Behold! The recording of our first ever live event! We were graced by the thoughts, arguments, and non-English accents of Niall Ferguson — economic historian, fellow at Stanford, and author of many books, including Doom: The Politics of Catastrophe — and Martin Gurri — a former media analyst for the CIA and author of The Revolt of The Public and the Crisis of Authority in the New Millennium (a.k.a the Uncertain Things bible). We dug into all manner of apocalyptica: the collapse of our media institutions (so long credibility), the increasing tensions with China (hello Cold War II), and the despair that has engulfed our minds. Plus, we learn the answer to all our woes: Thomas Hardy.

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On the agenda:

-Great Debate, Real Humans, and Computer Failure [0:00-7:53]

-Vietnam War vs. Today [7:54-20:56]

-Trump Derangement Syndrome [20:57-27:54]

-Cold War II in the Internet Age [27:55-44:07]

-If Our Cold War Turns Hot [44:08-49:09]

-Pathologies, Ideologies, and Despair [49:10-58:58]

-Crisis of American Education [58:59-1:02:20]

-What Keeps Our Guests Up at Night [1:02:21-1:06:33]

-The tradeoffs of Cold War II [!;06:34-1:11:19]

-Peak humanity [1:11:20-1:14:55]

-Ukraine/Taiwan Scenarios [1:14:56-1:16:19]

-Human Agency and Thomas Hardy [1:16:20-1:19:21]

Uncertain Things is hosted and produced by Adaam James Levin-Areddy and Vanessa M. Quirk. For more doomsday rumination, subscribe to: uncertain.substack.com.

Special thanks to Niall, Martin, and Connor Lynch for making this event possible.

Image source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/turatti/6726041123

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Matt Cook, "Sleight of Mind: 75 Ingenious Paradoxes in Mathematics, Physics, and Philosophy" (MIT Press, 2020)