The Surprising Science of Cynicism (Plus: The Policy Paradox of the 2024 Election)

The Surprising Science of Cynicism (Plus: The Policy Paradox of the 2024 Election)

Derek shares his biggest frustrations about the 2024 election, like the lack of a policy debate and blind spots in news coverage and polling analysis. Then he welcomes Jamil Zaki to the show: a professor of psychology at Stanford University and the director of the Stanford Social Neuroscience Lab. Zaki is the author of ‘Hope for Cynics,’ a new book that explores tension at the heart of human affairs. On one hand, social cooperation is the basis of human civilization. And yet cynicism—a baseline aversion to social cooperation and assumption that most people are greedy, selfish, and dishonest—is also core to the human experience. We are constantly violating the secret of our own success by assuming the worst in others, and Professor Zaki explains why. If you have questions, observations, or ideas for future episodes, email us at PlainEnglish@Spotify.com. Host: Derek Thompson Guest: Jamil Zaki Producer: Devon Baroldi Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Episoder(371)

Why the Iran War Is Tearing MAGA Apart

Why the Iran War Is Tearing MAGA Apart

For nearly a decade, critics have predicted that this would be the moment Trumpism finally fractures - January 6, the overturning of Roe v. Wade, endless internal feuds, even Trump’s online beef with ...

28 Apr 58min

The Triple Crisis That’s Breaking Hollywood—and Changing the Future of Movies

The Triple Crisis That’s Breaking Hollywood—and Changing the Future of Movies

Hollywood is in the middle of a triple crisis. You can measure it in tickets, jobs, and ideas. Start with tickets. The best year for the movie business this century was 2002, when Americans and Canad...

24 Apr 1h 10min

The Most Powerful and Dangerous AI Model Yet

The Most Powerful and Dangerous AI Model Yet

Two weeks ago, Anthropic announced an AI model so capable and so dangerous that it decided not to release it to the public. The model, codenamed Mythos, could autonomously infiltrate computer systems...

21 Apr 1h 2min

The Whole World Is Fighting About Energy

The Whole World Is Fighting About Energy

The two biggest stories in the world right now—the war involving Iran and the rise of artificial intelligence—are, at their core, the same story: energy. The Iran conflict has become a war of competin...

14 Apr 1h 4min

‘The Job Market for Young People Is Brutal’

‘The Job Market for Young People Is Brutal’

Something weird is going on with the elevated unemployment rate for young people today, but no one knows what exactly it is. For the last year, as the unemployment rate for recent college graduates h...

10 Apr 1h 7min

America's Religious Revival Is a Mirage

America's Religious Revival Is a Mirage

Perhaps you’ve heard the news: The U.S. is experiencing a religious revival, and it’s concentrated among young people, who are flocking back to the fold. The Economist announced that “the West has sto...

8 Apr 1h 8min

Is China the Winner of the Iran War?

Is China the Winner of the Iran War?

The 1970s oil crisis changed the world in ways that many people forget today, from the transformation of American politics to the rise of the Japanese electronics industry. The Iran war of 2026 could ...

3 Apr 52min

Why We're Addicted to ‘Sh*tty Flow’

Why We're Addicted to ‘Sh*tty Flow’

One of the themes we’ve circled in the last few weeks is the way that the modern world can hijack our values. This principle was recently articulated by the philosopher C. Thi Nguyen in an episode cal...

31 Mar 48min

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