This week we're talking about why we're stressed out, why the country is stressed out, and whether anxiety has become a permanent condition. We consider the role technology has played in driving us to this point, from push alerts — so many push alerts — to Twitter to the "algorithmic gaze." Then we come back to culture and focus on a few works that either encapsulate the chaos of 2018 or offer a possible path for moving ahead.

Discussed This Week:

“Pony” (Genuwine)

“The Middle” (Zedd, Maren Morris, Grey)

“The Comfort in Stockpiling Dried Beans” (Tejal Rao, The New York Times Magazine)

“The Man Who Knew Too Little” (Sam Dolnick, The New York Times)

Annihilation (Paramount Pictures)

“Southern Reach Trilogy” (Jeff VanderMeer, Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

Ready Player One (Warner Bros. Pictures)

Downsizing (Paramount Pictures)

Angels in America (Tony Kushner)

Angels in America (miniseries; HBO)

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