Plain English with Derek Thompson
News

Plain English with Derek Thompson

by The Ringer

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 plainenglish@spotify.com! Subscribe to our YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@PlainEnglishwithDerekThompson

104 episodes
EN language
All Episodes
1
Anthropic Thinks AI Might Destroy the Economy. It's Building It Anyway.
1:02:34 Mar 27, 2026
2
America's Tax System Is Broken
1:04:50 Mar 24, 2026
3
The Casino-ification of America
1:11:46 Mar 20, 2026
4
"Yes, AI Is a Bubble. There Is No Question."
1:09:45 Mar 17, 2026
5
The Pill That Works Even When You Know It's Fake
1:11:50 Mar 13, 2026
6
The Economic Crisis of the Iran War Goes Far Beyond Oil
55:49 Mar 10, 2026
7
"American Democracy as We Know It Might Not Survive This Technology"
1:04:16 Mar 9, 2026
8
Trump Is Doubling Down on Iran. How Should Democrats Respond?
42:18 Mar 6, 2026
9
The Four Ways That the Iran War Could End
55:52 Mar 3, 2026
10
How Metrics Make Us Miserable
1:03:49 Feb 27, 2026
11
The Future of GLP-1 Drugs and AI Medicine, With Eli Lilly CEO David Ricks
1:07:53 Feb 24, 2026
12
The Supreme Court Strikes Down Trump’s Tariffs. Now What?
41:58 Feb 21, 2026
13
The Media Theory That Explains “99% of Everything”
1:03:29 Feb 17, 2026
14
"America Isn’t Ready for What AI Will Do to Jobs"
1:06:42 Feb 13, 2026
15
The Meltdown at The Washington Post—and the Crisis in News
1:11:12 Feb 11, 2026
16
Plain English BEST OF: What’s the Matter With America’s Food?
52:49 Feb 3, 2026
17
Plain English BEST OF: This Is How the AI Bubble Could Burst
59:46 Jan 27, 2026
18
Plain English BEST OF: The Healthiest "Super-Agers" Have One Thing in Common, According to a 25-Year Study
41:58 Jan 20, 2026
19
Plain English BEST OF: The Modern World Is Changing America’s Personality for the Worse
47:20 Jan 13, 2026
20
Plain English BEST OF: If GLP-1 Drugs Are Good for Everything, Should We All Be on Them?
54:20 Jan 6, 2026
21
Plain English BEST OF: What Experts Really Think About Smartphones and Mental Health
1:06:36 Dec 30, 2025
22
Plain English BEST OF: How Gen Z Sees the World
58:09 Dec 23, 2025
23
Plain English BEST OF: A Grand, Unified Theory of Why Americans Are So Unhealthy
38:44 Dec 16, 2025
24
Plain English BEST OF: The Antisocial Century
1:08:13 Dec 9, 2025
25
Plain English BEST OF: How to Be Happy and the Science of Cognitive Time Travel
1:05:38 Dec 2, 2025
26
A Grand Unified Theory of Cultural Stagnation
58:51 Nov 25, 2025
27
The American Math Crisis
54:07 Nov 21, 2025
28
How Superintelligent AI Could Upend Work and Politics
58:43 Nov 18, 2025
29
Everything Is Television
57:09 Nov 14, 2025
30
Are Young People Screwed?
52:31 Nov 12, 2025
31
The Democrats Have a New Winning Formula
1:00:43 Nov 7, 2025
32
How the American Revolution Changed the World, With Ken Burns
59:19 Nov 4, 2025
33
The Problem With Sports Gambling
54:45 Oct 31, 2025
34
Michael Lewis on How the Global Financial Crisis Explains Trump, Crypto, and Everything Else
1:12:03 Oct 28, 2025
35
What Happens When AI Learns to Do Our Jobs
54:14 Oct 24, 2025
36
Can "Touch-Grass Populism" Save America?
59:48 Oct 21, 2025
37
Everybody Thinks AI Is a Bubble. What If They’re Wrong?
52:07 Oct 17, 2025
38
The Future of Entertainment, Part 2: What’s the Matter With Broadway?
47:18 Oct 14, 2025
39
The Future of Entertainment, Part 1: Is Hollywood's Business Model Broken?
46:22 Oct 10, 2025
40
Why Money Doesn't Buy Happiness in America
48:38 Oct 7, 2025
41
Is AI Really About to Solve Human Disease?
53:41 Oct 3, 2025
42
How America Became a Nation of "Free Speech Hypocrites"
52:18 Sep 30, 2025
43
What’s the Matter With America’s Food?
52:32 Sep 26, 2025
44
This Is How the AI Bubble Could Burst
59:26 Sep 23, 2025
45
The Jimmy Kimmel Saga and America's Free-Speech Crisis
40:51 Sep 19, 2025
46
If GLP-1 Drugs Are Good for Everything, Should We All Be on Them?
54:22 Sep 16, 2025
47
Charlie Kirk's Killing and America's Age of "Salad-Bar Extremism"
52:15 Sep 12, 2025
48
America in the Age of Diagnosis
57:07 Sep 9, 2025
49
Trumponomics Explained, Part 2: The Enshittification of American Power
52:08 Sep 5, 2025
50
What Is Trumponomics? Part 1: How Donald Trump Is Breaking American Capitalism
49:33 Sep 3, 2025
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