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  • Community, Freedom and the Polis

    Community, Freedom and the Polis
    2025/08/29

    A special treat from the Aspen Ideas Festival: a panel discussion about American community and politics, featuring a father–son philosophical duo.

    Michael J. Sandel is a professor at Harvard University, where he teaches political philosophy. His famous “Justice” course has been viewed by tens of millions worldwide. His son, Adam Sandel, is a philosopher, award-winning teacher, and holder of the Guinness World Record for most pull-ups in one minute. Together with Samuel Kimbriel, Wisdom of Crowds’ in-house philosopher, they discuss community, democracy, the evolving nature of justice, the importance of constructive visions for community, and the role of music in bridging divides. Tune in for a substantive and inspiring reflection on the meaning of democracy.

    Required Reading:

    * Adam Sandel, Happiness In Action: A Philosopher’s Guide to the Good Life (Amazon).

    * Michael Sandel, The Tyranny of Merit: Can We Find the Common Good? (Amazon).

    * Samuel Kimbriel, Friendship as Sacred Knowing: Overcoming Isolation (Amazon).

    Wisdom of Crowds is a platform challenging premises and understanding first principles on politics and culture. Join us!



    This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wisdomofcrowds.live/subscribe
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    50 分
  • From Utah to Utopia

    From Utah to Utopia
    2025/08/22
    This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.liveAmerican Primeval on Netflix. The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives on Hulu. Ballerina Farm on Instagram. American culture is living through a Mormon moment. It is a sign that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is growing in confidence and strength. But what are the drawbacks to becoming mainstream? What are the trade-offs involved in American liberalism? What can those of us who are not part of the LDS Church learn from the Mormon moment?Here to discuss this and more is Zachary Davis, the Executive Director of Faith Matters and Editor of the LDS magazine Wayfare. Zach is also a veteran podcaster, having hosted the podcasts Ministry of Ideas and Writ Large.The discussion begins with Santiago Ramos asking Zach for an account of LDS history, contrasting it with its depiction in American Primeval, the Netflix show. Christine Emba then asks about the various pop culture phenomena that have emerged within LDS culture. The conversation covers recent LDS history, as well as reflections on the costs of assimilation and how American liberalism can benefit from the growth of the LDS Church.In our bonus section for paid subscribers, Christina and Zach discuss Ballerina Farm; Zach explains LDS attitudes toward Trump; Santiago asks Zach whether he has hope for the future of America; Zach explains that Mormons believe the American Constitution is a sacred document; why Mormons love Muslims; rethinking first (theological) principles; and more!Required Reading:* Wayfare magazine.* McCay Coppins, Romney: A Reckoning (Amazon).* Jonathan Rausch, Cross Purposes: Christianity's Broken Bargain with Democracy (Amazon).* Jon Krakauer, Under the Banner of Heaven (Amazon). * Public polling re: LDS (Pew Research).* American Primeval (Netflix).* Ballerina Farm (official website).* Secret Lives of Mormon Wives (Hulu).* The Soloists (Substack).* Romney’s 47 percent comment (MSNBC).* Utah rankings (U.S. News and World Report).Free preview video:Full video for paid subscribers below:
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    46 分
  • Where's the Resistance?

    Where's the Resistance?
    2025/08/15

    President Donald Trump federalized DC law enforcement this week, raising all sorts of questions — about democracy, authoritarianism, sovereignty and legitimacy — that are natural fits for us to discuss here at Wisdom of Crowds.

    Yes, Trump’s use of emergency powers to justify the takeover is constitutional, even if he is stretching the concept of what counts as an emergency. But Damir Marusic feels like things took a much darker turn this week, and nobody seems to have noticed. Weren’t people in the streets at the mere suggestion that Trump would deploy troops to American cities four years ago — when doing so was arguably much more justified? Shadi Hamid thinks many Democrats are just too disgusted by their own party to be able to muster a response. What’s the point? Anyway, like most Trump stuff, this is all just theater — Potemkin policing. Our democracy is still fine, isn’t it?

    …isn’t it?

    Required Reading:

    * “Trump has brilliantly orchestrated a legal coup,” by Kathleen Parker (WaPo).

    * “Donald Trump, DC Police Commissioner,” b y the Editorial Board (WSJ).



    This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wisdomofcrowds.live/subscribe
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    1 時間 4 分
  • Waiting for the Barbarians

    Waiting for the Barbarians
    2025/08/09
    This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.live“ ‘Barbarism’ is a word that keeps coming to my lips lately,” writes Damir Marusic in a brilliant new article this week. Barbarism seems to be the only real word that describes what comes after the liberal international order. But Damir isn’t pointing to the supposed barbarism of our enemies. His article points to the ways that we in the West — and in the United States — are becoming coarser and more egocentric. Like the poet said, barbarism begins at home. Shadi Hamid interrogates Damir about his piece in Socratic fashion. Is Damir maybe making a moral equivalence between the Trumpist Right and the hapless Left? While it’s true that the Left isn’t very effective, it can hardly be said to be barbaric. In the course of his answer, Damir discusses Alligator Alcatraz as the symbol of new American barbarism: kind of silly, but also, openly cruel. For Damir, barbarism isn’t just Nazism; it is the strong turn toward selfishness and narcissism that has taken place since the middle of the twentieth century. And he has a theory of why the turn took place: secularization and the death of God. On this point, Shadi agrees, but he still has questions. Is it political structures or innate nature that make us turn toward evil? If it is the former, how can politics help in this moment to keep us from becoming truly barbaric? It is a timely and intense conversation.In our bonus section for paid subscribers, Damir and Shadi discuss why “war is a force that gives us meaning”; Shadi compares violence to orgasms; Damir’s Calvinist sympathies make an appearance; Damir opposes “vulgar Nietzscheanism” with a “moral law” forged out of our “broken humanity”; Shadi wonders if Damir has finally become a moralist; can morality survive Pax Americana?; Gaza and barbarism; Christopher Hitchens and faith; the origin of the phrase, “Beyond the pale”; and more!Required Reading:* Damir, “Back to Barbarism” (WoC).* Thérèse Delpech, Savage Century: Back to Barbarism (Amazon). * Curzio Malaparte, Kaputt (Amazon). * Friedrich Nietzsche, “The Parable of the Madman” (Fordham University). Free preview video:
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    44 分
  • Men Without Women, and Vice Versa

    Men Without Women, and Vice Versa
    2025/08/02
    This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.live

    Women and men are having a hard time finding each other. A lot of women are giving up on finding a mate. Some women with mates are worried that their men don’t have any friends. Everyone hates dating apps. People are having fewer babies.

    These are among the many depressing stories that the media is telling about love and marriage today. How true are they…
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    58 分
  • Matthew Walther on Conspiracy Theories

    Matthew Walther on Conspiracy Theories
    2025/07/23
    This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.liveDead almost six years, Jeffrey Epstein is back in the news. The sordid details of his crimes, and the elaborate conspiracy concerning elites that he may or may not have been a part of, have become a central issue within the MAGA coalition. Conspiracy theories in general are now a part of daily political life. None of us can escape them. Most of us probably half-believe in at least one of them. Why is that?Today’s guest is the writer Matthew Walther, editor of The Lamp, biographer of John Henry Cardinal Newman, and a columnist for The New York Times. He has written extensively about Epstein, Russiagate, and the place of conspiracy theories in American politics. He joined Shadi Hamid and Damir Marusic to ponder the Epstein saga and its potential to hurt Trump’s coalition. “We live in an awesome country, why do we have to make up stories about a decline that doesn't even really exist?” Shadi says near the beginning of the conversation. Walther explains how conspiracy theories are politically useful, and how they “almost on a dime can become useful to one side or another.” Damir agrees about the bipartisan nature of conspiracy-mongering: “For the Left it was the Pee Tape, and for the Right it’s this [Epstein] stuff.” The conversation goes deep into the nature of conspiracy theories and the psychological need they satisfy. Epstein, Stop the Steal, Russiagate and of course, the Kennedy assassination are all discussed. Walther quotes the English philosopher Gilbert Ryle as a guide: “A myth is, of course, not a fairy story. It is the presentation of facts belonging to one category in the idioms appropriate to another. To explode a myth is accordingly not to deny the facts but to re-allocate them.”In our bonus section for paid subscribers, the gang discusses the work of Seymour Hersh; Damir and Shadi argue whether the Democrats have ever had a cult of personality equivalent to that of Trump; Matthew argues that Obama is a lot like Trump; Matthew explains why Nixon was “the last, great technocratic leftist”; Shadi distinguishes emotional versus material self-interest in order to explain why MAGA won’t break with Trump; Damir and Shadi disagree about technocracy; and more!Required Reading:* Matthew Walther, “Sorry, This Epstein Stuff Isn’t Going to Hurt Trump” (New York Times).* Matthew Walther, “The Pointless Triumph of a Hapless President” (New York Times). * Matthew Walther, “The Jeffrey Epstein case is why people believe in Pizzagate” (The Week). * Matthew Walther, “The most respectable conspiracy theory in Washington” (The Week). * Matthew Walther refers to Paul Fussell’s concept of “high proles” in “Talking About Class in America” (American Conservative). * Jonathan Chait, “What If Trump Has Been a Russian Asset Since 1987?” (New York). * “The CIA Reveals More of Its Connections to Lee Harvey Oswald” (Washington Post). * Gilbert Ryle, The Concept of Mind (Amazon). * Musa al-Gharbi, “No, America is not on the brink of a civil war” (The Guardian). * “Airline Deregulation: When Everything Changed” (Smithsonian Air and Space Museum). Free preview video:Full video for paid subscribers below:
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    45 分
  • What is Happiness?

    What is Happiness?
    2025/07/19
    What is happiness? Why are so many Americans — by their own admission — unhappy? These are the central questions in this special episode, live from the Aspen Ideas Festival. At the festival, our house philosopher, Dr. Samuel Kimbriel, hosted a discussion with three distinguished thinkers. Adam Sandel is a philosopher and assistant district attorney in Brooklyn whose latest book is titled Happiness in Action: A Philosopher’s Guide to the Good Life. Agnes Callard is a philosophy professor at the University of Chicago who just published Open Socrates: The Case for a Philosophical Life. Finally, David Brooks is a well-known opinion columnist for the New York Times whose 2016 book, The Road to Character, explores the development of a good personality.Samuel sets the stage by reading off startling statistics showing that Americans are by and large less happy today than they were even five years ago. Adam advances the idea that what makes us happy is “an activity for the sake of itself, [an] activity that is intrinsically fulfilling in the moment.” This could be sports — he cites Roger Federer as an example of a happy man, at least during tennis tournaments.Callard counters: “We can’t will ourselves to do a thing for its own sake. When we know what the good is, we will do it for its own sake. Until then, we have to inquire.” She proposes an “intellectualist” approach to happiness, arguing that a life of inquiry is the best prelude to happiness.Brooks enters the fray by arguing against Callard’s intellectualist approach, saying that what moves human beings is “intensity” and “surrender,” and that the things that bring us joy are necessarily plural, not singular. Callard argues back, contending that Brooks confuses those things which human beings want with those things that are actually good.It’s a rollicking discussion complemented by Samuel’s deft moderation and questions from the audience concerning grief, internal versus external goods, and the common good. Free for all subscribers — you will not want to miss this episode.Required Reading:* Samuel Kimbriel, Friendship as Sacred Knowing: Overcoming Isolation (Amazon). * Adam Sandel, Happiness in Action: A Philosopher’s Guide to the Good Life (Amazon). * Agnes Callard, Open Socrates: The Case for a Philosophical Life (Amazon). * David Brooks, The Road to Character (Amazon). Wisdom of Crowds is a platform challenging premises and understanding first principles on politics and culture. Join us! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wisdomofcrowds.live/subscribe
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    54 分
  • Paul Elie on Culture and Crypto-Religiosity

    Paul Elie on Culture and Crypto-Religiosity
    2025/07/12
    This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit wisdomofcrowds.liveIt’s the summer doldrums, so this week, Wisdom of Crowds is taking a break from politics and war and Trump. Instead, we are talking about culture. Our guest, Paul Elie, is one of the leading culture and religion writers in the United States. His words have appeared in the New Yorker, the Atlantic, and the New York Times. Paul’s latest book, The Last Supper: Art, Faith, Sex, and Controversy in the 1980s, tells the story of artists in the 1980s who grappled with religious ideas and stirred up controversy while doing so. U2, Madonna, Andy Warhol, Piss Christ, Sinead O’Connor and many more play a role in a masterful, novelistic retelling of that fateful decade in American cultural history.Damir Marusic is curious about Paul’s concept of “crypto-religiosity,” which Paul uses to describe an abiding sensibility in 1980s art and culture. Is it actually a unique category? Aren’t all Americans crypto-religious to a greater or lesser degree? Isn’t that the legacy of Protestantism? Santiago Ramos pursues a different line of questioning. What might a healthier relationship between institutional religion and cryptically-religious artists look like?In our bonus section for paid subscribers, Damir and Paul compare the 1980s music scene with that of the 1990s; Damir explains why the 1990s felt “less devotional and more ecstatic”; Paul talks about his first time listening to “Smells like Teen Spirit”; Santiago and Paul discuss the coming culture of “ex-vangelicals”; Santiago confesses to not having his s**t together in his 20s; Damir asks: “How can you do good punk rock if Bill Clinton’s the president?”; the three discuss why Trump hasn’t yet generated a counterculture or artistic resistance; Santiago mentions Macklemore’s Gaza song; Paul and Santiago discuss “radtrads,” and the coming rebellion against radtrads; Paul tells Damir why he should be religious; Paul explains why electoral politics is our modern day bread and circuses; and more!Required Reading:* Paul Elie, The Last Supper: Art, Faith, Sex, and Controversy in the 1980s (Amazon). * Paul Elie, The Life You Save May Be Your Own: An American Pilgrimage (Amazon).* Julia Yost, “The Scandal of Dogmatism” (Compact). * Damir Marusic, “The Pursuit of Passion for its Own Sake” (WoC). * Damir’s discography from his punk rock days (Discogs).* Damir’s music with his band, The Miss (Bandcamp).* CrowdSource, “Protest Music” (WoC). Free preview video:
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    52 分