Wisdom of Crowds
Shadi Hamid & Damir Marusic
wisdomofcrowds.live
All episodes
Best episodes
Top 10 Wisdom of Crowds Episodes
Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Wisdom of Crowds episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Wisdom of Crowds for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Wisdom of Crowds episode by adding your comments to the episode page.
Episode 66: Are Vaccine Mandates Racist?
Wisdom of Crowds
08/06/21 • 57 min
Fresh off a joint trip to Europe, Shadi and Damir debate if the Balkans are where political theories go to die, and "Great Man" interpretations of history are vindicated. They also observe how Americans' and Europeans' responses to COVID continue to differ, and lament the return of DC's mask mandate. Finally, Damir and Shadi discuss the conundrum facing liberal politicians pressured to enact vaccine mandates. Are they a necessary step to corral intransigent holdouts? Or a new form of discrimination against blacks and hispanics, who are vaccinated at lower rates than whites?
Their conversation continues in a bonus episode out next week, in which they carry on their debate about democratic theory in the context of the ongoing strife in Tunisia. Subscribe here to get it straight to your inbox.
Recommended Reading:
Episode 67: Afghanistan and America's Liberal Empire
Wisdom of Crowds
08/14/21 • 68 min
With Kabul close to collapse, Shadi and Damir argue about the nature of the multiple screwups in Afghanistan, both long-term and of more recent vintage. What exactly is Biden doing wrong? Should we stay a bit longer, and if so, to what end? And what lessons should Americans learn from all if it?
Recommended reading:
- Aris Roussinos' tweet thread.
- "Afghanistan’s Unraveling May Strike Another Blow to U.S. Credibility," by Steven Erlanger (NYT).
- Jen Murtazashvili (recently in the Washington Post).
Episode 76: Can Democrats Bounce Back?
Wisdom of Crowds
11/07/21 • 34 min
In this episode Shadi and Damir analyze the Virginia gubernatorial race and question whether it has any national implications. Shadi examines his biases around whether the outcome was bad or not. We then shift to a conversation about the Democratic Party's smug righteousness. Are Democrats too patronizing to retain enough swing voters to win in 2024? Do Democrats deserve a comeuppance for their smugness?
Part 2 of our conversation is available for subscribers. We discuss the impact of COVID in Eastern Europe and question how it should shape our feelings around COVID in America. Where is the vision of what returning to normalcy, and living with COVID, will look like? Should Shadi take a break from the Internet?
Required Reading:
- "The Fox News Fallacy" by Ruy Teixeira (The Liberal Patriot)
- "Why Is Everything Suddenly Racist?" by Zaid Jilani
- "Nice Woke Parents" by Shadi Hamid and Damir Marusic (Wisdom of Crowds)
Episode 84: Is it Wicked Not to Care?
Wisdom of Crowds
01/29/22 • 62 min
After two years of podcasting together, Shadi and Damir think they've gained some clarity on where their worldviews diverge: it's especially pronounced on the question of how to do foreign policy. As the conversation unspools, and with the ghost of John McCain hovering over the show, the guys draw out where they come out on various milestones—from the Iraq war, to NATO Expansion, to Obama's policy of "Don't do stupid sh*t."
Part 2 of our conversation is available here. Shadi and Damir take note of how disappointing last 20 years of history have been for U.S. foreign policy, and ask whether Trump's legacy might be as lasting as Reagan or Truman's.
Subscribe here to listen. Members will also gain access to other paid content, including weekly bonus episodes, Q&As with Shadi and Damir, and our full archive of Friday Essays.
Required Reading
- "Not Caring about Ukraine and Feeling Guilty About It" (Wisdom of Crowds)
- "Who Wrecked Afghanistan?" (Wisdom of Crowds)
- "Wokeness Is Not Leftism. Or Is It?" (Wisdom of Crowds)
- "The U.S. Approach to Ukraine’s Border War Isn’t Working. Here’s What Biden Should Do Instead." by Samuel Charap (Politico)
- "Why America Needs Hypocrisy" by Shadi Hamid (Wisdom of Crowds)
Thriving in the Apocalypse
Wisdom of Crowds
12/01/24 • 84 min
The headlines prove it: we live in turbulent times. Elizabeth Oldfield, our guest this week, recently published a book — Fully Alive: Tending to the Soul in Turbulent Times — about how to thrive during such a moment. “If we’re heading into (even more) turbulent times,” Elizabeth writes, “I want to be someone who is of use, not overwhelmed and panicking but steady and hopeful, able to contribute to weaving a canopy of trust under which other people can shelter.” Along with being a writer, a former think tank director and an accomplished broadcast journalist, Elizabeth is host of The Sacred, a podcast where she interviews cultural leaders who “shape our common life,” and asks them “about their deepest values.”
In this week’s episode, Damir Marusic and Santiago Ramos turn the tables on Elizabeth, putting her in the interviewee’s chair. What is the source of the wisdom distilled in Elizabeth’s book? If it is religious faith, then is faith required in order to truly embrace that wisdom? Or is the grace of God required? What is “grace,” anyway? Santiago wants to understand how the wisdom that Elizabeth writes about can be appropriated for one’s self. Damir tries to distinguish that wisdom from self-help and therapy.
The conversation touches upon art and faith, whether “despair” or “preserving civilization” are good reasons to adopt religion, the necessity of community, and the role that doubt plays in faith. At the heart of the discussion is Damir’s question: “How do we live in this world, and how do we cope with the existence of the horror of this world?”
This episode is a searching, personal discussion that is just the thing we need this holiday season. In the bonus section for paid subscribers, Elizabeth talks about her experience of living in community, and also plunges deep into one of the biggest mysteries of the Christian faith.
Required Reading:
Fully Alive: Tending to the Soul in Turbulent Times by Elizabeth Oldfield (Amazon).
Elizabeth’s podcast, The Sacred (Apple Podcasts).
Damir’s essay about therapy (WoC).
Shadi and Damir podcast episode on therapy (WoC).
Pensées by Blaise Pascal (Amazon).
Ayaan Hirsi Ali column explaining “Why I am now a Christian” (
Can War Be Humane?
Wisdom of Crowds
11/21/23 • 57 min
What constitutes justifiable warfare—and how should the overall impact of conflicts be evaluated? With the United States being so closely associated with Israel’s war, is it possible to still envision America as a “force for good” in the world? One of America’s leading leftist intellectuals, Samuel Moyn, joins us to debate these questions and much more. Sam is the Chancellor Kent Professor of History at Yale University and the author of Humane: How the United States Abandoned Peace and Reinvented War and most recently Liberalism Against Itself: Cold War Intellectuals and the Making of Our Times.
Amid the ongoing war in Gaza, the conversation dives into the potential for humane wars and whether progress, even in war, is possible. While Sam acknowledges that the conduct of war has become more “targeted” and “proportional,” he argues that relatively more humane wars can distract us from more ultimate questions of whether wars are just or moral in the first place. The questions at hand sharply divide Sam, Damir Marusic and Shadi Hamid in this charged conversation. In the post-9/11 era, the U.S. has pioneered a new way of waging war, with lawyers present at various levels of military decisions. But what has resulted is a world where wars are endless in part because they are less lethal. Is this “progress” or is it something more sinister?
In the full episode (for paying subscribers only), the three clash over moral warfare in the real world, including whether American hegemony has prevented large-scale conflicts and can continue to do so, including between China and Taiwan. Has American dominance been good for the world, on balance? Yes, less people die and there may be less major wars, but Sam argues that this is an unacceptably minimalist standard for judging progress. What, then, is the alternative? The conversation ends with Sam’s optimistic vision for a narrative of progress that focuses on pivoting the U.S. in a leftward direction that avoids repeating the mistakes of an overly interventionist era.
Required Reading:
Humane: How the United States Abandoned Peace and Reinvented War, by Samuel Moyn (Amazon).
Liberalism Against Itself: Cold War Intellectuals and the Making of Our Times, by Samuel Moyn (Amazon).
Black Snow: Curtis LeMay, the Firebombing of Tokyo, and the Road to the Atomic Bomb, by James M. Scott (Amazon).
The Hamid-Moyn cage match on whether America is a force for good in the world, hosted by Intelligence Squared (YouTube).
“The Moral Dilemmas of Total War,” by Tom Barson (Wisdom of Crowds).
Wisdom of Crowds is a platform challenging premises and understanding first principles on politics and culture. Join us!
The Charm of Anti-Competence
Wisdom of Crowds
04/28/23 • 65 min
Why is Trump such a formidable candidate, despite everything? How can someone who lies so readily be seen as authentic? With the Republican presidential campaign heating up, Sam Adler-Bell—co-host of “Know Your Enemy” and one of the most fascinating leftist writers around today—returns to the podcast to argue that Trump has something special that Ron DeSantis doesn’t have and likely never will.
Pundits often argue that DeSantis represents a stable and “competent” version of Trump that can win the presidency for the GOP. Sam disagrees. DeSantis, he argues, is reflective of a well-educated elite bumbling to co-opt Trump’s style without understanding the former president’s essence. Not only that, DeSantis may even be a “technocrat,” that dreaded word. Sam makes the case that Trump’s conning authenticity, charm—but especially his “anti-competence” and distinct resentment of elitism and expertise—help explain his staying power.
In the full episode (for paying subscribers only), the three discuss the rampant apocalypticism of the current moment and how Republicans and Democrats leverage the premise that the end is near. Damir posits that the doomerism may be justified whereas Shadi is more cautiously optimistic. Also, Sam discusses the discipline required—as someone on the political left—to not define one’s politics around the most annoying features of one’s opponents.
Required Reading:
Sam Adler Bell’s must-listen podcast “Know Your Enemy” with Matthew Sitman on the intellectual origins of the American Right.
Sam’s epic first appearance on Wisdom of Crowds, discussing the New Right.
The classic “Know Your Enemy” episode on Nixon’s resentments and obsessions.
“The One Thing Trump Has That DeSantis Never Will,” by Sam Adler-Bell (The New York Times).
“The Jeffrey Epstein case is why people believe in Pizzagate,” by Matthew Walther. (The Week).
Dave Chappelle monologue on Trump’s appealing hypocrisy (Saturday Night Live).
The Confidence Man, by Herman Melville (Amazon).
Chris Christie takes down Marco Rubio in 2016 (CBS News).
Trump Inaugural Address, “American Carnage” (ABC News).
“The Humiliation Factor,” by Thomas Friedman (The New York Times).
Is American Decline Inevitable?
Wisdom of Crowds
06/30/23 • 65 min
Shadi, Christine, and Sam head to Aspen to record a live episode of the show. The crowd gets involved.
The broad topic of the conversation was decline. We don’t always know how to express it, but many of us feel it: There’s something wrong with America today. The mood is tense. More Americans say they won’t have children because of climate change and other future catastrophes. But are things really as bad as they seem? Is decline something we need to accept—or is there a case for a new optimism?
You won’t want to miss this one.
Required Reading:
Secondhand Time: The Last of the Soviets, by Svetlana Alexievich (Amazon).
Rethinking Sex: A Provocation, by Christine Emba (Amazon).
Friendship as Sacred Knowing: Overcoming Isolation, by Samuel Kimbriel (Amazon).
“Five Ancient Secrets to Modern Happiness”, lecture by Tamar Gendler (YouTube).
This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wisdomofcrowds.live/subscribe
How To Regain Your Sense of Wonder
Wisdom of Crowds
09/24/23 • 42 min
What are the most valuable parts of our transient lives and how does our appraisal of them change as we age?
This week, Shadi Hamid and Damir Marusic take a step back from larger questions around current events to visit a recurring theme at Wisdom of Crowds around meaning. The episode centers around Damir’s recent Monday Note, “A Lost Sense of Wonder”, where he reflects on the pursuit of enchantment including in close relationships but also after witnessing a wondrous meteor shower in the Shenandoah Valley. The guys discuss how to think about the failure to recreate precious memories just as people they know move away and cities they remember visiting change. Should we feel melancholy in our nostalgia or continue finding comfort in the things that bring us happiness now? Meanwhile, Shadi dwells on judgement in the afterlife. He observes how the relationships that make life valuable are not enough for some, including those at ease with their own mortality — a disposition to which Shadi cannot quite relate.
In the full episode (for paying subscribers only) the two discuss the balance between pursuing virtue for potential rewards in the afterlife and doing right by people in the present. Shadi, a believer, admits to genuine fear about what happens after death. After all, if there is a heaven, there is also a hell. Damir, a non-believer, places more emphasis on finding purpose in oneself rather than adhering to otherworldly incentives. Is a balance between these two paths possible?
Subscribe to the listen to the full episode.
Required Reading:
“A Lost Sense of Wonder”, by Damir Marusic (Wisdom of Crowds).
“The Virtue Politics of Mitt Romney” (Wisdom of Crowds).
“The Watusi bull riding shotgun is what makes America great” by David Von Drehle (The Washington Post).
“This Really Is Europe” with Ben Judah, podcast episode (Wisdom of Crowds).
“An Extremely Online Existence” podcast episode (Wisdom of Crowds).
Shadi’s conversation with Sam Harris about meditation and being Muslim on Sam’s podcast, Waking Up.
Wisdom of Crowds is a platform challenging premises and understanding first principles on politics and culture. Join us!
Episode 127: Dare To Cross The Red Line
Wisdom of Crowds
04/14/23 • 49 min
With the world feeling increasingly unstable, Damir and Shadi turn to foreign policy. Can the United States can back its bluster abroad, including in defense of Taiwan?
All of this is happening as Donald Trump re-enters the national spotlight. The guys contrast the former president's manic approach to deterrence with the current and preceding administrations. Shadi is comforted the White House is staffed by vaguely smart and competent people, but thinks there may be something to Trump's saber-rattling.
Finally, Damir challenges Shadi on Biden's "democracy versus autocracy" approach to foreign policy. How do we understand Brazil's democratically elected president willingly embracing China?
Required Reading:
Show more best episodes
Show more best episodes
FAQ
How many episodes does Wisdom of Crowds have?
Wisdom of Crowds currently has 199 episodes available.
What topics does Wisdom of Crowds cover?
The podcast is about News, Society & Culture, News Commentary, Podcasts and Philosophy.
What is the most popular episode on Wisdom of Crowds?
The episode title 'Episode 31: Smart People and Dumb Ideas' is the most popular.
What is the average episode length on Wisdom of Crowds?
The average episode length on Wisdom of Crowds is 60 minutes.
How often are episodes of Wisdom of Crowds released?
Episodes of Wisdom of Crowds are typically released every 7 days, 10 hours.
When was the first episode of Wisdom of Crowds?
The first episode of Wisdom of Crowds was released on Jul 26, 2019.
Show more FAQ
Show more FAQ