Robinson's Podcast

Platypus Economics on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@PlatypusEconomics

Justin Wolfers is Professor of Public Policy and Economics at the University of Michigan, where his research spans macroeconomics, labor economics, political economy, and behavioral economics. He is also affiliated with the Brookings Institution, Peterson Institute for International Economics, and National Bureau of Economic Research, and in 2026 launched Platypus Economics, a new media platform devoted to making economics accessible to a broad audience. In this episode, Robinson and Justin discuss the intersection of economics, technology, and American politics. More particularly, they talk about Elon Musk and the influence of extreme wealth on elections, how artificial intelligence could transform the labor market, whether current economic data accurately reflects Americans’ experiences, and political bias in economics. They also discuss inflation, Justin’s criticisms of the Trump administration’s economic policies, proposed $5,000 checks, and how economic considerations shape political choices.

Platypus Economics: https://platypuseconomics.com

Justin’s University of Michigan Profile: https://fordschool.umich.edu/faculty/justin-wolfers

Justin’s X: https://x.com/JustinWolfers

Justin’s Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/justinwolfers.bsky.social

Platypus Economics Newsletter: https://newsletter.platypuseconomics.com

00:00 Introduction
00:25 Elon Musk Can Buy ANY Election He Wants
07:21 AI Could DESTROY Jobs If We Don’t Do This
14:28 Is Current Econ Data Misleading?
19:36 Political Bias in Economics
28:35 Corruption in the Trump Admin
36:33 Understanding Inflation and Cheap Candy
44:58 Is Trump Personally Responsible for Inflation?
51:40 Trump’s 5k Checks Are IDIOTIC LIES
56:50 How to Vote If Trump Were on Ballot

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University, where he is also a JD candidate in the Law School.

Jason Stanley is the Bissell-Heyd-Associates Chair in American Studies at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy at the University of Toronto, where he is also Professor of Philosophy. Before moving to Toronto in 2025, he was the Jacob Urowsky Professor of Philosophy at Yale University. Jason’s work focuses on propaganda, authoritarianism, democracy, free speech, and political language. In this episode, Robinson and Jason discuss Jason’s account of how political propaganda has changed during the Trump era. More particularly, they talk about soft and hard propaganda, social media and political bots, Trump’s political communication, Jason’s decision to leave Twitter and later the United States, and the effects of online attacks. They also discuss artificial intelligence and democracy, the political influence of tech billionaires, Elon Musk and Peter Thiel, and Jason’s transition toward the philosophy of propaganda. Jason’s most recent book is Erasing History: How Fascists Rewrite the Past to Control the Future (Atria/One Signal, 2024).

Jason’s Website: https://jasonstanley.org

How Propaganda Works: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Jason+Stanley+How+Propaganda+Works

Erasing History: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Jason+Stanley+Erasing+History

OUTLINE
00:00 How Propaganda Has Changed with Donald Trump
10:42 Soft and Hard Propaganda
13:56 Defining Propaganda
25:01 Is Trump Trying to Broaden Popular Support?
30:12 Trump Is Ruining Democracy
33:15 Social Media is Political Theater for BOTS
45:39 Why Jason Left Twitter
49:54 Attacks Against Jason on Twitter
53:20 The Terrible Cost of Leaving the US
01:04:56 How AI Threatens Democracy
01:08:26 Tech Billionaires Want to Wipe Out Humanity
01:12:02 Elon Musk's Secret Plans 
01:14:30 Does Peter Thiel Want All Humans Dead?
01:17:37 Jason's Transition to Philosophy of Propaganda

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University, where he is also a JD candidate in the Law School.

Daron Acemoglu is an Institute Professor of Economics at MIT and a recipient of the 2024 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, which he shared with Simon Johnson and James Robinson for research on how institutions shape prosperity. He is also the bestselling co-author of Why Nations Fail, The Narrow Corridor, and Power and Progress. In this episode, Robinson and Daron discuss the future of liberal democracy in an age of artificial intelligence. More particularly, they talk about how AI could undermine democratic institutions, whether tech billionaires have accumulated too much power, and why Daron believes current approaches to AI could produce an increasingly unequal, two-tier American society. They also discuss the importance of the 2026 elections, Zohran Mamdani, disagreements between the center and far left, and Daron’s proposal for a renewed “working-class liberalism.” Daron’s latest book is What Happened to Liberal Democracy?: Remaking a Politics of Shared Prosperity (Dutton, 2026).

Daron’s Website: https://www.daronacemoglu.com

What Happened to Liberal Democracy?: https://a.co/d/0f0qGMxt

OUTLINE
00:00 What Is Liberal Democracy?
09:30 How Does AI Undermine Democracy?
18:30 Are the Tech Billionaires Out of Control?
24:50 AI Is an Existential Threat
27:18 How AI Will Turn the USA into a Two-Tier Dystopia
35:17 Other Views on AI
38:19 Why the 2026 Elections Are So Important for the Left
42:30 What Makes Mamdani a Great Politician?
45:58 The Far Left vs the Center Left: Who Should Win?
52:00 Working Class Liberalism

Why Is the World So Beautiful?: https://a.co/d/0d3LsupA

Nicholas Humphrey is a theoretical psychologist and Emeritus Professor of Psychology at the London School of Economics, where his work has focused on the evolution of intelligence and consciousness. Among his many contributions, he was the first to demonstrate “blindsight” in monkeys, studied mountain gorillas with Dian Fossey, and developed influential theories about the social evolution of intelligence. In this episode, Robinson and Nicholas discuss the evolutionary origins of beauty and why human beings are so drawn to it. More particularly, they talk about rhyme, pattern-recognition, the adaptive value of aesthetic experience, the relationship between beauty and social life, and the methodology of evolutionary psychology. They also discuss whether beauty implies agency or creation, difficult cases for an evolutionary theory of aesthetics, spirituality and transcendence, and why some art is deliberately ugly. Nicholas’s upcoming book is Why Is the World So Beautiful? Our Minds in Search of Nature’s Rhymes (MIT Press, 2026).

Nicholas’s Website: https://humphrey.org.uk

OUTLINE
00:00 Why Is the World So Beautiful?
08:48 What Is Rhyme?
18:47 The Utility of Beauty
24:09 Beauty and Pattern-Recognition
34:26 Beauty and Society
41:21 The Methodology of Evolutionary Psychology
49:20 Creation and Agency
56:24 Problem Cases
01:02:26 Spirituality and Transcendence
01:07:34 Ugly Art

Joe Henrich is the Ruth Moore Professor of Biological Anthropology and Professor of Human Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University. His research focuses on cultural evolution, human psychology, sociality, prestige, cooperation, and the emergence of complex societies. In this episode, Robinson and Joe discuss how culture transformed human evolution and enabled our species to build increasingly large and complex societies. More particularly, they talk about the tools of paleoanthropology, hunter-gatherer societies, the rise of massive cities, and why Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic—or WEIRD—people are psychologically unusual. They also discuss dominance hierarchies, attractiveness and prestige, the evolution of morality, and the importance of punishment in human societies. Joe’s most recent popular book is The WEIRDest People in the World: How the West Became Psychologically Peculiar and Particularly Prosperous (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2020).

Joe’s Website: https://henrich.fas.harvard.edu

The WEIRDest People in the World: https://amzn.to/3F3wUY7

OUTLINE
00:00 Tools of Paleoanthropology
07:31 Two Hunter-Gatherer Societies
13:12 How Culture Enabled Massive Cities
19:08 The WEIRDEST People in the World
25:59 Dominance Hierarchies
35:40 Attractiveness and Prestige
46:01 The Evolution of Morality
52:33 Punishment

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University, where he is also a JD candidate in the Law School.