Uncomfortable Conversations with Josh Szeps9 Syys 2025

Josh Visits the South Pacific: Climate Chaos, Chinese Bribes & Mosquitoes

What can a stunningly beautiful, dirt-poor, corrupt, tropical-island nation teach us about the battle between China and the West... and about how climate chaos will affect you?

A lot, it turns out. In this bonus episode, Josh is on the ground in Solomon Islands, where leaders from across the Pacific are currently attending the 54th Pacific Islands Forum Meeting. Beneath all the happy-talk about foreign aid is a deeper subtext. The big rich players (i.e. Australia) are trying to bribe their tiny South Pacific neighbours into siding with the West instead of China.

Josh visits a freshwater spring in the jungle with one of Australia's leading hydro-geologists, Sam Buchanan, who's stationed in Solomon Islands to manage its long-term water projects. Sam works for the principal scientific and technical organisation in the Pacific region, The Pacific Community, and is a world-leading expert on water security and climate resilience in small island developing states. He's also one of Josh's oldest friends, who brought to Josh's attention this amazing story in a forgotten tropical battleground.

Josh and Sam drive around Guadalcanal, the country's main island (and the site of the famous WWII battle in which a young naval officer named John F Kennedy made his name), discussing how the country gets its water, how it gets energy, how foreign aid is distributed, how geophysicists are using MRI technology to scan for underground water, and what this all has to do with DOGE, Trump, and subsidence in the Central Valley of California.

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Why do smart people believe stupid things?

Every human mind is a propaganda machine. It manufactures certainty, reinforces old narratives, and keeps us loyal to beliefs that no longer serve us. In an era of infinite information and AI-generate...

1 Loka 1h 26min

Free speech, hate speech, and the limits of Liberal tolerance with Sami Shah

What do we actually owe each other in a society trying to hold pluralism, free speech, and real religious and ethnic tension together at the same time? Josh sits down with comedian, writer, and Crikey...

28 Syys 1h 45min

Who's hacking you right now? with ethical hacker Assadi Youssef

When you read news about a data breach which might have exposed your information, do you even care? Who’s behind all this hacking: China, Russia, or a nerd in his parents’ basement? Are our water and ...

24 Syys 1h 22min

William Shatner Doesn’t Want to Die, from The Moynihan Report

Today we’re sharing a bonus episode from The Moynihan Report. William Shatner sits down with Michael Moynihan in Los Angeles for a conversation about life, time, and knowledge. They talk about death...

22 Syys 54min

Social media broke our ability to agree with Jonathan Haidt

Jonathan Haidt is considered one of the world's most influential living psychologists. He joins Josh on this new instalment of Permission To Think - a collaboration with The University of Technology S...

21 Syys 58min

“So… Does God Hate F*gs?” with Megan Phelps-Roper

What do our modern-day culture wars have to teach us about cult-like thinking, moral puritanism, judgment and compassion? And if you lose religious faith, how are you left thinking about agnosticism, ...

17 Syys 19min

Is there any Room left for moderates? With Jeff Maurer

Is there any room left for the political centre, or has it been swallowed by two competing extremes with nothing but contempt for the middle? Josh chats with comedy writer and author of I Might Be Wr...

14 Syys 1h 16min

JUST JOSH: The Unlearned Lesson of 9/11

It's a quarter-century since 9/11. What do we need to understand about its legacy, so as to handle the next quarter-century better? Josh was a college student visiting the World Trade Towers the summe...

10 Syys 2h 39min