Episodes

  • Samuel Moyn on Why Old People Are Ruining America

    Samuel Moyn on Why Old People Are Ruining America
    Jun 16 2026
    Yascha Mounk and Sam Moyn also discuss whether some people deserve to have more votes than others. Samuel Moyn is the Kent Professor of Law and History at Yale University. His books include Humane: How the United States Abandoned Peace and Reinvented War, The Last Utopia, and Not Enough: Human Rights in an Unequal World. Cohost of the Digging a Hole podcast, he is a frequent contributor to The New York Times and many other publications. In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Sam Moyn discuss whether a truly fair democracy might weigh different citizens’ votes differently, whether the emphasis on human rights have got us into the mess we’re in today, and to what extent our democracy is in danger from populism. If you have not yet signed up for our podcast, please do so now by following this link on your phone. Email: leonora.barclay@persuasion.community Podcast production by Mickey Freeland and Leonora Barclay. Connect with us! Spotify | Apple X: @Yascha_Mounk & @JoinPersuasion YouTube: Yascha Mounk, Persuasion LinkedIn: Persuasion Community Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 5 mins
  • David Bau on How—and Whether—Artificial Intelligence Thinks

    David Bau on How—and Whether—Artificial Intelligence Thinks
    Jun 13 2026
    Yascha Mounk and David Bau delve into the emerging science of AI interpretability and what we can learn from billions of neural signals. David Bau is Assistant Professor at Northeastern University and Director of the National Deep Inference Fabric, researching the emergent internal mechanisms of deep generative networks in both Natural Language Processing and Computer Vision. In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and David Bau discuss how AI models actually produce their results and reflect about problems, whether the “thinking” process that models show users reveals their authentic thought processes, and how researchers can decode the internal representations of neural networks to understand what information they contain and use. If you have not yet signed up for our podcast, please do so now by following ⁠this link on your phone⁠. Email: leonora.barclay@persuasion.community Podcast production by Jack Shields and Leonora Barclay. Connect with us! ⁠Spotify⁠ | ⁠Apple⁠ X: ⁠@Yascha_Mounk⁠ & ⁠@JoinPersuasion⁠ YouTube: ⁠Yascha Mounk⁠, ⁠Persuasion⁠ LinkedIn: ⁠Persuasion Community Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 24 mins
  • Rebecca Haw Allensworth on How Professional Licenses are Rigging the Game for Insiders

    Rebecca Haw Allensworth on How Professional Licenses are Rigging the Game for Insiders
    Jun 9 2026
    Yascha Mounk and Rebecca Haw Allensworth examine how professional licensing has become America’s most important—and most restrictive—regulatory institution. If you have not yet signed up for our podcast, please do so now by following this link on your phone. Email: leonora.barclay@persuasion.community Podcast production by Mickey Freeland and Leonora Barclay. Connect with us! Spotify | Apple X: @Yascha_Mounk & @JoinPersuasion YouTube: Yascha Mounk, Persuasion LinkedIn: Persuasion Community Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    49 mins
  • Steve Stewart-Williams on Sex Differences and Human Nature

    Steve Stewart-Williams on Sex Differences and Human Nature
    Jun 6 2026
    Yascha Mounk and Steve Stewart-Williams examine what science reveals about biological and psychological differences between men and women. Steve Stewart-Williams is a professor of Psychology at the University of Nottingham’s Malaysia campus and runs The Nature-Nurture-Nietzsche Newsletter. His latest book is A Billion Years of Sex Differences. In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Steve Stewart-Williams discuss why women and men are more similar than is often thought and what the real sex differences between men and women are, from casual sex to career choices. If you have not yet signed up for our podcast, please do so now by following ⁠this link on your phone⁠. Email: leonora.barclay@persuasion.community Podcast production by Jack Shields and Leonora Barclay. Connect with us! ⁠Spotify⁠ | ⁠Apple⁠ | ⁠Google⁠ X: ⁠@Yascha_Mounk⁠ & ⁠@JoinPersuasion⁠ YouTube: ⁠Yascha Mounk⁠, ⁠Persuasion⁠ LinkedIn: ⁠Persuasion Community Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr
  • Jeremiah Johnson on Why Gen Z Isn’t Actually Doomed

    Jeremiah Johnson on Why Gen Z Isn’t Actually Doomed
    Jun 2 2026
    Yascha Mounk and Jeremiah Johnson examine the disconnect between economic data and public sentiment about young Americans’ prospects. Jeremiah Johnson is the co-founder of the Center for New Liberalism. He hosts the New Liberal Podcast and writes at Infinite Scroll. In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Jeremiah Johnson discuss why young Americans think the economy is worse than it actually is, whether social media has made us permanently pessimistic about institutions, and how elite failures are now exposed in real time. If you have not yet signed up for our podcast, please do so now by following this link on your phone. Email: leonora.barclay@persuasion.community Podcast production by Mickey Freeland and Leonora Barclay. Connect with us! Spotify | Apple | Google X: @Yascha_Mounk & @JoinPersuasion YouTube: Yascha Mounk, Persuasion LinkedIn: Persuasion Community Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    49 mins
  • Kathryn Paige Harden on How Genetics Shapes Human Behavior

    Kathryn Paige Harden on How Genetics Shapes Human Behavior
    May 30 2026
    Yascha Mounk and Paige Harden discuss twin studies, heritability research, and why genetic influence varies across different traits and populations. Kathryn Paige Harden is a professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin, where she leads the Developmental Behavior Genetics lab and serves as Director of Clinical Training. Her latest book is Original Sin: On the Genetics of Vice, the Problem of Blame, and the Future of Forgiveness. In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Paige Harden discuss why twin studies reveal the substantial influence of genetics on human behavior, how genetic effects actually increase rather than decrease over a person’s lifetime, and why acknowledging genetic influences shouldn’t be seen as incompatible with progressive politics. Watch this conversation on our ⁠YouTube Channel⁠! If you have not yet signed up for our podcast, please do so now by following ⁠this link on your phone⁠. Email: leonora.barclay@persuasion.community Podcast production by Jack Shields and Leonora Barclay. Connect with us! ⁠Spotify⁠ | ⁠Apple⁠ | ⁠Google⁠ X: ⁠@Yascha_Mounk⁠ & ⁠@JoinPersuasion⁠ YouTube: ⁠Yascha Mounk⁠, ⁠Persuasion⁠ LinkedIn: ⁠Persuasion Community Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 4 mins
  • H.W. Brands on the Making of George Washington

    H.W. Brands on the Making of George Washington
    May 26 2026
    Yascha Mounk and H.W. Brands discuss the first U.S. president’s life and legacy. H. W. Brands holds the Jack S. Blanton Sr. Chair in History at the University of Texas at Austin and is the author of more than a dozen biographies and histories. His latest book is American Patriarch: The Life of George Washington. In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and H. W. Brands discuss why Washington’s reputation has endured despite the controversial legacies of other founding fathers, how his frontier upbringing shaped his character, and what Washington’s voluntary relinquishment of power reveals about leadership and ambition. Watch this conversation on our YouTube Channel! If you have not yet signed up for our podcast, please do so now by following this link on your phone. Email: leonora.barclay@persuasion.community Podcast production by Mickey Freeland and Leonora Barclay. Connect with us! Spotify | Apple | Google X: @Yascha_Mounk & @JoinPersuasion YouTube: Yascha Mounk, Persuasion LinkedIn: Persuasion Community Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 17 mins
  • James Traub on Why American Classrooms Are Failing Democracy

    James Traub on Why American Classrooms Are Failing Democracy
    May 23 2026
    Yascha Mounk and James Traub examine how progressive teaching methods are producing citizens who can't think critically. James Traub is a journalist, author and scholar. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the New York Institute For The Humanities and the Society of American Historians. In this week's conversation, Yascha Mounk and James Traub discuss why progressive pedagogy is failing American students, how classical schools are achieving better outcomes through traditional teaching methods, and whether learning facts versus critical thinking represents a false choice in education. If you have not yet signed up for our podcast, please do so now by following ⁠this link on your phone⁠. Email: leonora.barclay@persuasion.community Podcast production by Jack Shields and Leonora Barclay. Connect with us! ⁠Spotify⁠ | ⁠Apple⁠ | ⁠Google⁠ X: ⁠@Yascha_Mounk⁠ & ⁠@JoinPersuasion⁠ YouTube: ⁠Yascha Mounk⁠, ⁠Persuasion⁠ LinkedIn: ⁠Persuasion Community Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    54 mins