MAD Warfare Podcast

About MAD Warfare Podcast

MAD Warfare™️ is a science-driven deep dive into the wild, weird, and sometimes wicked world of the "weaponization of everything." But don't worry—IT WILL BE FUN. Think of it as your covert ops manual for spotting how cyber hackers, rogue AI agents, and shady "bad actors" (who'd be terrible in a buddy comedy) are messing with our minds. Often in ways that evade detection… until it's too late. With expert interviews from unexpected places and plenty of offbeat insights, this podcast reveals the hidden battleground of everyday life. Each episode is a call to action: for those in power to step up—and for the rest of us to gear up, because we might be all we've got. (Also, may feature puppets.)

Publisher

STP Productions

Category

society & culture · technology

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

15 Feb 2025

Latest episode

4 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

40 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   4 Oct 2026

   All Bets Are On w Betint

   🎙️ Get the ad-free version and exclusive bonus segments here: / https://www.patreon.com/c/MADWarfare Somewhere outside Paris, a guy is standing by a chain-link fence pointing a hairdryer at a government thermometer. Why? Because he bet on record-breaking heat — and apparently decided predicting the future was less profitable than helping it along. Welcome to prediction markets: places where people can put money on elections, wars, the weather, what a president will say on television, who wins Survivor… basically anything with an outcome. But what happens when there's enough money riding on an event that people stop predicting reality and start trying to change it? In this episode, MAD co-host Sean Guillory jumps into the guest chair alongside his Betting Intelligence co-founders Dan Zimmerman and Gary Morland to explain how prediction markets work, why they've exploded, and the strange new security problems that emerge when information itself has a price tag. We get into insider information, market manipulation, journalists being threatened, fake signals, AI-generated disinformation, geopolitical bets, regulatory loopholes — and why the person who knows what's going to happen may also have a financial incentive to make sure it does. Check out Betint: https://www.betint.net/ ⸻ Want To Support MAD? Sponsor us. We'll make you a weird, wonderful custom video. Email: madwarfarepodcast@gmail.com (Or send snacks. Still counts.) ⸻ MAD Warfare™ is hosted by narrative strategist Jocelyn Brady and cognitive neuroscientist Sean Anthony Guillory. Edited and produced by Amine el Filali. Visit madwarfare.com for extra giggles. Send dream guests, weird ideas, wishes, and sponsorship inquiries (yes, again) to madwarfarepodcast@gmail.com. ⸻ Fair Use This show is MAD enough to include homages, short clips, and references that provide vital context and/or moments of joy. We deeply respect every creator's work and use these moments for educational, artistic, and transformative purposes under Fair Use. If we missed an attribution or you'd like to collaborate, reach out—we're happy to chat.

2. 

   20 Sept 2026

   Extraordinary Agents w Carmen Medina

   🎙️ Get the ad-free version and exclusive bonus segments here: / madwarfare (https://www.patreon.com/c/MADWarfare) When someone says CIA, do you picture an all-seeing puppet master pulling the strings? Carmen Medina spent 32 years on the inside, and she has a potentially more unsettling theory: What if our most powerful institutions are mostly run by… ordinary humans? Humans who make terrible PowerPoints. Resist new ideas. Struggle to explain how they think. And occasionally require a bureaucratic heist just to serve a tray of meatballs. In this episode, we talk with Carmen Medina — former Deputy Director of Intelligence at the CIA, self-described "organizational heretic," co-author of Rebels at Work, and one of the people who helped drag the intelligence community into the internet age — about how institutions think, why they resist change, and what separates good analysis from simply having a lot of information. We get into insight, cognitive diversity, conspiracy theories, organizational rebellion, bureaucracy, bad questions, good managers, internet-era intelligence, and why sometimes the most useful thing you can do in a meeting is stop talking. We also talk about: • what people get wrong about the CIA • why the early internet looked like heresy to an organization built around secrets • how 9/11 changed the intelligence community's relationship with information sharing • why insight is relational • how bad categories can trap good thinkers • why cognitive diversity matters more than simply assembling smart people • what Ukraine can teach us about underestimating emotion • why one rebel usually isn't enough to change a group • how managers accidentally shut down disagreement • why rebels should save their best ideas instead of sharing every single one • the bureaucratic loophole that finally got CIA graduates their meatballs • why learning one thing deeply can inoculate you against bad thinking • what conspiracy theories get wrong about how history actually happens • and what CIA karaoke sounds like when there's charity money on the line If you've ever wondered how smart institutions make dumb decisions — or how to become the person who helps them think better — this one's for you. ⸻ Timestamps (approx) • 00:00 What if the CIA is run by… humans? • 02:00 CIA's Got Talent and Carmen's karaoke strategy • 05:00 How a debate kid ended up at the CIA • 08:00 From typewriters to Twitter • 09:00 What people get wrong about the CIA • 14:30 Why the internet looked like heresy • 16:00 9/11 and the information-sharing wake-up call • 18:00 Carmen's actual ambition: get a job • 21:00 What makes a good thinker? • 23:30 What is insight? • 27:00 Why "insight is relational" • 29:00 The missing step between reading and writing • 31:00 Categories, analysis, and how thinking gets boxed in • 34:00 AI, labeling data, and diversity of thought • 37:00 Why we need to understand cognitive diversity • 40:00 Emotion, objectivity, and what analysts can miss • 42:00 Why Carmen stopped following the news • 44:00 Hitler, obituaries, and one brilliant piece of analysis • 47:00 Why dropping one rebel into a team doesn't work • 49:00 The questions managers should actually ask • 53:00 Conversation as a management philosophy • 54:00 Why rebels sometimes need to stop talking • 57:00 The CIA meatball heist • 1:01:00 Managing the organization instead of just the substance • 1:03:00 Competence is sexy • 1:05:00 How to become a better thinker • 1:07:00 History, conspiracy theories, and the role of coincidence • 1:10:00 Pandas Playing Cello • 1:13:00 The good side of the internet ⸻ Want To Support MAD? Sponsor us. We'll make you a weird, wonderful custom video. Email: madwarfarepodcast@gmail.com (Or send snacks. Still counts.) ⸻ MAD Warfare™ is hosted by narrative strategist Jocelyn Brady and cognitive neuroscientist Sean Anthony Guillory. Edited and produced by Amine el Filali. Visit madwarfare.com for extra giggles. Send dream guests, weird ideas, wishes, and sponsorship inquiries (yes, again) to madwarfarepodcast@gmail.com. ⸻ Fair Use This show is MAD enough to include homages, short clips, and references that provide vital context and/or moments of joy. We deeply respect every creator's work and use these moments for educational, artistic, and transformative purposes under Fair Use. If we missed an attribution or you'd like to collaborate, reach out—we're happy to chat.

3. 

   27 Jul 2026

   Ancient Goods w Aman Bandvi

   Here's the episode copy in the exact MAD Warfare format you've been using: 🎙️ Get the ad-free version and exclusive bonus segments here: / madwarfare (https://www.patreon.com/c/MADWarfare) Give people a smartphone, make them anxious about elections, jobs, status, and the future—and then watch where all that energy goes. Politics becomes entertainment. Entertainment becomes identity. Identity becomes a weapon. You know. Normal democracy stuff. In this episode, we talk with Aman Bhondwe — political strategist, AI governance advisor, futurist, and author — about what India can teach the rest of the world about attention, technology, democracy, and the future arriving faster than anyone is ready for. India may be the world's largest democracy, but it is also a kind of global test lab: a huge, young population moving from limited internet access to hyperconnectivity in less than a decade. The smartphones are cheap. The data is cheaper. The consequences are still loading. We get into weaponized attention, AI anxiety, youth unemployment, loneliness, political polarization, ancient Indian philosophy, healthcare disruption, and why optimism may be less of a personality trait than a survival strategy. We also talk about: • why India may be a preview of America's digital future • how attention became a battlefield • what happens when educated young people can't find meaningful work • why AI anxiety is becoming a mental health crisis • what the Bhagavad Gita can teach us about likes, status, and external validation • why Gen Z may be right to "build in private" • how ancient stories can help us think through modern disruption • why India could become a cognitive security powerhouse • what happens when politics enters every conversation • how smartphones manufacture anxiety • why healthcare may be the next major zone of turbulence • and why the only phone notifications you may actually need are from people who would visit you in the hospital If you've ever wondered whether your phone is helping you see the future—or quietly scripting it for you—this one's for you. ⸻ Timestamps (approx) • 00:00 The future of distraction • 02:00 India as democracy's digital test lab • 04:00 Cheap smartphones, cheap data, and hyperconnectivity • 06:30 Why attention has become weaponized • 08:30 The leaderless digital militia • 11:00 AI anxiety, graduate unemployment, and mental health • 15:00 Ancient Indian philosophy and the modern information war • 18:00 The Bhagavad Gita, external validation, and working without attachment • 22:00 Why Gen Z says "build in private" • 26:00 Purpose, money, and living someone else's dream • 30:00 India's potential as a cognitive security powerhouse • 33:00 Diversity, division, and India's historical vulnerabilities • 36:30 Why optimism is the only viable path • 38:30 Chatbots, loneliness, and the need to step away from the screen • 42:00 Politics, family division, and losing the ability to disagree • 47:00 What quantum physics can teach us about being watched • 49:00 The coming era of turbulence • 50:30 A tiny experiment with phone notifications • 53:00 Why healthcare may be the next major disruption • 57:00 The Dharma of Disruption + where to find Aman ⸻ Want To Support MAD? Sponsor us. We'll make you a weird, wonderful custom video. Email: madwarfarepodcast@gmail.com (Or send snacks. Still counts.) ⸻ MAD Warfare™ is hosted by narrative strategist Jocelyn Brady and cognitive neuroscientist Sean Anthony Guillory. Edited and produced by Amine el Filali. Visit madwarfare.com for extra giggles. Send dream guests, weird ideas, wishes, and sponsorship inquiries (yes, again) to madwarfarepodcast@gmail.com. ⸻ Fair Use This show is MAD enough to include homages, short clips, and references that provide vital context and/or moments of joy. We deeply respect every creator's work and use these moments for educational, artistic, and transformative purposes under Fair Use. If we missed an attribution or you'd like to collaborate, reach out—we're happy to chat.

Who has been a guest on MAD Warfare Podcast

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Matt Canham
• Andrea Hickerson
• John Bicknell
• Nicholas Wright
• Rand Waltzman

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

YouTube views

2,223

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

9 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

12 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 74 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

83

Social presence

90

YouTube

68

Engagement

51

Contact MAD Warfare Podcast

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

Questions about MAD Warfare Podcast