132. Jane Austen, Game Theorist

It brings strangers together. It teaches probability, strategy, and emotional control. It has even helped N.F.L. teams win the Super Bowl. Stephen Dubner explores why this ancient game is having a renaissance. (Part two of a series, “We Are All Gamers Now.”) SOURCES: Remington Da ...  Show more

As the Trump administration rolls back environmental regulations, we revisit a 2022 episode that explored the hidden cost of an invisible threat: air pollution. SOURCES: Angela Duckworth, psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania. Michael Greenstone, economist at the Univers ...  Show more

This month in a very special edition, we’re celebrating that most English of novelists Jane Austen. It’s two hundred years this month since the publication of Pride and Prejudice and we’ve invited bestselling British novelist and Jane Austen aficionado PD James, along with Anglo- ...  Show more

In social situations, two people can do the exact same things (good and bad) and get a very different reaction. We discuss chemistry, first impressions, and a theory inspired by Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. 

Thanks to Paul Kilgore, who commissioned this podcast for the 2005 adaptation of Pride & Prejudice. I’ve never seen this particular version but am familiar with the source and other adaptations, while Jim had no idea what to expect. What will we make of some early 19th century hi ...  Show more

Plotinus posits an absolutely transcendent first principle, the One. What is it (or isn’t it), and how does it relate to Intellect?