Themes and summary (AI-generated based on podcaster-provided show and episode descriptions):
➤ Economist–philosopher dialogues • culture and modernity • politics: socialism, activism, woke, cancel culture • persuasion, disagreement, argument norms • elites, experts, prediction markets • rituals and social norms • love, romance, resentment • literature/pop culture touchstones (Plato, Kafka, Orwell, Taylor Swift)
This podcast centers on extended conversations between an economist and a philosopher who approach questions from different intellectual traditions and try to clarify where their assumptions, methods, and priorities diverge. The discussions tend to be analytical and concept-driven, often using disagreement as a tool to sharpen definitions and expose hidden premises rather than to reach quick consensus.
Across the episodes, the hosts range widely over cultural and political life, returning frequently to questions about how societies coordinate, form norms, and police boundaries. Many conversations examine contemporary conflicts around status and authority—such as the role of experts versus elites, the dynamics of activism and protest, and debates tied to “woke” politics, cancel culture, and internet subcultures. They also explore what counts as persuasion versus coercion, how argument differs from fighting, and why people may resist being convinced.
A recurring theme is culture itself: how it changes over time, what modernism and multiculturalism mean, and whether there is a broader crisis of shared standards. The show often uses literature and classic philosophy as case studies for these issues, engaging works and figures associated with political ideals, bureaucracy, and social order, as well as major texts in ancient political philosophy. Other episodes take up contemporary pop culture as an object of serious analysis, treating celebrity narratives and fandom as ways to think about meaning, identity, and social signaling.
Alongside public controversies, the hosts regularly turn to interpersonal and psychological topics—romantic relationships, validation, resentment, respect, nostalgia, inspiration, and ritual—linking private experience to larger social patterns. There are also forays into more speculative or technical territory, including debates about forecasting and prediction methods, demographic questions around fertility, and topics at the edge of science and ethics. Overall, this podcast is structured as an ongoing attempt to bridge disciplines while using eclectic subjects to investigate reasoning, values, and social life.
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Episodes:
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Continuing Education (Agnes Callard & Robin Hanson, with Arnold Brooks)
2026-Jan-25
67 minutes
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War (Robin Hanson & Agnes Callard)
2026-Jan-18
59 minutes
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The Crisis of Culture (Agnes Callard & Robin Hanson)
2025-Oct-23
61 minutes
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The World of Yesterday (Robin Hanson & Agnes Callard)
2025-Sep-28
61 minutes
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Taylor Swift's Engagement (Agnes Callard & Robin Hanson)
2025-Sep-11
62 minutes
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Orwell and Socialism (Robin Hanson & Agnes Callard)
2025-Aug-10
54 minutes
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Weird (Agnes Callard & Robin Hanson)
2025-Jul-31
61 minutes
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Plato's Republic (Robin Hanson & Agnes Callard, with Arnold Brooks)
2025-Jul-24
72 minutes
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Ritual (Agnes Callard & Robin Hanson)
2025-Jul-17
62 minutes
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Bullsh*t (Robin Hanson & Agnes Callard)
2025-Apr-03
57 minutes
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Kafka's 'The Castle' (Agnes Callard & Robin Hanson)
2025-Mar-20
61 minutes
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Fertility again (Robin Hanson & Agnes Callard, with Lyman Stone)
2025-Feb-27
72 minutes
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On woke (Agnes Callard & Robin Hanson, with Werner Zagrebbi)
2025-Feb-20
67 minutes
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Two Cultures again (Robin Hanson & Agnes Callard, with Alok Singh)
2025-Feb-13
68 minutes
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Open Socrates (Agnes Callard & Robin Hanson)
2025-Jan-30
65 minutes
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Perfection vs. greatness (Robin Hanson & Agnes Callard)
2025-Jan-23
59 minutes
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Fighting vs. arguing (Agnes Callard & Robin Hanson)
2024-Dec-05
61 minutes
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Activism (Robin Hanson & Agnes Callard)
2024-Nov-21
63 minutes
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Potential vs. achievement (Agnes Callard & Robin Hanson)
2024-Nov-07
60 minutes
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Polls vs. prediction markets (Robin Hanson & Agnes Callard, with Arnold Brooks)
2024-Oct-31
63 minutes
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Modernism (Agnes Callard & Robin Hanson)
2024-Oct-10
60 minutes
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Fear of persuasion (Robin Hanson & Agnes Callard)
2024-Sep-12
63 minutes
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Cancel culture (Agnes Callard & Robin Hanson)
2024-Aug-28
59 minutes
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Romantic validation (Robin Hanson & Agnes Callard)
2024-Aug-08
63 minutes
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Cryonics (Agnes Callard & Robin Hanson)
2024-Jul-31
65 minutes
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Taylor Swift (Robin Hanson & Agnes Callard)
2024-Jul-24
63 minutes
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Love triangles (Agnes Callard & Robin Hanson)
2024-Jul-17
53 minutes
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Color (Robin Hanson & Agnes Callard)
2024-Jul-03
57 minutes
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Power (Agnes Callard & Robin Hanson)
2024-Jun-26
65 minutes
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Experts vs. elites [Revisited] (Robin Hanson & Agnes Callard)
2024-Jun-19
62 minutes
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Protest (Agnes Callard & Robin Hanson)
2024-Jun-12
64 minutes
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Internet culture (Robin Hanson & Agnes Callard, with Katherine Dee)
2024-Jun-05
69 minutes
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Meta (Agnes Callard & Robin Hanson)
2024-May-29
59 minutes
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The Two Cultures (Robin Hanson & Agnes Callard)
2024-May-02
67 minutes
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Multiculturalism (Agnes Callard & Robin Hanson)
2024-Apr-24
66 minutes
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Cultural evolution (Robin Hanson & Agnes Callard)
2024-Apr-17
60 minutes
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3 Body Problem (Agnes Callard & Robin Hanson, with Arnold Brooks)
2024-Apr-11
64 minutes
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Corpses (Robin Hanson & Agnes Callard)
2024-Apr-03
63 minutes
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Nostalgia (Agnes Callard & Robin Hanson)
2024-Mar-27
61 minutes
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Resentment (Robin Hanson & Agnes Callard)
2024-Mar-20
60 minutes
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Social miracles (Agnes Callard & Robin Hanson)
2024-Mar-14
66 minutes
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Consumerism (Robin Hanson & Agnes Callard)
2024-Mar-07
59 minutes
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Disagreement and alienation (Agnes Callard & Robin Hanson, with Berislav Marušić)
2024-Feb-28
67 minutes
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Evidence order bias (Robin Hanson & Agnes Callard)
2024-Feb-21
63 minutes
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Theoretical vs. Practical Reason (Agnes Callard & Robin Hanson, with Laura Deming)
2023-Nov-16
66 minutes
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Psychoanalysis (Robin Hanson & Agnes Callard, with Jamieson Webster)
2023-Nov-09
55 minutes
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Inspiration (Agnes Callard & Robin Hanson)
2023-Nov-02
59 minutes
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Respect (Robin Hanson & Agnes Callard)
2023-Oct-12
62 minutes
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Fighting (Agnes Callard & Robin Hanson)
2023-Oct-05
61 minutes
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Contrarians (Robin Hanson & Agnes Callard, with Aella)
2023-Sep-28
62 minutes
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Robin's Birthday (Agnes Callard & Robin Hanson, with Arnold Brooks)
2023-Sep-21
62 minutes
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Fertility (Robin Hanson & Agnes Callard)
2023-Sep-13
62 minutes
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Advice (Agnes Callard & Robin Hanson)
2023-Aug-30
58 minutes
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Interpretation (Robin Hanson & Agnes Callard, with Arnold Brooks)
2023-Aug-24
62 minutes
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vibecamp (Agnes Callard & Robin Hanson)
2023-Jun-21
55 minutes
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God (Robin Hanson & Agnes Callard)
2023-Jun-14
55 minutes
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Moore's Paradox (Agnes Callard & Robin Hanson)
2023-Jun-07
66 minutes
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AI Risk (Robin Hanson & Agnes Callard, with David Duvenaud)
2023-May-31
68 minutes
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Partiality (Agnes Callard & Robin Hanson)
2023-May-24
57 minutes
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Alignment and Competition (Robin Hanson & Agnes Callard)
2023-May-17
75 minutes
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The Urge to Rebel (Agnes Callard & Robin Hanson)
2023-May-10
60 minutes
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The Etiquette of Equality (Robin Hanson & Agnes Callard)
2023-May-03
50 minutes
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Transformative Choices (Agnes Callard & Robin Hanson)
2023-Apr-26
59 minutes
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Edgelord Energy (Robin Hanson & Agnes Callard, with Rory from The Violet Hour)
2023-Apr-19
69 minutes
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Management (Agnes Callard & Robin Hanson)
2023-Mar-30
62 minutes
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Apology (Robin Hanson & Agnes Callard)
2023-Mar-22
65 minutes
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Experts vs. Elites (Agnes Callard & Robin Hanson)
2023-Mar-15
63 minutes
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Sarcasm (Robin Hanson & Agnes Callard)
2023-Mar-08
57 minutes
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Who Must Be Persuaded By Explanations (Agnes Callard & Robin Hanson)
2023-Jan-04
70 minutes
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Utopia (Robin Hanson & Agnes Callard)
2022-Dec-29
56 minutes
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The Intellectual vs. The Social (Agnes Callard & Robin Hanson)
2022-Dec-21
66 minutes
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Passion (Robin Hanson & Agnes Callard, with Joshua Fox)
2022-Dec-15
73 minutes
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Intellectuals (Agnes Callard & Robin Hanson)
2022-Dec-07
66 minutes
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Wanting to be Wanted (Robin Hanson & Agnes Callard)
2022-Dec-01
64 minutes
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For Its Own Sake (Agnes Callard & Robin Hanson)
2022-Nov-23
61 minutes
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Why is Truth Good? (Robin Hanson & Agnes Callard, with William Eliot)
2022-Nov-16
75 minutes
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The Sacred (Agnes Callard & Robin Hanson, with Arnold Brooks)
2022-Nov-09
75 minutes
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Is Life Worth Living? (Robin Hanson & Agnes Callard, with William Eliot)
2022-Nov-02
62 minutes
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What is Sex? (Agnes Callard & Robin Hanson, with Audrey Pollnow)
2022-Oct-26
76 minutes
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Human Sacrifice
2022-Jul-17
62 minutes
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Glory
2022-Jul-17
69 minutes
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Frontstage / Backstage
2022-Jul-17
79 minutes
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Free Speech
2022-Jul-17
61 minutes
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Fraud
2022-Jul-17
64 minutes
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William James vs William Clifford
2022-Jul-17
71 minutes
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Belief Constraints
2022-Jul-17
67 minutes
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'Inadequate Equilibria'
2022-Jul-17
63 minutes
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'The Sentiment of Rationality'
2022-Jul-17
71 minutes
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Asceticism
2022-Feb-01
66 minutes
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Autodidact
2022-Feb-01
58 minutes
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Rot
2022-Feb-01
60 minutes
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Foreplay
2022-Feb-01
60 minutes
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Reform
2022-Feb-01
57 minutes
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Aliens
2022-Feb-01
62 minutes
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Purposes
2022-Feb-01
60 minutes
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Curiosity
2022-Feb-01
64 minutes
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Distant Signals
2021-Nov-09
48 minutes
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Hidden Motives
2021-Nov-09
65 minutes
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Prediction Markets
2021-Nov-09
62 minutes
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Aspiration
2021-Nov-09
65 minutes
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Pink and Purple
2021-Nov-09
66 minutes
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Punishment
2021-Nov-09
69 minutes
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Paternalism
2021-Nov-09
68 minutes
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Future Generations
2021-Nov-09
63 minutes
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Plagiarism
2021-Nov-09
60 minutes
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Paradox of Honesty
2021-Nov-09
70 minutes
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