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Discover the hidden side of everything with Stephen J. Dubner, co-author of the Freakonomics books. Each week, Freakonomics Radio tells you things you always thought you knew (but didn’t) and things you never thought you wanted to know (but do) — from the economics of sleep to how to become great at just about anything. Dubner speaks with Nobel laureates and provocateurs, intellectuals and entrepreneurs, and various other underachievers.
Steve Levitt, the iconoclastic University of Chicago economist and co-author of the Freakonomics book series, tracks down other high achievers and asks questions that only he would think to ask. Guests include all-time Jeopardy! champion Ken Jennings, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki, WNBA champion Sue Bird, Operation Warp Speed chief Moncef Slaoui, and neuroscientist/actress Mayim Bialik. People I (Mostly) Admire is a production of the Freakonomics Radio Network.
Stephen Dubner (co-author of the Freakonomics book series) and research psychologist Angela Duckworth (author of Grit) really like to ask people questions, and came to believe there’s no such thing as a stupid one. So they made a podcast where they can ask each other as many “stupid questions” as they want. New episodes each week. No Stupid Questions is a production of the Freakonomics Radio Network.
The Columbia University sociologist Sudhir Venkatesh studies exclusive worlds by embedding himself — with a crack-selling gang, sex workers, the teenage children of billionaires, and most recently, at the highest levels of companies at the vanguard of the digital revolution, including Facebook and Twitter. And now he’s hosting a podcast. In each episode, Venkatesh will reveal what he learned in Silicon Valley and talk with the people he met along the way who are building and running the digi ...
Journalism wrapped in a game-show package. Host Stephen J. Dubner (of “Freakonomics Radio”) and a celebrity co-host invite guests on stage in front of a live audience to tell us something we don’t know. The co-hosts — a mix of leaders in science, academia, sports, media, and comedy — grill the guests, and by the end we’ve all gotten a bit smarter. Each episode has a new topic, a new co-host, and new guests. There’s also a real-time human fact-checker to keep everyone honest. Think of the mos ...
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Sudhir Breaks the Internet
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Meet the Brain Behind Facebook’s Oversight Board
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Last week, the board upheld the ban of former President Donald Trump’s social media accounts. Sudhir talks to Noah Feldman, the constitutional law scholar who helped design this “supreme court” for content moderation. They reveal the inside story of how the idea came about, how the court was built, and ask big questions, like … will anyone trust it…
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No Stupid Questions
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51. What Separates Humans From Other Animals?
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Also: why do people pace while talking on the phone?By Freakonomics Radio + Stitcher
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People I (Mostly) Admire
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26. Memory Champion Nelson Dellis Helps Steve Train His Brain
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He’s one of the world’s leading competitors, having won four U.S. memory tournaments and holding the record for most names memorized in 15 minutes (235!). But Nelson Dellis claims he was born with an average memory and that anyone can learn his tricks. Steve gives Nelson’s techniques a shot, without much hope — and is surprised by the result.…
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Freakonomics Radio
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461. How to Stop Worrying and Love the Robot Apocalypse
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It’s true that robots (and other smart technologies) will kill many jobs. It may also be true that newer collaborative robots (“cobots”) will totally reinvigorate how work gets done. That, at least, is what the economists are telling us. Should we believe them?By Freakonomics Radio + Stitcher
Angela accidentally discovers the secret to a good night’s sleepBy Freakonomics Radio + Stitcher
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People I (Mostly) Admire
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25. Sam Harris: “Spirituality Is a Loaded Term.”
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He’s a cognitive neuroscientist and philosopher who has written five best-selling books. Sam Harris also hosts the Making Sense podcast and helps people discover meditation through his Waking Up app. Sam explains to Steve how to become spiritual as a skeptic and commit to never lying again.By Freakonomics Radio + Stitcher
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Freakonomics Radio
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460. The True Story of the Minimum-Wage Fight
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Backers of a $15 federal wage say it’s a no-brainer if you want to fight poverty. Critics say it’s a blunt instrument that leads to job loss. Even the economists can’t agree! We talk to a bunch of them — and a U.S. Senator — to sort it out, and learn there’s a much bigger problem to worry about.By Freakonomics Radio + Stitcher
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Sudhir Breaks the Internet
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“Someone Needs to Save the World from Silicon Valley”
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If the big social-media companies are unable or unwilling to make major changes from within, it may be up to outsiders to create better, healthier digital communities. Whether it’s smaller platforms for like-minded people, a publicly owned social network, self-policing by user groups, or activist campaigns to pressure Twitter and Facebook to improv…
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No Stupid Questions
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49. How Does Facing Death Change Your Life?
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Also: why are we so bad at assessing risk?By Freakonomics Radio + Stitcher
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People I (Mostly) Admire
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Nathan Myhrvold: “I Am Interested in Lots of Things, and That's Actually a Bad Strategy.” (Episode 6 Rebroadcast)
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He graduated high school at 14, and by 23 had several graduate degrees and was a research assistant with Stephen Hawking. He became the first chief technology officer at Microsoft (without having ever studied computer science) and then started a company focused on big questions — like how to provide the world with clean energy and how to optimize p…
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Freakonomics Radio
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459. Let’s Be Blunt: Marijuana Is a Boon for Older Workers
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The state-by-state rollout of legalized weed has given economists a perfect natural experiment to measure its effects. Here’s what we know so far — and don’t know — about the costs and benefits of legalization.By Freakonomics Radio + Stitcher
What's it like to try and police millions of pieces of abusive content every day? Sudhir takes us inside Facebook, as he and his former colleagues recall how hard it was to encourage civility at a company obsessed with growth — especially when that growth was often driven by some of the most toxic behaviors.…
Also: what is the most significant choice you will ever make?By Freakonomics Radio + Stitcher
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People I (Mostly) Admire
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24. Amaryllis Fox: “What Does This New Version of Mutually Assured Destruction Look Like?”
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She spent nearly a decade as an undercover C.I.A. operative working to prevent terrorism. More recently, she hosted The Business of Drugs on Netflix. Amaryllis Fox — now Kennedy — explains why intelligence work requires empathy, and she soothes Steve’s fears about weapons of mass destruction.By Freakonomics Radio + Stitcher
In this special crossover episode, People I (Mostly) Admire host Steve Levitt admits to No Stupid Questions co-host Angela Duckworth that he knows almost nothing about psychology. But once Angela gives Steve a quick tutorial on “goal conflict,” he is suddenly a fan. They also talk parenting, self-esteem, and how easy it is to learn econometrics if …
When online anger turned to offline violence at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, the big social media companies responded by kicking some users — including the president himself — off their platforms. What led to that decision? Was it an overreach? And what role did they really play in the events that took place? Sudhir explores how social media is b…
Also: why do we dislike being alone in public?By Freakonomics Radio + Stitcher
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People I (Mostly) Admire
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23. Greg Norman & Mark Broadie: Why Golf Beats an Orgasm and Why Data Beats Everything
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Steve Levitt is obsessed with golf — and he’s pretty good at it too. As a thinly-veiled ploy to improve his own game, Steve talks to two titans of the sport: Greg “The Shark” Norman, who was the world’s top-ranked golfer for more than six years; and Mark Broadie, a Columbia professor whose data analysis changed how pros play the game.…
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Freakonomics Radio
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457. Is Dialysis a Test Case of Medicare for All?
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Kidney failure is such a catastrophic (and expensive) disease that Medicare covers treatment for anyone, regardless of age. Since Medicare reimbursement rates are fairly low, the dialysis industry had to find a way to tweak the system if they wanted to make big profits. They succeeded.By Freakonomics Radio + Stitcher
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No Stupid Questions
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46. How Can You Stop Feeling So Irritable?
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Also: what’s wrong with being impatient?By Freakonomics Radio + Stitcher
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People I (Mostly) Admire
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22. Sal Khan: “If It Works for 15 Cousins, It Could Work for a Billion People.”
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Khan Academy grew out of Sal Khan’s online math tutorials for his extended family. It’s now a platform used by more than 115 million people in 190 countries. So what does Khan want to do next? How about reinventing in-school learning, too? Find out why Steve nearly moved to Silicon Valley to be part of Khan's latest venture.…
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Freakonomics Radio
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456. How to Fix the Hot Mess of U.S. Healthcare
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Medicine has evolved from a calling into an industry, adept at dispensing procedures and pills (and gigantic bills), but less good at actual health. Most reformers call for big, bold action. What happens if, instead, you think small?By Freakonomics Radio + Stitcher
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No Stupid Questions
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45. How Much Better Do You Really Want to Be?
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Also: why do we pad our speech with so much filler language?By Freakonomics Radio + Stitcher
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People I (Mostly) Admire
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21. Pete Docter: “What If Monsters Really Do Exist?”
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He’s the chief creative officer of Pixar, and the Academy Award-winning director of Soul, Inside Out, Up, and Monsters, Inc. Pete Docter and Steve talk about Pixar’s scrappy beginnings, why it costs $200 million to make an animated film, and the movie moment that changed Steve’s life.By Freakonomics Radio + Stitcher
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Freakonomics Radio
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Policymaking Is Not a Science (Yet) (Ep. 405 Rebroadcast)
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Why do so many promising solutions — in education, medicine, criminal justice, etc. — fail to scale up into great policy? And can a new breed of “implementation scientists” crack the code?By Freakonomics Radio + Stitcher
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Freakonomics Radio
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How Does New York City Keep Reinventing Itself? (Bonus)
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In a word: networks. Once it embraced information as its main currency, New York was able to climb out of a deep fiscal (and psychic) pit. Will that magic trick still work after Covid? In this installment of the Freakonomics Radio Book Club, guest host Kurt Andersen interviews Thomas Dyja, author of New York, New York, New York: Four Decades of Suc…
