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This week, Will talks to Ben Landau-Taylor about why only America seems to be able to innovate, why state capacity has declined in the US, and how to think about industrial policy in the modern world. Ben is a Senior Analyst at Bismark Analytics. 

In this episode, we talk with Kelly Starrett about health, mobility, and training. Dr. Kelly Starrett is a coach, physical therapist, two-time New York Times & Wall Street Journal bestselling author, speaker, and co-founder of The Ready State,

In this episode, we talk with José Luis Ricón about longevity, soviet economics, education research, metascience, and so much more. José blogs at nintil.com. 

We talk with Freddie deBoer about America's education system-what's wrong with it, what's right with it, and how to make it better. We also discuss his new book, The Cult of Smart. 

In this episode, we talk with Jason Crawford about progress. What it is, what it isn't, and how do we accelerate it? Jason is the author of The Roots of Progress, a website about the history of technology and industry, and the philosophy of progress.

In this episode, we discuss trade, war and China with Brendan Cooley. Brendan is a Senior Data Scientist at Big League Advance. He recently finished his Ph.D. in Politics at Princeton. In this wide-ranging discussion, we cover the different schools of international relations theory, building ideal trade policy, and just how likely a great power shooting war is in the 21st century. You can check out more of Brendan's work at http://brendancooley.com/. 

Jon Guze is the Director of Legal Studies at John Locke. Jon is an expert on Karl Popper, the law, and governance. In this episode, we talk about Popper's theory of knowledge, civil asset forfeiture, and eugenics in North Carolina. 

In this episode, we talk with Don Braben, PhD.  Donald Braben is a scientist and author. From 1980 to 1990, he led British Petroleum’s Venture Research program, for which he developed a radical, low-cost approach to finding and funding researchers whose work might redefine their fields. Of the dozens of projects supported by the program, many led to transformative discoveries. I think Don's concept of Venture Research is essential to saving our stagnating society. Don recently republished his book Scientific Freedom, with Stripe Press, which I highly recommend.    A quick note, the conversation with Don starts about 21 minutes in. We give an intro before that. 

In this episode, we discuss whether or not there are more, or fewer polymaths today than in the past, using the example of W. H. R. Rivers, an English anthropologist who also made contributions in neurology, and psychiatry. 

Mark Lutter is the founder of the Charter Cities Institute. We find out just what Charter Cities are, why we should care about them, and how they can improve the lives of millions of humans across the globe. 

In this episode, we talk with Ben Reinhardt about different innovation systems, how to create more sci-fi technology a reality, and why our research institutions are not as effective as they used to be. You can check out Ben's work at https://benjaminreinhardt.com/about/. 

In this episode, we have Quinn Lewandowski on to discuss his favourite thinker Bertrand Russell, the simulacra levels concept, and how our norms around each level have changed over time. We also discuss why people today have less belief in their ability to solve difficult and complex problems, and what we can do to change that.

This week on the podcast, we have David Smith. David Smith is a computer scientist who created the very first 3D interactive game, The Colony. He has also worked with Michael Crichton, Tom Clancy, and James Cameron, and helped found Red Storm Entertainment. He is currently the CEO at Croquet, where he is building the future of collaboration on the internet.

In this episode, we are joined by Zvi Mowshowitz. We discuss simulacra levels, moral mazes, and our civilizational response to COVID-19. Zvi writes the blog Don't Worry About the Vase. 

In this episode, we talk about AI safety, machine learning, meaning, the economist Elinor Ostrom, and more with my good friend Cooper Williams. Cooper is a machine learning engineer based in the RTP region of North Carolina. 

In this short episode, we discuss how good-faith policymakers can sometimes make things worse when trying to improve outcomes in many domains. We talk about price gouging, fairness norms, and monopolies. 

This week on the podcast, we have David Friedman. David holds a PhD in physics from the University of Chicago, he is chiefly known for his scholarly contributions to economics and law. He is the author of five books of non‐​fiction as well as three novels. We discuss the future, legal systems very different from our own, how technology drives progress, and what the future might look like. 

Sometimes, pharmaceutical companies mess up. More rarely, the FDA catches them. They write warning letters detailing the problems and post them on the internet for anyone to read.  On this episode, we are joined by the author of the new blog, Warning Letters. Warning Letters focuses on quality control in the pharmaceutical industry. We learn how FDA keeps our drugs safe, what the process looks like for supplements, and whether or not it's worth it to shell out for name brand vs generic drugs. Check out Warning Letters at warningletters.wordpress.com. 

Today on the podcast, we have Russ Greene. Russ is the former director of government relations and research at CrossFit, a former games athlete, an Arabic linguist, and is currently an associate director at Stand Together, a nonprofit in the DC area. We discuss the current state of American wealth, governance, and fitness.    The views and opinions expressed on Narratives are those of the guests and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of employers, past or present. 

This week on the podcast we discuss Albion's Seed: Four British Folkways in America is a 1989 book by David Hackett Fischer. Albion's Seed details the folkways of four groups of people who moved from distinct regions of Great Britain to the United States and form the foundations of modern American culture.