Deep Questions with Cal Newport Transcripts
Free transcripts for 92 episodes of Deep Questions with Cal Newport. Open any episode to read the transcript excerpt — the complete transcript and AI summary are free by email.
Reading As an Act of Resistance (Notes on Harvard’s Hum 10)
Nov 5, 202619 min3,741 wordsA Better Way to Think About Tech
Nov 2, 202658 min11,119 wordsDo Hard Things (Featuring: Jerry Seinfeld)
Oct 30, 202615 min2,883 wordsWhen Productivity Theory Meets Practice
Oct 26, 202666 min12,659 wordsWhy Did Big Tech Stop Building Useful Products?
Oct 22, 202614 min2,603 words“Rogue” AI Not Inevitable. It’s a Choice.
Oct 19, 202678 min14,596 wordsAn Unlikely Team Tackles AI Brain Rot
Oct 12, 202665 min12,045 wordsA Stark Warning From a Former AI Doomer
Oct 8, 202677 min13,376 wordsCombating the Whirlwind with a Single Sheet of Paper
Oct 5, 202666 min12,626 wordsAn Insider's Guide to AI Doom
Oct 1, 202628 min4,984 wordsKids Should *Not* Use Chatbots! (You Should Be Wary, Too…)
Sep 28, 202678 min14,044 wordsThe Truth About Brain Rot
Sep 21, 202652 min9,420 wordsThe AI Resistance is Forming. (Should You Join?)
Sep 14, 202671 min14,080 wordsHow Worrisome is GPT-6’s “Stealth Thinking”? | Tech Decoded
Sep 10, 202639 min7,299 wordsHow I’m Organizing My Life this Fall | Advice
Sep 7, 202651 min10,267 wordsDid OpenAI Create “Secret AI Civilizations”? | Tech Decoded
Sep 3, 202626 min5,219 wordsRethinking the Deep Life Stack (Again!) | Monday Advice
Aug 31, 202680 min16,272 wordsHas AI “Gone Rogue”? Let’s Look Closer… | Tech Decoded
Aug 27, 202635 min6,810 wordsHow to Build a Cognitive Training Plan | Monday Advice
Aug 24, 202662 min11,840 wordsClassic Episode: How Do I Kick My Scrolling Habit? | Monday Advice
Aug 17, 202657 min10,422 wordsHow Do I Finish Meaningful Projects? | Monday Advice
Aug 10, 202664 min12,089 wordsDoes OpenAI’s Astra Mean AGI Has Arrived? | AI Reality Check
Aug 6, 202629 min5,425 wordsClassic Episode: How Do I Learn Hard Things? | Monday Advice
Aug 3, 202675 min13,786 wordsDid OpenAI’s Model “Go Rogue”? | AI Reality Check
Jul 30, 202633 min6,769 wordsWhy Do Digital Detoxes Fail? What Works Better? | Monday Advice
Jul 27, 202670 min12,987 wordsAm I Optimizing Too Much? | Monday Advice
Jul 20, 202678 min16,077 wordsDoes Claude Have Private Thoughts? (Everyone Settle Down) | AI Reality Check
Jul 16, 202631 min6,123 wordsShould I Use Notebooks More Often? (Cal’s Strategy) | Monday Advice
Jul 13, 202664 min12,832 wordsDo Managers Actually Understand AI? (I’m Not So Sure.) | AI Reality Check
Jul 9, 202619 min3,688 wordsShould I Turn Off the Internet? (Lessons From a Family That Did) | Monday Advice
Jul 6, 202665 min12,782 wordsCan I Be a Digital Minimalist in 2026? | Monday Advice
Jun 29, 202659 min12,151 wordsDear AI Companies: Stop the “Doom Trolling” | AI Reality Check
Jun 25, 202622 min3,950 wordsAm I Lazy or Overstimulated? | Monday Advice
Jun 22, 202657 min11,205 wordsWas the Mythos Ban Justified? (Good Idea. Bad Execution.) | AI Reality Check
Jun 17, 202629 min5,602 wordsDo I Need a “Brain Gym”? | Monday Advice
Jun 15, 202658 min11,044 wordsAre We About to Lose Control of AI? | AI Reality Check
Jun 11, 202620 min3,676 wordsShould I Press Pause? | Monday Advice
Jun 8, 202633 min6,500 wordsHow Do I Escape the “Busyness Singularity”? | Monday Advice
Jun 1, 202648 min9,527 wordsDid AI Just “Solve” Math? (Let’s Take a Closer Look) | AI Reality Check
May 28, 202631 min5,961 wordsHow Do I Reclaim My Schedule? (w/ Laura Vanderkam) | Monday Advice
May 25, 202686 min18,403 wordsHas AI Conquered Coding? (It’s Not So Simple…) | AI Reality Check
May 21, 202612 min2,141 wordsAm I Addicted to My Phone? (w/ Anna Lembke) | Monday Advice
May 18, 202686 min15,932 wordsIs AI About to “Eat Everything”? | AI Reality Check
May 14, 202631 min6,126 wordsDo I Need a Digital Intervention? | Monday Advice
May 11, 202643 min8,001 wordsIs the AI Doom Fever Breaking? | AI Reality Check
May 7, 202626 min4,719 wordsIs AI About to Automate Every Office Job? | AI Reality Check
Apr 30, 202633 min6,435 wordsHow Do I Build “Cognitive Fitness”? | Monday Advice
Apr 27, 202651 min9,902 wordsIs AI Trending Up or Down in 2026? | AI Reality Check
Apr 23, 202673 min14,021 wordsDo I Need More Discipline? | Monday Advice
Apr 20, 202686 min18,382 wordsIs Claude Mythos “Terrifying”? | AI Reality Check
Apr 16, 202624 min4,385 wordsEp. 400: Should I Embrace “Slow Technology”?
Apr 13, 202691 min16,411 wordsAI Reality Check: Is AI Stealing Entry-Level Jobs?
Apr 9, 202616 min2,932 wordsEp. 399: Is Deep Work Still Possible in 2026?
Apr 6, 202663 min12,684 wordsAI Reality Check: Can LLMs “Scheme”?
Apr 2, 202619 min3,833 wordsEp. 398: How Do I Find Purpose in a Distracted World? (W/ Arthur Brooks)
Mar 30, 202677 min15,626 wordsAI Reality Check: Are LLMs a Dead End?
Mar 26, 202630 min5,728 wordsEp. 397: Why Do “Productivity Technologies” Make My Job Worse?
Mar 23, 202667 min12,541 wordsAI Reality Check: Did AI Just Become Sentient?
Mar 19, 202623 min4,513 wordsEp. 396: Can I Learn To Love My Phone Again?
Mar 16, 202654 min10,245 wordsAI Reality Check: Is the Economy About to Collapse?
Mar 12, 202633 min6,316 wordsEp. 395: Should I Try a “Social Media Pause”?
Mar 9, 202687 min16,847 wordsAI Reality Check: Did the LLM Job Apocalypse Begin Last Week?
Mar 5, 202629 min5,648 wordsEp. 394: Do I Need a Better Planning System?
Mar 2, 202694 min20,200 wordsEp. 393: Can Movies Save Us From Our Phones?
Feb 23, 202668 min13,461 wordsEp. 392: Are “Micro-Streamers” the Future of Media? + Why Cal Spent $60 on a Task App
Feb 16, 202662 min12,143 wordsEp. 391: Is AI Reporting Broken? + Rethinking Morning Routines
Feb 9, 202658 min11,268 wordsEp. 390: What Happens When You Ditch Your Smartphone? + Assessing the Internet’s Latest Self-Help Sensation
Feb 2, 202671 min13,708 wordsEp. 389: Is the Internet Hijacking Ambition? + Escaping Messaging Hell
Jan 26, 2026108 min21,750 wordsEp. 388: What’s Worrying Jon Haidt Now? + Should You Buy a Landline? (Cal just did…)
Jan 19, 202683 min16,133 wordsEp 387: Can Substack Save Journalism? + Viral Advice for Ignoring Your Phone
Jan 12, 202684 min16,354 wordsEp 386: Was 2025 a Great or Terrible Year for AI? (w/ Ed Zitron)
Jan 5, 2026143 min28,586 wordsEp 385:
Dec 29, 202574 min14,089 wordsEp 383: Why Is Everyone Talking About “Against the Machine”? (w/ Tyler Austin Harper)
Dec 15, 202595 min20,074 wordsEp. 382: Is the Internet Becoming Television?
Dec 8, 202579 min15,755 wordsEp. Ep 381: Life Advice from Legendary Writers
Dec 1, 202598 min20,254 wordsEp. 380: ChatGPT is Not Alive!
Nov 24, 202578 min15,562 wordsEp. 379: The Flexibility Myth
Nov 17, 2025115 min23,206 wordsEp. 378: The Lost Art of Long Thinking
Nov 10, 202588 min17,299 wordsEp. 377: The Case Against Superintelligence
Nov 3, 202591 min18,090 wordsEp. 376: The Lincoln Protocol
Oct 27, 202583 min16,697 wordsEp. 375: Did OpenAI Just Kill Social Media?
Oct 20, 202596 min19,483 wordsEp. 374: This is Your Brain on Phones
Oct 13, 202598 min19,658 wordsEp. 373: The Internet’s Best Advice for Reinventing Your Life
Oct 6, 202596 min19,850 wordsEp. 372: Decoding TikTok’s Algorithm
Sep 29, 202586 min17,292 wordsIN-DEPTH: Focus like a Nobel Prize Winner (w/ Brian Keating)
Sep 25, 202564 min13,602 wordsEp. 371: Is it Finally Time to Leave Social Media?
Sep 22, 202585 min16,767 wordsEp. 370: Deep Work in the Age of AI
Sep 15, 202570 min13,634 wordsEp. 369: Why Are We Getting Dumber? A Debate.
Sep 8, 202593 min18,904 wordsIN-DEPTH: The Game of Life (w/ Tim Ferriss)
Sep 4, 2025117 min21,581 wordsEp. 368: I Want Work-Life Balance. Am I Doomed to Mediocrity?
Sep 1, 202587 min17,550 wordsEp. 367: What if AI Doesn’t Get Much Better Than This?
Aug 25, 202597 min19,121 wordsEp. 366: How to Reinvent Your Life in 4 Months (Classic Episode from August, 2023)
Aug 18, 202577 min14,693 words
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