Uncertain Things

Latest Episodes:

The Mood Music of Anti-Racism (Coleman Hughes) Jun 25, 2025

Show notes

Coleman Hughes, author of The End of Race Politics: Arguments for a Colorblind Americaand writer for The Free Press, argues that recent progressive theories about antiracism have looped all the way back to racism. He joins Adaam to discuss the power of language to reveal and distort, the moral confusions of revolutionary activism, the aesthetics of social justice, and how this all relates to Israel’s war on Iran.

On the agenda:

-Coleman’s backstory and the march through the institutions (or at least Columbia)

-What do you mean, Neo-racism? (Speak plainly!)

-Social science versus social redemption

-Ta-Nehisi Coates composes mood music (and conceals reality)

-What’s up in Israel

-The West doesn’t understand death cults

Uncertain Things is hosted and produced by Adaam James Levin-Areddy and Vanessa M. Quirk. For more doomsday thoughts, subscribe to: uncertain.substack.com.

Get full access to Uncertain Things at uncertain.substack.com/subscribe

The Hope for Gaza (w/ Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib) Jun 15, 2025

Show notes

Is there hope for Palestinians in Gaza after the war? What will happen to Hamas? Does anyone still want a Two State Solution? And will the war with Iran change the game? Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and director of Realign for Palestine, joins Adaam James Levin-Areddy to discuss. Ahmed seeks to refocus the Palestinian mission from armed resistance against Israel to self-governance, independence, and prosperity. He and Adaam debate what this will take, and whether the window for such a vision is closing.

Further readings:

-On their first conversation, Adaam and Fouad discussed the view from Gaza

-Earlier on the day this was recorded, Adaam spoke with Nadav Eyal about Israel’s war in Iran

Uncertain Things is hosted and produced by Adaam James Levin-Areddy and Vanessa M. Quirk. For more doomsday thoughts, subscribe to: uncertain.substack.com.

Get full access to Uncertain Things at uncertain.substack.com/subscribe

The Enemies of Free Speech (w/ Greg Lukianoff & Nadine Strossen) May 29, 2025

Show notes

Former ACLU President Nadine Strossen and FIRE (Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression) President Greg Lukianoff join Adaam to discuss their upcoming book War on Words: 10 Arguments Against Free Speech—And Why They Fail. The three dig into what makes liberalism in general and free speech in particular so powerful, so radical, and so rare. Is too much information a danger for free speech? Why are some institutions resilient to ideological capture while others cave? Do generational tensions pose a threat to liberal values? What does it really mean to defend free speech?

On the agenda:

-Free speech is eternally radical (00:30)

-The Skokie Affair made Adaam fall in love (10:47)

-Generational tensions at the ACLU, or: maintaining institutional integrity (26:13)

-Real liberalism is (and always was) hard (51:12)

-Marketplace of Ideas vs. Pure Information Theory, or: the importance of knowing falsities (1:01:06)

-AI and the problem of Too Much Information (1:10:02)

-Blindspots (1:23:55)

Show notes:

-Greg’s Substack: The Eternally Radical Idea

-Upcoming rerelease of Aryeh Neier’s Defending My Enemywith additional material by Nadine

Art by Niv Tishbi

Uncertain Things is hosted and produced by Adaam James Levin-Areddy and Vanessa M. Quirk. For more doomsday thoughts, subscribe to: uncertain.substack.com.

Get full access to Uncertain Things at uncertain.substack.com/subscribe

Vibes of Nihilism (w/ Mike Pesca) Mar 28, 2025

Show notes

Perspicacious podcaster Mike Pesca, host of The Gist and author of Pesca Profundities, joins Adaam to partake in principled, punny, and peppily pugnacious perorations. On the agenda: the creeping nihilism of American society (and should we be worried about it), the comedy of Signalgate, the state of the media, and the revenge of the cancelled.

On the agenda:

-Podcasting with Pesca [00:00]

-Misinformation and media [10:52]

-Objectivity [14:55]

-Signalgate [27:54]

-Nihilism in America [35:37]

-Jan 6 and Oct 8 [42:36]

-Surviving cancellation [51:19]

-Judicial overhauls [56:43]

-Constitutionalism and its discontent [01:00:05]

-Blindspots [01:04:19]

Uncertain Things is hosted and produced by Adaam James Levin-Areddy and Vanessa M. Quirk. For more doomsday thoughts, subscribe to: uncertain.substack.com.

Get full access to Uncertain Things at uncertain.substack.com/subscribe

When My Team Became an Online Mob (w/ Brianna Wu) Mar 10, 2025

Show notes

Former Democratic organizer Brianna Wu joins Adaam James Levin-Areddy for a conversation about her journey from leftist activism to clashing with leftists about antisemitism and the recklessness of transgender politics. Wu opens up on the challenges that come with standing up to one’s own tribe, the importance of defending liberal values, and how to think responsibly—and compassionately—about sex and gender.

On the Agenda:—How Gamergate changed everything—The (de)evolution of progressive politics—October 7 and Jewish mothers—Can normie liberalism bridge the partisan divide?—Transgender health care vs. transgender politics

Show Notes:—The Pros and Cons of ‘Queer’ (w/ Jamie Kirchick)—Jesse Singal for The Dispatch: How The American Media Distorted the Transgender Debate

Get full access to Uncertain Things at uncertain.substack.com/subscribe

How the Modern World Self-Destructs (w/ Tomer Persico) Jan 29, 2025

Show notes

Religious scholar Tomer Persico, now a Research Fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute, returns to help us unpack why liberalism is special — and why it’s now in crisis.

Mentioned in this episode:

-Our first conversation with Tomer, about the implications of seeing ourselves as made in the image of God

-Yascha Mounk, who talked to us about how identity politics is straining liberalism

-Tom Holland, the Liberal who lost his faith

-Sarah Isgur, who survived Trump’s DOJ

Find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Share @UncertainPod on your social media of choice.

On the agenda:

-Why Liberalism [3:10-13:30]-Defining Liberalism & Individual Rights [13:31-18:23]-The Government's New Responsibility: Protect Individual Rights [18:24-29:43]-The Importance of Unprescribed, Artful Negotiations of Power [29:44-48:05]-Nationalism & Mass Conscription [48:06-1:02:32]-The Problem Liberalism is facing now [1:02:33-1:18:20]

Uncertain Things is hosted and produced by Adaam James Levin-Areddy and Vanessa M. Quirk. For more doomsday thoughts, subscribe to: uncertain.substack.com.

Get full access to Uncertain Things at uncertain.substack.com/subscribe

Significant Sans Sex (w/ Rhaina Cohen) Jan 17, 2025

Show notes

To write The Other Significant Others, journalist Rhaina Cohen interviewed couples around the country who have committed to sharing their lives with each other — just not their beds. These pivotal yet hard-to-define relationships have existed throughout history, but we lack the vocabulary to talk about them (let alone a legal framework to protect them). Adaam and Vanessa — platonic partners themselves — talk to Rhaina about the nomenclature that helps/hinders us, the lack of templates for meaningful friendships, and the unspoken-about-elephant in these relationships (yes, sex).

Mentioned in this episode:

-Rhaina on the Ezra Klein Show

-Our conversation about friendship infrastructure with David French

-Our conversation about solitude with Bill Deresiewicz

Find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Share @UncertainPod on your social media of choice.

On the agenda:

-On words, romance, and indefinable friendships [0:00-33:06]-The legal difficulties platonic partners face [33:07-40:24]-Putting marriage on/off its pedestal [40:25-47:28]-On polyamory [47:29-53:49]-The challenges of relationships with no defaults or templates [53:50-1:03:36]-Friendship & solitude [1:03:37-]

Uncertain Things is hosted and produced by Adaam James Levin-Areddy and Vanessa M. Quirk. For more doomsday thoughts, subscribe to: uncertain.substack.com.

Get full access to Uncertain Things at uncertain.substack.com/subscribe

From Jesus Christ to the New York Times (w/ Andy Mills) Nov 04, 2024

Show notes

Podcaster/journalist Andy Mills shares the unusual trajectory of his life and career: from small town boy; to God-loving member of a close-knit group of friends; to rebellious drop-out of a Christian college; to curious outsider in Southern Sudan; to hard-working, some-time inappropriate young media professional; to a more self-aware, award-winning podcast producer; to New York Times outcast; to independent media professional (with a Substack, of course). [Break for breath.] Along the way, we discuss the merits/drawbacks of faith, unpack the pivotal year that was 2015, debate the limitations of forgiveness, and dissect the difference between being canceled for your beliefs versus what others believe of you.

Mentioned in this episode:

-Reflector podcast

-Mills Spills (BAR pod)

-The Witch Trials of JK Rowling (Free Press)

Find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Share @UncertainPod on your social media of choice.

On the agenda:

- Growing up in small town Christian America [0:00-14:53]-What happened to the Church - a.k.a When God died in 2015 [14:54-22:00]-Winning, and then losing, the friendship lottery [22:01-47:39]-The tension of uncertainty in community [47:40-52:52]-Online conversations and communities (back to 2015) [52:53-1:01:59]-Entering journalism by way of Sudan [1:02:00-1:11:57]-Identity, narrative, and bias [1:11:58-1:30:30]-The tribe of media and the danger of ideas (2015 reprise) 1:30:31-1:42:30-Andy's second cancelation story [1:42:31-1:59:26]-Comparing the cancellations [1:59:27-2:05:36]-What happened at the New York Times [2:05:37-2:19:15]

Uncertain Things is hosted and produced by Adaam James Levin-Areddy and Vanessa M. Quirk. For more doomsday thoughts, subscribe to: uncertain.substack.com.

Get full access to Uncertain Things at uncertain.substack.com/subscribe

The Decapitation of Hezbollah and the Fall of Rome (w/ Eli Lake) Sep 29, 2024

Show notes

The indispensable Eli Lake — contributing editor at Commentary Magazine and staff writer and podcaster at The Free Press — returns to the pod to mark the destruction of mass murderer and DSA heartthrob Hasan Nasrallah along with the top brass of his terror gang in Beirut this weekend. This leads to a discussion about the nature of warfare and the importance of escalation, the inanity of American media, and also what the decline of norms in the Roman Republic portends for the future of the American experiment. Si vult pacem, face bellum?

Find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Share @UncertainPod on your social media of choice.

On the agenda:

-Bad week for the axis of a******s

-The deescalation trap

-Eli and Mehdi Hasan

-Muh norms

Uncertain Things is hosted and produced by Adaam James Levin-Areddy and Vanessa M. Quirk. For more doomsday thoughts, subscribe to: uncertain.substack.com.

Get full access to Uncertain Things at uncertain.substack.com/subscribe

It's Over (w/ Caitlin Flanagan) Aug 20, 2024

Show notes

Caitlin Flanagan returns! The unapologetic author of On Thinking for Yourself(a selection of her excellent essays for The Atlantic) comes to talk to us about the fall of Western civilization, what happens when you let church-going go, what happened to universities, and why (though a Catholic herself) Caitlin has started wearing a Star of David.

Check out (the juicier) part two of this conversation (for paid members only) here.

Find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Share @UncertainPod on your social media of choice.

On the agenda:

-Praising our AI overlords

-A post-apocalyptic, post-church West

-Dangerously under-educated

-Why Caitlin wears the Star of David

-When/how universities went wrong [

-On parenting and Ballerina Farm

-P.S. - Adaam’s reflections on wearing the Star of David

Mentioned in this episode:

-Our previous episode with Caitlin (Uncertain Things)

-On Thinking for Yourself(Caitlin Flanagan)

-Calvin Coolidge’s Address at the Celebration of the 150th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (UCSB)

-Overtime: Bob Costas, Coleman Hughes, Caitlin Flanagan | Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO)

-From Dawn to Decadence: 1500 to the Present: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life (Jacques Barzun)

-Part two of this conversation (Uncertain Things LOCKED)

Uncertain Things is hosted and produced by Adaam James Levin-Areddy and Vanessa M. Quirk. For more doomsday thoughts, subscribe to: uncertain.substack.com.

Get full access to Uncertain Things at uncertain.substack.com/subscribe

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