There are thousands of podcasts that are informational in nature. The most popular, prominent and expertly produced include Grammar Girl, Curiosity Daily, Science Vs, Short Wave, Something You Should Know, Stuff You Should Know and, of course, 99% Invisible.
Want to know about the creation of shopping malls, how umbrellas were invented, when to use past participle, the secrets of the G Spot, and how to start conversations, these shows offer a fire hose of facts, information, history, and context.
While their primary goal is to offer information, these podcasts also can jumpstart the electrical synapse to think in more depth about this new information and how it may affect your current worldview.
However, the five podcasts listed below have, as their primary purpose, the goal of offering listeners enough contextual, factual, philosophical and cognitive fuel to achieve the near impossible for human beings -- change their mind, adapt their thinking, view parts of the external world differently, and attribute seemingly unrelated events and trends to a core belief in their lives.
In no order of preference, here are five of the best podcasts that make you think and think differently. There are many more. Search them out if you're not afraid to have your most cherished ideas challenged.
A long-running podcast with a book as its genesis. Consider one of its most outlandish conclusions or insights. Authors Dubner and Levitt posited that the growth in the numbers of abortions after Roe V Wade was a major cause of the dramatic decrease in crime in the last 20 years. That seemingly "out of left field" conclusion has been suported by research from Stanford University and the University Of Chicago.
In its long-running podcast history, Freakonomics (hosted by Stephen Dubner) continues to ask tough questions about social and economic trends and institutions that have broad consensus. For example, the multi-part series on a college education questioned the financial return when parents pay for their child to attend an expensive, well-known (non-Ivy League) university with a back-end financial return for the child in their career.
From the arcane such as corruption in the U.S. versus China to the mundane such as the advantage of traffic circles / roundabouts hold over traffic lights, Freakonomics is a chainsaw, hacking through conventional wisdom, outdated ideas, persistent myths that will not die, and political campaign speech that is misinterpreted as truth.
Hidden Brain (created and hosted by Shankar Vedantam) is billed as a podcast that "explores the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior and questions that lie at the heart of our complex and changing world."
In almost every episode, Vedantam takes long-standing beliefs we hug like a "child's blankie" and carefully strips away at our fortress of misconceptions. Consider the June 6, 2022 episode, where Vedantam posits a radical concept. From the episode's show notes: "The human drive to invent new things has led to pathbreaking achievements in medicine, science and society. But our desire for innovation can keep us from seeing one of the most powerful paths to progress: subtraction. Engineer Leidy Klotz says, 'sometimes the best way forward involves removing, streamlining and simplifying things.'"
In the episode, Vedantam transports us to a corporate brainstorming session where overzealous and eager-to-please execs eject hundreds of ideas on new projects for the company to pursue. No one considers, however, that a more productive and fiscally responsible solution could be to do less -- cut unproductive projects and remove processes that increase cost and decrease flexibility.
Hidden Brain acts as a sonic mirror, coaxing us to re-consider our emotional core, and intellectual scaffolding. One of the best episodes to cool down the temperatures of polarized political debate is the March 7, 2022, episode, "Putting Our assumptions To The Test." I dare you to listen and not come away questioning at least some of your current political beliefs.
Worklife is a TED podcast hosted by organizational psychologist Adam Grant. The author of several best-selling books, Grant published Think Again in 2021 and the book's subtitle -- The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know -- demonstrates Grant's commitment to questioning what we think we know and then understanding that unlearning and relearning requires much more—it requires choosing courage over comfort.
Grant's podcast focuses on smashing assumptions, long-held beliefs, and persistent fallacies about the workplace.
In the April 19, 2022, episode, Grant discusses “Flexibility,” which is the number one request people are making from employers. But flexibility is much more than WHERE you work–it also means having the freedom to make choices about what you work on, who you work with, and when and how often you work. This episode examines the science and practice of creating more autonomy– and making it work for people and organizations.
In the July 20, 2021, episode, Grant asks an essential question about communication in the workplace. Is it safe to speak up? Are you afraid to share bad news, ask for help, or admit you were wrong? These are signs of being in a psychologically unsafe work environment. In the episode, Grant breaks down the importance of psychological safety in preventing errors and promoting innovation and inclusion, and examines what it takes to build a culture of voice rather than silence.
Since most of us spend about a third of our lives at work, a podcast like Worklife is essential listening since we all need an emotional reset and intellectual reboot at our jobs. Adam Grant explores questions as universal as "Why is my boss such an asshole?" and questions as personal as "Why am I such an asshole at work?"
Cautionary Tales is a podcast hosted by British economist Tim Harford. The podcast's mission is to "tell true stories about mistakes and what we should learn from them."
First, admitting mistakes is all about thinking differently, and that's Harford's unspoken point on the podcast. Second, Harford offers us historical morality tales in which he journeys with the listeners as we collectively find out what went wrong.
For example, in the May 21, 2021, episode, Harford details how the British government created a "world-beating" system to track COVID infections, but it used an outdated version of Microsoft Excel with disastrous results.
In the March 26, 2021, episode, Harford tells the sad tale of the 1996 hijack of Ethiopian Airlines flight 961 with the hijackers demand that they be flown to Australia. Ignoring the pilot's urgent request to land and get more fuel, the plane crashed due to fuel exhaustion in the Indian Ocean, killing 125 of the 175 passengers and all three of the hijackers.
Perhaps one of the most tragic tales was from March 25, 2022, as Harford recounts how the 1981 collapse of a walkway in the Kansas City Hyatt Regency -- killing 114 and injuring 216 people -- was due to a tiny design change that seemed so insignificant that no one paid attention to it.
Harford's stories of things gone wrong help us to be onlookers into the investigation of what could be done differently. From there, it's a short psyhological stroll to questioning ourselves and what we may be doing wrong.
Left Right & Center is produced by Santa Monica public radio station KCRW. The show is tagged as a "civilized yet provocative debate." If you're a conservative, you have a voice via the right-leaning guest, who will defend new election laws, the Second Amendment, and laws that ban abortion.
If you're more progressive, your person is also there for you, who is pro-choice, supports gun safety, and racial justice.
And if you, like many of us, find that we have opinions that transcend strict political ideology, there is the moderator who is the center. We are the people who want government to work for all of us, not just the rich, entitled, and connected.
Josh Barro was the host and "center" for years and did a terrific job questioning the belief systems of progressives and conservatives. Barro left late in 2021 to start his own podcast network, and since then the show has used a revolving door of guest hosts, with the best being News Not Noise host Jessica Yellin.
This podcast can make zealots on either side of the political spectrum uncomfortable, because it does not follow the Fox News template that Trump and fellow Republicans can do no wrong while Democrats are radical socialists who also are terrorists, groomers, pedophiles, and sex traffickers in their spare time.
An episode about Biden's low approval rating simultaneously criticized him for not doing enough to combat inflation and skyrocketing gas prices, while pointing out that Republican chants of "drill, baby, drill" are simplistic and often counterproductive.
The essence of the show is that it presents both sides of the political debate drenched in reason, factual presentation, and respect. So often after listening to an episode, I find myself reassessing a political belief because I now understand that sound bites and disguised campaign rhetoric can't possibly do justice to the complexity of a social or economic crisis -- crime, immigration, and racism. It will take more than a simplistic political slogan to solve many of our chronic problems.
People I (Mostly) Admire is also a Freakonomics podcast - hosted by Steven Levitt -- and maybe this is cheating. But week after week, the podcast brings on guests who challenge conventional beliefs and long agreed-upon solutions that the guests subsequently rip to shreds. Typically, alternative solutions are put forth.
Levitt, an economics professor, has a monotone voice that could hypnotize chimpanzees, but his guests offer us a game plan into rejecting facile and familiar solutions to chronic problems.
For example, in the May 20, 2022, episode called "Is Gaming Good For You?" guest Jane McGonigal -- who designed a game to help her recover from a traumatic brain injury -- thinks game playing can helps us lead our best lives. McGonigal's conclusions has angered millions of parents who insist that video games harm their children. The evidence suggests otherwise, despite what Ted Cruz claims.
In the April 1, 2022, episode, "Does death have to be a death sentence," palliative care doctor B.J. Miller discusses alternative ways to view dying and discusses options like palliative care instead of simply treatment or hospice.
In a controversial episode that was replayed again this January, Levitt talks with psychology professor Carl Hart, who believes that all recreational drug use should be legal.
People I (Mostly) Admire doesn't assume the world is its oyster, but instead it's Rubik's Cube to be adjusted and adapted to find essential truths that are never painfully obvious. Levitt is the anti-Joe Rogan. He doesn't screech when offering his opinion or use his guests to be ciphers to do the same thing. Levitt carefully probes and prods, with no hidden agenda other than effective strategies for making life better.
**********************
The podcasting world is full of shows that can jog those "little grey cells" as Agatha Christie's fictional detective Hercule Poirot was so fond of repeating.
It's so tempting --like a piece of cheesecake -- to listen to a podcast that reinforces our worldview. We finish the show swollen with pride that many others, including the host and guests on the show, agree with us.
To me, its nothing ventured, nothing gained. Abandon that listening comfort zone. Try a podcast that encourages you to -- as Adam Grant says -- "unlearn then relearn."
As Albert Einstein once said, "We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created those problems."
Photo by Rio Kuncoro
Comments
Post a Comment
Thank You for your input and feedback. If you requested a response, we will do so as soon as possible.