Yascha Mounk is one of the world’s most interesting thinkers about diversity, liberalism and democracy. His new book, The Identity Trap, is an ambitious account of the origins, consequences, and limitations of “wokeness”. How did a relatively marginal set of ideas – postmodernism, postcolonialism, critical race theory – come to rule the world?

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Has Louis CK reeeeeeally been “cancelled” if he still has a face? I mean, he wasn’t beheaded, ergo, “cancel culture” doesn’t exist. Amna Khalid is an equal-opportunity defender of free speech—a professor who slams wokesters… at the same time as legally opposing Florida’s war on woke universities. Anna’s blog and podcast, “Banished”, are about the history of censorship. This episode is part of Permission to Think, a collaboration with the University of Technology, Sydney, where Josh is a visiting fellow. A fabulous chat about the fate of education and the limits of free speech.

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Is Zionism a noble goal, or a form of colonial apartheid? Is a two-state solution possible? Desirable? Antony Loewenstein is a fierce critic of Israel and of the whole Zionist project. His new book is The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel Exports the Technology of Occupation Around the World. He and Josh debate the rights and wrongs of a Jewish homeland.

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Is Barbie the triumphant feminist critique of modern society it claims to be? The dust has settled on the mega-hit, so Josh finds some time to weigh-in.

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Ed Kavalee is a legend of Aussie radio, and a bloody funny bloke. Josh and Ed sit down to compare the best and worst of Australia vs America. 

It’s being compared to the discovery of fire or of electricity. Either way, artificial intelligence will revolutionise human civilisation. How?

Toby Walsh runs the AI Lab at UNSW and is a world-leading expert in AI. His most recent book is “Machines Behaving Badly: The Morality of AI.” Join him and Josh all the way down the rabbit hole.

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Josh used to drink a lot, and now he doesn't. One of the most frequently asked questions on our Ask Me Anythings, is how and why he quit. It deserves a longer explanation. Here it is. 

“If you’re explaining, you’re losing,” said Ronald Reagan, who never had to explain himself to a baying Twitter mob. Respected journalist David Volodzko, an expert on political extremism, got the newspaper job of his dreams… and lost it all within days. If you’ve ever wondered whether cancel culture exists, don’t miss his stunning tale.

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And you can support David at his Substack page at https://substack.com/@volodzko

Jerry Seinfeld personally chose Mark Normand to be his opening act. He’s a favourite of Joe Rogan and has appeared on CONAN, the Tonight Show & Late Show. Josh caught up with him, live and in-the-flesh, during Mark’s Australian tour.

Mark’s new special Soup To Nuts is available on Netflix now. Check out the trailer HERE. 

Follow Mark on Twitter HERE.

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Are you more forgiving of people you agree with than those you don’t? Have humans evolved to favour our own kind, to avoid ostracism, and to gain social status? Cory Clark is a behavioral scientist who studies tribalism and group identity. Her findings are shocking… but they offer us a path out of this mess.

To subscribe to Josh’s premium podcast feed, hit the Substack page at https://uncomfortableconversations.substack.com/subscribe