The Armen Show

“The effort to destroy facts and make America ungovernable didn’t come out of nowhere. It is the culmination of seventy years of strategic denialism. In On Disinformation, Lee McIntyre shows how the war on facts began, and how ordinary citizens can fight back against the scourge of disinformation that is now threatening the very fabric of our society. Drawing on his twenty years of experience as a scholar of science denial, McIntyre explains how autocrats wield disinformation to manipulate a populace and deny obvious realities, why the best way to combat disinformation is to disrupt its spread, and most importantly, how we can win the war on truth.” Lee McIntyre is a Research Fellow at the Center for Philosophy and History of Science at Boston University. He is the author of Dark Ages: The Case for a Science of Human Behavior, Post-Truth, and The Scientific Attitude: Defending Science from Denial, Fraud, and Pseudoscience, all published by the MIT Press.

A “problem of twelve” arises when a small number of institutions acquire the means to exert outsized influence over the politics and economy of a nation. The Big Four index funds of Vanguard, State Street, Fidelity, and BlackRock control more than twenty percent of the votes of S&P 500 companies—a concentration of power that’s unprecedented in America. Then there’s the rise of private equity funds such as the Big Four of Apollo, Blackstone, Carlyle and KKR, which has amassed $2.7 trillion of assets, and are eroding the legitimacy and accountability of American capitalism, not by controlling public companies, but by taking them over entirely, and removing them from public discourse and public scrutiny. This quiet accumulation in the last few decades represents a dramatic transformation in how the American economy operates—a sea change that few of us have noticed and all of us need to consider. Harvard law professor John Coates forcefully calls our attention to what is sure to be one of the major political and economic issues of our time. John Coates is the John F. Cogan, Jr. Professor of Law and Economics at Harvard Law School, where he also serves as Deputy Dean and Research Director of the Center on the Legal Profession. Professor Coates served as General Counsel and as Acting Director for the Division of Corporation Finance for the SEC. Before joining Harvard, he was a partner at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, specializing in financial institutions and M&A. At HLS and at HBS, he teaches corporate governance, M&A, finance, and related topics. He has testified before Congress, advised the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), the U.S. Department of Treasury, and the New York Stock Exchange, and served as the Chair of the Investor-as-Owner Subcommittee of the Investor Advisory Committee of the SEC.

When it comes to the dating landscape, you want to know what is happening and why it is happening. What causes attraction, and what makes for great relationships? What do internet shows on these topics say, and what messages are worth listening to? We cover this on episode 407 with returning guest Macken Murphy and co-host Rebecca Faith Lawson.

“In the scientific literature, I found confirmation of what I was hearing. In recent years, about one-in-two adults in America reported experiencing loneliness. And that was before the national lockdown cut off so many of us from friends, loved ones, and support systems, exacerbating loneliness and isolation Loneliness is far more than just a bad feeling—it harms both individual and societal health. It is associated with a greater risk of cardiovascular disease, dementia, stroke, depression, anxiety, and premature death. The mortality impact of being socially disconnected is similar to that caused by smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day, and even greater than that associated with obesity and physical inactivity. And the harmful consequences of a society that lacks social connection can be felt in our schools, workplaces, and civic organizations, where performance, productivity, and engagement are diminished.” – Surgeon General in 2023 In episode 406, past guest Professor and psychologist Todd Kashdan joins me with my co-host on this discussion, Rebecca Faith Lawson, to cover the loneliness epidemic that was showcased this year by the Surgeon General, along with how it affects well-being, what can be done to not be isolated in the first place, and more. You can check out my prior episode with Todd here, and some recent episodes with Rebecca here, here, and here.

The social internet landscape continues to change rapidly, and a lot of people’s time is involved in the various applications in use. Recently, Threads came out from Meta, while TikTok continues to grab lots of attention and Instagram is one of the most default applications for people meeting each other. Within these applications, there are dynamics between creators and viewers, things that viewers are looking to see regardless of creator, and strategies creators are using to have their content showcased repeatedly. Understanding these dynamics is key to navigating the social landscape, as well as getting to the next apps or services that people will use, because the next are always based on the previous. On this informative episode, Rebecca Faith Lawson joins in discussion on these topics, along with what stands out from creators, the ability to make content that is true to you and unfiltered, and how to avoid getting into your own head when making creative content.

There’s an unspoken assumption when you go to see a doctor: the doctor knows your medical story and is making decisions based on that story. But the reality frequently falls short. Medical records vanish when we switch doctors. Critical details of life-saving treatment plans get lost in muddled electronic charts. The doctors we see change according to specialty, hospital shifts, or an insurer’s whims. Stanford physician Ilana Yurkiewicz calls this fragmentation, and, she reveals, it’s the central failure of health care today. In this gripping narrative from medicine’s front lines, she shows how a system that doesn’t talk to itself forces doctors, patients, and their loved ones to go to heroic lengths to bridge the gaps. With lives at stake and little other choice, we all do so―but the system is hanging by a thread, and we need better solutions. Radiantly humane, empowering, and ultimately hopeful, Fragmented is a prescription for what really needs fixing in modern medicine.

In this episode, we cover the topic of the big change in social media of the past decade, from a socially-based graph of our connections that is about familiarity, to an interest-based graph of our connections that is meant for discovery of novel creators and individuals. With guest cohost Rebecca Faith Lawson, we go into what the change in algorithms has done to the feeling of using various apps like Facebook, Myspace, Instagram, and TikTok over time. We look into what was good about then versus now, and what the current landscape might be missing. As well, we look into the comparison of content that is very polished or curated, as opposed to that which is straight from the mind or mostly unfiltered and real, and what types of feelings authentic content evokes. In closing, we look at how interest-based apps like TikTok may connect with the loneliness that is pervasive and increasing in society, and if the current algorithms contribute to that loneliness. As we had more to cover on these topics, this is a part 1 of the discussion. It’s always a delight having Rebecca on the program, and may you enjoy and learn from the material.

Livestream on your unique nature Reuploaded here after being streamed as episode 402

Hello and welcome to episode 401 with Jeff Lawson, theologian and elder at Faith Sarasota. This talk covered a range of life messages, and was an in-person one that went into a few topics of understanding and growth. Jeff’s passion is to utilize his gifts that facilitate an atmosphere that seeks to promote the goal of looking more and more like Acts 2:42. In this talk, various life happenings were described, along with scriptures that match up with them or represent ways of being. We hope you enjoy this one, and will see you on the next.

We have made it into the 400s here on the show. On this one here, I do a brief recap of the past 100 episodes, picking out a few that were notable along the way, and give a little preview of things I would like to include in the 400s. This episode has a new intro and outro, and look to be adding in pre-episode intros about the guests before their part, as well as a closing portion about the show before the final outro. Some of the items I look to be adding in are potentially more solo episodes as livestreams, and/or with guests, and then more panel type episodes possibly mixed in as livestreams. Here is to more good things, and thank you all for your continued support.