Unintended Consequences

By Patrick

Every weekday, one true story of good intentions gone sideways. From cobra bounties in colonial Delhi to recommendation algorithms, each episode follows a single case through the original idea, how it... more

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FAQs about Unintended Consequences:

How many episodes does Unintended Consequences have?

The podcast currently has 103 episodes available.

Unintended Consequences episodes:

August 18, 2026 Ep 93: Switzerland voted to phase out nuclear power — then imported German coal to keep the lights…
Switzerland voted to phase out nuclear power — then imported German coal to keep the lights on.
Segment 1 — The Cold Open
On the afternoon of December 20, 2019, the Mühleberg nuclear plant on the Aare River west of Bern disconnected from the Swiss grid for the last time. The 373-megawatt reactor had run since 1972; its owner, BKW, shut it on schedule, and Switzerland’s own power stations looked, on paper, a little cleaner by nightfall. ...
AI Disclosure: This podcast is curated by Patrick but uses AI-generated voice synthesis for audio production.
🎬 Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUfNZ4uXpME
📝 Full show notes, transcript & sources: read the episode page
🌐 Part of the Nerra Network — explore every show at nerranetwork.com.
...more
14min
August 17, 2026 Ep 92: US sugar tariffs designed to shield American farmers instead pushed the entire soft-drink…
US sugar tariffs designed to shield American farmers instead pushed the entire soft-drink industry onto high-fructose corn syrup and drove candy plants overseas.
Segment 1 — The Cold Open
In 1984, Coca-Cola and Pepsi both announced they would replace sugar with high-fructose corn syrup in their flagship colas. The decision looked like a simple cost-saving move, yet it followed directly from two federal policies that had been operating for decades in opposite directions. ...
AI Disclosure: This podcast is curated by Patrick but uses AI-generated voice synthesis for audio production.
📝 Full show notes, transcript & sources: read the episode page
🌐 Part of the Nerra Network — explore every show at nerranetwork.com.
...more
8min
August 16, 2026 Ep 91: France capped the workweek at 35 hours to spread jobs, yet firms kept total hours largely…
France capped the workweek at 35 hours to spread jobs, yet firms kept total hours largely unchanged through contract redesign.
Segment 1 — The Cold Open
In the spring of 2000, managers at a mid-sized automotive supplier near Lyon sat down with union representatives to implement the new statutory 35-hour week. ...
AI Disclosure: This podcast is curated by Patrick but uses AI-generated voice synthesis for audio production.
📝 Full show notes, transcript & sources: read the episode page
🌐 Part of the Nerra Network — explore every show at nerranetwork.com.
...more
8min
August 15, 2026 Ep 90: Congress passed the Jones Act to guarantee a wartime-ready American merchant fleet — and…
Congress passed the Jones Act to guarantee a wartime-ready American merchant fleet — and ended up with a handful of aging ships and cargo moving by truck instead.
Segment 1 — The Cold Open
In the port of San Juan, containers bound for the mainland sit stacked while the few Jones Act–eligible vessels that still call are booked months ahead. ...
AI Disclosure: This podcast is curated by Patrick but uses AI-generated voice synthesis for audio production.
📝 Full show notes, transcript & sources: read the episode page
🌐 Part of the Nerra Network — explore every show at nerranetwork.com.
...more
6min
August 14, 2026 Ep 89: The Endangered Species Act tried to shield rare wildlife from extinction, yet it gave some…
The Endangered Species Act tried to shield rare wildlife from extinction, yet it gave some landowners a quiet reason to erase habitat before regulators could notice.
Segment 1 — The Cold Open
In the pine forests of eastern North Carolina during the early 1990s, timber companies began cutting mature longleaf pines at a noticeably faster pace near sites where red-cockaded woodpeckers might nest. ...
AI Disclosure: This podcast is curated by Patrick but uses AI-generated voice synthesis for audio production.
📝 Full show notes, transcript & sources: read the episode page
🌐 Part of the Nerra Network — explore every show at nerranetwork.com.
...more
8min
August 13, 2026 Ep 88: Federal student loans were meant to open college doors for everyone, yet they appear to…
Federal student loans were meant to open college doors for everyone, yet they appear to have helped push tuition prices higher instead.
Segment 1 — The Cold Open
In the fall of 1965, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Higher Education Act on the campus of Southwest Texas State College, his alma mater, declaring that no student should be denied opportunity because of family income. ...
AI Disclosure: This podcast is curated by Patrick but uses AI-generated voice synthesis for audio production.
📝 Full show notes, transcript & sources: read the episode page
🌐 Part of the Nerra Network — explore every show at nerranetwork.com.
...more
7min
August 12, 2026 Ep 87: The Montreal Protocol healed the ozone layer with refrigerants that proved hundreds of…
The Montreal Protocol healed the ozone layer with refrigerants that proved hundreds of times more potent at trapping heat than carbon dioxide.
Segment 1 — The Cold Open
In September 1987, diplomats and chemists gathered in Montreal to sign a treaty that would phase out chlorofluorocarbons, the chemicals that had carved a hole in the protective ozone layer over Antarctica. ...
AI Disclosure: This podcast is curated by Patrick but uses AI-generated voice synthesis for audio production.
📝 Full show notes, transcript & sources: read the episode page
🌐 Part of the Nerra Network — explore every show at nerranetwork.com.
...more
9min
August 11, 2026 Ep 86: Seatbelts and airbags slashed deaths per crash, yet drivers began taking more risks once…
Seatbelts and airbags slashed deaths per crash, yet drivers began taking more risks once they felt protected.
Segment 1 — The Cold Open
In the spring of 1966, a new federal agency began writing standards that would force automakers to install lap belts, padded dashboards, and other features in every car sold after 1968. The explicit goal was to cut the roughly 50,000 annual highway deaths recorded in the United States at the time. ...
AI Disclosure: This podcast is curated by Patrick but uses AI-generated voice synthesis for audio production.
📝 Full show notes, transcript & sources: read the episode page
🌐 Part of the Nerra Network — explore every show at nerranetwork.com.
...more
8min
August 10, 2026 Ep 85: The chasing-arrows symbol was created to close the loop on packaging waste, yet it mostly…
The chasing-arrows symbol was created to close the loop on packaging waste, yet it mostly turned “recyclable” into a comforting label instead of a working system.
Segment 1 — The Cold Open
In 1970 a 23-year-old student named Gary Anderson sketched three bent arrows inside a circle for a packaging-industry contest in Los Angeles. The drawing was meant to show that used containers could become new ones, reassuring people that every bottle or carton had a future. ...
AI Disclosure: This podcast is curated by Patrick but uses AI-generated voice synthesis for audio production.
🎬 Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQo-uG-kIOc
📝 Full show notes, transcript & sources: read the episode page
🌐 Part of the Nerra Network — explore every show at nerranetwork.com.
...more
8min
August 09, 2026 Ep 84: American foresters vowed to extinguish every wildfire by 10 a.m. the next day — and spent a…
American foresters vowed to extinguish every wildfire by 10 a.m. the next day — and spent a century building the fuel load for megafires.
Segment 1 — The Cold Open
On a late-August morning in 1910, smoke from the Big Burn still hung over the northern Rockies as crews counted the dead. The U.S. Forest Service responded by declaring that no fire should ever again be allowed to escape initial attack. ...
AI Disclosure: This podcast is curated by Patrick but uses AI-generated voice synthesis for audio production.
📝 Full show notes, transcript & sources: read the episode page
🌐 Part of the Nerra Network — explore every show at nerranetwork.com.
...more
9min

FAQs about Unintended Consequences:

How many episodes does Unintended Consequences have?

The podcast currently has 103 episodes available.