Plain English
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Why Americans Are Losing Faith in College
Paul Tough discusses the noxious stew of economics, culture, and inequality that has turned a surprising number of Americans against college. Who’s to blame, and what happens next?
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What’s So Great About Marriage?
The ‘Good Life’ authors join Derek to explain why the decline of marriage is an important factor in Americans’ diminishing happiness
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Why Is It So Expensive to Build Stuff in America?
Brian Potter joins to explain the forces behind the slowdown of various U.S. construction endeavors, why that matters, and how to turn things around
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Fatherhood and What Americans Get Wrong About Major Life Changes
Health and science writer Brad Stulberg returns to talk with Derek about the various ways people deal with change
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Experts Predicted a Recession This Year. How Were They So Wrong?
Harvard economist Jason Furman joins Derek to explain what this incorrect prediction teaches us about the economy
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Why Elite College Admissions Are Biased Toward the Superrich
Derek is joined by economist David Deming to discuss what his new study on college admissions reveals about the American dream
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Oppenheimer: The Genius, the Film, and the Project That Changed the World
Richard Rhodes, author of ‘The Making of the Atomic Bomb,’ discusses the real-life story of J. Robert Oppenheimer
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How Hollywood Drove Its Business Model Off a Cliff
This week, Julia Alexander joins to discuss the ongoing troubles in the entertainment industry, including the strikes, the box office recession, and more
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Americans Think the Economy Is Terrible. The Data Tell Another Story.
Jordan Weissmann joins to discuss why the economy is actually in a better state than most Americans and economic commentators think
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How the Digital Workplace Broke Our Brains
Calvin Newport and Derek Thompson discuss why the ability to perform deep, focused work is becoming rare at exactly the same time it is becoming most valuable in our economy
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What Just Happened in Russia This Weekend?
Paul Poast joins ‘Plain English’ to break down Yevgeny Prigozhin’s rebellion and discuss the background of the Wagner Group
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The Science of Procrastination—and How to Really Get Stuff Done
In the first episode in a new miniseries about getting stuff done, retired psychology professor Tim Pychyl joins to talk procrastination and what to do about it
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Why Fertility Rates Are Plunging—in the U.S., South Korea, and Everywhere Else
Andrew Yeo joins to explain South Korea’s declining birth rate and why fertility affects just about everything else in society
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Why So Many Young Men Are Lonely, Sexless, and Extremely Online
Richard Reeves, the scholar who wrote ‘Of Boys and Men,’ joins to discuss the findings of a recent Equimundo report on the challenges that American men are facing in 2023
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How Hollywood’s Writers Strike Could Change the Future of TV and Movies
Derek speaks with Matt Belloni about past writers strikes and the potential impacts of the current WGA strike
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Why Youth Sports in America Are in Decline
Derek talks to Jason Gay of the Wall Street Journal and Tom Farrey, the executive director of the Aspen Institute’s Sports and Society Program, to see what’s going on and what we should do
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The Future of War Is Here
Brian Schimpf and Ross Andersen join to discuss uses of AI in military operations and how we can prevent it from having outsized effects
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A Diet Conspiracy: Is Ice Cream Secretly Good for You?
Public health historian and journalist David Johns joins to discuss the research behind ice cream’s potential health benefits
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An Optimistic Guide to America’s Clean-Energy Future
Ramez Naam and Vinod Khosla join to break down the progress we’re making toward a clean-energy economy and the tech that will help us get there
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The Most Important Thing Most Americans Misunderstand About Insomnia
Derek and Dr. Jade Wu discuss Americans’ anxiety about sleep and the connection between sleep and health
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How American Cities Can Avoid the “Urban Doom Loop”
Dror Poleg, an author who writes about the future of cities, talks about the effects of urban change on finance, work, real estate, and technology
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Americans Die Younger Than Those in Any Other Rich Country. Why?
To unravel this mystery, today’s guest is John Burn-Murdoch, a data journalist at the Financial Times, who recently published a magisterial investigation of the American death gap
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How Strong Is the Case Against Donald Trump?
Norman Eisen, lawyer and House Judiciary Committee cocounsel in Trump’s first impeachment trial, argues that Bragg’s case is strong. Then, Semafor political reporter Dave Weigel discusses whether Trump’s indictment will reshape the election.
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Myth-Busting Wellness Hacks: Cold Plunges, Coffee, Alcohol, and Fitness Trackers
Brad Stulberg and Steve Magness join to talk the science behind the hype-filled world of biomarkers, biohacks, and fitness
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Eight Burning Questions About the Donald Trump Indictment
Donald Trump has been indicted. But what do we actually know about the case against him? What will the charges be? Derek answers your burning questions to the best of his ability.
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Why the Cult of Achievement in Schools Is Making People Miserable
Derek talks with psychologist Lisa Damour about how our high school and college systems might be teaching us the wrong lessons about achievement and personal progress
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A Mind-Expanding Conversation About Human History and Happiness With Tim Urban
Derek talks to Tim Urban—who takes not the 30,000-foot view on life, but the 300,000-foot view of life, history, and human nature—about the meaning of life
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The AI Revolution Could Be Bigger and Weirder Than We Can Imagine
Derek unpacks his thoughts about GPT-4 and what it means to (maybe) be at the beginning of a sea change in technology
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Mailbag: Why Does the Internet Make Us Depressed? Where Does Good Writing Come From? Is College Worth It Anymore?
Derek answers your burning questions in a special mailbag episode!
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The SVB Debacle: The Biggest Myths, the Out-of-Control Blame Game, and the Worst Takes
Derek, Michael Batnick, and Ben Carlson also discuss whether this will change the direction of monetary policy and whether the U.S. has too many banks in the first place
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Silicon Valley Bank Collapse FAQ: Whose Fault Is It? How Can We Stop a Bank Panic? What Comes Next?
Liz Hoffman, author of ‘Crash Landing,’ joins to talk the fallout from Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse
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“Industrial Policy” Is the Hottest Idea in Economics. What Could Go Wrong?
President Biden is leaning toward using the government to support key industries in what’s sometimes referred to as "industrial policy." However, a strong case could be made against it. WSJ chief economics commentator Grep Ip weighs in to help separate myth from reality.