History of Philosophy Audio Archive

SAURON INCORPORATED: A Corporate History of Palantir (feat. the Bad Role Models) Part 1: Peter Thiel Crawls Out of an Apartheid-Era Uranium Mine and into the White House

SOUND CREDIT: The Chamber Stage (YouTube) [https://youtu.be/nwbkNz_lOHo] Support the boys (Thomas Vanek & Richard Sinex) and I on Patreon and YouTube: https://patreon.com/c/hemlockpatreon [https://patreon.com/c/hemlockpatreon] https://www.youtube.com/@hemlock-yt [https://www.youtube.com/@hemlock-yt] Because someone will ask: the Nixon tape is from Feb 1st 1972 and features the Reverend Billy Graham giving his fascinating interpretation of the Jewish Question in the Oval Office. Nixon concludes (its' a little garbled on the tape) by saying "I believe it. I can't say it but I believe it." https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/white-house-tapes/662/conversation-662-004 [https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/white-house-tapes/662/conversation-662-004] The books in question are "The Contrarian" by Max Chafkin (the better book, for the record) and "The Philosopher in the Valley" by Michael Steinberger.

Escape from the TechnoSphere feat. Jacob Ward: Sam Altman, AI Girlfriends, Karp and Thiel, the Dubious Hobbits of Palantir, Jevon's Paradox, and The Unstoppable Onslaught of Clanker-Made Slop

Looks like we're stuck with the Bad Elves, Frodo. You can find Jake’s work on his website [https://www.theripcurrent.com/], (The Rip Current) and you can find his podcast (same name) on Spotify, Apple, and YouTube. His 2022 book The Loop: How Technology is Creating a World Without Choices and How to Fight Back is available on Amazon [https://a.co/d/g6vJ2DP]. He also writes under The Rip Current on Substack: https://theripcurrent.substack.com/ [https://theripcurrent.substack.com/] Support my work and keep this channel alive on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/HemlockPatreon [https://www.patreon.com/c/HemlockPatreon]

Nuclear Cascade with Jack Kennedy - Nukes in South Korea, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, New Cold War with China, Russia/Ukraine, Deterrence, Iran's/Iraq's WMDs, NeoCons, and Missile Defense

Hemlock #39 Nuclear war, and nuclear risk, are still just as real and just as close as they have been during the tensest eras of the Cold War. I had questions about where suspected nuclear flashpoints were forming - in South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Japan, and Iran - and wanted to review Trump's record of militarizing outer space, resuming nuclear testing, pre-emptively attacking Iran's nuclear reactor sites, and spending billions in a never-ending American quest for "Star Wars" or missile defense (in this latest iteration: not Reagan's SDI, but rather The Golden Dome). Which is why I invited Jack on the show. Jack Kennedy [https://thebulletin.org/biography/jack-kennedy/] is the nuclear risk editorial fellow for the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. He is a doctoral candidate and research associate at the Centre for International Security at the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin. His research focuses include strategic stability under conditions of multipolarity, extended deterrence, and coercive diplomacy. He previously worked at the European Peacebuilding Liaison Office, and as a journalist. He holds a master’s degree from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.  You can read Jack's very insightful article Washington's neglect of South Korea's security concerns is a proliferation problem here [https://thebulletin.org/2025/10/washingtons-neglect-of-south-koreas-security-concerns-is-a-proliferation-problem/]. We had a wide-ranging and largely in-tune conversation about horizontal proliferation, nuclear latency, real policy wonk shit like specific treaties, and dug into the nuclear histories of the US, Iraq, Pakistan, South Africa, and North Korea. All this to say: this is how you don't blow up the world. References: 1981 Iraqi Osirak Reactor Bombing (Operation Opera) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Opera] Seymour Hersh Article about Iran's Nuclear Reactor Strike: I sort-of misremembered this article - estimates vary on how much the US strike set back the program. I said 'sixty days' which I heard somewhere but can't recall. Sy Hersh suggests 'years' but others imagine less, given that the centrifuges were likely not destroyed but merely buried. The size of the setback is ultimately immaterial to the point being made, a question of tactics. The principle of the strike itself was what made the situation dangerous and destabilizing and ultimately unworkable. https://seymourhersh.substack.com/p/was-it-obliteration?utm_source=publication-search [https://seymourhersh.substack.com/p/was-it-obliteration?utm_source=publication-search]

Strange Attractor: The Hallucinatory Life of Terence McKenna - Graham St John on McKenna's Life and Work, Psilocybin and DMT, Psychedelic History, Alchemy, the Experiment at La Chorrera, +the Eschaton

Buy Graham's book on Terence on Amazon! [https://a.co/d/8emQSlN] Graham's website: https://www.edgecentral.net/ [https://www.edgecentral.net/] Reputable information about psilocybin and harm reduction: https://www.erowid.org/plants/mushrooms/mushrooms.shtml [https://www.erowid.org/plants/mushrooms/mushrooms.shtml] James Fadiman's book/manual: https://www.psychedelicexplorersguide.com/ [https://www.psychedelicexplorersguide.com/] "We are the inheritors of one million years of striving for the unspeakable" -Terence McKenna More on Patreon: https://patreon.com/c/hemlockpatreon [https://patreon.com/c/hemlockpatreon]

To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf (Part 1)

A Creative Commons Zero [https://creativecommons.org/public-domain/cc0/] "No Rights Reserved" free, open-source audiobook, narrated by William Engels. This is from Part 1, titled "The Window," Chapters 1-5. One of the most beautifully written and mind-expanding works of modernist literature, Virginia Woolf's To The Lighthouse (1927) has recently entered the public domain. I wanted to celebrate by performing my way though the many "head-hops", metaphysical digressions, synesthetic collages, and iridescently shimmering prose passages that make up this short but potent work. Enjoy. Support this work on Patreon [https://www.patreon.com/posts/143990260?pr=true]