This week on Your Undivided Attention, we're doing something special. As we near the election, and representation is on our minds, we're airing a talk by Harvard Law professor and Creative Commons co-founder Larry Lessig. In what ways does our government not represent us — and do we not represent ourselves? How might we revive the relationship between the wi ... Show More
Jan 8
What Would It Take to Actually Trust Each Other? The Game Theory Dilemma
So much of our world today can be summed up in the cold logic of “if I don’t, they will.” This is the foundation of game theory, which holds that cooperation and virtue are irrational; that all that matters is the race to make the most money, gain the most power, and play the win ... Show More
45m 28s
Dec 4
AI and the Future of Work: What You Need to Know
No matter where you sit within the economy, whether you're a CEO or an entry level worker, everyone's feeling uneasy about AI and the future of work. Uncertainty about career paths, job security, and life planning makes thinking about the future anxiety inducing. In this episode, ... Show More
45m 28s
Nov 2021
Andrew Yang On Grace, Tolerance & Human-Centered Government
Like many, I despair of our country’s division, which is rapidly expanding in lockstep with our inability to productively communicate alongside growing distrust in institutions and the media.Also like many, I want solutions. Much of this rests with us. But we also need leadership ... Show More
1h 21m
Oct 2020
7: The Electoral College, Faithless Electors, and Polarization with Lawrence Lessig
<p>This episode is with Harvard Law School Professor Lawrence Lessig in which we talk about the Electoral College, the recent faithless electors Supreme Court case that Prof. Lessig argued, and the current polarization in our country. Professor Lessig is the Roy L. Furman Profe ... Show More
47m 56s
Oct 2019
Larry Diamond, "Ill Winds: Saving Democracy from Russian Rage, Chinese Ambition, and American Complacency" (Penguin, 2019)
Larry Diamond joins us this week to talk about the threat China’s model of authoritarian capitalism poses to liberal democracy in the United States and around the world. Economics drives politics, and it’s easy to admire China’s growth while looking past things like increasing su ... Show More
40m 46s
Sep 2020
RBG, minority rule, and our looming legitimacy crisis
The death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, just weeks before a presidential election, leaves us in dangerous waters. It’s easy to imagine a scenario in which the election outcome is contested by one side and is ultimately determined by a Supreme Court with the deciding vote cast by Trump' ... Show More
1h 11m
Aug 2020
Democracy Means People Power, Literally (with Eric Liu)
Baratunde shares the four pillars of How To Citizen. Eric Liu, founder of Citizen University, schools us on power - what it is, who has it, and how the practice of citizenship is empty without this literacy. They also discuss how this power needs to be coupled with civic characte ... Show More
53m 41s
Dec 2020
TURNOUT Episode 10: ‘If we raise our expectations we would have a better system’
This series began in the past, to better understand the origin and history of our ongoing fight for voting rights. And as Turnout comes to a close, we consider its future. Where do we go from here? What lessons can we take with us, and what impact might this election have on our ... Show More
36 m
Apr 2019
#75 Democracy Is Dead. What Now? (with David Runciman)
David Runciman is author of "How Democracy Ends" and host of the Talking Politics podcast. We spoke about what the function of democracy is, the significance of the generational divide when voting, the relationship between corporations and government, anarcho-syndacalism & the ri ... Show More
1h 26m
Feb 2024
Lisa Herzog, "Citizen Knowledge: Markets, Experts, and the Infrastructure of Democracy" (Oxford UP, 2023)
For better or worse, democracy and epistemology are intertwined. For one thing, politics is partly a matter of gathering, assessing, and applying information. And this can be done responsibly or incompetently. At least since Plato, a leading critique of democracy has focused on t ... Show More
1h 7m