Public

In the final episode of What Were We Like, Diarmaid and Catriona talk about Ireland’s two female Presidents, Mary Robinson and Mary McAleese, and how their visions of the Presidency reflected the events of the day. They talk about Mary Robinson’s harrowing trip to Somalia in 1992, and the crowning diplomatic achievement of Mary McAleese’s Presidency, the visit of Queen Elizabeth II in 2011.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today, Jonathan joins his fellow Pushkin hosts for a special episode all about mistakes.

Jonathan speaks with his friend, the writer Sheila Heti. Together, they muse on the cost of mistakes and whether we're really in control of how many we make. Plus, Nate Silver and Maria Konnikova from the podcast Risky Business give a gambler's take on the strange science of regret. And Tim Harford of Cautionary Tales tells the gripping story of a plane that ran out of fuel mid-flight.

Cautionary Tales and Risky Business are available wherever you get your podcasts.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tonight, Dan takes on perhaps the ultimate question in Western philosophy: if God is all-knowing, all-powerful, and all-beneficent, how can there be so much suffering in the world?

Next week, I’m going to be publishing an episode with Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham about the making of the song “Frozen Love,” from their only album as the duo Buckingham Nicks. That song is what eventually led to them joining Fleetwood Mac. So in anticipation of next week’s episode, I thought it would be great to go back seven years and revisit this Fleetwood Mac episode from 2018, about the making of “Go Your Own Way.” I hope you enjoy it, and I hope you’ll come back to hear the Buckingham Nicks episode.

-

Lindsey Buckingham is a singer-songwriter, a guitarist, and a producer. In 1974, he joined the band Fleetwood Mac, along with Stevie Nicks, his girlfriend at the time. A few year later, in 1977, Fleetwood Mac released the album Rumours, which would go on to sell over 40 million copies and become the eighth highest-selling album in history. In this episode, Lindsey Buckingham breaks down “Go Your Own Way," a song he wrote for that album about his relationship with Stevie Nicks.

For more, visit songexploder.net/fleetwood-mac.

Last time the anti-monopoly crusader Tim Wu appeared on the show, he was warning broadly about the road to serfdom. But in his new book, The Age of Extraction, Wu gets much more specific. The real road to serfdom, he warns, runs through Silicon Valley. Forget for a moment about surveillance capitalism, Wu suggests, and imagine that the most existential threat to 21st century freedom and prosperity is the “platform capitalism” of tech behemoths like Google and Amazon. These multi-trillion-dollar companies, he argues, have transformed the very places where we do business—digital marketplaces that once promised democratization—into sophisticated extraction machines. Like the robber barons of the late 19th century, today’s tech platforms have concentrated unprecedented wealth and power, creating an economic system that lends itself to the most Hayekian of medieval metaphors. The Silicon Valley business model is turning us into digital serfs, he warns starkly. That’s the extractive goal—the ‘Zero to One,’ as its most prominent ideologue Peter Thiel would say—of platform capitalism.

1. On the core thesis of extraction: Wu defines the economic reality that now dominates our digital economy and explains why “extraction” is the word that best captures our era.

“We have entered a world where we tolerate extreme levels of concentrated private power who try in every way they can to extract from weaker entities as much as possible. Much of the economy has become a resource for extraction by economically powerful actors.”

2. On tech billionaires as modern sovereigns: Wu describes the mindset that has emerged among Silicon Valley’s elite and why their detachment from reality has become dangerous.

“They desire to be treated like kings of small countries. They want immunity from ordinary laws. If no one ever says no to you, whether you’re an autocrat or a tech billionaire, that starts to become very bad for your character.”

3. On Silicon Valley’s ideological transformation: Wu traces how the tech industry abandoned its founding principles and embraced the very monopoly power it once claimed to despise.

“Silicon Valley once glamorized small inventive firms and brilliant scientists who gave their work to the public. Peter Thiel said every company should aim for monopoly. That’s basically where we live today. Everyone wants to be the platform.”

4. On the fragility of centralized systems: Wu warns that the concentration of power in a few platforms has made our entire economic system dangerously unstable.

“Centralized systems tend to be very fragile. They offer great advantages, but when they crash, they tend to crash hard. Whether it’s the economy or web services, I think we’re in for a hard crash coming at some point.”

5. On history’s verdict: Wu issues his starkest warning about what happens if America fails to address concentrated economic power voluntarily.

“If we can’t find some way to redistribute economic power, I think that history will redistribute it for us. The main and most effective tool of fundamental redistribution across the scope of history has been world wars and major revolutions. In a sense, we’re being tested.”

Keen On America is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Love is the big emotion, the one that drives our literature and our lives. It has done since antiquity. But when the Greeks and Romans wrote about love, did they mean the same things we do today? Is love eternal, or has the concept evolved over time?

• Guest: Marguerite Johnson, Honorary Professor in Classics at The University of Queensland
• Producer: Alex Tighe

In this monologue Robert Harrison reflects on the differences between human intelligence, animal intelligence, and artificial intelligence. Songs in this episode: “From the Beginning” by Emerson, Lake & Palmer; “La Nuit du Rat” by La Féline; and “If” by Pink Floyd.

Henri Cole joins Kevin Young to read “Vita Nova,” by Louise Glück, and his own poem “Figs.” Cole is the author of many poetry collections, including “The Other Love.” He is also a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the recipient of honors such as the Thom Gunn Award and the Jackson Poetry Prize. 

A couple of years ago, I asked the great military historian Richard Overy if World War Two had ended yet. Overy answered inconclusively, suggesting that wars were never really over. And such depressing wisdom is shared by Michael Livingston, a historian of another great war that shattered Europe - the Hundred Years War (1337–1453) between England and France. In his new book, Bloody Crowns, Livingston argues that Joan of Arc, Agincourt and the other now immortal iconography of the Hundred Years War shaped not just the histories of Britain and France but also the fate of the modern world. In fact, Livingston argues, the war was so consequential that it actually lasted two hundred years—and in some ways, still hasn’t ended.

* Wars Never Really End—They Just Change Shape The rivalry between England and France didn’t stop in 1453—it went global, fueling centuries of colonial conflict across Africa, Asia, and the Americas. Today’s geopolitical tensions (think Russia-Ukraine, Israel-Palestine) are similarly rooted in unresolved historical conflicts that keep resurfacing in new forms.

* National Identity Is Forged in Conflict, Not Peace France and England as we know them were literally created by this war. The labels “French” and “English” became meaningful identities only through centuries of fighting. This mirrors how modern nations—from Ukraine to Taiwan—often solidify their national consciousness when facing external threats.

* Myths Matter More Than Facts Joan of Arc and Agincourt became more powerful as symbols than as historical events. Britain invoked Agincourt before D-Day because national myths inspire action. Today’s political movements similarly rely on mythologized pasts—whether America’s “founding fathers” or any nation’s “golden age”—to mobilize people in the present.

* Rules of War Are Convenient Until They’re Not Medieval knights praised chivalry and honor—then massacred prisoners when it suited them (like Henry V at Agincourt). This pattern repeats throughout history: international law, Geneva Conventions, and “rules-based order” are respected when convenient and ignored when survival or victory is at stake.

* The “Dark Ages” Weren’t Dark—We Just Can’t Agree on What They Were Historians can’t even agree when the Middle Ages began or ended, yet we use these labels to organize history. This matters today because how we periodize and label history shapes how we understand the present. Are we in a “new Cold War”? A “post-truth era”? These labels aren’t neutral—they’re arguments about what’s happening now.

Keen On America is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.