Chris Ferguson: Why Good People Make Bad Situations Worse
KEY MOMENTS
0:00 – Intro: Chris Ferguson returns with his book Catastrophe
2:02 – The psychology of terrible decisions
4:03 – The COVID toilet paper panic
7:10 – Self-preservation and human nature
11:46 – Remembering COVID and the case for cars
13:58 – High-speed rail and "free" health care
17:03 – Is long COVID physical or psychological?
21:01 – Don't incentivize illness: Lou's kettlebell injury
25:14 – Exercise, diet, and mental health
27:48 – Tracking macros and feeling in control
32:53 – Viktor Frankl and finding meaning
34:08 – Young comedians, family, and responsibility
35:17 – Life as a tenured professor at Stetson
37:25 – Tenure and research on race and criminal justice
38:58 – Roland Fryer, Claudine Gay, and timing
41:01 – Heather Mac Donald and Mother Jones
42:43 – Would ending tenure fix academia's bias?
44:20 – University of the Arts shuts down
45:49 – Why smaller colleges are struggling
47:39 – Gaza protests and institutional neutrality
53:01 – FIRE's free speech rankings
54:27 – David Austin Walsh and hiring white men in academia
1:01:50 – Too many PhDs and not enough jobs
1:03:57 – Wrap-up
ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Stetson professor Christopher J. Ferguson returns with his book Catastrophe! and joins Lou to talk about the psychology of terrible decisions, the COVID toilet paper panic, and life in the "tenure pool."
We also get into self-preservation and human nature, the case for cars over high-speed rail, whether long COVID is physical or psychological, Lou's kettlebell injury, tracking macros, Viktor Frankl, Roland Fryer and Claudine Gay, whether ending tenure would fix academia's bias, the University of the Arts shutting down, Gaza protests and institutional neutrality, FIRE's free speech rankings, and too many PhDs chasing too few jobs.