CSPI Podcast

Bryan Caplan is a professor of economics at George Mason University, a visiting senior scholar at the University of Texas at Austin, and the author of several books, including The Myth of the Rational Voter and The Case Against Education. He returns to the podcast to talk about his two new collections of essays released as books, Labor Econ Versus the World: Essays on the World’s Greatest Market and How Evil Are Politicians?: Essays on Demagoguery. The conversation centers around how much Richard and Bryan have in common when it comes to how they think through social and political issues, with a focus on Social Desirability Bias as a major hindrance to engaging in moral reasoning and discovering truth. Topics include:

• How little effort most people put towards developing their most cherished political views


• Why most politicians should be considered bad people


• Why the first world poor can be considered morally blameworthy, particularly compared to those who live in developing countries


• The demagoguery of feel-good policy ideas like raising the minimum wage

Bryan gives a teaser of his next collection of essays that will be released under the title Don’t Be a Feminist: Essays on Genuine Justice, discussing why, as the title suggests, he hopes his daughter does not become a feminist and turn against him. The conversation concludes with reflections on how podcasting and Substack have disrupted legacy media, and why that’s good for independent writers and journalists. 





Bryan Caplan, “The Ideologues of GMU.”
Bryan Caplan, “Labor Econ Versus the World: Essays on the World's Greatest Market.”
Bryan Caplan, “How Evil Are Politicians?: Essays on Demagoguery.” 

Bryan Caplan’s Substack



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Eron Wolf is the founder of Yahoo! Games, a WhatsApp seed investor, and the founder and CEO of FUTO, an Austin-based organization dedicated to developing technologies to fight the centralization and consolidation of the tech industry. He and Richard talk about the business model of Big Tech and how machine learning and algorithms can shape human behavior. Eron discusses his plans for FUTO, and how he hopes it will remake the internet. FUTO is hosting a Fellowship program in Austin this summer for programmers, which offers $20,000, housing, incubator space, mentorship, and networking events for those selected.





FUTO.org

FUTO Fellows Program 

@FUTO_Tech on Twitter



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Jordan Lasker is a PhD student at Texas Tech University and a bioinformatician. He joins the podcast to discuss his recent report for CSPI, “About Those Baby Brainwaves: Why ‘Policy Relevant’ Social Science is Mostly a Fraud.” The report critically examined a recent study claiming small cash transfers to the parents of newborns improved their babies’ brain activity. The study was lauded in the media and by D.C. policymakers, who argued its results supported redistributive policies, most notably the child tax credit. Jordan demonstrated that the study in question wildly overstated its claims, was methodologically suspect, and that its authors engaged in numerous bad research practices. Social science, he argues, is not a sound basis for policymaking given academia’s warped incentives.



He and Richard talk about why physiological measures like EEGs are taken much more seriously than psychometrics like IQ tests, whether “rich brains” and “poor brains” exist, if the Flynn effect means we’re getting smarter, and the politicization of academia and science more generally. The two agree that the priors of the average researcher or policymaker are way off base: dozens of studies have found cash transfers and even adoption to high SES families have minimal effects on IQ or income. Given that, why would we expect $333/month to move the needle? They conclude by considering whether society is better off with leaders who “trust the science” or those who are openly anti-intellectual, given broken incentive structures and political bias within the policy relevant literature. 



Jordan Lasker, “About Those Baby Brainwaves: Why ‘Policy Relevant’ Social Science is Mostly a Fraud.” 
Troller-Renfree et al. (Baby Brainwaves Study), “The Impact of a Poverty Reduction Intervention on Infant Brain Activity.” 
Richard Feynman, “Cargo Cult Science.” 
Kirkegaard et al., “Nerve Conduction Velocity and Cognitive Ability: A Large Sample Study.” 
“Flynn Effect.” 
Wongupparaj et al., “The Flynn Effect for Verbal and Visuospatial Short-Term and Working Memory: A Cross-Temporal Meta-Analysis.” 
Odenstad et al., “Does Age at Adoption and Geographic Origin Matter? A National Cohort Study of Cognitive Test Performance in Adult Inter-Country Adoptees.”
Tobias Hübinette, “The Adopted Koreans of Sweden and the Korean Adoption Issue.”



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Philippe Lemoine returns to the CSPI Podcast to discuss his prediction for the 2022 French Presidential election. This episode was recorded on April 22nd, two days before Macron’s victory on April 24th, because Philippe was so confident in his forecast that he didn’t think it was necessary to wait until after the election to discuss the results. 



He and Richard talk about the differences between French and American politics, right-wing ideology in France, class and age as predictors of voting for conservative candidates, and why Éric Zemmour’s campaign failed. They also discuss how best to think about the behavior of low information voters, why the far right doesn’t win French presidential elections despite strong anti-immigration sentiment among the public, and how people who criticize the Islamic veil are actually being PC. Philippe explains why Le Pen staying in politics means the Right can never win the French presidency, and the two conclude by discussing what to expect from Macron over the next five years. A transcript of some of the best parts of the conversation is available here.



Philippe Lemoine, “Will Zemmour Bring a Right-Wing Revolution in France?” 
Eric Zemmour, “Le Premier Sexe.” 
Simone de Beauvoir, “The Second Sex.” 
Sam Wang, “Why I Had to Eat a Bug on CNN.” 
Philippe’s tweets predicting the election:
https://twitter.com/phl43/status/1510606408047333388?s=21&t=b178Uzlay32RYFTalQnVUg
https://twitter.com/phl43/status/1511798012045103108

https://twitter.com/phl43/status/1512550945309306885?s=21&t=GsfmAceOj5Sg2xuayZIWog



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Gail Heriot is a Professor of Law at the University of San Diego School of Law and a member of the United States Commission on Civil Rights. She joins the podcast to explain the connections between civil rights law and wokeness, how disparate impact criminalizes everything and leads to arbitrary government power, and the real-world consequences of these laws in corporate and university settings. She and Richard also discuss why Republicans are afraid to push back against civil rights law, the current Critical Race Theory controversy as a sign things are changing, and the importance of politicians being pressured by their base. Finally, Gail gives practical advice on what the most important components of an anti-woke agenda would look like, and how she’d like to see politicians treat these issues going forward.  A full transcript of the conversation is available here. 



Gail Heriot, “The Roots of Wokeness: Title VII Damage Remedies as Potential Drivers of Attitudes Toward Identity Politics and Free Expression.”
Gail Heriot, “Title VII Disparate Impact Liability Makes Almost Everything Presumptively Illegal.”

Gail Heriot, “The Department of Education's Obama-Era Initiative on Racial Disparities in School Discipline: Wrong For Students and Teachers, Wrong on the Law.”

Richard Hanania, “Woke Institutions is Just Civil Rights Law.”
Eugene Volokh, “Harassment Law and Free Speech Doctrine.”

Myart v. Ill. Fair Employment Com.  

Griggs v. Duke Power Co.
Grutter v. Bollinger
Gratz v. Bollinger

Bostock v. Clayton County



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Noah Carl is an independent researcher, writer, and free speech advocate. He invited Richard on his new podcast (which you can find at Noah’s Substack) to discuss whether the West is to blame for the conflict in Ukraine. We’re re-releasing that episode, which originally came out on March 1st. Although much has happened since then, the topics discussed in the conversation remain relevant for understanding the current war and how we got here. Noah and Richard talk about moralism and paranoia in American foreign policy, the multicausal nature of war, and whether the US is a consistent defender of democracy and human rights globally. They also discuss whether Ukraine could grow economically without integration into the EU, utilitarianism in international relations, what the West should do if Russia won’t negotiate, and why war is almost always a terrible idea.





Noah Carl’s Substack.
Richard Hanania, “Americans Hate Each Other, but We Aren’t Headed for a Civil War.” 
Richard Hanania, “Lessons from Forecasting the Ukraine War.” 
John Mueller, “The Stupidity of War: American Foreign Policy and the Case for Complacency.” 
CSPI Podcast with John Mueller, “War as a Product of Human Stupidity” 



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Steve Hsu is a Professor of Theoretical Physics and Professor of Computational Mathematics, Science, and Engineering at Michigan State University. He returns to the CSPI Podcast for a wide-ranging discussion of various personal, political, and technical topics, including his attempted cancelation from Michigan State, thoughts on Russia-Ukraine, affirmative action, macroeconomics, and why top physics talents prefer theoretical over practical pursuits (If you haven’t seen Steve’s first appearance on the podcast, click here to watch or listen). 



The conversation begins with Steve explaining what it was like growing up one of the few Asian kids in a predominantly white town and reflecting on the nature of assimilation. He and Richard continue their discussion of the Russia-Ukraine war and European geopolitics before moving on to affirmative action and civil rights law. They talk about the Harvard Asian case, the highly subjective nature of legal decisions, and whether employment markets are rational enough for the college degree to lose value if universities scrap standardized tests.



Next, Steve tells Richard about his attempted cancelation from Michigan State, where he was pressured to step down from his role as Vice President of Research after a leftist student group attacked him on Twitter over his blog posts and podcasts. They talk about the intrusion of activists into academia, and how this has negatively impacted the STEM fields and social sciences. This leads to a discussion of whether economics is a more valuable and rigorous social science than the others, and whether micro and macroeconomics are comparable or reconcilable.



In the last part of the podcast, Steve and Richard talk about what traits and dispositions lead some people to go against the crowd and resist conformity, and why the path to scientific and technological innovation is laden with disbelief and ridicule from peers. Using the examples of Jeff Bezos and Richard Feynman, Steve explains how those with exceptionally high IQs are often able to effortlessly solve problems and optimize systems with little to no background or technical knowledge. They conclude by considering the possibility that policy should be oriented towards recognizing and rewarding the few geniuses and innovators whose work leads to disproportionate social and material gains.



A transcript of the full conversation is available here:  https://richardhanania.substack.com/p/assimilation-football-affirmative?s=r   



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CSPI Podcast, “The Future of Humanity is IVF Babies and Chinese Domination | Steve Hsu & Richard Hanania.”
Richard Hanania, “Lessons from Forecasting the Ukraine War.” 
Adam Tooze, “Putin’s Challenge to Western Hegemony.”
Rob Lee. “Moscow’s Compellence Strategy.”
Anatoly Karlin. “Regathering of the Russian Lands.” 
Steve Hsu, “Joe Cesario on Police Decision Making and Racial Bias in Deadly Force Decisions (Manifold Episode #11).”
Steve Hsu, “ManifoldOne Podcast Episode#3: Richard Hanania on Wokeness, Public Choice Theory, & Geostrategy.”
Steve Hsu, "Manifold Podcast #6: Richard Sander on Affirmative Action, Mismatch Theory, and Academic Freedom.” 
Alan Sokal, “Sokal Hoax.”
Wikipedia, “Grievance Studies Affair (Sokal Squared).”
Eric Kaufmann, “Academic Freedom in Crisis: Punishment, Political Discrimination, and Self-Censorship.”
Steve Hsu, “Bezos Quotes.” 

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Jimmy Soni is a biographer and speechwriter. He joins the podcast to talk about his new book, “The Founders: The Story of Paypal and the Entrepreneurs Who Shaped Silicon Valley,” which explores the early days, history, and legacy of PayPal. It also outlines the unique qualities, business savvy, and technological vision that led to the founders’ success at PayPal and elsewhere. Jimmy and Richard discuss the value of “founders,” the cultural impact of Elon Musk, and why so much high-level talent was concentrated at the University of Illinois in the ‘90s. They consider the role of productive tribalism and Peter Thiel’s memetic philosophy in shaping tech culture, and reflect on how the tension between vision and practicality is central to American dynamism and innovation.



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Jimmy Soni, “The Founders: The Story of Paypal and the Entrepreneurs Who Shaped Silicon Valley.” 







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Stephen Hsu is a Professor of Theoretical Physics and Professor of Computational Mathematics, Science, and Engineering at Michigan State University. He is also a serial entrepreneur and has published on genomics, in addition to blogging on a wide range of topics from econometrics and geopolitics to mixed martial arts. Hsu joins the Podcast, where he and Richard begin by talking about the Russia-Ukraine crisis and American military power relative to that of China and Russia. What would a Chinese attempt to conquer Taiwan look like, and what would the US be able to do in response? This is followed by a long discussion on the strengths and weaknesses of the Chinese system and its differences with the democratic capitalist model, including the former's high level of reliance on standardized tests and institutions designed to evaluate and promote government officials. The conversation closes on the topics of genomics and embryo selection, including the state of the technology, its current uses, and cross-national differences in attitudes and regulations. A full transcript of the conversation is available here.





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Ezra Voegel, “Japan as Number One.”
John Dower, “War Without Mercy."
Dan Wang, ”2021 Letter.”
Dan Bell, “The China Model.”
Richard McGregor, “The Party.”
"DNA Dreams" (documentary film).
Richard Hanania, “The Inevitable Rise of China.”
Richard Hanania, “Fertility as the Final Boss in Chinese Development, and Richard Hanania Prediction Markets.”
Steve Hsu, “Sustainability of China Economic Growth.”
Steve Hsu, “Les Grandes Ecoles Chinoises.”
Francesco C. Billari, Hans-Peter Kohler, Gunnar Andersson and Hans Lundström, “Approaching the Limit: Long-Term Trends in Late and Very Late Fertility.”  p. 163. (On Swedish Fertility, Extreme Births)
Steve’s Podcast, “Manifold.”

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Alec Stapp is co-CEO of the Institute for Progress, a new think tank that focuses on accelerating scientific, technological, and industrial progress. He joins Richard to talk about why he started his think tank and what policymaking looks like in DC behind the scenes. They also discuss the idea of Secret Congress, the backgrounds of DC staffers, meta-science, biosecurity and immigration as policy issues, and the pros and cons of state capacity.

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Alec Stapp and Caleb Watney, “Progress Is a Policy Choice.”




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