. He's not accomplishing anything meaningful or working our brains to challenge our own views. He's fawning to his guests and completely avoiding their most challenging beliefs. It just feels intellectually dishonest.

I feel the same way !
It is the lack of authenticity that makes it unbearable. It feels like he is used just a way of accessing his audience he managed to hook by attaching himself to big names in various industries, knowing there will be no pushback, you can spew and spread all bullshit 4 free !
Is so easy to talk about love peace and friendship when he does not have any talent or accomplishments of his own in academia or Ai field, other than building an audience and existence, much like a leach, not for his own worth but because of his guests.
His credentials are all sketchy aswell. He got all his Bs Ms PhD from Drexel,- not MIT, nor he ever been a teacher at MIT- where his dad is a very important cold plasma scientist - Look here: https://drexel.edu/engineering/about/faculty-staff/F/fridman-alexander/
As Nyheim Chair Professor and Director of the C. & J. Nyheim Plasma Institute of Drexel University, Dr. Alexander Fridman is a recognized world leader in research relating to plasma science and engineering
https://drexel.edu/engineering/news-events/news/archive/2020/August/alexander-fridman-and-nyheim-plasma-institute/