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<p>Ezra Klein joins Search Engine this week to answer a question that's increasingly confounded us: how do I use the internet now? How do I get information about the things I care about, without getting sucked into a vortex of opinion, unearned certainty, and yelling?</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://pjvogt.substack.com"><strong>If you want to see the images &amp; video referenced in this episode, or if you'd like to support the show, head to our newsletter. </strong></a></p><p><strong>To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: </strong><a href="https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy"><strong>https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy</strong></a><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>To learn more about your ad choices visit: </strong><a href="https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices"><strong>https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices</strong></a><strong> </strong></p><p> </p><p> </p><p>To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: <a href="https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy">https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy</a></p> <p> </p> <p>Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices">https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices</a></p>

<p>It’s a time of contrast and contradiction for gender queerness in America: At the same time that about 5 percent of Americans under 30 identify as transgender or nonbinary, over 20 states have passed some sort of restriction on gender-affirming care for children. In 2023 alone, over 550 anti-trans bills have been introduced across the country.</p><p>The political push and pull can overshadow a broad spectrum of rich questions and possibilities that queer culture opens up — about how we think about identity and social categories, how we structure our communities and support networks, our anxieties about having children who are different from ourselves, how gender norms shape all bodies and how difficult it can be to make big life decisions.</p><p>Masha Gessen is a staff writer at The New Yorker who has thought deeply about many of these questions. “Gender is something that happens between me and other people,” they say. In this conversation, the guest host Lydia Polgreen asks Gessen, who identifies as trans and nonbinary, what the social and political shift around gender has looked like to them in the past few decades.</p><p>They discuss why gender has captured the conservative imagination, how L.G.B.T.Q. activists have fallen into the “regret trap,” what it means to understand gender expression as a choice rather than something biologically determined, why Gessen prefers a liberatory framework focused on protecting freedoms-to rather than freedoms-from when thinking about L.G.B.T.Q. issues, how gender-affirming care is not just for trans people, how the making of the 1999 movie “The Matrix” reflects the rapid social change around trans visibility in the United States, the anti-L.G.B.T.Q. sentiments that made Gessen decide to leave their home in Russia,how gender conformity is social contagion and more.</p><p><i>This episode was hosted by Lydia Polgreen, a New York Times Opinion columnist and a co-host on the weekly Opinion podcast “Matter of Opinion.” She previously served as the managing director of Gimlet, a podcast studio at Spotify, and as the editor in chief of HuffPost.</i></p><p>Mentioned:</p><p><a href="https://www.graywolfpress.org/books/argonauts" target="_blank">The Argonauts</a> by Maggie Nelson</p><p>Book Recommendations:</p><p><a href="https://www.wiley.com/en-au/The+Myth+of+the+Wrong+Body-p-9781509551873" target="_blank">The Myth of the Wrong Body</a> by Miquel Misse</p><p><a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/117486/conundrum-by-jan-morris/" target="_blank">Conundrum</a> by Jan Morris</p><p><a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374608224/whosafraidofgender" target="_blank">Who’s Afraid of Gender</a> by Judith Butler</p><p>Thoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com.</p><p>You can find transcripts (posted midday) and more episodes of “The Ezra Klein Show” at <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/column/ezra-klein-podcast" target="_blank"><strong>nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast</strong></a>, and you can find Ezra on Twitter @ezraklein. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs.html" target="_blank"><strong>https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs</strong></a>.</p><p>This episode of “The Ezra Klein Show” was produced by Kristin Lin. Fact-checking by Michelle Harris, with Mary Marge Locker and Kate Sinclair. Mixing by Efim Shapiro. Our senior editor is Annie-Rose Strasser. The show’s production team also includes Emefa Agawu, Jeff Geld and Rollin Hu. Original music by Isaac Jones. Audience strategy by Kristina Samulewski and Shannon Busta. The executive producer of New York Times Opinion Audio is Annie-Rose Strasser. Special thanks to Isaac Jones.</p>

<p>In 2021, editor Alex Neason's grandfather passed away. On his funeral program, she learned the name of his father for the first time: Wilson Howard. Not Neason. Howard. And when she asked her family why his last name was different from everybody else's, nobody had an answer. In this episode, we tag along as Alex searches for answers through swampy cemeteries, libraries, and archives in the heart of south Louisiana: who was her great grandfather, really? Is she supposed to be a Neason? Where did the name Neason come from, anyways? And is a name something whose weight you have to shed, or is it the only path forward into the future?<em>Special thanks to, Cheryl Neason-Isidore, Karen Neason Dykes, Johari Neason, Keaun Neason, Kevin Neason, Anthony Neason, the late Clarence Neason Sr. and Anthony Neason, Clarence Neason Jr., Olivia Neason, Tori Neason, Orelia Amelia Jackson, </em><em>Russell Gragg, Victor Yvellez, Asher Griffith</em><em>, Devan Schwartz, Myrriah Gossett, Sabrina Thomas, Nancy Richard, Katie Neason, Amanda Hayden, Gabriel Lee, </em><em>Paul Brandenburg, Justin Flynn, Mark </em>Miller, <em>Kenny Bentley, Jason Isaac, Irene Trudel, Bill Hyland, the staff members at the Orleans Parish, East Feliciana Parish, and Plaquemines Parish Clerk of Court offices.</em></p> <p>Episode Credits:Reported by - Alex Neasonwith help from - Nicka Sewell-SmithProduced by - Annie McEwenwith help from - Andrew ViñalesMusic performed by - Jason Isaac, Paul Brandenburg, Justin Fynn, Mark Miller, and Kenny Bentleywith engineering and mixing help from - Arianne Wack and Irene TrudelFact-checking by - Emily KriegerEpisode Citations:Audio - You can listen to the episode of <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/la-brega/articles/boricua-en-la-luna-moons-distance">La Brega</a> (<a class="in-cell-link" href="https://zpr.io/p5EcBJyU2dfJ" target="_blank">https://zpr.io/p5EcBJyU2dfJ</a>), in English and in Spanish.<em>Our newsletter comes out every Wednesday. It includes short essays, recommendations, and details about other ways to interact with the show. </em><a href="https://radiolab.org/newsletter"><em>Sign up</em></a><em> (https://radiolab.org/newsletter)!</em></p> <p><em>Radiolab is supported by listeners like you. Support Radiolab by becoming a member of </em><a href="http://members.radiolab.org"><em>The Lab</em></a><em> (https://members.radiolab.org/) today.</em></p> <p><em>Follow our show on </em><a href="http://instagram.com/radiolab"><em>Instagram</em></a><em>, </em><a href="http://twitter.com/radiolab"><em>Twitter</em></a><em> and </em><a href="http://facebook.com/radiolab"><em>Facebook</em></a><em> @radiolab, and share your thoughts with us by emailing </em><a href="mailto:radiolab@wnyc.org"><em>radiolab@wnyc.org</em></a><em>.</em></p> <p> </p> <p><em>Leadership support for Radiolab’s science programming is provided by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Science Sandbox, a Simons Foundation Initiative, and the John Templeton Foundation. Foundational support for Radiolab was provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.</em></p>

<p>Cat Jaffee didn’t necessarily think of herself as someone who <em>loved</em> being alone. But then, the pandemic hit. And she got diagnosed with cancer. Actually, those two things happened on the exact same day, at the exact same hour. In the shadow of that nightmarish timing, Cat found her way to a sport that celebrated the solitude that was forced on her, and taught her how to not only embrace self-reliance, but to love it. </p> <p>This sport is called competitive bikepacking. And in these competitions, riders have to bring everything they need to complete epic bike rides totally by themselves. They pack all the supplies they think they’ll need to survive, and have to refuse some of the simplest, subtlest, most intangible boosts that exist in our world.</p> <p>But a leader has emerged in this sport. Her name is Lael Wilcox, and she’s a total rockstar in the world of competitive bikepacking. She’s broken all kinds of records. And also, some rules. Most recently, on this one ride she did across the entire state of Arizona.</p> <p>We set out to find out what it means — for Cat, for Lael, and for any of us — to endure incredibly hard things, totally alone. The answer is on the course, in our bodies, and hidden in that mysterious place between us and the people we care about.</p> <p><em>Special thanks to Anna Haslock, Nico Sandi, Michael Fryar, Moab Public Radio, Nichole Baker and Payson McElveen for sharing their studio with us, and The Ratavist, for letting us use the audio of Lael’s ride across Arizona. You can watch the original video </em><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HOk0MmgFwE"><em>here</em></a> <em>(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HOk0MmgFwE).</em></p> <p>EPISODE CREDITS</p> <p>This episode was reported by - Cat Jaffee and Rachael CusickProduced by -  Rachael Cusick with help from Pat WaltersOriginal music and sound design by Jeremy Bloom with mixing help from - Arianne WackFact-checking by - Emily KriegerEdited by Pat Walters</p> <p>CITATIONS:</p> <p>Videos:</p> <p>You can watch Lael’s you can watch Lael’s ride across Arizona <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HOk0MmgFwE">here</a> (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HOk0MmgFwE)<em>. </em>And see the next season of racing by following along on <a href="http://trackleaders.com/">TrackLeaders.com</a> (http://trackleaders.com/)</p> <p><em>Our newsletter comes out every Wednesday. It includes short essays, recommendations, and details about other ways to interact with the show. </em><a href="https://radiolab.org/newsletter"><em>Sign up</em></a><em> (https://radiolab.org/newsletter)!</em></p> <p><em>Radiolab is supported by listeners like you. Support Radiolab by becoming a member of </em><a href="http://members.radiolab.org"><em>The Lab</em></a><em> (https://members.radiolab.org/) today.</em></p> <p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaum_fMDGgFQCmKHUBPq_xg"><em>Radiolab is on YouTube!</em></a> <em>Catch up with new episodes and hear classics from our archive. Plus, find other cool things we did in the past — like miniseries, music videos, short films and animations, behind-the-scenes features, Radiolab live shows, and more. Take a look, explore and subscribe!</em></p> <p><em>Follow our show on </em><a href="http://instagram.com/radiolab"><em>Instagram</em></a><em>, </em><a href="http://twitter.com/radiolab"><em>Twitter</em></a><em> and </em><a href="http://facebook.com/radiolab"><em>Facebook</em></a><em> @radiolab, and share your thoughts with us by emailing </em><a href="mailto:radiolab@wnyc.org"><em>radiolab@wnyc.org</em></a><em>.</em></p> <p><em>Leadership support for Radiolab’s science programming is provided by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Science Sandbox, a Simons Foundation Initiative, and the John Templeton Foundation. Foundational support for Radiolab was provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.</em></p> <p> </p>

<p>In this episode, first aired in 2011, we talk about the meaning of a good game — whether it's a pro football playoff, or a family showdown on the kitchen table. And how some games can make you feel, at least for a little while, like your whole life hangs in the balance. This hour of Radiolab, Jad and Robert wonder why we get so invested in something so trivial. What is it about games that make them feel so pivotal?</p> <p>We hear how a recurring dream about football turned into a real-life lesson for Stephen Dubner, we watch a chessboard turn into a playground where by-the-book moves give way to totally unpredictable possibilities, and we talk to Dan Engber, a one time senior editor at Slate, now at The Atlantic, and a bunch of scientists about why betting on a longshot is so much fun. And finally, we talk to Malcolm Gladwell about why he loves the overdog.</p> <p>CITATIONS:</p> <p>Videos - </p> <p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHIXFKrrUhA">The Immaculate Reception</a> (<a class="in-cell-link" href="https://zpr.io/izhV3Sm88SWF" target="_blank">https://zpr.io/izhV3Sm88SWF</a>) by Franco Harris on December 23, 1972. Harris was the Pittsburgh Steelers’ fullback at the time.</p> <p>Books - </p> <p>Stephen J. Dubner’s book, <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/192940.Confessions_of_a_Hero_Worshiper"><em>Confessions of a Hero Worshipper</em></a> (<a class="in-cell-link" href="https://zpr.io/iQUwfF8vGArj" target="_blank">https://zpr.io/iQUwfF8vGArj</a>)</p> <p><em>Our newsletter comes out every Wednesday. It includes short essays, recommendations, and details about other ways to interact with the show. </em><a href="https://radiolab.org/newsletter"><em>Sign up</em></a><em> (https://radiolab.org/newsletter)!</em></p> <p><em>Radiolab is supported by listeners like you. Support Radiolab by becoming a member of </em><a href="http://members.radiolab.org"><em>The Lab</em></a><em> (https://members.radiolab.org/) today.</em></p> <p><em>Follow our show on </em><a href="http://instagram.com/radiolab"><em>Instagram</em></a><em>, </em><a href="http://twitter.com/radiolab"><em>Twitter</em></a><em> and </em><a href="http://facebook.com/radiolab"><em>Facebook</em></a><em> @radiolab, and share your thoughts with us by emailing </em><a href="mailto:radiolab@wnyc.org"><em>radiolab@wnyc.org</em></a></p> <p><em>Leadership support for Radiolab’s science programming is provided by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Science Sandbox, a Simons Foundation Initiative, and the John Templeton Foundation. Foundational support for Radiolab was provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation</em><em>.</em></p>

<p>It’s not an exaggeration to say that “clock time” runs our lives. From the moment our alarms go off in the morning, the clock reigns supreme: our meetings, our appointments, even our social plans are often timed down to the minute. We even measure the quality of our lives with reference to time, often lamenting that time seems to “fly by” when we’re having fun and “drags on” when we’re bored or stagnant. We rarely stop to think about time, but that’s precisely because there are few forces more omnipresent in our lives.</p><p>“You are the best time machine that has ever been built,” Dean Buonomano writes in his book <a href="https://wwnorton.com/books/Your-Brain-Is-a-Time-Machine/" target="_blank">“Your Brain Is a Time Machine: The Neuroscience and Physics of Time.”</a> Buonomano is a professor of neurobiology and psychology at U.C.L.A. who studies the relationship between time and the human brain. His book tackles the most profound questions about time that affect all of our lives: Why do we feel it so differently at different points in our lives? What do we miss if we live so rigidly bound to the demands of our clocks and appointments? Why during strange periods like pandemic lockdowns do we feel “lost in time”? And what if — as some physicists believe — the future may already exist, with grave implications for our ability to act meaningfully in the present?</p><p>We discuss what time would be in an empty universe without humans, why humans have not evolved to understand time the way we understand space, how our ability to predict the future differs from animals’, why time during the Covid lockdowns felt so bizarre, why scientists think time “flies” when we’re having fun but slows down when people experience near-death accidents, what humans lost when we invented very precise clocks, why some physicists believe the future is already determined for us and what that would mean for our ethical behavior, why we’re so bad at saving money, what steps we could take to feel as if we’re living longer in time, why it’s so hard — but ultimately possible — to live in the present moment and more.</p><p>Mentioned:<br /><a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/47461/dont-sleep-there-are-snakes-by-daniel-l-everett/" target="_blank">Don’t Sleep, There Are Snakes</a> by Daniel L. Everett</p><p>Book Recommendations:</p><p><a href="https://www.littlebrown.com/titles/daniel-kahneman/noise/9780316451383/" target="_blank">Noise</a> by Daniel Kahneman, Olivier Sibony and Cass R. Sunstein</p><p><a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/676260/when-we-cease-to-understand-the-world-by-benjamin-labatut-translated-from-the-spanish-by-adrian-nathan-west/" target="_blank">When We Cease to Understand the World</a> by Benjamin Labatut</p><p><a href="https://www.littlebrown.com/titles/henry-a-kissinger/the-age-of-ai/9780316273800/" target="_blank">The Age of A.I.</a> by Henry A. Kissinger, Eric Schmidt and Daniel Huttenlocher</p><p>Thoughts? Email us at ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com. (And if you’re reaching out to recommend a guest, please write  “Guest Suggestion” in the subject line.)</p><p>You can find transcripts (posted midday) and more episodes of “The Ezra Klein Show” at<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/column/ezra-klein-podcast" target="_blank"><strong> nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast</strong></a>, and you can find Ezra on Twitter @ezraklein. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs.html" target="_blank"><strong> https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs</strong></a>.</p><p>“The Ezra Klein Show” is produced by Emefa Agawu, Annie Galvin, Jeff Geld, Rogé Karma and Kristin Lin. Fact-checking by Michelle Harris and Kate Sinclair. Original music by Isaac Jones. Mixing by Jeff Geld and Isaac Jones. Audience strategy by Shannon Busta.</p>

<p>Mel Blanc was known as “the man of 1,000 voices,” but, to hear his son tell it, the actual number was closer to 1,500. Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, Daffy Duck, Tweety, Barney Rubble, Woody Woodpecker, Sylvester, Foghorn Leghorn — all Mel. These characters made him one of the most beloved men in the United States.</p> <p>In this episode from 2012, Mel Blanc’s son Noel tells Producer Sean Cole how his father’s entire body would transform to bring life to these characters. But on a fateful day of 1961, after a  crash left Mel in a lengcoma, it was the characters who brought life to him.Episode Credits:Reported by Sean Cole</p> <p><em>Our newsletter comes out every Wednesday. It includes short essays, recommendations, and details about other ways to interact with the show. </em><a href="https://radiolab.org/newsletter"><em>Sign up</em></a><em> (https://radiolab.org/newsletter)!</em></p> <p><em>Radiolab is supported by listeners like you. Support Radiolab by becoming a member of </em><a href="http://members.radiolab.org"><em>The Lab</em></a><em> (https://members.radiolab.org/) today.</em><em>Follow our show on </em><a href="http://instagram.com/radiolab"><em>Instagram</em></a><em>, </em><a href="http://twitter.com/radiolab"><em>Twitter</em></a><em> and </em><a href="http://facebook.com/radiolab"><em>Facebook</em></a><em> @radiolab, and share your thoughts with us by emailing </em><a href="mailto:radiolab@wnyc.org"><em>radiolab@wnyc.org</em></a></p> <p><a href="mailto:radiolab@wnyc.org"></a><em>Leadership support for Radiolab’s science programming is provided by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Science Sandbox, a Simons Foundation Initiative, and the John Templeton Foundation. Foundational support for Radiolab was provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation</em><em>.</em></p>

<p>When people ask me what my favorite episode of 99% Invisible is, I have a hard time answering. Not because they’re all my precious little babies or some such nonsense, but mostly it’s because I just can’t remember them all and there’s no simple criteria to judge them against each other. But the show is definitely in contention for the best episode we’ve ever made. It just has everything– engaging storytellers, brilliant reporting, and a compelling history of a moment when the world really changed. It’s called the Freedom House Ambulance Service. It originally aired in the summer of 2020, when a lot of the fundamental aspects of work, life, health, law enforcement, structural racism, cities were all being questioned by more and more people because of COVID and the George Floyd protests. Kevin Hazzard, who reported the piece, subsequently released a whole book on the Freedom House Ambulance Service  called <a href="https://www.hachettebooks.com/titles/kevin-hazzard/american-sirens/9780306926075/">American Sirens: The Incredible Story of the Black Men Who Became America's First Paramedics</a>. It’s new, it’s out now, you should buy it. should read it, it should be on all your Christmas lists. To celebrate the book’s release, I’m proud to re-present to you: The remarkable story of the Freedom House Ambulance Service.</p><p> </p>

<p>Why do we have a butt? Well, it’s not just for the convenience of a portable seat cushion. This week, we have a conversation with our Contributing Editor Heather Radke, who has spent the last several years going deep on one of our most noticeable surface features. She’s been working on a book called “Butts, a Backstory” and in this episode, she tells us about a fascinating history she uncovered that takes us from an eugenicists’ attempt in the late 1930s to concretize the most average human, to rise of the garment industry, and the pain and shame we often feel today when we go looking for a pair of pants that actually fit.</p> <p><em>Special thanks to Alexandra Primiani and Jordan Rodman</em></p> <p>Episode Credits:Reported by Heather RadkeProduced by Matt KieltyOriginal music and sound design contributed by Matt Kielty and Jeremy BloomMixing by Jeremy BloomFact-checking by Emily Krieger</p> <p>Citations:You can Pre-order Heather’s book “Butts: A Backstory” <a href="https://zpr.io/QVFVLTTW9vpN">here</a> (https://zpr.io/QVFVLTTW9vpN)</p> <p><em>Our newsletter comes out every Wednesday. It includes short essays, recommendations, and details about other ways to interact with the show. Sign up (https://radiolab.org/newsletter)!</em></p> <p><em>Radiolab is supported by listeners like you. Support Radiolab by becoming a member of The Lab (https://members.radiolab.org/) today.</em></p> <p><em>Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @radiolab, and share your thoughts with us by emailing radiolab@wnyc.org.</em></p> <p> </p> <p>Leadership support for Radiolab’s science programming is provided by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Science Sandbox, a Simons Foundation Initiative, and the John Templeton Foundation. Foundational support for Radiolab was provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.</p>

<p>The basic mechanics of the bike are pretty simple --- it’s basically a triangle with wheels and a chain drive to propel it forward. No batteries or engines. It seems obvious in hindsight .... And that’s why most people guess the bike was invented a long time ago. Yet the ‘running machine,' a kind of early proto-bike, debuted around 1817.</p><p>For much more on the history of the bicycle, check out Jody Rosen's book:<a href="https://amzn.to/3F8Jn0n"><i> Two Wheels Good: The History and Mystery of the Bicycle. </i></a></p><p><a href="https://99percentinvisible.org/?p=39615&amp;post_type=episode">The Safety Bicycle</a></p>

Taiwan is at the center of a global feud. Its main defense may be what some call its "Silicon Shield" — its powerful semiconductor industry. On today's show, the story of how one economic hero helped to transform Taiwan's economy and create the "Taiwan Miracle."<br /><br />Subscribe to Planet Money+ in <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/290783428">Apple Podcasts</a> or at <a href="http://plus.npr.org/planetmoney">plus.npr.org/planetmoney</a>

<p>You can follow the show on Instagram <a href="https://www.instagram.com/drmayashankar/">@DrMayaShankar</a>.</p> <p>Civil rights icon Ruby Bridges is our guest today. She shares what it was like to be the first African-American student to attend an all-white elementary school in Louisiana in 1960. Ruby was just six years old at the time, and it would be years before she fully appreciated her role in advancing civil rights in America.</p> <p>If you’d like to keep up with the most recent news from this and other Pushkin podcasts be sure to <a href="https://pushkin.us20.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=ec28005461416f0b42178894f&amp;id=1694c40f69">sign up for our email list at Pushkin.fm</a>.</p><p>See <a href="https://omnystudio.com/listener">omnystudio.com/listener</a> for privacy information.</p>

<p>When we play Monopoly or basketball, we know we are playing a game. The stakes are low. The rules are silly. The point system is arbitrary. But what if life is full of games — ones with much higher stakes — that we don’t even realize we’re playing?</p><p>According to the philosopher C. Thi Nguyen, games and gamified systems are everywhere in modern life. Social media applies the lure of a points-based scoring system to the complex act of communication. Fitness apps convert the joy and beauty of physical motion into a set of statistics you can monitor. The grades you received in school flatten the qualitative richness of education into a numerical competition. If you’ve ever consulted the U.S. News & World Report college rankings database, you’ve witnessed the leaderboard approach to university admissions.</p><p>In Nguyen’s book, “<a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/games-9780190052089?cc=us&amp;lang=en&amp;" target="_blank">Games: Agency as Art</a>,” a core insight is that we’re not simply playing these games — they are playing us, too. Our desires, motivations and behaviors are constantly being shaped and reshaped by incentives and systems that we aren’t even aware of. Whether on the internet or in the vast bureaucracies that structure our lives, we find ourselves stuck playing games over and over again that we may not even want to win — and that we aren’t able to easily walk away from.</p><p>This is one of those conversations that offers a new and surprising lens for understanding the world. We discuss the unique magic of activities like rock climbing and playing board games, how Twitter’s system of likes and retweets is polluting modern politics, why governments and bureaucracies love tidy packets of information, how echo chambers like QAnon bring comfort to their “players,” how to make sure we don’t get stuck in a game without realizing it, why we should be a little suspicious of things that give us pleasure and how to safeguard our own values in a world that wants us to care about winning the most points.</p><p>Mentioned:</p><p><a href="https://philpapers.org/go.pl?id=NGUHTG&amp;aid=NGUHTGv1" target="_blank">How Twitter Gamifies Communication</a> by C. Thi Nguyen</p><p><a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691208411/trust-in-numbers" target="_blank">Trust in Numbers</a> by Theodore M. Porter</p><p><a href="https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300078152/seeing-state" target="_blank">Seeing Like a State</a> by James C. Scott</p><p><a href="https://aestheticsforbirds.com/2017/09/21/against-rotten-tomatoes/" target="_blank">“Against Rotten Tomatoes”</a> by Matt Strohl</p><p><a href="https://medium.com/curiouserinstitute/a-game-designers-analysis-of-qanon-580972548be5" target="_blank">“A Game Designer’s Analysis Of QAnon”</a> by Reed Berkowitz</p><p><a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-great-endarkenment-9780199326020?cc=us&amp;lang=en&amp;" target="_blank">The Great Endarkenment</a> by Elijah Millgram</p><p>Game recommendations:</p><p><a href="https://cmon.com/product/modern-art/modern-art" target="_blank">Modern Art</a></p><p><a href="https://ledergames.com/products/root-a-game-of-woodland-might-and-right" target="_blank">Root</a></p><p><a href="https://buriedwithoutceremony.com/the-quiet-year" target="_blank">The Quiet Year</a></p><p>Thoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com.</p><p>You can find transcripts (posted midday) and more episodes of “The Ezra Klein Show” at<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/column/ezra-klein-podcast" target="_blank"><strong> nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast</strong></a>, and you can find Ezra on Twitter @ezraklein. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs.html" target="_blank"><strong> https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs</strong></a>.</p><p>“The Ezra Klein Show” is produced by Annie Galvin, Jeff Geld and Rogé Karma; fact-checking by Michelle Harris; original music by Isaac Jones; mixing by Jeff Geld; audience strategy by Shannon Busta. Our executive producer is Irene Noguchi. Special thanks to Kristin Lin.</p>

<p>When Alana Casanova-Burgess set out to make a podcast series about Puerto Rico, she struggled with what to call it. Until one word came to mind, a word that captures a certain essence of life in Puerto Rico, but eludes easy translation into English. We talk to Alana about her series, and that particular word, then turn to an old story about treating words as signals of something happening just beneath the surface. </p> <p>Agatha Christie's clever detective novels may reveal more about the inner workings of the human mind than she intended. According to <a href="http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~ian/">Dr. Ian Lancashire</a> at the University of Toronto, the Queen of Crime left behind hidden clues to the real-life mysteries of human aging in her writing. Meanwhile, <a href="http://www.cmrr.umn.edu/facultystaff/kelvin.shtml">Dr. Kelvin Lim</a> and <a href="http://www.pharmacy.umn.edu/faculty/pakhomov_sergey/home.html">Dr. Serguei Pakhomov</a> from the University of Minnesota add to the intrigue with the story of an unexpected find in a convent archive that could someday help pinpoint very early warning signs for Alzheimer's disease and dementia. Sister Alberta Sheridan, a 94-year-old<a href="http://www.healthstudies.umn.edu/nunstudy/"> Nun Study</a> participant, reads an essay she wrote more than 70 years ago.</p> <p>La Brega update <em>was produced by Maria Paz Gutierrez</em> </p>

In tape five, three stories: first, a tale of how the cassette tape supercharged the self-help industry. Second, cassettes filled with history make an epic journey across Africa with a group of Lost Boys. And finally, Simon meets up with fellow Radiolabber David Gebel to dig through an old box of mixtapes and rediscover the unique power of these bygone love letters. Mixtape was reported, produced, scored and sound designed by me, Simon Adler, with music throughout by me. Unending reporting and production assistance was provided by Eli Cohen. Special Thanks to: Shad Helmstetter, Vic Conan, Glenna Salisbury, Jerry Rosen, Richard Petty, Sharon Arkin, William Mulwill for sharing his cassettes with me, and to the British library for sharing some of their recordings from their South Sudan collection, which is housed at the British Library Sound Archive. Support Radiolab by becoming a member today at Radiolab.org/donate.

One morning, Oliver Sipple went out for a walk. A couple hours later, to his own surprise, he saved the life of the President of the United States. But in the days that followed, Sipple’s split-second act of heroism turned into a rationale for making his personal life into political opportunity. What happens next makes us wonder what a moment, or a movement, or a whole society can demand of one person. And how much is too much?  Through newly unearthed archival tape, we hear Sipple himself grapple with some of the most vexing topics of his day and ours - privacy, identity, the freedom of the press - not to mention the bonds of family and friendship.  Reported by Latif Nasser and Tracie Hunte. Produced by Matt Kielty, Annie McEwen, Latif Nasser and Tracie Hunte. Special thanks to Jerry Pritikin, Michael Yamashita, Stan Smith, Duffy Jennings; Ann Dolan, Megan Filly and Ginale Harris at the Superior Court of San Francisco; Leah Gracik, Karyn Hunt, Jesse Hamlin, The San Francisco Bay Area Television Archive, Mike Amico, Jennifer Vanasco and Joey Plaster. Support Radiolab today at Radiolab.org/donate. Episode originally published 09/21/2017

Today we have a story about the sometimes obvious but sometimes sneaky effects of the way that we humans rearrange the elemental stuff around us. Reporter Avir Mitra and science journalist Lydia Denworth bring us a story about how one man’s relentless pursuit of a deep truth about the Earth led to an obsession that really changed the very air we breathe. This episode was reported by Avir Mitra, and produced by Matt Kielty, Becca Bressler, Rachael Cusick, and Maria Paz Gutiérrez. Special thanks to Cliff Davidson, Paul M. Sutter, Denton Ebel, and Sam Kean. Support Radiolab by becoming a member today at Radiolab.org/donate.

From the Pilgrims’ arrival at Plymouth Rock to the rise of the pandemic “quarantini,” alcohol has been a foundation of American society and culture. The Atlantic's Kate Julian explores how this tool for cohesion and cooperation eventually became a means of coping, and what history can teach us about improving our drinking habits.  This conversation originally ran on the podcast Today, Explained, hosted by Sean Rameswaram.  Further reading: America Has a Drinking Problem Be part of The Experiment. Use the hashtag #TheExperimentPodcast, or write to us at theexperiment@theatlantic.com.

This episode, a tale of a wonder drug that will make you wonder about way more than just drugs.   Doctor-reporter Avir Mitra follows the epic and fantastical journey of a molecule dug out of a distant patch of dirt that would go on to make billions of dollars, prolong millions of lives, and teach us something fundamental we didn’t know about ourselves. Along the way, he meets a geriatric mouse named Ike, an immigrant dad who’s a little bit cool sometimes, a prophetic dream that prompts a thousand-mile journey, an ice cream container that may or may not be an accessory to international drug smuggling, and - most important of all - an obscure protein that’s calling the shots in every one of your cells RIGHT NOW. This episode was reported by Avir Mitra and was produced by Sarah Qari, Pat Walters, Suzie Lechtenberg, with help from Carin Leong and Rachael Cusick. Special thanks to Richard Miller, Stuart Schreiber, Joanne Van Tilburg, and Bethany Halford. Support Radiolab by becoming a member today at Radiolab.org/donate.

Since its inception, the perennial thorn in Facebook’s side has been content moderation. That is, deciding what you and I are allowed to post on the site and what we’re not. Missteps by Facebook in this area have fueled everything from a genocide in Myanmar to viral disinformation surrounding politics and the coronavirus. However, just this past year, conceding their failings, Facebook shifted its approach. They erected an independent body of twenty jurors that will make the final call on many of Facebook’s thorniest decisions. This body has been called: Facebook’s Supreme Court. So today, in collaboration with the New Yorker magazine and the New Yorker Radio Hour, we explore how this body came to be, what power it really has and how the consequences of its decisions will be nothing short of life or death. This episode was reported and produced by Simon Adler. To hear more about the court's origin, their rulings so far, and their upcoming docket, check out David Remnick and reporter Kate Klonick’s conversation in the New Yorker Radio Hour podcast feed. Support Radiolab by becoming a member today at Radiolab.org/donate.