The guests are great. But the host asks questions that are interesting to him rather than what is interesting for his audience. There is no narrative, he is so well versed in the subject that his questions jump into the middle of a subject and the audience is left trying to catch up…why is he asking this question, what is the background behind it? I listened to an episode on Napoleon thinking I would learn something and at the end, I couldn’t recall a single thing that I had learned. It wasn’t that I already knew so much about Napoleon, it was that they never gave any background or context to what they were discussing. Same with his interview with Sarah Paine…it opens with him peppering her with “what if” scenarios as if we’re gaming out a metaverse of scenarios. I. Oils tell that he’s been thinking of these thing but he doesn’t explain why, the context, buildup the scenario to educate the audience to the point where we understand why his question or his scenario is interesting or important. The host provides no narrative, no cohesive thread, and seems to just revel in his conversations for his own personal enjoyment. He gets something out of doing the podcast but unfortunately I got very little out of it other than recognizing that he’s an interesting person with an inquisitive mind who talks with great guests and records those conversations.

See title. Unfortunately, the host does not allow their guests to shine in the proper light. Read other critical reviews. If you can, listen to the guests and skip through the longer ramblings from the host as they provide nothing much of substance.

Mr Hemrich was an interesting guest. Interviewer hijacked the convo to AI. Pushing the Agenda ad nauseam Fast talking with a one track viewpoint. Not impressed.

Awesome you should get more Sarah Paine in there though she was great maybe she could talk about Stalin or Hitler that would be great maybe you could put me in touch with her

Dwarkesh Patel is one of the most thoroughly prepared and best informed interviewers in the field. Unlike Rogan, who just rambles and interjects his own nonsense, or Lex Friedman, who is horribly boring, Dwarkesh does the hard work of really understanding what his guests are talking about and bringing out the best in them. As a retired professor in the Ivy League and MIT used to the highest level of intellectual discussions, now working with AI, I look forward to listening to every one of his podcasts.

Dwarkesh is unprepared, tedious and simply not a good interviewer. I found this podcast because of Sarah Paine and her lecture portions were excellent, but Dwarkesh’s whole approach to the interview portions was garbage. He’s not ready for this.

You have guests who know their subject matter yet your oneupmanship and speed talking makes your podcast unlistenable. Thank you for having Sarah Paine on. The sections where you’re not talking are excellent and the only reason I gave any stars.

How is this popular?! Uptalk much? Non sequiturs? Who is this for?

Ok, I had to listen to Dwarkesh since folks seemed to rave about him. It’s only “amazing” if you factor in the fact that he is a relatively un knowledgeable about various topics. It’s like a college physics sophomore at a 2nd grade college interviewing and challenging, I don’t know, Richard Feynman 🤷🏽‍♂️ Annoying and not worth it

Dwarkesh has real conversations with guests instead of just nodding along. Esp love how he cooked Chollet 😅

Tried to listen to the recent semiconductors episode and it was like a competition to see like who could talk the fastest and drop like the most arcane terminology with these guys who like maybe just finished grad school or something and maybe they’re credible, maybe not, who knows but they talk a good game in a like performative way. Not sure who this is for but it’s not for me.

Well prepared host, mostly interesting guests, with exceptions, but if you have time to read 700-page books and do three-hour long interviews, maybe you can take a few minutes to properly introduce your guest and the topic. The total disregard for listener background knowledge is frankly a little arrogant.

This podcast is a hidden gem, but not for long.

The guests are top rate, the host is leaves something to be desired.

I just listened to your interview with Francois Chollet at Google and I can’t stop cringing. Don’t argue with your guests and don’t interrupt them. If you disagree, move on and don’t spend 30 minutes beating a dead horse.

It’s kind of, like, you know, kind of, like, you know. I don’t understand how anyone can listen to this.

Great interviewer initially and used to be 5 stars. The latest episode with Leopold is giving air time and support to friends with shaky ideas over accomplished guests. It’s actually hard to listen to the amount of validation of credentials (how many times is it worth mentioning that this guy was valedictorian in college) and awkward in-jokes they make instead of talking about the subject at hand in a serious manner. This would be a 1 star if it he didn’t have recent good guests like Zuck and still have previous great episodes to make up for it, but I fear Dwarkesh has jumped the shark or stepped into the deep end in a topic that he’s not ready for and his “friends” are willing to use him as a mouthpiece since he’s impressed by the credentialism rather then arguments. High potential still if he’s able to realize this and course correct.

End of message

Dwarkesh is an incredible interviewer. Each listen is invaluable. Top of my must-listen list.

I have learned so much about the world from this podcast. He does assume a lot of prior knowledge, but if you have it, then this is the best show you’ll find

Right alongside with Conversations with Tyler as the best podcast for people who want to skip the fluff and listen to content you can’t find anywhere else.

The Lunar Society Podcast was the greatest. Just replacing it with a boring <author’s name> podcast is a bummer. I’ll be back to check it out in a year, but gotta bail on the show for now. 😢

I like the podcast a lot. Great guests. Good conversations. But the host refuses to contextualize or explain background information.

Interesting topics and a very well-prepared host

Good podcast, though it’s the worst at explaining the topics and issues it discusses. The assumption of knowledge is off the charts. Half the time the host doesn’t even use people’s last names when talking about them.

Deep, substantive interviews on interesting topics with interesting subjects. The conversations at substantive, assume that you’re reasonably intelligent and informed and don’t waste time with filler.

I love this podcast. Dwarkesh Patel is a wonderful and insightful interviewer.

He definitely does his background reading.

Dwarkesh Patel’s superpower is he actually reads (or at least skims) the books and papers of the people he’s about to interview. The only other interviewer this informed is Tyler Cowen, who says Patel is “highly rated but underrated!” Exactly right! Patel’s preparation delights the person being interviewed, allowing for far more technical depth than you can find anywhere else. Recent interviews of Steve Hsu, Austin Vernon, and Charles Mann are outstanding. They cover topics from IVF, embryo selection, nuclear power, Toyota production system, CO2 electrolysis, geoengineering, collapse of Native American societies after 1492 from disease, wizards v prophets, longermism. And all these topics discussed were discussed without dumbing them down. Challenging and enjoyable. 👍

Great podcast. Love that you’re doing this.

These interviews are driven by intelligent and probing questions that give the listener the insight of the interviewee AND the hard work of the interviewer. Very high yield.