What it would actually take to build energy abundance.
Age of Miracles questions the founders behind micro reactors, fusion generators and lunar power systems about cost, fuel, regulation and timelines. Conversations travel from a single reactor design or customer contract out to a larger claim: that cheap, plentiful energy sits underneath nearly every other kind of progress.
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Age of Miracles is an interview-centric show about energy abundance, and its working question is practical: what would actually make advanced nuclear, fusion and space power real at scale? Packy McCormick hosts, with Julia DeWahl as co-host of a first season devoted to fission and fusion. The register is measured and analytical. Questions arrive short and plain, and good answers are allowed to run. Interviews open on a shared prompt about the American energy mix in 2050, and the answers diverge sharply: Jordan Bramble calls it a policy and engineering question, Tyler Bernstein of Zeno Power expects a broad clean mix, and Bret Kugelmass of Last Energy skips ahead to an entirely nuclear 2100. Then the specifics arrive. In the Antares conversation, where Julia DeWahl also appears as one of the company's co-founders, Bramble makes the case for taking micro reactors to the Department of Defense first, setting military projects budgeted in the tens to low hundreds of millions against the billion-dollar reputation of commercial nuclear. Heat-pipe vendors, TRISO fuel supply and the federal GAIN program all come up. David Kirtley of Helion Energy talks through Microsoft as a first customer for data center power, a seventh prototype under construction, and the logic of mass-producing generators near 50 megawatts rather than building giants one at a time, borrowing SpaceX as the example. A question sparked by the series For All Mankind turns into an explanation of how Helion makes its own Helium-3. Kugelmass is the bluntest guest of the group. He argues a nuclear plant ought to cost less than a coal plant, blames regulatory requirements for the tenfold gap, and describes treating construction like an offshore oil platform, where skilled field labor is the cost to squeeze. Bernstein explains why the fourteen-day lunar night makes nuclear heat a question of capability rather than price, and why most of his engineers come from aerospace. The rapport stays warm, but the show is also willing to argue. 'Energy for an Age of Miracles' names regulation as nuclear's biggest bottleneck, noting that founders tend to hesitate before saying so, and it turns grave when describing what life without reliable electricity costs. The season's titles sketch its range: 'The Untold History of Nuclear Energy', 'Nuclear Economics', 'Fission Founders, Part 1: Manufacturing Nuclear', 'The Fusion Marathon' and 'The Case For All the Other Energy Sources'. The feed also holds material beyond energy, including 'Not Boring Founders' interviews with companies such as Crusoe Energy, Ezra and Mindbloom, and essay episodes like 'Intelligence Superabundance'. For the show's thesis in its own words, start with 'Energy for an Age of Miracles'; for the interview form with its most outspoken guest, the Last Energy conversation is the one to hear.
Made for: Suits a listener curious about advanced nuclear, fusion and space power who wants founders pressed on costs, fuel, customers and regulation, and who is comfortable with technical vocabulary like megawatts, heat pipes and Helium-3.
What sets it apart: It pairs patient founder interviews with an openly stated thesis: that abundant energy sits beneath nearly every measure of prosperity, and that regulation is nuclear's main bottleneck. Comparisons to SpaceX, offshore oil platforms and military procurement keep the talk anchored in how hardware actually gets built and bought.
A narrative show that explores the complex industries that will play an important role in creating an abundant future for humanity. Every season, host Packy McCormick – a venture investor and writer of the popular Not Boring newsletter – brings in an expert cohost to go deep into the possibilities and challenges of making “sci-fi” dreams our reality in our lifetimes. The first season starts at the root of all progress and prosperity: unlocking 10x more clean and reliable energy by splitting and fusing atoms themselves. Age of Miracles is part of the Turpentine podcast network. Learn more: turpentine.co
Based on 5 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Age of Miracles connects nuclear ambition to the manufacturing, regulation, customers, and infrastructure required to put new energy systems to work.
Age of Miracles follows ambitious energy technology past the grand promise and into questions of manufacturing, regulation, customers, and deployment.
The 2050 energy pie chart somehow lands you on the Moon with a 14-day payload.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A grounded nuclear conversation about scale, tradeoffs, and how cheaper energy ripples through daily life.
Jordan frames nuclear power as a set of hard tradeoffs rather than a shiny future bet. The episode stays focused on the practical work behind scale: policy, engineering, capital, and manufacturing discipline.
Fusion only matters here if it can be built small, mass-produced, and sold to real power buyers.
Age of Miracles treats fusion as a planning problem, not a slogan: what has to change for Helion's 2050 promise to matter on the U.S. grid, and why smaller, mass-produced generators may be the real unlock.
A blunt case for building nuclear like industry, not a one-off project.
Brett Kugelmass frames nuclear as an industrial problem before it is anything else. The focus stays on construction delays, skilled labor, financing, and execution, which gives the discussion a practical edge.
Space nuclear, with the economics and approval process laid out clearly.
The episode makes a clear case for space nuclear by tracing the economics and regulation behind power systems for the moon and Mars. It starts with the U.S. energy mix in 2050, then shifts to what nuclear power can enable when the timeline is measured in years rather than days.
Shipyard reactors anchor a broad case for abundant energy, from water to cities to manufacturing.
This installment uses nuclear power to make a larger case about the future, with Matt Slotkin, founder of Blue Energy, describing reactors built in shipyards, loaded onto boats, and floated to end markets around the world.
Operational wisdom for building better things.
Field-tested startup talk for oil and gas.
Energy leadership, told from the field.
Insider conversations on how pipelines are run and regulated.
An equipment maker's view of the changing power grid
Jordan opens by refusing to treat 2050 as fixed.
David Kirtley argues that fusion needs to reach the U.S.
Brett Kugelmass makes the case for nuclear at overwhelming scale.
The host opens by asking what the U.S.
The season ends with Alan Kay’s line about inventing the future.
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