Look Beneath the Obvious is about curiosity, evidence, and conversations that go beyond the easy answer. No shouting matches. No predetermined conclusions. Just interesting people and questions worth exploring.
Conversations
When Two Things Can be True
Gina L. Osborn
Episode 1
A conversation with Gina L. Osborn, author, podcaster, and former FBI agent, about leadership, uncertainty, and what years of making high-stakes decisions taught her about certainty, credibility, and learning that two things can be true at the same time.
What Pressure Reveals About People
Alice Franklin
Episode 2
A conversation with Alice Franklin, retired federal agent, military veteran, investigator, and interrogator, about what a lifetime spent dealing with people under pressure taught her about human behavior.
There’s a Lot of Gray Out There
Bruce Ramos
Episode 3
A conversation with retired counterintelligence agent Bruce Ramos about war, coming home, certainty, and what decades spent working with incomplete information taught him about the danger of easy conclusions.
Watch and Listen
Full episodes will be available here, on YouTube, and wherever you listen to podcasts.
Conversations in Development
AI & Personhood
If an artificial intelligence appears to possess volition, when do we have to consider the possibility that it is a person?
AI in Medicine
Where is artificial intelligence already changing medicine, and what happens when the technology begins doing things its human users cannot?
Water and Conflict
As demand grows and water becomes more contested, when does competition become instability, and when can instability become conflict?
About the Host
Rick Hoppe is a retired intelligence officer, analyst, veteran, and author whose career spans more than three decades in intelligence, counterterrorism, military operations, and national-security analysis. Beneath the Obvious grew from a habit developed over that career: when the obvious explanation seems sufficient, look again.
Have Something Worth Exploring?
Know someone with an unusual perspective, deep expertise, or a question that deserves a closer look? I’m always interested in conversations that challenge assumptions and take us beneath the obvious.
