Uncertain Things

U.S. Representative Peter Meijer (R-MI) was three days into the job when rioters broke into the Capitol building. A week later, he was one of the few members of the Republican party to vote to impeach Trump for his role in inciting the riot. Seven months later, Meijer would love to focus on policy — but in his day-to-day life and work he's still dealing with the fallout from the "original sin" of election denialism and the dual realities dividing our country.Find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Podcast Addict, and Stitcher. Follow @UncertainPod on your social media of choice.On the agenda:-Why we wanted to talk to Peter Meijer (despite his being a politician) [0:00-6:50]-From a politics of persuasion, to a politics of coercion [8:01-20:33]-January 6: The wake-up call that wasn't [20:34-34:11]-The future of American Imperialism [34:12-39:15]-Blindspots on the left and right [39:16-40:51]Uncertain Things is hosted and produced by Adaam James Levin-Areddy and Vanessa M. Quirk. For more doomsday ruminations, subscribe to: uncertain.substack.com. Get full access to Uncertain Things at uncertain.substack.com/subscribe

Sorkin-character-come-to-life Sarah Isgur joins us to talk courts, law, and culture war. Sarah co-hosts the (much beloved) Advisory Opinions podcast, has managed multiple political campaigns and worked as DOJ spokesperson during the early days of the Trump administration. We talk about political bravery and cowardice; about the illusion of progress and the “vanity of the present”; and about Sarah’s second-guessing her logic for joining the Trump administration. Then at last we get good and wonky, exploring the Supreme Court's 3:3:3 make-up, what it means for the court’s legitimacy, and how everything is made dumber by the culture war.Find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Podcast Addict, and Stitcher. Follow @UncertainPod on your social media of choice.On the agenda:-Real-life Aaron Sorkin character [0:00-6:11]-Justices: they're people, too [6:51 - 13:46]-A Political Awakening Rooted in Chaos and Recounts [14:01 - 20:25]-The World of Campaigning [20:26 - 24:01]-When Trump Won [24:02 - 31:23]-Polling Problems [31:24 - 35:12]-Joining, and leaving, the Trump Administration [35:13 - 45:13]-The 3:3:3 Court (In Scalia and Kennedy's wakes) [45:14 - 1:01:29]-The Dilemmas facing the Swinging Three [1:01:30 - 1:10:48]-The Culture War in the Court [1:10:49 - 1:26:36]-Blindspots on each side [1:26:37 - 1:33:04]Uncertain Things is hosted and produced by Adaam James Levin-Areddy and Vanessa M. Quirk. For more doomsday ruminations, subscribe to: uncertain.substack.com. Get full access to Uncertain Things at uncertain.substack.com/subscribe

It’s time for some freestyle theodicy: programmer, voting nerd, flatmate, and domestic spouse Zev Goldstein joins us to put some of our household debates on the record. On the agenda: the word evil (and whether it does more harm or good), cancel culture (is it as bad as Adaam claims?), and voting theory (including an explainer on why the way we vote now is by far the worst voting system there is).Find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Podcast Addict, and Stitcher. Follow @UncertainPod on your social media of choice.Uncertain Things is hosted and produced by Adaam James Levin-Areddy and Vanessa M. Quirk. For more doomsday ruminations, subscribe to: uncertain.substack.com. Get full access to Uncertain Things at uncertain.substack.com/subscribe

R-Street Institute fellow and head of digital media Shoshana Weissmann joins us to talk big tech, monopolies, and regulation. Yes, we get wonky discussing Section 230 and trust busting, but we also carved out time for Shoshana and Adaam to nerd out about Torah law. She also explains why she's so passionate about unenumerated rights and even reminds us that online living has an upside.Find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Podcast Addict, and Stitcher. Follow @UncertainPod on your social media of choice.On the agenda: -Only intro and already off-the-rails [00:00-9:00]-Regulation, what is it good for? [10:16-27:20]-Shoshana's libertarian origin and the Federalist Society blood rituals [27:00-35:11]-I <3 Unenumerated rights [35:12-41:01]-Section 230 and the dementor's kiss of content moderation [41:02-56:33]-Big Tech: punching bags, soft power, and censorship [56:34-1:10:12]-Corrosive conversations vs. supportive communities [1:09:34-1:31:19]-Privilege and personal responsibility [1:31:20-1:38:55]Uncertain Things is hosted and produced by Adaam James Levin-Areddy and Vanessa M. Quirk. For more doomsday ruminations, subscribe to: uncertain.substack.com. Get full access to Uncertain Things at uncertain.substack.com/subscribe

Self-described "classic Scottish enlightenment liberal" and prolific historian Niall Ferguson — author of The Square and the Tower, The Great Degeneration, and, most recently, Doom: The Politics of Catastrophe — graced the pod with his keen mind and sexy Scottish tones. Niall explained why we are so fixated on the end times, and yet so woefully unprepared for catastrophe when it strikes. He also shared his theory on why historical thinking (beyond your go-to Hitler comparisons, thank you very much) would actually better prepare us for disasters. And by the end of the conversation, we even got his takes on a few hot topics: big tech, section 230, and the Cold War II we're already living in.Find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Podcast Addict, and Stitcher. Follow @UncertainPod on your social media of choice.On the agenda:* -Remembering Norman Stone [11:39]* -The nexus of economics and everything else [15:52]* -Doom & cataloguing catastrophes [23:03]* -We'd love history to be cyclical (and torture data to make it so) [31:48]* -Seeing the tigers in the grass - and responding rapidly [40:02]* -Diagnosing the pathologies of pseudo-preparedness [49:25]* -We need to teach history differently (and forget about the frickin mid-20th century) [58:23]* -Networks, ideological contagions, and section 230 [1:06:25]* -In defense of uncertainty [1:23:25]* -Cold War II and the cumbersome West [1:30:45]Niall’s recommended read on Israel/Palestine.Uncertain Things is hosted and produced by Adaam James Levin-Areddy and Vanessa M. Quirk. For more doomsday ruminations, subscribe to: uncertain.substack.com. Get full access to Uncertain Things at uncertain.substack.com/subscribe

Stark inequality. A planet on the brink of destruction. Communities decimated. For many in 2021, capitalism is not looking so hot. But Professor Rebecca Henderson thinks all is not lost. In her book, Reimagining Capitalism In A World On Fire, Rebecca makes the case that capitalism can indeed address the challenges we face — and that companies are already making the switch to a new, more conscientious way of working.Find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Podcast Addict, and Stitcher. Follow @UncertainPod on your social media of choice.On the agenda:* -What capitalism hath wrought and not [2:32]* -A degree of inequality is a feature, not a bug [11:02]* -Inclusive capitalism, with guardrails [23:20] * -There's money to be made in transforming the system [33:20]* -The instability of self-regulation, the appeal of regulation [47:22]* -Turning off social media and turning on corporations [51:27]Uncertain Things is hosted and produced by Adaam James Levin-Areddy and Vanessa M. Quirk. For more doomsday ruminations, subscribe to: uncertain.substack.com. Get full access to Uncertain Things at uncertain.substack.com/subscribe

One of Justin Davidson's first gigs as New York Magazine's architecture critic was covering the development of the 9/11 memorial — an incredibly complex and controversial project that shaped the city's future. The experience influenced the way he thinks about the role of architecture and urbanism in the ways we process our societal traumas. We talk to Justin about the role of the architecture critics, the 21st century task of creating memorials to shame, and why it's too soon to truly memorialize Covid. And then, for fun, we put him in the urbanist hot seat for questions ranging from: "how do we fix housing" to "who should we vote for mayor of New York?"Find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Podcast Addict, and Stitcher. Follow @UncertainPod on your social media of choice.On the agenda:* -Cities, journalisming, and national tragedies* -What do critics critique? (And why scale matters!)* -9/11 and the premature monument* -How will we remember COVID19?* -Who do monuments serve?* -Why NY sucks (aka Adaam’s favorite diatribe)* -Is there anybody out there (among NYC mayoral candidates)?Uncertain Things is hosted and produced by Adaam James Levin-Areddy and Vanessa M. Quirk. For more doomsday ruminations, subscribe to: uncertain.substack.com. Get full access to Uncertain Things at uncertain.substack.com/subscribe

Our friend Misha Thomas, ex-evangelical and psychologist, returns to the show to discuss his recent revelation around race, spurred on by the PBS documentary, The Black Church. Along the way, we discuss a bevy of unanswerable questions surrounding this idea of racial trauma: Is it good for us keep to re-visiting, even valorizing, our past traumas? Are trauma narratives too reductionist for our own good? What good can acknowledging and discussing trauma bring? And is there really an "other side" we'll ever reach?Find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Podcast Addict, and Stitcher. Follow @UncertainPod on your social media of choice.On the agenda: * -Trigger warnings on both sides [1:11]* -Reflecting on voting for Trump [14:21]* -The Black Church & a new revelation on race [19:54]* -Racism and classism within the Black community [35:00]* -Busting out of neat, reductionist narratives [44:40]* -Cringing at self-love and self-hate [54:40]* -What's so tricky about trauma [1:01:50]* -The meaning of "moving forward" [1:19:04]* -"The trauma I've never talked about" [1:31:05]Uncertain Things is hosted and produced by Adaam James Levin-Areddy and Vanessa M. Quirk. For more doomsday ruminations, subscribe to: uncertain.substack.com. Get full access to Uncertain Things at uncertain.substack.com/subscribe

Back in 2015, when Eyck Freymann began studying China, he kept coming across this phrase in Chinese media: “One Belt, One Road.” No one in the West was talking about it, but, for anyone paying attention, it was the initiative that would define Xi Jinping’s reign. Eyck joins us to explain the significance of these four words, the imperial mantle Xi Jinping has donned (and why many countries are loving it), and the tricky geo-political landscape the U.S. must navigate if we’re to avoid another Cold War. Find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Podcast Addict, and Stitcher. Follow @UncertainPod on your social media of choice.On the agenda:* -Intro to Eyck & China [2:49] * -A Coda to our Conversation with Batya Ungar-Sargon [7:47]* -The story of the decade is not a story about debt traps [17:07]* -One Belt, One Road: How it began [25:11] * -The Empire Strikes Back (What Chinese propaganda teaches us) [38:25] * -Why the West needs to be on alert [51:37] * -Violations & Hypocrisies [1:02:08] * -What the Biden Administration Should Do [1:11:55]* -Eyck's take on current events [1:19:18]Uncertain Things is hosted and produced by Adaam James Levin-Areddy and Vanessa M. Quirk. For more doomsday ruminations, subscribe to: uncertain.substack.com. Get full access to Uncertain Things at uncertain.substack.com/subscribe

Batya Ungar-Sargon, deputy opinion editor for Newsweek and self-proclaimed "vulgar Marxist," is still a lefty — even if the left no longer wants her. We talk to Batya about her upcoming book (Bad News: How Woke Media Is Undermining Democracy), debate the liberal media's criminal avoidance of class inequality (which, to her, explains the underpinnings of its current obsession with race), and even get into the differences between Israeli and diaspora Jews.Find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Podcast Addict, and Stitcher. Follow @UncertainPod on your social media of choice.On the agenda:* -Into the ickiness (why we started uncertain things) [6:09]* -Intro to Batya [10:10]* -Getting called out for calling out Anti-semitism [14:05]* -What happened at the New York Times [23:05]* -Misdirection, race, and moral panic [37:20]* -Class and its dubious champions [47:35]* -The betrayal of the left (on welfare and UBI) [58:43]* -Trump's working class wins [1:09:05]* -A perfect defense of the status quo [1:13:30] * -The woke theology and bowling alone [1:19:00]* -Israeli Jews, diaspora Jews, and anti-zionism [1:29:20]Uncertain Things is hosted and produced by Adaam James Levin-Areddy and Vanessa M. Quirk. For more doomsday ruminations, subscribe to: uncertain.substack.com. Get full access to Uncertain Things at uncertain.substack.com/subscribe