Skip to content

Devil’s Advocate

24 episodes

Our experts make the best argument against themselves, and then explain why that stance is less convincing than their own.

Now Playing

All Episodes (24)

Cursor pointing at a button labeled "Generate jobs" with an icon of a photo and sparkles.

The surprising data on AI and unemployment rates

▸

4 min

—

with

Joseph Politano

Fragmented image of the U.S. flag with white stars on a blue background and red and beige stripes, resembling weathered paint on a wall.

The one temptation to resist post-election: Good vs. evil

▸

4 min

—

with

Microscopic view of a translucent, spiral-shaped Trichinella spiralis larva within a blue-stained muscle tissue.

What are the consequences of living as a human in an “always on” digital world?

▸

5 min

—

with

Yuval Noah Harari

The overpopulation myth, debunked by a data scientist

▸

7 min

—

with

Three red dice in mid-roll on a green surface.

Debunking the ‘billionaire = genius’ myth

▸

6 min

—

with

A white lotus flower on a black background.

The most important idea in Zen Buddhism for today’s world

▸

5 min

—

with

Robert Waldinger

A broken glass with the words contradictory ideas.

Have a controversial idea? Good. Here’s why you should share it.

▸

6 min

—

with

The words boost your brain on a yellow background.

Could your workout routine give your brain a boost? This neuroscientist thinks so

▸

4 min

—

with

A man in a tie is holding a tissue to his face.

How do you rationalize your unethical behaviors?

▸

4 min

—

with

Kelly Richmond Pope

two hands reaching for each other on a black background.

I study longevity. Here’s the code science needs to crack.

▸

4 min

—

with

a painting of two swans swimming in a lake.

Monogamy: How Christian sexual ethics took over the world

▸

5 min

—

with

a pink brain with the words extend your mind.

The critical productivity skill nobody teaches you

▸

4 min

—

with

Is science about to end?

▸

5 min

—

with

Sabine Hossenfelder

How to use note-taking for crystal clear focus

▸

4 min

—

with

The surprising reason secrets destroy us

▸

3 min

—

with

Michael Slepian

Debate world champion: Why agreement is overrated

▸

4 min

—

with

Why psychedelics are “freakishly safe”

▸

5 min

—

with

Matthew W. Johnson

How to make space for “longpath” thinking

▸

4 min

—

with

Debunking one of the Metaverse’s biggest myths

▸

5 min

—

with

3 free will arguments, explained by physicist Sean Carroll

▸

7 min

—

with

The case for and against cryptocurrency

▸

4 min

—

with

Are near-death experiences just dreams or hallucinations?

▸

with

Dr. Bruce Greyson

Happiness study

The 2 biggest misconceptions about happiness

▸

3 min

—

with

Fascist politics

Devil’s Advocate: Why worry about fascism?

▸

3 min

—

with

Related

A heart shape is cut out of paper, revealing a circuit board with computer chips and code underneath.

The ethical crisis lurking in the background of the AI boom

“If we did create beings that were more like non-human animals, we ought to treat them much better than we now treat non-human animals.”

▸

4 min

—

with

A man wearing a black blazer, graphic T-shirt, and backwards cap stands against a plain background with his hands raised in a questioning gesture.

Why Kevin Smith bet $27,575 on a movie no one showed up for

“You might as well go for it. You might as well do the thing that you dream about doing for heaven’s sake.”

▸

6 min

—

with

A person sits alone on a bench against a yellow background, looking down at a smartphone.

The great friendship collapse: Inside The Anti-Social Century

“You can debate all sorts of things about how the texture of American life has changed. What you can’t debate is the sheer, objective, existential fact that Americans are more alone than ever.”

▸

12 min

—

with

A petri dish containing various colorful bacterial colonies growing on agar, viewed from above against a dark background.

Meet the survivors of Earth’s worst days

These microbes endured the unlivable. The NASA astrobiologist who studies them reveals what that means for us today

▸

7 min

—

with

A sequence of six yellow-gold spheres illustrates stages of cell division against a black background.

Life is older, weirder, and more interconnected than we ever thought

“If we’re related to every living thing on the planet, do we not have a special responsibility for every living thing on this planet? They are really all our relatives.”

▸

44 min

—

with