Shows
Wisdom of CrowdsSex and Death and Norms and ShameThis 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 attack on an IVF clinic in California and Christine’s recent New York Times article about the social damage wr...2025-05-2449 min
Wisdom of Crowds"A Nation of Trumps"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) and “giddy” (also his words) about the curren...2025-05-0348 min
Wisdom of CrowdsThe Boom Boom Vibe ShiftThis is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.live“Something is happening here and you don’t know what it is,” goes the Bob Dylan track from 1965. That song was directed at the squares who weren’t yet hip to the Sixties. It sounded foreboding then, and it sounds foreboding now, because something is happening, again — something perhaps as great and consequential as the cultural changes of Dylan’s time. For several years now, people have been speaking about a cultural “vibe shift.” The MAGA electoral victory appears to have been the culmination...2025-02-2245 min
Wisdom of CrowdsThe Scramble Before the StormThis is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.live“The weird right wing men are coming out to the fore in joy,” announces Shadi Hamid. “They’re strutting more than they did in 2016,” observes Damir Marusic. “The counter-elite is becoming the elite,” says Shadi. “There is gonna be a bloodbath,” says Damir: “They will soon be drinking from a fire hydrant of sewage.”Two weeks have passed since the Trump inauguration, as well as its attendant galas, balls and parties. Damir and Shadi have trained their weary eyes upon the new class of upsta...2025-02-0247 min
Wisdom of CrowdsChristmas Time and Regular TimeDamir Marusic has been reading the Bible this year for the first time. So Christine Emba and Santiago Ramos decided it was the perfect occasion for interrogating him about what he’s learned and what he’s been thinking about. In the ensuing conversation, the three discuss Freemasonry, Protestantism, Catholicism, Predestination and how Christianity is receiving new attention in Silicon Valley. Then, the conversation turns to Christmas traditions, and how the contemplative and party-going sides of Christmas complement each other.In the spirit of Christmas, we have made this a free episode for all subscribers. The...2024-12-241h 13
Wisdom of CrowdsLive Episode: Rebellion or Realignment?As election data analysis continues to pour in, we can be sure of one thing: a large number of working class votes which traditionally would have gone to the Democrats shifted in 2024 toward the GOP. As CNN reported last week: “Trump ran up large margins among White voters without a college degree who belong to labor unions and also significantly improved among unionized non-White workers without advanced education.”So, did Trump’s victory signal a realignment for the working class? Or was it a one-off thing, an act of rebellion against a complacent Democratic establishment? In terms of fir...2024-12-191h 03
Wisdom of CrowdsThe Passion of the ElitesThis is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.liveMusa al-Gharbi is a sociologist and assistant professor in the School of Communication and Journalism at Stony Brook University. He joins Christine Emba and Damir Marusic to discuss his new book, We Have Never Been Woke: Social Justice Discourse, Inequality, and the Rise of a New Elite. Don’t worry: the book is not another culture war polemic. Instead, it’s something much more useful: a work of social science that explains what “woke” means in terms of class and culture in the Unit...2024-10-131h 01
Wisdom of CrowdsWhat Are Children For?This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.liveThe international drop in baby-making is currently in the headlines, and it’s been constant preoccupation for us at Wisdom of Crowds (including in our latest edition of CrowdSource). It concerns us not only because of the possible long-term economic consequences but also because a people’s inability — or lack of desire — to reproduce itself might be the consequence of serious moral or social problems.Enter philosophers Anastasia Berg and Rachel Wiseman. Anastasia is a professor at University of California at Irvin...2024-08-091h 07
Wisdom of Crowds(Why) Do We Love Violence (and Sex)?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 movie, Civil War, which he thoroughly enjoyed. Christine questions Damir about his ta...2024-06-071h 01
Wisdom of CrowdsIn Search of New Political IdeasThis 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 wealth. Christine unpacks her own ideas about economic justice and democracy, and considers whether the Communist past in E...2024-04-121h 12
Wisdom of CrowdsParenthood at the End of the WorldThis 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 on March 20. The topics of conversation included marriage, singleness, hope...2024-04-0637 min
Wisdom of Crowds"More" is LessThis 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 to live. Required Reading:* Tyler Austin Harper, “Polyamory, the Ruling Class’s Latest Fad.”* Tyler Au...2024-03-0250 min
Wisdom of CrowdsIs Masculinity in Crisis?This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.liveWe’re thrilled to publish the audio from our first major event in collaboration with Aspen Institute’s Philosophy & Society Initiative. P&S and Wisdom of Crowds have grown up together and are both relentlessly focused on getting down to first principle questions. Click the link below and add your email to the mailing list to find out when we’re doing more of these kinds of events.In this episode, we take on the crisis of masculinity. Damir Marusic asks o...2023-12-0337 min
Wisdom of CrowdsThe Masculine World Is AdriftThis is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.liveAt a time of disruption in the workforce, rapidly shifting gender norms, a dearth of role models and declines in mental health, men are facing a distinct set of challenges that are prompting a renewed understanding of masculinity. For the last few years, viral right-of-center personalities have dominated the conversation offering men guidance that much of mainstream media has viewed as radioactive. But as the challenges men face become more apparent, others are recognizing the issue at hand isn’t just a ri...2023-08-0739 min
Wisdom of CrowdsIs American Decline Inevitable?Shadi, Christine, and Sam head to Aspen to record a live episode of the show. The crowd gets involved.The broad topic of the conversation was decline. We don’t always know how to express it, but many of us feel it: There’s something wrong with America today. The mood is tense. More Americans say they won’t have children because of climate change and other future catastrophes. But are things really as bad as they seem? Is decline something we need to accept—or is there a case for a new optimism?You won’t wa...2023-06-301h 05
Wisdom of CrowdsIs Spirituality Possible Without God?This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.liveAs organized religion declines, particularly among younger Americans, a constellation of spiritual and sense-making phenomena appear to be taking its place. This week, Damir Marusic and Editor-at-Large Christine Emba are joined by the author Tara Isabella Burton whose upcoming book Self-Made: Creating Our Identities from Da Vinci to the Kardashians, chronicles how our sense of self has evolved over time alongside political, religious and societal change.Damir and Christine interrogate Tara’s argument that in adhering excessively to in...2023-05-2651 min
Wisdom of CrowdsWhat's There To Live For If You Only Live Online?This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.liveAn anti-natalist subculture has flourished for years online. These days, it feels like it’s taking hold in the real world.This week, writer and internet historian Katherine Dee and Editor-at-Large Christine Emba join Shadi and Damir to make sense of this underground phenomenon—and its broader implications for how we live today.Do people really believe that suffering makes life not worth experiencing? And what is the source of the breathtaking idea that one can and should spar...2023-04-2151 min
Wisdom of CrowdsThe Boys Aren't AlrightThis is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.live2022-10-1446 min
Wisdom of CrowdsOur Twisted Sexual CultureThis is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.liveThis week we were joined by Christine Emba, a columnist at the Washington Post and author of the fascinating new book Rethinking Sex: A Provocation. What resulted was the longest episode in Wisdom of Crowds history, delving into some uncharted territory. We discuss a lot of big topics—the perils of modern dating, the sex recession, consent, incels, marriage, porn, and Tinder hookup culture. If we have so much freedom, why are we so unhappy about it?Shadi presses Christine ab...2022-04-061h 09
Wisdom of CrowdsEpisode 28: Victorians, Manners, and the Woke WarsStand up straight! The Washington Post's Christine Emba joins Shadi and Damir to ponder the positive aspects of the woke wars, the role of ideas in furthering social change, and the virtues of lukewarm takes. Reading List: "Why George Floyd Died," by Rod Dreher (The American Conservative) This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wisdomofcrowds.live/subscribe2020-08-061h 21