Uncertain Things

Indian journalist Yashica Dutt joins us to talk about her memoir, Coming out as Dalit, where she details her journey from rejecting and hiding her "lower-caste" status to embracing it and advocating for Dalit rights. Weaving between Yashica's personal story and India's political history, we cover everything from pre-colonial inequalities, colonial atrocities, post-colonial absurdities, and current...

Chloé Valdary is a paragon of paradox — an identity she relishes in. She gained notoriety for creating The Theory of Enchantment (originally a curriculum for young students, now an alternative to corporate Anti-Racism trainings) and for her heroic (yes, heroic!) ability to maintain nuance and compassion on Twitter (yes, it is possible). Chloé tells Adaam and Vanessa how she pivoted her company in...

Nothing says Christmas is coming like a conversation about dehumanization, moral fuzziness, and the evils of empathy! Moral psychologist Paul Bloom joins us for a fascinating conversation on the above — and even gives us a sneak peek of his new book (coming out next year). And, because this is Uncertain Things after all, there are some fun tangents on Trump, Hitler, and atheism, too. Find us on  A...

To celebrate Thanksgiving weekend, we talk to classical artist, art educator, and friend of the pod Ken Goshen. We go deep into art history, tracing where it all started to go so terribly wrong, spend too much time hating on Koontz (but loving on Warhol), and discuss how Instagram and social media is changing the art world — potentially for the better. Oh! And because our word pictures can only do...

YouTube music educator Adam Neely joins us for an oh so welcome respite from politics (sorta). We talk about the importance of storytelling (and click-bait) in YouTube creation; music theory's relationship to white supremacy; the relationship between music, language, and culture; and the absurdity of copyright. And make sure to listen to the end, when Adam takes us along on a mini journey of music...

David French — senior editor of The Dispatch, conservative evangelical, never Trumper, and really nice guy — joins us the day after the election to discuss his new book " Divided We Fall: America's Secession Threat and How to Restore Our Nation ." We discuss the reasons why we're so painfully divided, unpack how secessions of yore unfolded, and speculate on the chilling scenarios that could lead t...

Reason Magazine senior editor Robby Soave is known for exposing the biases and blindspots of the media. In his book Panic Attack: Young Radicals at the Age of Trump he follows the growing trends of illiberalism in America. In preparation for Nov. 3 madness, we talked about media bias, monopolies, the dangers of revoking Section 230, and — of course — the nightmare that is the 2020 elections… If yo...

Our favorite ex-evangelical Misha Thomas returns to the pod to talk pre-election jitters — and drops a bombshell on us unsuspecting hosts. What follows is perhaps our most honest (and hopefully disarming) conversation yet. If you haven’t already, please subscribe to Uncertain Things wherever you get your podcasts or here: uncertain.substack.com. Get full access to Uncertain Things at uncertain.sub...

Ten years ago, NYU political scientists Bruce Bueno de Mesquita and Alastair Smith wrote " The Dictator's Handbook ," which posited that all political leaders — from autocrats to democratically-elected officials — are governed by an uncomfortably similar set of rules and incentives. We thought now’s the perfect time to take a fresh look at their model and re-learn the dos and don’ts of political p...

Israeli journalist Nadav Eyal brings an outsider’s eye to American politics (or as he puts it, a perspective from” an outpost of the empire”). Adaam James Levin-Areddy and Vanessa Quirk ask about his new book, Revolt (out in Hebrew here, out in English soon); about what Trump got right and the media got wrong; and what it means to live in a radical moment. If you haven’t already — please subscribe...

We talk to one of the most (to quote Adaam) inexplicably hated people in media : Katie Herzog. She helps us understand the controversy that's hounded her for the past three years, why you can't escape the culture war (even if you really, really try), and why Americans just can't take/make a joke anymore. We also talk about sex. If you like what you hear, check out Katie's podcast with Jesse Singal...

Michael Smerconish, host of eponymous shows on CNN and SiriusXM P.O.T.U.S., joins us to talk about why everything is so rotten in political media. We talk about surviving as an independent in a partisan world, about the bad incentives of the news industry, and of course about the Notorious RBG. On the agenda: * RBG & Scalia - RIP [1:59] * Smitten with media [10:53] * Ronald Reagan among the sausag...

Tom Holland, historian and bestselling author of Rubicon and In the Shadow of the Sword , joins us to discuss his latest book, Dominion: The Making of the Western Mind . A certified atheist, Tom puts his own liberal, secular worldview to scrutiny and asks, why do we Westerners believe what we believe? (Turns out we’ve been “breathing in liberal values like radiation from Chernobyl.”) This question...

To celebrate the release of the first episode of Uncertain Things, Vanessa and Adaam got together (virtually) with house expert on all things Christian Misha Thomas to drill further into some of the topics brought up by Tomer Perisco. Consider this part 2 of our “Christianity and the West” trilogy. Stay tuned — the epic finale is coming soon. And if you haven’t already, subscribe: On the agenda: *...

Tomer Persico, religious scholar and Israeli intellectual, talks to us (in our inaugural podcast — woohoo!) about what he considers to be one of the most impactful ideas in the modern world: The Image of God. On the agenda: * How Tomer found religion [5:16] * What is “The Image of God”? [14:38] * How St. Paul broke Judaism. [29:27] * Let there be atheism. [48:30] * The cult of authenticity and Don...