Mansplaining

Send us Fan Mail  It’s a choice  a lot of us face every day: whether to give cash to a panhandler on the street or instead donate that money to a charity that serves the homeless and tries to get them off the street.  Mark asked Joe to decide which method is better, and Joe’s research into “paternalistic” versus “agentic” giving led to some soul-searching about his own charitable instincts. (Recor...

Send us Fan Mail Let’s face it: some people are  never, ever going to take a COVID vaccine.  A member of Joe’s family is one such person, and he really wanted to know where that point of view came from, so he asked Mark for help.  Mark and Joe discuss the anti-vax position, the larger phenomenon of distrust that’s central to understanding it, and how we can work to navigate a seemingly unbridgeabl...

Send us Fan Mail If there were a list of intractable problems our country faces, homelessness would certainly be on it.  The solution proffered by many advocates – more affordable housing – seems simple enough, but there’s a reason why problems like homelessness are not easily remedied.  Joe and Mark talk about homelessness in America today, its many root causes, and why it requires solutions that...

Send us Fan Mail There’s been a lot of chatter in the media lately – no doubt influenced by the publication of two recent books on the subject - about whether the United States is on the brink of a second civil war.  Having each read one of the aforementioned books, Mark and Joe discuss whether Civil War v2.0 is likely anytime soon and, if it were to happen, what such a conflagration might look li...

Send us Fan Mail For the last few decades, Americans have taken it as gospel that crime has been falling, a belief that’s supported by reams of data.  But what if the data is being manipulated by police commanders so that it looks better than it really is?  Joe and Mark wade into the sea of crime statistics to see how they’re gathered and whether they’re trustworthy. (Recorded February 4, 2022.)

Send us Fan Mail U.S. diplomatic personnel stationed in Havana, Cuba first reported it more than five years ago: a piercing, high-pitched sound, often followed by headache, nausea, and vertigo.  Since then, such incidents have been reported all over the world, including in our nation’s capitol.  To date, the U.S. government has no good explanation for the strange phenomenon known as Havana Syndrom...

Send us Fan Mail You know those good deeds you do for others and others do for you?  What if somebody told you that every one of those acts is actually selfishness in disguise?  Well, that’s what some scholars think about altruism, and it rubs Mark the wrong way, so he asked Joe about it.  Join Joe and Mark as they examine whether altruism exists and the reasons why it need not be subject to a pur...

Send us Fan Mail  It’s hard not to be  demoralized by the news these days, what with a worldwide pandemic still raging, climate devastation upon us, and a completely dysfunctional political system seemingly unable to address these issues or lift us out of our national doldrums.  But take heart; the news isn’t all bad.  Mark and Joe discuss some things that are going right in the world, and why a d...

Send us Fan Mail In all the thinking you’ve done about viruses lately, whether it be COVID or the flu or just the common cold, did you ever wonder whether they’re alive?  Mark has puzzled over that question for years, so he asked Joe about it.  Join them for an audio primer on what viruses do and whether they deserve their own branch on the tree of life. 

Send us Fan Mail Joe started his first Spotify playlist nearly ten years ago and never looked back.  It completely changed the way he consumed music, and now he fervently hopes it doesn’t go the way of the 8-track tape.  Mark takes Joe through the history of the digital music business, whether today's streaming model is sustainable, and what the impacts are on the music industry, artists and...

Send us Fan Mail Mark and his wife want to find a larger apartment in Seattle, but the rents are ridiculous.  Joe owns an apartment in New York only because of the legacy of dead in-laws.  Housing costs are sky-high in many places in the USA and show no signs of abating.  Joe and Mark explore why this is the case and what we can do about it.  (Recorded October 29, 2021.)

Send us Fan Mail  We’ve been told, seemingly forever, that driverless cars were just around the corner, but we never seem to turn that corner, leading one to wonder: is this really happening?  Mark and Joe cruise down the highway of autonomous driving technology, taking care not to crash into unidentified objects along the way. (Recorded October 15, 2021.)

Send us Fan Mail JK Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter novels, has been labeled a TERF — a "trans-exclusionary radical feminist" — by trans activists who object to her gender critical views.  Joe and Mark examine this dispute, the fissures that separate the trans and feminist communities, and why there ought not to be a cold war brewing between them.

Send us Fan Mail Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York is the latest in a long line of politicians to be sent packing due to sexual misconduct.  Joe suspects the Venn diagram of politicians and sexual harassers has a lot of overlap, and it has everything to do with power dynamics.  Mark runs Joe’s hypothesis for a test drive and concludes that it’s a bit more complicated than a simple thirst for po...

Send us Fan Mail In the past decade or two, a seeming populist wave ushered in right-wing governments clear across the world. For some, at least, it was reminiscent of the rise of fascism in Italy, Germany and Spain prior to WWII.  Joe and Mark chew over what causes populist waves to form and what happens when populists take power.  (Recorded September 5, 2021.)

Send us Fan Mail What if the Derek Chauvin jury had done the same thing as the jury in the trial of the four L.A. cops accused of beating Rodney King - ignored both the law and the  video evidence and delivered a "not guilty" verdict?  Mark and Joe discuss the history of jury nullification, its use (and abuse) in English common law and American history, and whether it still has a place i...

Send us Fan Mail With billionaires launching themselves into space and salivating at the prospect of mining asteroids for precious metals, we’ve come to an inflection point for what used to be called the space program.  Joe and Mark ponder whether future space exploration is likely to be the domain of governments, private interests, or some combination of the two. (Recorded Aug. 7, 2021.)

Send us Fan Mail With the fate of the arcane U.S. Senate filibuster likely to be the most important domestic political news story of President Biden’s first term, Mark and Joe trace its history, how it came to be the legislation-killing blunt instrument that it is today, and what we might do about that. (Recorded July 23, 2021.)

Send us Fan Mail  Automation has already changed some workplaces, and robots are likely coming for many more American jobs in the years to come – maybe even yours.  Joe and Mark examine whether massive job displacement is on the horizon, how knowledge workers will be affected, and what we as a society can do to mitigate its effects. (Recorded July 9, 2021.)

Send us Fan Mail In anticipation of the release of a U.S. government report on “unexplained aerial phenomena” later this month, Mark and Joe ponder the most likely explanation for UFOs and, despite the human predilection for flying saucers, why alien visitation probably won’t unfold the way it does in Hollywood movies and sci-fi novels. (Recorded June 19, 2021.)

Send us Fan Mail The Biden administration’s recent proposal to create a new health agency designed, among other things, to “end cancer as we know it” evokes a similar pledge made by Richard Nixon in 1971.  Joe and Mark explore why, a half century later, cancer is still a major killer, why it’s so hard to cure, and what steps we can take to mitigate its toll in lives and dollars. 

Send us Fan Mail Christie’s recently auctioned a non-fungible token (NFT) by a noted digital artist for $69 million.  NFTs are unique files that live on a blockchain, but what’s an NFT, and what’s a blockchain?  Mark gives Joe a verbal primer on cryptocurrencies and their use in the speculative trading of digital art ... and some other, not so savory applications. (Recorded May 21, 2021.)

Send us Fan Mail Joe and Mark consider recent advances in drone technology and AI that may soon lead to the chilling prospect of fully autonomous weapons coming to a battlefield near you.  Given the likelihood that a rogue state or non-state actor will inevitably open Pandora’s box, how might this technology change warfare, and what can we do about it? (Recorded May 7, 2021.)

Send us Fan Mail "I saw it with my own eyes' – but is that still good enough?  Mark and Joe explore deepfake technology and its many applications—some arguably positive, others unquestionably scary and problematic.  In a world where seeing is no longer believing, what does the truth look like, and how do we know what’s real? (Recorded April 23, 2021.)

Send us Fan Mail Climate change is forcing us to consider monumental changes to our way of life, including rethinking the wildly inefficient and unconscionably wasteful way we produce meat.  Which begs the question: are hamburgers toast?  Joe and Mark chew on the likelihood of conventional meat being replaced by a new generation of plant-based substitutes, lab-grown delicacies, and everything else...