Crisis in Perception

Welcome to Crisis in Perception, where we examine the systems shaping our world. Author: Ervand Abrahamian This episode explores A History of Modern Iran by Ervand Abrahamian as a systems-level analysis of how oil wealth, centralized state power, and authoritarian modernization influenced political legitimacy, social stability, and revolutionary outcomes in Iran. By focusing on incentive architect...

Welcome to Crisis in Perception, where we examine the systems shaping our world. Author: Richard Wolff and David Barsamian This episode explores Occupy the Economy: Challenging Capitalism by Richard Wolff and David Barsamian as a systems-level analysis of how corporate governance, debt dependency, and concentrated economic power influence behavior, belief, and institutional outcomes. By focusing o...

Welcome to Crisis in Perception, where we examine the systems shaping our world. Author: Stephen Kinzer This episode explores All the Shah’s Men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror by Stephen Kinzer as a systems-level analysis of how oil politics, Cold War threat perception, and covert intervention shaped Iranian democracy and long-term geopolitical instability. By focusing on in...

Welcome to Crisis in Perception, where we examine the systems shaping our world. Author: Scientific American Editors This episode explores Scientific American: Future Medicine by Scientific American Editors as a systems-level analysis of how biological repair, immune defense, regenerative limits, and evolutionary tradeoffs influence behavior, belief, and institutional outcomes. By focusing on ince...

Welcome to Crisis in Perception, where we examine the systems shaping our world. Author: Mariana Mazzucato This episode explores The Value of Everything: Making and Taking in the Global Economy by Mariana Mazzucato as a systems-level analysis of how economic measurement systems influence behavior, belief, and institutional outcomes. By focusing on incentive architecture rather than personalities o...

Welcome to Crisis in Perception, where we examine the systems shaping our world. Author: Paul Polman and Andrew Winston This episode explores Net Positive: How Courageous Companies Thrive by Giving More Than They Take by Paul Polman and Andrew Winston as a systems-level analysis of how shareholder capitalism, externalized costs, and corporate governance influence behavior, belief, and institutiona...

Welcome to Crisis in Perception, where we examine the systems shaping our world. Author: Dirk Eidemüller This episode explores Nuclear Power by Dirk Eidemüller as a systems-level analysis of how nuclear infrastructure influences institutional behavior, geopolitical power, and long-term ecological risk. By focusing on incentive architecture rather than personalities or surface politics, the episode...

Welcome to Crisis in Perception, where we examine the systems shaping our world. Author: David Whitehouse This episode explores Journey to the Centre of the Earth by David Whitehouse as a systems-level analysis of how the Earth’s hidden interior shapes planetary stability, magnetic shielding, tectonic recycling, and the conditions necessary for life. By focusing on deep structural systems rather t...

Welcome to Crisis in Perception, where we examine the systems shaping our world. Author: Alvin E. Roth This episode explores Who Gets What — And Why by Alvin E. Roth as a systems-level analysis of how matching systems influence opportunity, institutional behavior, and economic coordination. By focusing on incentive architecture rather than personalities or events, the episode shows why matching sy...

Welcome to Crisis in Perception, where we examine the systems shaping our world. Author: Charles L. Mee Jr. This episode explores The End of the Aztecs by Charles L. Mee Jr. as a systems-level analysis of how imperial fragility, chance, disease, and alliance incentives 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: Laurence Tribe and Joshua Matz This episode explores To End a Presidency: The Power of Impeachment by Laurence Tribe and Joshua Matz as a systems-level analysis of how constitutional mechanisms depend on institutional trust, shared facts, and democratic legitimacy. By focusing on incentive architecture rather...

Welcome to Crisis in Perception, where we examine the systems shaping our world. Author: Daniel Ellsberg This episode explores The Pentagon Papers as a systems-level analysis of how executive secrecy, geopolitical credibility, and bureaucratic insulation influenced behavior, belief, and institutional outcomes during the Vietnam War. By focusing on incentive architecture rather than personalities o...

Welcome to Crisis in Perception, where we examine the systems shaping our world. Author: Robert B. Reich This episode explores The System by Robert B. Reich as a structural analysis of how economic power transforms into political power — and how political power subsequently reshapes the economy in return. The discussion examines lobbying, shareholder capitalism, deregulation, financial bailouts, a...

Welcome to Crisis in Perception, where we examine the systems shaping our world. Author: Charles Marohn and Daniel Herriges This episode explores Escaping the Housing Trap by Charles Marohn and Daniel Herriges as a systems-level analysis of how housing markets became structurally tied to financial growth, municipal stability, and institutional incentives. By focusing on incentive architecture rath...

Welcome to Crisis in Perception, where we examine the systems shaping our world. Author: Grace Blakeley This episode explores Futures of Socialism by Grace Blakeley as a systems-level analysis of how financial dependency, platform capitalism, global supply chains, and asset ownership influence political behavior, institutional persistence, and democratic possibility. By focusing on incentive archi...

Welcome to Crisis in Perception, where we examine the systems shaping our world. Author: Ted Toadvine This episode explores The Memory of the World by Ted Toadvine as a systems-level analysis of how technological society interprets ecological collapse, deep time, and planetary uncertainty. By focusing on incentive architecture rather than surface environmental narratives, the episode examines why...

Welcome to Crisis in Perception, where we examine the systems shaping our world. Author: Michel Foucault This episode explores Technologies of the Self by Michel Foucault as a systems-level analysis of how institutional systems shaped modern identity through confession, introspection, and self-surveillance. By focusing on incentive architecture rather than personalities or isolated beliefs, the ep...

Welcome to Crisis in Perception, where we examine the systems shaping our world. Author: Arthur Kleinman This episode explores The Illness Narratives by Arthur Kleinman as a systems-level analysis of how biomedical institutions influence suffering, legitimacy, and chronic illness. By focusing on incentive architecture rather than personalities or events, the episode shows why these systems persist...

Welcome to Crisis in Perception, where we examine the systems shaping our world. Author: Michel Foucault This episode explores The Birth of the Clinic by Michel Foucault as a systems-level analysis of how institutional medicine shaped scientific perception, diagnosis, and authority. By focusing on incentive architecture rather than personalities or isolated discoveries, the episode examines how ho...

Welcome to Crisis in Perception, where we examine the systems shaping our world. Author: Ellen de Visser This episode explores That One Patient by Ellen de Visser as a systems-level analysis of how institutional medicine influences treatment decisions, emotional detachment, and patient autonomy. By focusing on incentive architecture rather than individual intentions, the episode examines why healt...

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...