Ceasefires are good; Trump’s personal stake in Middle East diplomacy; the implausibility of the AI apocalypse; the incremental ceding of human control over autonomous systems; plausible mechanisms for AI control of nuclear arsenals; misalignment, poisoning, and the manipulation of AI models; and Marcus discusses the meaning of consciousnessThe opinions expressed on this podcast are solely our own and do not reflect the policies or positions of William & Mary.Please subscribe to Cheap Talk on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your podcast player of choice to be notified when new episodes are posted.Check out our online store at https://cheaptalk.shop.Further Reading:Alexandra Souly et al. 2025. “Poisoning Attacks on LLMs Require a Near-constant Number of Poison Samples.” Arxiv 2510.07192.“AI: What Could Go Wrong? With Geoffrey Hinton.” 2025. The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart.See all Cheap Talk episodes
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1:24:33
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1:24:33
The Hopeful Moment
Francis Fukuyama joins Cheap Talk to discuss the rise of authoritarianism; Europe’s security environment; the risk of AI catastrophe; signs of hope for democratic resilience; and Marcus has a lot of respect for centenariansFrancis Fukuyama is the Olivier Nomellini Senior Fellow at Stanford University's Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI). He has written widely on issues in development and international politics. His books include The End of History and the Last Man (1992), The Origins of Political Order (2011), Political Order and Political Decay (2014), Identity: The Demand for Dignity and the Politics of Resentment (2018), and Liberalism and Its Discontents (2022).The opinions expressed on this podcast are solely our own and do not reflect the policies or positions of William & Mary.Please subscribe to Cheap Talk on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your podcast player of choice to be notified when new episodes are posted.Check out our online store at https://cheaptalk.shop.Further Reading:Francis Fukuyama. 1989. “The End of History?” The National Interest 16: 3–18.See all Cheap Talk episodes
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A Country That Shall Not Be Named
What, if anything, the government shutdown means for international politics; the US and its weakened capacity to conduct foreign policy; non-great-power nomenclature; defining power in the international system; how middle powers can achieve their goals in international relations; shifts in great power foreign policy toward smaller states; and Marcus has seen the error of his waysThe opinions expressed on this podcast are solely our own and do not reflect the policies or positions of William & Mary.Please subscribe to Cheap Talk on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your podcast player of choice to be notified when new episodes are posted.Check out our online store at https://cheaptalk.shop.See all Cheap Talk episodes
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52:27
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52:27
There's Been Some News
Small signs of hope for arms control between the United States and Russia; a review of the last ten years of US-Russia policy; explaining Trump’s about-face on Ukraine; an airing of grievances at the UN; and Marcus can’t wait for ThanksgivingThe opinions expressed on this podcast are solely our own and do not reflect the policies or positions of William & Mary.Please subscribe to Cheap Talk on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your podcast player of choice to be notified when new episodes are posted.Check out our online store at https://cheaptalk.shop.Please send us your questions or comments!Further Listening:“Little Time Capsules.” Cheap Talk Podcast. October 1, 2023.See all Cheap Talk episodes
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A Responsible Member of the Community
Russian drone incursions into Polish airspace; questions about Russia’s intent; the risk of escalation; deterrence failure in protecting NATO airspace; preference differences within the alliance; a deal for TikTok; China’s interest in global governance and a multipolar world; and Marcus has a step-by-step plan for China’s world dominationThe opinions expressed on this podcast are solely our own and do not reflect the policies or positions of William & Mary.Please subscribe to Cheap Talk on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your podcast player of choice to be notified when new episodes are posted.Check out our online store at https://cheaptalk.shop.Please send us your questions or comments!Further Listening:“Fly Over Our Great Nation.” Cheap Talk Podcast. February 11, 2023.See all Cheap Talk episodes
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