This week on Madison’s Notes, we continue our discussion with Stephen Macedo, co-author of In COVID’s Wake: How Our Politics Failed Us (Princeton UP, 2025). The book examines the institutional failures during the pandemic, including the politicization of science, inconsistent messaging, and the disproportionate impacts of policies.
We cover key questions: Wh ... Show More
Apr 2026
Ho-fung Hung, "The China Question: Eight Centuries of Fantasy and Fear" (Cambridge UP, 2026)
"The contempt and naive idealization of China are two sides of the same coin. The latter cannot be an antidote to the former." So argues Ho-Fung Hung in the conclusion of The China Question: Eight Centuries of Fantasy and Fear (Cambridge University Press, 2026). For centuries, We ... Show More
1h 12m
Today
The Player and the Played: From Gamed Capitalism to 21st-Century Fascism with Max Haiven (MIT Press, 2026)
A provocative examination of the ways our economy has been rigged by financialization, and the importance of games to our dangerous political moment. In an age when capitalism feels like an unwinnable game, extreme reactionary ideas and politics are on the rise. The Hunger Games, ... Show More
58m 42s
Oct 2020
#222 — A Pandemic of Incompetence
Sam Harris speaks with Nicholas Christakis about the Covid-19 pandemic. They discuss the breakdown of trust in institutions and experts, the corruption of science by politics, the ineptitude of the Trump administration in handling the pandemic, whether the gravity of Covid-19 has ... Show More
1h 5m
Dec 2021
#270 — What Have We Learned from the Pandemic?
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Sam Harris speaks with Nicholas Christakis about the lessons of the COVID pandemic. They discuss our failures to coordinate an effective response, the politics surrounding vaccination, vaccine efficacy, vaccine safety, how to think about scienti ... Show More
2h 51m
Aug 2020
#214 — A Conversation with Siddhartha Mukherjee
Sam Harris speaks with Siddhartha Mukherjee about our ongoing failure to adequately respond to the Covid-19 pandemic. They discuss the significance of asymptomatic spread, the lack of Chinese cooperation, the failures of testing, travel restrictions, the missteps of the FDA and t ... Show More
46m 29s
Mar 2025
Were the Covid Lockdowns Worth It?
<p>Five years ago, at the urging of federal officials, much of the United States locked down to stop the spread of Covid. Over time, the action polarized the country and changed the relationship between many Americans and their government.</p><p>Michael Barbaro speaks to Stephen ... Show More
49m 7s
Mar 2020
#190 — How Should We Respond to Coronavirus?
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Sam Harris speaks with Nicholas Christakis about the coronavirus pandemic. They discuss the likely effects on society, proactive vs reactive school closures, community transmission, false comparisons between coronavirus and flu, the imperative o ... Show More
1h 18m
<p>Two political scientists look back at a deadly pandemic and ask, "could we have done even less?"</p><p><b>Where to find us: </b></p><ul><li><a href='https://stringinamaze.net/'>Peter's newsletter</a></li><li><a href='https://www.fivefourpod.com/'>Peter's ot ... Show More
