Plain English with Derek Thompson

Everybody Thinks AI Is a Bubble. What If They’re Wrong?

The Future of Entertainment, Part 2: What’s the Matter With Broadway?

The Future of Entertainment, Part 1: Is Hollywood's Business Model Broken?

Why Money Doesn't Buy Happiness in America

Is AI Really About to Solve Human Disease?

How America Became a Nation of "Free Speech Hypocrites"

What’s the Matter With America’s Food?

This Is How the AI Bubble Could Burst

In this episode of Plain English, Derek Thompson interviews Paul Kedrosky about the massive U.S. investment in artificial intelligence and whether it's creating an economic bubble. Kedrosky argues that the current level of spending on AI infrastructure, particularly data centers and GPUs, is unprecedented and may be di...

The Jimmy Kimmel Saga and America's Free-Speech Crisis

If GLP-1 Drugs Are Good for Everything, Should We All Be on Them?

Charlie Kirk's Killing and America's Age of "Salad-Bar Extremism"

America in the Age of Diagnosis

Trumponomics Explained, Part 2: The Enshittification of American Power

What Is Trumponomics? Part 1: How Donald Trump Is Breaking American Capitalism

The Healthiest "Super-Agers" Have One Thing in Common, According to a 25-Year Study

Plain History: How the Transcontinental Railroads Built the Modern World

The Modern World Is Changing America’s Personality For the Worse

Will AI Usher In the End of Deep Thinking?

The New Geography of Housing in America

The Demise of Late-Night TV Is an Omen for American Culture