PODCAST

Wisdom of Crowds

Shadi Hamid & Damir Marusic

Agreement is nice. Disagreement is better. wisdomofcrowds.live

news news commentary

All Episodes

45:19

Did the Supreme Court Just Subvert Our System of...

Wisdom of Crowds ·

2024/07/05

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.liveOn July 1, the Supreme Court ruled that Donald Trump, as President of the United States, enjoys “absolute” immunity for “his core constitutional powers,” but that he “enjoys no immunity for his unofficial acts, and not everything the President does if official.” The ruling has an obvious immediate impact on the upcoming presidential elections. But it also suggests far-reaching questions about political sovereignty, and

45:28

Who is Responsible for This?

Wisdom of Crowds ·

2024/06/29

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.liveWhat happened on Thursday night was a debacle for Joe Biden and an embarrassment for the nation. About this, our three hosts — Christine, Damir and Shadi — all agree. And they are all angry about it. But who is to blame? Biden himself? The DNC? The media? Trump? All of us?Shadi, Damir, and Christine work through their post-debate anguish and anger — and try to figure out who is responsible for the predicament that the

40:22

The Joyful Podcast

Wisdom of Crowds ·

2024/06/22

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.liveYou might have noticed that Wisdom of Crowds got a facelift this week. We touched up our homepage and added two new features: CrowdSource and Provocations (read more about both here). In this spirit of renewal and relaunch, on the podcast we are getting back to our bread and butter with a classic Shadi and Damir episode. This week’s episode deals with the virtues of resignation. Is giving up ever the right choice to

67:21

Phil Klay on Morality and War

Wisdom of Crowds ·

2024/06/15

Morality and war. Two words that seem to have nothing to do with each other. Yet as recent events have shown, our conscience pricks us every time we hear news of an atrocity, smarts at every war and rumor of war. Can a war ever be just? Does talk about morality in the conduct of war make any sense?Joining Shadi and Damir to discuss this heady topic is Phil Klay, a novelist and essayist whose first book, the short story collection Redeployment, won the National Book Award in 2014. An Iraq War

61:44

(Why) Do We Love Violence (and Sex)?

Wisdom of Crowds ·

2024/06/07

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.liveThis week, Wisdom of Crowds hosts a fluid discussion about violence and sex in movies, where the “shoulds” of life come from, and whether liberal values can be based on something other than religion. The discussion is more meditative than contentious, an exploration prompted by recent pop culture hits and a probing comment from the Crowd.Violence is entertaining. That’s the conclusion that Damir draws after watching the

51:19

Liberalism is not Neutral

Wisdom of Crowds ·

2024/05/31

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.liveConservatives often argue that liberalism is not a neutral political system. Liberalism, they say, has values of its own. It sneakily promotes these values as normative, and even good, for the citizens of liberal societies — whether those citizens like it or not.The philosopher and self-proclaimed liberal Alexandre Lefebvre believes that, empirically speaking, this conservative critique is pretty much true. As the title

54:25

What the Israelis are Thinking

Wisdom of Crowds ·

2024/05/24

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.liveThe war in Gaza is dividing Israeli opinion, but not along the same lines that it divides American opinion. What are Israeli priorities? How important is the return of hostages relative to total victory? What is Netanyahu thinking? What is the Israeli Left thinking? Is there an anti-war movement in Israel? Do American categories make any sense within the Israeli political context?Washington Post political columnist

63:57

Martha Nussbaum on Justice for Animals

Wisdom of Crowds ·

2024/05/17

What does justice mean for animals? Is justice for animals the same as justice for human beings? Why should we care more about the rights of animals when the rights of humans are so often neglected? Martha Nussbaum teaches philosophy, ethics, and law at the University of Chicago, and is one of the most influential and cited philosophers of our time. She’s written dozens of books on Greek philosophy, the importance of emotions in politics, justice, feminism, and many other topics. She joins the

82:24

Matt Yglesias on How Gaza Scrambled Identity Politics

Wisdom of Crowds ·

2024/05/10

Do Arab Americans support pro-Palestine protests because of identity politics? What about American Jewish support for Israel? Are both groups being “tribal” or are they fighting for universal values — as they understand them?Recently, policy guru and Ur-Blogger Matt Yglesias pointed out that some of the political thinkers who, just a couple years ago, were aligned in opposition to identity politics today find themselves on opposite sides over Palestine. One of the names Matt mentioned was our own

43:20

Samuel Moyn Prefers Voters to Judges

Wisdom of Crowds ·

2024/05/05

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.liveLast December, the highest court in the State of Colorado ruled that Donald Trump’s involvement with January 6 disqualified him from holding the office of president. On May 4, the Supreme Court voted unanimously to overturn this decision, clearing the way for Trump to appear on the ballot in all fifty states. Naturally, at Wisdom of Crowds these events got us thinking about the big questions. When it comes to

46:35

Protests and Solidarity

Wisdom of Crowds ·

2024/04/27

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.livePro-Palestine protests have spread to college campuses across the country. Our social media feeds are flooded with images of chanting students and clashes with police. Meanwhile, Congress has passed a bill to deliver more aid to Israel, and there’s signs that the IDF is about to move on Rafah. In this episode, Shadi explores what it means to stand in solidarity with the protests, while Damir teases out their effect on

57:11

A Debate about American Power

Wisdom of Crowds ·

2024/04/19

This week’s episode is a special collaboration with The Disagreement, a new platform that aims to “celebrate and normalize healthy disagreement.” (Check them out!) Wisdom of Crowds is 100% behind that mission statement, and so it was natural for us to agree to record an episode together. Fans of Wisdom of Crowds will know that Shadi has recently completed a book about American power, tentatively titled, “On Power.” Fans will also know that he debated the socialist writer Dan Bessner of the podcast

72:40

In Search of New Political Ideas

Wisdom of Crowds ·

2024/04/12

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.liveChristine and Damir kick things off by discussing a memoir about the fall of Communism in Albania. Damir reflects on his own post-Communist background, and ponders why Communist nostalgia affects only some countries, while others are not looking back. He wonders whether Christine is becoming a Communist herself after reading her essay about “Limitarianism,” a school of political thought that favors a cap on extreme

37:28

Parenthood at the End of the World

Wisdom of Crowds ·

2024/04/06

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.liveThis week’s podcast is a recording of a live event. Rachel M. Cohen, a senior policy reporter for Vox, recently published an essay where she asks: “To our generation, being a mom looks thankless, exhausting, and lonely. Can we change the story?” As listeners know, this question speaks right to the heart of Wisdom of Crowds. Christine and Shadi invited Rachel to discuss her piece before a live audience in Washington, DC

87:20

How to Disagree Without Compromise

Wisdom of Crowds ·

2024/03/30

America is badly polarized. It’s a fact so pervasively acknowledged that pointing it out starts to feel like saying the sky is blue. Unlike a blue sky, however, growing polarization in America presents a difficult challenge. Because America is both incredibly diverse and a vibrant democracy, polarization starts to eat away at our politics.Many attempts have been made to deal with polarization. A lot of it has to do with putting people with diverging perspectives face-to-face in an attempt to try to

108:34

The World According to Jordan Castro

Wisdom of Crowds ·

2024/03/22

Special guest Jordan Castro joins Shadi and Santiago to talk about his novel, The Novelist, internet culture, his religious conversion, drug addiction, love and, of course, literature. It’s a rich conversation and we are leaving out the paywall, so that everyone can have a listen.Required Reading:* The Novelist by Jordan Castro* Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry on René Girard* New anthology of Girard’s essential writings* Varieties of Religious Experience by William James* The Present Age:

57:56

"Doing the Work" May Be Hazardous to Your Soul

Wisdom of Crowds ·

2024/03/15

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.liveIn a late-night confab, Damir and Sam explore the meaning of experiences of wonder, which they each have written about for Wisdom of Crowds.For Sam, these unique experiences are the foundation for his beliefs about the nature of the world and human life. Damir, on the other hand, does not believe that the experience of wonder necessarily leads to metaphysical questions. This freewheeling, stay-up-all-night fever dream

52:19

”More” is Less

Wisdom of Crowds ·

2024/03/02

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.liveA recently-published memoir making headlines suggests a trend: Polyamory is going mainstream among high-status Americans. Culture critic and environmental studies professor Tyler Austin Harper joins Christine and Shadi to make sense of this fad, and explain why it’s both an upper-class luxury and a raw deal. Along the way they discuss happiness, self-expression, race, love, self-immolation, parenting, and a better way

51:03

The Lure of the Scam

Wisdom of Crowds ·

2024/02/23

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.liveChristine and Damir discuss two personal essays from New York magazine that went viral last week. The first deals with divorce, the second with getting scammed. A flabbergasted Damir can’t believe they were published; he wonders if anyone outside New York would care to read them. Christine finds ironic wisdom buried in both essays. The conversation ends on a high note, with Christine explaining how one of the essays

50:20

The Map and the Territory

Wisdom of Crowds ·

2024/02/16

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.liveJason Blakely of Pepperdine University joins Shadi and Damir to discuss his new book, Lost in Ideology: Interpreting Modern Political Life. A professor of political science, Jason claims that everyone has an ideology. The point is to be aware of it, and to remember that there’s always more to reality than your ideology can explain. Damir doesn’t buy it. The quest for power, he thinks, is what ultimately drives politics,

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