Introduction to The Portal
In July of 2019, Eric Weinstein launched The Portal Podcast. Its name taking inspiration from "portal story" motifs in literature, the show aims to bring its audience into contact with the most fundamental and transcendent aspects of reality, to break the almost-universal intellectual stasis that pervades our institutions, to foster individual sense-making, and to galvanize the search for a more hopeful, transformative future. Since launch, the podcast has released 43 episodes: 36 interview episodes, 6 solo episodes, and 1 special. Other content, such as 36 Instagram livestreams and 7 standalone YouTube videos, have been released since the start of the Covid-19 lockdowns.
The content listed on this page has been selected for its direct relevance to The Portal's central ideas, and should serve as good beginnings for new listeners.
Selected Portal Content
Listed are podcast episodes that cover central themes of The Portal.
- Interview with Peter Thiel - Institutional Failure and Stagnation - Read
- Solo Episode - What is the Portal? - Read
- Solo Episode - Slipping the DISC: State of The Portal & Chapter 2020 - Read
- Interview with Bret Weinstein - The Prediction and the DISC - Read
- Interview with Sir Roger Penrose - Plotting the Twist of Einstein’s Legacy - Read
- Solo Episode - Introducing The Portal Essay Club - What if everyone is simply insane? - Read
The Portal Clips also has select clips from the podcast and community-made videos on recurring themes, such as this video on the Twin Nuclei Problem, and this video on the N^2 revolution. For a comprehensive list of Portal content, see All Episodes of The Portal Podcast and Content by Eric Weinstein.
Edge Essays
Some of the earliest discussion of the The Portal Podcast's core ideas occur in Eric Weinstein's edge.org essays. These are brief essays in response to an annual question posed by Edge.
| Question | Answer | Year |
|---|---|---|
| What is the Last Question? | The Last Question | 2018 |
| What Scientific Term or Concept Ought to Be More Widely Known? | Russell Conjugation | 2017 |
| What Do You Consider the Most Interesting Recent (Scientific) News? What Makes It Important? | Anthropic Capitalism And The New Gimmick Economy | 2016 |
| What Scientific Idea Is Ready for Retirement? | M-theory / String Theory is the Only Game in Town | 2014 |
| What *Should* We Be Worried About? | Excellence | 2013 |
| What is Your Favorite Deep, Elegant, or Beautiful Explanation? | Einstein's Revenge: The New Geometric Quantum | 2012 |
| What Scientific Concept Would Improve Everybody's Cognitive Toolkit? | Kayfabe | 2011 |
| How is the Internet Changing the Way You Think? | Go Virtual Young Man | 2010 |