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Etgar Keret (writer) – a tunnel dug under the prison floor
Etgar Keret's stories are as funny, painful, and surreal as life itself. We talk about the craziness of his native Israel, his new collection of short stories FLY ALREADY, marijuana, dementia, and much more.
The media won't get less politicized. News consumers must get smarter.
How do you do justice to the truth in a headline-driven world?
- The internet is parasitic on traditional media sources, says Keith Whittington. Traditional news outlets do the hard reporting to generate the facts and notable opinions that other outlets respond to.
- The greatest challenge to truth in journalism is that social media presents news stories out of context; we no longer see news among other news articles, and we may only ever see the headline without the detail and nuance required.
- Media institutions are working to tackle these challenges, but until then it is our responsibility as citizens and consumers to get smarter about how we navigate news feeds and the hyper-partisan press.
- In uncertain social situations, we tend to defend ourselves by putting a psychological "wall" up.
- For those who are very cautious, people who engage with them may feel an outright "dismissal."
- Cultivating trust is more important than ever in overcoming many peoples' walls to build relationships with them.
Why pitting prejudices against each other keeps society free
Should all speech be free? How much intolerance should society tolerate?
- For society to stay open and free, you don't need to eliminate prejudice. You need the opposite: All kinds of prejudice pitted against each other.
- Intellectual diversity helps society as a whole learn the truth. And as long as society has rules that force ideas to be openly tested, the intolerant will not gain the upper hand.
- "In America it's legal to be intolerant. It may not be right. It may not get you accepted or respected. But absolutely it's legal and it should be legal," says Jonathan Rauch.
a Think Again mixtape for 2019
When I was a teenager and music was still on cassettes, a mixtape was an act of love. In this episode, I'm putting together some of my favorite moments of 2019, strung together with minimal interruption from me.
What happens to your digital life after you die?
How to deal with death in the digital age and save your loved ones from headache.
- Death brings new challenges as we must consider the likelihood that our digital presence will outlive us. Whether it's through social media or an online bank account, the majority of people lead a digital life that they'll leave behind.
- BJ Miller, assistant clinical professor of medicine at the University of California, suggests preparing to close out your digital life with steps like itemizing digital accounts and passwords.
- Miller also recommends including a spouse on any credit card accounts. These precautions will save loved ones major time and headache after you're gone.
Study: Sending emojis is linked to scoring more dates, sex
Emojis might contain more emotional information than meets the eye.
- A new study shows that people who frequently used emojis in text messages with potential dates engaged in more sexual activity and had more contact with those dates.
- However, the study only shows an association; it didn't establish causality.
- The authors suggest that emojis might help to convey nuanced emotional information that's lacking in strictly text-based messaging.
The lies we tell on dating apps to find love
It turns out these little white lies serve a purpose.
Nearly one-fourth of young adults are looking for love through dating websites or apps.
