How to Stop Worrying and Love the Robot Apocalypse (Update)
It’s true that robots (and other smart technologies) will kill many jobs. It may also be true that newer collaborative robots (“cobots”) will totally reinvigorate how work gets done. That, at least, is what the…
611. Fareed Zakaria on What Just Happened, and What Comes Next
After a dramatic election, Donald Trump has returned from exile. We hear what to expect at home and abroad — and what to do if you didn’t vote for Trump. SOURCE: Fareed Zakaria, journalist…
610. Who Wins and Who Loses Once the U.S. Legalizes Weed?
Some people want the new cannabis economy to look like the craft-beer movement. Others are hoping to build the Amazon of pot. And one expert would prefer a government-run monopoly. We listen in as they…
609. What Does It Take to Run a Cannabis Farm?
Chris Weld worked for years in emergency rooms, then ditched that career and bought an old farm in Massachusetts. He set up a distillery and started making prize-winning spirits. When cannabis was legalized, he jumped…
Abortion and Crime, Revisited (Update)
With abortion on the Nov. 5 ballot, we look back at Steve Levitt’s controversial research about an unintended consequence of Roe v. Wade. SOURCES: John Donohue, professor of law at Stanford Law School. Steve…
608. Cannabis Is Booming, So Why Isn’t Anyone Getting Rich?
There are a lot of reasons, including heavy regulations, high taxes, and competition from illegal weed shops. Most operators are losing money and waiting for Washington to get out of the way. In the meantime,…
607. Is America Switching From Booze to Weed?
We have always been a nation of drinkers — but now there are more daily users of cannabis than alcohol. Considering alcohol’s harms, maybe that’s a good thing. But some people worry that the legalization of…
606. How to Predict the Presidency
Are betting markets more accurate than polls? What kind of chaos would a second Trump term bring? And is U.S. democracy really in danger, or just “sputtering on”? (Part two of a two-part series.) …
Has the U.S. Presidency Become a Dictatorship? (Update)
Sure, we all pay lip service to the Madisonian system of checks and balances. But presidents have been steadily expanding the reach of the job. With an election around the corner, we updated our 2016…
605. What Do People Do All Day?
Sixty percent of the jobs that Americans do today didn’t exist in 1940. What happens as our labor becomes more technical and less physical? And what kinds of jobs will exist in the future? …