People Love Dead Jews. That's the title of novelist and literary scholar Dara Horn's provocative book, which explores the ways in which non-Jewish societies exploit Jewish histories and atrocities to "flatter" themselves and erase Jewish realities. In an episode filled with more ghoulish humor than usual, we follow Dara’s journey of uncovering a troubling (and often truly absurd) history. We also can’t help ourselves and go meta: not only raking on the media (as we’re wont to do) but also nerding out about the difference between Jewish and Western literary narratives.

Find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Podcast Addict, and Stitcher. Check out our Patreon for behind-the-pod updates. Follow @UncertainPod on your social media of choice.

On the agenda:

-Memorializing dead Jews, erasing living Jews [9:44-26:35]

-Why does empathy require similarity? [26:36-30:33]

-Jews disrupting historical narratives [30:34-34:54]

-Anti-semitism, assimilation, and Jewish agents of erasure [34:55-42:38]

-"I spent 20 years not writing this book" [42:39-49:29]

-How I'm Supposed to Respond to Anti-Semitism [49:30-53:23]

-Victim Blaming to Feel Good [53:24-58:46]

-Holocaust museums have failed [58:47- 1:05:56]

-What Readers Want (Resolution not Ambiguity) [1:05:57-1:20:00]

Uncertain Things is hosted and produced by Adaam James Levin-Areddy and Vanessa M. Quirk. For more doomsday rumination, subscribe to: uncertain.substack.com.

Matt Taibbi thrives on the absurd. He used to revel in journalism's culture: caustic, independent, collaborative, and adversarial to those in power. Now, the former Rolling Stone writer and author of Hate Inc. sees little to love in the toxic, "credentialist" media world. We discuss Matt's transition to Substack (the future!), the psychotic break Trump inspired in "mainstream" media, and the future of our broken industry.

Find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Podcast Addict, and Stitcher. Check out our Patreon for behind-the-pod updates. Follow @UncertainPod on your social media of choice.

On the agenda:

-Journalism cultures, past and present* [3:38-20:22]

-Protest subscriptions, absurdism, and economic anxiety [20:33-37:14]

-Gerrymandering hate and victimhood [37:15-45:39]

-The pernicious chaos of totalitarianism [45:40-50:01]

-A Trump-induced psychotic break [50:02-1:01:54]

-Tech troubles [1:01:55-1:05:35]

-What's Next for Media? [1:05:36-1:09:05]

-The Blindspots Q [1:09:06-1:14:25]

For more media musings…

…check out our conversations with Batya Ungar-Sargon, Nancy Rommelmann, Matt Welch, and Katie Herzog.

Uncertain Things is hosted and produced by Adaam James Levin-Areddy and Vanessa M. Quirk. For more doomsday rumination, subscribe to: uncertain.substack.com.

Anthony Gottlieb is a historian of ideas, the former executive editor of The Economist, the author of The Dream of Reason and The Dream of Enlightenment, and the George R.R. Martin of the history of philosophy. He tells us why he kept a poster of Wittgenstein in his dorm, how journalism forced him to unlearn the bad prose of academia, what is the quality that defines a successful philosopher, and why he thinks the liberal foundations of the West remain firm (Adaam is less certain).

Find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Podcast Addict, and Stitcher. Check out our Patreonfor behind-the-pod updates. Follow @UncertainPod on your social media of choice.

On the agenda:

-Coming up at the Economist [3:55-10:00]

-Bertrand Russell, boyhood idol [10:01 - 15:34]

-On Hume and Religion [15:35 - 21:24]

-Philosophizing in Uncertain Times [21:25 - 28:21]

-The Power of Charisma [28:22 - 39:10]

-Wrestling with Wittgenstein [39:11- 44:12]

-The Enlightenment Project's Legacy [44:13 - 56:16]

-On Skepticism, Self-Awareness, and Philosophy Today [56:17 - 1:04:26]

Uncertain Things is hosted and produced by Adaam James Levin-Areddy and Vanessa M. Quirk. For more doomsday rumination, subscribe to: uncertain.substack.com.

Film critic, YouTube influencer, and sci-fi author Lindsay Ellis joins us to talk about her new novel and the complexities of human-alien relationships. But, in typical Uncertain Things fashion, we couldn't help but ask Lindsay about the f*ed up nature of today's social media landscape — one that cripples artists and rewards very bad behavior indeed. Plus, Lindsay gives us her guide for distinguishing between good and bad faith criticism, diagnoses Hollywood's TV problem, and hints that the future is books.

Find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Podcast Addict, and Stitcher. Check out our Patreonfor behind-the-pod updates. Follow @UncertainPod on your social media of choice.

On the agenda:

-Aliens vs. transhumanism [06:33-11:10]

-Dealing with bad faith critics [11:11-19:04]

-The algorithm effect [19:05-22:51]

-The artist/audience disconnect [22:52-28:11]

-Hollywood's TV problem [28:12-30:35]

-Scarred by the content machine [30:36-35:07]

Check out Lindsay’s novels Axiom’s End and Truth of the Divine. And as promised, here’s Lindsay’s take on Mel Brooks and satire and The Beauty and the Beast remake.

Uncertain Things is hosted and produced by Adaam James Levin-Areddy and Vanessa M. Quirk. For more doomsday rumination, subscribe to: uncertain.substack.com.

Nancy Rommelmann is a fiery (but mostly peaceful) writer and reporter. She’s also the co-founder (along with Matt Welch) of Paloma Media — a home for "the growing number of misfit creators who no longer fit neatly in our cramped categories of media, politics, and culture." Nancy made the trek to Queens for an in-person (!) conversation where she shared her journalism war stories, her ire about Donald MacNeill, Jr., and her musings on beauty as a commodity.

Find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Podcast Addict, and Stitcher. Check out our Patreon for behind-the-pod updates. Follow @UncertainPod on your social media of choice.

On the agenda:

-Intro to Nancy [00:00 - 4:00]

-Our anti-natalist debate w/ Jacob Siegel, to be continued [4:01 - 6:00]

-Settling in [6:01-16:27]

-Deconstructing Portland [16:28 - 35:40]

-The NYT vs. The Donalds [35:41 - 1:02:06]

-Creating Things in the Chaos [1:02:05 - 1:11:14]

-The Beauty Blindspot [1:11:15 - 1:32:09]

-Blindspots on the Left & Right [1:32:10 - 1:39:24]

-People Will Surprise You [1:39:25 - 1:44:17]

Uncertain Things is hosted and produced by Adaam James Levin-Areddy and Vanessa M. Quirk. For more doomsday rumination, subscribe to: uncertain.substack.com.

We live in a society enamored with divisions, but Nicholas Christakis lives by the outlandish idea that humans are fundamentally similar — and has devoted much of his career to uncovering the universals of social experience. (He's a lumper, not a splitter.) The Yale professor and author of many books — including Blueprint and Apollo's Arrow — unpacks his fascinating findings in evolutionary biology, describes the price we pay for the spread of ideas (namely, germs), and reflects on that now infamous moment on the Yale quad six years ago.

Find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Podcast Addict, and Stitcher. Check out our Patreon for behind-the-pod updates. Follow @UncertainPod on your social media of choice.

On the agenda:

-The asymmetry of celebrity [5:46-13:41]

-The perception and reality of inequality [13:42-23:24]

-Against the ascendant emphasis of difference [23:25-43:21]

-Lumpers and splitters [43:22-49:50]

-The social suite: How genes shaped our societies [49:51-1:07:10]

-Why utopias and other intentional communities fail [1:07:11-1:14:16]

-Prestige hierarchy and teaching [1:14:17-1:18:24]

-Reflecting on the Yale incident, six years later [1:18:25-1:31:03]

-On Covid (the price we pay for the spread of ideas) [1:31:04-1:37:42]

-Distrusting institutions [1:37:43-1:45:26]

-Blindspots on the left and the right [1:45:27-1:49:22]

-Bonus: Can culture change our genes? (On exophenotypes) [1:49:39-2:01:35]

Uncertain Things is hosted and produced by Adaam James Levin-Areddy and Vanessa M. Quirk. For more doomsday rumination, subscribe to: uncertain.substack.com.

Tablet Magazine senior writer and irresistible baritone Jacob Siegel finds it impossible to be in America and write about America. He gave up on New York, his former haven, and moved to the provinces of the Empire (namely, Israel). What changed? We talk about fancy buzzwords — from gentrification to critical race theory — and how they all played a role in his disillusionment. Adaam and Jake also fly into a tangent argument about parenthood, child-rearing, and anti-natalism. Oh, yeah, and Afghanistan. Plenty of gloom and existential angst to go around.

Find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Podcast Addict, and Stitcher. Check out our Patreon for behind-the-pod updates. Follow @UncertainPod on your social media of choice.

On the agenda:

-Why not have kids? (Intro)

-Why have kids? (Jake’s argument)

-The ubiquitous Brooklyn

-Guilt, race, and elementary schools

-Who does CRT benefit?

-Goodbye, Afghanistan

-Hello, bad media

Uncertain Things is hosted and produced by Adaam James Levin-Areddy and Vanessa M. Quirk. For more doomsday ruminations, subscribe to: uncertain.substack.com.

In honor of our one year anniversary, our first ever guest, religious scholar Tomer Persico, returns to the pod for another intellectually and spiritually satisfying conversation — this time IRL. (Check out our original convo first if you haven't already). This time Tomer, author of Man in God’s Image, dives right into the ancient concept of the self, jumps to the creation of interiority/individuality, expounds on the isolation of America, and comes for a landing on the old, new, and ugly of Israeli politics.

Find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Podcast Addict, and Stitcher. Check out our Patreon for behind-the-pod updates. Follow @UncertainPod on your social media of choice.

On the agenda:

-Happy anniversary, us! (Adaam’s Ishiguro essay)

-Two Jews. One mic.

-Recap: The Image of God

-The birth of the inner world

-But, science! (My physics friend dissents)

-Bye bye, Empire

-Loneliness and totalitarianism

-So what did I miss (in Israel)?

-The flattening of our politics

-Arthur Koestler

Uncertain Things is hosted and produced by Adaam James Levin-Areddy and Vanessa M. Quirk. For more doomsday ruminations, subscribe to: uncertain.substack.com.

The tables are turned! Kyle Huber of the Adventure Creator Podcast interviews your jaded journo hosts, Adaam and Vanessa, to learn more about our backgrounds, the origins of Uncertain Things, and to pick our brains on (what else) the fall of liberal democracy. Enjoy and, if you want to hear more creatives talking about their passion projects, subscribe to the Adventure Creator Podcast.

Find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Podcast Addict, and Stitcher. Follow @UncertainPod on your social media of choice.

On the agenda:

-Vanessa's back story [7:22]

-Adaam's back story [15:55]

-The Uncertain Things story [27:01]

-The issues with media & media consumption [33:40]

-Liberal democracy: why it matters, what's at stake [53:13]

-Blindspots on the left, blindspots on the right [1:05:19]

-On Covid, freedom, and human connection [1:10:38]

Uncertain Things is hosted and produced by Adaam James Levin-Areddy and Vanessa M. Quirk. For more doomsday ruminations, subscribe to: uncertain.substack.com.

Vertigo survivor Rob Long has been writing and producing for the small screen for decades. With some prompting from an entertainment-fatigued Adaam, Rob bemoans the death of truth on TV, the wisdom and folly of Disney, the content catatonia we've slid into, and the strange politics that all this has brought into our private lives.

Find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Podcast Addict, and Stitcher. Follow @UncertainPod on your social media of choice.

On the agenda:

-We’ve got a Patreon!

-What is content?

-Content catatonia (or: scrolling through the opium den)

-We don’t know what you want to watch

-Netflix won’t save us

-Hollywood’s fear of truth

-Arrogance of the present redux

-Beware The Zeroists

Uncertain Things is hosted and produced by Adaam James Levin-Areddy and Vanessa M. Quirk. For more doomsday ruminations, subscribe to: uncertain.substack.com.