Dr. Wilfred Reilly joins the show to discuss his latest book Lies My Liberal Teacher Told Me, challenging dominant narratives in education, race, gender, and American history.

Guest Bio: Dr. Wilfred Reilly is a political science professor at Kentucky State University, co-host of the Cut the Bull podcast, and author of several books including Taboo and Hate Crime Hoax. His work focuses on data-driven critiques of media narratives, identity politics, and ideological orthodoxy in academia.

Topics Discussed:

• The 1960s counterculture and its long-term social effects
• The Red Scare and communist influence in U.S. institutions
• Cultural Marxism vs. traditional Marxism
• Gender, family collapse, and declining fertility
• Lies in mainstream education and media
• How to find balanced non-fiction sources
• The future of family formation and policy implications
• Career advice in a rapidly changing labor market

Top Quote:
"Trust your common sense. If someone says something that sounds insane—like some women have 9-inch penises—believe your gut. You're not crazy." — Dr. Wilfred Reilly

Watch the full episode on YouTube📺➡️https://youtu.be/QVq8komx41M

🎙 The Pod is hosted by Jesse Wright
💬 For guest suggestions, questions, or media inquiries, reach out at https://elpodcast.media/
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Rob Lalka, Tulane professor and author of The Venture Alchemist, explores how big tech used venture capital and surveillance to convert profits into political and societal power.

Guest Bio: Rob Lalka is a Professor of Practice at Tulane University, where he leads the Albert Lepage Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. A former senior advisor at the Howard G. Buffett Foundation and staffer at the U.S. Department of State, Lalka is the author of The Venture Alchemist: How Big Tech Turned Profits Into Power.

Topics Discussed:

• The roots of big tech’s power in government partnerships and VC incentives
• The evolution of surveillance capitalism post-9/11 and the Patriot Act
• Venture capital’s hidden influence on founders and startups
• Uber, Palantir, Facebook, and Google as case studies in privatized power
• The blurring lines between government and Silicon Valley
• The role of Saudi wealth, Elon Musk, and Peter Thiel in shaping tech empires
• Alternatives to the VC model and stories of ethical entrepreneurship
• The political ascent of J.D. Vance and the networked power of tech elites

📺Watch Full Episode YouTube https://youtu.be/1rbqtg0kKxI

🎙 The Pod is hosted by Jesse Wright
💬 For guest suggestions, questions, or media inquiries, reach out at https://elpodcast.media/
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Award-winning professor Hatim A. Rahman joins the podcast to discuss Inside the Invisible Cage, exploring how algorithms and AI shape modern work, from gig platforms to corporate offices.

Guest Bio: Dr. Hatim A. Rahman is an assistant professor of management and organizations at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management. His research examines the intersection of technology, work, and organizational control. His latest book, Inside the Invisible Cage: How Algorithms Control Workers, investigates how opaque digital systems influence careers, autonomy, and fairness in the modern economy.

Discussed Topics:

• The "invisible cage" vs. the "iron cage" in modern workplaces
• Algorithmic control on gig and freelance platforms
• Rating inflation, Goodhart’s Law, and trust in digital metrics
• Parallels to historical labor changes and the rise of bureaucracy
• Remote work, surveillance, and the future of hybrid offices
• Consumer responsibility, regulation, and the ethical use of AI
• Career advice for students entering an algorithm-driven job market

Top Quote:

“People are not products, people are not bathrooms, people are not movies… yet we keep applying the same rating systems to them—and then pretend we’re measuring something real.”

📺Watch the full episode on YouTube➡️https://youtu.be/vxXRA2l7DX0

🎙 The Pod is hosted by Jesse Wright
💬 For guest suggestions, questions, or media inquiries, reach out at https://elpodcast.media/
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Harvard’s Shane Greenstein breaks down the Google antitrust ruling, the future of search, and why the biggest tech companies may be due for a reckoning.

👤 Guest Bio: Shane Greenstein is the Martin Marshall Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School and a leading expert on the economics of technology and innovation. His research explores how digital transformation reshapes business, markets, and society.

🧠 Topics Discussed:

• The August 2024 antitrust ruling against Google
• The economics of default search contracts and market power
• Comparisons to the Microsoft antitrust case
• Investor implications and possible remedies
• The role of AI in reshaping search
• Student use of AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude
• Public sentiment shifts toward big tech
• Online advertising auction mechanics and Google's conduct

💬 Top Quote:
"You can't do that unless you've got market power… They raised prices 20% year in, year out—and didn’t lose any advertisers. That’s pretty persuasive."

📺Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/5rZIYiJZvGA

🎙 The Pod is hosted by Jesse Wright
💬 For guest suggestions, questions, or media inquiries, reach out at https://elpodcast.media/
📬 Never miss an episode – subscribe and follow wherever you get your podcasts.
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Mark P. Mills explains how the convergence of AI, robotics, material science, and cloud computing is driving a new industrial revolution and economic boom akin to the Roaring 1920s.

Guest Bio: Mark P. Mills is a physicist, venture advisor, and senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. He serves as Executive Director of the National Center for Energy Analytics and is the author of The Cloud Revolution: How the Convergence of New Technologies Will Unleash the Next Economic Boom and a Roaring 2020s.

Discussed Topics:

• The physical infrastructure of the cloud and its hidden energy demands
• Why the 2020s mirror the innovation explosion of the 1920s
• 3D printing of organs, robotics, and the future of manufacturing
• The energy reality behind AI and data centers
• College advice, skilled trades, and workforce transformations
• The enduring importance of natural gas and the slow rise of nuclear
• How synthetic biology and personalized education could shape the future

Top Quote:

“AI chips are to computing what the jet engine was to aviation—a knee in the curve that changes everything.”

📺Watch the full episode on YouTube➡️https://youtu.be/4I266VrMzyg

🎙 The Pod is hosted by Jesse Wright
💬 For guest suggestions, questions, or media inquiries, reach out at https://elpodcast.media/
📬 Never miss an episode – subscribe and follow wherever you get your podcasts.
⭐️ If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review the show. It helps others find us.
 

Thanks for listening!

Watch the full episode on YouTube 📺https://youtu.be/4tyqIhQwCDA

🎙 The Pod is hosted by Jesse Wright
💬 For guest suggestions, questions, or media inquiries, reach out at https://elpodcast.media/
📬 Never miss an episode – subscribe and follow wherever you get your podcasts.
⭐️ If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review the show. It helps others find us.
 

Thanks for listening!

Dr. Emanuel Maçiori, author of Silicon, exposes how the tech industry wastes capital, hoards idle workers, and creates hype cycles built on fake problems and misaligned incentives.

Guest Bio: Dr. Emanuel Maçiori is a software engineer and researcher specializing in artificial intelligence. He is the author of Smart Intell Dumb and Silicon: How the Tech Industry Solves Fake Problems, Hoards Idle Workers, and Makes Doomed Bets with Other People’s Money. His work critiques inefficiencies in both AI development and the venture capital ecosystem.

Topics Discussed (in order):

• Viral blog post on doing no work at a prestigious tech job
• Origins of Silicon and tech idleness culture
• Twitter layoffs and the illusion of productivity
• Agile methodology and infantilization of tech workers
• Pointless jobs, “planning poker,” and bloated task estimates
• VC incentives, 2% management fees, and questionable fund performance
• Profitless companies and the illusion of growth (Uber, Spotify, etc.)
• Founder bootcamps and “recipe-driven” startup factories
• Hype cycles, survivorship bias, and inflated valuations
• ZIRP (Zero Interest Rate Policy) and the rise of fake innovation
• AI investment hype vs. business case reality
• Diminishing returns on LLMs and data exhaustion
• Government startup grants and the illusion of job creation
• “Moonshot” bias in VC funding vs. solving real-world problems
• Final message: be boring, solve real problems, and aim for sustainable businesses

Top Quote:

“Let’s go back to boring. The most successful people I’ve met lately solved a real problem they understood deeply—and built boring companies that actually work.”

📺Watch the full episode ➡️https://youtu.be/dGg1PF67knM

🎙 The Pod is hosted by Jesse Wright
💬 For guest suggestions, questions, or media inquiries, reach out at https://elpodcast.media/
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Maureen Callahan joins to expose the dark legacy of the Kennedy family through the lens of the women whose lives they damaged or destroyed.

Guest bio: Maureen Callahan is an award-winning investigative journalist and author. Her work spans pop culture and politics and has appeared in Vanity Fair, New York Magazine, Spin, and The New York Post. She currently writes for the Daily Mail and is the author of Ask Not: The Kennedys and the Women They Destroyed.

Discussed topics (in order):

• The 25th anniversary of JFK Jr.’s fatal plane crash
• JFK Jr.’s recklessness and death wish
• The failure of George magazine and his troubled personal life
• The mythmaking of the Kennedy dynasty beginning with Joe Kennedy Sr.
• Rosemary Kennedy’s lobotomy and hidden life in Wisconsin
• Challenges publishing the book and media complicity with the Kennedy myth
• The role of women like Jackie Kennedy and Carolyn Bessette
• The stories of interns and mistresses like Mimi Alford
• Marilyn Monroe’s entanglement with both JFK and RFK
• Ted Kennedy and the Chappaquiddick incident
• Media whitewashing of Kennedy scandals and parallels to current politics
• Pushback against the book and Callahan’s motivation for writing it
• The deaths and trauma inflicted on women like Martha Moxley, Mary Jo Kopechne, and Pam Kelley
• Final reflections on the women’s strength, historical amnesia, and reclaiming the narrative

📺Watch full episode on YouTube ➡️ https://youtu.be/RUBFMQGdfu8

🎙 The Pod is hosted by Jesse Wright
💬 For guest suggestions, questions, or media inquiries, reach out at https://elpodcast.media/
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⭐️ If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review the show. It helps others find us.
 

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Peter S. Goodman, global economics correspondent for The New York Times, discusses his book How the World Ran Out of Everything, exploring how the pandemic exposed the fragility, complexity, and monopolization of the global supply chain.

Guest Bio: Peter S. Goodman is the global economic correspondent for The New York Times and author of How the World Ran Out of Everything and Davos Man: How the Billionaires Devoured the World. He has previously reported from China, London, and Washington, covering globalization, trade, and economic inequality.

Topics Discussed (in order):

• Introduction to the global supply chain and pandemic-induced shortages
• Story of Glow, a Mississippi startup navigating China-based manufacturing
• The complexity of building simple products and iPhones
• Overdependence on China and difficulties in diversification
• The resilience and brittleness of just-in-time manufacturing
• Role of government and Wall Street in shaping supply chains
• Semiconductor shortages and the Arizona TSMC plant
• Historical context: Henry Ford and vertical integration
• Corporate financialization and buybacks vs. reinvestment
• Shift toward treating supply chains as national security
• The role of microchips in defense and economic power
• Trade, offshoring, and consequences for U.S. labor
• McKinsey and the consulting industry's influence
• Trucking industry realities and labor conditions
• Labor shortages and deteriorating job quality
• Current disruptions: Houthi attacks and Suez rerouting
• Origins of globalization via containerization
• Automation, AI, and future of logistics
• Davos Man and elite influence on policy
• Lobbyists, consultants, and systemic self-interest
• Monopoly power, antitrust, and future reforms
• Will vertical integration return? Toyota vs. Ford models
• Final thoughts and how to find Peter’s work

Top Quote:
"We should get over this idea that billionaire interests are our interests... We can’t step away from democracy—we still have to have a say over the conditions that shape the marketplace."

📺Watch on YouTube ➡️https://youtu.be/5Eu6nGGqdGA

🎙 The Pod is hosted by Jesse Wright
💬 For guest suggestions, questions, or media inquiries, reach out at https://elpodcast.media/
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⭐️ If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review the show. It helps others find us.
 

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Former UC Berkeley Chancellor Nicholas Dirks joins the podcast to discuss the cost crisis, politics, and purpose of American universities.

Guest Bio: Nicholas Dirks is a historian and former chancellor of UC Berkeley. He currently serves as President and CEO of the New York Academy of Sciences. Previously, he held senior academic positions at Columbia University and is the author of City of Intellect: The Uses and Abuses of the University.

Discussed Topics:

• What a university chancellor actually does
• Shared governance, faculty resistance to change, and budget politics
• The collapse of public funding for universities (UC funding dropped from 75% to 12%)
• Skyrocketing tuition and the unsustainable student debt crisis
• The contradictions of big-time college sports
• Tenure, adjunctification, and faculty accountability
• Why most students no longer fit the “traditional” college mold
• How AI could help nontraditional learners and support academic success
• Mismatch between degrees and job readiness in a shifting economy
• What universities must do to rebuild public trust

Top Quote:

“Tenured faculty are in an enormously privileged position... but the way you balance the budget, if they don’t get involved, is you hire more adjuncts—and then they complain about that too.”

📺Watch full episode on YouTube:👉 https://youtu.be/sonoJJaLIOg

🎙 The Pod is hosted by Jesse Wright
💬 For guest suggestions, questions, or media inquiries, reach out at https://elpodcast.media/
📬 Never miss an episode – subscribe and follow wherever you get your podcasts.
⭐️ If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review the show. It helps others find us.
 

Thanks for listening!