On Musk with Walter Isaacson

About On Musk with Walter Isaacson

A single scientific breakthrough changed the future of humanity, setting off the third great revolution of modern times. As with any revolution, things didn’t happen neatly or quietly. One figure stood at the center of it all: Jennifer Doudna, the Nobel Prize-winning biochemist who co-created CRISPR. Her invention signified the arrival of a newfound ability to edit our genes, as simply as we edit a sentence, with a word processor. From Walter Isaacson - the bestselling biographer behind Musk, Einstein and Steve Jobs – and journalist Evan Ratliff (Mastermind, co-host of the beloved Longform podcast) comes a behind the scenes look at the story of Jennifer Doudna. Her personal trajectory, and that of her collaborators and competitors, tells the story of how we arrived at this new frontier of gene editing. It’s a story filled with global stakes and fiery competition. And a story that touches upon the ethical considerations that gene editing brings. Season 2: He didn’t have a role in Hamilton, but America wouldn’t be the same without him! From Walter Isaacson– the bestselling biographer behind Musk, Einstein and Steve Jobs– and journalist Evan Ratliff (Mastermind, co-host of the beloved Longform podcast) comes a behind the scenes look at the story of Ben Franklin, and how his genius shaped our national character. From Franklin’s adventures as a mischievous apprentice, to his evolution over 84 years into America’s best writer, inventor,scientist, diplomat, and business strategist… as well as Founding Father, Isaacson covers everything from the wit behind Poor Richard’s Almanac to the wisdom behind the Declaration of Independence; not to mention, how a former slave owner evolved into the shepherd of a near-perfect Constitution. In this intimate behind the scenes interview, Isaacson provides a look at how he came to understand Franklin’s remarkable life, how it shaped America’s national identity, and why Ben Franklin matters so much right now. Season 1: What is it like to shadow Elon Musk for two years? To sit courtside as he builds a rocket? Or tears apart an engineer? Or couch surfs at the homes of billionaires? And how on earth do you make sense of it all? Walter Isaacson is the biographer of giants: DaVinci, Franklin, Doudna, Jobs...and now Musk, former enfant terrible, rocket launcher, electric car innovator, and Twitter—er, X—disruptor, to put it gently. In this four-part series, author Evan Ratliff (“Mastermind,” “Longform” Podcast) sits down with Isaacson to draw out the behind-the-scenes stories of this epic biography, and what the writer has learned as an outsider inside Silicon Valley.

Publisher

iHeartPodcasts and Kaleidoscope

Category

society & culture · technology

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

5 Dec 2023

Latest episode

29 Jun 2026

Latest episodes

7 of 25 episodes have a transcript.

1. 

   29 Jun 2026TRANSCRIPT

   Listen to: What Could Go Right?

   Author Simone Stolzoff and host Zachary Karabell discuss how embracing uncertainty fuels progress and helps navigate global challenges.

2. 

   25 Feb 2026TRANSCRIPT

   New from Kaleidoscope: Mind Games - Episode 1. The Guru's Guru.

   What if someone told you that you could skip years of therapy with a few mental tricks? It sounded impossible… until we found Neuro-Linguistic Programming. NLP is a form of hypnosis beloved by everyone from sex cults to the U.S. military to fortune 500 companies–yet almost no one knows it exists. Long before she co-founded NXIVM, hypnotist Nancy Salzman encountered NLP as a radical method for reprogramming the mind. Her story leads us to its inventor, Richard Bandler, a volatile, self-made guru. As we dig into how it took hold in so many places, we face an unsettling possibility: NLP might actually work. See omnystudio.com/listener (https://omnystudio.com/listener) for privacy information.

3. 

   8 Oct 2025TRANSCRIPT

   ON CRISPR Episode 5: The Conversation

   In the four years since the book’s publication, CRISPR has revolutionized the world of medical treatments and possibilities. But our world has changed drastically, too. As AI’s impact grows, U.S scientists are facing funding cuts like never before. For our final episode, we bring you a live conversation between Walter Isaacson and Jennifer Doudna at the New Orleans Book Festival. In her own words, you’ll hear Doudna explain how CRISPR blossomed from an idea to a phenomenon, and the challenges scientists faces in this politically fraught moment. See omnystudio.com/listener (https://omnystudio.com/listener) for privacy information.

Inside a recent episode

Listen to: What Could Go Right?

Published 29 Jun 2026 · Transcript excerpt

[…] And so in my mind, optimism isn't necessarily the idea that the world is headed towards a more beautiful place or that the future is necessarily better than the present. But it's this idea that we all have agency to help shape what that future becomes. I think one of the best examples for not wanting to have a fixed idea of the future is that if you want to change the world, you shouldn't want the future to be already written. You want to be able to write your part in it. And that's what I think about in terms of the climate movement is you have to be part of that solution, even and especially if you are sort of down or feeling a little paralyzed by the size of the problem. […]

Reach and audience

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

Apple Podcasts (US)

3.6 / 5

334 ratings

Spotify

4.1 / 5

75 ratings

Contact On Musk with Walter Isaacson

Guest appearances

Books guests

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