Freddie DeBoer: The Cult of Smart General: Freddie’s Substack: https://freddiedeboer.substack.com/ Freddie’s website: https://fredrikdeboer.com/ The Cult of Smart available here: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250224491/thecultofsmart Follow: On X: https://twitter.com/freddiesubstack?lang=en References: Freddie’s essay: https://freddiedeboer.substack.com/p/education-doesnt-work-20 Timestamps: 1.04 Intros: A little on Freddie’s background. 2.05: Iona reads from The Cult of Smart. 4.05: Freddie expands on the issues addressed in the book: the problems behind modern educational ideology and philosophy, how America compares to the rest of the world and within a historical context. 12.03: Why is the education system not achieving its aims and how might these issues be addressed? The introduction of tech and various policies and interventions and how these have failed to have an impact. 21.18: Iona reads the widget analogy from the book. They discuss the change in blame for poor results from the pupil to the teacher. 27.32: Freddie highlights our obsession with academic success and with a failure to acknowledge that certain characteristics are heritable. He and Iona discuss the merits and desirability of different skillsets. 40.45: The difficulty of predicting which skills will be most valuable in the future and on how technology plays a role. 44.20: Freddie explains how, even within a Marxist framework, individual differences in aptitudes are still important and excellence is still valued. 49.47: Wage gaps between academics, middle-management administrators, and trades people. 57.17: Iona argues for the inherent value of elite institutions and highlights how the UK model differs from the US model in terms of admissions and funding. 1.04.07: Freddie expands on the enrollment crisis in the US and on how college is largely sold as a recreational experience versus the elite Ivy League colleges where endowments motivate a different admissions pathway. 1.09.30: The difficulties of discussing IQ on a group basis, specifically regarding race. 1.20.42: Freddie sums up his argument that educational interventions and policy cannot solve inequality and that insisting we are all capable of academic excellence is neither a compassionate nor useful goal. Schools should still be well-funded and be valued beyond chasing test score. 1.22.48: Thanks and outro. Sound editing: Justin Ward Shownotes: Nicola Muir

Episode 145 - Freddie DeBoer - The Cult of Smart

Podcast notes: Tom Nash General: Tom’s website: https://www.tomnash.com/ Tom’s TED Talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/tom_nash_the_perks_of_being_a_pirate_jan_2019?language=en Follow: Twitter: https://twitter.com/DjHookie Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/djhookie/?hl=en Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tomnash/ References: The Curb-Cut Effect: https://ssir.org/articles/entry/the_curb_cut_effect The CRISPR twins: https://time.com/5466967/crispr-twins-lives/ Antifragile: Things That Gain From Disorder by Nassim Nicholas Taleb: https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Antifragile.html?id=5fqbz_qGi0AC&redir_esc=y#:~:text=Antifragile%20is%20a%20standalone%20book,world%20we%20don't%20understand. Timestamps: 1.00 Introductions. Tom’s visible disability. Why Tom doesn’t consider himself an inspirational speaker. 6.36 The interplay between Tom’s personality and his disability and the role of humour in putting people at ease. 13.16 The origins of Tom’s disability and his experiences over 18 months in hospitals. Design and creativity and the development of his DJ brand. 27.38 How adaptations to improve accessibility often benefit wider society; the curb-cut effect, door levers and subtitles. 35.25 Why Tom prefers hooks to electric hands. How his prosthetics operate. Potential developments in tissue regrowth technology. 39.57 Disability activists online. The role of genetic modification and human wellbeing. 47.32 The impact of technology on all our lives, especially smartphones. The value of doing things the hard way sometimes. 51.35 Relationships and intimacy. How being dependent on a partner can feel. 56.25 Psychology and being anti-fragile. 58.20 Tom’s choice to live. The opportunities of post traumatic growth. 1.01.07 Pity and the soft bigotry of low expectations. The solitude of being a DJ. How might AI impact the role of the DJ? 1.14.13 Praise for the Australian Health System and gratitude for the support of friends and family. Tom’s book is being published in September 2023. 1.16.16 Tom’s happiness with his life. 1.17.58 Thanks and outro. Sound engineering by Justin Ward Shownotes by Nicola Muir

Episode 144 - A Stoic Captain Hook: Tom Nash

General: Find Christoph on Twitter @Halalcoholism https://twitter.com/Halalcoholism?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor References: Johnathan Haidt on the podcast. https://www.stitcher.com/show/tea-for-two-with-iona-italia-and-helen-pluckrose/episode/06-jonathan-haidt-and-greg-lukianoff-the-coddling-of-the-american-mind-57029667 The Rise of Victimhood Culture by Bradley Campbell and Jason Manning. https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/9783319703282?gC=5a105e8b&gclid=CjwKCAiA3KefBhByEiwAi2LDHCYRp7wprYJObCLEvQSjckvGmR1-nEU52lW-n-_j6kurXNE3JhvSfRoCOcoQAvD_BwE Campbell and Manning on the podcast. https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/04-bradley-campbell-and-jason-manning-victimhood-culture/id1417717946?i=1000421234132 Tomiwa Owolade in Unherd. https://unherd.com/2022/05/black-british-lives-dont-matter/ Timestamps: 01.06 Introduction. Some descriptions of Christoph from Twitter. Iona and Christoph discuss how he moved from blogging, via Facebook to Twitter. 22.02 How online culture functions and the way in which extreme views can be the most visible. 25.23 Iona discusses her own behavior on Twitter and our impulse to protect our reputations. 40.10 Is “woke” still a useful term? Victimhood culture and the idea that disagreement is harmful. 52.12 How both the right and left wing behave online. The left’s obsession with managing speech instead of addressing more complex, meaningful problems. 1:00:01 Class, including the way it relates to Indian nationalism and the caste system. How the left is eating itself instead of fighting common enemies. The American-centric nature of online discourse. Modern British leftist distaste for the white working class. 1:15:20 How “woke” can get in the way of more meaningful change. 1:25:02 What are the positives of Twitter? Some iconic tweets. 1:33:30 Thanks and outro. Sound engineering: Justin Ward Shownotes: Nicola Muir

Episode 143 - Christoph - The Culture of Twitter

Riding Out the Media Storm: Claire Lehmann General: Claire’s writing for Quillette: https://quillette.com/author/clairelehmann/ And for The Australian: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/author/claire-lehmann Follow: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/clairelehmann/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/clairequillette/ References: Eoin Lenihan on Antifa: https://quillette.com/2019/05/29/its-not-your-imagination-the-journalists-writing-about-antifa-are-often-their-cheerleaders/ On the Weinsteins and Ivermectin: https://quillette.com/2022/03/22/on-darkhorse-ivermectin-and-vaccine-hesitancy/ Iona’s Substack: https://drionaitalia.substack.com/ Information on contributing to Quillette: https://quillette.com/contribute/ Timestamps: 1:20 Introductions. Claire’s background studying forensic psychology and why she left academic life and founded Quillette. 5:12 The psychology of political views. 10:10 Quillette’s place in the political landscape. The publication’s most controversial pieces; Antifa, Ivermectin, the heritability of intelligence. 21:35 What happened to the Intellectual Dark Web? 30.28 The capture of the heterodox sphere by American culture and politics. How and why Australia, the UK and Canada differ from the US. 41:35 Claire’s pushback against the use of Australia’s covid policies as a political football in the American culture war. 47:22 Quillette’s controversial reporting on the role of genetics and intelligence. 53:52 Claire’s admiration of Paglia and critiques of post-structuralism. 57.12 The positives and negatives of Substack. 1:02:00 Claire’s decision to leave Twitter and how that has benefited her. 1:05:22 Summing up and outro. Sound engineering by Justin Ward. Shownotes by Nicola Muir.

Episode 142 - Claire Lehmann - Riding Out the Media Storm

General: Kat’s latest novel, You Must Remember This, from Harper Collins. https://www.harpercollins.com/products/you-must-remember-this-kat-rosenfield?variant=40371773407266 The novel will be released in the UK on the 2 March 2023 and can be pre-ordered here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/you-must-remember-this/kat-rosenfield/9780063207394 Kat’s website https://katrosenfield.com/ Kat’s novels available here https://katrosenfield.com/books/ Kat’s writing from Unherd https://unherd.com/author/kat-rosenfield/ and for Spectator World https://thespectator.com/author/kat-rosenfield/ Feminine Chaos podcast https://femchaospod.substack.com/ Follow Kat: Twitter https://twitter.com/katrosenfield?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor Instagram https://www.instagram.com/katrosenfield/?hl=en References: Iona’s guest appearance on Feminine Chaos https://femchaospod.substack.com/p/mad-about-the-boys#details Kat’s previous appearances on Two For Tea: https://soundcloud.com/twoforteapodcast/106-kat-rosenfield-mistress-of-murder https://soundcloud.com/twoforteapodcast/68-kat-rosenfield-dating-in-the-digital-age The writer Rebeca Christiansen at Areo https://areomagazine.com/author/rachristiansen/ and her appearance on the podcast: https://soundcloud.com/twoforteapodcast/86-rebecca-christiansen-making-mayhem Timestamps: 00:00 Opening and introductions. 03.24 Iona reads a passage from Kat’s new novel. 15.14 Kat and Iona discuss what made Kat pivot to adult novels from her previous Young Adult titles. How Kat’s characters got older and their stories developed darker, more adult themes. 17.18 What led Kat to write for teenagers. Her work as a journalist for MTV and writing at the time of huge successes such as Twilight and The Hunger Games. She and Iona discuss what was available to younger readers in their own teens. The coming-of-age novels that felt more advisory than instructive, such as Judy Blume titles. Iona’s enjoyment of Austen, Tolkien, memoirs and diaries. 26.50 Iona and Kat talk about how women are drawn to reading and writing true crime and murder mystery. How murder mystery novels require the reader’s attention and allow us to experience danger at a safe distance. 36.00 The blandness and anachronism of some modern romance writing and screen writing. 38.00 The two timelines in Kat’s new novel; Miriam’s last Christmas, set in the present, and the other in her youth. 39.59 Iona reads a passage in which young Miriam plays hide and seek. 47.18 How Kat got into writing, 15 years ago. 49.08 Iona asks if the YA fiction scene became too restrictive in terms of social justice and the “own voices” movement. How YA publishing lends itself to moral panic. The way in which that can be misused for reasons of professional jealousy and how the phenomenon is hopefully on its way out. 55.00 Can reading be harmful? Kat relays a story of her own unpleasant experience reading Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk. How conflating discomfort with harm shuts off the chance for growth and resilience. 1.03.24 Maine as a setting for Kat’s books. Her influences including Stephen King, Daphne Du Maurier and Shirley Jackson. 1.06.45 Thanks and outro. Sound engineering by Justin Ward Shownotes by Nicola Muir

Episode 141 - Kat Rosenfield - Memories of Murder

General: Murder In Old Bombay. Captain Jim and Lady Diana Mysteries Book One. From Macmillan books. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250269546/murderinoldbombay And on audio https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/Murder-in-Old-Bombay-Audiobook/1250775043?qid=1673616961&sr=1-2&ref=a_search_c3_lProduct_1_2&pf_rd_p=c6e316b8-14da-418d-8f91-b3cad83c5183&pf_rd_r=YJ45A8E0Q4ZC1DX4Y7RN&pageLoadId=5U11lQEHJx2bK4W0&creativeId=41e85e98-10b8-40e2-907d-6b663f04a42d Peril At the Exposition. Captain Jim and Lady Diana Mysteries Book Two. From MacMillan books https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250855046/perilattheexposition And on audio https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/Peril-at-the-Exposition-Audiobook/B09GC69JCB?qid=1673616961&sr=1-1&ref=a_search_c3_lProduct_1_1&pf_rd_p=c6e316b8-14da-418d-8f91-b3cad83c5183&pf_rd_r=YJ45A8E0Q4ZC1DX4Y7RN&pageLoadId=5U11lQEHJx2bK4W0&creativeId=41e85e98-10b8-40e2-907d-6b663f04a42dhttps://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250855060 The Spanish Diplomat’s Secret. Book Three in the series, to be released later this year: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250855060 Nev March’s website: https://nevmarch.com/ Follow: Follow Nev on Twitter: https://twitter.com/nevmarch On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NevMarch/ References: Nev’s previous appearance on the podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/116-nev-march-murder-in-old-bombay/id1417717946?i=1000548023723 The Chicago World’s Fair legacy site https://worldsfairchicago1893.com/ John Mullan’s book on Dickens https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/artful-dickens-9781408866818/ John Mullan’s interview with Iona https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/136-john-mullan/id1417717946?i=1000587632804 Vaseem Khan’s website and books can be found at https://vaseemkhan.com/ Time stamps: 1.01 Opening and introductions. 2.25 The Chicago World’s Fair 1893 as a setting for the novel. Nev describes how the events provide a background for the beginnings of the political polarization that we see today. 6.00 Iona alludes to the influences of writers such as Dickens and Wilkie Collins on the novels with additional reference to John Mullan’s work on Dickens. 14.08 Iona reads an excerpt from the book. 21.22 The real-life events featured in the book. The plight of poor and immigrant workers at the time and the complex morality of their employers in a precarious financial market. The way in which current situations across the world and within the USA itself are reflected in the challenges faced by the protagonists in the novel. 28.40 The immigrant experience in real life and for the protagonists, Diana and Jim. 32.55 Identity and belonging as separate. How the character Jim’s maturity is evident in this second novel when compared to the first. 44.06 Iona reads another passage. 47.51 Nev discusses her desire to portray Diana and Jim’s sex life through a historically accurate lens. The dangers of childbirth for women, both historically and in present day America and across the world. 57.20 How ahistorical representations of sexual relationships in novels and media produced today can be jarring. The way in which Jim’s background and experience as an illegitimate child informs his behavior around sex and demonstrates his moral character. 1.02.20 Nev’s third book of the series, The Spanish Diplomat’s Secret, will be released in Autumn / Winter 2023. This time, the couple will be on board a liner sailing across the Atlantic towards Liverpool. 1.07.02 Nev gives some advice for budding writers including reading a variety of genres and using lists to free up brain space, allowing room for joy in writing. 1.10.37 Final reading from Iona. 1.12.18 Thanks and outro.

Episode 140 - Nev March - History and Mystery

Podcast Notes: Alice Dreger General: The Index Case by Molly Macallen, the first novel in the Maddy Shanks series. Published on Lulu. Visit Alice’s website: https://alicedreger.com/ Follow: Follow Alice on Twitter https://twitter.com/AliceDreger?s=20&t=CDzQ-0LkFfFGhqph0trBOQ Articles and books: Alice’s non-fiction books: https://alicedreger.com/books/ Alice’s writing https://alicedreger.com/writing/ References: Visiting Your Leg Alice’s essay on the politics of anatomy. One of Us Alice’s book on anatomy and political and social identity. Dr Oz can't afford me Alice’s essay on exploitation by the entertainment industry. Lavish Dwarf Entertainment Alice’s essay on the entertainment agency. The New England Journal of Medicine. Altered Carbon the novel by Richard Morgan. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot Alice's paper on the J Michael Bailey controversy. Alice and Colin Wright take part in a discussion about biological sex. Alice in Genderland by Richard Novic. Iona's essay on age gaps and relationships. Timestamps: 00.00 Opening and introductions. 4.17 Why a pseudonym for novel writing? 7.56 The themes of the book. 9.17 Alice reads the blurb from the novel. 11.26 Iona reads an excerpt from the novel. 16.46 Alice discusses how she and her protagonist’s areas of study echo each other; the politics of anatomy, how the body interacts with the world, the history of science and of medicine. How science has dealt with “interesting” bodies over the course of modern history. 21.57 How power works in relationships between doctors and people with “interesting” bodies. Alice discusses how her non-fiction book One of Us addresses this, with reference to Eng and Chang Bunker, the original “Siamese twins”. 26.58 Alice talks about the historical and contemporary exhibition of bodies; how some individuals are exhibited and exploited and how some with “unusual” bodies make money from their own bodies. 30.13 Iona reads more. Alice discusses the shift of science away from storytelling to depersonalised, anonymised specimens. 35.09 The New England Journal of Medicine as an outlier to this phenomenon. 36.55 Iona refers to Altered Carbon, the novel, and the ethical and philosophical questions about what it means to be a person and about bodily intergration. 40.00 Iona and Alice talk about eugenics, disabilities and autism research and about anatomy and identity and what personhood is. How identity has changed over time away from the body and towards external signifiers. How this is explored in the novel. 43.16 Who has the right to use dead bodies? How the government may control bodies, eg: dying people isolated during the covid pandemic. 47.00 How the order of the books in the series came about. The Difficult Subject, book two, will be coming out soon. Themes around sexuality. 48.35 Alice’s enjoyment of fiction writing vs. enjoyment of non-fiction writing. 51.13 Michael Bailey and his writing on autogynephilia and transgender identities. Do we have an innate sense of gender? Alice’s recent debate with Colin Wright. How The Difficult Subject relates to these themes. 58.41 The unethical relationship in the novel. How power works in this relationship. Sex scenes and sexuality in the novels. 1.01.45 The abusive relationship in the series and Alice’s own experience. Controversy around the framing of trauma. 1.08.45 More on the development of the series. The Worst Thing will be book three. Reception of the first novel. 1.15.00 Why self-publish? Published via Lulu. 1.19.55 Summing up and outro.

139 - Alice Dreger: Unusual Bodies

137 - Akiva Cohen: The Great Chess Cheating Scandal by Iona Italia

137 - Akiva Cohen: The Great Chess Cheating Scandal

138 - Rio Veradonir - Nowt as Queer as Folk by Iona Italia

138 - Rio Veradonir - Nowt as Queer as Folk

General Visit John’s academic webpage for more information on his publications: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/english/people/john-mullan John’s book ‘What Matters in Jane Austen: Twenty Crucial Puzzles Solved’: https://www.amazon.com/What-Matters-Jane-Austen-Crucial/dp/B00BNI1Z8Y Jane Austen’s books: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/68 References Iona’s Areo article ‘Writing Wrongs: Why Academics Write So Badly and How That Hurts Them’: https://areomagazine.com/2020/07/06/writing-wrongs-why-academics-write-so-badly-and-how-that-hurts-them/ Timestamps 0:00 Opening and introduction, with some remarks on obscurity and lucidity in academic writing. 3:30 Austen as revolutionary literary stylist: Iona reads from John’s book on her. 8:15 Iona reads a passage from Austen’s ‘Persuasion’. 12:11 John discusses Austen’s techniques in this passage, particularly her innovation in creating free indirect style. 21:03 Iona reads the next couple of paragraphs of ‘Persuasion’; further discussion of Austen’s subtle techniques and themes follows. 30:20 The importance of male sexuality in Austen (“in want of a wife”). 38:46 Austen’s underrated comic genius. 47:00 More on Austen’s men: rakes, celibates, and premarital sex. 54:25 Marriage, sex, and finality in Austen (and marriage as permanent fate in literature more generally). 1:05:00 Idiolects and character in Austen (and the controversy over Austen on the ten pound note). 1:14:20 Austen’s writing is both very simple and richly complex. 1:18:31 The importance of “impossible!” in Austen. 1:19:21 John’s advice for re-reading Austen and some final reflections on her work. 1:23:11 Last words and outro.

136 - John Mullan

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