People I (Mostly) Admire

Kate Douglass is a world-class swimmer and data scientist who’s used mathematical modeling to help make her stroke more efficient. She and Steve talk about why the Olympics were underwhelming, how she won gold, and why she won’t be upset to say goodbye to the pool.

• SOURCE:
  • Kate Douglass, Olympic swimmer and graduate student.
  • RESOURCES:
  • "Kate Douglass HOLDS OFF Tatjana Smith to win 200m breaststroke | Paris Olympics" (NBC Sports, 2024).
  • “The Plane Partition Function Abides by Benford’s Law,” by Katherine Douglass and Ken Ono (UPB Scientific Bulletin, Series A, 2024).
  • “Swimming in Data,” by Katherine Douglass, Augustus Lamb, Jerry Lu, Ken Ono, and William Tenpas (The Mathematical Intelligencer, 2024).
  • "Why Some Olympic Swimmers Think About Math in the Pool," by Jenny Vrentas (The New York Times, 2024).

• EXTRAS:
  • "The Language of the Universe," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2024).

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Ken Ono is a math prodigy whose skills have helped produce a Hollywood movie and made Olympic swimmers faster. The number theorist tells Steve why he sees mathematics as art — and about his unusual path to success, which came without a high school diploma.

• SOURCE:
  • Ken Ono, professor of mathematics and STEM adviser to the provost at the University of Virginia.

• RESOURCES:
  • "‘Digital Twins’ Give Olympic Swimmers a Boost," by Katherine Douglass, Augustus Lamb, Jerry Lu, Ken Ono, and William Tenpas (Scientific American, 2024).
  • "Swimming in Data," by Katherine Douglass, Augustus Lamb, Jerry Lu, Ken Ono, and William Tenpas (The Mathematical Intelligencer, 2024).
  • "Integer Partitions Detect the Primes," by William Craig, Jan-Willem van Ittersum, and Ken Ono (PNAS, 2024).
  • The Man Who Knew Infinity, film by Matt Brown (2015).
  • "Proof of the Umbral Moonshine Conjecture," by John F. R. Duncan, Michael J. Griffin, and Ken Ono (Research in the Mathematical Sciences, 2015).
  • "Ramanujan's Ternary Quadratic Form," by Ken Ono and K. Soundararajan (Inventiones Mathematicae, 1997).

• EXTRA:
  • "Richard Dawkins on God, Genes, and Murderous Baby Cuckoos," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2024).

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Artist Wendy MacNaughton knows the difficulty of sitting in silence and the power of having fun. She explains to Steve the lessons she’s gleaned from drawing hospice residents, working in Rwanda, and reporting from Guantanamo Bay.

• SOURCE:
  • Wendy MacNaughton, artist and graphic journalist.

• RESOURCES:
  • "What Happens if Two Complete Strangers Draw Each Other?" video by the National Gallery of Art (2024).
  • How to Say Goodbye, by Wendy MacNaughton (2023).
  • "How to Have Fun Again," by Wendy MacNaughton (The New York Times, 2022).
  • "Inside America’s War Court: Clothing and Culture at Guantánamo Bay," by Carol Rosenberg and Wendy MacNaughton (The New York Times, 2019).
  • "Drawing the Guantánamo Bay War Court," by Wendy MacNaughton (The New York Times, 2019).
  • Think Like a Freak, by Steve Levitt and Stephen Dubner (2014).
  • DrawTogether.
  • The Grown-Ups Table.
  • Zen Caregiving Project.
  • DrawTogether Strangers.

• EXTRAS:
  • "Rick Rubin on How to Make Something Great," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2023).
  • "Does Death Have to Be a Death Sentence?" by People I (Mostly) Admire (2022).
  • "Sendhil Mullainathan Explains How to Generate an Idea a Minute (Part 2)," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2021).
  • "Sendhil Mullainathan Thinks Messing Around Is the Best Use of Your Time," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2021).

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Bestselling author James Nestor believes that we can improve our lives by changing the way we breathe. He’s persuasive enough to get Steve taping his mouth shut at night. He explains how humans dive to depths of 300 feet without supplemental oxygen, and describes what it’s like to be accepted into a pod of whales.

• SOURCES:
  • James Nestor, author and journalist.

• RESOURCES:
  • Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art, by James Nestor (2020).
  • Deep: Freediving, Renegade Science, and What the Ocean Tells Us about Ourselves, by James Nestor (2014).
  • "Open Your Mouth and You’re Dead," by James Nestor (Outside Magazine, 2012).
  • "The Brain on Sonar — How Blind People Find Their Way Around With Echoes," by Ed Yong (National Geographic, 2011).
  • "How I Held My Breath for 17 Minutes," by David Blaine (TED Talk, 2009).
  • Project CETI.

• EXTRA:
  • Data Science for Everyone Survey.

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People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals founder Ingrid Newkirk has been badgering meat-eaters, fur-wearers, and circus-goers for more than 40 years. For a woman who’s leaving her liver to the president of France in her will, she sounds quite sensible when she tells Steve what we can learn from animals, why she supports euthanasia, and who’ll get her other organs. 

• SOURCE:
  • Ingrid Newkirk, founding president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

• RESOURCES:
  • "Paradoxical Gender Effects in Meat Consumption Across Cultures," by Christopher J. Hopwood, Jahn N. Zizer, Wiebke Bleidorn, et al. (Nature Scientific Reports, 2024).
  • "PETA President Bequeaths Her Rump to a Reality Show," (PETA.org, 2023).
  • Animalkind: Remarkable Discoveries about Animals and Revolutionary New Ways to Show Them Compassion, by Ingrid Newkirk (2020).
  • "One Last U.S. Medical School Still Killed Animals to Teach Surgery. But No More," by Darryl Fears (The Washington Post, 2016).
  • "The Naked and the Dead," by Katie Glass (The Times, 2013).
  • "The Betrayal of 'No-Kill' Sheltering," by Ingrid Newkirk (PETA YouTube channel, 2013).
  • "The Lab-Monkey Controversy That Launched the Animal-Rights Movement," by Caroline Fraser (The New Yorker, 1993).

• EXTRAS:
  • "Suleika Jaouad’s Survival Mechanisms," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2024).
  • "Jane Goodall Changed the Way We See Animals. She’s Not Done," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2022).
  • "Peter Singer Isn’t a Saint, But He’s Better Than Steve Levitt," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2022).
  • "Bruce Friedrich Thinks There’s a Better Way to Eat Meat," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2021).
  • Project Donor.

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Revisiting Steve’s 2021 conversation with the economist and MacArthur “genius” about how to make memories stickier, why change is undervalued, and how to find something new to say on the subject of scarcity.

• SOURCE:
  • Sendhil Mullainathan, university professor of computation and behavioral science at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

• RESOURCES:
  • "Fictional Money, Real Costs: Impacts of Financial Salience on Disadvantaged Students," by Claire Duquennois (American Economic Review, 2022).
  • "Do Financial Concerns Make Workers Less Productive?" by Supreet Kaur, Sendhil Mullainathan, Suanna Oh, and Frank Schilbach (NBER Working Paper, 2022).
  • Subtract: The Untapped Science of Less, by Leidy Klotz (2021).
  • "Heads or Tails: The Impact of a Coin Toss on Major Life Decisions and Subsequent Happiness," by Steve Levitt (NBER Working Paper, 2016).
  • Scarcity: Why Having Too Little Means So Much, by Sendhil Mullainathan and Eldar Shafir (2013).
  • "The End of History Illusion," by Jordi Quoidbach, Daniel T. Gilbert, and Timothy D. Wilson (Science, 2013).

• EXTRAS:
  • "Leidy Klotz on Why the Best Solutions Involve Less — Not More," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2021).
  • "Sendhil Mullainathan Explains How to Generate an Idea a Minute," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2021).

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Under his helm, the TED Conference went from a small industry gathering to a global phenomenon. Chris and Steve talk about how to build lasting institutions, how to make generosity go viral, and what Chris has learned about public speaking.

• SOURCE:
  • Chris Anderson, head of TED.

• RESOURCES:
  • Infectious Generosity: The Ultimate Idea Worth Spreading, by Chris Anderson (2024).
  • TED Talks: The Official TED Guide to Public Speaking, by Chris Anderson (2016).
  • "The Best Stats You've Ever Seen," by Hans Rosling (TED, 2006).
  • "Do Schools Kill Creativity?" by Sir Ken Robinson (TED, 2006).
  • "Close-Up Card Magic With a Twist," by Lennart Green (TED, 2005).
  • "The Freakonomics of Crack Dealing," by Steve Levitt (TED, 2004).
  • ZoeCoral.com.

• EXTRAS:
  • "Giving It Away," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2022).
  • "We Can Play God Now," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2022).
  • "Self-Help for Data Nerds," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2022).
  • "Steven Pinker: 'I Manage My Controversy Portfolio Carefully,'" by People I (Mostly) Admire (2020).

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The former YouTube C.E.O. — and sixteenth Google employee — died on August 9, 2024. Steve talked with her in 2020 about her remarkable career, and how her background in economics shaped her work.

• SOURCES:
  • Susan Wojcicki, former C.E.O. of YouTube.

• RESOURCES:
  • "Susan Wojcicki, Former Chief of YouTube, Dies at 56," by John Yoon and Mike Isaac (The New York Times, 2024).

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The author of the classic The Selfish Gene is still changing the way we think about evolution.

• SOURCE:
  • Richard Dawkins, professor emeritus of the public understanding of science at Oxford University.

• RESOURCES:
  • The Genetic Book of the Dead, by Richard Dawkins (2024).
  • Flights of Fancy: Defying Gravity by Design and Evolution, by Richard Dawkins (2021).
  • "About Three-in-Ten U.S. Adults Are Now Religiously Unaffiliated," by Gregory A. Smith (Pew Research Center, 2021).
  • Cuckoo: Cheating by Nature, by Nick Davies (2015).
  • The God Delusion, by Richard Dawkins (2006).
  • "Why the Universe Seems So Strange," by Richard Dawkins (TED Global, 2005).
  • "Surprising Stats About Child Carseats," by Steve Levitt (TED Global, 2005).
  • "Genes and Memes," by John Maynard Smith (London Review of Books, 1982).
  • The Extended Phenotype: The Long Reach of the Gene, by Richard Dawkins (1982).
  • The Selfish Gene, by Richard Dawkins (1976).
  • "Child Endowments and the Quantity and Quality of Children," by Gary Becker and Nigel Tomes (Journal of Political Economy, 1976).
  • "Selective Pecking in the Domestic Chick," by Richard Dawkins (University of Oxford Ph.D. thesis, 1966).

• EXTRAS:
  • "The World’s Most Controversial Ornithologist," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2024).
  • "Is Gynecology the Best Innovation Ever?" by People I (Mostly) Admire (2024).

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Victoria Groce is the best trivia contestant on earth. The winner of the 2024 World Quizzing Championship explains the structure of a good question, why she knits during competitions, and how to memorize 160,000 flashcards.

• SOURCE:
  • Victoria Groce, “The Queen” on the television game show The Chase.

• RESOURCES:
  • The Chase, TV series (2013-2015, 2021-present).
  • LearnedLeague.
  • Anki.

• EXTRAS:
  • "Ken Jennings on How a Midlife Crisis Led Him to Jeopardy! (Replay)," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2021).
  • "Mayim Bialik on the Surprising Risks of Academia and Stability of Show Biz (Replay)," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2021).

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