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November 11, 2019 The idea of open borders — letting people move freely between countries, taking a job wherever they can find a job they want — is still a pretty fringe position, politically speaking. But economist Bryan Caplan makes a compelling case for it in his new graphic nonfiction book, “Open Borders: The Science and Ethics of … Read more

October 28, 2019 Philosopher of mind Keith Frankish is one of the leading proponents of “illusionism,” the theory that argues that your subjective experience — i.e., the “what it is like” to be you — is a trick of the mind. It’s a counterintuitive theory, but Keith makes the case for it in this episode, while explaining … Read more

October 14, 2019 The Stanford Prison Experiment is one of the most famous psychology experiments in history. For decades, we’ve been told that it proves how regular people easily turn sadistic when they are asked to role play as prison guards. But the story now appears to be mostly fraudulent. Thibault Le Texier is a researcher who … Read more

September 16, 2019 If you want to understand why things go wrong in business, government, education, psychology, AI, and more, you need to know Goodhart’s Law: “When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to become a good measure.” In this episode, decision theorist David Manheim explains the dynamics behind Goodhart’s Law and some potential solutions to … Read more

  Several recent books have argued there’s no difference between male and female brains. Saloni Dattani, a PhD in psychiatric genetics, discusses some of the problems with the argument, and what we really know so far about gender and the brain. (September 2, 2019) Links  Saloni’s Twitter Saloni’s article on the debate over gender and the brain “Why … Read more

August 19, 2019 It’s rare for public intellectuals to talk about things they’ve gotten wrong, but geneticist Razib Khan is an exception. He recently published list of 28 things he’s changed his mind about in the last decade, not just in genetics, but in other fields of science, politics, society, and religion. Julia interviews Razib about some … Read more

August 5, 2019 It’s common wisdom that spending a lot of time on your smartphone, or checking social media like Facebook and Twitter, takes a psychological toll. It makes us depressed, insecure, anxious, and isolated — or so people say. But is there any research to back that up? Julia discusses the evidence with professor Andy … Read more

July 22, 2019 Over the last two decades, the prices of consumer goods like toys and electronics have gone way down, but the prices of health care and education have gone up roughly 200%. Why? In this episode, economist Alex Tabarrok discusses his latest book, co-authored with Eric Heller, “Why are the Prices So D*mn High?,” which blames rising … Read more

June 24, 2019 We typically think of violence as being caused by a lack of control, or by selfish motives. But what if, more often than not, violence is intended to be morally righteous? That’s the thesis of the book “Virtuous Violence: Hurting and Killing to Create, Sustain, End, and Honor Social Relationships.” Author Tage Rai debates his book’s … Read more

May 27, 2019 The global poverty rate has fallen significantly over the last few decades. But there’s a heated debate between people like psychologist Steven Pinker and anthropologist Jason Hickel, over how to view that fact. Is it a triumph for capitalism? Should we celebrate it, or lament the fact that rich countries aren’t doing … Read more