Clearer Thinking with Spencer Greenberg

Read the full transcript here. Which decisions should be made by election and which by random sampling? Where is competition healthy for choosing leaders, and where must rule-setting be unitary and impartial? What would credible umpires look like - judges, statisticians, pay reviewers - and how do we insulate them from parties? Can citizen juries and standing sampled councils surface red lines, negotiate overlap, and rebuild losers’ consent? Why does professional party culture normalize behavior individuals would reject, and can structured deliberation beat competitive groupthink? How do we measure success for rule-setters - accuracy, legitimacy, or a cooler temperature? When do promotions-as-power contests crowd out service, and could elections without candidates find better leaders? How much polarization is real cleavage versus performance layered over broad agreement, and how do institutions interrupt cosplay turning into violence? What minimum independence and accountability keep sampled bodies honest without drifting into technocracy? Where should problem-solving favor practical wisdom over pure truth-finding - embedding local knowledge alongside trials, models, and metrics? Nicholas Gruen is an economist and entrepreneur and a commentator on democracy. He chaired the Government 2.0 Taskforce which helped set the Australian Government’s policy to navigate the threats and opportunities of open data and social media. Global Government Forum will shortly begin a (5 part podcast)[https://www.globalgovernmentforum.com/government-transformed-podcast-sharing-the-inside-story-of-how-to-make-public-service-change-happen/] on the Government 2.0 Taskforce fifteen years on. He is Patron of the Australian Digital Alliance, comprising Australia’s libraries, universities, and digital infrastructure providers such as Google and Yahoo. Links: Nicholas' YouTube Channel Nicholas' Substack Staff Spencer Greenberg — Host + Director Ryan Kessler — Producer + Technical Lead WeAmplify — Transcriptionists Igor Scaldini — Marketing Consultant Music Broke for Free Josh Woodward Lee Rosevere Quiet Music for Tiny Robots wowamusic zapsplat.com Affiliates Clearer Thinking GuidedTrack Mind Ease Positly UpLift [Read more]

Read the full transcript here. What explains fearing nuclear more than the harms we tolerate from fossil fuels? Can we judge energy risk by evidence rather than headlines? What mix of firm power and renewables actually keeps costs low and lights on? How much should we pay up front for safety, and who decides? Do iconic disasters outweigh statistics in policy debates? What did past build-outs teach us about standardization, permitting, and getting big projects done? Can trust be built without hype or spin? Is government-scale coordination required, or can markets deliver at scale? How should long-lived waste be weighed against climate and air-pollution deaths now? What would a realistic near-term plan look like if we stopped treating tech choices as tribal identity? Isabelle Boemeke is an author, philanthropist, and entrepreneur who advocates global clean energy. Boemeke is also known as Isodope, the digital persona on a mission to 'make nuclear cool.' She is the Founder and Executive Director of Save Clean Energy and board member of Nature is Nonpartisan and Nuclear Scaling Initiative, where she works at the intersection of policy, culture, and technology to accelerate pragmatic solutions. She delivered a TED Talk that has been viewed nearly 2 million times, led a grassroots campaign that helped delay the closure of California’s Diablo Canyon Power Plant, and is a TIME Magazine “Next Generation Leader”. Links: Isabelle's book: Rad Future Isabelle's TED Talk Staff Spencer Greenberg — Host + Director Ryan Kessler — Producer + Technical Lead WeAmplify — Transcriptionists Igor Scaldini — Marketing Consultant Music Broke for Free Josh Woodward Lee Rosevere Quiet Music for Tiny Robots wowamusic zapsplat.com Affiliates Clearer Thinking GuidedTrack Mind Ease Positly UpLift [Read more]

Read the full transcript here. Where is the line between ordinary intrusive thoughts and an OCD pattern that hijacks the day? How do obsessions and compulsions condition each other so that brief relief entrenches the loop? What clinical markers - ego-dystonic content and intact reality testing - separate OCD from psychosis? How do thought–action fusion, inflated responsibility and “zero-risk” striving amplify checking and covert mental rituals? Why does repeated checking degrade memory confidence and widen doubt? How should ERP be structured to target hidden mental rituals as well as visible behaviors, and what metrics best define success? When are SSRIs a helpful platform for ERP, and why are effective doses often higher than for depression? What boundaries and scripts help families avoid reassurance and accommodation while staying empathic? How do culture and news cycles shape obsession themes without changing the underlying mechanism? What relapse-prevention practices keep gains durable - normalizing setbacks, tracking triggers, and refocusing on work, love, and presence? David Adam is an author and journalist, who covers science, environment, technology, medicine and the impact they have on people, culture and society. After nearly two decades as a staff writer and editor at Nature and the Guardian, David set up as a freelancer in 2019. David's book - The Man Who Couldn’t Stop - is his attempt to understand the condition and his experiences with OCD, where he explores the weird thoughts that exist within every mind and explains how they drive millions of us toward obsession and compulsion. Links: The Man Who Couldn't Stop: OCD and the True Story of a Life Lost in Thought Staff Spencer Greenberg — Host + Director Ryan Kessler — Producer + Technical Lead WeAmplify — Transcriptionists Igor Scaldini — Marketing Consultant Music Broke for Free Josh Woodward Lee Rosevere Quiet Music for Tiny Robots wowamusic zapsplat.com Affiliates Clearer Thinking GuidedTrack Mind Ease Positly UpLift [Read more]

Read the full transcript here. Are we going to solve climate change with technology rather than personal sacrifice? If most offsets fail on additionality, should we stop pretending they meaningfully cut emissions? Can policy push dollars into the hard stuff - steel, cement, shipping, aviation - where tech is still nascent? Will clean-firm power unlock a reliable, land-light grid? Do early adopters and advanced market commitments move markets faster than lifestyle campaigns? What mix of R&D, loans, tax credits, procurement, and permitting reform actually drives costs down the curve? How should we weigh “central” damage estimates against fat-tail risks? If $1 can avert a ton while society pays ~$200 in harm, are we underinvesting by orders of magnitude? Can corporate climate action shift from PR offsets to catalytic demand for green steel and concrete? Where should donors place bets when global coordination stalls and national politics swing? Dan Stein champions evidence-based approaches to fight the climate crisis while leading Giving Green as founder and executive director, and serving as a senior advisor to IDinsight. He previously held the position of Chief Economist at IDinsight and worked as an Economist at the World Bank. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the London School of Economics and a BA from UC Berkeley. Links: Giving Green Staff Spencer Greenberg — Host + Director Ryan Kessler — Producer + Technical Lead WeAmplify — Transcriptionists Igor Scaldini — Marketing Consultant Music Broke for Free Josh Woodward Lee Rosevere Quiet Music for Tiny Robots wowamusic zapsplat.com Affiliates Clearer Thinking GuidedTrack Mind Ease Positly UpLift [Read more]

Read the full transcript here. Are stock prices set by cash flows or crowd vibes? Why do bubbles last if “smart money” can short them? What should retail traders learn from GameStop and zero-commission options? When does momentum make sense - and when does it burn you? Why don’t obvious mispricings get fixed - what actually stops arbitrage? Will AI help us think clearer, or supercharge manipulation and personalized pricing? Where should regulators draw the line on gamified trading and price discrimination? Do tariffs feel good because they keep others out—even if we pay more? What does the "winner’s curse" mean for auctions, IPOs, and everyday deals? How much of what we want is copied from other people, and why does that matter for markets? Alex Imas is the Roger L. and Rachel M. Goetz Professor of Behavioral Science, Economics and Applied AI and a Vasilou Faculty Scholar at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, where he has taught Negotiations and Behavioral Economics. Alex studies behavioral economics with a focus on cognition and mental representation in dynamic decision-making. His research explores topics related to choice under uncertainty, applied AI, discrimination, and how people learn from information. Professor Imas’ work utilizes a variety of methods, including lab experiments, field experiments, analysis of observational data and theoretical modeling. His research has been published in the American Economic Review, Journal of Finance, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Quarterly Journal of Economics, and Management Science, among others. Links: The Winner's Curse Alex's personal website Alex's Twitter Staff Spencer Greenberg — Host + Director Ryan Kessler — Producer + Technical Lead WeAmplify — Transcriptionists Igor Scaldini — Marketing Consultant Music Broke for Free Josh Woodward Lee Rosevere Quiet Music for Tiny Robots wowamusic zapsplat.com Affiliates Clearer Thinking GuidedTrack Mind Ease Positly UpLift [Read more]