Steve Levitt Quits His Podcast, Joins Ours
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What prompted Steve Levitt to end his podcast?
Hey there, it's Stephen Dubner. For the past five years, my Freakonomics friend and co-author Steve Levitt has been hosting his own podcast, which is called People I Mostly Admire. The bad news is Levitt has decided to stop making new episodes of that show. The good news is that Levitt will be hosting the occasional Freakonomics radio episode. The other good news is that starting now, we are going to republish the entire People I Mostly Admire archive from the beginning. So if you never heard it, Or if you missed some episodes, now is the time to get on board. Just go follow People I Mostly Admire in your podcast app.
How will Steve Levitt's role change in Freakonomics Radio?
You will not regret it. In the meantime, I thought that today you might like to hear, as a bonus episode, the final installment of People I Mostly Admire, or PEMA as we call it. It's a sort of exit interview with Levitt conducted by me. And it starts now.
This is Freakonomics Radio, the podcast that explores the hidden side of everything with your host, Stephen Dubner.
Hey, Dubner. How are you doing?
I'm good. How are you doing?
I'm good.
So this is the final new episode of People I Mostly Admire, at least for now. Does that mean you've run out of people you admire?
No, there are endless people I admire. I always thought it would get easier and easier to get people to come to the podcast because it's my own rule when I'm asked to come on a podcast. is I look at who's been on it before and if they're way more interesting and important than I am, then I'm going, I better do it because those people know better than me. I believe in markets. So I thought as we got this list, it got more and more impressive. Everyone would just come, but they don't. Other than Taylor Swift, who's on the top of your wishlist? I've always wanted Joel Osteen, the radio TV evangelist. I just find the way he speaks to be so remarkable. So even before I started the podcast, one day, shortly before my birthday, my wife Suzanne said, I have a surprise for your birthday.
We're going to go on a trip. And my reaction was, oh no, there's nowhere I want to go. There's nothing I want to do. And I was so afraid it was going to be a party or something. Thank God it wasn't a party. How about a silent retreat? Would that have been better? That would have been better than the party, but it still would have been pretty bad. But she took me to Houston to go watch Joel Osteen in person. Those few hours in the Compact Center, which is where he does the preaching, it was truly magical.
What insights does Steve Levitt share about his favorite guests?
I would recommend it to anyone, atheist, whatever. It was a community of people coming together in a way that was so powerful. And I always wanted to talk to him about that. And I tried pretty hard to get him to talk to me, but it never made any headway. What would you have wanted to ask him? I wanted to express to him how powerful I found his message, even though I don't even believe in God. So when I listen to his sermons, I just substitute the word universe for Jesus and for God and treat it more like some kind of new agey thing. But he seems to really feel what he's saying. And he preaches this gospel of empowerment. And at the same time, it's so counter to what many people associate with religion.
He lives in a really fancy house, and I'm sure he has tons and tons of money. I was just curious to see if I could get him at all to talk like a regular person, which I'm sure I couldn't. But that was my goal. I was wondering what it was like to talk to Joel when he wasn't on stage.
It'd be interesting to know what would happen if you could substitute the word universe for every time he said Jesus Christ your God. Like, I would like to see the results of an experiment where a whole bunch of people watch or read a sermon where you do that. What do you think would be the effect?
I think a regular person, if you substitute the word universe, they'll be like, what are you talking about? It doesn't make any sense. But I kind of believe, or at least I have at times in my life believed that somehow the universe seemed to be taking care of me.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What prompted Steve Levitt to end his podcast?
0:03–0:40
2
How will Steve Levitt's role change in Freakonomics Radio?
0:40–2:53
3
What insights does Steve Levitt share about his favorite guests?
2:53–5:41
4
What challenges did Steve face while interviewing notable guests?
5:41–8:19
5
How did Steve Levitt's perspective on education evolve?
8:19–11:20
6
What role does engagement play in modern education?
11:20–14:23
7
How does AI influence the future of education?
14:23–17:12
8
What does Steve Levitt hope to achieve with his new projects?
17:12–45:54
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from Freakonomics Radio
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