Podcasts are an extraordinary medium. In listening to interesting people talk to interesting people, we are given privileged access to private conversations teeming with compelling ideas. There are some qualifiers to this, however.

1. The host is well researched on the subject matter they discuss, to enable efficacious challenging of ideas and credible contra points;
2. The host invites people to talk who display a strong track record of at least trying to tell the truth. Real time fact checking is either impossible or disruptive of flowing conversation, and those given to play fast and loose with facts are more likely to confuse than educate the listener;
3. The host is primarily motivated by understanding new ideas, rather than pandering to their fragile ego or forcing a personal narrative;
4. And finally, and perhaps most importantly, I have to believe that they are a good person. I’m not one to suffer fools gladly, and the prospect of spending extant time with unlikeable or immoral people is not a compelling one.

In line with this, how do I see the world’s most dominant podcasters?

I used to greatly enjoy Rogan, but in the last years he has fallen short on the first three of these four metrics. Previously given to equally enriching, entertaining and wonder-inducing content, it seems the last few years have walnut-ified his brain. His vilification by the ‘traditional media’, his rapid and uncontrolled gain of far too much power, and the overconsumption of weed, all seem like probable suspects for this decline.

Chris Williamson and Steven Bartlet consistently fall short of the first, second and third categories – they both seem to me raging egotists, lacking in empathy and not having any compelling insight. Theo Von satisfies the third and fourth criteria, but when talking to anyone other than comedians and mall cops, he falls woefully short on the second and third. Russell Brand and Tucker Carlson are the worst offenders, proving intolerable by every single metric.

Conspiracy, confirmation bias and ego evidently run wild in Podcastistan. But there are some shining lights, who show that this medium can be defined by rigor, evidence and intellectual integrity. My favourite three? Sam Harris, Dwarkesh Patel, and Tyler Cowen.

Harris – meditator, philosopher, neuroscientist – justifies who he has on, invites guests with whom he finds disagreement, and talks on a huge spectrum of topics. Whilst on the Appalachian Trail, I must have spent 300+ hours listening to Sam and his guests.

Dwarkesh, a super bright, curious and knowledgeable 24-year-old, invariably provides fresh conversation. Talking to tech leaders, AI researchers, politicians and historians, he researches well, then pursues lines of questioning that open his guests and bring along ignorant listeners for the ride.

Tyler Cowen is perhaps the best-read man I have ever heard speak. Economist at George Mason University, director of the Mercatus Center, and co-founder of Marginal Revolution, he too is insatiably curious and is seemingly polymathic in his grasps of myriad subjects. A great thinker, and seemingly a very pleasant man too.

In listening to these people and the conversations they’ve had, I often find myself oriented towards different patterns of thoughts, conceptualisations in the world, and perspectives on how to live a good life. Three conversations I’ve virtually sat in on, have prompted me to set myself a challenge: to write daily and publish something on my blog.

1. Kevin Kelly (the founding executive editor of Wired magazine) and Tyler Cowen, have both been writing daily blogs, without exception, for more than 22 years. This is an achievement in dedication and consistency that I find stunning.
2. Patrick McKenzie recounted his many years spent working as a salary man in Japan to Tyler, after finishing university in the U.S. The experience was tinged with remorse, but he highlighted the abundant spare time this enabled for writing in his early twenties, to be an enormous positive. His blogging since has had an empirically measurable impact on many people’s lives.
3. Natalie Goldberg, author of Writing Down the Bones, who in conversation with Harris, spoke deeply and persuasively on daily writing as a profound meditative practice.

I enjoy writing, and on some days feel that I write well. But in listening to these people, in reading how they write, I feel compelled to see whether and how I can improve what I create. This marks the fourth consecutive day I have written and published something. In line with the advice of Goldberg, I will write freely and openly. In accordance with the principles of McKenzie, I pledge to write on subjects that bring forth rarely expressed ideas. And following the example of Cowen, I will try to write broadly on diverse subjects, in as concise a manner as possible.

Each day will see new writing cross the wild frontier of the internet to the featured page of this website. Some will get lost along the way, but I hope that others may reach you and bring with them some truth, beauty and meaning. Thank you for joining me on this voyage. I look forward to seeing what comes of it.

With love and gratitude,

Sam