Nicholas Wright: When Ancient Brains Meet Modern War
The Gist
Mike Pesca
4.4 • 3.6K Ratings
🗓️ 18 December 2025
⏱️ 45 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Neuroscientist Nicholas Wright explains why big powers "lose" wars they dominate on the kill ratio—and why counterinsurgencies (Vietnam, Afghanistan, maybe Iraq) reliably punish the side with less at stake. His new book, Warhead: How the Brain Shapes War and War Shapes the Brain, argues that identity, surprise, and revenge are ancient brain features, while metacognition—the mind watching itself—can be the thin guardrail against strategic self-harm. Along the way: post-1945 German polling as a reminder that political "reconstruction" happens on a years-long timetable, not on an American attention span. Plus, a Trump "warrior dividend" of $1,776 per service member—tariffs funding patriotism, one numerology check at a time.
Produced by Corey Wara
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | It's Thursday, December 18th, 2025 from Peach Fish Productions. It's the gist. I'm Mike Peska. |
| 0:09.7 | Donald Trump gave a prime time address yesterday. Just sounded like any random 20 minutes of his |
| 0:15.4 | rantings, but he did it behind the podium. Trump did make a bit of news, a bit of branding news, |
| 0:22.2 | with this announcement. |
| 0:23.5 | Tonight, I am also proud to announce |
| 0:26.4 | that more than 1,450,000, think of this, |
| 0:31.2 | 1,450,000 military service members |
| 0:36.3 | will receive a special, we call warrior dividend before Christmas, |
| 0:41.3 | a warrior dividend. In honor of our nation's founding in 1776, we are sending every soldier |
| 0:49.3 | $1,776. |
| 0:55.0 | Think of that. |
| 0:56.0 | And the checks are already on the way. |
| 0:59.0 | Nobody understood that one until about 30 minutes ago. |
| 1:03.0 | We made a lot more money than anybody thought because of tariffs and the bill helped us along. |
| 1:08.0 | Nobody deserves it more than our military. |
| 1:13.3 | And I say congratulations to everybody. |
| 1:18.7 | Now, this will be paid for out of the tariff money, and it's already authorized under a housing supplement that was in the big, beautiful bill. |
| 1:22.5 | I do wonder if out there watching this address or hearing about it today. There was one military guy |
| 1:29.2 | who was like, oh, I was going to take Mark Kelly's advice and defy orders, but now, no, I want my |
| 1:37.0 | money. Uh, honey, tell the JAG officer to cancel the appointment. I didn't realize that |
| 1:43.3 | $1,776 was on the line. The Warrior |
| 1:47.9 | Windfall. Don't give up the ship. Indeed, I am buying a jet ski. Woohoo. Second Venezuelan |
... |
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