If the 2024 Election Is So Important, Why Does It Feel So Boring?
"This presidential election is not very interesting, but it is important," the political commentator Josh Barro wrote in his newsletter, 'Very Serious.' Americans certainly seem to agree with the firs...
12 Apr 202450min
A Psychologist Explains Four Reasons the Internet Feels So Broken
Jay Van Bavel is a professor of psychology and neural science at New York University. His lab has published papers on how the internet became a fun-house mirror of extreme political opinions, why the ...
9 Apr 202453min
Why School Absences Have "Exploded" Across America
The other day, I read a statistic about my hometown of Washington D.C. that knocked my socks off. In D.C. high schools, 60 percent of students were chronically absent in the last school year. That mea...
5 Apr 202443min
What Evolutionary Biology Can Teach Us About Diet, Exercise, and Staying Alive
What can the science of ancient humans and the lifestyle of hunter-gatherers teach us about how to be healthy today? Harvard evolutionary biologist Daniel Lieberman joins the show to talk about his pr...
2 Apr 202451min
America's Biggest Car Companies Are in Trouble
Today, the media vibes around electric vehicles are all bad. But if you lift up and take in the big picture, electric vehicles and hybrids are taking over the market. Gas-powered cars are as much in s...
26 Mar 202450min
Should the U.S. Ban TikTok?
Derek shares his thoughts on the question of the moment in tech and tech politics. If you have questions, observations, or ideas for future episodes, email us at PlainEnglish@Spotify.com. Host: Derek...
19 Mar 202433min
How Hollywood’s Hit Formula Flopped—and What Could Come Next
Today, we’re talking about movies, the philosophy of hits in Hollywood, and why we might be at a fascinating inflection point in how the entertainment industry thinks about popularity and prestige. We...
12 Mar 202451min
What Many Economists (and I) Got Wrong About This Economy
One of my New Year’s resolutions for 2024 was to do more episodes with people who think I'm wrong about something. For example, I've done several episodes about how the U.S. economy is doing much bett...
5 Mar 202429min
