Democrises
By Goat Rodeo
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Description
We will determine our global future. Civilizations rise and fall because they either solve their existential challenges…or they don’t. How do we choose wisely? Listen as physician, researcher and Army veteran Dr. Rob Cohen and other cutting-edge thinkers help illuminate a path out of our crises of democracy, demography, and demoralization. Mavericks are needed now: heed the call with Democrises. It’s either darkest before the dawn…or before it’s totally black.
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CleanEpisode 13 -- BONUS: Interview with Dr. Rebecca Costa, Author and Sociobiologist | Sociobiologist and futurist Rebecca Costa worked in Silicon Valley for four decades at the cutting edge of technology before moving on to study why civilizations collapse. Her books describe a grave concern for our modern world: that when societies become too complex for average people, they abandon rational solutions in favor of irrational and unproductive beliefs. We discuss how technology like artificial intelligence may be the key to avoiding a collapse, or at least a radical correction. | 1/31/2019 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 12 -- BONUS: What is a Type-I Civilization? | A Type-I civilization is a planetary civilization that harnesses enough energy from its parent star to achieve sustainability. We discuss the energy requirements to achieve Type-I status on Earth, and it's not as much as you think. After some astronomy, philosophy, and history, we show how the three global Democrises must be overcome in the next few decades if we are to achieve Type-I status. The fact that we haven't detected any signs of intelligent life in the universe -- any Type-I or Type-II civilizations -- ominously suggests that the nature of intelligent life may be to destroy itself. But we can chart a different course. | 1/25/2019 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 11: Institutional Solutions to Our Democrisis | Our nation and world are in crisis, far more than we care to admit. Our problems are accelerating, and our institutions are not performing up to the task. Just because we have the world's best car (and do we?), we have obvious defects that we must improve. In our season finale, we present institutional solutions to solve gerrymandering, campaign finance, and electoral reform. We tell the story of New Zealand, which overcome minority rule by a brash right-wing populist, through maturely pursuing electoral reform. It won't be easy, but that doesn't mean it's impossible. | 12/19/2018 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 10: Interview with Ed Luce, Author and Financial Times Columnist | Financial Times columnist Ed Luce wrote in 2012 that the hollowing out of the American middle class meant that America's trajectory was worse than it looked. He recognized "America First" in the Tea Party. Now, he notes that the "Latin-Americanization" of the American economy (widening inequality) has led to the election of a Latin-American style populist. We examine reasons that things have gotten so much harder in the last 30 years in America, and invoke lessons from Britain, France, and Germany. | 12/12/2018 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 9: Solving Tribalism with Shakespeare, Game Theory, and Counterinsurgency | Tribalism has mortally afflicted humanity since tribes evolved eons ago, and today it threatens to tear down many nations. We know why we’re tribal, but how do we solve it, aside from civil war? William Shakespeare offers one solution. John Nash offers another. General Petraeus offered a third. Let’s put them all into one theory. | 12/6/2018 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 8: The Rise and Fall of Political Ideologies Over Political Time | Why was Ronald Reagan as successful as FDR, Lincoln, and Andrew Jackson? Why was George W Bush such a divider like James K Polk, Lyndon B Johnson, and John Adams? How is Trump like Carter, Hoover, Pierce, and Quincy Adams? This episode traces the famous theory of Yale Professor Stephen Skowronek, about how political ideologies have risen and collapsed in American political history. Skowronek’s theory, first published in 1992, predicted many of the challenges experienced by all Presidents since then: Clinton’s impeachment, Bush’s “dubious wars,” Obama’s Tea Party Backlash and Trump’s absurdity. The theory also predicts what comes next. | 11/29/2018 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 7: Of Mavericks and Muckrakers | Teddy Roosevelt and John McCain were both war heroes, beloved by media elites, named after their father, and of the same military rank. Each maverick abhorred the Democrats’ growing fondness for socialism, and revered the Republican giants of old. However, he found he not only had to fight bad ideas from Democrats; a majority of his own party was also inflexibly infatuated with outdated ideologies. What can the parallel insurgencies of Teddy Roosevelt and John McCain against their GOP establishments teach us about standing up to bad Republicans today? | 11/15/2018 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 6: Midterm Election Special & How to Fix the Senate | Rob Cohen gives his thoughts on the 2018 Midterms and weighs in on solutions to fix the US Senate. | 11/7/2018 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 5: Interview with Christine Woodhouse, Director of One Vote | Every vote tells a story about the person who cast it, and about his or her country. In the past and in the present, people keep having to overcome obstacles in order participate in democracy. In a world growing skeptical, what does one vote mean to the people who cast it? Lawyer Christine Woodhouse, director of the film One Vote, discusses her film and what it taught her about the many intrinsic values in the vote. | 10/31/2018 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 4: Interview with Dr. Jason Brennan, Georgetown University, Author of Against Democracy | Dr. Brennan bravely proposed in August of 2016 – before the election – that our democracy was failing us because of fundamental flaws. While a fan of democracy, he’s also a critic, and wants to find ways to fix what’s broken in our system while keeping what’s good. We discuss his theory as well as his proposal: epistocracy. | 10/31/2018 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 3: Democracy, Idiocracy, Kakistocracy, Oh My! | Churchill said “Democracy is the worst form of government except for all those other forms.” Is he right? This episode begins with the rise of Athenian Democracy…and what became of it when demagogues started to arise. Other great philosophers, such as Plato, Kant, and Hamilton, weigh in on whether current American democracy is the best we can do. We examine the great variation in “democracies” today, from Russia to America to Venezuela, and discover that it is the details of democracy that make all the difference. | 10/31/2018 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 2: Interview with Dr. Peter Turchin, University of Connecticut, Author of War and Peace and War | Dr. Turchin is one of the world’s foremost researchers on the question of why empires rise and fall. We featured some of his research in episode 1. He has authored 5 books and hundreds of scientific articles on the subject, including a prediction in 2010 that the United States was on a dangerous path to widespread political violence by 2020. We discuss his fascinating and important research, including the 10% of historical cases where societies recognized their danger and woke up in time, and how to do that today. He’s got some actionable solutions. | 10/31/2018 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanEpisode 1: Empires Rise, Empires Fall…but Why? -- A message from China. | Civilizations die by suicide, not murder. That’s what almost every historian who has studied the topic has concluded. The paths of societal decline are often similar, including poor governance decisions, overpopulation, and breakdown of societal trust. Today, these factors afflict both America and the world, and we call them Democrises: Democracy, Demography, and Demoralization. This episode begins with the fall of Qing Dynasty China in the 19th century, and proceeds to examine many other civilizations that followed or are following the same path… | 10/31/2018 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanTRAILER: Democrises | Coming November 1st.... A new podcast from Rob Cohen and Goat Rodeo. | 10/25/2018 | Free | View in iTunes |
| 14 Items |
Customer Reviews
A smart and balanced call to action
Rob's passion for these important topics are inspirational, his analysis is cutting yet balanced, and his approach is both informative and very entertaining. I love this podcast.
Informative and thought-provoking
This is a great listen! It’s fascinating to hear all of the similarities between the lead up to the downfall of other great nations and the trajectory the U.S. is on currently. It’s important to learn from the past, and Rob is doing a great job of getting the history and facts out there. Keep up the good work!
Very interesting podcast
Rob has a very unique perspective and interesting guests.
