When poet, lawyer, and MacArthur Fellow Dwayne Betts was imprisoned for nine years at the age of 16 for carjacking, he only wept twice. One of those times was when he read Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” In this powerful conversation with EconTalk’s Russ Roberts, Betts explains why he cried, what he […] The post Injustice and the “Letter from Birmingham Jail” (with Dwayne Betts) appeared first on Econlib.

The Covid vaccine saved many lives but so many mistakes were made in how public health officials discussed it, implemented it, and assessed its effectiveness. Epidemiologist Vinay Prasad of the University of California, San Francisco talks with EconTalk’s Russ Roberts about what went wrong, the costs of the mistakes that were made, and what we […] The post The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of the Covid Vaccine (with Vinay Prasad) appeared first on Econlib.

If you didn’t have to work to enjoy material abundance, would you do it anyway? If an algorithm or a pill could achieve better results, would you bother shopping or going to the gym? These are the kinds of questions we’ll need to ask ourselves if AI makes all human labor and other traditional ways […] The post Purpose, Pleasure, and Meaning in a World Without Work (with Nicholas Bostrom) appeared first on Econlib.

Economist and social critic Glenn Loury talks about his memoir, Late Admissions, with EconTalk’s Russ Roberts. In a wide-ranging and blunt conversation, Loury discusses his childhood, his at-times brilliant academic work, his roller-coaster ideological journey, and his personal flaws as a drug addict and imperfect husband. This is a rich conversation about academic life, race […] The post Glenn Loury Tells All appeared first on Econlib.

What does it mean to live Constitutionally in the year 2024? For a start, it means getting off social media. It also means swapping a quill pen for your keyboard, and candlelight for electricity. And don’t forget the tricorn hat and musket–though maybe skip the boiled mutton. Join author A.J. Jacobs as he deep-dives with […] The post Living with the Constitution (with A.J. Jacobs) appeared first on Econlib.

Russ Roberts, EconTalk Host The favorite EconTalk episodes for host Russ Roberts are when he and his guest have an unusually powerful connection such as his recent episode with Charles Duhigg, and the ones where he learns something mind-blowing, like Adam Mastroianni’s insight that you can’t reach the brain through the ears. Listen as Russ […] The post The Top EconTalk Conversations of 2023 (with Russ Roberts) appeared first on Econlib.

Would an AI simulation of your dead loved one be a blessing or an abomination? And if you knew that after your own death, your loved ones would create a simulation of you, how would that knowledge change the way you choose to live today? These are some of the questions psychologist Paul Bloom discusses with EconTalk’s Russ Roberts as we stand on the threshold […] The post Seeking Immortality (with Paul Bloom) appeared first on Econlib.

If the Wright Brothers could have used AI to guide their decision making, it’s almost certain they would never have gotten off the ground. That’s because, points out Teppo Felin of Utah State University and Oxford, all the evidence said human flight was impossible. So how and why did the Wrights persevere? Felin explains that the human ability to […] The post When Prediction Is Not Enough (with Teppo Felin) appeared first on Econlib.

While religion may play less of a role in many people’s lives, rituals–the lifeblood of religion–remain central to the human experience. Listen as Michael Norton of the Harvard Business School explains how and why rituals remain at the center of our lives–they give meaning to life-cycle events and secular holidays, calm our fears, and give […] The post Rituals Without Religion (with Michael Norton) appeared first on Econlib.

Can you be too happy? Psychologist Adam Mastroianni talks with EconTalk’s Russ Roberts about our emotional control systems, which seem to work at bringing both sadness and happiness back to a steady baseline. Too much happiness is–perhaps surprisingly–not necessarily a good thing. They also explore whether our general level of happiness is really related to […] The post A User’s Guide to Our Emotional Thermostat (with Adam Mastroianni) appeared first on Econlib.