Crisis in Perception

Welcome to Crisis in Perception, where we examine the systems shaping our world. Author: Paul Starr This episode explores The Social Transformation of American Medicine by Paul Starr as a systems-level analysis of how American medicine transformed professional authority into institutional and economic power. By focusing on incentive architecture rather than personalities or isolated policy failure...

Welcome to Crisis in Perception, where we examine the systems shaping our world. Author: Ivan Illich This episode explores Limits to Medicine by Ivan Illich as a systems-level analysis of how industrial healthcare systems influence autonomy, dependency, and institutional power. By focusing on incentive architecture rather than personalities or isolated failures, the episode examines how medicine c...

Welcome to Crisis in Perception, where we examine the systems shaping our world. Author: Margaret Atwood This Mini Explainer introduces MaddAddam by Margaret Atwood, focusing on how bio-engineering, symbolic thought, and ecological adaptation reshape perception and institutional behavior after systemic collapse. Rather than presenting apocalypse as a singular disaster event, the episode examines h...

Welcome to Crisis in Perception, where we examine the systems shaping our world. Author: Margaret Atwood This episode explores Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood as a systems-level analysis of how biotechnology, privatized healthcare, and market incentives 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: Margaret Atwood This episode explores The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood as a systems-level analysis of how biotechnology, ecological collapse, and corporate incentive structures influence behavior, belief, and institutional outcomes. By focusing on incentive architecture rather than personalities or eve...

Welcome to Crisis in Perception, where we examine the systems shaping our world. Author: Octavia E. Butler This episode explores Parable of the Talents by Octavia E. Butler as a systems-level analysis of how ideological rigidity, collapse narratives, and adaptive belief systems influence institutional behavior and survival. By focusing on incentive architecture rather than personalities or plot ev...

Welcome to Crisis in Perception, where we examine the systems shaping our world. Author: Scientific American Editors This episode explores The Real Zombies of Nature by the Scientific American editors as a systems-level analysis of how parasitic and neurochemical systems influence behavior, survival instincts, and perception. By focusing on incentive architecture rather than isolated biological od...

Welcome to Crisis in Perception, where we examine the systems shaping our world. Author: Scientific American Editors This episode explores The Science of Genius as a systems-level examination of intelligence, rationality, creativity, and institutional recognition. Rather than treating genius as isolated brilliance, this analysis examines the hidden cognitive systems, educational incentives, social...

Welcome to Crisis in Perception, where we examine the systems shaping our world. Author: Scientific American Editors This episode explores this Scientific American collection on addiction science as a systems-level analysis of how reward systems, neuroplasticity, and behavioral reinforcement influence perception, behavior, and institutional outcomes. By focusing on incentive architecture rather th...

Welcome to Crisis in Perception, where we examine the systems shaping our world. Author: Virginia Eubanks This episode explores Automating Inequality: How High-Tech Tools Profile, Police, and Punish the Poor by Virginia Eubanks as a systems-level analysis of how automated welfare systems, predictive algorithms, and data infrastructure influence behavior, belief, and institutional outcomes. By focu...

Welcome to Crisis in Perception, where we examine the systems shaping our world. Author: Alexander Keyssar This episode explores Why Do We Still Have the Electoral College? by Alexander Keyssar as a systems-level analysis of how constitutional structures, partisan incentives, and institutional persistence influence democratic outcomes and political legitimacy. By focusing on incentive architecture...

Welcome to Crisis in Perception, where we examine the systems shaping our world. Author: Nassim Nicholas Taleb This episode explores Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder by Nassim Nicholas Taleb as a systems-level analysis of how institutional attempts to eliminate volatility often increase hidden fragility. By focusing on incentive architecture rather than personalities or events, the epis...

Welcome to Crisis in Perception, where we examine the systems shaping our world. Author: William Harris This episode explores The AI Revolution: Harnessing the Power of Intelligent Machines & Unleashing the Potential of Artificial Intelligence by William Harris as a systems-level analysis of how artificial intelligence influences labor systems, institutional behavior, surveillance structures,...

Welcome to Crisis in Perception, where we examine the systems shaping our world. Author: Scientific American Editors This episode explores The Future of Energy by Scientific American Editors as a systems-level analysis of how energy infrastructure influences behavior, belief, and institutional outcomes. By focusing on incentive architecture rather than personalities or events, the episode shows wh...

Welcome to Crisis in Perception, where we examine the systems shaping our world. Author: Olivier De Schutter This episode explores The Poverty of Growth by Olivier De Schutter as a systems-level analysis of how GDP-centered economic systems influence labor, inequality, ecological pressure, and institutional behavior. By focusing on incentive architecture rather than personalities or political trib...

Welcome to Crisis in Perception, where we examine the systems shaping our world. Author: Scientific American editors and contributing researchers. This episode explores The Science of Pain as a systems-level analysis of how neurological, immune, and psychological systems influence suffering, perception, and medical treatment. By focusing on incentive architecture and biological feedback loops rath...

Welcome to Crisis in Perception, where we examine the systems shaping our world. Author: Carissa Véliz This episode explores Privacy Is Power: Why and How You Should Take Back Control of Your Data by Carissa Véliz as a systems-level analysis of how surveillance capitalism influences autonomy, behavior, and institutional power. By focusing on incentive architecture rather than individual technology...

Welcome to Crisis in Perception, where we examine the systems shaping our world. Author: Scientific American Editors This episode explores the Scientific American sleep collection as a systems-level analysis of how sleep architecture influences memory, emotional regulation, perception, and institutional behavior. By focusing on biological incentive architecture rather than productivity culture or...

Welcome to Crisis in Perception, where we examine the systems shaping our world. Author: Nicholas Baer et al. This episode explores Unwatchable by Nicholas Baer and others as a systems-level analysis of how media infrastructures influence behavior, belief, and institutional outcomes. By focusing on incentive architecture rather than personalities or events, the episode shows why these systems pers...

Welcome to Crisis in Perception, where we examine the systems shaping our world. Author: Michael Kimmel This episode explores Angry White Men by Michael Kimmel as a systems-level analysis of how economic insecurity, masculine identity systems, and outrage media influence behavior, belief, and institutional outcomes. By focusing on incentive architecture rather than personalities or events, the epi...

Welcome to Crisis in Perception, where we examine the systems shaping our world. Author: Anna Kornbluh This episode explores Realizing Capital: Financial and Psychic Economies in Victorian Form by Anna Kornbluh as a systems-level analysis of how financial abstraction influences behavior, belief, and institutional outcomes. By focusing on incentive architecture rather than personalities or isolated...

Welcome to Crisis in Perception, where we examine the systems shaping our world. Author: Mancur Olson This episode explores The Rise and Decline of Nations: Economic Growth, Stagflation, and Social Rigidities by Mancur Olson as a systems-level analysis of how political stability, organized interests, and collective-action asymmetries influence behavior, belief, and institutional outcomes. By focus...

Welcome to Crisis in Perception, where we examine the systems shaping our world. Author: Kenneth D. Rose This episode explores One Nation Underground by Kenneth D. Rose as a systems-level analysis of how nuclear deterrence, civil defense, and existential fear reshaped American culture during the Cold War. By focusing on incentive architecture rather than personalities or nostalgia, the episode rev...

Welcome to Crisis in Perception, where we examine the systems shaping our world. Author: JD Chandler and Theresa Griffin Kennedy This episode explores Murder & Scandal in Prohibition Portland by JD Chandler and Theresa Griffin Kennedy as a systems-level analysis of how Prohibition, police power, municipal corruption, and organized vice influenced behavior, belief, and institutional outcomes. B...

Welcome to Crisis in Perception, where we examine the systems shaping our world. Author: Rachel Elise Barkow This episode explores Prisoners of Politics by Rachel Elise Barkow as a systems-level analysis of how electoral incentives and prosecutorial power influence criminal justice outcomes. By focusing on incentive architecture rather than personalities or events, the episode shows why these syst...