This week I sit down with writer and thinker Tim Urban, creator of the blog Wait But Why to talk: political polarization, AI, university campuses and even dating.
Tim brings his trademark clarity and curiosity to a conversation that covers the rise of tribal thinking, the challenge of nuance in a viral world, and how humanity can navigate the information ... Show More
May 4
Walter Russell Mead on Christian Zionism, the ‘Israel Lobby’ Myth, and the Psychology of Antisemitism
Why do Americans support Israel? The standard answers—D.C. lobbying, shared democratic values, strategic benefits—all miss something. Walter Russell Mead, one of America's foremost foreign policy scholars, traces the real answer back to 17th-century Calvinist theology, and argues ... Show More
1h 2m
Apr 27
The Case for Drinking Alcohol
Most researchers who study alcohol focus on what it does to your body. Edward Slingerland is more interested in what it does to your friendships. In his book Drunk: How We Sipped, Danced, and Stumbled Our Way to Civilization, the University of British Columbia professor argues th ... Show More
1h 12m
Nov 2024
#392 — Technology & Culture
<p>Sam Harris speaks with Christine Rosen about how technology is changing our culture. They discuss the courage of Ayaan Hirsi Ali, lost practices like handwriting, tradeoffs in our use of technology, social media, conspiracy thinking, X as a platform for breaking news, the futu ... Show More
52m 59s
Jul 2024
Is This the Death of Harvard? - Steven Pinker
Steven Pinker is a Canadian-American cognitive psychologist, psycholinguist, popular science author and Harvard College Professor. One of the world's leading authorities on language and the mind, he is an advocate of evolutionary psychology and the computational theory of mind. P ... Show More
1h 2m
Oct 2025
Beyond the Talk: Deja Foxx on finding alternative online spaces
"Teen girls have solutions to save us from some of our biggest problems," says digital strategist Deja Foxx. Following her talk at TED2025, she joins Elise Hu, host of TED Talks Daily, to discuss the power, innovation and intelligence of teen girls — especially amid a rise in onl ... Show More
26m 29s
Jul 2025
How to recapture the joy of the early internet | Michael Sun
Before algorithms ruled our feeds, the internet was a mess — glitchy, chaotic and full of unexpected magic. Internet culture writer Michael Sun reflects on the wild digital world of the 2000s — and makes a funny, wry case for why we need to reclaim its spontaneity, weirdness and ... Show More
12m 5s
Sep 2025
The Rise of Cancel Culture, Distrust in Science & Misinformation: Dr. Steven Pinker Reveals The Hidden Psychology That Threatens Society.
The Rising Risks of Cancel Culture & The Psychology & Language That Built It! In this explosive episode of Mayim Bialik's Breakdown, Dr. Steven Pinker (renowned Harvard psychologist and author of When Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows) joins Mayim Bialik and Jonathan Cohen for a ... Show More
57m 27s