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Plain English with Derek Thompson: Daily Summaries Delivered
by The Ringer
Longtime Atlantic tech, culture and political writer Derek Thompson cuts through all the noise surrounding the big questions and headlines that matter to you in his new podcast Plain English. Watch Derek and guests engage the news with clear viewpoints and memorable takeaways.
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- 1 weeks ago1h 7m
What Does Effective Altruism Really Believe?
What exactly is effective altruism? Beginning in the early 2010s as a nerdy way to rethink the most cost-effective charity, the movement has since grown into a broader philosophy for thinking about just about everything in our lives, from the careers we choose to the technologies we build. Today, Derek Thompson talks with Will MacAskill, one of the movement’s founders, about the origins and ideas behind effective altruism, its blind spots and controversies, the downfall of major funder Sam Bankman-Fried, and what it can tell us about this moment in history. Subscribe to our YouTube channel here:https://www.youtube.com/@PlainEnglishwithDerekThompson If you have questions, observations, or ideas for future episodes, email us at PlainEnglish@Spotify.com. Host: Derek Thompson Guest: Will MacAskill Producer: Devon Baroldi Additional Production Support: Ben Glicksman Comcast Business. Get AI-powered threat detection for small business. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
- 1 weeks ago46 min
The AI Story Wall Street Doesn't Want to Hear
The answer to whether AI is a bubble comes down to supply and demand. Is there enough demand to justify the enormous investment in chips and data centers? If businesses keep paying more for AI every year, the debt is manageable and the buildout will look visionary. If they don't, today's AI chips could be like trains built to serve towns that never materialized. In a follow-up to Tuesday's episode, Derek Thompson talks with economist Ara Kharazian about who's actually paying for AI, why spending may be slowing, and what that could mean for the broader economy. Subscribe to our YouTube channel here:https://www.youtube.com/@PlainEnglishwithDerekThompson If you have questions, observations, or ideas for future episodes, email us at PlainEnglish@Spotify.com. Host: Derek Thompson Guest: Ara Kharazian Producer: Devon Baroldi Additional Production Support: Ben Glicksman Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
- 2 weeks ago1h 7m
AI Is Smarter Than Ever. So Where’s the Revolution?
AI can analyze anything, write anything, solve almost any puzzle. But struggle strengthens our brains and sharpens our minds ... and removing it entirely may come with a dire cost. Derek Thompson explores the paradoxes of AI with Ethan Mollick, whose new book, 'Co-Existence,' examines how AI is changing the way we learn and work. They discuss how AI makes experts more powerful while automating the junior work that creates them in the first place, why students perform better via AI but learn less, and whether some friction may actually be worth preserving. Subscribe to our YouTube channel here:https://www.youtube.com/@PlainEnglishwithDerekThompson If you have questions, observations, or ideas for future episodes, email us at PlainEnglish@Spotify.com. Host: Derek Thompson Guest: Ethan Mollick Producer: Devon Baroldi Additional Production Support: Ben Glicksman Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
- 2 weeks ago1h 2m
How Abundance Has Failed and Succeeded
A year and a half after 'Abundance,' Derek Thompson and Ezra Klein’s book about why America has become so bad at building things, the time has come for reflection. Some commentators declare the abundance agenda dead. If you know where to look, however, you might see a different picture. Today, Derek is joined by Representative Josh Harder (D-California) to examine the surprising ways abundance-style ideas are gaining ground, from bipartisan permitting reform in Washington to new efforts to build housing and clean energy in states and cities across the country. Politicians from both parties increasingly agree that America is still making it too hard to build. So what would it take to turn these scattered victories into a new kind of liberalism that prioritizes outcomes over process? Subscribe to our YouTube channel here:https://www.youtube.com/@PlainEnglishwithDerekThompson If you have questions, observations, or ideas for future episodes, email us at PlainEnglish@Spotify.com. Host: Derek Thompson Guest: Josh Harder Producer: Devon Baroldi Additional Production Support: Ben Glicksman Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
- 3 weeks ago1h 3m
America’s Crisis of Social Connection, With Adam Grant
Americans spend more time alone than ever, as parties, nights out with friends, and dinner gatherings become less common. Cellphones, social media, TV, and the internet have made it easier than ever to fill our free time without other people. Research suggests friendship is less about instant chemistry than repeated time together. It takes roughly 50 hours to turn an acquaintance into a casual friend and more than 200 to build a close one. School makes those hours easy to accumulate but adult life doesn’t. Today, Derek talks with psychologist Adam Grant, author of Vibe: The Secrets of Strong Connections in a Lonely World, about what we misunderstand about chemistry and closeness and how we might get people to start hosting a damn dinner party again. Subscribe to our YouTube channel here:https://www.youtube.com/@PlainEnglishwithDerekThompson If you have questions, observations, or ideas for future episodes, email us at PlainEnglish@Spotify.com. Host: Derek ThompsonGuest: Adam GrantProducer: Devon BaroldiAdditional Production Support: Ben Glicksman Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
- 3 weeks ago1h 5m
Russia’s Plague Mystery and the Coming Age of Bioweapons
AI apocalypse, recession fears, sky-high mortgage rates, and now, the plague? Last week, a researcher at a plague institute in Siberia died after developing severe pneumonia, sparking rumors of biowarfare and fears of a new epidemic. How much of the story is fact vs. fiction, and what does it tell us about the growing threat of biological weapons? Today, Derek is joined by physician and former White House COVID-19 response coordinator Ashish Jha to make sense of the story. They discuss what’s really happening in Russia, the current state of bioweapons research around the world, how AI could make biological weapons more accessible, and what families, governments, and societies can do to prepare. Subscribe to our YouTube channel here:https://www.youtube.com/@PlainEnglishwithDerekThompson If you have questions, observations, or ideas for future episodes, email us at PlainEnglish@Spotify.com. Host: Derek ThompsonGuest: Ashish JhaProducer: Devon BaroldiAdditional Production Support: Ben Glicksman Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
- 4 weeks ago1h 6m
The Bitter Rivalries Behind the Race to Build Superintelligence
Sam Altman, Dario Amodei, and Demis Hassabis are three of the most important figures in AI superintelligence, but each of them have very different ideas about what this technology should become and what it could mean for the future. Kevin Roose, author of 'The AGI Chronicles,' joins Derek to explain the people behind the AI race: the books and ideas that shaped them, what they want for the future, and how their rivalries helped drive the industry to its current moment. If you have questions, observations, or ideas for future episodes, email us at PlainEnglish@Spotify.com. Host: Derek ThompsonGuest: Kevin RooseProducer: Devon BaroldiAdditional Production Support: Ben Glicksman Comcast Business. Get AI-powered threat detection for small business. Learn More at https://www.lincoln.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
- Oct 2, 20261h 1m
Why the Midterms Suddenly Look So Bad for Republicans
Last year, Republicans were the heavy favorites to hold the Senate in the following years midterms. Now, however, prediction markets and political forecasters see a very different race. Today, Nate Silver joins Derek to explain what’s behind Donald Trump’s plummeting approval ratings, and how the atmosphere around the midterms has changed so drastically, so quickly. Subscribe to our YouTube channel here:https://www.youtube.com/@PlainEnglishwithDerekThompson If you have questions, observations, or ideas for future episodes, email us at PlainEnglish@Spotify.com. Host: Derek ThompsonGuest: Nate SIlverProducer: Devon BaroldiAdditional Production Support: Ben Glicksman Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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About Plain English with Derek Thompson
Longtime Atlantic tech, culture and political writer Derek Thompson cuts through all the noise surrounding the big questions and headlines that matter to you in his new podcast Plain English. Watch Derek and guests engage the news with clear viewpoints and memorable takeaways.
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