Hi-Phi Nation

Barry Lam, a philosophy professor at UC Riverside, created something unusual with Hi-Phi Nation: a philosophy podcast that sounds like a documentary radio show. Each episode starts with a real story — a legal case, a technological development, a cultural phenomenon — and then pulls the philosophical questions out of it. You might not realize you're thinking about epistemology or moral responsibility until you're already deep into the narrative. That's by design. The production quality reflects its home at Slate. Episodes feature original reporting, multiple interviews, archival audio, and careful editing that makes 40 to 60 minutes fly by. Season 6 covered AI-generated music, effective altruism, gig economy labor, romantic relationships with chatbots, and digital avatars of dead loved ones. These aren't abstract thought experiments; Lam talks to the actual people involved and then connects their experiences to philosophical frameworks in a way that feels organic rather than forced. With 73 episodes across six seasons, Hi-Phi Nation is more curated than most philosophy podcasts. Lam takes time between seasons, and each episode is clearly the product of significant research and production work. The show has earned a 4.8 star average from 471 ratings, which is remarkable for a relatively small catalog. It's free with ads, or ad-free through Slate Plus. If you're the kind of person who finds standard lecture-format philosophy podcasts a bit dry, Hi-Phi Nation is the antidote. It proves that rigorous philosophy and compelling storytelling aren't just compatible — they actually make each other better.