The Most Important Question

Latest Episodes:

#106: Black Moms Matter Apr 05, 2021

Show notes

In Episode 106, Quinn & Brian ask: Why is it so dangerous to have Black babies in America?

Our guest is Congresswoman Lauren Underwood, the millenial Black nurse and former senior adviser to President Obama. Her “Momnibus Act” is a suite of 12 bills designed to improve Black maternal health outcomes in America, where Black women are dying in or after childbirth at 3x-4x rates of white women.

In this incredible conversation, Rep. Underwood goes deep to help us understand the complexities of the problem, the crushing personal inspiration for her work, and what we can all do to help.

Have feedback or questions? Tweet us, or send a message to questions@importantnotimportant.com

Important, Not Important Book Club:

https://bookshop.org/shop/importantnotimportant

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Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com

Important, Not Important is produced by Crate Media

Issue #224: Biden Steps Up, The Take-Home Test You Hope to Fail, Why Green is Good Apr 02, 2021

Show notes

This week: Biden’s plan, explained; financial climate risk, uncovered; at-home COVID tests, approved; pesticide poisonings, revealed

Find links from this newsletter and more at importantnotimportant.com/newsletter
Got feedback? Email us at questions@importantnotimportant.com
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Important, Not Important is produced by Crate Media

Best of the Best: “‘No Way To Prevent This,’ Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens” Mar 29, 2021

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Hi. Hello. Americans are leaving their living rooms again, which means we’re shooting people again, too. As such, we’re re-running our conversation with Fred Guttenberg, father of Parkland victim, Jaime Guttenberg.

We need to break the fucking gun lobby, so we’ll just keep replaying this must-listen episode until we do.

In Episode 98, Quinn & Brian discuss: common sense solutions to prevent gun deaths and destroy the gun lobby.

Our guest is: Fred Guttenberg, a gun safety activist and political troublemaker.

Issue #223: Summer’s About to Get a Whole Lot Longer Mar 26, 2021

Show notes

This week: The Western drought grows; China’s vaccine exports; menthol cigarettes on the run; bacon and Alzheimer’s; croissants and cancer.

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Got feedback? Email us at questions@importantnotimportant.com
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Important, Not Important is produced by Crate Media

#105: Your Smart Fridge Just Overturned Democracy Mar 22, 2021

Show notes

In Episode 105, Quinn & Brian ask: How safe is your data (and can your wine fridge take down democracy)?

Our guest is: Dr. Carissa Véliz, an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Philosophy and the Institute for Ethics in AI, and a Tutorial Fellow in Philosophy at Hertford College at Oxford University.

If she sounds kind of awesome, that’s because she is.

So, what role does your phone, computer, wine fridge, smart toothbrush, and fun color-changing ceiling lights have to play in taking down — or saving — democracy, and maybe the planet too? Well, Dr. Véliz recently published “Privacy is Power,” in which she argues that the data economy is too dangerous to sustain. And although we may not be paying money for some of the incredible services that are built on top of our data, like Google Maps or Facebook, we are going to pay in the long run if we keep opting into the surveillance state.

Have feedback or questions? Tweet us, or send a message to questions@importantnotimportant.com

Important, Not Important Book Club:

"Mindf*ck: Cambridge Analytica and the Plot to Break America" by Christopher Wylie
“Permanent Record” by Edward Snowden

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Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com

Important, Not Important is produced by Crate Media

Issue #222: Low Hanging vs Game Changing: Why Not Both?, a Strong Cup of Joe, Waiting is the Hardest Part Mar 19, 2021

Show notes

In brief: The most powerful Joe; when you’re really clear on COVID; Black maternal outcomes; how to understand the AI internal war

Find links from this newsletter and more at importantnotimportant.com/newsletter
Got feedback? Email us at questions@importantnotimportant.com
Follow us on Twitter at @importantnotimp

Important, Not Important is produced by Crate Media

#104: Global.Health: Big Data for Good Mar 15, 2021

Show notes

In Episode 104, Quinn & Brian discuss: the future of data and medicine.

Our guests are: Robel Kassa & Dr. Sam Scarpino, two of the brilliant minds behind Global.Health, which is setting a new standard for epidemiological data. Global.Health is the first of its kind: an easy-to-use global data repository and visualization platform that enables open access to real-time epidemiological anonymized line-list data, including a COVID-19 dataset that contains detailed information on over five million anonymized cases from over 100 countries.

But this isn’t our first brush with Big Data, and we’ve seen how data can be used to cause material harm, both indirectly and directly. So, can we trust a platform that is trying to aggregate and anonymize all of the world’s health records around COVID? What are we sacrificing by allowing this data to be collected? And will creating such a platform help us predict or prevent another surprise pandemic in the future? We’re trying to wrap our heads around all of that and why the people building the platform are just as important as the data collected, possibly including yours.

Have feedback or questions? Tweet us, or send a message to questions@importantnotimportant.com

Important, Not Important Book Club:

"On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous" by Ocean Vuong
"Pachinko" by Min Jin Lee

Links:

Global.Health
dataforprogress.org
Donate to diaper relief: importantnotimportant.com/diapers
Dr. Scarpino on Twitter: @svscarpino
Robel on Twitter: @rawbubble

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Subscribe to our newsletter at ImportantNotImportant.com!
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Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com

Important, Not Important is produced by Crate Media

Issue #221: Lab Trial & Error, Finding a Pain-Free Way to Treat Pain, How to Lose a Crop in 10 Days Mar 12, 2021

Show notes

In brief: Batteries are cheaper and increasingly everywhere; the best COVID treatments; a possible opioid alternative; cabbage is off the menu

Find links from this newsletter and more at importantnotimportant.com/newsletter
Got feedback? Email us at questions@importantnotimportant.com
Follow us on Twitter at @importantnotimp

Important, Not Important is produced by Crate Media

#103: Black Hearts Matter Mar 08, 2021

Show notes

In Episode 103, Quinn & Brian ask: Why do so many more Black people die after heart transplants than everybody else?

Our guests are: Dr. Hasina Maredia and Dr. Errol Bush, who recently published a paper in the American Heart Association’s journal, “Circulation: Heart Failure.” Their paper concludes that “young Black recipients have a high risk of mortality in the first year after heart transplant, which has been masked in decades of research looking at disparities in aggregate.”

Sorry for the spoilers, but that’s really just the beginning. The decades of systemic failures that allowed this to happen — and, most importantly, the steps we can take right now to improve these wildly disparate healthcare outcomes for young Black people — are the real meat of this story, told by two incredibly inspiring people.

Have feedback or questions? Tweet us, or send a message to questions@importantnotimportant.com

Important, Not Important Book Club:

"Black Men In White Coats: 100 Rules for Success!" by Dr. Dale Okorodudu
"The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot

Links:

Connect with us:

Subscribe to our newsletter at ImportantNotImportant.com!
Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/ImportantNotImp
Follow Quinn: twitter.com/quinnemmett
Follow Brian: twitter.com/briancolbertken
Like and share us on Facebook: facebook.com/ImportantNotImportant
Intro/outro by Tim Blane: timblane.com

Important, Not Important is produced by Crate Media

Issue #220: Sunk Costs are Sinking Cities, Finally the Food Chain is Essential, & Putting the “AI” in “Racist” Mar 05, 2021

Show notes

This week: Miami kicks the can down the road, relief for farmworkers, poor Twitter, how not to waste food, how not to do ethical A.I.

Find links from this newsletter and more at importantnotimportant.com/newsletter
Got feedback? Email us at funtalk@importantnotimportant.com
Follow us on Twitter at @importantnotimp

Important, Not Important is produced by Crate Media

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