Plain English with Derek Thompson

What’s the Point of College?

Trust in American higher education is near a historic low. Tuition has soared, and the payoff for a college degree is now in question as graduates face a weird and challenging job market. Simultaneous...

2026-09-11

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The New Book That Scares Big Tech

In the late 19th century, a railroad boom fueled by easy money, speculative investment, and new technology helped kick off one of the worst financial crises in American history. Sound kind of familiar...

2026-09-08

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AI Slop Is Breaking the Internet. Can We Save It?

So many people seem to hate AI, and it’s not just because it might displace millions of jobs, destroy the world, or deepen distrust in big corporations and government. The reason might actually be sim...

2026-09-01

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Why Everything Is Going to Keep Getting More Expensive

For much of the 21st century, the U.S. economy was built around cheap money. Today, though, interest rates are rising, and borrowing is getting much more expensive. At the same time, the federal gover...

2026-08-25

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Higher Education’s Age of ‘Insufferable Hypocrisy’

It would be an understatement to say that higher education is in crisis, as it faces attacks from both the current presidential administration as well as issues of its own making, like diversity polit...

2026-08-18

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It May Be Time to Freak Out About AI

Today, Derek talks with cybersecurity expert Alex Stamos about a recent wave of alarming AI cyberattacks. For decades, one of the biggest fears about AI has been that the machines will start doing thi...

2026-08-14

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Why Americans Hate Data Centers

It seems a universal fact that AI has become an indispensable part of the American economy. At the same time, opposing AI has also become one of the most influential causes in American politics. Nowhe...

2026-08-11

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Why America Is Switching From Booze to Weed

Two extraordinary trends are happening in the United States simultaneously. One is that alcohol consumption is declining precipitously. The share of Americans who drink has hit a record low since Gall...

2026-08-05

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"The End of Reading Is Here"

There’s no doubt that reading is in decline. But what is that decline doing to the way we think? Derek talks with The Atlantic's Rose Horowitch about why Americans are reading fewer books than ever an...

2026-07-28

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What Translator Emily Wilson Thinks of Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey'

Christopher Nolan's 'The Odyssey' has brought one of history's oldest stories back into the spotlight. It’s also sparked a fresh debate about what it means to adapt a classic. Today, Derek is joined ...

2026-07-23

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Why 'The Odyssey' Is the West’s Greatest Story

Christopher Nolan's 'The Odyssey' is finally here, but how exactly has a 3,000-year-old story endured long enough to become the foundation of Western storytelling? Derek is joined by Karen Ní Mheallai...

2026-07-17

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A Philosopher’s One-Word Theory for Why the World Feels So Weird

Why does it feel like everything is more divided and exhausting than it used to be? Philosopher Agnes Callard has a surprisingly simple answer: the unicontext. It's her term for what happens when bill...

2026-07-14

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How Israel Is Transforming American Politics

Peter Beinart joins Derek to unpack a major shift inside the Democratic Party. As Democratic Socialist-backed candidates notch a string of surprising primary victories, one issue has emerged as a defi...

2026-07-07

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MEGAPOD: The Most Overrated American Who Ever Lived

To celebrate America's 250th birthday, Derek is joined for a history draft by three of the country's leading historians: Beverly Gage, H.W. (Bill) Brands, and Richard White. The goal isn't to revisit ...

2026-07-03

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A Surprising Theory About the Future of War

From the bombing campaigns of World War II to the precision strikes of the modern era, for 80 years air power has defined modern warfare. But today, a new technology is changing the battlefield: drone...

2026-06-30

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SpaceX, AI Bubble Fears, and The Age of the Trillion-Dollar, Zero-Profit Company

For decades, investors valued companies based on a familiar formula: Grow revenue, earn profits, and reward shareholders. But a new era may be beginning - one where trillion-dollar companies can lose ...

2026-06-26

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The Iran War Is Ending. Everybody Lost.

Four months ago, the U.S. and Israel launched a surprise attack on Iran. Supporters predicted a decisive victory that would curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions and reshape the balance of power in the Middle...

2026-06-23

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The Donald Trump Corruption Scandal Draft

What is Donald Trump good at? In his second administration, he promised lower prices, stronger manufacturing, and an end to foreign conflicts. Instead, inflation has risen, blue-collar job growth has ...

2026-06-19

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The Most Exciting Month of Medical Breakthroughs in Years

For years, scientists worried that medical progress was slowing down. Drug development became more expensive than ever with more complex clinical trials, and even then, many new treatments offered onl...

2026-06-16

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Old-igarchy: How the Elderly Conquered American Power

Prior to the 1930s, old age in America often meant poverty. But thanks to Social Security, Medicare, medical advances, and rising asset prices, over the past 90 years, older Americans have become one ...

2026-06-12

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Plain English with Derek Thompson

Episodes (402 episodes)

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