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#1029 - Malcolm Gladwell - How to Convince the World of Bulls**t & Evil

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#1029 - Malcolm Gladwell - How to Convince the World of Bulls**t & Evil

Modern Wisdom

2025/12/06
Modern Wisdom

Modern Wisdom

2025/12/06
OverviewShownoteHighlightsTranscriptChaptersPins

Shownote

Malcolm Gladwell is a journalist, podcast host and an author. Do contagious diseases, memetic epidemics, and drug epidemics spread through the same underlying pathways? The answer may explain why society keeps falling into the same contagious patterns, an...

Highlights

In this compelling conversation, Malcolm Gladwell explores how societal patterns—like epidemics of disease, ideas, and behaviors—follow surprisingly similar paths of transmission. He draws on decades of research to unpack the hidden mechanics behind cultural shifts, examining why certain individuals wield outsized influence and how small triggers can spark large-scale transformations across social systems.
03:32
Lethal injection, long seen as humane, may cause extreme pain and suffering.
16:08
Social influence is asymmetrical, with some individuals having outsized impact on idea spread.
18:47
A small group of super spreaders drives the majority of influence in idea and disease transmission.
28:35
Purdue Pharma targeted only 2,000 doctors to drive the OxyContin epidemic.
43:26
The 'Parental Attribution Error' means people blame parents for their flaws but take credit for their strengths
48:36
Stories elicit emotion and defy expectations, making them more effective than facts in communicating ideas.
58:29
The trans athlete issue is a small, hypothetical problem that becomes political ammunition.
1:07:45
Track and field is a sport where income and class don't provide a head start

Chapters

How did America's execution methods evolve—and what they reveal about our relationship with death?
00:00
Why are ideas contagious, and who gets to decide what spreads?
12:49
Who are the super-spreaders shaping culture in the digital age?
18:47
How did a handful of doctors ignite an opioid epidemic that never ended?
25:16
Can we engineer intelligence—or is motivation shaped more by life than genes?
37:52
Why do we blame parents for failure but ignore their role in success?
45:54
When does a story beat the facts in changing public opinion?
52:08
Is it fair that rich kids get into college through tennis while others fight for equity?
1:07:45

Transcript

Chris Williamson: Talk to me about the history of the death penalty, forgotten past that I didn't realize existed, Oh, my goodness. Malcolm Gladwell: In what country? In America? Yes. Well, this is a subject we dig into in this new series we've done on re...