Stay ConnectedComedian Adam Conover talks to the most interesting experts and thinkers on Earth about today’s most pressing topics. From the rise of AI to the fight for workers’ rights, from porn bans to microplastics, Adam and his guests reveal shocking truths and thought-provoking new perspectives. It’s an investigative comedy interview podcast for curious people who never stop asking questions.
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We’re flooded with misinformation, and new research shows that cliches about “thinking critically” and “doing your own research” are counterproductive at best. Writer and educator Michael Caulfield joins Adam this week to explain his SIFT method for evaluating misinformation, why expertise is so important, and how we should approach unclear ideas like COVID-19 “lab leak” hypothesis. Learn more about SIFT at https://infodemic.blog/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Why is America's health care system so effed up, and what can be done to fix it? Author, physician, and civil servant Dr. Abdul El-Sayed joins Adam to discuss how we got here, his belief in single-payer healthcare, and why he's hopeful for the road ahead. His book Medicare For All: A Citizen’s Guide is available wherever books are sold. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Journalist and author of "Fulfillment", Alec MacGillis, joins Adam this week to discuss how Amazon’s unprecedented and wide-spread growth has reshaped our economy and society. They cover the economic changes that created a vacuum for Amazon to fill; how economic concentration hurts both "winners" and losers; the lack of community and dignity Amazon jobs create, and why Alec is still hopeful for change. Check out Alec MacGillis’ book FULFILLMENT: Winning & Losing in One-Click America wherever you get your books. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Adam is thrilled to introduce one of his absolute favorite journalists and authors to the show: Pulitzer Prize winner and author of the The Sixth Extinction, Elizabeth Kolbert. They discuss how humans have transformed the planet even more profoundly than we imagine; the dirty work of eliminating invasive species; how even getting to net zero emissions only stabilizes, rather than reverses, climate change, and how to carry the psychic weight of knowing we are destroying the things we love. Look for Elizabeth Kolbert's newest book, Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future, wherever books are sold. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
No feature of the American landscape is more absurd than the border. It cuts across natural landscapes, is highly militarized, and possesses the largest law enforcement agency in America. Why? Journalist and Author Todd Miller joins Adam to explain why the heck Border Patrol got involved with the BLM protests last June, what “check point trauma” means, and why we need to build solidarity, rather than division with the people who share the continent with us. Todd Miller’s book - Build Bridges Not Walls - is out at the end of March, and can be pre-ordered at citylights.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
We often frame the fight against climate change as one of endless sacrifice. But the truth is, the real solutions to climate change would both save money and make our lives better. Scientist, inventor, and energy expert Saul Griffith joins Adam to walk us through why electric power is more efficient, powerful, and affordable long-term; how the “scarcity mentality” is a flawed way to view fighting climate change; and how a “wartime mobilization” to electrify our society would both fight the COVID economic slump as well as combat climate change. Saul Griffith's book Rewiring America is available wherever books are sold. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Where do cities… come from? Are they created by committee? Or do they just spring up out of the earth? Adam explores this question with journalist Annalee Newitz, author of the new book Four Lost Cities: A Secret History of the Urban Age. They take an audio tour from Cahokia, an indigenous city near St. Louis that somehow got left out of American textbook; the Neolithic city of Çatalhöyük, where people buried their ancestors under their living room floors; Angkor, which declined due to lack of government care of infrastructure; and everyone’s favorite lost city - Pompeii! You can find Four Lost Cities wherever books are sold. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Is humanity innately good or bad? Historian and author Rutger Bregman joins Adam to discuss his decidedly optimistic answer to this question. They discuss research showing that people are more likely to help each other during national disasters, the true story behind Kitty Genovese, and how the real-life Lord of The Flies had a very different ending. You can find Rutger Bregman’s book, Humankind: A Hopeful History, wherever books are sold. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
This week, Dr. Carl Hart - professor of neuroscience and psychology at Columbia - joins Adam to argue that we’ve been approaching recreational drugs all wrong. Together they discuss how we have historically exaggerated the harmful effects of drugs on the brain, how stigma and criminalization create greater adverse effects than the drugs themselves, and more. Dr. Hart’s new book, Drug Use for Grown Ups, is out now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
To stop a deadly disease, you need more than medicine -- you need to change people’s minds. Journalist and doctor Seema Yasmin joins Adam this week to discuss how to combat harmful medical myths. They discuss how much more powerful narratives are than statistics, the difference between being anti-vaxx and being vaccine-hesitant, and why you shouldn’t eat your placenta after giving birth no matter what the celebrities tell you. Dr. Seema Yasmin's book - Viral BS: Medical Myths and Why We Fall For Them - is out now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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