CSPI Podcast

Richard Lowery is an Associate Professor of Finance at The University of Texas at Austin and a senior scholar at the Salem Center for Public Policy. He joins the podcast to talk about his recent article “How UT-Austin Administrators Destroyed an Intellectual Diversity Initiative,” which details what went wrong with plans to build the Liberty Institute.Lowery and Hanania discuss the politicization of academia and how it has even reached finance, why developing new educational institutions is difficult, how “fake conservatives” on campus provide cover for the Left to control universities, and the failure of Republican donors and politicians to push back against these trends effectively. They converge on a set of ideas regarding how to fix academia going forward. Working within the university and without outside support is hopeless, as radicals committed to stamping out dissent have already won and are in a position to thwart any attempts at reform. Nonetheless, state university systems are ultimately under the control of politicians. Conservative elected officials need to show a greater interest in taking concrete steps toward restoring free inquiry and the search for objective truth, which will only happen if they are pressured to do so by donors and right-leaning media. Usually, this will mean not trying to reform individual departments, but relying on state funding and private philanthropy to create new institutions within existing universities, if not apart from them, that can be run by those ideologically committed to rolling back the triumph of anti-capitalist dogma and identity politics. These problems are not insoluble. American conservatives have accomplished political goals before. All it takes is an understanding of the scope of the problem and the political will to do something about it. The conversation includes specific steps that elected officials, academics, donors, and political activists can take to build new institutions.Listen in podcast form or watch on YouTube.Links:* Richard Lowery’s Twitter (@RichardLoweryTX).* Richard Lowery, “How UT-Austin Administrators Destroyed an Intellectual Diversity Initiative.”* Kate McGee, “UT-Austin Working with Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, Conservative Donors to Create ‘Limited Government’ Think Tank.” This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.cspicenter.com

David Bernstein is a Law Professor and Executive Director of the Liberty and Law Center at the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University. He joins the podcast to talk about his new book Classified: The Untold Story of Racial Classification in America.David and Richard discuss the history of racial conflict and classification in America, the political construction of ethnic identities like AAPI and Hispanic, how wealthy immigrants hijacked government set-asides, why medical researchers care so little about actual physiological and anthropological distinctions between ethnic groups, and the political feasibility of colorblindness in a world of racial disparities.Listen in podcast form or watch on YouTube.Links:* David Bernstein, Classified: The Untold Story of Racial Classification in America.* David Bernstein, You Can't Say That!: The Growing Threat to Civil Liberties from Antidiscrimination Laws.* G. Christina Mora, Making Hispanics: How Activists, Bureaucrats, and Media Constructed a New American.* Thomas Sowell, Affirmative Action Around the World: An Empirical Study. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.cspicenter.com

Seth Stephens-Davidowitz is a data scientist, author, and keynote speaker. He holds a PhD in economics from Harvard and is a contributing op-ed writer for the New York Times. He joins the podcast to talk about his two books, Everybody Lies: Big Data, New Data, and What the Internet Can Tell Us About Who We Really Are (2017) and Don’t Trust Your Gut: Using Data to Get What You Really Want in Life (2022). He and Richard discuss the behavioral genetics of sports, whether we pay too much attention to hate crimes, physiognomy as a science, the limits of evolutionary psychology in explaining porn preferences, and how to apply insights from big data and social science to improve our dating lives, careers, and overall happiness. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.cspicenter.com

Eric Kaufmann is Professor of Politics at Birkbeck College, University of London, a CSPI research fellow, and the author of several books, including Whiteshift: Populism, Immigration and the Future of White Majorities. He returns to the podcast to discuss his new report for CPSI, Born This Way? The Rise of LGBT as a Social and Political Identity. He and Richard talk about the factors underlying recent increases in LGBT identification and same-sex sexual behavior, the connection between being very liberal, LGBT, and having mental health issues, and the influence of modernism on left-wing ideology and right-wing political movements. They conclude the conversation by discussing whether concerns about teaching sexuality and CRT in K-12 schools should take precedence over free speech issues on university campuses and debates over history and national identity.Eric Kaufmann, “Born This Way? The Rise of LGBT as a Social and Political Identity.”Tweet thread.Sign up for CSPI’s Substack newsletter: https://cspi.substack.com.Follow CSPI on Twitter: https://twitter.com/CSPICenterOrg.Subscribe to our YouTube for video podcasts: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvs4ugq0xSvbvwArpFJG6gA.Learn more about CSPI: https://cspicenter.org. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.cspicenter.com

Bryan Caplan is a professor of economics at George Mason University, a visiting senior scholar at the University of Texas at Austin, and the author of several books, including The Myth of the Rational Voter and The Case Against Education. He returns to the podcast to talk about his two new collections of essays released as books, Labor Econ Versus the World: Essays on the World’s Greatest Market and How Evil Are Politicians?: Essays on Demagoguery. The conversation centers around how much Richard and Bryan have in common when it comes to how they think through social and political issues, with a focus on Social Desirability Bias as a major hindrance to engaging in moral reasoning and discovering truth. Topics include:How little effort most people put towards developing their most cherished political viewsWhy most politicians should be considered bad peopleWhy the first world poor can be considered morally blameworthy, particularly compared to those who live in developing countriesThe demagoguery of feel-good policy ideas like raising the minimum wageBryan gives a teaser of his next collection of essays that will be released under the title Don’t Be a Feminist: Essays on Genuine Justice, discussing why, as the title suggests, he hopes his daughter does not become a feminist and turn against him. The conversation concludes with reflections on how podcasting and Substack have disrupted legacy media, and why that’s good for independent writers and journalists. Bryan Caplan, “The Ideologues of GMU.”Bryan Caplan, “Labor Econ Versus the World: Essays on the World's Greatest Market.”Bryan Caplan, “How Evil Are Politicians?: Essays on Demagoguery.” Bryan Caplan’s SubstackSign up for CSPI’s Substack newsletter: https://cspi.substack.com.Follow CSPI on Twitter: https://twitter.com/CSPICenterOrg.Subscribe to our YouTube for video podcasts: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvs4ugq0xSvbvwArpFJG6gA.Learn more about CSPI: https://cspicenter.org. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.cspicenter.com

Eron Wolf is the founder of Yahoo! Games, a WhatsApp seed investor, and the founder and CEO of FUTO, an Austin-based organization dedicated to developing technologies to fight the centralization and consolidation of the tech industry. He and Richard talk about the business model of Big Tech and how machine learning and algorithms can shape human behavior. Eron discusses his plans for FUTO, and how he hopes it will remake the internet. FUTO is hosting a Fellowship program in Austin this summer for programmers, which offers $20,000, housing, incubator space, mentorship, and networking events for those selected.FUTO.orgFUTO Fellows Program @FUTO_Tech on TwitterSign up for CSPI’s Substack newsletter: https://cspi.substack.com.Follow CSPI on Twitter: https://twitter.com/CSPICenterOrg.Subscribe to our YouTube for video podcasts: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvs4ugq0xSvbvwArpFJG6gA.Learn more about CSPI: https://cspicenter.org. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.cspicenter.com

Jordan Lasker is a PhD student at Texas Tech University and a bioinformatician. He joins the podcast to discuss his recent report for CSPI, “About Those Baby Brainwaves: Why ‘Policy Relevant’ Social Science is Mostly a Fraud.” The report critically examined a recent study claiming small cash transfers to the parents of newborns improved their babies’ brain activity. The study was lauded in the media and by D.C. policymakers, who argued its results supported redistributive policies, most notably the child tax credit. Jordan demonstrated that the study in question wildly overstated its claims, was methodologically suspect, and that its authors engaged in numerous bad research practices. Social science, he argues, is not a sound basis for policymaking given academia’s warped incentives.He and Richard talk about why physiological measures like EEGs are taken much more seriously than psychometrics like IQ tests, whether “rich brains” and “poor brains” exist, if the Flynn effect means we’re getting smarter, and the politicization of academia and science more generally. The two agree that the priors of the average researcher or policymaker are way off base: dozens of studies have found cash transfers and even adoption to high SES families have minimal effects on IQ or income. Given that, why would we expect $333/month to move the needle? They conclude by considering whether society is better off with leaders who “trust the science” or those who are openly anti-intellectual, given broken incentive structures and political bias within the policy relevant literature. Jordan Lasker, “About Those Baby Brainwaves: Why ‘Policy Relevant’ Social Science is Mostly a Fraud.” Troller-Renfree et al. (Baby Brainwaves Study), “The Impact of a Poverty Reduction Intervention on Infant Brain Activity.” Richard Feynman, “Cargo Cult Science.” Kirkegaard et al., “Nerve Conduction Velocity and Cognitive Ability: A Large Sample Study.” “Flynn Effect.” Wongupparaj et al., “The Flynn Effect for Verbal and Visuospatial Short-Term and Working Memory: A Cross-Temporal Meta-Analysis.” Odenstad et al., “Does Age at Adoption and Geographic Origin Matter? A National Cohort Study of Cognitive Test Performance in Adult Inter-Country Adoptees.”Tobias Hübinette, “The Adopted Koreans of Sweden and the Korean Adoption Issue.”Sign up for CSPI’s Substack newsletter: https://cspi.substack.com.Follow CSPI on Twitter: https://twitter.com/CSPICenterOrg.Subscribe to our YouTube for video podcasts: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvs4ugq0xSvbvwArpFJG6gA.Learn more about CSPI: https://cspicenter.org. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.cspicenter.com

Philippe Lemoine returns to the CSPI Podcast to discuss his prediction for the 2022 French Presidential election. This episode was recorded on April 22nd, two days before Macron’s victory on April 24th, because Philippe was so confident in his forecast that he didn’t think it was necessary to wait until after the election to discuss the results. He and Richard talk about the differences between French and American politics, right-wing ideology in France, class and age as predictors of voting for conservative candidates, and why Éric Zemmour’s campaign failed. They also discuss how best to think about the behavior of low information voters, why the far right doesn’t win French presidential elections despite strong anti-immigration sentiment among the public, and how people who criticize the Islamic veil are actually being PC. Philippe explains why Le Pen staying in politics means the Right can never win the French presidency, and the two conclude by discussing what to expect from Macron over the next five years. A transcript of some of the best parts of the conversation is available here.Philippe Lemoine, “Will Zemmour Bring a Right-Wing Revolution in France?” Eric Zemmour, “Le Premier Sexe.” Simone de Beauvoir, “The Second Sex.” Sam Wang, “Why I Had to Eat a Bug on CNN.” Philippe’s tweets predicting the election:https://twitter.com/phl43/status/1510606408047333388?s=21&t=b178Uzlay32RYFTalQnVUghttps://twitter.com/phl43/status/1511798012045103108https://twitter.com/phl43/status/1512550945309306885?s=21&t=GsfmAceOj5Sg2xuayZIWogSign up for CSPI’s Substack newsletter: https://cspi.substack.com.Follow CSPI on Twitter: https://twitter.com/CSPICenterOrg.Subscribe to our YouTube for video podcasts: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvs4ugq0xSvbvwArpFJG6gA.Learn more about CSPI: https://cspicenter.org. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.cspicenter.com

Gail Heriot is a Professor of Law at the University of San Diego School of Law and a member of the United States Commission on Civil Rights. She joins the podcast to explain the connections between civil rights law and wokeness, how disparate impact criminalizes everything and leads to arbitrary government power, and the real-world consequences of these laws in corporate and university settings. She and Richard also discuss why Republicans are afraid to push back against civil rights law, the current Critical Race Theory controversy as a sign things are changing, and the importance of politicians being pressured by their base. Finally, Gail gives practical advice on what the most important components of an anti-woke agenda would look like, and how she’d like to see politicians treat these issues going forward.  A full transcript of the conversation is available here. Gail Heriot, “The Roots of Wokeness: Title VII Damage Remedies as Potential Drivers of Attitudes Toward Identity Politics and Free Expression.”Gail Heriot, “Title VII Disparate Impact Liability Makes Almost Everything Presumptively Illegal.”Gail Heriot, “The Department of Education's Obama-Era Initiative on Racial Disparities in School Discipline: Wrong For Students and Teachers, Wrong on the Law.”Richard Hanania, “Woke Institutions is Just Civil Rights Law.”Eugene Volokh, “Harassment Law and Free Speech Doctrine.”Myart v. Ill. Fair Employment Com.  Griggs v. Duke Power Co.Grutter v. BollingerGratz v. BollingerBostock v. Clayton CountySign up for CSPI’s Substack newsletter: https://cspi.substack.com.Follow CSPI on Twitter: https://twitter.com/CSPICenterOrg.Subscribe to our YouTube for video podcasts: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvs4ugq0xSvbvwArpFJG6gA.Learn more about CSPI: https://cspicenter.org. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.cspicenter.com

Noah Carl is an independent researcher, writer, and free speech advocate. He invited Richard on his new podcast (which you can find at Noah’s Substack) to discuss whether the West is to blame for the conflict in Ukraine. We’re re-releasing that episode, which originally came out on March 1st. Although much has happened since then, the topics discussed in the conversation remain relevant for understanding the current war and how we got here. Noah and Richard talk about moralism and paranoia in American foreign policy, the multicausal nature of war, and whether the US is a consistent defender of democracy and human rights globally. They also discuss whether Ukraine could grow economically without integration into the EU, utilitarianism in international relations, what the West should do if Russia won’t negotiate, and why war is almost always a terrible idea.Noah Carl’s Substack.Richard Hanania, “Americans Hate Each Other, but We Aren’t Headed for a Civil War.” Richard Hanania, “Lessons from Forecasting the Ukraine War.” John Mueller, “The Stupidity of War: American Foreign Policy and the Case for Complacency.” CSPI Podcast with John Mueller, “War as a Product of Human Stupidity” Sign up for CSPI’s Substack newsletter: https://cspi.substack.com.Follow CSPI on Twitter: https://twitter.com/CSPICenterOrg.Subscribe to our YouTube for video podcasts: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvs4ugq0xSvbvwArpFJG6gA.Learn more about CSPI: https://cspicenter.org. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.cspicenter.com