Have you ever heard a commonly held belief or a fast-developing worldview and asked: Is that idea right? Or just good on paper? Each week, host Jerusalem Demsas...
Donald Trump won back the White House last year by stoking fears of scarcity. The zero-sum thinking of the right that says there aren’t enough houses or jobs to go around laid the groundwork for the forces of illiberalism currently at play in the federal government. In their new book, Abundance, Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson argue that to combat the politics of scarcity, liberals at every level of government must embrace abundance.
Further reading:
Abundance, by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson
Why We’re Polarized, by Ezra Klein
“Do Democrats Need to Learn How to Build?,” by Benjamin Wallace-Wells
“A Simple Plan to Solve All of America’s Problems,” by Derek Thompson
“Blue States Gave Trump and Vance an Opening,” by Jerusalem Demsas
Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news to fascinating explorations of our world. Subscribe today at TheAtlantic.com/podsub.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
--------
1:21:52
The Scientific Controversy That’s Tearing Families Apart
Shaken baby syndrome has been discredited, criticized, and even classified as “junk science” by a New Jersey judge, so why is it often being treated as settled fact in hospitals and courtrooms? The neuroscience researcher Cyrille Rossant was plunged headfirst into the controversy of shaken baby syndrome, now called “abusive head trauma,” when his child was believed to have been shaken by a nanny. After years of research, Rossant is now a leading voice among skeptics who say shaken baby syndrome isn’t backed by scientific proof.
Further reading:
Shaken Baby Syndrome: Investigating the Abusive Head Trauma Controversy, co-authored by Cyrille Rossant
“How Antiscience Creates Confusion About the Diagnosis of Abusive Head Trauma,” by John Leventhal, et al.
“No Science Supports the Diagnostic Methods for Abusive Head Trauma,” by Cyrille Rossant, et al.
“False Confessions: Causes, Consequences, and Implications for Reform,” by Saul Kassin
Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news to fascinating explorations of our world. Subscribe today at TheAtlantic.com/podsub.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
--------
51:53
Best of: Is Wokeness Dead?
As the second Trump administration dismantles federal DEI programs and removes trans Americans from the military, the crusade on “wokeness” seems to be a core focus of the president’s second term. In this encore episode, host Jerusalem Demsas speaks with the New York Times columnist Michelle Goldberg about the end of wokeness and why we might miss it when it’s gone.
Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news to fascinating explorations of our world. Subscribe today at TheAtlantic.com/podsub.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
--------
45:35
The Human-Neanderthal Love-Story Mystery
If researchers could go back in time 100,000 years, they’d find at least three different types of humans walking the Earth. Today, only the dominant group, Homo sapiens, survives. The scientist Johannes Krause explains how new discoveries in paleontology and genetics help pinpoint the exact period in which human groups interbred. Understanding this timeline, he says, brings us closer to understanding what makes modern humans unique.
Further reading:
“Earliest Modern Human Genomes Constrain Timing of Neanderthal Admixture,” by Johannes Krause, et al.
“Neanderthal Ancestry Through Time: Insights From Genomes of Ancient and Present-Day Humans,” by Leonardo N. M. Iasi, et al.
“DOGE Is Failing on Its Own Terms,” by David Deming
Interview with Svante Pääbo, 2022 Nobel laureate in physiology or medicine
Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news to fascinating explorations of our world. Subscribe today at TheAtlantic.com/podsub.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
--------
53:52
The Real Origins of Public Education
Why do governments educate their citizens? More than 200 years ago, Western regimes shifted the responsibility of education from the family to the state. The political scientist Agustina Paglayan argues that this transition happened not in pursuit of democratic ideals, but in the interest of social control.
Further reading:
Raised to Obey: The Rise and Spread of Mass Education, by Agustina Paglayan
“How Reconstruction Created American Public Education," by Adam Harris
“Was Weber Wrong? A Human Capital Theory of Protestant Economic History,” by Sascha O. Becker Ludger Woessmann
“Understanding Education Policy Preferences: Survey Experiments with Policymakers in 35 Developing Countries,” by Lee Crawfurd, et al.
Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news to fascinating explorations of our world. Subscribe today at TheAtlantic.com/podsub.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Have you ever heard a commonly held belief or a fast-developing worldview and asked: Is that idea right? Or just good on paper? Each week, host Jerusalem Demsas and a guest take a closer look at the facts and research that challenge the popular narratives of the day, to better understand why we believe what we believe.
USA