Crisis in Perception

Welcome to Crisis in Perception, where we examine the systems shaping our world. Author: Chris Berg and John Roskam This episode explores Magna Carta: The Tax Revolt that Gave Us Liberty by Chris Berg and John Roskam as a systems-level analysis of how taxation, consent, and institutional constraint influence behavior, belief, and political outcomes. By focusing on incentive architecture rather tha...

Welcome to Crisis in Perception, where we examine the systems shaping our world. Author: Sheldon S. Wolin This episode explores Fugitive Democracy and Other Essays by Sheldon S. Wolin as a systems-level analysis of how constitutional design and institutional structures influence behavior, belief, and political outcomes. By focusing on incentive architecture rather than personalities or events, the...

Welcome to Crisis in Perception, where we examine the systems shaping our world. Author: Sheldon S. Wolin This episode explores Democracy Incorporated by Sheldon S. Wolin as a systems-level analysis of how managed democracy and corporate-state integration influence behavior, belief, and institutional outcomes. By focusing on incentive architecture rather than personalities or events, the episode s...

Welcome to Crisis in Perception, where we examine the systems shaping our world. Author: Anil Seth This episode explores Being You by Anil Seth as a systems-level analysis of how predictive biology influences perception, identity, and conscious experience. By focusing on incentive architecture rather than philosophical abstraction, the episode shows why perception operates as a survival mechanism...

Welcome to Crisis in Perception, where we examine the systems shaping our world. Author: Daniel Immerwahr This episode explores How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States by Daniel Immerwahr as a systems-level analysis of how maps, territories, military logistics, synthetic materials, and global standards influence behavior, belief, and institutional outcomes. By focusing on inc...

Welcome to Crisis in Perception, where we examine the systems shaping our world. Author: Will Storr This episode explores The Science of Storytelling by Will Storr as a systems-level analysis of how narrative cognition influences behavior, belief, and institutional outcomes. By focusing on incentive architecture rather than personalities or events, the episode shows why narrative-driven perception...

Welcome to Crisis in Perception, where we examine the systems shaping our world. Author: Will Storr This episode explores The Status Game by Will Storr as a systems-level analysis of how status hierarchies influence behavior, belief, and institutional outcomes. By focusing on incentive architecture rather than personalities or events, the episode shows why these systems persist — and how they conn...

Welcome to Crisis in Perception, where we examine the systems shaping our world. Author: Will Storr This episode explores The Heretics: Adventures with the Enemies of Science by Will Storr as a systems-level analysis of how belief formation, memory, identity protection, and tribal belonging influence behavior, belief, and institutional outcomes. By focusing on incentive architecture rather than pe...

Welcome to Crisis in Perception, where we examine the systems shaping our world. Author: Zizi Papacharissi This episode explores After Democracy: Imagining Our Political Future by Zizi Papacharissi as a systems-level analysis of how democratic institutions, media systems, technology, and capitalism influence behavior, belief, and institutional outcomes. By focusing on incentive architecture rather...

Welcome to Crisis in Perception, where we examine the systems shaping our world. Author: Todd Rose This episode explores Collective Illusions by Todd Rose as a systems-level analysis of how social perception systems influence belief, behavior, and institutional outcomes. By focusing on incentive architecture rather than individual psychology, the episode shows why false consensus persists—and how...

Welcome to Crisis in Perception, where we examine the systems shaping our world. Author: Todd Rose This episode explores The End of Average by Todd Rose as a systems-level analysis of how averagarian design influences behavior, belief, and institutional outcomes. By focusing on incentive architecture rather than personalities or events, the episode shows why these systems persist — and how they co...

Welcome to Crisis in Perception, where we examine the systems shaping our world. Author: Teppo Eskelinen This episode explores The Revival of Political Imagination edited by Teppo Eskelinen as a systems-level analysis of how political imagination influences behavior, belief, and institutional outcomes. By focusing on incentive architecture rather than personalities or events, the episode shows why...

Welcome to Crisis in Perception, where we examine the systems shaping our world. Author: George A. Gonzalez This episode explores The Politics of Star Trek by George A. Gonzalez as a systems-level analysis of how science fiction can expose the political logic behind security, empire, utopianism, neoliberalism, and American foreign policy. By focusing on incentive architecture rather than character...

Welcome to Crisis in Perception, where we examine the systems shaping our world. Author: Cristina Bellon, Roberta Grasselli, and Federico Pasquaré Mariotto This episode explores Don’t Look Up: A Metaphor for Western Civilization by Cristina Bellon, Roberta Grasselli, and Federico Pasquaré Mariotto as a systems-level analysis of how media spectacle, political short-termism, techno-capitalist incent...

Welcome to Crisis in Perception, where we examine the systems shaping our world. Author: Amanda Ripley This episode explores High Conflict: Why We Get Trapped and How We Get Out by Amanda Ripley as a systems-level analysis of how adversarial structures and identity-based incentives shape behavior and institutional outcomes. By focusing on incentive architecture rather than personalities or events,...

Welcome to Crisis in Perception, where we examine the systems shaping our world. Author: Amanda Ripley This episode explores The Smartest Kids in the World: And How They Got That Way by Amanda Ripley as a systems-level analysis of how education systems influence behavior, belief, and institutional outcomes. By focusing on incentive architecture rather than personalities or events, the episode show...

Welcome to Crisis in Perception, where we examine the systems shaping our world. Author: Natalie Wexler This episode explores The Knowledge Gap by Natalie Wexler as a systems-level analysis of how curriculum design, testing pressure, and assumptions about reading influence learning, belief, and institutional outcomes. By focusing on incentive architecture rather than personalities or isolated clas...

Welcome to Crisis in Perception, where we examine the systems shaping our world. Author: Priten Shah This episode explores AI and the Future of Education by Priten Shah as a systems-level analysis of how generative AI influences teaching, learning, assessment, equity, and institutional adaptation. By focusing on incentive architecture rather than classroom panic, the episode shows why AI persists...

Welcome to Crisis in Perception, where we examine the systems shaping our world. Author: Peter Hallward This episode explores Damming the Flood by Peter Hallward as a systems-level analysis of how foreign intervention, elite containment, financial dependency, media framing, and NGO power influenced behavior, belief, and institutional outcomes in Haiti. By focusing on incentive architecture rather...

Welcome to Crisis in Perception, where we examine the systems shaping our world. Author: Ibram X. Kendi This episode explores How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi as a systems-level analysis of how racial policy, institutional power, and ideological justification influence behavior, belief, and institutional outcomes. By focusing on incentive architecture rather than personalities or events,...

Welcome to Crisis in Perception, where we examine the systems shaping our world. Author: Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers This episode explores They Were Her Property by Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers as a systems-level analysis of how slavery, property law, gender, and domestic power influenced behavior, belief, and institutional outcomes. By focusing on incentive architecture rather than personalities or ev...

Welcome to Crisis in Perception, where we examine the systems shaping our world. Author: Jonathan M. Katz This episode explores The Big Truck That Went By by Jonathan M. Katz as a systems-level analysis of how international aid, donor politics, media narratives, and institutional self-protection influenced Haiti’s recovery after the 2010 earthquake. By focusing on incentive architecture rather tha...

Welcome to Crisis in Perception, where we examine the systems shaping our world. Author: Nathan J. Robinson This episode explores Superpredator: Bill Clinton’s Use and Abuse of Black America by Nathan J. Robinson as a systems-level analysis of how electoral triangulation, racialized fear, and punitive policy design influenced behavior, belief, and institutional outcomes. By focusing on incentive a...

Welcome to Crisis in Perception, where we examine the systems shaping our world. Author: Martha S. Jones This episode explores Birthright Citizens: A History of Race and Rights in Antebellum America by Martha S. Jones as a systems-level analysis of how local legal practice, racial exclusion, and procedural participation influenced citizenship, belonging, and institutional outcomes. By focusing on...

Welcome to Crisis in Perception, where we examine the systems shaping our world. Author: Film written and directed by Adam McKay This episode explores Don’t Look Up as a systems-level analysis of how media systems, political incentives, and corporate power shape belief and behavior. Drawing from Don’t Look Up: A Metaphor for Western Civilization and foundational works on media and perception, the...