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Caitlin Flanagan returns! The unapologetic author of On Thinking for Yourself (a selection of her excellent essays for The Atlantic) comes to talk to us about the fall of Western civilization, what happens when you let church-going go, what happened to universities, and why (though a Catholic herself) Caitlin has started wearing a Star of David.
Check out (the juicier) part two of this conversation (for paid members only) here.
Find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Share @UncertainPod on your social media of choice.
On the agenda:
-Praising our AI overlords
-A post-apocalyptic, post-church West
-Dangerously under-educated
-Why Caitlin wears the Star of David
-When/how universities went wrong [
-On parenting and Ballerina Farm
-P.S. - Adaam’s reflections on wearing the Star of David
Mentioned in this episode:
-Our previous episode with Caitlin (Uncertain Things)
-On Thinking for Yourself (Caitlin Flanagan)
-Calvin Coolidge’s Address at the Celebration of the 150th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (UCSB)
-Overtime: Bob Costas, Coleman Hughes, Caitlin Flanagan | Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO)
-From Dawn to Decadence: 1500 to the Present: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life (Jacques Barzun)
-Part two of this conversation (Uncertain Things LOCKED)
Uncertain Things is hosted and produced by Adaam James Levin-Areddy and Vanessa M. Quirk. For more doomsday thoughts, subscribe to: uncertain.substack.com.
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Nick Gillespie — editor at large at the libertarian institution that is Reason Magazine (and host of The Reason Interview With Nick Gillespie) — comes on the pod for an IRL conversation about 'The Agony of Abundance,' the paradoxical state in which we’re more prosperous, yet more dissatisfied, than ever. We discuss the negative narratives peddled by the media — a misdirection that’s untethering us from reality — and debate the limitations libertarianism and liberal thinking in an ever-more tribal world. And, before we go, we dive into psychedelics and whether they’re really worth all the fuss.
Uncertain Things is a reader-supported publication. To support this rag-tag podcast crew of two, consider becoming a paid member.
On the agenda:
-00:00 Housing Preamble
-04:12 Welcome to Uncertain Things
-06:01 Our Negative Perceptions vs. Reality
-23:39 Mass Misdirection
-33:28 Trust and the U.S. and Israeli Governments
-41:05 Liberalism vs. Tribalism
-01:08:57 On Generating a Liberal Revival
-01:24:08 Debating Psychedelics
Mentioned in this episode:
-The Economic Theory That Explains Why Americans Are So Mad - Ezra Klein Show
-The Freaks Came Out to Write: The Definitive History of the Village Voice, the Radical Paper That Changed American Culture - Amazon
-Big Tech Panic (w/ Shoshana Weissmann) - Uncertain Things
-What to Expect When No One's Expecting: America's Coming Demographic Disaster - Amazon
-‘They Aren’t Who You Think They Are’: The inside story of how Kanakuk—one of America’s largest Christian camps—enabled horrific abuse. - The Dispatch
-In Praise of Privilege - Uncertain
-Psychedelic Libertarianism with Nick Gillespie - Coleman’s Corner
-The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less - Amazon
Uncertain Things is hosted and produced by Adaam James Levin-Areddy and Vanessa M. Quirk. For more doomsday rumination, subscribe to: uncertain.substack.com.
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PLEASE NOTE: We are releasing this episode in the immediate aftermath of the alleged assassination attempt on President Trump. Details and facts presented in this conversation are still being corroborated and are subject to be updated/corrected.
Recurrent guest Misha Thomas (“The Liberal Who Voted for Trump” / “Blackness and the Other Side of Trauma”) was visiting family in Pittsburgh yesterday when he decided to check out his first ever Trump Rally with his partner. After waiting for hours under the hot sun, they saw Trump take to the stage — and minutes later, heard rounds of bullets going back and forth. Misha shares his first-person account of what seems to have been an attempt to assassinate the former president.
To support us and gain access to exclusive content, consider becoming a paid member of Uncertain on Substack. Check out our free ‘Uncertainty’ newsletter for updates and rants. Uncertain Things is hosted and produced by Adaam James Levin-Areddy and Vanessa M. Quirk.
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Nellie Bowles is back! The journalist, writer of the TGIF newsletter, and co-founder of The Free Press (along with her wife Bari Weiss) returns to discuss her new book, Morning After the Revolution. In it, she chronicles the unfortunate series of events that led her to leave The New York Times in 2021. We get into that in this conversation, too (diving into the backlash she received for covering the more violent 2020 protests in Portland and Seattle) — as well as the stories of Progressive absurdism that pepper the book. And before we wrap, we get into Nellie’s thoughts on being a newly converted Jew in the wake of October 8th.
Uncertain Things is a reader-supported publication. To support this rag-tag podcast crew of two, consider becoming a paid member.
On the agenda:
-Surviving the NYT in 2020 [1:40-23:41]
-Absurdity and anarchy [23:42-37:18]
-The joys and pains of becoming Jewish [37:19-51:06]
Mentioned in this episode:
-Our previous conversation on San Francisco’s lunacy
Uncertain Things is hosted and produced by Adaam James Levin-Areddy and Vanessa M. Quirk. For more doomsday rumination, subscribe to: uncertain.substack.com.
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William Deresiewicz — author of (the newly updated) Excellent Sheep, The Death of the Artist, and The End of Solitude — returns to the pod! This time we dive into one of the institutions we love to hate: elite universities. We dwell on and debate the protests at Columbia (et al.), the reasons why it’s all gone so wrong, and whether or not the solution is just to raze them to the ground.
Check out our ‘Uncertainty’ newsletter for updates and rants. To support us and gain access to exclusive content, consider becoming a paid member of Uncertain on Substack. Follow @UncertainPod on your social media of choice.
On the agenda:
-The context for Excellent Sheep, c. 2014 [2:39-12:21]
-The student as customer / PC police officer [12:22-27:32]
- The emptiness inside [27:33-40:02]
-To fix or ruin the elite reputation? [40:03-49:54]
-Getting into the protests & elite failure [49:55-58:58]
- What exactly went wrong [58:59-1:08:08]
-The answer isn’t yoga [1:08:09-1:29:36]
Mentioned in this conversation:
-Our last conversation with Bill
-Vanessa’s newsletter on solitude/friendship
Uncertain Things is hosted and produced by Adaam James Levin-Areddy and Vanessa M. Quirk. For more doomsday rumination, subscribe to: uncertain.substack.com.
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Pulitzer-prize winning journalist, author, and former Columbia Journalism School dean (to us!), Steve Coll, takes us deep into the conspiracy-plagued mind of Saddam Hussein, the subject of his latest book The Achilles Trap: Saddam Hussein, the C.I.A., and the Origins of America's Invasion of Iraq. We go deep into the wonky journalism weeds — including what it took for Coll to get his hands on the Saddam tapes. And we ask our former dean the eternal question: Is J-School worth it?
-What it takes to put a book like this together [0:00-19:15]
-The Saddam tapes [19:16 -23:46]
-Inside the conspiracy rabbit hole [23:47-29:52
-Behind the conflicting perceptions [29:53-41:12]
-Oil, Israel, and failed policies [41:13-49:46]
-The U.S.-Israel relationship [49:47--53:32]
-How the media is covering the conflict [53:33-57:43]
-Objectivity and the rifts in journalism today [57:44-1:06:44]
Check out our ‘Inscrutable’ blog and ‘Uncertainty’ newsletter for thoughts and rants. To support us and gain access to exclusive content, consider becoming a paid member of Uncertain on Substack. Follow @UncertainPod on your social media of choice.
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With Vanessa off for the weekend to explore the world of psychedelics, the podcast has been hijacked by a cabal of furious, loud, and lubricated Jews. Adaam, 3 martinis and a Laphroaig in, is joined by Newsweek opinion editor and author of Second Class Batya Ungar-Sargon, and Free Press reporter and host of The Re-Education podcast Eli Lake. The three have gathered to refute Jonathan Glazer’s Jewishness being worth hijacking by anyone. In proper Talmudic engagement, Batya spits fire, Eli plays devil's advocate, and Adaam speaks up for the grammar Nazis. Be warned, this may be our most petty, potted, parochial, and problematic episode yet.
Check out our ‘Inscrutable’ blog and ‘Uncertainty’ newsletter for thoughts and rants. To support us and gain access to exclusive content, consider becoming a paid member of Uncertain on Substack. Follow @UncertainPod on your social media of choice.
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Authors and co-hosts of the Cut the Bull podcast, Charles Love (Race Crazy) and Wilfred Reilly (Taboo, Hate Crime Hoax) join us for a lively conversation/debate about race, history, and K-12 education — and Vanessa gets put in the hot seat. Questions covered include: Should Black history be separate from American history? Are we over-indexing on sex and gender in the classroom? Is social media an “environmental toxin” — or just another misdirection from the left? And, of course, what are the biggest blindspots on the left and the right?
-Where we’ve been [0:00-4:47]
-Eric Adams, “environmental toxins,” and the Left [4:48-10:43]
-1619 and documenting history [10:44-30:54]
-Black history vs. American history [30:55-42:43]
-Sex and gender in the classroom [42:44-59:29]
-Diagnosing the misdirection [59:30-1:03:36]
-The failings of integration [1:03:37-1:09:20]
-How to fix education [1:09:50-1:13:18]
-Blindspots on the Left and the Right [1:13:19-1:18:39]
Check out our ‘Inscrutable’ blog and ‘Uncertainty’ newsletter for thoughts and rants. To support us and gain access to exclusive content, consider becoming a paid member of Uncertain on Substack. Follow @UncertainPod on your social media of choice.
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Dr. Einat Wilf is an Israeli writer, speaker, former (and future?) politician, podcaster (We Should All be Zionisists), and co-author of The War of Return. In this episode, we dive into some historical context for the Israel-Palestine conflict, with Vanessa asking all the ignorant questions you were too afraid to ask: What/who was there in Israel before 1948? Was displacement a part of the Zionist vision? Why did displacement happen? Then we pivot to the subject of Dr. Wilf’s book: The right of return, and the fundamental reason why peace, until this day, has been impossible. We conclude with a deep dive into UNRWA — the UN agency responsible for Palestinian refugees — and explain the role it’s played in perpetuating the conflict, to this day.
On the agenda:
-Zionism’s Parents and the Land of Israel [3:22-11:33]
-The Disappointment of Emancipation/The Possibility of Self-Determination [11:34-21:21]
-On Sovereignty and Displacement [21:22-53:29]
-The Refugee Question [53:30-1:02:37]
-UNRWA & Palestinian Identity [1:02:38-1:33:58]
-Where do we go from here? [1:33:59-1:42:30]
Check out our ‘Inscrutable’ blog and ‘Uncertainty’ newsletter for thoughts and rants. To support us and gain access to exclusive content, consider becoming a paid member of Uncertain on Substack. Follow @UncertainPod on your social media of choice.
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Iranian historian and writer Arash Azizi comes on the pod to share his perspective on the Israel-Hamas conflict today — and why he believes ceasefire is the only viable path forward for Israel’s war with Hamas. Along the way, Azizi gives us on an overview of Iran’s politics since the Revolution of 1979 (i.e. how Soleimani became The Shadow Commander) and explains the country’s current stance toward Israel (which stands in contrast to the position of many Iranians). His second book about the country’s recent protest movements — What Iranians Want: Women, Life, Freedom — will be out next year.
On the Agenda:
-Unpacking the Iranian Revolution (and the Left’s participation)
-Arash’s background
-Soleimani’s appeal (How we consolidated supreme power)
-Iran’s stance on Israel vs. Iranians’ sentiments
-Debating ceasefire
Check out our ‘Inscrutable’ blog and ‘Uncertainty’ newsletter for thoughts and rants. To support us and gain access to exclusive content, consider becoming a paid member of Uncertain on Substack. Follow @UncertainPod on your social media of choice.
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John Aziz is a British Palestinian musician who has come into the public spotlight since October 7th for tweeting out for peace and against Hamas. In this conversation, we unpack why it’s so controversial for a Palestinian like John to be pro-peace, the trauma both sides aren’t acknowledging or addressing, and the overly-simplified, ironic, Star Wars narratives of the Western Left. Follow him on X and read John’s article in The Atlantic here.
On the agenda:
- John’s Background [0:00-08:37]
-The Challenge of Advocating for Peace [08:38-18:34]
- The Trauma on Both Sides [18:35-24:51]
-Why is so hard to speak out against Hamas? [24:52-29:59]
-New Ideology, New Leaders [30:00-38:36]
-The Star Wars Ideology of the Western Left [38:37-54:33]
- LGBT+ in Gaza [54:34-1:01:03]
- "I'll Debate Anyone" [1:01:04-1:02:51]
Check out our ‘Inscrutable’ blog and ‘Uncertainty’ newsletter for thoughts and rants. To support us and gain access to exclusive content, consider becoming a paid member of Uncertain on Substack. Follow @UncertainPod on your social media of choice.
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Friend of the pod Batya Ungar-Sargon, deputy opinion editor for Newsweek and author of Bad News, returns for a deep, contentious conversation about the responsibility of journalists covering the Israel-Hamas war, the people worth expending energy on (versus relegating as enemies), and the uncomfortable embrace of moral certainty.
While much vitriol is expended on the “journalists” bringing shame to the (let’s face it, already pretty scumbag) profession, we also shout out the reporters doing good, honest analysis, even if we don’t always agree with their positions: Zaid Jelani, Lee Fang, and Arash Azizi.
On the agenda:
-The Moral Imperative of Remembering [1:55-9:11]
-On Emotions and Moral Certainty [9:12-16:54]
-Disgusting "Journalists" [16:55-20:39]
-On Journalistic Responsibility / Objectivity [20:40-26:36]
-Debating How - and Who - to Trust [26:37-38:39]
-Liberal vs. Jewish Values [38:40-52:14]
-On Moral Equivalence and Retaliation [52:15-58:24]
-Who is reachable? [58:25-1:07:22]
-The battle continues [1:07:23-1:12:40]
Check out our ‘Inscrutable’ blog and ‘Uncertainty’ newsletter for thoughts and rants. To support us and gain access to exclusive content, consider becoming a paid member of Uncertain on Substack. Follow @UncertainPod on your social media of choice.
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Note: This episode is far more explicit — and way more rage-ful — than your average.
As you have likely read by now in the news, last Saturday, a group of Hamas combatants infiltrated Israel and massacred about 1300 people, mostly civilians.
Usually, Uncertain Things is all about embracing epistemological uncertainty. This conversation is not about that. To help Adaam process his rage and achieve some much-needed catharsis, he turned to returning guest, Eli Lake. Eli — host of The Re-Education Podcast, contributing editor to Commentary, and columnist for the New York Sun — did not disappoint, bringing some awesome, righteous outrage toward the American Left.
On the agenda:
- Hamas and their attack on Israel [0:00-7:15]- Contextualizing the catharsis to come [7:16-17:04]- Eli’s moral outrage [17:05-25:17]- On policy: blockades and Iran [25:18-29:22]- Back to our previously scheduled outrage [29:23-35:19]- Predicting the fallout [35:20-43:54]- Debating the culture of life, the culture of death [43:55-1:01:58]- Coexisting with evil [1:01:59-1:05:29]- The Left IRL [1:05:30-1:07:46]- The rage returns [1:07:47-1:13:51]
- Outro: On moral relativism and forgiveness [1:14:10-22:58]
We also recommend:
-Adaam’s first impressions, on Jonah Goldberg’s The Remnant
-Adaam’s bleaker thoughts, on the Dispatch Live
-David French and Sarah Isgur’s conversation on the Law of War and Anti-Semitism on Advisory Opinions
Check out our ‘Inscrutable’ blog and ‘Uncertainty’ newsletter for thoughts and rants. To support us and gain access to exclusive content, consider becoming a paid member of Uncertain on Substack. Follow @UncertainPod on your social media of choice.
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Yascha Mounk returns for round two! If you missed part one of our conversation with the political theorist, writer, and podcaster about his latest book, The Identity Trap, stop now and listen to that episode first.
We pick up where we left off last time and get deep into debate about strategic essentialism, the privileging of marginalized voices, and the incoherencies of standpoint theory. We also ask Yascha why he disagrees with John McWhorter’s theory that the proponents of the Identity Synthesis are members of a new religion. Plus, Yascha plays relationship counselor for your sparring hosts and his dog finally gets outside.
Follow Uncertain Things on uncertain.substack.com or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
On another note, we will be attending Yascha’s Oct 4 talk at the Streiker Center in NYC. See you there?
Also check out:
-Our talk with James Kirchick about the contradictions of our current gender debates.
-Our talk with Yuval Levin on the moral failure of civic institutions in the age of narcissism.
-Our talk with Tom Holland about his lost faith in liberalism.
On the agenda:
-Re-capping Round 1 [0:00-3:03]
-On Justice, essentialism, and race (the implications of standpoint theory) [3:04-15:12]
-Who Gets to Speak for their Race? [15:13-23:49]
-The Catastrophes of Unsalvageable Liberalism [23:50-32:15]
-On intention and persuasion [32:16-42:03]
-The woke religion? [42:04-50:31]
-The Identity Synthesis [50:32-54:43]
-Outtake: Against Monocausal Explanations [55:00-57:25]
Uncertain Things is hosted and produced by Adaam James Levin-Areddy and Vanessa M. Quirk. For more doomsday rumination, subscribe to: uncertain.substack.com.
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Political theorist, writer, and podcaster Yascha Mounk returns! Last time, we spoke about Yascha’s last book: The Great Experiment: Why Diverse Democracies Fall Apart and How They Can Endure. This time, Adaam got to air his personal grievances as we dove into the thorny topic of his latest book: The Identity Trap.
Yascha covers a ton: he traces the intellectual history of the postmodern ideas that captured the academy in the 2010s; he explains how these once-fringe ideas subsequently infiltrated the mainstream Left; he puts the tenets of identity-based politics to the philosophical test (analyzing the logical strengths and weaknesses of ideas like standpoint theory and cultural appropriation); and he defends liberalism as the best political framework we have to dismantle the injustices of our current world order (the very thing lefties, with their identitarian tendencies, are supposedly trying to do).
Of course, dear listener, we barely scratched the surface of all that in one hour. Instead, we got deep into Said, Spivak, and Foucault, panopticons and all — and so this conversation with Yascha continues soon, in part two.
Check out our ‘Uncertainty’ newsletter for updates and rants. To support us and gain access to exclusive content, consider becoming a paid member of Uncertain on Substack. Follow @UncertainPod on your social media of choice.
On the agenda:
- Cannibalism & grievances [0:00-6:05]
- Who are you trying to persuade? [6:06-22:28]
- The children of Foucault [22:29-38:11]
- The Said/Spivak Pivot [38:12-47:13]
- Strategic Essentialism [47:14-1:02:14]
- The Woman Question [1:02:15-1:09:50]
Uncertain Things is hosted and produced by Adaam James Levin-Areddy and Vanessa M. Quirk. For more doomsday rumination, subscribe to: uncertain.substack.com.
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We bring in the fall with a big conversation about big tech, with the authors of System Error: Stanford professors Rob Reich (expertise in: political science, philosophy, ethics, democracy, digital technology), Mehran Sahami (software engineering, in particular machine learning and AI, and VC funding), and Jeremy Weinstein (political science, government, social impact). We cover the systemic drivers in tech (VC-capital, utopianism, and the “optimization mindset”), bemoan the resulting decline in our democratic values, get into our classic “can politicians really be trusted to regulate this sh*t?” debate, enter into our novel “does any one care about privacy really” debate, and, of course, consider the moral implications of soylent. If you didn’t get enough after this conversation, you’re in luck – we have another tech-focused episode coming soon.
Check out our ‘Uncertainty’ newsletter for updates and rants. To support us and gain access to exclusive content, consider becoming a paid member of Uncertain on Substack. Follow @UncertainPod on your social media of choice.
On the agenda:
- Riding the emotional rollercoaster of life [0:00-6:22]
- The Optimization Mindset [6:23-22:37]
- Utopianism [22:38-28:58]
- Systemic Drivers & the VC problem [28:59-40:31]
- Non-regulatory Solutions [40:32-46:56]
- Privacy: Who cares? [46:57-51:30]
- The great regulation debate [51:31-1:04:39]
Uncertain Things is hosted and produced by Adaam James Levin-Areddy and Vanessa M. Quirk. For more doomsday rumination, subscribe to: uncertain.substack.com.
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James (Jamie) Kirchick is an author, columnist for Tablet magazine, historian, podcaster, and staunch believer in/defender of liberal values — and he’ll speak up against any party/group currently trampling on them. He began his journalism career writing about domestic and foreign politics; his first book, The End of Europe focused on the rise of populism in the continent (paid subscribers — stay tuned for some bonus content on this topic!).
The first part of this conversation is all about Jamie’s second book, The Secret City, which explored the fascinating gay history of Washington D.C. and how the extreme homophobia of our country gave way, rather rapidly over the course of the 20th century, towards cultural acceptance and legal equality. The second half of this conversation we debate the pros and cons of the word “queer” and the “queer movement” — which Jamie discussed at length in his thought-provoking Liberties article “From Queer to Gay to Queer” (you can find a truncated version of his argument in his article for The Atlantic, “The Struggle for Gay Rights Is Over”).
If you want to hear the preamble that precipitated this conversation, check out our episode with Eli Lake about art and offense.
Check out our ‘Uncertainty’ newsletter for updates and rants. To support us and gain access to exclusive content, consider becoming a paid member of Uncertain on Substack. Follow @UncertainPod on your social media of choice.
On the agenda:
[0:00-12:31] Introducing Jamie
[12:32-38:22] Our history of homophobia
[38:23-44:27] Male homosexuality vs. Female
[44:28-49:09] The success of gay civil rights
[49:10-56:10] Revising history and coercing expression
[56:11-1:00:24] Assimilation vs. radicalism
[1:00:25-1:16:42] The excesses of the Queer liberation movement
[1:16:43-1:27:38] On pronouns and terminology
[1:27:39-1:37:49] Social contagion, gender nonconformity, and kids
[1:37:50-1:45:04] Political scandal and revolution
[1:45:05-1:48:40] Blindspots
Uncertain Things is hosted and produced by Adaam James Levin-Areddy and Vanessa M. Quirk. For more doomsday rumination, subscribe to: uncertain.substack.com.
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Scientist-turned-historian Peter Turchin returns! Peter first came on the pod a few months ago to discuss the famous prediction he made in 2010 that we were headed for crisis, circa 2020. Last time, we covered the controversy he’s stirred up within the historical discipline, the methodologies behind cliodynamics/his data-based predictions, and the drivers of social unrest (in particular, elite overproduction). This conversation — recorded on the heels of the publication of his new book End Times: Elites, Counter-Elites, and the Path of Political Disintegration — we pick up where we left off. Peter explains it all: how do we prevent all-out civil war? What’s the most likely outcome if we keep on the path we’re currently on? And is he more of a Harry Seldon or a Leto II?
Check out our ‘Uncertainty’ newsletter for updates and rants. To support us and gain access to exclusive content, consider becoming a paid member of Uncertain on Substack. Follow @UncertainPod on your social media of choice.
On the agenda:
-L’intro [0:00-3:30]
-A quick re-cap [3:30-7:29]
-Breaking the rules [7:30-15:04]
-Clearly in crisis [15:05-19:28]
-The British Empire circa 1848 (the Chartist Period) [19:29-26:57]
-A huge outpouring of human misery [26:58-33:46]
-Culture as a prerequisite for reform [33:47-40:57]
-The social psychology of the New Deal [40:58-45:22]
-A new generation of elites without a culture of reform [45:23-53:48]
-Designing a science of history [53:49-58:05]
-Charismatic Jesus Types [58:06-1:10:48]
Uncertain Things is hosted and produced by Adaam James Levin-Areddy and Vanessa M. Quirk. For more doomsday rumination, subscribe to: uncertain.substack.com.
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David Krakauer is the President of the Santa Fe Institute — an academic institution that conscientiously bucks the overly-siloed and ideological bents of most universities these days. Krakauer is an evolutionary biologist who studies “the evolution of intelligence and stupidity on Earth.” He joined us on the pod for a wide-ranging conversation covering the history of complexity science, the inadequacies of the academe, the aesthetic “third way” between maximalism and minimalism, and the artifacts that make us smarter (like pianos) versus the ones that really don’t (GPS, for one).
Check out our ‘Uncertainty’ newsletter for updates and rants. To support us and gain access to exclusive content, consider becoming a paid member of Uncertain on Substack. Follow @UncertainPod on your social media of choice.
On the agenda:
-Intro to David [0:00-03:24]
-The history of complexity science [03:25-12:36]
-The folly of disciplines [12:37-18:11]
-The limitations of language [18:12-31:11]
-Judgment vs. impact [31:12-37:05]
-Complexity as dialectical exercise [37:06-40:25]
-Complexity as the third aesthetic option [40:26-44:13]
-Why we need narrative [44:14-51:33]
-The problem(s) with the academy (i.e. the morgue of dead ideas) [51:34-1:04:19]
-SFI projects that disrupted institutional thinking [1:04:20-1:11:44]
-Machine learning and the drawbacks of supercomputing [1:11:45-1:16:34]
-Testing the limits of our cognitive understanding (complementary vs. competitive cognitive artifacts) [1:16:35-1:24:37]
-On curation, control, and complacency [1:24:38-1:34:29]
Uncertain Things is hosted and produced by Adaam James Levin-Areddy and Vanessa M. Quirk. For more doomsday rumination, subscribe to: uncertain.substack.com.
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William Deresiewicz — author of Excellent Sheep, The Death of the Artist, and The End of Solitude — has lived many lives. He’s been an orthodox Jewish boy who lost his faith; a journalism school student unimpressed by the pretensions of the profession; a literature professor who (blasphemously) loved books and teaching. Today, he’s an author, essayist, and nostalgic ex-New Yorker. No matter where he’s been in life, Deresiewicz has often been on the outside looking in, which is maybe why he’s able to see and analyze our culture so clearly. We start off this conversation diving into The Death of the Artist, and how the concept/role of the artist has evolved and changed throughout history; we then meander into a discussion on community, solitude, and cities; and conclude by diving into his two definitions of the word “culture,” while unpacking the techno-solutionism of America.
Check out our ‘Uncertainty’ newsletter for updates and rants. To support us and gain access to exclusive content, consider becoming a paid member of Uncertain on Substack. Follow @UncertainPod on your social media of choice.
On the agenda:
-Phantasms, Batman, and Bill [0:00-6:00]
-The first paradigm - artist as artisan [6:01-17:04]
-The second paradigm - artist as bohemian [17:05-27:55]
-The third paradigm - artist as professional [27:56-33:40]
-To the fourth paradigm [33:41-39:41]
-Artist as producer vs. truth teller [39:42-57:53]
-Art and community [57:54-1:01:59]
-Solitude and cities [1:02:00-1:19:25]
-Culture vs culture [1:19:26-1:40:06]
Mentioned in this conversation:
-Washington Post’s Leonard Downie Jr. on moving beyond “objectivity”
-The Herd of Independent Minds
The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution
Uncertain Things is hosted and produced by Adaam James Levin-Areddy and Vanessa M. Quirk. For more doomsday rumination, subscribe to: uncertain.substack.com.
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