Plain English
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Why Fertility Rates Are Plunging—in the U.S., South Korea, and Everywhere Else
Andrew Yeo joins to explain South Korea’s declining birth rate and why fertility affects just about everything else in society
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Why So Many Young Men Are Lonely, Sexless, and Extremely Online
Richard Reeves, the scholar who wrote ‘Of Boys and Men,’ joins to discuss the findings of a recent Equimundo report on the challenges that American men are facing in 2023
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How Hollywood’s Writers Strike Could Change the Future of TV and Movies
Derek speaks with Matt Belloni about past writers strikes and the potential impacts of the current WGA strike
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Why Youth Sports in America Are in Decline
Derek talks to Jason Gay of the Wall Street Journal and Tom Farrey, the executive director of the Aspen Institute’s Sports and Society Program, to see what’s going on and what we should do
The Future of War Is Here
Brian Schimpf and Ross Andersen join to discuss uses of AI in military operations and how we can prevent it from having outsized effects
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A Diet Conspiracy: Is Ice Cream Secretly Good for You?
Public health historian and journalist David Johns joins to discuss the research behind ice cream’s potential health benefits
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An Optimistic Guide to America’s Clean-Energy Future
Ramez Naam and Vinod Khosla join to break down the progress we’re making toward a clean-energy economy and the tech that will help us get there
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The Most Important Thing Most Americans Misunderstand About Insomnia
Derek and Dr. Jade Wu discuss Americans’ anxiety about sleep and the connection between sleep and health
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How American Cities Can Avoid the “Urban Doom Loop”
Dror Poleg, an author who writes about the future of cities, talks about the effects of urban change on finance, work, real estate, and technology
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Americans Die Younger Than Those in Any Other Rich Country. Why?
To unravel this mystery, today’s guest is John Burn-Murdoch, a data journalist at the Financial Times, who recently published a magisterial investigation of the American death gap
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How Strong Is the Case Against Donald Trump?
Norman Eisen, lawyer and House Judiciary Committee cocounsel in Trump’s first impeachment trial, argues that Bragg’s case is strong. Then, Semafor political reporter Dave Weigel discusses whether Trump’s indictment will reshape the election.
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Myth-Busting Wellness Hacks: Cold Plunges, Coffee, Alcohol, and Fitness Trackers
Brad Stulberg and Steve Magness join to talk the science behind the hype-filled world of biomarkers, biohacks, and fitness
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Eight Burning Questions About the Donald Trump Indictment
Donald Trump has been indicted. But what do we actually know about the case against him? What will the charges be? Derek answers your burning questions to the best of his ability.
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Why the Cult of Achievement in Schools Is Making People Miserable
Derek talks with psychologist Lisa Damour about how our high school and college systems might be teaching us the wrong lessons about achievement and personal progress
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A Mind-Expanding Conversation About Human History and Happiness With Tim Urban
Derek talks to Tim Urban—who takes not the 30,000-foot view on life, but the 300,000-foot view of life, history, and human nature—about the meaning of life
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The AI Revolution Could Be Bigger and Weirder Than We Can Imagine
Derek unpacks his thoughts about GPT-4 and what it means to (maybe) be at the beginning of a sea change in technology
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Mailbag: Why Does the Internet Make Us Depressed? Where Does Good Writing Come From? Is College Worth It Anymore?
Derek answers your burning questions in a special mailbag episode!
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The SVB Debacle: The Biggest Myths, the Out-of-Control Blame Game, and the Worst Takes
Derek, Michael Batnick, and Ben Carlson also discuss whether this will change the direction of monetary policy and whether the U.S. has too many banks in the first place
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Silicon Valley Bank Collapse FAQ: Whose Fault Is It? How Can We Stop a Bank Panic? What Comes Next?
Liz Hoffman, author of ‘Crash Landing,’ joins to talk the fallout from Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse
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“Industrial Policy” Is the Hottest Idea in Economics. What Could Go Wrong?
President Biden is leaning toward using the government to support key industries in what’s sometimes referred to as "industrial policy." However, a strong case could be made against it. WSJ chief economics commentator Grep Ip weighs in to help separate myth from reality.
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How the Media Failed Its COVID Test: The Truth Behind the Lab Leak and Masking Debates
Derek Thompson welcomes Dan Engber and Jason Abaluck to the podcast to discuss some of the more contentious debates of the COVID-19 pandemic
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Why Are American Teens So Unhappy? How Do We Solve This Crisis?
Derek spoke with Matthew Biel of MedStar Georgetown University Hospital about rising teenage unhappiness and what we can do to fix it
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Happiness in America, Part 1: The Secret to a “Good Life,” According to an 80-Year Study
Derek chats with Robert Waldinger and Marc Schulz about what their study teaches us about the secrets to a fulfilling life
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The Science of How Music Hits Have Changed in the Last 60 Years
Derek welcomes Chris Dalla Riva to discuss the subtle and not-so-subtle ways that music hits have changed since the 1960s
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Bing Chatbot Gone Wild and Why AI Could Be the Story of the Decade
The New York Times’ Kevin Roose joins to discuss developments in artificial intelligence
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UFOs and Aliens and Drones and Balloons: Understanding the U.S. Sky Wars
The United States has shot down four objects over North American skies recently. What are we looking at, and what are we shooting at?
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Why Everybody Is Wrong About a Recession and Housing’s Great Comeback
Derek and Conor Sen break down the housing turnaround that could define the 2023 economy
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The Spectacular Rise and Fall of Fake Meat in America
Derek and Deena Shanker talk about the spectacular rise and fall of fake meat—and what it tells us about food, taste, politics, and technology
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China’s Spy Balloon Is Down. Cold War 2.0 Risks Are Rising.
"Balloongate" offers a useful hook to evaluate the relationship between the U.S. and China during a period of extraordinarily high tensions
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Econ Megapod: The Debt Ceiling Is Dumb, and the Inflation “Crisis” Might Be Over
New York Times economics reporter Jeanna Smialek and economist Jason Furman join to discuss the debt-ceiling showdown that’s enveloping Washington, fears of the U.S. government running up the tab, and more
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The Dark Side of Being Obsessed With Productivity
Author Oliver Burkeman joins to discuss people’s relationship to happiness and time
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How AI Could Change Apple and Google, Writing and Music, and Everything Else
Ben and Derek talk about ChatGPT, Stable Diffusion, the state of generative AI, and how the biggest tech companies will try to use these new tools