Uncertain Things

Dr. Einat Wilf is an Israeli writer, speaker, former (and future?) politician, podcaster (We Should All be Zionisists), and co-author of The War of Return. In this episode, we dive into some historical context for the Israel-Palestine conflict, with Vanessa asking all the ignorant questions you were too afraid to ask: What/who was there in Israel before 1948? Was displacement a part of the Zionist vision? Why did displacement happen? Then we pivot to the subject of Dr. Wilf’s book: The right of return, and the fundamental reason why peace, until this day, has been impossible. We conclude with a deep dive into UNRWA — the UN agency responsible for Palestinian refugees — and explain the role it’s played in perpetuating the conflict, to this day. On the agenda: -Zionism’s Parents and the Land of Israel [3:22-11:33]-The Disappointment of Emancipation/The Possibility of Self-Determination [11:34-21:21]-On Sovereignty and Displacement [21:22-53:29]-The Refugee Question [53:30-1:02:37]-UNRWA & Palestinian Identity [1:02:38-1:33:58]-Where do we go from here? [1:33:59-1:42:30]Check out our ‘Inscrutable’ blog and ‘Uncertainty’ newsletter for thoughts and rants. To support us and gain access to exclusive content, consider becoming a paid member of Uncertain on Substack. Follow @UncertainPod on your social media of choice. Get full access to Uncertain Things at uncertain.substack.com/subscribe

Iranian historian and writer Arash Azizi comes on the pod to share his perspective on the Israel-Hamas conflict today — and why he believes ceasefire is the only viable path forward for Israel’s war with Hamas. Along the way, Azizi gives us on an overview of Iran’s politics since the Revolution of 1979 (i.e. how Soleimani became The Shadow Commander) and explains the country’s current stance toward Israel (which stands in contrast to the position of many Iranians). His second book about the country’s recent protest movements — What Iranians Want: Women, Life, Freedom — will be out next year. On the Agenda: -Unpacking the Iranian Revolution (and the Left’s participation)-Arash’s background-Soleimani’s appeal (How we consolidated supreme power)-Iran’s stance on Israel vs. Iranians’ sentiments-Debating ceasefire Check out our ‘Inscrutable’ blog and ‘Uncertainty’ newsletter for thoughts and rants. To support us and gain access to exclusive content, consider becoming a paid member of Uncertain on Substack. Follow @UncertainPod on your social media of choice. Get full access to Uncertain Things at uncertain.substack.com/subscribe

John Aziz is a British Palestinian musician who has come into the public spotlight since October 7th for tweeting out for peace and against Hamas. In this conversation, we unpack why it’s so controversial for a Palestinian like John to be pro-peace, the trauma both sides aren’t acknowledging or addressing, and the overly-simplified, ironic, Star Wars narratives of the Western Left. Follow him on X and read John’s article in The Atlantic here. On the agenda:- John’s Background  [0:00-08:37]-The Challenge of Advocating for Peace [08:38-18:34]- The Trauma on Both Sides [18:35-24:51]-Why is so hard to speak out against Hamas? [24:52-29:59]-New Ideology, New Leaders [30:00-38:36]-The Star Wars Ideology of the Western Left [38:37-54:33]- LGBT+ in Gaza [54:34-1:01:03]- "I'll Debate Anyone" [1:01:04-1:02:51]Check out our ‘Inscrutable’ blog and ‘Uncertainty’ newsletter for thoughts and rants. To support us and gain access to exclusive content, consider becoming a paid member of Uncertain on Substack. Follow @UncertainPod on your social media of choice. Get full access to Uncertain Things at uncertain.substack.com/subscribe

Friend of the pod Batya Ungar-Sargon, deputy opinion editor for Newsweek and author of Bad News, returns for a deep, contentious conversation about the responsibility of journalists covering the Israel-Hamas war, the people worth expending energy on (versus relegating as enemies), and the uncomfortable embrace of moral certainty. While much vitriol is expended on the “journalists” bringing shame to the (let’s face it, already pretty scumbag) profession, we also shout out the reporters doing good, honest analysis, even if we don’t always agree with their positions: Zaid Jelani, Lee Fang, and Arash Azizi. On the agenda:-The Moral Imperative of Remembering [1:55-9:11]-On Emotions and Moral Certainty [9:12-16:54]-Disgusting "Journalists" [16:55-20:39]-On Journalistic Responsibility / Objectivity [20:40-26:36]-Debating How - and Who - to Trust [26:37-38:39]-Liberal vs. Jewish Values [38:40-52:14]-On Moral Equivalence and Retaliation [52:15-58:24]-Who is reachable? [58:25-1:07:22]-The battle continues [1:07:23-1:12:40]Check out our ‘Inscrutable’ blog and ‘Uncertainty’ newsletter for thoughts and rants. To support us and gain access to exclusive content, consider becoming a paid member of Uncertain on Substack. Follow @UncertainPod on your social media of choice. Get full access to Uncertain Things at uncertain.substack.com/subscribe

Note: This episode is far more explicit — and way more rage-ful — than your average. As you have likely read by now in the news, last Saturday, a group of Hamas combatants infiltrated Israel and massacred about 1300 people, mostly civilians.Usually, Uncertain Things is all about embracing epistemological uncertainty. This conversation is not about that. To help Adaam process his rage and achieve some much-needed catharsis, he turned to returning guest, Eli Lake. Eli — host of The Re-Education Podcast, contributing editor to Commentary, and columnist for the New York Sun — did not disappoint, bringing some awesome, righteous outrage toward the American Left.On the agenda:- Hamas and their attack on Israel [0:00-7:15]- Contextualizing the catharsis to come [7:16-17:04]- Eli’s moral outrage [17:05-25:17]- On policy: blockades and Iran [25:18-29:22]- Back to our previously scheduled outrage [29:23-35:19]- Predicting the fallout [35:20-43:54]- Debating the culture of life, the culture of death [43:55-1:01:58]- Coexisting with evil [1:01:59-1:05:29]- The Left IRL [1:05:30-1:07:46]- The rage returns [1:07:47-1:13:51]- Outro: On moral relativism and forgiveness [1:14:10-22:58]We also recommend: -Adaam’s first impressions, on Jonah Goldberg’s The Remnant-Adaam’s bleaker thoughts, on the Dispatch Live -David French and Sarah Isgur’s conversation on the Law of War and Anti-Semitism on Advisory OpinionsCheck out our ‘Inscrutable’ blog and ‘Uncertainty’ newsletter for thoughts and rants. To support us and gain access to exclusive content, consider becoming a paid member of Uncertain on Substack. Follow @UncertainPod on your social media of choice. Get full access to Uncertain Things at uncertain.substack.com/subscribe

Yascha Mounk returns for round two! If you missed part one of our conversation with the political theorist, writer, and podcaster about his latest book, The Identity Trap, stop now and listen to that episode first. We pick up where we left off last time and get deep into debate about strategic essentialism, the privileging of marginalized voices, and the incoherencies of standpoint theory. We also ask Yascha why he disagrees with John McWhorter’s theory that the proponents of the Identity Synthesis are members of a new religion. Plus, Yascha plays relationship counselor for your sparring hosts and his dog finally gets outside. Follow Uncertain Things on uncertain.substack.com or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.On another note, we will be attending Yascha’s Oct 4 talk at the Streiker Center in NYC. See you there?Also check out:-Our talk with James Kirchick about the contradictions of our current gender debates.-Our talk with Yuval Levin on the moral failure of civic institutions in the age of narcissism.-Our talk with Tom Holland about his lost faith in liberalism.On the agenda:-Re-capping Round 1 [0:00-3:03]-On Justice, essentialism, and race (the implications of standpoint theory) [3:04-15:12]-Who Gets to Speak for their Race? [15:13-23:49] -The Catastrophes of Unsalvageable Liberalism [23:50-32:15]-On intention and persuasion [32:16-42:03]-The woke religion? [42:04-50:31]-The Identity Synthesis [50:32-54:43] -Outtake: Against Monocausal Explanations [55:00-57:25]Uncertain Things is hosted and produced by Adaam James Levin-Areddy and Vanessa M. Quirk. For more doomsday rumination, subscribe to: uncertain.substack.com. Get full access to Uncertain Things at uncertain.substack.com/subscribe

Political theorist, writer, and podcaster Yascha Mounk returns! Last time, we spoke about Yascha’s last book: The Great Experiment: Why Diverse Democracies Fall Apart and How They Can Endure. This time, Adaam got to air his personal grievances as we dove into the thorny topic of his latest book: The Identity Trap. Yascha covers a ton: he traces the intellectual history of the postmodern ideas that captured the academy in the 2010s; he explains how these once-fringe ideas subsequently infiltrated the mainstream Left; he puts the tenets of identity-based politics to the philosophical test (analyzing the logical strengths and weaknesses of ideas like standpoint theory and cultural appropriation); and he defends liberalism as the best political framework we have to dismantle the injustices of our current world order (the very thing lefties, with their identitarian tendencies, are supposedly trying to do). Of course, dear listener, we barely scratched the surface of all that in one hour. Instead, we got deep into Said, Spivak, and Foucault, panopticons and all — and so this conversation with Yascha continues soon, in part two.Check out our ‘Uncertainty’ newsletter for updates and rants. To support us and gain access to exclusive content, consider becoming a paid member of Uncertain on Substack. Follow @UncertainPod on your social media of choice.On the agenda:- Cannibalism & grievances [0:00-6:05]- Who are you trying to persuade? [6:06-22:28]- The children of Foucault [22:29-38:11]- The Said/Spivak Pivot [38:12-47:13]- Strategic Essentialism [47:14-1:02:14]- The Woman Question [1:02:15-1:09:50]Uncertain Things is hosted and produced by Adaam James Levin-Areddy and Vanessa M. Quirk. For more doomsday rumination, subscribe to: uncertain.substack.com. Get full access to Uncertain Things at uncertain.substack.com/subscribe

We bring in the fall with a big conversation about big tech, with the authors of System Error: Stanford professors Rob Reich (expertise in: political science, philosophy, ethics, democracy, digital technology), Mehran Sahami (software engineering, in particular machine learning and AI, and VC funding), and Jeremy Weinstein (political science, government, social impact). We cover the systemic drivers in tech (VC-capital, utopianism, and the “optimization mindset”), bemoan the resulting decline in our democratic values, get into our classic “can politicians really be trusted to regulate this sh*t?” debate, enter into our novel “does any one care about privacy really” debate, and, of course, consider the moral implications of soylent. If you didn’t get enough after this conversation, you’re in luck – we have another tech-focused episode coming soon. Check out our ‘Uncertainty’ newsletter for updates and rants. To support us and gain access to exclusive content, consider becoming a paid member of Uncertain on Substack. Follow @UncertainPod on your social media of choice.On the agenda:- Riding the emotional rollercoaster of life [0:00-6:22]- The Optimization Mindset [6:23-22:37]- Utopianism [22:38-28:58]- Systemic Drivers & the VC problem [28:59-40:31]- Non-regulatory Solutions [40:32-46:56]- Privacy: Who cares? [46:57-51:30]- The great regulation debate [51:31-1:04:39]Uncertain Things is hosted and produced by Adaam James Levin-Areddy and Vanessa M. Quirk. For more doomsday rumination, subscribe to: uncertain.substack.com. Get full access to Uncertain Things at uncertain.substack.com/subscribe

Jamie Kirchick, author and staunch defender of liberal values, discusses his book 'The Secret City' which explores the gay history of Washington D.C. and the shift towards cultural acceptance. They also debate the pros and cons of the word 'queer' and the 'queer movement.' The podcast explores the treatment of homosexuality in the U.S. government and the evolution of the gay rights movement. They also discuss pronoun usage, the dangers of finding excitement in politics, and blind spots in both the left and right.

Scientist-turned-historian Peter Turchin returns! Peter first came on the pod a few months ago to discuss the famous prediction he made in 2010 that we were headed for crisis, circa 2020. Last time, we covered the controversy he’s stirred up within the historical discipline, the methodologies behind cliodynamics/his data-based predictions, and the drivers of social unrest (in particular, elite overproduction). This conversation — recorded on the heels of the publication of his new book End Times: Elites, Counter-Elites, and the Path of Political Disintegration — we pick up where we left off. Peter explains it all: how do we prevent all-out civil war? What’s the most likely outcome if we keep on the path we’re currently on? And is he more of a Harry Seldon or a Leto II?Check out our ‘Uncertainty’ newsletter for updates and rants. To support us and gain access to exclusive content, consider becoming a paid member of Uncertain on Substack. Follow @UncertainPod on your social media of choice.On the agenda:-L’intro [0:00-3:30]-A quick re-cap [3:30-7:29]-Breaking the rules [7:30-15:04]-Clearly in crisis [15:05-19:28]-The British Empire circa 1848 (the Chartist Period) [19:29-26:57]-A huge outpouring of human misery [26:58-33:46]-Culture as a prerequisite for reform [33:47-40:57]-The social psychology of the New Deal [40:58-45:22]-A new generation of elites without a culture of reform [45:23-53:48]-Designing a science of history [53:49-58:05]-Charismatic Jesus Types [58:06-1:10:48]Uncertain Things is hosted and produced by Adaam James Levin-Areddy and Vanessa M. Quirk. For more doomsday rumination, subscribe to: uncertain.substack.com. Get full access to Uncertain Things at uncertain.substack.com/subscribe