If you’re someone who always thinks the sky is falling, chances are you’re not very happy. Jamil Zaki, professor of psychology at Stanford University and the director of the Stanford Social Neuroscience Lab, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss why cynicism leads to not only a more dismal outlook on life, but deleterious health effects. Plus we’ll hear why a little dose of hope can inject joy into everyday living. Zaki’s book is “Hope for Cynics: The Surprising Science of Human Goodness.”

This episode originally aired on September 6, 2024.

Waves of Black progress have historically been accompanied by waves of significant backlash. Anthony Walton is a poet, professor and the writer-in-residence at Bowdoin College, and he joins host Krys Boyd to discuss why gains in Black life have so often come with periods of reckoning, why racial trauma in this country so often repeats itself, and why the country wasn’t prepared for its first Black president. His book is “The End of Respectability: Notes of a Black American Reckoning With His Life and His Nation.”

 What exactly are we missing out on when we only experience something online rather than IRL? Christine Rosen is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a columnist for Commentary magazine, senior editor at the New Atlantis and fellow at the University of Virginia’s Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture. She joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the lure of the digital world, with its ease and convenience, and the physical and personal connections we leave behind when we choose a contactless experience. Her book is “The Extinction of Experience: Being Human in a Disembodied World."   

For years, we worried about overpopulation, but the reality is now there aren’t enough babies being born to replace a greying population across the globe. Nicholas Eberstadt is Henry Wendt Chair in Political Economy at the American Enterprise Institute. He joins host Krys Boyd to discuss depopulation occurring on five continents, why pro-natal programs cost a lot but aren’t seeing results, and what this means for how we measure economic growth in the future. His article “The Age of Depopulation” was published in Foreign Affairs.  

Jasmine Rashid is a financial activist and Director of Impact for Candide Group. She joins host Krys Boyd to discuss why taboo discussions about wealth and money need to happen for social change, how shopping small businesses can put pressure on multi-national corporations, and her easy how-to guide for a budding activist that starts with pinching pennies. Her book is “The Financial Activist Playbook: 8 Strategies for Everyday People to Reclaim Wealth and Collective Well-Being.”

There’s a difference between hearing and listening, and there’s an art to cultivating the latter. Elizabeth Rosner, novelist, poet, and essayist, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss how listening is the skill of interpretation, how she learned to hear the important things left unsaid in her own upbringing, and what science can teach us about the sounds that envelop us. Her book is “Third Ear: Reflections on the Art and Science of Listening.”

Think of students who made it into the Ivy League — can you believe some of them made it there without ever actually finishing reading a book. Rose Horowitch, assistant editor at The Atlantic, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss why top students are complaining about having to read books for college classes, how testing culture has contributed to this problem, and what this means for developing critical thinking skills. Her article is “The Elite College Students Who Can’t Read Books.”

It’s Election Day, and the votes are being tabulated. So how can we know the counts are accurate and the data is safe? Derek Tisler, counsel in the elections and government program at the nonpartisan Brennan Center, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss election tabulation and security, why we might not know the official winner on election night, and what makes new technology so effective in counting votes.

Helen Phillips a recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and a Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers’ Award. She joins host Krys Boyd to discuss her novel about a near-future techno-dystopia, where escaping to nature is the only way to heal – and how her characters make difficult decisions to find solace away from looming technology. The novel is called “Hum.”

Holidays and elections mean tough conversations – it’d be great to have some tools to navigate them. Harville Hendrix and Helen LaKelly Hunt are counselors who specialize in creating safe spaces for conversations, and they join host Krys Boyd to discuss why you should avoid negative comments at all costs, how to grow with your partner to better understand their point of view and how to hear people out without becoming enemies. Their book is “How to Talk with Anyone About Anything: The Practice of Safe Conversations.” And later in the hour, we’ll talk with a researcher who studies social interactions about how to navigate everything from small talk to customer service to a doctor’s office visit.

From the famous “Psycho” shower scene to “Poltergeist” and Chucky, America has a fascination with horror. Jeremy Dauber, professor of Jewish literature and American studies at Columbia University, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss how horror reflects worries of a collective culture, how the genre helped the fight against slavery and how changing gender roles spark new creations. His book is “American Scary: A History of Horror, from Salem to Stephen King and Beyond.”