Current Events - Think

Why an online community for exchanging free stuff became controversial

March 22, 2023 Culture, Current Events, Economics

Wired contributing writer Vauhini Vara talks about The Buy Nothing Project, Inc, a movement with fervent followers who were mad when the platform went to an app backed by investors.

Judith Heumann, special advisor for International Disability Rights at the U.S. Department of State, sits at a table and speaks at the opening session of the China-U.S. Coordination Meeting on Disability in Beijing.

The late Judith Heumann on her 50-year fight for disability rights

March 10, 2023 Current Events, History

Judith Heumann joined us to discuss her life’s work, the lawsuits and sit-ins that changed history for people with disabilities, and what it means to rebel against entrenched norms and win.

Why governments have such a hard time hiring

March 8, 2023 Current Events, Economics

Daphne Duret, a staff writer for The Marshall Project, joins guest host Courtney Collins to discuss why jobs from garbage collectors to first responders are falling out of favor, and what’s being done to boost numbers.

The many flaws in Russia’s plans for Ukraine

March 8, 2023 Current Events, Global Issues, Politics

Dara Massicot, senior policy researcher at the Rand Corporation, joins guest host John McCaa to discuss the errors Russia has made thus far, and how Ukraine has defied the odds with the help of its international allies.

Chatbots say wild things, and they learn it from us

March 6, 2023 Current Events, Science and Technology

Washington Post reporter Gerrit De Vynck joins us to break down issues with this new tech tool.

Is classical liberalism dead?

February 28, 2023 Current Events, Global Issues, Politics

Francis Fukuyama joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the pushback against classical thoughts about individual rights, rule of law and equality, and what he sees as the decaying of American institutions.

We’re closer to the end of the world than we’ve ever been

February 8, 2023 Current Events, Environment, Global Issues

Rachel Bronson, the president and CEO of The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, discusses the factors that have ticked us closer to disaster – from the war in Ukraine to Covid and climate change.

Would you trust Elon Musk with your life?

February 6, 2023 Current Events, Science and Technology

Christopher Cox from New York magazine discusses the risks Musk is taking as Tesla develops self-driving technology and what his management approach means for the rest of us.

Could Big Tech have stopped January 6?

January 30, 2023 Current Events, Politics, Science and Technology

Technology policy reporter Cat Zakrzewski talks about the political pitfalls the Jan. 6 committee hearings faced when confronting the pivotal role of social media, and why it’s so hard to regulate big tech.

The new Gold Rush? Prospecting solar power

January 19, 2023 Current Events, Economics, Environment

Harper’s contributor Hillary Angelo talks about solar-farm construction in Nye County, Nevada—a potential weapon against climate change that also threatens the local ecology, and angers neighbors.

The jobs used to deny disability benefits are stuck in 1977

January 18, 2023 Current Events, Economics, Politics

Lisa Rein from The Washington Post details how the Biden administration has spent $250 million to modernize its vocational services but still uses outdated market data to determine benefits for 15 million people.