Plain English with Derek Thompson

Higher Education’s Age of "Insufferable Hypocrisy"

It would be an understatement to say that higher education is in crisis, as it faces attacks from both the current presidential administration as well as issues of its own making, like diversity politics. Today, Derek talks with Tyler Austin Harper, author of the viral essay “Confessions of a Token Black Professor,” about his critique of DEI and “wokeism” from the left. They discuss how good intentions and institutional self-interest led universities astray, and what it means for academic freedom, economic justice, and the future of higher education.

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If you have questions, observations, or ideas for future episodes, email us at [email protected].

Host: Derek Thompson

Guest: Tyler Austin Harper

Producer: Devon Baroldi

Additional Production Support: Ben Glicksman
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Today, Derek talks with cybersecurity expert Alex Stamos about a recent wave of alarming AI cyberattacks. For decades, one of the biggest fears about AI has been that the machines will start doing things we didn’t ask them to do. This summer, that fear started to feel a little less like science fiction, as some of the world’s most advanced AI models went off script, broke through security barriers, and found ways to get around the humans overseeing them. Derek and Alex discuss why AI is so good at hacking, what happens when bad actors have their own AI hackers, and what governments, companies, and the rest of us can do to protect ourselves.

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If you have questions, observations, or ideas for future episodes, email us at [email protected].

Host: Derek ThompsonGuest: Alex StamosProducer: Devon BaroldiAdditional Production Support: Ben Glicksman
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It seems a universal fact that AI has become an indispensable part of the American economy. At the same time, opposing AI has also become one of the most influential causes in American politics. Nowhere is that tension more obvious than in the fight over data centers. Across the country, communities are organizing to stop the massive facilities that power artificial intelligence from being built in their backyards.

In today’s episode, Derek talks with writer Jasmine Sun, who traveled through the Midwest to investigate the growing animosity towards AI infrastructure. Why do Americans hate data centers? Plus, if this trend continues, what happens when one of the most important forces in the U.S. economy runs headfirst into local politics?

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If you have questions, observations, or ideas for future episodes, email us at [email protected].

Host: Derek Thompson

Guest: Jasmine Sun

Producer: Devon Baroldi

Additional Production Support: Ben Glicksman
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Two extraordinary trends are happening in the United States simultaneously. One is that alcohol consumption is declining precipitously. The share of Americans who drink has hit a record low since Gallup started tracking it in the 1930s. In 2004, fewer than 30 percent of Americans under 35 said moderate drinking was bad for your health; now it’s 66 percent.

The second trend is that marijuana usage has skyrocketed. Per researchers, cannabis has overtaken alcohol and cigarettes as the nation’s most popular daily drug. And the impact of that shift has been profound.

Today, Derek is joined by Jonathan Caulkins, a drug policy researcher at Carnegie Mellon University, and Beau Kilmer, the codirector of the RAND Drug Policy Research Center. They discuss what is gained and lost in the switch from booze to weed, the ripple effects of marijuana’s surge in popularity, and what the legalization of cannabis is doing to America.

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https://www.youtube.com/@PlainEnglishwithDerekThompson

If you have questions, observations, or ideas for future episodes, email us at [email protected]

Host: Derek Thompson

Guests: Jonathan Caulkins and Beau Kilmer

Producer: Victoria Valencia

Additional Production Support: Ben Glicksman

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There’s no doubt that reading is in decline. But what is that decline doing to the way we think? Derek talks with The Atlantic's Rose Horowitch about why Americans are reading fewer books than ever and struggling more with complex texts and what that means for education, work, politics, and culture. Together, they discuss this phenomenon’s effects on literacy and attention as they examine the surprising consequences of living in an increasingly post-literate world.

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If you have questions, observations, or ideas for future episodes, email us at [email protected].

Host: Derek ThompsonGuest: Rose HorowitchProducer: Devon BaroldiAdditional Production Support: Ben Glicksman
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