What makes a hit a hit? Why do some bands make it while others fade into obscurity? Chuck Klosterman’s new book imagines an alternate history of 20th century music and uses it to explore why some things become popular and just how much culture depends on chance.

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Host: Derek Thompson
Guest: Chuck Klosterman
Producer: Devon Baroldi
Additional Production Support: Ben Glicksman

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With new breakthroughs in math and biology alongside reports of AI agents escaping and hacking systems, suffice it to say AI has had an interesting few weeks. How worried should we be about it all?

Derek talks with researchers Arvind Narayanan and Sayash Kapoor, authors of the “AI as a Normal Technology” framework, about a simple question: Is AI actually just a normal technology? And if today’s AI is as powerful as it seems, why does the world still look so normal?

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Host: Derek Thompson

Guests: Arvind Narayanan and Sayash Kapoor

Producer: Devon Baroldi

Additional Production Support: Ben Glicksman

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Education outcomes have been getting worse across much of the world, with reading and math scores falling to historic lows. The U.S. has seen some of the steepest declines in decades.

But, why does Mississippi look so different?

Mississippi education reformer Rachel Canter has been at the forefront of the state’s dramatic improvement in reading and math over the past few decades. Today, Derek is joined by Rachel to discuss the so-called “Mississippi miracle” (a name she says misses the mark!). Together they break down how years of policy changes and implementation transformed the state’s schools and how other states can replicate their success.

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Host: Derek Thompson

Guest: Rachel Canter

Producer: Devon Baroldi

Additional Production Support: Ben Glicksman

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Expert economists keep making predictions about America’s financial future, and those predictions keep being … wrong. Over the past few years, we’ve heard warnings about a recession, inflation, tariffs, wars, deficits, and an AI bubble, yet the economy continues chugging along. Today, Derek talks with economist Jason Furman about what economists and commentators might be missing and why exactly the U.S. economy has been so much more resilient than many expected.
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Host: Derek Thompson
Guest: Jason Furman
Producer: Devon Baroldi
Additional Production Support: Ben Glicksman

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Trust in American higher education is near a historic low. Tuition has soared, and the payoff for a college degree is now in question as graduates face a weird and challenging job market. Simultaneously, AI is transforming everything around them, from academic fraud to job applications. It all raises the question: What role does college play in the year 2026?

Harvard is tackling this question by trying something … different. Instead of shunning new tech, Dean David Deming recently told students that the university would embrace a controversial policy of AI “encouragement,” which many saw as an attack on academic integrity itself.

Today, Derek talks with Deming about why exactly Harvard is embracing AI, what college is supposed to teach students in the first place, and how higher ed can preserve the value of deep thinking when modern technology can do so much of the thinking for us.

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Host: Derek Thompson

Guest: David Deming

Producer: Devon Baroldi

Additional Production Support: Ben Glicksman

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In the late 19th century, a railroad boom fueled by easy money, speculative investment, and new technology helped kick off one of the worst financial crises in American history. Sound kind of familiar?

In today’s episode, Derek talks with author Liaquat Ahamed about his new book, '1873,' and the similarities between the railroad mania of the 19th century and today’s AI boom. They discuss America’s first venture capitalists and the role of the Rothschild family, how manias inevitably create bubbles, and what the Panic of 1873 can teach us about the huge debts now financing artificial intelligence.

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Host: Derek Thompson

Guest: Liaquat Ahamed

Producer: Devon Baroldi

Additional Production Support: Ben Glicksman

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So many people seem to hate AI, and it’s not just because it might displace millions of jobs, destroy the world, or deepen distrust in big corporations and government. The reason might actually be simpler than we think: People don't like AI because it is so often used to make things that are fake.

From sham biographies and bogus social media posts to AI-generated journalism, the internet has become inundated with “AI slop.” So how do we begin to clean up the mess? That’s where AI detection company Pangram comes in. Derek talks with Pangram founder and CEO Max Spero about the seduction of AI writing, how his program detects it, and the moral implications of publicly calling out those who use it.

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Host: Derek Thompson

Guest: Max Spero

Producer: Devon Baroldi

Additional Production Support: Ben Glicksman

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For much of the 21st century, the U.S. economy was built around cheap money. Today, though, interest rates are rising, and borrowing is getting much more expensive. At the same time, the federal government is running huge deficits while governments and companies around the world are taking on enormous amounts of debt. Derek talks with returning guest Conor Sen, author of the Housing Frame newsletter, about why interest rates have climbed, what’s driving this new age of debt, and how it could change the economy for years to come.

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Host: Derek Thompson

Guest: Conor Sen

Producer: Devon Baroldi

Additional Production Support: Ben Glicksman

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It would be an understatement to say that higher education is in crisis, as it faces attacks from both the current presidential administration as well as issues of its own making, like diversity politics. Today, Derek talks with Tyler Austin Harper, author of the viral essay “Confessions of a Token Black Professor,” about his critique of DEI and “wokeism” from the left. They discuss how good intentions and institutional self-interest led universities astray, and what it means for academic freedom, economic justice, and the future of higher education.

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Host: Derek Thompson

Guest: Tyler Austin Harper

Producer: Devon Baroldi

Additional Production Support: Ben Glicksman

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Today, Derek talks with cybersecurity expert Alex Stamos about a recent wave of alarming AI cyberattacks. For decades, one of the biggest fears about AI has been that the machines will start doing things we didn’t ask them to do. This summer, that fear started to feel a little less like science fiction, as some of the world’s most advanced AI models went off script, broke through security barriers, and found ways to get around the humans overseeing them. Derek and Alex discuss why AI is so good at hacking, what happens when bad actors have their own AI hackers, and what governments, companies, and the rest of us can do to protect ourselves.

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Host: Derek Thompson
Guest: Alex Stamos
Producer: Devon Baroldi
Additional Production Support: Ben Glicksman

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It seems a universal fact that AI has become an indispensable part of the American economy. At the same time, opposing AI has also become one of the most influential causes in American politics. Nowhere is that tension more obvious than in the fight over data centers. Across the country, communities are organizing to stop the massive facilities that power artificial intelligence from being built in their backyards.

In today’s episode, Derek talks with writer Jasmine Sun, who traveled through the Midwest to investigate the growing animosity towards AI infrastructure. Why do Americans hate data centers? Plus, if this trend continues, what happens when one of the most important forces in the U.S. economy runs headfirst into local politics?

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Host: Derek Thompson

Guest: Jasmine Sun

Producer: Devon Baroldi

Additional Production Support: Ben Glicksman

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