Wisdom of Crowds

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.liveLast December, the highest court in the State of Colorado ruled that Donald Trump’s involvement with January 6 disqualified him from holding the office of president. On May 4, the Supreme Court voted unanimously to overturn this decision, clearing the way for Trump to appear on the ballot in all fifty states. Naturally, at Wisdom of Crowds these events got us thinking about the big questions. When it comes to eligibility for office, who should have the final say — the Supreme Court, or the voters? What is more important for a democracy: Elections or rights? And where do rights come from, anyway?At the moment, these questions are mostly being discussed on the Left side of the aisle, so we invited two prominent left-wing writers to argue about them in a live show. Osita Nwanevu is a journalist for The New Republic, currently writing a book about American democracy. Samuel Moyn is a law professor at Yale University, whose latest book is titled, Liberalism Against Itself: Cold War Intellectuals and the Making of Our Times. For paid subscribers, the bonus content includes a raucous Q & A session with our live audience. Enjoy a highly informed discussion about the most important political questions of our time, find out why Damir considers both Osita and Sam to be “revolutionaries,” and think about which branch of the US government really deserves to be called “a Council of Elders.”Required Reading:* The Colorado ruling.* The Supreme Court decision.* “Resisting the Juristocracy” by Samuel Moyn (Boston Review).* “The Constitution is the Crisis,” by Osita Nwanevu (The New Republic). This post is part of our collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Governance and Markets.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.livePro-Palestine protests have spread to college campuses across the country. Our social media feeds are flooded with images of chanting students and clashes with police. Meanwhile, Congress has passed a bill to deliver more aid to Israel, and there’s signs that the IDF is about to move on Rafah. In this episode, Shadi explores what it means to stand in solidarity with the protests, while Damir teases out their effect on brass tacks politics The two discuss what the right approach should be toward the anti-Semitic elements in the protests, whether anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism are the same thing, what the Democrats might be thinking, and how Shadi wishes the United States would leverage its relationship with Israel.In a spicy Part 2 for paid subscribers only, our hosts get into tricky territory while discussing Shadi’s pro-woke turn and the philosophical question of group affinity. In times of crisis, do human beings stand on principle? Or do they rally to their own ethnic or religious side? As Shadi observes: “Wokeness is able to grasp something important about the world that maybe I unfairly dismissed.”For more, please subscribe!Required Reading:* “Anti-Zionism is Deadlier Than Antisemitism,” by Joshua Muravchik (WSJ).* “Why it matters that some Democrats voted against aid for Israel,” by Shadi Hamid (Washington Post).* The Arc of the Covenant: The United States, Israel, and the Fate of the Jewish People by Walter Russell Mead.* Matthew Yglesias on X: “It’s interesting that a bunch of people who I read who four years ago were in agreement about the perils of identity politics now sharply disagree about Israel/Palestine and the disagreements exactly track Jewish vs Arab or Muslim backgrounds.”This post is part of our collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Governance and Markets.

This week’s episode is a special collaboration with The Disagreement, a new platform that aims to “celebrate and normalize healthy disagreement.” (Check them out!) Wisdom of Crowds is 100% behind that mission statement, and so it was natural for us to agree to record an episode together. Fans of Wisdom of Crowds will know that Shadi has recently completed a book about American power, tentatively titled, “On Power.” Fans will also know that he debated the socialist writer Dan Bessner of the American Prestige podcast last summer, in our episode titled “Is a Better World Possible Without American Power?” A lot has happened since that episode air, especially in the Middle East. So it’s a good time for Shadi and Dan to consider that question again. Enjoy Hamid v. Bessner, Round 2.Required Reading and Listening:Hamid v. Bessner, Round 1: “Is a Better World Possible without American Power?” (Wisdom of Crowds)Shadi’s recent post about completing his manuscript: “The Art of Losing Well” (Wisdom of Crowds).The Disagreement homepage. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wisdomofcrowds.live/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.liveChristine and Damir kick things off by discussing a memoir about the fall of Communism in Albania. Damir reflects on his own post-Communist background, and ponders why Communist nostalgia affects only some countries, while others are not looking back. He wonders whether Christine is becoming a Communist herself after reading her essay about “Limitarianism,” a school of political thought that favors a cap on extreme wealth. Christine unpacks her own ideas about economic justice and democracy, and considers whether the Communist past in Europe should influence American political ideas for the future. For paid subscribers, the bonus part of the episode focuses on whether the United States or Europe has the better economic system, and whether European dreams of a “green” economy can survive competition with China.Required Reading:* Free: Coming of Age at the End of History by Lea Ypi.* The full story behind Joyce Carol Oates’ infamous tweet.* Damir’s Monday Note about Lea Ypi’s book.* Limitarianism by Ingrid Robeyns* “What Would Society Look Like if Extreme Wealth Were Impossible?” by Christine Emba (The Atlantic)* “The Price of Peace is Stagnation” by Janan Ganesh (The Financial Times)This post is part of our collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Governance and Markets.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.liveThis week’s podcast is a recording of a live event. Rachel M. Cohen, a senior policy reporter for Vox, recently published an essay where she asks: “To our generation, being a mom looks thankless, exhausting, and lonely. Can we change the story?” As listeners know, this question speaks right to the heart of Wisdom of Crowds. Christine and Shadi invited Rachel to discuss her piece before a live audience in Washington, DC on March 20. The topics of conversation included marriage, singleness, hope, dread, and love. For paid subscribers, the bonus content is an intense Q&A with the audience, where the Crowd challenges the panelists on several points.Required Reading:* “Why Millennials Learned to Dread Motherhood,” by Rachel M. Cohen (Vox).* “Men are Lost. Here’s a Map Out of the Wilderness,” by Christine Emba (Washington Post).* Shadi Hamid, “The Dilemmas of Living in a Post-Religious World” (Washington Post).

America is badly polarized. It’s a fact so pervasively acknowledged that pointing it out starts to feel like saying the sky is blue. Unlike a blue sky, however, growing polarization in America presents a difficult challenge. Because America is both incredibly diverse and a vibrant democracy, polarization starts to eat away at our politics.Many attempts have been made to deal with polarization. A lot of it has to do with putting people with diverging perspectives face-to-face in an attempt to try to find common ground. Here at Wisdom of Crowds, we have tackled the problem by taking only half of this approach: we insist that people in disagreement confront each other, but with no expectation of common ground emerging. We frequently talk about “deep difference.” We believe it’s naive to think that through reasoned discourse we can reach compromise positions. That does violence to the power of ideas and the strength of belief. We think it’s both healthier and more realistic to acknowledge that certain differences can’t be reconciled, and to instead direct the conversation toward respectful mutual interrogation — where the discussants push each other to excavate why they believe what they believe.Jen Murtazashvili is one person who is profoundly aligned with what we’re doing. She first came on the Wisdom of Crowds podcast in August of 2021 to talk about America’s withdrawal from Afghanistan. But both Shadi and Damir had gotten to know her almost a year earlier, during the start of COVID, when she kindly invited them both to participate in an online seminar about modus vivendi liberalism. Jen’s extensive work on Afghanistan had given her cause to be suspicious of top-down thinking that nation-building requires. She understands that societies are built from the bottom-up, from local insights, from particularism. Difference can’t be papered over.We have been planning to collaborate more with Jen’s Center for Governance and Markets at the University of Pittsburgh for some time. Today, we’re pleased to announce that collaboration is kicking off. In the coming months, you will see podcast episodes and essays that will carry the CGM logo, featuring guests and writers and thinkers that the three of us have decided we need to engage with. First principles and the spirit of modus vivendi will animate all of it.To launch the collaboration, we wanted to have Jen on the podcast. We didn’t explicitly set out to model exactly what we hope to achieve with the collaboration. But with the Gaza War in the background, it was impossible that we wouldn’t get to discussing it. As you’ll hear below, the conversation is deeply felt and argued — and remains unresolved. That’s as it should be. (The paywall is down on this one, so everyone can give it a listen.)We walked away from it energized to do more. We hope, dear listeners, you feel the same way. And you join us as we continue our Governing Deep Differences project.Required Reading (and Listening):* “Community Before Politics,” by Jennifer Brick Murtazashvili (Discourse Magazine).* “Two Friends — One Jewish, One Muslim — Have an Answer to Campus Conflict, by Jennifer Brick Murtazashvili and Abdesalam Soudi (Tablet).* “All Aboard the Compassion Bus — with Jen Murtazashvili,” on Ask a Jew Podcast (Apple).* A tweet by Senator Fetterman (X).* “The U.S. has more in common with South America than Europe,” by Samuel Goldman (The Week).* “Hamas’ Bid for Revolutionary Legitimacy,” by Damir Marusic (WoC).This post is part of our collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Governance and Markets.Wisdom of Crowds is a platform challenging premises and understanding first principles on politics and culture. Join us! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wisdomofcrowds.live/subscribe

Editor’s note: We haven’t done an episode quite like this before. I absolutely loved this conversation with the novelist Jordan Castro, one of the most exciting young American authors writing today. Because it was such a rich conversation, we’re leaving out the paywall so that everyone can have a listen. —Shadi Hamid, co-founder, Wisdom of CrowdsWhat’s it actually like to be a novelist? And how does literary success—and some amount of fame and notoriety—change how people think of you? Special guest Jordan Castro joins Shadi and Santiago to talk about his novel, The Novelist, internet culture, converting to Christianity, his heroin addiction, love and, of course, literature. At nearly two hours it’s a rich and, dare we say it, epic chat on the stuff of life. If you’ve ever wanted to get in the brain of a writer, you won’t want to miss this. Really. Required Reading:* The Novelist by Jordan Castro* Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry on René Girard* New anthology of Girard’s essential writings* Varieties of Religious Experience by William James* The Present Age: On the Death of Rebellion by Søren Kierkegaard* Dante: “I found myself within a forest dark …”* Plato’s Myth of the Cave in the Republic* Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert* The Perpetual Orgy: Flaubert and Madame Bovary by Mario Vargas Llosa* Maxime du Camp* Substance Abuse National Helpline: 1-800-662-HELP (4357) This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wisdomofcrowds.live/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.liveIn a late-night confab, Damir and Sam explore the meaning of experiences of wonder, which they each have written about for Wisdom of Crowds.For Sam, these unique experiences are the foundation for his beliefs about the nature of the world and human life. Damir, on the other hand, does not believe that the experience of wonder necessarily leads to metaphysical questions. This freewheeling, stay-up-all-night fever dream of a conversation covers the pitfalls of therapy, the science of happiness, and lots of ancient Greek literature.Required Reading:* Damir’s piece, “A Lost Sense of Wonder,” Wisdom of Crowds* Sam’s piece, “Desire, Sadness, and the World,” Wisdom of Crowds* Oliver Traldi, “Do You Know What You Want?”, Wisdom of Crowds* Charles Taylor, Sources of the Self* Charles Taylor, A Secular Age* Parmenides’ fragments

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.liveA recently-published memoir making headlines suggests a trend: Polyamory is going mainstream among high-status Americans. Culture critic and environmental studies professor Tyler Austin Harper joins Christine and Shadi to make sense of this fad, and explain why it’s both an upper-class luxury and a raw deal. Along the way they discuss happiness, self-expression, race, love, self-immolation, parenting, and a better way to live. Required Reading:* Tyler Austin Harper, “Polyamory, the Ruling Class’s Latest Fad.”* Tyler Austin Harper, “I’m a Black Professor. You Don’t Need to Bring That Up.”* Tyler Austin Harper, “The 100-Year Extinction Panic Is Back, Right on Schedule.”* Shadi Hamid, “Is Polyamory the Future?”* Molly Roden Winter, More: A Memoir of Open Marriage.* Janet W. Hardy and Dossie Easton, The Ethical Slut.* Philip Rieff, The Triumph of the Therapeutic: Uses of Faith after Freud.* Christine Emba, Rethinking Sex: A Provocation.This post is part of our collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Governance and Markets.Wisdom of Crowds is a platform challenging premises and understanding first principles on politics and culture. Join us!

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.liveChristine and Damir discuss two personal essays from New York magazine that went viral last week. The first deals with divorce, the second with getting scammed. A flabbergasted Damir can’t believe they were published; he wonders if anyone outside New York would care to read them. Christine finds ironic wisdom buried in both essays. The conversation ends on a high note, with Christine explaining how one of the essays breaks new ground in the media monoculture. Required Reading:* Emily Gould, “The Lure of Divorce,” New York magazine.* Charlotte Cowls, “The Day I Put $50,000 in a Shoe Box and Handed It to a Stranger,” New York magazine. * Christine’s three theories about the above essays.* Elizabeth Wurtzel, Prozac Nation.* Kristen Roupenian, “Cat Person”.* Ross Douthat, The Decadent Society.