As a follow up to my favorite bloggers post, I select here a few of the many, many podcasters I have followed to identify those that I love the most.
Here are three things I've learned from my favorite podcasters (in alphabetical order):
Tyler Cowen (Conversations with Tyler):
- Ask questions driven more by genuine curiosity rather than an agenda.
- Let the answerer answer and with limited exception let the answer stand without challenge.
- Explore and consider loosely connected ideas and hypotheses. There is often more to learn in doing so even in the actually rare event there is not a strong connection after all.
- There probably is a conflicting precedent and there likely are anticipated consequences that a policy's advocate may not like.
- He continually reminds me that the Law is more nuanced than I or the common commenter appreciates.
- The history behind a law, rule, or norm is very often fascinating.
Jason Feifer (Build for Tomorrow):
- When it comes to change and people's reaction to it, there is truly nothing new under the sun.
- Release your clutch of the pearls; whatever it is, it ain't that bad.
- These are the good ol' days.
Tim Ferriss (The Tim Ferriss Show):
- High performers have a lot to share that you can profit from even if you cannot fully emulate it.
- Thoughtful, honest questions of an open-ended nature are the best method for a meaningful interview-style conversation. There is no reason to try to impress an impressive guest, and he never makes this mistake.
- There are always other methods to learning a skill or achieving an outcome including near mastery-level advancement. The obvious path is often not the best path to choose nor typically the one chosen by true masters. It isn't a "hack" in the derisive sense one should seek--you have to put the work in. Rather it is a constant questioning and willingness to find alternatives.
Kmele Foster (The Fifth Column):
- Race as a social construct should not be given special identification status or importance--doing so is harmful to all individuals and to disadvantaged groups in particular.
- Strong talk when backed up by strong reasoning is a persuasive and welcomed trait.
- Tell people what you think and leave it to them to have an emotional reaction (if any), and realize the emotional response is theirs to own not yours to manage.
Nick Gillespie (The Reason Interview & The Reason Roundtable) - in the second case credit goes to the entire group as they all demonstrate the qualities below:
- Postmodernism is a very useful way to view and evaluate the world with much to offer especially to libertarian or classical liberal perspectives.
- A mix of irreverent humor skillfully layered in does not simply lubricate a conversation, but it can actually succinctly add information content--a picture is worth a thousand words, and a well-placed comedic side crack is worth at least 250.
- We are and have been in a Libertarian Moment. It is just taking longer to develop and be fully realized than he and Matt Welch originally projected.
Malcolm Gladwell (Revisionist History):
- We can hold in high confidence only our principles, but not so much our evaluations based on those principles. Time and again our judgements don't hold up upon closer and still closer examination.
- The overall narrative of a well-told story will stay with you long after all of the related facts of the story have faded from memory.
- We should always question the past.
Jonah Goldberg (The Remnant):
- The proper evaluation of a President while in office is not relative to the hypothetical Presidency of the most recent also-ran nor the upcoming opponent(s). Rather the proper evaluation is against the high standard of an absolute scale of desired quality.
- Humans must believe in something. If they do not have a traditional, formal religion, they will invent one or behave in a way that de facto creates one.
- There is still hope for the principles of conservatism to endure all the challenges it faces from within. Much like Colonel Jessep, deep down in places D.C. socialites don't talk about at parties, we want him on Chesterton's Fence. We need him on that fence.
- A well-told story is one of the most effective ways to convey complex ideas and important truths.
- Statistics and data are underused and underappreciated.
- A devilish caveat: Beware simplistic answers when persistently offered; they are usually wrong. Beware complex answers when insistently provided; they are often hiding some important truth.
- Be of good cheer in all cases and including in political argumentation.
- A comedic approach to contentious positions (political and otherwise) can be very disarming if not downright charming as well as effective (meaning winning over the opposing side) when well executed through good-natured humor that is neither derogatory nor abrasive.
- You shouldn't bring your own horse to a horse-themed diner where the waitstaff all ride horses. There is a deeper metaphor here for those willing to face challenging truths--I'm sure there is . . . just keep looking.
Penn Jillette (Penn's Sunday School):
- You aren't just capable of being wrong; you are wrong. We all are. Our memories are wrong. Our explanations are wrong. Our viewpoint and narrative is wrong. But through all that, we can still get it mostly right.
- He is one of the wisest people I follow on understanding life. In this respect I have learned a lot about what to prioritize.
- There is no good reason to be emotionally dishonest--especially with yourself.
Conan O'Brien (Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend):
- Delivery is more important than content--this is by no means a knock on his content.
- Even comedy experts, masters of the craft, cannot always predict what will and what will not work in comedy.
- Smart balance including a great straight man is essential to a comedic performance.
Aaron Ross Powell & Trevor Burrus (Free Thoughts):
- Honest inquiry using the "devil's advocate" method is a useful way to interrogate one's own side.
- The motivation and arguments offered by both anti-gun and anti-immigrant proponents are very similar in their style and substance with both having the same problematic faults.
- Mindfulness can help heal our harsh political divide.
Russ Roberts (EconTalk):
- Be intellectually honest with yourself and others.
- A more fruitful conversation can come by allowing opposing views to lie unchallenged.
- The point of economics and the desire for the good life is about happiness AND meaning--two deep, rich, nuanced concepts that are poorly understood.
P.S. Mike Munger is my favorite podcast guest.
On a sappy note there is a bit of trepidation I carry considering the many podcasters that I follow and very much enjoy. There is a certain human connection to someone whose voice you often hear. While this would be true of any person you know in your everyday life, there are few of these people whom you seek out in a friendship-like regard. Some day one of my my favorite podcasters will suddenly be gone. Not through a proper retirement or move to a new thing, as much as that itself would represent a loss, rather I am thinking about ... well, . . . Do You Realize? . . .
