Mansplaining

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...

Send us Fan Mail Since 2004, more than 1,300 communities in the USA have lost a newspaper,  and when the daily paper is a thing of the past it will be replaced by ... what, exactly, and what might be the implications for our democracy?  Mark and Joe survey the landscape of “news deserts” and speculate about what might lie ahead.

Send us Fan Mail Joe and Mark consider the Congressional resolution that has progressive hearts aflutter, while conservatives are in a tizzy at the prospect of losing access to the hamburger-industrial complex.  Is the Green New Deal a slogan, legislation, or something in-between, and might it someday become the law of the land? (Recorded March 12, 2021.)

Send us Fan Mail Mark and Joe trace the history of the Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, from its genesis in the 1920s through the ratification wars of the 1970s, and try to guess whether recent efforts to get it across the finish line are likely to  succeed. (Recording date: February 26, 2021.)

Send us Fan Mail Why do some people lose their memories?  When you lose your memory, what is it that you’re losing?   Joe and Mark discuss the umbrella of neurocognitive disorders known familiarly as dementia, as well as the way memory works and why we forget.  Will you remember reading this blurb? ( (Recorded February 12, 2021.)

Send us Fan Mail The recent federal antitrust lawsuits against Facebook and Google mark a rare area of agreement in our polarized political culture.  Seemingly everybody wants to do something about Big Tech, though for very different reasons.  But should these companies be broken up?  Mark and Joe take quick tour through the history of antitrust and examine the pros and cons of breaking up Amazon,...

Send us Fan Mail Without inhaling, Joe and Mark catch a whiff of the best arguments for and against legalizing drugs.  Includes a brief history of drug use in the USA, a chronicle of the ill-advised "War on Drugs," and how the topic of legalization lends itself to strange political bedfellows. (Recorded Jan. 15, 2021.)

Send us Fan Mail Mark and Joe slide into Major League Baseball’s surprising decision to integrate the Negro Leagues with the major leagues.  Is it even feasible to combine the statistical records of different leagues playing at different times under different conditions, and might baseball’s gesture inadvertently diminish the ballplayers of color that it was meant to honor? (Recorded Jan. 1, 2021....