Episode 77: Can a Machine Be Intelligent?
Send us Fan Mail All the fuss about the new generation of AI products based on large language models, with their ability both to ghost-write term papers and spew out occasional misinformation in so do...
17 Sep 202343min
Episode 76: To Play Or Not To Play Football
Send us Fan Mail Mark and Joe briefly played organized football as kids; for both, it didn’t end well. Today, Joe is a parent of a son who didn’t play football and wouldn’t have been allowed to, even...
10 Sep 202339min
Episode 75: Bad Data ≠ Good Science
Send us Fan Mail In recent years, the media has been rife with stories about prominent scientists and labs manipulating research data. Such behavior recently cost the president of Stanford University...
13 Aug 202350min
Episode 74: The Weather Report Is Calamitous
Send us Fan Mail In a summer plagued by heatwaves, wildfire smoke, and biblical rainfall, it’s natural to wonder whether this is the new normal for our weather. Scientists warned about many of these ...
30 Jul 202335min
Episode 73: The Cases For and Against Universal Basic Income
Send us Fan Mail The core idea of universal basic income (UBI) is to reduce poverty by providing people with periodic cash payments sufficient to get by. Guaranteed minimum income programs for the ne...
17 Jul 202352min
Episode 72: Do Deficits Really Matter?
Send us Fan Mail Politicians love to pay lip service to taming the deficit, but when they’re in power, they invariably do the opposite, cutting taxes and/or increasing spending. And yet, despite all ...
2 Jul 202334min
Episode 71: The Debt Ceiling Disaster Scenario
Send us Fan Mail Every couple of years, our elected representatives play a game of chicken that’s the subject of breathless headlines predicting dire consequences. Will we or won’t we avert financial...
18 Jun 202347min
Episode 70: Must We All Have Smartphones?
Send us Fan Mail It’s getting more and more difficult to live one’s life without owning a smartphone. After holding out for years, Joe finally broke down and got one after both his employer and his f...
4 Jun 202336min
