Overthink

Arnoud S. Q. Visser, historian and professor of textual culture in the Renaissance, author of On Pedantry. He traces pedantry from sophists and medieval teachers to Enlightenment salons. They probe why pedantry is often seen as male, how it ties to pride and anti-intellectualism, and how modern annoyances like mansplaining and dilettantism fit the story.

A wide-ranging conversation about pornography’s place in visual culture and how it shapes youth sexual expectations. They trace feminist debates about porn, explore performer experiences from empowerment to coercion, and examine how platforms like OnlyFans change power and risk. The episode also looks at AI, deepfakes, and the material harms pornography can produce for women.

They explore Donna Haraway’s notion of the cyborg as a hybrid of organism and machine. They examine collapsing boundaries like human/animal and mind/body, and how tech reshapes labor and the “homework economy.” They debate whether AI and LLMs count as cyborgs and consider miniaturization, feminization of work, and cultural examples that reveal both promise and risk.

They examine the rise of personality testing from BuzzFeed quizzes to the Big Five. They trace MBTI and wartime links, psychometrics, and the history of personality in abnormal psychology. They debate how tests package the self and trade moral, literary understandings for quantified labels.

Hanna Pickard, philosopher and bioethicist at Johns Hopkins and author on addiction, offers a nuanced critique of the brain-disease and moral models. She explores how addiction is defined when drug use 'goes wrong.' Conversation covers the rise and limits of the broken-brain view, identity changes in long-term addiction, heterogeneity of causes, and using responsibility constructively in care.

A wide-ranging conversation about what spontaneity looks like in city life, memory, and habit. They trace Aristotle’s old ideas about self-generation and Kant’s take on the mind’s spontaneity. Political angles come up, from the power and limits of unplanned uprisings to Lenin’s worry that movements need organization. The darker side of spontaneity and how environments shape it are also explored.

They unpack Epicurus’ idea that pleasure means tranquility, not luxury. They trace his four-part cure for living well and why we should not fear death. They sort natural, unnecessary, and groundless desires and argue for simple, accessible living. They debate limits of his justice views and the role of friendship in a philosophy focused on personal flourishing.

A philosophical dive into how illness becomes myth and metaphor in culture. They compare historical meanings of tuberculosis and cancer and trace social harms like paternalism and shame. The conversation questions whether medicine truly demystifies sickness and explores phenomenology’s focus on first-person experience. They also consider how illness reshapes embodiment, relationships, and new norms of health.

Sarah Stein Lubrano, social theorist and author of Don’t Talk About Politics, brings sharp thinking about how political views form. She explores why debate and markets of ideas fail, how relationships and social contexts shape beliefs, the role of protests in building movements, and reimagining social media as democratic infrastructure. Short, urgent, and thought-provoking.

Explore the intriguing world of manipulation and the traits that define manipulative personalities. Discover how manipulators often employ covert tactics like gaslighting and feigned confusion. The discussion delves into the ethics of manipulation in politics, drawing on Machiavelli's views on power and virtue. Should leaders embrace badness for effectiveness? The hosts also debate how to spot manipulators and protect oneself, emphasizing setting clear boundaries and understanding one’s vulnerabilities. Not all manipulation is inherently negative—where do we draw the line?