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Deep Questions with Cal Newport: Daily Summaries Delivered
by Cal Newport
Cal Newport is a computer science professor and a New York Times bestselling author who writes about the impact of technology on society, and the struggle to work and live deeply in a world increasingly mired in digital distractions. On this podcast, he answers questions from his readers and offers advice about cultivating focus, productivity, and meaning amidst the noise that pervades our lives.
Latest Episodes
The most recent episodes — sign up to get AI-powered summaries of each one.
- 6 days ago1h 11m
The AI Resistance is Forming. (Should You Join?)
After a week spent debating AI’s impact on humanity, Cal wants to turn his attention back to AI’s impact on humans. To support this shift, he brings on the writer Brad Stulberg who recently decided that he was “done” with AI. They explore whether this is a resistance movement in the making… Video from today’s episode: youtube.com/calnewportmedia More from Cal Download Cal’s FREE guide to cultivating a deeper life: calnewport.com/ideas Learn more about Cal’s books: calnewport.com/books Listen to Cal’s podcast: thedeeplife.com/listen Chapters A new paper calls LLMs a "cognitive virus" Brad gave AI a real shot — then quit Why everything online now sounds the same Plank 1: Effort, struggle, and the click-of-a-button economy You can take a gondola to the summit, but you didn't climb it Plank 2: AI is an average maker AI swirl: pseudo-productivity turned up to 11 Treat AI like ultra-processed food Getting it off your phone, and the lesson of sports analytics Team Human and the humanist resistance Sponsors: https://www.horizon3.com/deep https://www.calderalab.com/deep https://www.notion.com/cal https://www.factormeals.com/deep50off (Use code "deep50off") Credits: Podcast Production: Jesse Miller Newsletter/Research: Nate Mechler Theme Music: Jay Kerstens Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
- 1 weeks ago39 min
How Worrisome is GPT-6’s “Stealth Thinking”? | Tech Decoded
Cal Newport takes a critical look at recent AI News. Video from today’s episode: youtube.com/calnewportmedia How Worrisome is GPT-6’s “Stealth Thinking”? Reasoning models Astra The Good The Bad The Hype Links: Buy Cal’s latest book, “Slow Productivity” at www.calnewport.com/slow https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QNsdr-Qx_I https://www.theinformation.com/articles/secret-technique-behind-openais-astra-model-sparks-security-concerns?rc=1ycz3a https://x.com/_NathanCalvin/status/2094957301564092914 https://x.com/sjgadler/status/2094959837691908214?s=61 https://x.com/merettm/status/2095023204993490967?s=20 https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.11473 Thanks to Jesse Miller for production and mastering and Nate Mechler for research and newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
- 1 weeks ago51 min
How I’m Organizing My Life this Fall | Advice
It’s that time of year again when Cal tunes up his organizational systems for the onslaught of the fall. In this episode, Cal walks through the exact system he’s personally adopting for the next few months. He also discusses why such systems are key to thriving in our current frenetic technological world, why it’s important to continue to tweak your systems, and best practices for constructing your own setup. Below are the questions covered in today's episode (with their timestamps). Get your questions answered by Cal! Here’s the link: https://bit.ly/3U3sTvo Video from today’s episode: youtube.com/calnewportmedia How I’m organizing my life this fall An Irish novelist talks about her use of AI Developing a more balanced approach to tech products Cal’s opinion on an AI article Large corporations move away from all enterprise AI What Cal is up to August 2026 Books The New Dark Age (Nigel Biggar) Links: Buy Cal’s latest book, “Slow Productivity” at www.calnewport.com/slow Get a signed copy of Cal’s “Slow Productivity” at https://peoplesbooktakoma.com/event/cal-newport/ https://culturedcode.com/things/ https://www.timeblockplanner.com/ Thanks to our Sponsors: https://www.superhuman.com https://www.shopify.com/deep https://www.monarch.com (Use code “DEEP”) https://www.mybodytutor.com Thanks to Jesse Miller for production and mastering, Jay Kerstens for the intro music, and Nate Mechler for research and newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
- 2 weeks ago26 min
Did OpenAI Create “Secret AI Civilizations”? | Tech Decoded
Cal Newport takes a critical look at recent AI News. Video from today’s episode: youtube.com/calnewportmedia Does OpenAI create “secret AI civilizations”? What’s the deal with “agent swarms”? Should we be worried that the agents are plotting? How should we be thinking about all of this? Links: Buy Cal’s latest book, “Slow Productivity” at www.calnewport.com/slow https://www.dwarkesh.com/p/openai-huggingface https://calnewport.com/has-ai-gone-rogue/ https://calnewport.com/are-we-at-war-with-ai-agent-civilizations/ Thanks to Jesse Miller for production and mastering and Nate Mechler for research and newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
- 2 weeks ago1h 20m
Rethinking the Deep Life Stack (Again!) | Monday Advice
Back in 2023, Cal released an episode on a lifestyle design strategy I called the Deep Life Stack. Today, almost three years later, Cal revisits this idea and replaces it with a more robust concept that he calls “The Deep Life Map.” Below are the questions covered in today's episode (with their timestamps). Get your questions answered by Cal! Here’s the link: https://bit.ly/3U3sTvo Video from today’s episode: youtube.com/calnewportmedia Rethinking the Deep Life stack Too many interests and not enough time Voluntary attention regulates acute immune responses in humans A freelance musician and social media What Cal is up to August 2026 Books An Inside Job (Daniel Silva) Three Years in Wonderland (Todd James Pierce) Links: Buy Cal’s latest book, “Slow Productivity” at www.calnewport.com/slow Get a signed copy of Cal’s “Slow Productivity” at https://peoplesbooktakoma.com/event/cal-newport/ Cal’s monthly book directory: bramses.notion.site/059db2641def4a88988b4d2cee4657ba? https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-026-02541-1 https://www.amazon.co.uk/stores/Cal-Newport/author/B001IGNR0U https://x.com/RyanHoliday Thanks to our Sponsors: https://www.surfshark.com/deepquestions https://www.quo.com/deep https://www.masterclass.com/deep https://www.notion.com/cal Thanks to Jesse Miller for production and mastering, Jay Kerstens for the intro music, and Nate Mechler for research and newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
- 3 weeks ago35 min
Has AI “Gone Rogue”? Let’s Look Closer… | Tech Decoded
Cal Newport takes a critical look at recent AI News. Video from today’s episode: youtube.com/calnewportmedia Has AI “Gone Rogue” Observation #1 - Most Superhuman AI is well behaved Observation #2 - A specific type of AI system is causing these problems Observation #3 - This specific type of system is a bad idea Observation #4 - The AI companies are negligent Observation #5 - We can push back Links: Buy Cal’s latest book, “Slow Productivity” at www.calnewport.com/slow https://www.anthropic.com/news/investigating-incidents-cybersecurity-evals https://apnews.com/article/meta-ai-hacking-anthropic-irregular-openai-0e8061437da6779be962b24ac134a514 https://x.com/_NathanCalvin/status/2080685870877757551 https://huggingface.co/learn/agents-course/unit1/agent-steps-and-structure https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwAOHVBKTwg Sponsor: https://www.donedaily.com Thanks to Jesse Miller for production and mastering and Nate Mechler for research and newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
- 3 weeks ago1h 2m
How to Build a Cognitive Training Plan | Monday Advice
In the world of physical health, we use so-called “key performance indicators” (KPIs) to help measure and improve our fitness. In today’s episode, Cal proposes a collection of three KPIs for measuring and improving your *cognitive* capabilities – a small step toward his larger vision of a cognitive fitness revolution. Below are the questions covered in today's episode (with their timestamps). Get your questions answered by Cal! Here’s the link: https://bit.ly/3U3sTvo Video from today’s episode: youtube.com/calnewportmedia How to build a cognitive training plan What is Cal’s opinion on information fatigue syndrome? Comments on the new book, “Pardon Our French: The Parisian Way to a Happier Life” An interesting way to think about AI and thinking An article about Disneyland, high quality leisure, and deep living What Cal is up to August 2026 Books The Laws of Thought (Tom Griffiths) This is For Everyone (Tim Berners-Lee) Into the Deep (Bob Ballard and Christopher Drew)202 Links: Buy Cal’s latest book, “Slow Productivity” at www.calnewport.com/slow Get a signed copy of Cal’s “Slow Productivity” at https://peoplesbooktakoma.com/event/cal-newport/ Cal’s monthly book directory: bramses.notion.site/059db2641def4a88988b4d2cee4657ba? https://workplacepsychology.wordpress.com/2011/05/18/information-overload-when-information-becomes-noise/ https://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2026/08/12/reading-between-the-lines-part-1-a-cognitive-framework-for-ai-in-scholarly-publishing/ https://pluralistic.net/2021/07/18/boredom-and-its-discontents-part-ii/ https://pluralistic.net/2026/08/12/insurance-value-of-biodiversity/ https://archive.ph/WvW1F Thanks to our Sponsors: https://www.calderalab.com/deep (Use code “DEEP) https://www.vanta.com/deepquestions https://www.gusto.com/deep https://www.babbel.com/deep Thanks to Jesse Miller for production and mastering, Jay Kerstens for the intro music, and Nate Mechler for research and newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
- Aug 17, 202657 min
Classic Episode: How Do I Kick My Scrolling Habit? | Monday Advice
The best way to kick your scrolling habit is to introduce more “high quality leisure” into your life. But how do you accomplish this goal? In this replay of a classic episode from February, 2024, Cal walks through six new habits – what he calls a “high quality leisure toolkit” – for rebuilding your life around more meaningful activities. Below are the questions covered in today's episode (with their timestamps). Get your questions answered by Cal! Here’s the link: https://bit.ly/3U3sTvo Video from today’s episode: youtube.com/calnewportmedia Confronting Your Phone What does Cal think about Neil Postman’s “Amusing Ourselves To Death”? Can you pursue high quality leisure after a day filled with deep work? Can commercial breaks be used for high quality leisure? Will digital minimalism work in an age of augmented reality? How can a full time YouTuber practice digital minimalism? How to share content online? Cost-benefit analysis of technology usage JRR Tolkien’s Search for Depth Links: https://twitter.com/explore/tabs/trending https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/popular/hl=en https://www.tiktok.com/foryou?lang=en https://newcriterion.com/blogs/dispatch/the-consolations-of-fantasy Thanks to our Sponsors: https://www.cozyearth.com (Use code “DEEP”) https://www.shopify.com/deep https://www.monarch.com (Use code “DEEP”) Thanks to Jesse Miller for production, Jay Kerstens for the intro music, Kieron Rees for slow productivity music, and Mark Miles for mastering. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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About Deep Questions with Cal Newport
Cal Newport is a computer science professor and a New York Times bestselling author who writes about the impact of technology on society, and the struggle to work and live deeply in a world increasingly mired in digital distractions. On this podcast, he answers questions from his readers and offers advice about cultivating focus, productivity, and meaning amidst the noise that pervades our lives.
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