Incidentally, this is the first time in nine (!?) years that Overcast’s Suggestions for you section had something that was both new and noteworthy. There were a few more that look promising, so either the algorithm has changed or it has finally learned my tastes.
It isn’t every day that a podcast goes from my Testing to the Regular playlist, so I have to mark the moment. “Reason is Fun” by Lulie Tanett and David Deutsch is, well, fun and thought-provoking throughout, even if (because?) I often disagree with either or both of the hosts.
Two excellent back-to-back episodes of the Joy of Why podcast, both featuring waves: jellyfish and fluid dynamics, and the arrhythmic heart. The conversations were basic enough that even this non-physicist non-mathematician could understand, though I did have a leg up on the heart episode.
Yesterday’s EconTalk was with Lydia Dugdale on the Lost Art of Dying, which is the title of Dr. Dugdale’s book but also a translation of Ars moriendi, a 15th century Latin text about the good death. The episode is in this year’s Top 5, and I wish I could dwell into this. Ars longa…, as they say.
One benefit of being a one-man show is the freedom to share your thought process and workflows without fear of inadvertently disclosing information that others may find sensitive. Which is to say: I love what @davidsmith is doing on his blog — the latest post is what prompted me to write this — and podcast. More of this, please.
The two most recent episodes of EconTalk, equally engrossing, could not have been more different:
But it is only Rebanks’ I would listen to again, and his book is now on my to-read list.
Tyler Cowen talked to Noam Chomsky, and the result was so much like his conversation with Jonathan (GPT) Swift that I wondered if it was a prank Tyler pulled using, I don’t know, a ChomskyBot? Be a “public intellectual” long enough and you become a parody of yourself.
Interviewing academics, professionals and other experts, The Popperian Podcast is a monthly podcast where Jed Lea-Henry looks into the philosophy and life of Karl Popper.
The latest episode, about medical discovery, pairs nicely with Against Method.
Not two months have passed since I declared (in Serbian) that we should ban cars — which, yes, is the same sort of hyperbole that something like defund the police was, but that is why I am not a politician — and I have discovered a treasure trove of like-minded podcasts and Twitter accounts. And now that DC has, for better or worse, Mostly for the worse, as written, and I say this even as someone who has gained the right to vote thanks to the bill. allowed non-citizens to vote, I may get to do something about it!
Nothing beats repetition for reinforcing concepts. This week’s episode of EconTalk began with Megan McArdle describing the Oedipus trap, but ended with a discussion on science and policy that echoed concerns raised in Against Method.
Science is a good servant but a vicious master, and “just following the science” is a recipe for all sorts of disasters.