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Wisdom of Crowds

Shadi Hamid & Damir Marusic

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45:58

From Utah to Utopia

Wisdom of Crowds ·

2025/08/22

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.liveAmerican Primeval on Netflix. The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives on Hulu. Ballerina Farm on Instagram. American culture is living through a Mormon moment. It is a sign that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is growing in confidence and strength. But what are the drawbacks to becoming mainstream? What are the trade-offs involved in American liberalism? What can those of us who are not part of the LDS Church

63:31

Where's the Resistance?

Wisdom of Crowds ·

2025/08/15

President Donald Trump federalized DC law enforcement this week, raising all sorts of questions — about democracy, authoritarianism, sovereignty and legitimacy — that are natural fits for us to discuss here at Wisdom of Crowds. Yes, Trump’s use of emergency powers to justify the takeover is constitutional, even if he is stretching the concept of what counts as an emergency. But Damir Marusic feels like things took a much darker turn this week, and nobody seems to have noticed. Weren’t people in the

43:43

Waiting for the Barbarians

Wisdom of Crowds ·

2025/08/09

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.live“ ‘Barbarism’ is a word that keeps coming to my lips lately,” writes Damir Marusic in a brilliant new article this week. Barbarism seems to be the only real word that describes what comes after the liberal international order. But Damir isn’t pointing to the supposed barbarism of our enemies. His article points to the ways that we in the West — and in the United States — are becoming coarser and more egocentric. Like

57:30

Men Without Women, and Vice Versa

Wisdom of Crowds ·

2025/08/02

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.liveWomen and men are having a hard time finding each other. A lot of women are giving up on finding a mate. Some women with mates are worried that their men don’t have any friends. Everyone hates dating apps. People are having fewer babies.These are among the many depressing stories that the media is telling about love and marriage today. How true are they…

44:57

Matthew Walther on Conspiracy Theories

Wisdom of Crowds ·

2025/07/23

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.liveDead almost six years, Jeffrey Epstein is back in the news. The sordid details of his crimes, and the elaborate conspiracy concerning elites that he may or may not have been a part of, have become a central issue within the MAGA coalition. Conspiracy theories in general are now a part of daily political life. None of us can escape them. Most of us probably half-believe in at least one of them. Why is that?Today’s guest

53:45

What is Happiness?

Wisdom of Crowds ·

2025/07/19

What is happiness? Why are so many Americans — by their own admission — unhappy? These are the central questions in this special episode, live from the Aspen Ideas Festival. At the festival, our house philosopher, Dr. Samuel Kimbriel, hosted a discussion with three distinguished thinkers. Adam Sandel is a philosopher and assistant district attorney in Brooklyn whose latest book is titled Happiness in Action: A Philosopher’s Guide to the Good Life. Agnes Callard is a philosophy professor at the

52:28

Paul Elie on Culture and Crypto-Religiosity

Wisdom of Crowds ·

2025/07/12

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.liveIt’s the summer doldrums, so this week, Wisdom of Crowds is taking a break from politics and war and Trump. Instead, we are talking about culture. Our guest, Paul Elie, is one of the leading culture and religion writers in the United States. His words have appeared in the New Yorker, the Atlantic, and the New York Times. Paul’s latest book, The Last Supper: Art, Faith, Sex, and Controversy in the 1980s, tells the story

39:25

Is History Still Over? with Francis Fukuyama

Wisdom of Crowds ·

2025/07/03

Last month, Francis Fukuyama was scheduled to come to Washington, DC for a live taping of Wisdom of Crowds. Unfortunately, as subscribers know, Frank lost his voice the morning of his scheduled appearance, and we were forced to cancel. However, we were able to record a bit of conversation with him and Shadi Hamid the following day, with a few colleagues asking questions.The conversation ended up being a quasi-“state of liberalism” address, perfect for July 4th weekend.The conversation begins with

52:42

War is the Father of All

Wisdom of Crowds ·

2025/06/28

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.live“War is the father of all and the king of all; and some he has made gods and some men, some bond and some free.”So said the ancient Greek philosopher, Heraclitus. In his essay this week, Santiago Ramos says the opposite: “… war is a necessary evil; it is not what preserves the great achievements of the human race. War threatens those achievements, and we are lucky that more has not been destroyed already.” Santiago

59:58

Sohrab Ahmari on the Israel-Iran War and its Aftermath

Wisdom of Crowds ·

2025/06/19

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.liveThe Israel-Iran war is about to enter its sixth day. As of this recording — Wednesday evening, June 18 — President Trump has not announced whether the United States will join the Israeli war effort.During this unpleasant lull, Shadi Hamid and Damir Marusic invited Sohrab Ahmari to discuss what we can expect from the war and its aftermath. In recent days, Sohrab has emerged as an essential commentator on the Iran Israel

47:49

Abbas Milani on the Future of Iran

Wisdom of Crowds ·

2025/06/15

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.liveThe war between Iran and Israel is bound to determine the future of the Middle East and, possibly, the whole world. The time is fitting, then, to release Shadi Hamid’s and Santiago Ramos’ conversation with Abbas Milani, professor of political science and Iran Studies at Stanford University. Professor Milani is a world-renowned authority on Iran, having published Lost Wisdom: Rethinking Modernity in Iran and The Shah, a

32:19

Livestream: War in Iran

Wisdom of Crowds ·

2025/06/13

It’s finally happened: Israel has attacked Iran. Wisdom of Crowds executive editor Santiago Ramos joined Damir Marusic for a live-streamed emergency q&a about the latest Middle East crisis. What do we know? What can we expect in the near future? What does this mean for the Middle East in the long term? And why does Damir think that Israel is America’s “junkyard dog”? For those who missed it, here is the video!If you missed the live stream and wish you hadn’t: there’s never been a better time to

55:47

What Kanye West Thinks He's Doing

Wisdom of Crowds ·

2025/06/07

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.liveWhy do artists try so hard to shock the public? Why is Kanye West singing about Hitler? Why are New York artists dabbling with fascism?The novelist and cultural critic Țara Isabella Burton joins Damir Marusic and Santiago Ramos to discuss these questions and more. Last week, Tara published an essay on Wisdom of Crowds titled “The Point of Pissing People Off.” In it, she tries to figure out whether there is something

40:05

The Future of AI and the Future of Humanity

Wisdom of Crowds ·

2025/06/01

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.liveIs tech replacing humanity? Or is it sharpening the question of what it means to be human? What does it mean to live a good life — as opposed to passable life? What features of humanity become more important by contrast and necessity in the technological age? Is it possible to find a higher version of humanity in order to thrive?For this week’s episode — a live taping of Wisdom of Crowds — we invited Santi Ruiz to

49:20

Sex and Death and Norms and Shame

Wisdom of Crowds ·

2025/05/24

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.liveWe live in an increasingly weird world, where the weirdness is facilitated and accelerated by the Internet. We live in a world full of instantly-available bizarre pornography and terrorist attacks inspired by misanthropic ideologies whose manifestos are published online. Katherine Dee, an Internet ethnographer, writer and friend of Wisdom of Crowds, joins Christine Emba and Shadi Hamid to talk about the recent terrorist

75:14

How to Think About Power and Morality

Wisdom of Crowds ·

2025/05/17

As subscribers of Wisdom of Crowds will know, the war in Gaza has preoccupied Shadi Hamid for over a year now, and has taken a central place in his political thinking. Damir Marusic begins this episode by challenging Shadi on this point. Is he giving too much importance to one political and moral cause over all others? And is he giving too much importance to morality as such in geopolitics?The conversation eventually shifts when Damir tells Shadi that he is an “activist” when he writes in favor of a

47:27

Make Greatness Great Again

Wisdom of Crowds ·

2025/05/11

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.liveOur special guest this week, David Polansky is a political theorist and commentator who lives in Canada. A frequent contributor to Wisdom of Crowds, he joins Shadi Hamid and Damir Marusic to discuss two excellent recent essays. The first one, titled “Does Canada Exist?” is about Canadian national identity, an issue that has become more relevant since Donald Trump has taken to calling Canada the 51st state, and while

48:58

"A Nation of Trumps"

Wisdom of Crowds ·

2025/05/03

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.liveTrump has been in office for one hundred days, and Damir Marusic thinks America deserves him: “I do tend to intuitively see Trump and Trumpism as a correction on a social order that has lost its way and is somehow badly out of tune,” Damir wrote earlier this week. “Something is broken and unsustainable, and has been so for a while.”Christine Emba and Shadi Hamid have questions. Why is Damir still “ebullient” (his words)

44:28

Trust Your Mind!

Wisdom of Crowds ·

2025/04/26

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.liveThis episode is a bit “meta”: it’s about what it means to keep an open mind, how to trust your conscience, why we should all avoid groupthink, and the phenomenon of “self silencing” — keeping your views to yourself when you’re afraid it might be too costly to say them out loud. But of course, this being Wisdom of Crowds, we link these meta-topics to the politics of the day. Jenara Nerenberg is a journalist, producer,

50:57

How to Get Un-Stuck

Wisdom of Crowds ·

2025/04/18

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.liveIs it possible to move up in this world? Are Americans stuck? Our guest today is Yoni Appelbaum, an American historian and staff writer at The Atlantic magazine. His new book, Stuck: How the Privileged and the Propertied Broke the Engine of American Opportunity, explores the various ways the American dream has been stymied — by the consolidation of property and wealth, the abuse of environmental regulations, the legacy

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