Conversations With Coleman

Andrew Yang, businessman, attorney and author, discusses topics including his upbringing, philosophy, identity politics, office culture, the future of work, automation, and AI. They also explore tribalism, combating racism, universal basic income, economic challenges, and the impact of remote work on office culture and mental health.

David Chalmers, a professor of philosophy and neuroscience at NYU and co-director of NYU Centre for Mind, Brain and Consciousness, discusses living in a simulation, virtual reality, and the plausibility of simulating conscious beings. They explore the risks and consequences of living in a simulation, the possibility of living a meaningful life in virtual reality, and the impact of deception about the cosmos on finding meaning in life.

Jacob Mchangama, lawyer and writer, discusses the history and challenges of free speech. Topics include the Danish cartoon controversy, hypocrisy in defending free speech, power relations and censorship, the importance of a culture of free speech, big tech companies' role in censoring speech, similarities between the printing press and the internet, cancel culture, and the threat to free speech posed by China.

Briahna Joy Gray, former national press secretary for Bernie Sanders, discusses American exceptionalism, poverty and class, crime in poor neighborhoods, the cancellation of Whoopi Goldberg, the intersection of race and identity politics, vocational schools, minimum wage laws, socialism, and alternative models for distribution of labor and capital.

Cathy Young, a journalist and writer, discusses the war in Ukraine. They talk about the modern history of Russia, the recent history of Ukraine, NATO expansion, Kremlin propaganda, American foreign policy, and the prospect of NATO intervention in Ukraine.

Matthew Yglesias, co-founder of Vox and columnist for Bloomberg Opinion, discusses his book 'One Billion Americans: The Case for Thinking Bigger', which argues for increasing the US population through higher birth rates and increased immigration. The podcast also explores the dynamics between the right and left, the declining birth rate, marriage penalties, and the economic impact of immigration.

My guest today is Ashley Rindsberg. Ashley is an American novelist and journalist now based in Israel. His book is The Gray Lady Winked: How the New York Times's Misreporting, Distortions and Fabrications Radically Alter History.We discuss the little-known history of major errors made by the New York Times. We also talk about the concept of authority, what makes the times different from other papers, the idea of objective truth, and the many problems with the 1619 project. We finally go on to speak about how to determine what's true in the world.

Jeffrey Maurer, former senior writer for Last Week Tonight, discusses the rise of political comedy, the problem of preachiness in comedy, the mechanics of joke writing, and the impact of wokeness on the Democratic Party. They also touch on the cancellation of Winston Marshall, audience capture, and the challenge of being funny without being offensive.

Dr. Zubin Damania, a Stanford-trained internal medicine doctor and founder of Turntable Health, joins the show to discuss the differences between mainstream western medicine and alternative medicines, the politicization of COVID information, the misinformation around mRNA vaccines, the stigma associated with getting COVID, the risk of myocarditis for young men getting the mRNA vaccines, the failures of the CDC and the FDA, and the racial triaging of COVID antivirals.

Guest Matt Taibbi, a writer, journalist, and podcaster, discusses the Substack revolution, paternalism in public health messaging, reasons for Trump's win in 2016, the perception of right-wing politics, censorship by Big Tech, and book bans in public schools. They also touch on the rise of Substack platform, challenges of independent media, honesty in public health messaging, and partisan divide in support for censorship.