Wonder Cabinet

Hope means believing there’s a future. But can hope co-exist with cataclysmic realities like climate change, or disruptive technological advances like artificial intelligence? What’s ahead for future generations?

Guests:

Roy Scranton, Anne Lamott, Amy Webb, Victor LaValle, Robert Zubrin

We’ve all been there, that place where we feel hope slipping away. Maybe we’ve even lost hope. This hour we talk with people who’ve turned that around and made hope real, whether it’s through political activism, faith, music, or reading a life-changing novel.

Guests:

DeRay Mckesson, Lydia Hester, Serene Jones, Megan Stielstra, Common

Is hope something we’re innately born with, or something we can choose to have? We talk with people who tell us where they think hope lives in ourselves and our communities. The first of a three-part series on hope.

Guests:

Andre Willis, Steve Pinker, Tali Sharot, Alice Walker, Chigozie Obioma, Claire Peaslee

Milwaukee is a city on water, right on the shore of Lake Michigan, split by the historic Milwaukee River. How did all that water shape the city's history, politics, culture, and people? We went on a roadtrip (and boat trip) looking for answers. Then we did a live show at Milwaukee's historic Turner Hall, talking with journalists, brewmasters, historians, comedians, spiritual leaders and one awesome DJ to get at some big underlying questions.

Guests:

John Gurda, Dan Egan, Jenny Kehl, Chastity Washington, Ben Barbera, Russ Klisch, David Dupee, Tarik Moody, Siobhan Marks, Venice Williams, Kim Blaeser, Melanie Ariens

Look around the political landscape and you see something we haven’t seen for decades — politicians proudly identifying as socialists.

In New York, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez came out of nowhere to steamroll an incumbent and seize the national stage. Bernie Sanders is leading the early crop of Democratic presidential hopefuls. And for the first time in a long time, membership in the Democratic Socialists of America is surging.

What used to be political poison is now catnip for a new generation of voters. So, are we living in a socialist moment?

Guests:

Cheryl Blue, Andrew Haug, Erik Olin Wright, Bhaskar Sunkara, Sean Wilentz, Brother Ali

Shuttered businesses line the familiar streets of producer Charles Monroe-Kane’s hometown in the Rust Belt in northeastern Ohio. The steel mill where his father worked is shut down, locked behind chains. Opioid abuse is rampant, poverty is high, jobs are scarce. But people remain. What keeps them going? What do they hope for? Charles went back to talk with friends, family and community members in a journey to the Center of the World, Ohio.

We leave the lives of Ohioans to travel back in time into the lives of Koreans in Japan with Min Jin Lee. Then we head to Brooklyn (well, "Another Brooklyn") with Jacqueline Woodson.

Guests:

They say "don't feed the trolls" — but why do they get to own the web? Was it built for them, or for all of us? We look at who built the internet, how it became an at times toxic space for women, and how we might build online spaces that are more inclusive to all.

Guests:

Claire Evans, Zoë Quinn, Roxane Gay, Sara Wachter-Boettcher, Emily Temple-Wood

Whether you know it or not, your closets are filled with personal information. About your identity, your values, your personality. And every day, you wear it all right out the door for the whole world to see.

Do you think about what are you saying with your clothes?

Guests:

Angelo Bautista, Avery Trufelman, Carolyn Smith, agnès b., Jo Paoletti

Why is the world so damn cynical? Rather than surrendering to corrosive, hopeless snark, we look to some unexpected sources — video games, the lives lead by those who leave hate groups, and the optimism of the Afrofuturist art and culture movement — to make the case for sincerity.

Guests:

Jason Rohrer, Christy Wampole, Christian Picciolini, Ingrid LaFleur

Debates over immigration are raging all over the world, but sometimes it’s hard to sort out the political posturing from the actual problems. Should we be doing things differently? In a highly connected world, does the idea of a national border even make sense anymore?

Guests:

Mariela Shaker, Wolfgang Munchau, Molly Crabapple, Parag Khanna, Jose Angel N, Sunjeev Sahota