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People I (Mostly) Admire — Society & Culture
People I (Mostly) Admire

Freakonomics co-author Steve Levitt tracks down other high achievers for surprising, revealing conversations about their lives and obsessions. Join Levitt as he goes through the most interesting midlife crisis you’ve ever heard — and learn how a renegade sheriff is transforming Chicago’s jail, how a biologist is finding the secrets of evolution in the Arctic tundra, and how a trivia champion memorized 160,000 flashcards.

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Latest Episodes:

62. How Does Historian Brad Gregory Make a Boring Topic So Mind-Blowing? Feb 12, 2022

Show notes

A leading expert on the Reformation era, Brad, a University of Notre Dame professor, tells Steve about how the “blood gets sucked out of history,” and why historians and economists don’t quite see eye to eye.

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61. Was Austan Goolsbee’s First Visit to the Oval Office Almost His Last? Feb 05, 2022

Show notes

The former chairman of the Obama administration’s Council of Economic Advisors tells Steve how improv comedy was a better training ground for teaching than a Ph.D. from M.I.T., and why he’s glad he was wrong about the automotive-industry bailout.

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60. Cassandra Quave Thinks the Way Antibiotics Are Developed Might Kill Us Jan 29, 2022

Show notes

By mid-century, 10 million people a year are projected to die from untreatable infections. Can Cassandra, an ethnobotanist at Emory University convince Steve that herbs and ancient healing are key to our medical future?

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Why Aren’t All Drugs Legal? (Replay Ep. 28) Jan 22, 2022

Show notes

The Columbia neuroscientist and psychology professor Carl Hart believes that recreational drug use, even heroin, methamphetamines, and cocaine, is an inalienable right. Can he convince Steve?

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Are We Under Threat from a New Kind of Terror? (Replay Ep. 24) Jan 15, 2022

Show notes

Amaryllis Fox is a former C.I.A. operative and host of the Netflix show The Business of Drugs. She explains why intelligence work requires empathy, and she soothes Steve’s fears about weapons of mass destruction.

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59. Who Gives the Worst Advice? Jan 08, 2022

Show notes

Steve usually asks his guests for advice, whether they’re magicians or Nobel laureates. After nearly 60 episodes, is any of it worth following — or should we just ask listeners instead?

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58. Why Is Richard Thaler Such a ****ing Optimist? Jan 01, 2022

Show notes

The Nobel laureate and pioneering behavioral economist spars with Steve over what makes a nudge a nudge, and admits that even economists have plenty of blind spots.

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57. What Makes John Doerr Think He Can Save the Planet? Dec 25, 2021

Show notes

The legendary venture capitalist believes the same intuition that led him to bet early on Google can help us reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. But Steve wonders why his plan doesn’t include a carbon tax.

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56. Claudia Goldin: What’s “Greedy Work” and Why Is It a Problem? Dec 18, 2021

Show notes

Harvard economist Claudia Goldin and Steve talk about how inflexible jobs and family responsibilities make it harder for women to earn wages equal to their male counterparts. But could Covid actually level the playing field?

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55. Jared Diamond on the Downfall of Civilizations — and His Optimism for Ours Dec 11, 2021

Show notes

He’s the award-winning author of hugely popular books like Guns, Germs, and Steel; Collapse; and Upheaval. But Jared actually started his varied career as an expert on gallbladders and birds. The physiologist turned geographer talks with Steve about his brushes with death, why the Norse Greenlanders wouldn’t eat fish, and why he has never been invited to a cannibal ceremony.

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