Hosted by The Washington Post · 🇺🇸 US · EN-US · 152 episodes
Established thought leaders with verified media credentials.
Enough with the doom and gloom — we’re ready to talk about how America can thrive. Hosted by Washington Post Opinion columnist Megan McArdle, “Reasonably Optimistic” is your weekly conversation about how America can get unstuck and build a better future. Stop feeding your rage and start embracing our possibilities. Episodes drop Wednesdays.
The Washington Post hosts Reasonably Optimistic, a news show with 152 episodes published.
Millions of Americans have moved to the South in recent years. The usual explanations — lower taxes, cheaper housing and warmer weather — are only part of the story. Host Megan McArdle explores the economic and historica
Host Megan McArdle talks with culture writer Kat Rosenfield about how dating apps, therapy-speak and online gender wars have changed romance — making flirtation feel risky, rejection feel catastrophic and desire feel sus
Political parties keep asking voters to overlook scandals, bad judgment and unstable behavior because the other side is worse. Senate candidates Graham Platner and Ken Paxton are only the latest examples. Host Megan McAr
Is empathy destroying the West? That's the provocative claim at the center of Gad Saad's new book, "Suicidal Empathy." Host Megan McArdle is joined by Saad, a professor at the University of Mississippi, to discuss the tr
Eating food cooked at home has traditionally been considered a cheaper option to ordering takeout. So why are so many in Gen Z choosing food away from home? Host Megan McArdle explores how convenience, changing expectati
Are humans alone in the universe? The answer is more complicated than science fiction might suggest. Scientists have discovered billions upon billions of potentially habitable planets. But if life is possible elsewhere,
The average wedding now costs $36,000, and many couples feel like they are being taken for a ride. From weekend bottlenecks and customization to family dynamics and the pressure to get everything right, the answer is mor
The average American household is now worth more than $1 million. Yet Gen Z is increasingly pessimistic about its economic future. Why does it feel like so many people are falling behind? Is homeownership out of reach? A
Peptides are suddenly everywhere — touted by influencers, biohackers and longevity enthusiasts as the next breakthrough in wellness. But what exactly are they, and how much do we actually know about the risks? Host Megan
Trust in public health institutions has fractured since the covid-19 pandemic began, even as the threat of new outbreaks remains. Ebola is spreading in parts of Central Africa. Hantavirus has left some cruise ship passen
Europe promises a life many Americans envy: longer vacations, universal health care, beautiful cities and a slower pace. But those benefits come with trade-offs.Host Megan McArdle looks past the usual America versus Euro
Boys and men are struggling across some of the most important measures: education, employment, family life and mental health. But too often, attempts to talk seriously about these problems get pulled into a culture-war f
Host Megan McArdle explores the rise of the celebrity candidate, from Ronald Reagan to Arnold Schwarzenegger to Trump himself. She explains how parasocial relationships shape modern elections, and why Trump’s success dep
Prediction markets are having a moment. But what are they actually good for? Economist Robin Hanson has been thinking about this for decades. Long before betting markets went mainstream, he argued they could do more than
The hantavirus outbreak has reminded many about the mistakes of covid-19. In this episode, hosts Adam O'Neal, James Hohmann, Carine Hajjar and Kate Andrews discuss whether the confirmed cases on the Hondius cruise ship s
Zohran Mamdani ran for mayor of New York on a platform of taxing the rich, proposing new levies targeting billionaires. Host Megan McArdle argues we’ve seen this kind of rapid shift before. In the 1970s, New York s
Social media is designed to keep us scrolling. But is it also keeping us angry? Rage bait is rewarded and amplified. It’s easy to react and even easier to get pulled in. Over time, this has changed how we interact with t
Scroll through enough retro photos or vintage ads, and it’s easy to convince yourself that life used to be simpler, even happier. But why does the past look better the farther away it gets? Host Megan McArdle unpacks how
From politicians to Silicon Valley, a growing chorus is sounding the alarm and calling for more babies. But the story behind America’s declining birth rate is more complicated than headlines and political talking points
From overdone plastic surgery to open-concept floor plans, we’re designing our lives to look good on camera instead of optimizing for what we need. Influencer culture — and our constant exposure to curated, edited and op
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Reasonably Optimistic is hosted by The Washington Post. The show is categorised under news (technology) and has published 152 episodes.
Reasonably Optimistic has published 152 episodes.
Reasonably Optimistic regularly covers news, technology. It sits in the news category, with a technology focus.
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