Singal-Minded Conversations

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Latest Episodes:

Episode 11: A Quick Announcement: Introducing "Blocked And Reported" Apr 13, 2020

A brief announcement noting that Singal-Minded Conversations is, as you may have gathered six months ago, on hiatus, and to introduce Jesse Singal's new podcast with Katie Herzog, "Blocked and Reported," which can be listened to via the below links.

Homepage: http://barpodcast.fireside.fm/

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4vgbwrNPxor56PDfRMPzhE

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/blocked-and-reported/id1504298199

Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/jesse-singal/blocked-and-reported

TuneIn: https://tunein.com/podcasts/News--Politics-Podcasts/Blocked-and-Reported-p1309114/

RSS feed: https://feeds.fireside.fm/barpodcast/rss

Episode 10: Opioids, Weed, And The Revolutionary Temptation (Keith Humphreys) Aug 22, 2019

In today's episode, I spoke with Keith Humphreys, a professor and addiction expert at Stanford University. We discussed the opioid crisis, what sane marijuana policy would look like, and why we are both skeptical about gung-ho revolutionary types. Keith also told me about the time he went to Iraq to help rebuild that country's psychiatric infrastructure, which is ten trillion times cooler and more impressive than anything I have ever done or ever will do. (Music: Intro: Why? - “The Vowels, Pt. 2”; break: Afroman - "Because I Got High"; outro: Against Me! - "Thrash Unreal")

Episode 9: Basketball, Happiness, And The Risk Of Misreading The Jordan Peterson Phenomenon (Ethan Strauss) Jul 16, 2019

In today's episode, I spoke with Ethan Strauss, a reporter at The Athletic and formerly ESPN. Ethan is working on a book about the Golden State Warriors which touches on the question of whether and to what extent professional success, even at the highest levels, brings lasting fulfillment. We discussed politics as well, and Ethan told me the story of the time he and the Aussie NBA center Andrew Bogut went to see Jordan Peterson in Los Angeles. We also talked about the time Kevin Durant got mad at him. (Overall, Ethan has better stories than I do.) (Music: Intro: Why? - “The Vowels, Pt. 2”; break: Skee-Lo - "I Wish"; outro: Casper - "Alles endet (aber nie die Musik))

Episode 8: Is Power-Posing Getting A Bad Rap? (Spencer Greenberg) Jun 20, 2019

In today's episode, I spoke with Spencer Greenberg about the personality differences between men and women, the different intrinsic values liberals and conservatives find most meaningful, power-posing, and social-science reform efforts. Spencer is a mathematician and entrepreneur, as well as s the founder of Spark Wave, a "startup foundry" which creates software designed to help solve problems in the world using social science, and to accelerate and improve social-science research. He also founded [ClearerThinking.org](ClearerThinking.org), which offers free tools and training programs geared at improving decision-making, increasing positive behaviors, and reducing cognitive biases. Spencer has a PhD in applied mathematics from NYU, with a specialty in machine learning, and his work has been featured in media outlets like the Wall Street Journal, the Independent, Lifehacker, Gizmodo, Fast Company, and the Financial Times. (Music: Intro: Why? - “The Vowels, Pt. 2”; break: Dropkick Murphys - "The Dirty Glass"; outro: Field Mouse - "Happy")

Episode 7: How Optimistic Should We Be About Human Nature? (Nicholas Christakis) Jun 10, 2019

Nicholas Christakis is a physician and sociologist at Yale University who directs Yale's Human Nature Lab and codirects its Institute for Network Science. He is the author of Blueprint: The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society. If you enjoy my work, please check out my newsletter, Singal-Minded. (Music: Intro: Why? - “The Vowels, Pt. 2”; break: Pearl Jam - "Do the Evolution"; outro: War - "Why Can't We Be Friends?")

Episode 6: What It's Like In "The Bad Part Of Town" (Chris Arnade) May 28, 2019

Chris Arnade is a photographer and writer with a PhD in physics who, after two decades on Wall Street, decided to document the parts of America people with money stay away from, and warn others to stay away from. This yearslong, self-funded project culminated in a new book, Dignity: Seeking Respect Iin Back Row America, which is out next week and which you can, and should, preorder now. If you enjoy my work, please check out my newsletter, Singal-Minded. (Music: Intro: Why? - “The Vowels, Pt. 2”; outro: Dead Prez - "Don't Forget Where U Goin'")

Episode 5: Those Who Speak Out Against Cancel Culture Must Be Cancelled Immediately (Robyn Kanner) May 23, 2019

Robyn Kanner is a writer and designer in Brooklyn who has written for The New York Times, The Atlantic, Wired, Broadly, and other outlets. Lately, she's written some powerful and personal stuff about social media, cancel culture, addiction, and empathy. She also took the bold step of putting her phone number in her Twitter profile so that the haters could reach out directly. We talked about all this and more, including a bit of NBA at the end. Also, here's my two-hour-plus appearance on the podcast Girls Chat that I mention in the intro to this episode, God help me. (Music: Intro: Why? - “The Vowels, Pt. 2”; break: Bright Eyes - "Method Acting"; outro: Elliott Smith - "Waltz #2 (XO)")

Episode 4: The Threat Industrial Complex Is Coming To Kill Everyone You Love With Its Fearmongering (Michael A. Cohen) May 15, 2019

Boston Globe columnist Michael A. Cohen, the coauthor of the new book "Clear and Present Safety: The World Has Never Been Better and Why That Matters to Americans," explains why we're worried about the wrong stuff, why Harry Truman was arguably the GOAT of scaring the hell out of Americans unnecessarily, and why it's silly for the Democrats to let concerns about "firing up" Donald Trump's base influence their 2020 primary process. (Music, in order: Why? - “The Vowels, Pt. 2”; Against Me! - "From Her Lips To God's Ears (The Energizer)"; and Country Joe & The Fish - "The Fish Cheer / I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-To Die Rag")

Episode 3: Singal-Minded Conversations: Is Implicit Bias Overhyped? May 06, 2019

For today’s Singal-Minded Conversations, I interviewed Patrick Forscher. Patrick is an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Arkansas, where he runs the Group Disparities Lab. I’m very happy to be able to share this interv… Read More
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Episode 2: Singal-Minded Conversations: Dr. Katie Gordon On Suicide Research, The Campus Culture Wars, And Florida's Endearing Weirdness Apr 29, 2019

For the second episode of what I have decided to call Singal-Minded Conversations, I interviewed Dr. Katie Gordon, a former professor of psychology at North Dakota State University who is now in private practice, and whose primary research… Read More
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Episode 1: Singal-Minded, The Interview: Katie Herzog Apr 19, 2019

This is the first time I have ever recorded an audio interview and uploaded it to the internet! So this is very much an experiment and a work-in-progress — I am quite happy with the interview itself but naturally the production is rough ar… Read More
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