Never before in living memory has America been as politically polarized as it is today. We are divided by our politics, Facebook and other social media sites, and by news media . Nearly half of us have stopped talking with someone about political topics as a result of what they said in person or online. Our culture of contempt is dividing us all and making America ungovernable. How do we use science and proven methods to reduce toxic polarization and push back against conflict entrepreneurs? Thi...
Oct 08, 2021•28 min•Ep. 323
Imagine a future where smart machines are more intelligent than humans. That future may be coming much faster than we think. The stark implications are considered in this podcast. The former Chief Business Officer at Google X, Egyptian entrepreneur Mo Gawdat has long been at the heart of the artificial intelligence revolution, deeply involved in engineering, robotics, and AI. Mo is also a podcaster with a focus on how we can promote happiness . In his latest book, " Scary Smart" , he argues that...
Oct 01, 2021•29 min•Ep. 322
This episode addresses a great problem of our age: How do we curb the enormous power of giant technology companies and limit the disruption caused by them and their products? 20 years ago, we lived in an era of digital utopianism when most people thought that the internet would give us new freedom to find information. But we didn't anticipate many of the most disturbing technological changes. Today, a handful of firms control most internet communication. Social media platforms amplify division m...
Sep 24, 2021•35 min•Ep. 321
The line between our “civilized” lives and wild, unpredictable nature seems to have gotten a little thinner lately. Nature is great, but it can also be dangerous if we don’t show proper respect. This show is about awkward encounters with bears, mountain lines, gulls and other wild creatures. We also discuss "killer trees" with best-selling science writer, Mary Roach , author of the new book, " Fuzz : When Nature Breaks the Law". Mary is widely known for her funny, smart and sometimes gross writi...
Sep 17, 2021•28 min•Ep. 320
"I now believe the 9/11 Truthers I encountered were canaries in the coal mines of American society," writes our co-host, Jim Meigs, in the current issue of City Journal . In this episode we hear about conspiracy theories, those who believe in them, and the corrosive impact of paranoia on American political life. Richard interviews Jim about his work at Popular Mechanics in the years after the 9/11 attacks. A team of reporters, editors, and fact-checkers at the magazine interviewed more than 300 ...
Sep 10, 2021•26 min•Ep. 319
Only four in 10 Americans say they have a lot of trust in the news media. That's a big problem for our democracy. While journalists are supposed to tell the truth and get the story right, just 35 percent of right-of-center voters have some trust in what they see in the news. Democrats and independents are much more likely to trust journalists, but Americans of almost all shades of opinion are skeptical toward the news media , questioning not only the quality of journalists’ work but their intent...
Sep 03, 2021•25 min•Ep. 318
For much of its history, the United States kept the rest of the world at arm's length. What happened in the decades after the 1941 military strike on Pearl Harbor, and several years after the 9/11 attacks, could be seen as an aberration. The sudden, chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, the Taliban takeover, and resulting humanitarian disaster may lead to another American foreign policy shift, plus a far greater reluctance to deploy U.S. forces overseas. While isolationism is derided by policy ex...
Aug 27, 2021•28 min•Ep. 317
Successful politicians on the right and left often use anger and resentment to build support for their campaigns. "A lot of our politics is dignity politics," argues Stanford political scientist, Francis Fukuyama , our guest in this episode. "It's one group saying, 'look, you are not taking us seriously. You disregard our rights and we demand a different kind of world.'" We discuss whether identity politics are damaging our democracy at a time of deep polarization when many national and global i...
Aug 13, 2021•28 min•Ep. 316
In this special episode, Richard and Jim have an extended conversation around six solutions to help us manage the pandemic more successfully, and improve responses to future public health emergencies. 1. Have a more realistic view of the virus. This includes understanding that the virus won't go away anytime soon. Clear, honest communication from the media and government health officials will help. 2. Restoring Trust. Greater transparency by public health officials and honesty about what is not ...
Aug 06, 2021•29 min
America is facing a reading crisis, and this has profound impacts on how we engage with the world. The number of adults who read books for pleasure fell by more than 30% in less than 15 years. Researchers found that Americans watch TV three hours a day, but spend less than 30 minutes reading. "Reading is seeing the world through someone else's eyes," says our guest, Joseph Luzzi , Professor of Comparative Literature at Bard College. "I think of social media as a mirror. You look into it and your...
Jul 29, 2021•22 min•Ep. 314
Our relationship with our stuff is broken. What was once fixed is often tossed into landfills. Repairs today are more expensive than the prices of many new clothes, gadgets, and household appliances. The U.S. has 5% of the world's population, but consumes about 30% of the world's resources and creates almost a third of the world's waste. Large manufacturers restrict the repair of their goods by limiting the availability of parts and repair information. Their policies sparked a consumer backlash ...
Jul 23, 2021•27 min•Ep. 313
Democracies around the world are under threat from populist movements, demagogues, and dogmatic extremists who use disinformation, conspiracy theories, shaming, cancel culture, and other tactics to weaponize social media and challenge our ability to distinguish fact from fiction and truth from falsehood. In his new book , our guest, best-selling author, journalist, scholar, and public intellectual, Jonathan Rauch , offers a stirring defense of the constitution of knowledge— our social system of ...
Jul 16, 2021•34 min•Ep. 312
The spread of the Delta Variant is a rapidly growing threat to public health, especially in states with low vaccination rates. But cases of COVID-19 are still holding steady in regions where more than 60% of the adult population had at least one shot. The disparity comes at a time of triumph with increasing evidence that the vaccines offer extremely high rates of protection. Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, warned that regional differences...
Jul 09, 2021•27 min•Ep. 311
Much of the West has just lived through one of the worst June heatwaves in decades. Many states could be in a drought all this summer. From California and Arizona to the mountain West, dangerous heatwaves are almost becoming the norm. The threat of more devastating wildfires prompted calls for reforms of the nation's fire management policies, and are a clear sign that the impacts of climate change are now being felt. We discuss the causes of raging wildfires, including forestry management, clima...
Jun 25, 2021•28 min•Ep. 310
" Why I Let My 9-Year-Old Ride the Subway Alone " was a 2008 newspaper column that turned into a national campaign to help parents raise their children with less anxiety while pushing back against our culture that has become obsessed with kids' fragility. Our guest, Lenore Skenazy , founded free-range kids in the years after she first described making the decision to let her son, Izzy, take the New York City subway home alone. Her column resulted in a flood of media coverage and mixed reactions ...
Jun 18, 2021•28 min•Ep. 309
America's remarkable experiment in a pluralist democracy is under threat from toxic polarization . In this episode, we discuss two current nationwide campaigns to tackle this crisis head-on, America Talks , on Saturday-Sunday, June 12-13, is a powerful conversation event that invites thousands of Americans to connect one-on-one on video across our political divides. By doing so, we remind ourselves that the “other” is – just like us – a person with family, friends, hopes, fears, values, beliefs,...
Jun 09, 2021•27 min•Ep. 308
The word “peacebuilding” evokes a story we’ve all heard over and over: Violence breaks out, foreign nations react, peacekeepers and million-dollar donors come rushing in, warring parties sign a peace agreement, and, sadly, within months the situation is back to where it started—sometimes worse. But peace can grow in the most unlikely circumstances. What are some strategies that work? Our guest is an award-winning researcher and peacebuilder, Séverine Autesserre , author of the new book, " The Fr...
Jun 04, 2021•27 min•Ep. 307
"We should be humble all the time," says Veronique de Rugy of her study of economics. "There's always something I realize that I didn't understand." In this episode, we discuss the rigorous questions economists need to ask themselves when analyzing the likely impacts of public policies: Questions rarely asked by politicians and others in the public square. We look at the perils of cronyism, the shortcomings of the Ex-Im Bank , growing federal budget deficits , and the unfairness of the highly co...
May 28, 2021•39 min•Ep. 306
It's tempting to believe that our current moment is the most urgent of all. Yet despite the catastrophic pandemic, and threats from other urgent problems, humankind has faced worse calamities in the past— from global wars and plagues to economic collapse. In this episode, we look at age-old lessons from philosophy and discover how ancient wisdom can be our guide in modern times. Best-selling author, traveler, and former NPR foreign correspondent, Eric Weiner is our guide. He's the author of the ...
May 21, 2021•25 min•Ep. 305
She lived in Seattle and covered science, climate change, and the environment for NPR for more than a decade. Most of her friends and colleagues were liberals or progressives. Then in 2018, journalist Ashley Ahearn made a big jump, moving with her husband to one of the most conservative counties in rural Washington State. What did this public radio reporter learn from her dramatic change in lifestyle? In this episode, we learn about the profound rural-urban divide in America, and what Ashley dis...
May 14, 2021•30 min•Ep. 304
Too often in our fierce and narrow political debates, we suffer from a poverty of imagination. Seeing a crisis through a narrow lens of "us versus them" is a barrier to creative solutions and vital changes needed to save lives, protect the planet, and grow prosperity. In this episode we discuss the enormous power and potential of framing: mental models that enable us to see patterns, predict how things will unfold, and understand new situations. Our guests are Kenneth Cukier , a senior editor at...
May 07, 2021•27 min•Ep. 303
In the months after George Floyd’s murder, colleges, universities, non-profits, and large corporations across the country embraced anti-racism and diversity training as a way to promote inclusion and racial justice. But do these programs actually work to change minds and achieve their goals? Our guest, associate professor of History at Carleton College, Amna Khalid , argues that while training can improve customer service and knowledge of CPR and Excel spreadsheets, it’s woefully inadequate when...
Apr 30, 2021•34 min•Ep. 300
What’s the greatest crisis facing America today? — Racism and hate crimes, exploding government debt, climate change, or the mess at the border? It may be none of these. America and many other countries are trapped in high conflict . Both sides are paralyzed by fear and anger as they demonize the other. The national narrative of "us versus them" is a threat to democracy and stops us from working together to build a better world. Best-selling author and investigative journalist, Amanda Ripley , i...
Apr 23, 2021•32 min•Ep. 301
We’ve made it to our 300th weekly episode! While it’s easy to congratulate ourselves for being among the few podcasts to produce this many shows, Jim and Richard are most proud of our extraordinary range of guests. During our first six years together, we've often highlighted out-of-the-box thinkers, who share ideas that are too rarely discussed: People who speak about solutions through an independent lens— neither firmly left nor right. For this episode, we revisit interviews with six guests— or...
Apr 16, 2021•29 min•Ep. 300
Recent mass shootings and the explosion of rage outside the U.S. Capitol on January 6 are reminders of threats posed to us all by anger, fear and loathing. On social media and in the hyper-partisan ways political issues are debated, many of us objectify others. Those who belong to the wrong tribe are often targets of personal scorn. In a Twitter post, our guest, writer and entrepreneur, Chloé Valdary , says: "if you do not possess the power to love, and especially love your enemies, then you don...
Apr 09, 2021•24 min•Ep. 299
Stifle that yawn. Infrastructure just got exciting again. President Biden announced a $2 trillion plan to rebuild roads and rails, repair bridges, modernize airports and seaports, create hundreds of thousands of union jobs in the solar and wind power industries, boost housing, expand broadband access to regions that are poorly served, and speed-up the transition to a climate-friendly economy. Total spending on his proposals could be as much as $4 trillion over the next decade. We explain the Pre...
Apr 02, 2021•28 min•Ep. 298
Our lives depend on it and most of us don't give it a moment's thought. But when the electricity goes off we feel frustrated— powerless. America's grid was an engineering triumph of the twentieth century, but as the recent sudden freeze and severe power outages in Texas have shown, our electricity infrastructure is fragile and in need of basic repair, especially as the world faces the growing reality of extreme weather events and climate change. On their own solar and wind power are not enough t...
Mar 26, 2021•32 min•Ep. 297
Our obsession with what is normal and acceptable is at the heart of how we view mental health. It is also the source of stigma around many forms of mental illness. In this podcast with anthropology professor, Richard Grinker , we ask how do we fix it? What are successful ways to challenge stigmas, as we help millions of people reach their full potential? Richard discusses the findings in his uplifting new book, "Nobody's Normal: How Culture Created the Stigma of Mental Illness." Social distancin...
Mar 19, 2021•33 min•Ep. 296
When social media burst on the scene, many of us were in awe of its great potential. For the first ten years of Facebook, public reaction to this new form of communication was overwhelmingly positive, but now that we have a better understanding of how social media is shaping our world, there are growing calls for fundamental reform. Should tech monopolies be cut down to size and broken apart? Or is a much more careful, nuanced approach needed from Congress? MIT Management Professor Sinan Aral ha...
Mar 12, 2021•27 min•Ep. 295
Elon Musk is an entrepreneur and out-of-this-world thinker, who has shaken up two vital industries that were dominated by giant multinational corporations with companies that began life as startups. Tesla's breakthrough with electric cars is well-known, but many of Musk's most stunning innovations have come with SpaceX, which pioneered reusable rockets— slashing the cost of space launches— flew astronauts into space, and landed rockets on boats. Next is the development of Starship . Musk also wa...
Mar 05, 2021•35 min•Ep. 294
