Episodes

  • The method is all we have
    Dec 1 2025

    This episode examines how every civilization relies on a process for deciding what counts as real. It follows the evolution of method from early systems of logic to the rise of experimentation, and shows how communities learned to test their assumptions instead of trusting tradition or authority. It traces the shift from inherited belief to evidence-seeking practice, and why that shift remains the backbone of science, law, journalism, and democratic decision-making. It looks at how institutions protect or erode this process, and how individuals navigate a world where information is abundant but verification is uneven. Method is the only safeguard for a society trying to understand itself, because without a way to question and revise, conviction hardens faster than truth can emerge. In other words, the method is all we have.

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    1 hr and 45 mins
  • (bonus episode) Capitalism relies on socialism to avoid collapse
    Nov 9 2025

    When New York City elected Zohran Mamdani as mayor, conservatives warned of creeping socialism. This episode looks beyond the headlines to ask a deeper question: why do capitalist systems always turn to socialist policies to survive? From FDR’s New Deal to modern bailouts and public infrastructure, history shows that when markets falter, collective investment holds society together. Mamdani’s victory underscores a simple truth: capitalism relies on socialism to avoid collapse.

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    1 hr and 15 mins
  • Truth is not what is, but what persuades
    Nov 1 2025

    This episode examines how truth recedes when appearance becomes the measure of influence. It follows the long history of leaders, institutions, and media systems that learned how spectacle can command belief even when the substance behind it is thin, and it traces the evolution of persuasion from Renaissance courts to modern broadcasting, showing how fear, performance, and repetition organize the stories people treat as real. The psychological need for coherence makes whole societies receptive to crafted narratives that feel stable even when they distort the world. Join us as we investigate why public conviction often forms around symbols rather than facts, and how this tendency reshapes political life, culture, and identity. In other words, truth is not what is, but what persuades.


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    1 hr and 21 mins
  • The mind doesn't need reality to feel convinced
    Oct 1 2025

    This episode examines how belief takes shape, why certainty can endure even when the supporting evidence weakens, and how truth shifts when preference begins to guide interpretation. It looks at the systems societies developed—science, journalism, education—to create shared standards for testing reality, and it considers the pressures eroding those systems through defunding, censorship, and strategic discrediting. These vulnerabilities allow comforting narratives to spread more quickly than accurate ones, and they pull communities toward explanations that satisfy identity rather than inquiry. The result is an information environment where commitment to a group can overshadow engagement with facts, and where doubt becomes a tool for influencing perception rather than a path to understanding. In other words, the mind doesn't need reality to feel convinced.

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    1 hr and 17 mins
  • (bonus episode) I refuse to offer thoughts and prayers
    Sep 11 2025

    In this episode, we examine the irony and hypocrisy surrounding the death of Charlie Kirk. We look at Utah’s politics, where Republican lawmakers have blocked gun reforms for decades. We revisit Kirk’s own rhetoric, including his claim that “some deaths are necessary” to preserve the Second Amendment. We explore the transformation of flawed figures into martyrs, and how outrage is manufactured and weaponized.

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    43 mins
  • We don't kill philosophers anymore
    Sep 1 2025

    In this first episode, we explore the foundations of truth through logic—what counts as a sound argument, how fallacies distort debate, and why the rules of reasoning matter more than ever in today’s politics and media. From ancient philosophers to modern news cycles, we trace how logic can both illuminate and obscure reality, and why so many public conversations are built on tricks rather than tests of truth.

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    1 hr and 13 mins