11 · 20 Feb 2026 · 1 hr 16 min

The AI Skeptics

In this episode, we dive into the views of the people who think the AGI race is being oversold, misunderstood, or misframed. As you’ll hear, we break them down into three distinct camps: “AI Is Grift” (a tech-industry con), “Wrong Path” (LLMs can’t reach AGI without new ideas), and “AI as Normal Technology” (powerful, but adoption will be slow and institution-bound). Through interviews with Ed Zitron, Gary Marcus, and Princeton’s Arvind Narayanan, the episode argues that the real fight isn’t just about capability—it’s about incentives, architecture, and how human systems actually change.…
S1 · E10 · 27 Jan 2026 · 52 min

“Build the AI Wall” with Steve Bannon

Today, Andy interviews Steve Bannon and his War Room tech editor, Joe Allen. They make the populist right-wing case for breaking up Big Tech, forcing transparency on frontier AI labs, and blocking “AI amnesty” efforts that would preempt state oversight. Bannon frames AI as a species-level inflection point driven by what he calls “broligarch” elites pushing “techno-feudalism,” warning that the public is underwriting opaque labs while losing jobs, leverage and eventually autonomy. LINKS: War Room Podcast Dark Aeon by Joe Allen CREDITS: This episode of The Last Invention was reported and…
S1 · E9 · 19 Dec 2025 · 1 hr 2 min

Ezra Klein on the Uncertain Politics of A.I.

Ezra Klein – New York Times opinion columnist and an influential voice on the American left – joins us at a hinge moment in the A.I. revolution. As artificial intelligence accelerates, Klein examines what’s at stake politically, socially, and morally: the role that government should play in shaping this technology, the disruptions he believes matter most, and how to think clearly when the landscape is shifting so rapidly. LINKS: Ezra Klein’s book Abundance The Ezra Klein Show This Changes Everything CREDITS: This episode of The Last Invention was reported and produced by Andy Mills, Megan…
S1 · E8 · 20 Nov 2025 · 54 min

EP 8: The Accelerationists

Meet the accelerationists: a rising movement that believes expediting AI development is not only inevitable but morally necessary – humanity’s best chance at transcending its limits. What happens when the world’s most powerful technologists treat AI progress as a duty rather than a danger? THIS EPISODE FEATURES: Olivier Oullier, Guido de Croon, Alex Williams, Reid Hoffman, Guillaume Verdon/“Beff Jezos” LINKS: Beff Jezos/Guillaume Verdon’s Twitter David Sinclair’s website Olivier Oullier’s Company Alex Williamss is a contributor here Reid Hoffman’s Personal Website CREDITS: This episode of…
S1 · E7 · 13 Nov 2025 · 55 min

EP 7: The Scouts

A decade ago, the leading minds in AI gathered to make sure this technology would benefit everyone. Today, those hopes are colliding with the reality of an AI arms race. Today, game theorist Liv Boeree and philosopher William MacAskill lay out what they see as the “narrow path” between a future of limitless potential and one of irreversible loss. THIS EPISODE FEATURES: Max Tegmark, Nick Bostrom, Liv Boeree, William MacAskill LINKS: Max Tegmark’s book “Life 3.0, Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence” Nick Bostrom's book "Superintelligence" Liv Boeree’s Website Liv Boeree’s Podcast…
S1 · E6 · 6 Nov 2025 · 57 min

EP 6: The AI Doomers

What happens when some of the most idealistic techno-optimists come to believe that superintelligence poses a threat to humanity's survival? Today, the best case for the worst case scenario. We sit down with Nate Soares and Connor Leahy and ask them to make their case for why we need to stop ASI, before it’s too late. THIS EPISODE FEATURES: Connor Leahy, Natasha Vita-More, Max More, Keach Hagey, Nate Soares LINKS: Nate Soares’s book (with Eliezer Yudkowsky) If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies Connor Leahy’s AI safety startup Conjecture Natasha Vita-More’s books CREDITS: This episode of The…
S1 · E5 · 23 Oct 2025 · 52 min

EP 5: Contact

In the strange months after ChatGPT’s release, the world made contact with something new. A tech CEO begged to be regulated, a chatbot seemed to fall in love, and the godfathers of AI became frightened by the implications of what they’d spent their lives building. THIS EPISODE FEATURES: Keach Hagey, Kevin Roose, Yoshua Bengio, Geoffrey Hinton LINKS: Keach Hagey’s book The Optimist Sam Altman testifies at Senate artificial intelligence hearing, May 16, 2023 Sam Altman testifies at Senate hearing on artificial intelligence, May 8, 2025 Kevin Roose’s article on Sydney Kevin’s podcast: Hard Fork…
S1 · E4 · 16 Oct 2025 · 1 hr 2 min

EP 4: Speedrun

Is the only way to stop a bad guy with an AGI… a good guy with an AGI? In a twist of technological irony, the very people who warned most loudly about the existential dangers of artificial superintelligence—Elon Musk, Sam Altman, and Dario Amodei among them—became the ones racing to build it first. Each believed they alone could create it safely before their competitors unleashed something dangerous. This episode traces how their shared fear of an “AI dictatorship” ignited a breakneck competition that ultimately led to the release of ChatGPT. THIS EPISODE FEATURES: Karen Hao, Keach Hagey,…
S1 · E3 · 9 Oct 2025 · 51 min

EP 3: Playing the Wrong Game

What if the path to a true thinking machine was found not just in a lab… but in a game? For decades, AI’s greatest triumphs came from games: checkers, chess, Jeopardy. But no matter how many trophies it took from humans, it still couldn’t think. In this episode, we follow the contrarian scientists who refused to give up on a radical idea, one that would ultimately change how machines learn. But their breakthrough came with a cost: incredible performance, at the expense of understanding how it actually works. THIS EPISODE FEATURES: Yoshua Bengio, Liv Boeree, Geoffrey Hinton, Karen Hao, Keach…
S1 · E2 · 2 Oct 2025 · 54 min

EP 2: The Signal

In 1951, Alan Turing predicted machines might one day surpass human intelligence and 'take control.' He created a test to alert us when we were getting close. But seventy years of science fiction later, the real threat feels like just another movie plot. THIS EPISODE FEATURES: Connor Leahy, Max Tegmark, Robin Hanson, Karen Hao, Nick Bostrom, Sam Harris, and Justin Murphy LINKS: Karen Hao’s book “Empire of AI” Nick Bostrom's book "Superintelligence" CREDITS: This episode of The Last Invention was reported and produced by Andy Mills, Gregory Warner, Andrew Parsons, Megan Phelps-Roper, Matthew…
S1 · E1 · 2 Oct 2025 · 36 min

EP 1: Ready or Not

A tip alleging a Silicon Valley conspiracy leads to a much bigger story: the race to build artificial general intelligence — within the next few years — and the factions vying to accelerate it, to stop it, or to prepare for its arrival. FEATURING: Mike Brock, Kevin Roose, Geoffrey Hinton, Connor Leahy, William MacAskill, Liv Boeree, Sam Harris, and Yoshua Bengio LINKS: Sam Harris 2016 TED Talk, Can We Build AI Without Losing Control Over It Nick Bostrom's book Superintelligence Sam Harris' Making Sense podcast Center for AI Safety Hard Fork podcast Geoffrey Hinton’s resignation coverage: Why…
15 Sep 2025 · 2 min

Introducing: The Last Invention

For over seventy years, technologists have dreamed of building a true “thinking machine.” An artificial intelligence so powerful it would reshape every aspect of human life. Would it unlock unimaginable abundance? Or bring about our destruction? Today, many of the people closest to the latest A.I. breakthroughs believe that moment has arrived. Some are walking away from their jobs to sound the alarm. Others argue it can’t be stopped, and the only choice is to unite as a society and try to get ready. Still others dismiss the fears, convinced we’re entering a thrilling new chapter of human…

About The Last Invention

The Last Invention is a English tech & science podcast from Longview. Melo plays each episode straight from the publisher's own feed — no ads added, no account needed — and remembers where you stopped, in this browser only.

Publisher: Longview
Language: English
Category: Tech & Science
New episodes: Weekly
Typical length: 52 min
Latest episode: 24 Sep 2026
Feed: RSS — paste into any podcast app
Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1839942885

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