Wisdom of Crowds

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.liveThe Harris-Walz campaign is having a moment. It is polling well. Harris made a good speech at the Democratic National Convention. The Democratic Convention as a whole got better TV ratings than the Republican one. Harris’s campaign is all about joy. Even Shadi’s parents are feeling the vibes (and using the word, “vibes,” probably for the first time).But Shadi and Damir aren’t feeling it. No joy. No vibes. No excitement about the current moment in American politics. What’s going on is at best groupthink, at worst, the manufacturing of consent. Our podcast hosts are skeptical about the fact that the media made an abrupt 180-degree turn on Harris: someone who was once considered a political dud is now seen as “the second coming of Barack Obama.”But soon Shadi and Damir start interrogating their assumptions. Is it necessarily a bad thing that large numbers of people are feeling positive emotions? Could large trends and coalitions develop organically, through common affinity, rather than through the machinations of politicians and propagandists? Could a campaign based on good vibes actually be more efficient at creating a Democratic Party platform that appeals to the median American voter? Maybe the Harris-Walz campaign is forcing us, as Damir puts it, to “update our priors on what democratic politics is.”In the bonus concluding section for our paid subscribers, our hosts make a 180-degree turn of their own. They explore learning to like Harris and embracing the vibes. “No one is talking about threats of civil war anymore,” Shadi observes. This is a good thing. “People want to feel good about their country.” Maybe Harris is making that possible for millions of voters.Required Reading:* “Harris has upended years of Democratic dogma. That’s good,” by Shadi Hamid and Aden Barton (Washington Post).* “The Peculiar Moderation of Donald Trump,” by Shadi Hamid (Washington Post). * Full text of Kamala Harris’ speech at the Democratic National Convention (PBS). * Our CrowdSource about “vibes” (WoC).* Noam Chomsky on “manufacturing consent” (YouTube). * Matt Yglesias on “popularism” (Slow Boring).* Matt Yglesias on the “unhinged moderation” of the Republicans (Slow Boring).Wisdom of Crowds is a platform challenging premises and understanding first principles on politics and culture. Join us!

Join Audrey Horne, a Twitter voice on Homer, along with Samuel Kimbriel and Damir Marusic, as they dive into the interplay of violence and despair in literature and life. They explore how the ancient Greeks faced suffering without hope for immortality, contrasting it with Christian beliefs. The conversation also touches on the relevance of the Iliad today, the nuances of microcelebrity on social media, and the ethical implications of humanity's actions on nature. It's a thought-provoking journey through faith, philosophy, and the human condition.

“We tell ourselves stories in order to live,” goes the famous line from Joan Didion — but is it worth it? How do narratives help us make sense of our lives, and how might they be misleading? Advertisements these days are full of them, but can a company really have a story of its own? And could having “main character energy” actually indicate a fundamental philosophical problem?In this special live recording from the Lyceum Movement’s Tallgrass Ideas Festival in Des Moines, Iowa, Sam was joined by Hannah Kim, philosopher at the University of Arizona and associate editor of the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, to discuss why storytelling has become such a prominent part of our cultural conversation, the philosophy of stories and narratology, and dig into how “storification” can limit our ability to understand our own lives. Join the Crowd in getting the real story on stories themselves.Required Reading:* More about the Lyceum Movement.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

Anastasia Berg, a philosopher and professor at UC Irvine, and Rachel Wiseman, managing editor for The Point, delve into profound questions about parenthood and declining fertility. They discuss societal pressures and individual choices in child-rearing, emphasizing the challenges posed by factors like economic uncertainty and climate anxiety. The conversation critiques modern narratives around parenthood, exploring millennial perfectionism and ambivalence about having children. With insights from Christine Emba, the dialogue weaves together ethics, societal expectations, and the quest for meaningful family planning.

It’s a dog days of summer special! This week, we are releasing a live interview from last April, that’s more timely today than when it was first recorded. Dictators and their sychophants; democracy imperiled by foreign policy misadventures. Sound familiar?For almost a century, American intellectuals of different political stripes have been in thrall to dictators. They’ve either projected utopian ideals on to them, or been seduced by their charisma and alleged effectiveness. The story of left wing intellectuals falling for figures like Stalin or Castro has already been told. In a new book, America Last: The Right’s Century-Long Romance with Foreign Dictators, Jacob Heilbrunn, author and editor of the National Interest, tells the story of the American political right and its dalliances with overseas despots. Joining Damir as co-host is friend of the pod Professor Jennifer Murtazashvili, head of the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Governance and Markets, which graciously supports our work.As usual, Damir veers the discussion towards first principles. Are people more likely to be seduced by dictatorships when liberalism is perceived to be failing? Is liberalism perceived to be failing more often during wartime or peacetime? Just what is attractive about despotism? Should liberals accept that a certain amount of “ineffectiveness” is part and parcel of the liberal order? Tune in for a riveting discussion of these questions and more.Required Reading:* “Apologists without Remorse,” by Jacob Heilbrunn (American Prospect).* America Last: The Right’s Century-Long Romance with Foreign Dictators by Jacob Heilbrunn.* “Trump’s anti-Ukraine view dates to the 1930s. America rejected it then. Will we now?” by Robert Kagan.* U.S. Military Interventions since 1890 (Evergreen State College).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

Freddie deBoer, a provocative leftist thinker and author, dives into the complexities of democracy within the Democratic Party. He critiques Kamala Harris's elevation as a candidate, questioning whether it was a genuine democratic process. The conversation explores the erosion of grassroots involvement in politics, historical shifts in electoral conventions, and the impact of media on public perception. DeBoer also discusses how deindustrialization has affected voter sentiments and the acceptance of left-wing economic policies, emphasizing the need for deeper democratic practices.

Exploring the significance of the American Constitution in unifying a diverse society, Yuval Levin discusses the challenges of civic decay and the evolution of presidential power. Highlighting the importance of citizen responsibility in driving change, the podcast delves into the impact of primary elections and the challenges within the American party system.

Welcome to summer, dear crowd! This week, we have a live episode for you — live from the Aspen Ideas Festival. Sam Kimbriel recorded this episode with Tamar Gendler, a Dean and Philosophy professor at Yale University, and Erin McFee, a Future Leaders Fellow at the Latin America and Caribbean Centre in the London School of Economics.The subject, very broadly, is forgiveness. Is it good or bad? Do we know what it means? Can one forgive wrongly? And could forgiving foreclose the possibility of achieving justice in this world? 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.liveOn July 1, the Supreme Court ruled that Donald Trump, as President of the United States, enjoys “absolute” immunity for “his core constitutional powers,” but that he “enjoys no immunity for his unofficial acts, and not everything the President does if official.” The ruling has an obvious immediate impact on the upcoming presidential elections. But it also suggests far-reaching questions about political sovereignty, and our system of government.In this episode, Sam and Damir get together to hash out the theoretical implications of the Court’s ruling. Joining them is Yale Law professor and friend of the pod Samuel Moyn. Moyn argues that the Court’s decision was as much a product of “comparative risk assessment” of our current and near-future political situation, as it was a theoretical statement about our political system. Damir pushes on the question of the meaning of sovereignty, and what immunity implies in terms of the limits of presidential power. Sam sums up the decision as having reached “the limits of business as usual.”In the bonus section for paid subscribers, the discussion strikes a philosophical note. Sam describes his views about the “Platonic” and “prophetic” sources of law, Damir asks whether Thomas Hobbes is still relevant, and Moyn explains his idea of “collective self-creation.” Law, politics, philosophy, and prophecy — this episode is packed with the drama of our time.Required Reading* Trump v. United States, the Supreme Court Immunity Ruling (supremecourt.gov).* Richard Tuck, The Sleeping Sovereign: The Invention of Modern Democracy (Cambridge). * Eric Nelson, The Royalist Revolution: Monarchy and the American Founding (Harvard).* “Broad Reflections on Trump v. United States,” by Jack Goldsmith (Lawfare).* Plato, Euthyphro (Internet Classics Archive).* Summary of the Kelsen-Schmitt debate (YouTube).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.liveWhat happened on Thursday night was a debacle for Joe Biden and an embarrassment for the nation. About this, our three hosts — Christine, Damir and Shadi — all agree. And they are all angry about it. But who is to blame? Biden himself? The DNC? The media? Trump? All of us?Shadi, Damir, and Christine work through their post-debate anguish and anger — and try to figure out who is responsible for the predicament that the country finds itself in today. “We are gripped by an inability to call balls and strikes anymore,” says Damir. In this episode, they try anyway. Required Reading:* Derek Hudson, “We Need to Talk about Biden” (Wisdom of Crowds).Wisdom of Crowds is a platform challenging premises and understanding first principles on politics and culture. Join us!