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Ask HN: Favorite Podcast Episode of 2020?

by hawktheslayer on 12/27/20, 8:03 PM with 118 comments

Mine was the audio essay on this episode of The Portal:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/39-admission-to-sugar-...

  • by lawn on 12/27/20, 8:57 PM

    Hardcore History: Supernova in the East, part 5.

    It's about Japan during the second world war and there's something about the absolutely insane Japanese mentality that lead civilians to commit mass suicide that captivated me.

    The whole series, and really the whole of Hardcore History is absolutely amazing and even if you think you don't like history you absolutely should give it a try. Blueprint of Armageddon is still the best piece of entertainment I've ever had, regardless of media.

    https://www.dancarlin.com/product/hardcore-history-66-supern...

  • by mercury_craze on 12/27/20, 9:01 PM

    I found the Planet Money episode Big Rigged surprisingly moving. It covered the business model of American trucking company Prime through the story of Kimberly. It was the all too familiar story of employee rights being eroded through a shady business model. Prime were exploiting workers by encouraging them to operate as independent contractors with an exclusive contract whilst also loaning them their truck, setting their rates, assigning their jobs, and asking them to pay for the training they delivered if they left within their first year of operation.

    https://pca.st/episode/3740fbb7-654a-4031-ab64-a994b085560e

  • by bko on 12/27/20, 8:51 PM

    I loved this interview Lex Fridman had with George Hotz. He's very opinionated original thinker with the credentials to back it up. He runs comma.ai, sellers of a device that can plug into many cars and drive for you.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwcYp-XT7UI&list=PLrAXtmErZg...

  • by abnercoimbre on 12/27/20, 9:16 PM

    The Race to Replace C & C++ [0]

    Andrew Kelley of Zig [1], Ginger Bill of Odin [2], and Joshua Huelsman [3] (worked on Jai) debate in earnest about moving beyond these languages and why it might matter.

    Self-plug since I hosted the podcast, but three compiler devs in the same room generated my favorite banter of 2020!

    [0] https://media.handmade-seattle.com/the-race-to-replace-c-and...

    [1] https://ziglang.org

    [2] https://odin-lang.org

    [3] https://twitter.com/machinamentum

  • by kevlar1818 on 12/27/20, 8:36 PM

    No Special Duty - Radiolab[1]

    From the link below: "What are the police for? Producer B.A. Parker started wondering this back in June, as Black Lives Matter protests and calls to “defund the police” ramped up. The question led her to a wild story of a stabbing on a New York City subway train, and the realization that, according to the law, the police don’t always have to protect us. Producer Sarah Qari joins Parker to dig into the legal background, which takes her all the way up to the Supreme Court... and then all the way back down to on-duty officers themselves."

    [1]: https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/no-sp...

  • by oAlbe on 12/28/20, 11:02 AM

    Darknet Diaries - Episode 65: PSYOP - https://darknetdiaries.com/episode/65/

    I find the whole Darknet Diaries podcast really fascinating. It covers topics like hacking (black hat, white hat), activism, hacktivism, cyber security and so forth, with a narrative approach that's very pleasant to listen to. This episode in particular talks about what PSYOP (Psychological Operations) is (basically how to use techniques to manipulate people to reach an outcome both in a war scenario and not) by talking to experts in the field and telling their stories. The episodes are all very good and high quality in my opinion, in fact I'm still working my way through the whole backlog, but I don't have much left already. I picked this one because it left me particularly uncomfortable at the end, while at the same time having taught me something.

    Each episode also lists its sources (of the information, ndr) on the episode page of their website, which I find amazing.

    Bonus episode: The Athens Shadow Games - https://darknetdiaries.com/episode/64/

  • by maneesh on 12/27/20, 9:47 PM

    "The Program audio series" is the only fiction podcast I listen to I heard about it first on HN.

    It's hard to single out one episode as a favorite, but I really liked a recent one that is a good standalone episode. ("Read-only memory Computer" == ROM-COM) is the perfect display of the show's signature combination of humor, tech, and wit.

    Link to the episode: https://programaudioseries.com/15-what-you-see-is-what-you-g... (but really, you should check out the whole show!)

  • by Balgair on 12/28/20, 3:59 AM

    Art Of Manliness Podcast #619: What Driving Tells Us About Agency, Skill, and Freedom

    Self-driving cars are the future of transportation, right? No more car maintenance, no more traffic, no more accidents. It may sound great on the face of it, but in this thought-provoking conversation, Matthew Crawford argues that shifting from being a driver to being a mere passenger represents a kind of existential risk.

    https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/podcast-619-what-dri...

  • by bekantan on 12/27/20, 10:02 PM

    Joscha Bach: Artificial Consciousness and the Nature of Reality | Lex Fridman Podcast #101

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-2P3MSZrBM

  • by rjtavares on 12/27/20, 8:22 PM

    Reply All - #158 The Case of the Missing Hit
  • by postpawl on 12/27/20, 8:21 PM

    I really liked the whole Wind of Change podcast: https://crooked.com/podcast-series/wind-of-change/

    It’s about how the CIA might have written the Wind of Change song sung by the Scorpions in the 80s, but it has a nuanced take on it.

    There was also a really good podcast about the Iraq war called blowback: https://blowback.show/

  • by srich36 on 12/27/20, 8:17 PM

    Mine is Acquired’s overview of SpaceX: https://overcast.fm/+FaxmmY8Jw.

    It was done right before the first Crew Dragon launch. They do such a great job of digging into a company’s history and the business model that powers them.

  • by crispyambulance on 12/27/20, 8:27 PM

    Oops it was from July 2019, but I heard it in 2020...

    13 Minutes to the Moon.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w13xttx2

    A magnificent BBC podcast series that covers in extreme detail the Apollo 11 mission, including explanations of the busy chatter that you hear from mission control audio.

  • by aliyfarah on 12/28/20, 1:55 AM

    Jim Keller: Moore's Law, Microprocessors, and First Principles - Lex Friedman

    https://youtu.be/Nb2tebYAaOA

  • by ryanmcdonough on 12/27/20, 9:56 PM

    Bellingcat - The Executions & The Hunt ‘the two-part series tells the story of a gruesome video that captured the world’s attention in 2018 and how a remarkable open source investigation sought to unravel its secrets.

    The video, which had spread rapidly online, appeared to show unarmed women and children being murdered by men in army uniform. Which army the men belonged to was not clear. Nor was it apparent where the incident had taken place or who the victims were. But an international team of investigators and volunteers was determined to uncover the truth.’

    Incredible & horrifying to listen to.

    https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/podcasts/2020/07/21/the...

  • by evil-olive on 12/27/20, 8:48 PM

  • by probably_wrong on 12/28/20, 9:17 AM

    To me it was the conclusion of a series rather than a single episode: the 5-part "How to duck up an airport" podcast [1] explaining what went wrong with Berlin's long-delayed BER airport published their last episode this year.

    The airport is a master class in how not to plan a project. The airport spent more than 5 times it's budget, it opened 9 years late, and may already be too small. There was talk that they may already be broke, and that was before Corona brought down air traffic to a halt. The podcast goes through everything that went wrong, starting in the early 90s.

    [1] https://www.radiospaetkauf.com/ber/

  • by amin123 on 12/27/20, 9:38 PM

    Cum Town Premium episode 214

    One of the hosts, Nick, does a funny parody of the Eric Clapton song Change the World

  • by sagivo on 12/27/20, 9:29 PM

    Naval - "how to get rich" is truly a masterpiece. https://youtu.be/1-TZqOsVCNM.

    Transcript: https://nav.al/rich

  • by nus07 on 12/28/20, 4:49 AM

    American Rehab

    Reveal exposes how a treatment for drug addiction has turned tens of thousands of people into an unpaid, shadow workforce.

    https://revealnews.org/american-rehab/

  • by doe88 on 12/27/20, 8:38 PM

    Technically from 2019 but heard it this year, it's 1984 (the year not the book) [1] an outstanding episode from the excellent Theory of Everything podcast [2] by Benjamin Walker. As bonus you also have an episode about the book 1984 [3].

    [1] https://beta.prx.org/stories/288310

    [2] https://theoryofeverythingpodcast.com/

    [3] https://beta.prx.org/stories/288314

  • by gxqoz on 12/28/20, 3:12 PM

    A few good ones:

    Decoder Ring: Jane Fonda Workout tapes.

    Hang up and Listen: The Last Last Dance. An exploration of Michael Jordan's time on the Wizards.

    99% Invisible: In the Unlikely Event. About the design of airplane safety cards and how getting people off the plane quickly saves lives.

    Planet Money: All Your Genes Are Belong to Us. On gene patenting. Good interview subject with the plaintiff who overturned these patents.

    Software Engineering Daily: Federated Learning with Mike Lee Williams. Don't usually like this podcast very much, but this episode was an excellent overview of how federated learning works.

    The Allusionist: No Title. Interesting examination of titles (e.g. "mrs.", "mr."). This podcast always has hilarious asides.

    30 for 30 Bloodlines. A mini-series on the state of horse racing.

    Retronauts: '90s Video Game Websites.

    You're Wrong About: Shaken Baby Syndrome. Exploration of how this basically made-up syndrome became weaponized.

    Don't remember the exact episode name but there was a recent episode of The Weeds on college debt which added some nuance to that discussion that I wasn't aware of.

  • by devchix on 12/28/20, 3:37 AM

    A Grenfell Story, spoken poetry about the fire. I had no idea who George the Poet is, this episode completely floored me.

    https://www.scpr.org/programs/snap-judgment/2020/03/11/78074...

  • by Austin_Conlon on 12/27/20, 9:53 PM

    David Patterson: Computer Architecture and Data Storage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naed4C4hfAg.
  • by elken on 12/28/20, 10:45 AM

    Another 'The Portal' recommendation:

    41: Douglas Murray - Heroism 2020: Defense of Our Own Civilization

    https://podcastaddict.com/episode/114260279

    Two old friends riffing off each other about the world.

    I've listened all the way through twice and both times have found myself laughing out loud and deep in thought simultaneously.

    I look forward to seeing how Eric Weinstein will continue to evolve The Portal in 2021. No doubt he will continue to deliver outstanding content in his own uncompromising style.

  • by galfarragem on 12/27/20, 8:53 PM

    Naval Ravikant on Joe Rogan. From 2019, but without doubt the best podcast I listened this year.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qHkcs3kG44

  • by tosterhaus on 12/27/20, 9:00 PM

    I recently curated a list of the best shows and episodes of 2020 with the help of 8 other podcast listeners. Here's a link to the list:

    https://repod.io/blog/best-podcasts-2020

  • by ecmascript on 12/28/20, 6:14 AM

    My absolute favorite of this year is in my native tounge Swedish and is about fires in our perhaps dystopian future: https://podd.app/podcast/p3-dystopia/brandernas-tidsalder

    On second place, it got to be Notpetya, by Darknet Diaries (https://podd.app/podcast/darknet-diaries/54-notpetya). Technically released in late december 2019, but I listened to it in januari 2020. It's about Notpetya, the virus/worm that attacked a country in 2017.

  • by torvald on 12/27/20, 8:26 PM

    This episode from Signals and Threads was surprisingly amusing: Clock synchronization with Chris Perl

    https://signalsandthreads.com/clock-synchronization/

  • by tailspin2019 on 12/28/20, 1:59 PM

    1. Tiny Habits for Behavior Change with BJ Fogg - The One You Feed Podcast

    https://www.oneyoufeed.net/tiny-habits/

    I'm a big fan of BG Fogg and his Fogg Behavioural Model for understanding behaviour change.

    2. Jim Collins on The Value of Small Gestures, Unseen Sources of Power, and More - The Tim Ferris Show

    https://tim.blog/2020/11/30/jim-collins-returns/

    I also recommend Jim Collins' earlier episode on Tim's podcast.

  • by sid6376 on 12/27/20, 8:25 PM

    For me the Changelog podcast with the CTO of Github: https://changelog.com/podcast/395 and this podcast about the slack data platform: https://softwareengineeringdaily.com/2020/01/10/slack-data-p...

    Edit: updated correctly that the podcast was with the CTO.

  • by mysterydip on 12/28/20, 11:44 AM

    If I had to pick only one, Dev Game Club's episode 236 where they start talking about Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

    It's a weekly podcast where two veteran game developers play and discuss games of the past and their relevance today. There's tons of podcasts where random gamers discuss games, but very few that can do a deep dive into the technical aspects. Each game gets discussed for several episodes. It's a fascinating perspective and the two hosts have great chemistry.

  • by baali on 12/28/20, 12:06 PM

    Hidden Brain, Episode titled, "Our Pursuit of Happiness": https://www.npr.org/2020/07/31/897673162/you-2-0-our-pursuit...

    I found a section in podcast that talks about: "we tend to present our best sides to strangers rather than to people who inhabit our lives is very sad", really insightful.

  • by anotherevan on 12/28/20, 12:23 AM

    The "David Tennant Does a Podcast With…" episode where he interviewed George Takei, talking about his imprisonment as a child during WWII because he is Japanese-American was very interesting.

    https://www.podbean.com/site/EpisodeDownload/DIRA3698D3E3VB3

  • by mguerville on 12/27/20, 11:25 PM

    The Song Exploder episode about Mobb Deep was great because it explored the genesis of a legendary hip hop act and very touching for the story of their friendship through fame and eventually the death of Prodigy. And as with all these episodes the background into the song (Shook Ones pt II) is also very interesting
  • by timdaub on 12/28/20, 8:53 AM

    Completely non Hacker News fit but I really like listening to the German Gemischtes Hack podcast.

    It's essentially just two funny guys talking trash with little space for serious topics.

    With a media landscape that's become increasingly geared towards always showing you the extremes, listening to Gemisches Hack is simply relaxing.

  • by shiny on 12/28/20, 11:51 PM

    https://lemire.me/blog/2020/12/01/interview-by-adam-gordon-b...

    Daniel Lemire details how he was able to massively speed up json parsing by thinking from first principles.

    TLDL: he removed all abstractions and coded directly for the hardware.

    Great interview. Makes me want to learn assembly programming (perhaps ARM64 since that seems to be the latest hotness thanks to the M1).

    I also enjoyed this interview on the upcoming JIT/AOT for the BEAM: https://thinkingelixir.com/podcast-episodes/017-jit-compiler...

  • by auslegung on 12/27/20, 8:30 PM

    Tim Ferriss’ My Healing Journey After Childhood Abuse (Includes Extensive Resource List) https://tim.blog/2020/09/14/how-to-heal-trauma/
  • by efferifick on 12/28/20, 1:03 AM

    Bianca Giaever is my favourite story teller. She made a mini series podcast called Constellation Prize for the Believer magazine this year. I want to say that my favourite episode is "My Year with Franz" where she spends a couple of years listening to Franz Wright's (a poet) recordings which he made in the last years of his life. It is very moving and sad story. However, I am not 100% sure that this qualifies as a 2020 release, since its a re-release of her work and the original was released on 2019.

    However, Crossing Guard (first episode in Constellation Prize) is also very good. It is Bianca interviewing a crossing guard and it gets very existential. I listen to it when I feel lonely.

  • by kabirgoel on 12/28/20, 1:08 PM

    Not Overthinking - How can we treat children morally? (Pt. 1)

    "In this episode, we review Ali's unemployment, talk about how to talk about workism, and Taimur finally elucidates some concrete ideas about how society treats children immorally, and how we treat children better.

    https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/not-overthinking/id145...

    This is the first of a two-part discussion about how society short-changes children. I don't agree with all the ideas, but it's certainly changed how I think about children.

  • by dmje on 12/27/20, 9:38 PM

    Sam Harris, episode #227, “Knowing the mind”. A really solid walkthrough of meditative practice, the science behind it, and more https://pca.st/episode/e838d883-1fc5-41a1-8f54-83af8475990d
  • by casi on 12/27/20, 9:05 PM

    https://computingup.com/ episode Artificial death was a good one.
  • by bagnaram on 12/28/20, 12:19 PM

    Cold War Conversations: A Childhood under the eye of the Secret Police (147) http://www.coldwarconversations.com

    An incredibly emotional story on my favorite podcast about cold War history making one of the most powerful narrative from the lady who experienced it all. Listen to her story on Cold War Conversations.

  • by landemva on 12/27/20, 8:39 PM

    Real Vision interview of crypto book authors. "Thank God For Bitcoin"

    https://www.realvision.com/shows/the-interview-crypto/videos...

  • by ayoisaiah on 12/27/20, 11:26 PM

    I liked Martymade #10, Anything that moves — the My Lai Massacre

    https://www.stitcher.com/show/martyrmade/episode/10-anything...

  • by illwrks on 12/28/20, 10:48 AM

    I can't find the link but there was a podcast earlier in the year, around February I think, with Bob Iger and the strategy for Disney and Disney+. It's stayed with me as the timing for the launch was almost perfect with the lockdown 1 starting here in the UK.
  • by ctrager on 12/29/20, 1:45 PM

  • by Tiktaalik on 12/28/20, 1:12 AM

    Chapo episode about Avatar (the Cameron Movie).

    A sincere discussion of the film as an anti-colonialist, anti-imperialist, anti-capitalist film, that challenges the common view of the film as a 'white saviour' ferngully-like and attempts to explain why the film was so "un-meme-able" in contrast to recent Marvel movies.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7CtTo88QOI

  • by reffaelwallen on 12/28/20, 5:26 AM

  • by philosopher1234 on 12/28/20, 9:14 AM

    Why Theory?: Incels, Misogyny, and Castration

    A really interesting discussion of the incel phenomena, it’s connection to misogyny and conservativism, and it’s roots.

    https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/why-theory/id129986383...

  • by prabhupant on 12/28/20, 5:43 AM

    Joe Rogan Brett Weinstein
  • by FuckButtons on 12/28/20, 6:23 AM

    Fairly off topic for HN, but this is my honest answer.

    The Bugle: Spready Mercury. I’ve listened to the bugle since 2008 and hearing John oliver on it again gave me hope that there are still good things that can happen in spite of all of the chaos that’s going on in the world right now.

  • by dezb on 12/28/20, 10:15 AM

    you'll like this one:

    Talking with Jim Dworkin, Sr. Director of Cloud Business Unit at Intel PSG

    https://soundcloud.com/dez_blanchfield/conversations-with-de...

  • by holografix on 12/28/20, 12:56 PM

    Greta Thunberg “Humanity has not yet failed”.

    If for nothing else, just to hear the descriptions of travelling across America through the eyes of complete alien (a “socialist European).

    https://open.spotify.com/episode/7E2Wz3C5XwtEw3Pi96tLQA?si=X...

  • by newbie789 on 12/27/20, 10:45 PM

    TrueAnon podcast episode 100: Brat Camp.

    It's about "therapy boarding schools" or "residential treatment facilities" that purport to help teens with behavioral or emotional issues, drug addiction etc. but often are absolutely horrifying dens of severe child abuse and borderline cult-like brainwashing techniques to get kids in line.

    I can personally attest to the accuracy of their description of what goes on at these places, as I spent 18 months in one of the facilities that they're talking about. In fact, I'd say that Brace Belden didn't even cover some of the most terrible parts. That being said, it's a great intro for the uninitiated.

    Keep in mind that this is kind of a comedy podcast that's highly irreverent and critical of society as a whole, and is often pottymouthed.

    I suggest skipping the first 15 minutes or so, as it's a lot of goofing around before they get to the main topic.

    To clarify, I do not endorse this podcast overall. I don't endorse any podcasts as I rarely listen to any of them. I had a friend suggest this particular episode because she knew about my experiences at this facility and thought I'd find it interesting. This is the only episode of this show that I've ever listened to.

    https://www.stitcher.com/show/trueanon/episode/episode-100-b...

  • by magicseth on 12/27/20, 9:55 PM

    I made a free podcast episode that can read your mind! https://www.patreon.com/posts/take-card-free-45313834