Episode 80: How to Solve Immigration (in 40 Minutes)
Send us Fan Mail One of the most intractable issues in contemporary U.S. politics is immigration. Politicians in both parties have talked about comprehensive immigration reform for decades, yet no le...
18 Nov 202340min
Episode 79: Nothing Is Real, Not Even this Podcast
Send us Fan Mail What if our entire reality—everyone and everything we see and experience—is an elaborate simulation, a virtual reality app designed by a technologically advanced civilization? (Yes, ...
21 Okt 202338min
Episode 78: What Makes a Hero?
Send us Fan Mail The annual commemoration of the “heroes of 9/11” got Joe thinking about the concept of heroism. What does it take to be a hero? Why do we anoint certain qualities as heroic? And wh...
9 Okt 202338min
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 Juli 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 Juli 202352min
