Alex Eames speaks with Moshe Lander about whether Canada’s billion-dollar FIFA bill is a smart investment, or if politicans and taxpayers are being sold a bill of goods. Moshe argues that while the World Cup will absolutely be fun and meaningful for fans, the public was sold a dollars-and-cents case that does not really hold up once you factor in temporary jobs, displaced spending, security costs, and FIFA’s ability to push expenses onto host cities.

References

Thanks to our patrons, including Kris Rondolo, Amy Willis, and Christopher McDonald.

Alex speaks with Darrell Bricker about whether Canada is at a breaking point, drawing from Bricker and John Ibbitson’s book Breaking Point to explore Canada’s economic stagnation, regional alienation, generational anxiety, and fragile national identity. Bricker argues that Canada’s challenges are serious but not fatal if Canadians are willing to stop kicking hard problems down the road and start building a country that younger generations can actually believe in.

References:

Thanks to our patrons, including Kris Rondolo, Amy Willis, and Christopher McDonald.

In this episode from 2022, Alex speaks with James Harrigan about popular culture as a source of social change and the many ways in which the export of American pop culture has shaped the world.

References

1. “Brown v. Board of Education” by the National Archives

Link: https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/brown-v-board-of-education 

2. “Roe v. Wade” by Britannica

Link: https://www.britannica.com/event/Roe-v-Wade

In this episode, Alex speaks with Matt Zwolinski about whether markets are coercive, and why the answer is more complicated than either “markets are voluntary” or “capitalism is coercion.” They discuss Robert Hale’s classic argument, the limits of standard libertarian responses, and why a better liberal defence of markets has to take real-world coercion seriously without treating all coercion as morally equal.

References:

Thanks to our patrons, including Kris Rondolo, Amy Willis, and Christopher McDonald. To support The Curious Task, visit: https://patreon.com/curioustask

Matt speaks with Matt Dinan about why AI is not so much ruining liberal education as exposing it's main shortcoming: treating education as a system of credentials rather than a challenging process of reading, writing, discussing, and learning how to learn. Dinan argues that the best response is not to become an "AI cop", but to design courses that incentivize students to learn skills they will need in any scenario where AI has an impact on our society - for better or for worse.

References

Thanks to our patrons, including Kris Rondolo, Amy Willis, and Christopher McDonald.

In this episode from 2022, Alex speaks with Moin Yahya about debates both new and old surrounding the causes and history of inflation.

Inflation and Paper Money: An Historical Perspective: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4076420 

In Defense of the Free-Banking Stablecoins: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4056359 

https://www.cato.org/people/george-selgin 

Thanks to Our Patrons

Thanks to our patrons, including Kris Rondolo, Amy Willis, and Christopher McDonald.

Matt speaks with Nadine Strossen about why free speech is under pressure across the political spectrum, from left-wing campus cancel culture to right-wing government coercion and censorship pressures. Strossen argues that the answer to hateful or harmful ideas is not censorship, but a stronger culture of free expression, viewpoint neutrality, and fighting bad speech with better speech.

References

Thanks to Our Patrons

Thanks to our patrons, including Kris Rondolo, Amy Willis, and Christopher McDonald.

Matt speaks with Casey Kennedy, co-founder of Acton Academy Calgary Central, about what makes the Acton model different from traditional schooling: guides instead of teachers, Socratic discussions instead of lectures, mastery instead of grades, and an emphasis on letting kids struggle, fail, and become passionate about the process of learning itself. Casey also explains why she and her husband started the school for their daughter, how her earlier work in Dallas and Sierra Leone shaped her view of education, and why she believes every child has a “genius” that education should help uncover.

References

Thanks to Our Patrons

Thanks to our patrons, including Kris Rondolo, Amy Willis, and Christopher McDonald.

Matt speaks with James Czerniawski about proposed bans on children using social media and AI, exploring concerns around mental health, digital literacy, free speech, privacy, and the consequences of regulation. James argues that while online harms are real, outright bans are ineffective and often counterproductive, advocating instead for parental awareness, digital literacy, and a more optimistic approach to AI.

References

James’ website: https://jamesczerniawski.com/

James’ author page at the Consumer Choice Center: https://consumerchoicecenter.org/author/james/

The UK Online Safety Act: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/online-safety-act-explainer/online-safety-act-explainer

Institute for Family Studies: Digital Parent Toolkit: https://ifstudies.org/blog/new-tools-to-help-parents-navigate-teens-social-media-use

The Twitter Files: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter_Files

COPPA (Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act): https://www.ftc.gov/legal-library/browse/rules/childrens-online-privacy-protection-rule-coppa

Thanks to Our Patrons

Thanks to our patrons, including Kris Rondolo, Amy Willis, and Christopher McDonald.

Alex sits down with Holly Doan to discuss Accountability Journalism and the role that non-mainstream journalistic media has in the current Canadian political landscape. They discuss the decline of traditional newsrooms, subsidies for Canadian media companies and the lack of transparency that has led us to a climate where the press is struggling to keep up with the times.

References

Blacklock’s website:

https://www.blacklocks.ca/

The Hub article on government subsidies for traditional Canadian media outlets:

https://thehub.ca/2025/05/05/the-names-of-media-outlets-receiving-government-mandated-funding-released-only-days-after-election/

Carney’s CBC funding announcement:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/mark-carney-cbc-funding-1.7501902

Holly on X:

https://x.com/hollyanndoan

Thanks to Our Patrons

Thanks to our patrons, including Kris Rondolo, Amy Willis, and Christopher McDonald.