It’s the second anniversary of the October 7th attacks, and the Middle East is abuzz with a new plan that would see an independent Palestinian body administer the Gaza Strip. Could the Gaza War end up delivering real peace? What would it take, in Israel, Palestine and beyond, for the horrors of the past two years to give way to something better than the previous status quo? Yaakov Katz is the former editor-in-chief of The Jerusalem Post after devoting many years as the paper’s military correspondent. He was briefly senior adviser to Naftali Bennett (a former - and, many believe, likely future - Israeli prime minister) and Yaakov’s new book is While Israel Slept: How Hamas Surprised the Most Powerful Military in the Middle East. Yaakov and Josh reflect on the intelligence and military breakdowns that led to October 7th, the clash between Israeli policies and world opinion, the disillusionment of many Jews with the Gaza War, the trauma on both sides, and whether the future for Arabs and Jews might, in fact, be more hopeful than you’ve been led to believe.
--------
1:23:29
--------
1:23:29
"Is the UK Falling Apart?" with Dominic Frisby
Is it racist to worry that there are more immigrants in London than white English? Has the UK reached a tipping point in its conversation about Britain’s national identity? What’s going on? Race riots; migrant detention hotels ablaze; the prime minister condemning Elon Musk for using “dangerous and inflammatory” language at a nationalist protest with the far-right agitator Tommy Robinson. What happened to tea cups and crumpets, umbrellas and bowler hats - or even the “Cool Britannia” of the London Olympics? Dominic Frisby is an English comedian, musician, author, and philosophiser about social justice, diversity, finance, economics, and all things cultural. As a Brexiteer (and a return-to-the-gold-standard Bitcoiner), he rejected accusations that he was “far right” with his hit song “We’re All Far Rigt Now”. It broke the internet with tens of millions of views and lyrics like “Worse than Winston Churchill, worse than Enoch Powell, Klu Klux Clan and Jimmy Fallon, we’re all racist now. Oh, the countryside is racist. Dogs and cats are racist. Eating meat is racist... We’re all far right now.” Dominic sat down with Josh to wrestle with crime in London, immigration, race, conspiracy theories, freedom of speech, how to avoid a civil war, and why China is secretly stashing bazillions of dollars in gold.
--------
36:18
--------
36:18
“Don’t F*** it up, Australia” with MP Allegra Spender
It’s a fact. The way our governments raise and spend money benefits older, richer people, and disadvantages younger people who are trying to build wealth. If we’re going to hold society together - and keep liberal democracy robust - we need massive economic reform. But what does that mean?Allegra Spender is one of Australia’s most popular members of parliament. She belongs to no political party, although her centre-right group of independents, unofficially called the “Teals”, helped to sweep the conservative government from power in 2022. As a former corporate executive and management consultant, Spender recently joined a major economic reform roundtable to advise the government about radically increasing productivity. Spender emerged with controversial ideas about how to make life better for those starting out… and, in so doing, how to shore up democracy for everyone.
--------
55:36
--------
55:36
“We’re Going to be Okay” with social psychologist Adam Mastroianni
Trump. Gaza. Artificial Intelligence. Authoritarianism. Assassinations. Climate Chaos. Russia. Social media. The far right. Terrorism. Political division. How bad are things? More importantly: How would we know?Every generation believes things are falling apart. And at some point, they’ll be right. But the social psychologist Adam Mastroianni argues that we’re exhibiting a kind of doom paralysis right now.Even if things were as bad as they seem, they’re more likely to be solved - and you’re more likely to be constructive - if you assume they’re not.Mastroianni has a PhD from Harvard and studies how knowledge and ideas spread, and how people think about each other. His terrific Substack newsletter is Experimental History, and he joins Josh to help us understand why some people feel powerless, and some enthusiastic, about the challenges ahead.
--------
39:59
--------
39:59
"How the Lab Leak Got Cred" with Elizabeth Finkel
What happens when the public's understanding of a global event is hijacked by online psuedo-experts? How should scientists express uncertainty when everyone's suspicious? Was Anthony Fauci the victim of a crazed conspiracy, or is there something fishy in the official origins of Covid-19? The inside story of how the Covid lab leak hypothesis went mainstream is just one of the tales which the science journalist Elizabeth Finkel investigates in her new book. Josh is still suspicious of the Wuhan lab so the two of them debate the wet market, gain of function research, China's secrecy, RFK's disinformation, Occam's razor, and how to do good science in a post-truth era. Finkel is the co-founder and former Editor-in-Chief of COSMOS magazine and a regular contributor to Science magazine. Her new book is Prove It: A Scientific Guide for the Post-Truth Era.
The world has never been more connected. Yet never more divided. We yell at each other from inside our echo chambers. But change doesn’t happen inside an echo chamber. It’s time to get out, to stretch our legs, to step on some land mines. It's time to have an uncomfortable conversation with Josh Szeps.
A DM Podcast
Australia