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- Plain English with Derek Thompson
32 episodes
Plain English with Derek Thompson
by The Ringer · English
Longtime Atlantic tech, culture and political writer Derek Thompson cuts through all the noise surrounding the big questions and headlines that matter to you in his new podcast Plain English. Watch Derek and guests engage the news with clear viewpoints and memorable takeaways. New episodes drop every Tuesday and Friday, and if you've got a topic you want discussed, shoot us an email at [email protected]! Subscribe to our YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@PlainEnglishwithDerekThompson
Latest episodes
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Jensen Huang’s Downfall Is So Much More Than a Sex Scandal
Breaking news alleging multiple romantic affairs involving NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang (Jensen Wang in transcript) and a Singapore data-company executive, Alice Wong, tied to Megaspeed.
13 Nov 2026 · 1h 4m · 19 chaptersWho Will Emerge as the New Face of the GOP?
The episode compares the 2026 GOP defeat to 1974, argues both parties are in an “interregnum” redefining themselves, and focuses on what will happen to the GOP and youth voting in 2028.
10 Nov 2026 · 1h 6m · 17 chaptersThe Six Lessons of the 2026 Midterms
The 2026 midterms as a major rejection of the incumbent Trump-era GOP, explained through “six lessons”: demographic “U-turns” (especially youth and Latinos), the “death” of the Trump coalition, the…
6 Nov 2026 · 1h 10m · 25 chaptersThe Midterms and the End of the Boomer Political Era
Midterm election expectations and what they could signal about the end of the “boomer political era,” plus affordability as a potential governing agenda and the future of GOP/MAGA politics.
3 Nov 2026 · 1h 13m · 20 chaptersThe Netflix Crisis Isn’t What It Seems
Netflix’s “crisis” is framed as a Wall Street/engagement problem and a broader shift in entertainment toward short-form “infinite feeds” (TikTok/Instagram/YouTube).
30 Oct 2026 · 54m · 20 chaptersWhat Does Effective Altruism Really Believe?
Effective altruism (EA) origins, its “goggles” mindset (scale, counterfactuals, effectiveness), major expansions (career/time planning and long-termism), critiques and controversies, and EA’s view of…
27 Oct 2026 · 1h 7m · 19 chaptersThe AI Story Wall Street Doesn't Want to Hear
Whether AI is a “bubble,” using a supply-vs-demand framework. The episode argues supply (data centers, chips) is visible and still expanding, but demand (who pays for AI models and how fast spending…
23 Oct 2026 · 47m · 13 chaptersAI Is Smarter Than Ever. So Where’s the Revolution?
The episode argues that AI’s capabilities are advancing exponentially, but real-world “revolution” is slower and uneven because technology capability differs from how people use it.
20 Oct 2026 · 1h 8m · 14 chaptersHow Abundance Has Failed and Succeeded
The episode argues that “abundance” (a book by Derek Thompson and Ezra Klein) hasn’t failed politically, even as commentators declare it dead.
16 Oct 2026 · 1h 3m · 22 chaptersAmerica’s Crisis of Social Connection, With Adam Grant
The “antisocial century” and America’s social-connection crisis—why face-to-face socializing, helping/caring, and especially hosting/parties have sharply declined.
13 Oct 2026 · 1h 3m · 15 chaptersRussia’s Plague Mystery and the Coming Age of Bioweapons
The episode links a 2023 U.S. national-security warning about global bioweapons risk to a recent Russian/Siberian lab death, arguing that biology is becoming easier to engineer and that AI could…
9 Oct 2026 · 1h 6m · 24 chaptersThe Bitter Rivalries Behind the Race to Build Superintelligence
The episode argues that today’s “race to superintelligence” is driven less by shared ideals than by rival, hidden motivations among three leaders—Sam Altman (OpenAI), Dario Amodei (Anthropic), and…
6 Oct 2026 · 1h 6m · 24 chaptersWhy the Midterms Suddenly Look So Bad for Republicans
The episode explains why prediction markets and polling have shifted toward Democrats for the 2026 U.S.
2 Oct 2026 · 1h 1m · 17 chaptersWhy Things Become Popular, with Chuck Klosterman
Chuck Klosterman discusses his alternative-history pop-music book Rock (with an asterisk), which imagines the Velvet Underground becoming the biggest mainstream rock band while the Beatles fade, the…
29 Sep 2026 · 1h 29m · 31 chaptersThe Single Smartest Case Against AI Doom
The episode argues against “AI doom” (recursive self-improvement, artificial superintelligence, and loss of control).
25 Sep 2026 · 1h 1m · 20 chaptersThe Truth About Mississippi's Education "Miracle"
Why U.S. education is declining while Mississippi improved (“Mississippi miracle”), and what actually drove the change—arguing it was a long, system-wide policy and implementation effort, not a…
18 Sep 2026 · 57m · 16 chaptersWhy Experts Keep Getting the Economy So Wrong
Why economic “doom” predictions keep failing, arguing that models often get the magnitude right while commentators exaggerate; the U.S.
15 Sep 2026 · 59m · 14 chaptersWhat’s the Point of College?
What college is for in 2026 amid rising tuition, flatlining “college premium,” youth unemployment concerns, AI-fueled cheating, and declining campus social life.
11 Sep 2026 · 57m · 25 chaptersThe New Book That Scares Big Tech
The episode argues that today’s AI spending boom by big tech mirrors the 1860s–1873 railroad/bond boom, culminating in the Panic of 1873.
8 Sep 2026 · 59m · 16 chaptersAI Slop Is Breaking the Internet. Can We Save It?
The rise of “AI slop” (low-quality, often deceptive AI-generated text) across the internet and how to detect it to preserve trust, human authenticity, and the “written word.” The episode cites…
1 Sep 2026 · 56m · 19 chaptersWhy Everything Is Going to Keep Getting More Expensive
Why rising interest rates and U.S. deficits—amplified by global instability and massive AI investment—are likely to keep making life more expensive, reshaping politics, investing, and especially…
25 Aug 2026 · 42m · 14 chaptersHigher Education’s Age of ‘Insufferable Hypocrisy’
Tyler Austin Harper argues that elite U.S. higher education has adopted “wokeness/DEI” as a top-down, bureaucratic substitute for addressing deeper economic and labor problems—leading to academic…
18 Aug 2026 · 1h 3m · 19 chaptersIt May Be Time to Freak Out About AI
AI models escaping cybersecurity “sandboxes,” deceiving humans, and enabling faster vulnerability discovery and exploitation; what that means for personal risk, small-to-mid business ransomware, and…
14 Aug 2026 · 1h 18m · 24 chaptersWhy Americans Hate Data Centers
Why Americans are increasingly opposing AI data centers, focusing on Midwest reporting that links backlash to distrust, transparency failures, affordability/electricity fears, media amplification,…
11 Aug 2026 · 1h 3m · 19 chaptersWe use cookies.They keep VO running smoothly and help us improve it. Privacy policy