Show Notes
For this month's book club, Jerusalem Demsas and Matt Yglesias read The Death and Life of Great American Cities, the 1961 classic that changed how everyone thinks about neighborhoods. Rereading it as YIMBYs, they find a book that's right about what makes a street feel alive and wrong about almost everything that followed: Jacobs's push to devolve power to the neighborhood level became the veto that now blocks new housing everywhere. They also get into why Jacobs ignored the economics of cities, what Austin gets right that Greenwich Village lost, and the one place Jerusalem agrees with Jacobs completely: city parks are overrated. Plus a peer review of a new paper on how the typewriter transformed women's economic lives. (00:00) Rereading the most famous book about cities (06:00) Greenwich Village, gay bars, and what made her neighborhood special (15:23) Jacobs's four principles: mixed uses, old buildings, density, and small blocks (23:17) The blind spot: cities are economic engines (27:47) How Jacobs's victory became the NIMBY veto (36:03) Height limits and what Americans actually want (44:40) The zoning contradiction at the heart of the book (46:18) It's the people, not the buildings (49:58) Montreal, Berlin, and why isn't everyone moving to Philadelphia? (55:21) What would Jane Jacobs think of Austin? (01:01:15) The case against city parks (01:16:41) Peer review: How the typewriter changed women's lives Support the Show: Get a full transcript, show notes, and an ad-free version: TheArgumentMag.com New episodes every Thursday—subscribe so you never miss a debate! The Argument is produced by Justin Zuckerman, fact-checked by Eli Richman, with music by Breakmaster Cylinder and art by Ben Tousley.
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Jerusalem Demsas and Matt Yglesias debate which historical figures deserve to be canceled and which shouldn’t have been. With the Trump administration pushing to restore statues of figures removed during the “Great Wokening,” they ask what a statue, a holiday, or a name on a school is actually for. Jerusalem lays out her test: why we honor someone and whether their cruelty is the main thing they’re remembered for. Matt argues the bigger problem is that we undercommemorate people, and that we should want more statues, not fewer. Plus, a peer review on whether machine learning can predict who will be shot, and how much power the government should have to use that data. (0:00) Who deserves to be canceled? (1:30) Why Matt wants more statues, not fewer (3:43) Jerusalem’s test for canceling a historical figure (9:04) Should we cancel Columbus Day? (11:24) The Cesar Chavez cancellation (19:46) Robert E. Lee and the myth of the Lost Cause (28:08) Cancel Paul Ehrlich of The Population Bomb (39:07) Uncanceling Flannery O’Connor (48:35) Uncanceling Thomas Jefferson (59:27) Peer Review: Can AI predict who will be shot? Support the Show: Get a full transcript, show notes, and an ad-free version: TheArgumentMag.com
ChinaTalk's Jordan Schneider joins Jerusalem Demsas and Matt Yglesias to compare how the U.S. and China are approaching artificial intelligence. They dive into the Trump-Xi summit, whether AI will change how politicians govern, and the limits of what Chinese AI models are allowed to say. They also discuss the gap in public opinion: why do so many people in China have positive expectations for AI while Americans are dooming? Plus, a peer review on how childhood neighbors shape the careers we choose. (0:00) AI, China, and the Trump-Xi summit (3:50) Will AI replace politicians? (8:26) Grok, DeepSeek, and who controls AI (12:09) Can AI save Congress? (22:25) Asking DeepSeek about Chinese Democracy (26:45) Does AI break the development ladder? (31:13) Why China is more optimistic about AI than America (54:37) Corruption in China vs. the U.S. (1:06:17) Why the White House wants to rebrand AI as "superintelligence" (1:10:50) Peer Review: Do childhood neighbors shape your career? Support the Show: Get a full transcript, show notes, and an ad-free version: TheArgumentMag.com
How can Europe's liberals stop the far-right? Matt Yglesias and Jerusalem Demsas debate the far right's rise in Germany, France, and beyond, and whether Europe's mainstream parties mishandled immigration and opened the door for the AfD and Marine Le Pen. They get into what Sweden and Denmark got right on integration, why deportations and asylum deterrence are so hard, whether liberals should ever govern with the far right, and why Europe's strange aversion to air conditioning is a gift to populists. Plus a peer review on whether having more kids pushes mothers into remote work. (00:00) Are liberals losing Europe? (6:24) Magna Carta, freedom of movement, and immigration (14:05) Dril tweets and the sane-washing dilemma (20:29) Should liberals give into populist demands? (28:14) Joe Biden, deportations, and asylum (31:47) Libya, the Mediterranean, and deterrence (41:02) What Sweden and Denmark got right (48:20) France, the UK, and air conditioning (52:02) Peer Review: moms and remote work Support the Show: Get a full transcript, show notes, and an ad-free version: TheArgumentMag.com
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