The World Unpacked is a weekly podcast where insiders, intellectuals, and iconoclasts dive deep into the most pressing global issues. In a time of violent convulsions and heady new possibilities, host Jon Bateman mixes it up with the thinkers making sense of what’s happening and the power brokers building what comes next. Tune in for lively, free-wheeling conversations with some of the world’s most interesting and informed people.
Required Pod Score for this podcast. PitchCentric checks your profile against host openness, topical fit, and audience signals before you generate a pitch.
Contact path
Verified email
Booking probability
36%
Guest openness
Selective
Sign up to generate a grounded pitch for The World Unpacked.
Signup to Generate a PitchThe World Unpacked is a weekly podcast where insiders, intellectuals, and iconoclasts dive deep into the most pressing global issues. In a time of violent convulsions and heady new possibilities, host Jon Bateman mixes it up with the thinkers making sense of what’s happening and the power brokers building what comes next.
Recent episodes include "How Technology Is Rewriting the Rules of War" (16 October 2026, 66 minutes), "Inside the Race to Replace Humans with AI" (2 October 2026, 72 minutes), and "Inside the Secret Service | An Impossible Job Is Getting Harder" (11 September 2026, 68 minutes).
The World Unpacked publishes roughly every two weeks, with episodes averaging 58 minutes.
Booking probability for The World Unpacked is 36%, and the host is rated Selective on guests. The World Unpacked requires a Pod Score of 80 or higher. The World Unpacked's contact route on record: verified email.
The strongest fits for The World Unpacked are Defense & International Affairs and Economic Development & Regulation. The World Unpacked has an education audience.
The World Unpacked is an education podcast.
Our AI reads these to draft pitches. Use them as grounding for a pitch that cites a real guest and a specific topic.
Episode #290
Ukraine destroyed Russian strategic bombers deep inside Russia with help from former DJ, a tattoo artist, and cheap drones hidden in trucks. What does that say about who holds power when drones are everywhere? Has China...
Episode #289
Even as AI dominates the headlines, the gulf between what insiders know and outsiders believe has never been wider. Those closest to the technology have the grandest hopes and fears for rapid, large-scale...
With political violence on the rise and new weapons like drones proliferating, is it still possible to protect America’s leaders? Why has such a basic governmental mission been overstretched and underfunded? ...
Episode #287
People are worried that AI will automate their jobs. Yet Brian Merchant has interviewed hundreds of workers disrupted by AI, and what he sees isn’t a technological revolution but a centuries-old power struggle: bosses...
Episode #286
Data centers may be the most controversial objects in America. They’re blamed for draining water reservoirs, stressing electrical grids, and driving up utility bills. Communities throughout the country are pushing back...
Episode #284
The U.S. and Israel just fought a second war over Iran's nuclear program—and one of the world's leading nuclear experts says America lost. Iran's uranium stockpile sits fully intact in tunnels too deep to reach, and...
Episode #283
A U.S.-China war over Taiwan would be catastrophic for all sides and the world. Preventing such a war requires understanding how it might unfold—from start to finish—including worst-case scenarios. How much warning...
Episode #282
The wars unleashed by October 7th have left the Middle East deeply fractured—Iran battered and defiant, Gaza destroyed, Israel militarized, the Gulf insecure and divided. And an even bigger disruption lies just ahead...
Episode #281
Theo Baker is no ordinary college senior. His student newspaper articles brought down Stanford’s president. Now he’s written a book about the making of the young tech elite. How to Rule the World: An Education in Power...
Episode #280
Russia’s surprising recent Internet shutdown did more than disrupt daily life: it also crippled the regime’s own communications and propaganda. It’s one of a series of strange events—from a diminished Victory Day parade...
Episode #279
There’s been remarkably little public debate about a potential U.S. attack on Cuba. President Trump said last week that he “will be taking over” Cuba “almost immediately”—and similar threats led to military action in...
Episode #278
AI-powered bots and slop content are everywhere now, making it harder to tell who’s human. Will the Internet become so bot-ridden that it’s simply unusable? Or will people be forced to prove their identities...
Episode #277
Elon Musk is one of the most influential figures of our era. He remade the space, car, social media, and AI industries. He shaped the Ukraine War. He helped put Donald Trump back in office and became Washington’s most...
Episode #276
The world is still making sense of Viktor Orbán’s historic election loss in Hungary—a small country with outsized global significance. Why were Orbán’s generational efforts to stack the electoral deck not enough to...
Episode #275
Think tanks—the non-profit research centers that try to influence policy—are strange and mysterious places. Depending on who you ask, think tanks are invaluable sources of expertise, intellectual hired guns serving...
Episode #274
President Trump was meant to fly to Beijing this week for major trade talks, but instead he’s staying home to manage the Iran War. It’s an apt metaphor for America’s decades-long failure to refocus on Asia and reckon...
Episode #273
The U.S. is fighting its first full-scale AI war in Iran — but key details remain largely hidden from Americans and the world. Which military decisions are being automated? How well does AI really perform on the...
The Iran War marks the second time in two months that Donald Trump decapitated a country without real legal justification. But is this any different from the many times that past U.S. presidents—and other great...
Episode #271
Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei was killed almost a week ago — so who’s running the country? Will Iranians seek change in the streets, despite the brutal crackdown they faced in January? Could Kurdish militias march...
Episode #270
Just weeks after ousting Venezuela’s leader, Donald Trump is now courting crises on two other continents. Trump’s quest to own Greenland continues to roil Europe, while the Middle East braces for war as a U.S. armada...
Recent guests on The World Unpacked. Study who booked and why before you pitch.
Author and Technology Columnist, L.A. Times
author of How To Rule The World: An Education in Power at Stanford University, Stanford University
Professor of International History at Boston University, Boston University
author of 'Building Socialism from Below: Popular Power and the State'
PitchCentric classifies The World Unpacked under these industries. Guests from them are the closest fit, and each links to the best podcasts in that industry.
Shows with the most semantically similar episode content. Pitch one, pitch all; producers cluster.
Is this podcast yours and you'd like to remove or correct details? Request removal or email privacy@pitchcentric.com.
Questions about the free trial? See the pricing FAQ
