Podcast Episodes

Annie Jacobsen on Nuclear War, Intelligence Operations, and Conspiracy Realities

Episode 250

Annie Jacobsen has a favorite word for America's nuclear doctrine: madness. It's madness that any single person has six minutes to decide the fate of civilization, madness that we've built weapons ca…

Published on 3 months ago

Helen Castor on Medieval Power and Personalities

Episode 249

Helen Castor is a British historian and BBC broadcaster who left Cambridge because she wanted to write narrative history focused on individuals rather than the analytical style typical of academia. A…

Published on 3 months, 2 weeks ago

David Robertson on Conducting, Pierre Boulez, and Musical Interpretation

Episode 248

David Robertson is a rare conductor who unites avant-garde complexity with accessibility. After serving as music director of the Ensemble Intercontemporain, Pierre Boulez's storied contemporary-music…

Published on 4 months ago

Austan Goolsbee on Central Banking as a Data Dog

Episode 247

Austan Goolsbee is one of Tyler Cowen's favorite economists—not because they always agree, but because Goolsbee embodies what it means to think like an economist. Whether he's analyzing productivity…

Published on 4 months, 2 weeks ago

Chris Arnade on Walking Cities

Episode 246

Most people who leave Wall Street after twenty years either retire or find another way to make a lot of money. Chris Arnade chose to walk through cities most travelers never truly see. What emerged f…

Published on 4 months, 3 weeks ago

Any Austin on the Hermeneutics of Video Games

Episode 245

Any Austin has carved a unique niche for himself on YouTube: analyzing seemingly mundane or otherwise overlooked details in video games with the seriousness of an art critic examining Renaissance scu…

Published on 5 months ago

John Arnold on Trading, Energy, and Evidence-Based Philanthropy

Episode 244

John Arnold built his fortune in energy trading by surrounding himself with smart people, maintaining emotional detachment, sensing market imbalances through first-principles analysis, and focusing w…

Published on 5 months, 1 week ago

Theodore Schwartz on Neurosurgery, Consciousness, and Brain-Computer Interfaces

Episode 243

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Theodore Schwartz stands at the pinnacle of neurosurgical expertise. With over 500 published articles, 200 pieces of commentary, and 5 pate…

Published on 5 months, 3 weeks ago

Jack Clark on AI's Uneven Impact

Episode 242

Few understand both the promise and limitations of artificial general intelligence better than Jack Clark, co-founder of Anthropic. With a background in journalism and the humanities that sets him a…

Published on 6 months ago

Kenneth Rogoff on Monetary Moves, Fiscal Gambits, and Classical Chess

Episode 241

Harvard economist Kenneth Rogoff approaches global finance with the same strategic foresight that made him a chess grandmaster. Author of the new book Our Dollar, Your Problem, Rogoff doesn't sugarc…

Published on 6 months, 1 week ago