Frames of Space

Katherine Dee is an internet culture reporter who writes the Substack "default.blog," which observes the quirks and tendencies of various subcultures on social media. In this episode, I got a chance to talk with her about her history covering different facets of the internet, how she approaches AI, and the different incentives of online interaction compared to in-person interaction. Show Notes "Th...

Jessica Grose is an opinion writer for The New York Times. What I admire about Jessica's writing is that she doesn’t just cover politics as a horse race or culture as a meme war; she zooms into the kitchen tables, classrooms, and waiting rooms where policy choices land on real bodies. Her beat is ​parenthood and education, faith and loneliness, COVID aftershocks and TikTok doom-scrolls — basically...

Micah Sifry is a writer and organizer behind the Substack "The Connector." He has decades of experience in covering how technology is changing politics, and how to participate productively in the political process. In this episode, I got a chance to talk with him about the history of mass protests in the US, the recent authoritarian cuts to government spending, and public perceptions of government...

Announcement: this podcast will be publishing episodes twice as often as before (so every single week on Thursdays) for the next several weeks at least, and hopefully for longer. Count yourself lucky in that regard :) Noah Smith is an economist who writes the Substack "Noahpinion" and co-hosts the podcast "Econ 102." He is known for his commentary on economic issues like inflation, trade policy, d...

Cathy Reisenwitz writes the Substack "Sex and the State," which covers the intersection between feminism, sex advocacy, and how our society shapes our perception of gender roles. In this episode, I got a chance to talk with her about her upbringing as an Evangelical, how her views on gender and sex have changed over time, and the tension between our desire for rigid structure and our desire for au...

Shauna Daly is the co-founder of the Substack "Young Men Research Initiative," which covers how people can reach out to young men who are increasingly drifting rightward. In this episode, I got a chance to talk with her about the ways that young men are lacking a script for what type of person they should be, the recent decline in romantic relationships between young men and women, and which mascu...

When we see people acting in ways that seem irrational or incomprehensible, it’s easy to see them as ignorant or evil. But what if there’s more to it? What if, beneath the surface, there’s a much more complex mix of emotions—joy, fear, loyalty, and even desperation—that we tend to dismiss or fail to see? Erik Engheim writes the Substack "Erik Explores," which covers politics, history and culture f...

Lauren Harper Pope is the co-founder of WelcomePAC, an advocacy organization to help elect centrist Democrats in swing districts. Beyond helping to raise political funds in that regard, she is known for her political commentary, including Substack writing and hosting the podcast The Depolarizers. In this episode, I got a chance to talk with her about the most productive Democratic candidates to fu...

Check out my Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/c/FramesofSpace Robin Hanson is an associate professor of economics at George Mason University, and a former research associate at the Future of Humanity Institute of Oxford University. He is known for his commentary on cultural drift, which examines how the nature of cultural shifts has changed over time. In this episode, I got a chance to talk t...

Greg Sargent is a staff writer at The New Republic and the host of the podcast "The Daily Blast." In this episode, I got a chance to talk with Greg about the electoral popularity of immigration reform, how shifts in voter turnout have affected Democrats, the role of media responsibility during election cycles, and how to cover Trumpism without burnout or fatigue. Show Notes "Why Democrats Got the...

Tyler Cowen is the Holbert L. Harris Chair of Economics at George Mason University and director at the Mercatus Center. He is also the host of the podcast "Conversations with Tyler," where he talks about a wide range of topics from AI to economic inequality to social media, and much, much more. In this episode, I got a chance to talk with Tyler about quite a few of those topics: the extent of his...

Miriam Elder is an American journalist known for her coverage of the Russian government. She has written for Vanity Fair, BuzzFeed News, The Guardian, and recently, The New York Times. In this episode, I got a chance to talk to her about her response to Trump's recent victory, and the parallels she sees between Russian authoritarianism and Republican authoritarianism. Sources "Don't Let Trump Driv...

Darrell Owens is a Substack writer who is known for his commentary on housing, culture, and progressive politics. In this episode, I got a chance to talk to him about the prevalence of homelessness in blue cities, how progressives could respond to right-wing media influencers, and the way that Twitter affects important political discourse. Show Notes Liberal NIMBYs Are Helping Red States by Darrel...

Jessica Grose is an opinion writer for The New York Times. She is known for writing about issues related to education and culture, such as how the pandemic has affected schools in the long run, or what has been causing declining fertility rates. In this episode, I got a chance to talk to her about the current baseline quality of US education, the increase in distrust towards societal institutions,...

Noah Smith is an economist who writes the Substack "Noahpinion" and co-hosts the podcast "Econ 102." He is known for his commentary on economic issues like inflation, trade policy, deficit spending, and more. In this episode, I got a chance to talk to him about why Democrats lost the 2024 Election, how Trump's proposed policies would affect the economy, and the tradeoff between inflation and unemp...

What does Dylan Matthews think of the US's capital gains tax policies? What does Regan Arntz-Gray think of trad culture? What are Jamie Weinstein's views on Israel-Palestine? Today's episode is a collection of cut content from past interviews I've done, plus a brief explanation for this podcast's name.

Jamie Weinstein is one of the main hosts of The Dispatch Podcast, and was the host of The Jamie Weinstein Show. In this episode, I got a chance to talk to him about the reactionary sentiments within the Republican Party, the decline of wokeness over the past few years, and JD Vance's politics.   Show Notes "Episode 50: Ta-Nehisi Coates" from The Jamie Weinstein Show " When the Culture War Comes fo...

Regan Arntz-Gray is a Substack writer and co-host of the podcast Moral Mayhem. She writes a lot about feminism, and how to address cultural issues surrounding gender in a positive-sum way. In this episode, I got a chance to talk to her about the significance of false sexual assault allegations, the prevalence of misandry in present-day society, and the historical origins of patriarchy. Show Notes...

Ruth Whippman is an author and journalist who writes a lot about present-day cultural issues. She is also the author of the new book BoyMom: Reimagining Boyhood in the Age of Impossible Masculinity. In this episode, I got a chance to talk to her about the ways that boys are often held to contradictory expectations in modern society, the difficulty of establishing a clear legal definition of consen...

Dylan Matthews is a senior correspondent for Vox and head writer for Future Perfect. He is known for his commentary on subjects like effective altruism, artificial intelligence, economics, and more. In this episode, I got a chance to talk to him about the risks of artificial intelligence, and why he supports more government regulation on AI. I also got a chance to talk with him about ways to solve...

Lily Geismer is an associate professor of history at Claremont McKenna College, and the author of Left Behind: The Democrats' Failed Attempt to Solve Inequality. In this episode, I got a chance to talk with her about the motives of the Democratic Leadership Council during the Bill Clinton administration, and her thesis that 80s and 90s-era Democrats rejected the interests of the working class.   S...

Daniel Cox is the director of the Survey Center on American Life and a research fellow in polling and public opinion at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI). He also writes the Substack "American Storylines," where he chronicles many of the divisions between men and women in present-day society. In this episode, I got a chance to talk with him about the methodology and reliability of his pollin...

Rachel Wiseman and Anastasia Berg are the authors of What Are Children For? On Ambivalence and Choice. In this episode, I got a chance to talk to them about the modern Millenial malaise around parenting, the dearth of depictions of motherhood in popular culture, and more.   Show Notes "What Are Children For? On Ambivalence and Choice" by Rachel Wiseman and Anastasia Berg "What's Stopping Liberals...

I talked to Ryan Burge, the writer of the Substack "Graphs About Religion," about the decline of Christianity in the US. References " Ryan Burge: Losing Our Religion " from Razib Khan's Unsupervised Learning " The Coming Extinction of the White Christian Democrat " by Ryan Burge, Graphs About Religion