Reasonably Optimistic

When Renée Good was fatally shot by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Minneapolis, it reignited a familiar debate. Was this another case of police brutality, or an act of self-defense? Protests followed. Politicians and public figures weighed in. But why does this keep happening—and how do we make policing better and safer for everyone?

Host Megan McArdle speaks with former New York City police commissioner William Bratton and former NYPD chief Kenneth E. Corey. They join Megan to discuss their work at University of Chicago’s Policing Leadership Academy, and advocate that the program, and more like it, can reduce violence and improve fairness in policing.

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Journalist Katie Herzog was 12 years old when she first drank alcohol. It wasn’t until her 30s that she decided to quit. She tried everything — Alcoholics Anonymous, cleanses, therapy, yoga — but nothing stuck. Eventually, she turned to an unorthodox approach: the Sinclair Method.

Katie joins host Megan McArdle to explain this science-based path to sobriety and how it inspired her book, "Drink Your Way Sober."

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Early on Jan 3, news broke that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro had been captured by U.S. troops and was being flown to New York to stand trial. Later that day, President Donald Trump said the United States would take control of Venezuela’s massive oil reserves. Protests erupted almost immediately, reviving the Iraq War–era slogan, “no blood for oil.”

Host Megan McArdle breaks down the long, troubled history of Venezuelan oil and explains why the U.S. has a responsibility to help rebuild the country's economy.

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Matthew Yglesias has been a disrupter his entire career. He started as an early adapter to the web, running a blog before blogs were a thing. He went on to co-found the media company Vox and has written all over the internet. He joins host Megan McArdle to discuss their career trajectories and how the internet has changed both media and politics. 

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After Charlie Kirk’s death on her campus, Utah Valley University president Astrid Tuminez found herself in an impossible position. She was at the helm of Utah’s largest public university and had to find a way to lead her campus after the tragedy. Now, at the end of the fall semester, she joins host Megan McArdle to discuss how her faith, upbringing and love for her community gave her the strength and wisdom to get through. Plus, she shares the lessons she learned through the process to help other leaders — including the president of Brown University — who may find themselves in a similar position.

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There’s no one in politics quite like the Democratic governor of Colorado, Jared Polis. He's a serial entrepreneur who cashed in on the dot-com boom and has pushed back on over-regulation of artificial intelligence and the tech industry. He’s in favor of abortion rights, but was against overregulation of mask mandates. He's pro-business and pro-weed. The “pro-liberty” governor joins host Megan McArdle to discuss Trump’s tariff and immigration policies, transgender care and how to make housing and health care more affordable.

Timecodes

00:00 Welcome Gov. Jared Polis

01:27 Jared Polis’s entrepreneurial start

03:54 Three most important qualities in an entrepreneur

04:28 Most important qualities in a governor

05:00 Transition from tech to government

05:52 Transition from Congress to governor

07:03 First year as Governor

08:20 Regulation of Tech Companies

11:45 The “Pro-business,” “Pro-trade” Party

15:02 Are tariffs shifting voters?

16:35 Being pro-freedom

17:22 The only Democrat in The Liberty Caucus 

18:39 The polarization of transgender care

22:59 The Jared Polis brand of politics

23:29 Making health care more affordable

27:40 Making housing more affordable

31:14 Does his politics have national appeal?

32:22 Jared Polis’s MAGA uncle

33:24 Can Americans be civil again?

34:55 How to fix Congress 

36:02 The activist base of the Democratic Party

37:36 One thing to praise Trump on 

38:32 Collecting Coins

41:02 What is Jared Polis reasonably optimistic about?

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Science fiction writer Neal Stephenson predicted the metaverse, wearable tech and artificial intelligence long before those technologies arrived. What does he think of it all now? Host Megan McArdle talks to Stephenson about the future of AI, education and social media — and how his fiction became a window into the culture of Silicon Valley.

Timecodes

0:00 Welcome to Reasonably Optimistic

0:33 Who is Neal Stephenson?

1:19 Living in the future

3:25 Neal's origin story 

5:18 The disruptive effects of new technology 

8:18 The premise of The Diamond Age  

14:23 AI’s confident wrongness

17:43 What AI is good at

18:56 Is AI good for kids?

20:03 Fixing education in an AI world 

23:14 Will AI make nerds less valuable?

26:44 AI is eliminating entry level jobs

29:45 How tech founders got political

34:37 Is Neal Stephenson’s work political?

36:50 Technology is easier to predict than culture

40:11 What is Neal Stephenson reasonably optimistic about?

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Enough with the doom and gloom — we’re ready to talk about how America can thrive. Hosted by Washington Post Opinion columnist Megan McArdle, “Reasonably Optimistic” is your weekly conversation about how America can get unstuck and build a better future. Stop feeding your rage and start embracing our possibilities. Episodes drop Wednesdays.

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After chemotherapy, Post Opinions writer Rachel Manteuffel felt like she was encountering a bald stranger every time she looked in the bathroom mirror. But then came the curls and lots of other surprising phenomena that science hasn’t been quite able to explain. She shares her story and her conversation with YouTuber and science explainer Hank Green, who had similar strange experiences with his post-chemo self.

See Rachel’s hair transformation here: My cool cancer story | Opinion

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