Understanding Right and Left | Bryan Caplan & Richard Hanania

Bryan Caplan joins the podcast to talk about his new book, "Voters as Mad Scientists: Essays on Political Irrationality."

Bryan at first explains why he hates politics. Much of the conversation then centers around Caplan’s simplistic theory of the right and left. This is compared and contrasted with Scott Alexander’s thrive/survive theory of the political spectrum, Robin Hanson’s theory of farmers and foragers, and Hanania’s “Liberals Read, Conservatives Watch TV.”

Near the end, the discussion turns to the political climate at GMU, and whether the intellectual community that has been built can survive the trend towards DEI. Caplan emphasizes that he has noticed a difference since Glenn Youngkin came to power in Virginia, showing that politics actually matters for determining the future of free speech and intellectual freedom.

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Bryan Caplan, "Voters as Mad Scientists: Essays on Political Irrationality." https://www.amazon.com/Voters-Mad-Sci...

Scott Alexander, "A Thrive/Survive Theory of the Political Spectrum." https://slatestarcodex.com/2013/03/04...

Robin Hanson, "Forager, Farmer Morals." https://www.overcomingbias.com/p/fora...

Richard Hanania, "Liberals Read, Conservatives Watch TV." https://www.richardhanania.com/p/libe...