Plain English with Derek Thompson

The Ringer

Podcast

Episodes

Latest Episodes

The Whole World Is Fighting About Energy

4/14/2026 • 64 min

The two biggest stories in the world right now—the war involving Iran and the rise of artificial intelligence—are, at their core, the same story: energy. The Iran conflict has become a war of competing energy blockades, with Iran squeezing American allies and America squeezing Iran. And AI is its own energy arms race, with tech companies scrambling not just for … Play episode

‘The Job Market for Young People Is Brutal’
America's Religious Revival Is a Mirage
Is China the Winner of the Iran War?
Why We're Addicted to ‘Sh*tty Flow’
Anthropic Thinks AI Might Destroy the Economy. It's Building It Anyway.
America's Tax System Is Broken
The Casino-ification of America
"Yes, AI Is a Bubble. There Is No Question."
The Pill That Works Even When You Know It's Fake
The Economic Crisis of the Iran War Goes Far Beyond Oil
"American Democracy as We Know It Might Not Survive This Technology"
Trump Is Doubling Down on Iran. How Should Democrats Respond?
The Four Ways That the Iran War Could End
How Metrics Make Us Miserable
The Future of GLP-1 Drugs and AI Medicine, With Eli Lilly CEO David Ricks
The Supreme Court Strikes Down Trump’s Tariffs. Now What?
The Media Theory That Explains “99% of Everything”
"America Isn’t Ready for What AI Will Do to Jobs"
The Meltdown at The Washington Post—and the Crisis in News
Plain English BEST OF: What’s the Matter With America’s Food?
Plain English BEST OF: This Is How the AI Bubble Could Burst
Plain English BEST OF: The Healthiest "Super-Agers" Have One Thing in Comm…
Plain English BEST OF: The Modern World Is Changing America’s Personality …
Plain English BEST OF: If GLP-1 Drugs Are Good for Everything, Should We A…
Plain English BEST OF: What Experts Really Think About Smartphones and Men…
Plain English BEST OF: How Gen Z Sees the World
Plain English BEST OF: A Grand, Unified Theory of Why Americans Are So Unh…
Plain English BEST OF: The Antisocial Century
Plain English BEST OF: How to Be Happy and the Science of Cognitive Time T…
A Grand Unified Theory of Cultural Stagnation
The American Math Crisis
How Superintelligent AI Could Upend Work and Politics
Everything Is Television
Are Young People Screwed?
The Democrats Have a New Winning Formula
How the American Revolution Changed the World, With Ken Burns
The Problem With Sports Gambling
Michael Lewis on How the Global Financial Crisis Explains Trump, Crypto, a…
What Happens When AI Learns to Do Our Jobs
Can "Touch-Grass Populism" Save America?
Everybody Thinks AI Is a Bubble. What If They’re Wrong?
The Future of Entertainment, Part 2: What’s the Matter With Broadway?
The Future of Entertainment, Part 1: Is Hollywood's Business Model Broken?
Why Money Doesn't Buy Happiness in America
Is AI Really About to Solve Human Disease?
How America Became a Nation of "Free Speech Hypocrites"
What’s the Matter With America’s Food?
This Is How the AI Bubble Could Burst
The Jimmy Kimmel Saga and America's Free-Speech Crisis

Plain English with Derek Thompson RSS Feed

Share: Twitter • Facebook • Embed

Copy embed code: