In this special episode, Tyler sat down with Jerusalem Demsas, staff writer at The Atlantic, to discuss three books: The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin, Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift, and Of Boys and Men by Richard V. Reeves.
Spanning centuries and genres and yet provoking similar questions, these books prompted Tyler and Jerusalem to wrestle with enduring questions about human nature, gender dynamics, the purpose of travel, and moral progress, including debating whether Le Guin prefers the anarchist utopia she depicts, dissecting Swift's stance on science and slavery, questioning if travel makes us happier or helps us understand ourselves, comparing Gulliver and Shevek's alienation and restlessness, considering Swift’s views on the difficulty of moral progress, reflecting on how feminism links to moral progress and gender equality, contemplating whether imaginative fiction or policy analysis is more likely to spur social change, and more.
Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links, or watch the full video.
Recorded May 22nd, 2023.
Other ways to connect
Ken Burns on the Complications of History
Mary Gaitskill on Subjects That Are Vexing Everybody
Reza Aslan on Martyrdom, Islam, and Revolution
Walter Russell Mead on the Past and Future of American Foreign Policy
Byron Auguste On Rewiring the U.S. Labor Market
Vaughn Smith on Life as a Hyperpolyglot
Shruti Rajagopalan talks to Daniel Gross and Tyler about Identifying and Predicting Talent
Cynthia L. Haven on René Girard, Czeslaw Milosz, and Joseph Brodsky
William MacAskill on Effective Altruism, Moral Progress, and Cultural Innovation
Leopoldo López on Activism Under Autocratic Regimes
Matthew Ball on the Metaverse and Gaming
Barkha Dutt on the Nuances of Indian Life
Marc Andreessen on Learning to Love the Humanities
Jamal Greene on Reconceiving Rights
Tyler and Daniel Gross Talk Talent
Chris Blattman on War and Centralized Power
Thomas Piketty on the Politics of Equality
Roy Foster on Ireland’s Many Unmade Futures
Lydia Davis on Language and Literature
Sam Bankman-Fried on Arbitrage and Altruism
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The Resilient Mind
Positive Thinking Mind
In the Great Khan’s Tent
The Mel Robbins Podcast
The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast