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...
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.
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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
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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.
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1:04:09
The Great Political Sorting of American Offices
We’re often told that there’s “no room for politics at work,” and yet the workplace is one of the most politically segregated spaces in adult life. The Harvard economics researcher Sahil Chinoy explains the self-sorting happening at every stage of professional life and the trade-offs workers are willing to make in pursuit of ideological uniformity.
Further reading:
“Political Sorting in the U.S. Labor Market: Evidence and Explanations,” by Sahil Chinoy and Martin Koenen
“The Political Polarization of Corporate America,” by Vyacheslav Fos, et al.
“Politics at Work” by Emanuele Colonnelli, et al.
“Does Communicating Measurable Diversity Goals Attract or Repel Historically Marginalized Job Applicants? Evidence From the Lab and Field” by Erika Kirgios, et al.
The study behind Sahil Chinoy’s Good on Paper answer: “Pitfalls of Demographic Forecasts of US Elections”
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57:48
Why Is One Chicago Neighborhood Twice as Deadly as Another?
Most gun deaths aren’t premeditated, so how can we stop gun violence before it happens? The University of Chicago economist Jens Ludwig makes the case for thinking differently about the source of America’s gun-violence problem.
Further reading:
Unforgiving Places: The Unexpected Origins of American Gun Violence, by Jens Ludwig
Thinking, Fast and Slow, by Daniel Kahneman
Scarcity: Why Having Too Little Means So Much, by Sendhil Mullainathan and Eldar Shafir
The study behind Ludwig’s Good on Paper answer: “The Effect of Mentoring on School Attendance and Academic Outcomes: A Randomized Evaluation of the Check & Connect Program”
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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.
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