Nerds for Humanity Substack Podcast

In this edition of Nerds for Humanity, we conducted a unique “stress test” of the leading AI models to see how effectively they could articulate and defend a hardcore MAGA perspective. This wasn’t just an exercise in roleplay; it was a sobering look at whether the “digital brains” of Silicon Valley can actually process the nuances of the American populist movement or if they are trapped by their o...

In the world of political commentary, especially for those of us who lean center-left, the modern Republican party often feels like an impenetrable monolith of rhetoric and “four-dimensional chess”. But every so often, a conversation comes along that forces you to tilt your head and look at the landscape from a different angle. I recently sat down for the fifth time with Michael Maxsenti, a man wh...

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit nerdsforhumanity.substack.com

Hello nerds. It’s been a while since I sat down and did what Nerds for Humanity was originally built for. Not shorts. Not algorithms. Not rage bait. But long-form, structural analysis of how power actually works in this country, and why things that feel shocking in the moment are often the predictable outcome of rules written decades ago. This livestream was about Trump’s military operation in Ven...

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit nerdsforhumanity.substack.com

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit nerdsforhumanity.substack.com

Hello nerds. When I first started interviewing Scott Santens years ago during the Nerds for Yang era, he was one of the most relentless and articulate advocates for universal basic income (UBI) in America. Back then, it felt like the country was on the verge of something big. Andrew Yang was on the debate stage making “Freedom Dividend” a household phrase. Silicon Valley technologists were whisper...

It’s been a while since I hosted a long-form livestream on Nerds for Humanity. Between shorts, behind-the-scenes projects, and life’s chaos, I hadn’t sat down for a deep conversation in some time. That changed when I brought on two co-conspirators, Ram and Spidermang, both collaborators on our board game Nerds for Democracy . What started as a behind-the-scenes look at a passion project turned int...

What if I told you that in a country not much larger than Indiana, you could vote in a national election where your ballot didn’t force you to choose just one imperfect candidate? Where campaigns cost $50K instead of $500 million? Where politicians knock on your door more often than they show up on CNN? And what if I told you that this system has been working just fine—for over 100 years? That’s n...

If you told me two years ago that one of the most compelling answers to America's broken democracy would come from a blockchain-savvy military veteran out of Orlando, I probably wouldn’t have guessed it. But that's exactly what I discovered in my recent conversation with Ramon Perez, founder of the Digital Democracy Project (DDP), during a Nerds for Humanity livestream that still has me thinking....

Hello nerds, After a steady stream of YouTube shorts and weekend content, I finally hopped back on the Nerds for Humanity livestream, and what a storm of absurdity we had to break down. If you're a center-left policy wonk, what follows may not make you feel better about the future of this country, but it'll make you feel like you're not going crazy for being outraged. We covered three stories. Eac...

The Hangover After Harris If you're a center-left political junkie, you probably still feel the sting of November 2024. In our recent Nerds for Humanity livestream, I sat down again with my longtime political sparring partner Phil K to make sense of what went wrong—and, maybe more importantly, what comes next. Phil and I have been analyzing the 2024 cycle from start to bitter end: from our fierce...

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I brought Michael Maxsenti back to the Nerds for Humanity livestream. Last time he was on the show, he was trying to get the Common Sense Party off the ground. A few years later, not only is he still in the fight, but he’s taken it to a new level: running for Congress. What followed was a 90-minute conversation that took me from cautiously curious to unexpectedly...

Hey nerds, We haven’t done one of these deep dives in a while, but this one’s going to be worth the wait. I recently unpacked an incredible dataset on my Nerds for Humanity livestream that helps explain, in stark and sometimes painful clarity, how and why the Republican Party beat the Democrats in 2024. This wasn’t just a fluke or a one-off; this was a structural unraveling of core Democratic coal...

Hello nerds, It’s been a while since my last live stream, but this conversation was too important to pass up. I recently sat down with a political insider who goes by the handle Maine Wonk on Twitter. He’s an Obama-era campaign veteran turned policy analyst who, like many of us, has spent the past few years trying to make sense of the increasingly chaotic state of American politics. We covered a l...

Welcome, Nerds! The 2028 election may feel far away, but as we saw in the last few election cycles, early conversations can shape the narrative for candidates long before ballots are cast. In this latest Nerds for Humanity livestream , we analyzed the leading contenders for the Democratic nomination and explored how they stack up on policy, electability, and appeal to voters. Using video clips, di...

The Senate confirmation hearing for Pete Hegseth’s nomination as Secretary of Defense was anything but routine. Democratic Senators launched sharp critiques of Hegseth’s qualifications, highlighting inconsistencies in his public statements, concerns about his managerial record, and controversial views on critical issues facing the military. Below, I’ve summarized the top 10 criticisms, including e...

Hello Nerds, It’s been a while since my last post. Life has been busy with work and holiday travels, but honestly, I’ve also been processing the surreal outcome of the election. Yes, Donald Trump is back in the White House. It's a scenario many of us never thought would materialize, and yet, here we are. In today’s post, I want to reflect on his presidency so far, starting with a reaction to one o...