The Emergent Order Podcast
On this episode of the podcast, John Papola has a conversation with his friend Congressman Justin Amash. Justin is a lawyer and politician who has served as a U.S. Representative of Michigan.
Papola and Amash dive into the inner workings of Congress, through the lens of Amash’s experience from the inside. They talk about partisanship, process, and what the future of American politics looks like.
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On this episode of The Emergent Order Podcast, John Papola has a conversation with Dr. David Thomas. David is an economist and professor with the research area of public health economics and business cycles. He is also a serial entrepreneur.
John and David talk about a wide variety of topics as they dive into Thomas’ long and winding career through silicon valley, and into economics academia.
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References from this Episode:
The Revolt of the Public by Martin Gurri
Principles of Macroeconomics videos by David Thomas
Games of Strategy (Game Theory) videos by David Thomas
The Emergent Order Podcast
On this episode of The Emergent Order Podcast, John Papola chats with Johan Norberg. Johan is an author and lecturer with expertise in entrepreneurship, global trends, and globalization around the world.
Papola and Norberg examine a common question asked in America: Should the United States be more like Sweden? They also discuss Sweden’s response to COVID-19.
More from our Guest
References from this Episode
The Pursuit (film)
The Story of Human Progress by Johan Norberg
Free or Equal (film)
The Emergent Order Podcast
Macroeconomics Roundtable, with George Selgin, James McClure, Steve Horwitz, Lars Christensen, and Scott Sumner
On today’s episode of the podcast, John Papola welcomes George Selgin, James McClure, Steve Horwitz, Lars Christensen, and Scott Sumner for a long and winding macroeconomics roundtable discussion.
More from our guests:
George Selgin
James McClure
Steve Horwitz
Lars Christensen
Geopolitical Intelligence Services
Scott Sumner
On today’s episode of the Emergent Order Podcast, John Papola has a conversation with Lou Perez. Lou is the hilarious Head Writer and Producer of We The Internet TV, a stand up comedian, and part of the comedy duo Greg and Lou.
Papola and Perez talk about the craft of being funny, with a particular focus on dealing with controversial ideas and polarizing topics.
More From Our Guest
References from This Episode
Logan (film)
Little Pink House (film)
Keynes vs. Hayek (web video)
Wolverine’s Claws Suck (web video)
Burglars for Gun Control (web video)
The Kronies (web series)
The March of History: Mises vs. Marx (web video)
Chickenhawks Share Their War Stories (web video)
ESL Students Learn New Gender Pronouns (web video)
On this episode of the podcast John Papola speaks with the Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Good Food Institute, Bruce Friedrich. Bruce is also a TED Fellow whose TED 2019 Talk has been viewed millions of times.
The two discuss Friedrich’s journey to founding the Good Food Institute, and how he uses innovation and market forces to make food practices better for consumers.
More On Our Guest
“The next global agricultural revolution” TED Talk
References from This Episode
At The Fork (film)
Clean Protein by Kathy Freston & Bruce Friedrich
Diet for a Small Planet by Frances Moore Lappe
Christianity and the Rights of Animals by Andrew Linzey
The Emergent Order Podcast
Communicating Big Ideas Through Comedy with Andrew Heaton
On this episode of the podcast, Papola has a conversation with Andrew Heaton. Andrew is a comedian, author, and political satirist. He hosts his own podcast called The Political Orphanage which is about comedy and news, as well as a science fiction podcast titled Alienating the Audience.
In this long and winding conversation, they discuss everything from big ideas in comedy, to their time working together on EconPop, to their favorite Star Trek episodes.
More From Our Guest
References from This Episode
EconPop (Web Series)
The Political Orphanage (Podcast)
Alienating The Audience (Podcast)
The Revolt of the Public by Martin Gurri
Parliament of Whores by P.J. O’Rourke
The Coddling of the American Mind by Jonathan Haidt & Greg Lukianoff
The Girl with All The Gifts by M.R. Carey
The Emergent Order Podcast
Inside The Utopia Experiment With Dylan Evans
On today’s episode of the podcast, John has a conversation with Dylan Evans. Dylan is a technologist, futurist, AI expert, and the author of The Utopia Experiment. His book chronicles the true story of Dylan conducting an experiment of the same name in an attempt to simulate a post-apocalyptic society.
John and Dylan discuss the experience, stopping to take many interesting tangents along the way including religion, AI, and free will.
More From Our Guest:
References From This Episode:
The Utopia Experiment by Dylan Evans
The Revenge of Gaia by James Lovelock
One Second After by William R. Forstchen
Freedom Evolves by Daniel C. Dennett
Elbow Room by Daniel C. Dennett
Enlightenment Now by Steven Pinker
The Emergent Order Podcast
On this episode host John Papola has a long and winding conversation with Steven Horwitz. Steven is an author and economics professor at Ball State University. He has written extensively on Hayek and Austrian economics, monetary theory and history, and American economic history.
The two discuss Steve’s career, including his most recent article Libertarians Who Dismiss Social Justice are Mistaken, and the concept of “Bleeding Heart Libertarians”. They also dive into where Classical Liberalism fits in the left/right political spectrum.
More From Our Guest:
Learn Liberty Bio & Blog Posts
References From This Episode:
Libertarians Who Dismiss Social Justice are Mistaken by Steven Horwitz
Fear the Boom and Bust (video)
Chariots of the Gods by Erich von Däniken
Restoring the American Dream by Robert J. Ringer
For a New Liberty by Murray N. Rothbard
The Dignity of Difference by Jonathan Sacks
Suicide of the West by Jonah Goldberg
On today’s episode of the podcast, John Papola interviews Professor of Economics at George Mason University and New York Times Bestselling author, Bryan Caplan. Caplan’s bestseller is a graphic novel called Open Borders, which Papola is currently in the process of adapting into a film.
The two discuss the creation of Open Borders as well as go over some of the contents of the book including the history, economics, and philosophy of immigration. They also discuss how to convey big ideas, especially to people with dissenting opinions.
More From Our Guest:
References From This Episode:
Open Borders by Bryan Caplan
A Nation of Nations by Tom Gjelten
The Myth of the Rational Voter by Bryan Caplan
The Pursuit (film)
On this episode of the podcast, host John Papola goes solo for his first ever YouTube livestream to have a conversation with his viewers. He spans many topics including the origins of Emergent Order, his time at Spike TV, storytelling, and why he’s obsessed with all things Apple.
On this episode of the podcast John Papola speaks with Greg Lukianoff. Greg is the President and CEO of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, or FIRE. He is also an author, and co-authored the book The Coddling of the American Mind (based on the article of the same name).
Papola and Lukianoff discuss the free speech crisis on college campuses, and the cultural practices that led us to this issue. The two cite many great books on the topic along the way, and talk about how Greg’s most recent book came to be.
More from our guest:
References from this episode:
The Coddling of the American Mind by Jonathan Haidt & Greg Lukianoff (book)
The Coddling of the American Mind by Jonathan Haidt & Greg Lukianoff (article)
Unlearning Liberty by Greg Lukianoff
Feeling Good by David Burns
Upward Spiral by Davd Korb PhD
The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt
The Happiness Hypothesis by Jonathan Haidt
Free to Learn by Peter Gray
On this episode of the podcast John Papola has a conversation with Lord Matt Ridley. Matt is an author of books, columns, reviews, articles, and blogs. His book The Rational Optimist was particularly influential on Papola’s worldview.
The two talk about the perspective of the rational optimist through the lens of today’s pandemic-stricken world. Matt is an Honorary Life President of the International Centre for Life and a Member & Lord Temporal of the House of Lords.
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References from this episode:
The Rational Optimist by Matt Ridley
How Innovation Works by Matt Ridley
The Captured Economy by Brink Lindsey & Steven M. Teles
This podcast episode features a long and winding conversation between John Papola and Scott Sumner. Scott is an economist, the Director of the Program on Monetary Policy at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, and the author of popular economics blog The Money Illusion.
The two take a deep dive into monetary policy and macroeconomics, framing the conversation with the current state of the COVID-19 outbreak, and the economic aftermath. They begin with the simple question of what money really is, and then take a fascinating path to more complex subjects such as interest rates, inflation, and quantitative easing.
More from our guest:
References from this episode:
1984 by George Orwell
The Midas Paradox by Scott Sumner
The Pursuit (flm)
The Money Illusion (blog)
Today’s episode of the podcast features a conversation between John Papola and his good friend Arthur Brooks. Arthur, an author and social scientist, was formerly the president of the American Enterprise Institute. He is now a professor at Harvard. Arthur Brooks was also the subject and star of Papola’s feature documentary, The Pursuit.
John and Arthur discuss Brooks’ research on happiness, with a specific focus on how to be happy later in your life. They also talk about other expertise of Arthur’s, such as how to avoid a culture of contempt and how your intelligence changes as you age.
More from our guest:
References from this episode:
Incerto by Nassim Taleb
Gross National Happiness by Arthur Brooks
Flow by Mhaly Csikszentmihalyi
Love Your Enemies by Arthur Brooks
The Arthur Brooks Show (podcast)
The Pursuit (film)
On today’s episode of the podcast, John has a conversation with a serial entrepreneur VC named Sean Sheppard, who is currently the Co-founder of GrowthX and GrowthX Academy. He is also the lead instructor at the latter.
Sean’s storied career in tech makes for an insightful conversation with Papola, in which they discuss everything from Sean’s time spent as a “teenage arms dealer”, to his current role training future tech workers. They even touch on Sean’s stint as a professional golf player.
More from our guest:
References from this episode:
Atomic Habits by James Clear
The Challenger Sale by Matthew Dixon & Brent Adamson
Unlimited Wealth by Paul Zane Pilzer
This episode features a conversation between John Papola and Peter Gray, who is an evolutionary psychologist and research professor of psychology at Boston College. Gray is well-known for his book Free to Learn in which he argues that we must trust children to guide their own learning and development in order for them to thrive.
Peter and John discuss the worlds of developmental and evolutionary psychology, the way that the education system has changed, the origins of school, and much more. The conversation surrounds Peter’s personal experience with the education through his son, which is what led him to studying development and education.
More from our guest:
Freedom to Learn Blog (on Psychology Today)
References from this episode:
Free to Learn by Peter Gray
Wounded by School by Kirsten Olsen
No Limits to Computer Play, Says Psychologist Peter Gray by Daniel Donahoo
On today’s episode John Papola has a long, philosophical conversation with Tara Smith, PhD. Professor Smith is a moral philosopher and philosophy professor at the University of Texas. She also holds the BB&T Chair for the Study of Objectivism.
John and Tara dig into Objectivist philosophy, the belief system created by author and philosopher Ayn Rand. They discuss some of the pillars of the philosophy, human nature, and the complicated relationship between objectivism and religion.
More from our guest:
Ayn Rand Institute Scholar Bio
References from this episode:
The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
The Virtue of Selfishness by Ayn Rand
Equal is Unfair by Yaron Brook & Don Watkins
Ayn Rand’s Normative Ethics by Tara Smith
The Pursuit (film)
This episode features a conversation between John Papola and Michael Kollo. Michael is a thinker, writer, and podcaster in the Artificial Intelligence space, hosting a show called “The Curious Quant”.
The two discuss everything from economics to the morality of artificial intelligence. Kollo’s thoughts on the topics are colored not only by his podcast, but also by his career in factor pricing, portfolio construction, and risk management.
More from our guest:
References from this episode:
What Technology Wants by Kevin Kelley
Sapiens and Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harari
Pi (film)
Star Trek: The Next Generation “Half a Life” (television episode)
Fight of the Century (music video)
On this episode John Papola has a conversation with former President and CEO of both BB&T and the CATO institute, John Allison. Allison’s time at the helm of BB&T included the 2008 financial crisis, in which the bank never saw a quarterly loss.
The two discuss John Allison’s career in banking, and his experiences in growing BB&T from a small regional bank into one of the largest in the country. He and Papola also discuss the values and philosophy that have guided his career. This philosophy is broken down into 10 values: reality, reason, independent thinking, productivity, honesty, integrity, justice, pride, self-esteem, and teamwork.
More from our guest:
References from this episode:
The Leadership Crisis and the Free Market Cure by John Allison
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
The Pursuit (film)
Billions (TV Show)
A Monetary History of the United States by Mlton Friedman & Anna Jacobson Schwartz