Dilemma Podcast

Solving the problems of what to do next with some of today's top thinkers and writers.Hosted by Jay Shapiro.

Dilemma Podcast is a society podcast hosted by Jay Shapiro, with 116 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Jay Shapiro hosts Dilemma Podcast, a society show with 116 episodes published.

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  Dilemma Podcast

  What Do We Owe People Who Commit Horrific Crimes? Joseph Margulies on Forgiveness & Punishment

  Aug 14, 20261h 29m

  In this conversation, Joseph Margulies and I explore the difficult moral territory at the heart of his new book Cast Out: A Call for a Forgiving Society in an Age of Incarceration. What does a society gain—or lose—when it decides that certain people are beyond redemption? We talk about the stories of people Margulies encountered through his work, including Lisa Montgomery, David Medina, Klete Keller, Lucas Whaley, and Eric Matthews, and the disturbing realities of the American prison system. We also confront a fundamental question about who gets to tell the stories of people who have committed horrific crimes, and whether understanding those stories can coexist with genuine accountability.Margulies brings decades of experience as a criminal defense attorney to this question, including his defense of Palestinian Abu Zubaydah, who remains imprisoned at Guantánamo Bay without ever having been charged and who was subjected to brutal torture by the United States. We discuss what American prisons reveal about our attitudes toward human beings who have done terrible things, and how these questions extend beyond the prison system into Israel-Palestine and the broader politics of punishment, victimhood, and moral judgment.At the center of the conversation is a distinction that may be essential to any meaningful idea of forgiveness: an explanation is not an excuse. To understand why someone committed a terrible act does not mean absolving them of responsibility. But if accountability is part of forgiveness rather than its opposite, what should accountability actually look like? And can we build a society capable of condemning terrible acts without deciding that the people who commit them are themselves irredeemable? This conversation is an exploration of punishment, responsibility, storytelling, torture, forgiveness, and what it means to remain human in the face of the worst things human beings do.00:00:00 Coming Up...00:01:39 Introduction to Cast Out00:06:29 Joseph Margulies Story And Work00:08:08 A Book Not About Prison But About Us00:09:50 The Problem is Not Drug Offenders, Let's Be Honest00:13:09 Klete Keller Gets His Story Told00:17:03 Accountability Matters And Lisa Montgomery00:20:21 What Happened? With Lisa Montgomery00:32:05 Lucas Whaley And The Addiction to Rage00:45:18 The Belief Of Just One Person and Eric Matthews00:54:31 What Should Prison Look Like In a Forgiving Society?01:02:02 "Abu Zubaydah Is My Client" & The Palestine Narrative01:09:10 But What About REALLY Bad People? & Abu Zubaydah's Story01:20:27 The Desperate Need For Radical Extension of Compassion01:25:21 My Own Frustrations And Failure To Tell A Story01:28:23 Go Watch "Alabama Solution" and "The Work"BECOME A MEMBER - MONTHLY MEMBERS ONLY LIVESTREAM https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5NIku35U9thGG9WBJjE0sw/joinFor more from Jay visit whatjaythinks.com

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  AI Acceleration, Climate Heating, Nuclear War: When The Global Goliath Collapses w/ Luke Kemp

  Jul 30, 20261h 43m

  Luke Kemp is a researcher of existential risk whose work spans the rise and fall of civilizations, the psychology of empire, and the future of humanity. In this wide-ranging conversation, we explore whether history follows deeper patterns than we usually recognize—from the Paleolithic origins of human society and the agricultural revolution to the emergence of empires, colonialism, capitalism, and today's "Silicon Goliaths." Along the way, we discuss Madrid's Royal Palace, Montezuma and the Spanish conquest, October 7th, Donald Trump, and why understanding the past may be the key to understanding the crises of the present.At the center of our discussion is Luke's idea of the "Goliath Curse": the tendency for increasingly large and complex societies to generate extraordinary power while simultaneously becoming more fragile, unequal, and difficult to govern. We examine what made European capitalist colonialism historically unique, how the global expansion of empire transformed the planet, and whether today's technology giants represent the latest evolution of the same pattern. We also dive into the role of Dark Triad psychology in leadership, why civilizations repeatedly overextend themselves, and how power scales from kingdoms to multinational corporations.Finally, we turn to the existential risks confronting humanity in the twenty-first century. From climate change, artificial intelligence, and engineered pandemics to nuclear weapons and geopolitical instability, we ask whether modern technology is accelerating humanity toward an increasingly dangerous future—or whether history offers reasons for cautious optimism. This conversation connects archaeology, psychology, philosophy, geopolitics, and big history to ask one of the biggest questions imaginable: how did we get here, and where are we going next?00:00:00 Coming Up...00:01:36 Intro to Luke Kemp and Goliath's Curse00:09:09 Kemp To Harari, Pinker, Wengrew, Diamond00:14:08 Goliath Fuel and The Material Conditions for Domination00:18:59 Are Goliath's Inevitable? And The Indus Valley Exception00:21:27 Paleolithic Anti Dominance Strategies00:24:06 Is Collapse Actually Good?00:29:09 Did We Choose Goliaths?00:32:50 Dark Triad Psychology00:38:34 Romanticizing the Paleolithic00:43:47 Drought and Climate Change As the Final Nail?00:49:05 European Capitalist Colonialism As A Supercharged Global Goliath00:55:45 The "Nation State" As Empire?00:59:43 Collaborators Of The Goliath01:03:00 The World Wars of the 20th Century and Global Goliath Stumbling01:08:07 The Silicon Goliath and Climate Change01:14:16 Do All Goliath's Collapse?01:20:15 Slaying Goliath Through Democracy or Anarchy01:29:30 The Surveillance of Goliath and Distrust of Ourselves01:34:56 Human Agency... Even of Our Own Death?01:41:13 Outro and Luke's Next BookBECOME A MEMBER - MONTHLY MEMBERS ONLY LIVESTREAM https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5NIku35U9thGG9WBJjE0sw/joinFor more from Jay visit whatjaythinks.com

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  Dilemma Podcast

  From the Middle Passage to Elijah McClain: The Persistence Of Anti-Black Bewilderment

  Jul 29, 20261h 39m

  Michael Sawyer is the author of The Door of No Return, a sweeping work that challenges conventional ideas about race, history, memory, and modernity. In this conversation, we explore his concept of anti-Blackness as something deeper than prejudice or discrimination—an organizing logic embedded within the modern world itself. Sawyer explains why the Middle Passage remains central to understanding contemporary society, dismantles Hegel's philosophy of history, critiques the limitations of Négritude and Afro-pessimism, and introduces the idea of "rememory" as a radically different way of relating to the past.We also discuss the killing of Elijah McClain, the evolution of Ta-Nehisi Coates' writing after Palestine, and Sawyer's deeply personal reflections on racism, including experiences growing up and playing basketball. Along the way, we examine how Shakespeare's Macbeth, the music of Bob Marley, and the lyrics of The Notorious B.I.G. illuminate questions of violence, identity, power, and survival in ways that philosophy often cannot.This is an expansive conversation connecting literature, history, music, politics, and lived experience. Whether unpacking the legacy of slavery, questioning the assumptions of Western philosophy, or imagining what might exist beyond the structures of anti-Blackness, Michael Sawyer offers a powerful framework for thinking about the past—and what a genuinely different future could look like.00:00 Coming Up...01:27 Intro to Sawyer & Why Bob Marley Is Doing Philosophy08:41 Paralysis & The Anti-Black World After the Middle Passage14:14 The Diagram That Explains the Entire Book21:55 W.E.B Du Bois & What Hegel Got Wrong About History27:17 The Free Throw Line as The Racial Bursting Apart36:44 What Is The Title of This Book... Actually?39:19 Tackling Hegel's Philosophy & Where it Fails To Be About Blackness51:25 The Murder of Elijah McClain1:02:50 Sawyer Illuminates The Words of McClain In The Anti-Black World1:09:10 Slavery's Afterlife and Anti-Blackness as Gravity1:14:00 Whitey On The Moon and Who Gets To Participate in Language Architecture1:23:25 Mick Jagger Couldn't Clap Along to Aretha1:30:38 Your Oppression Will Not Save You and Why Ta-Nehisi Coates Changed1:37:55 Final Thoughts and Upcoming GuestsBECOME A MEMBER - MONTHLY MEMBERS ONLY LIVESTREAM https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5NIku35U9thGG9WBJjE0sw/joinFor more from Jay visit whatjaythinks.com

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  Sam Harris's Israel Defense & The Unchallenged Assumption He Seems To Know Is A Problem

  Jul 8, 202627 min

  In this essay, I respond to Sam Harris's recent comments on Israel, Gaza, Hamas, and why he refuses to debate many of his critics. My argument is not primarily about genocide, proportionality, international law, or even the details of Israel's military response. It is about something more fundamental: the framing of violence itself.Sam Harris often frames Hamas and similar movements as expressions of jihadism—forms of violence rooted primarily in religious belief, metaphysical commitments, and interpretations of sacred texts. If that framing is accepted, then the moral conversation largely becomes a discussion about how to manage or contain a dangerous ideology. But what happens if that framing is incomplete? What if history, colonialism, dispossession, and resistance are not peripheral details but central parts of the story?Drawing on examples from anti-colonial struggles around the world, Zionist historical sources, and broader questions about moral reasoning, I explore why historical context matters when evaluating violence. The question is not whether violence is horrific—it always is. The question is whether our explanation of that violence determines the moral conclusions we reach before the discussion even begins.Pre-order my upcoming book: *Insufficient Rewards: How We Traded Integrity for Comfort and Outsourced Morality*https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Insufficient-Rewards/Jay-Shapiro/9781803419985#SamHarris #Gaza #IsraelPalestine #Philosophy #History #Colonialism #Zionism #MiddleEast #Politics #EthicsBECOME A MEMBER - MONTHLY MEMBERS ONLY LIVESTREAM https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5NIku35U9thGG9WBJjE0sw/joinFor more from Jay visit whatjaythinks.com00:00 Another Response to Sam Harris00:20 The Jihadism Framework02:34 Why This Leads to "Mowing the Lawn"04:59 Why Critics Can't Reach Harris07:36 The Real Disagreement: Framing Violence09:15 Can the Jihadism Frame Be Challenged?11:23 Harris's "Five Myths About Gaza" Give Away The Game & The Colonialism Question14:20 Resistance, Religion, and History and Intertwined Ideas and Motives16:53 What Zionist Sources Actually Say19:00 Reframing Hamas as Resistance Plus Other Things20:38 What Changes If The Frame Changes? & Why History Matters23:00 Peace As Emergent Property of Justice Pursued24:43 Why Genocide Debates Miss The Point26:32 Preorder My New Book

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  The Overlooked Idea That Could Solve The "Genocide" Problem with Scholar Dirk Moses

  Jul 8, 20261h 30m

  For decades, the word "genocide" has occupied a unique place in international law, collective memory, and political debate. But what exactly does it mean—and has the definition become too narrow to describe the forms of violence we witness today? In this conversation, Holocaust and genocide scholar Dirk Moses joins me to discuss the crisis unfolding within genocide studies, the fierce disputes over how the term should be defined, and why debates about Gaza have exposed deep fractures in academia, international institutions, and public discourse.We explore the controversy surrounding Moses's influential essay on Germany's "catechism," the role Holocaust memory plays in shaping political culture, and whether modern societies have become trapped by an understanding of evil that struggles to recognize violence outside familiar historical frameworks. Along the way, we discuss Anne Frank and Hind Rajab, the stigma attached to genocide accusations, colonial violence, the ICC and ICJ, and the growing generational divide over how atrocities are remembered and understood.Most importantly, we examine a little-known proposal put forward by the Dutch delegation during the drafting of the UN Genocide Convention in 1948. The proposal attempted to address what its authors called "camouflaged genocide"—forms of destruction that operate indirectly and may not fit neatly into the legal framework that ultimately emerged. Moses argues that revisiting this forgotten history may offer a way to repair a definition many scholars now see as increasingly inadequate. Whether you agree or disagree with his conclusions, this discussion raises fundamental questions about memory, law, history, and the language we use to describe humanity's gravest crimes.Pre-order my upcoming book: *Insufficient Rewards: How We Traded Integrity for Comfort and Outsourced Morality*https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Insufficient-Rewards/Jay-Shapiro/9781803419985BECOME A MEMBER - MONTHLY MEMBERS ONLY LIVESTREAM https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5NIku35U9thGG9WBJjE0sw/joinFor more from Jay visit whatjaythinks.com00:00:00 Coming Up...00:01:52 Intro To the Genocide Tug-o-War00:11:34 The State of Genocide Studies Now00:15:20 Dirk Touched The Third Rail In Germany00:21:32 The Five Elements of the Catechism00:24:32 The Problems of Genocide And Can Something Be Worse?00:28:32 Israel Testimony Of Genocide00:33:24 The Stigma Of Genocide00:37:07 Las Casas on the Devastation of the Indies and Language of Outrage00:41:24 The Word As Advocacy or Legal Crime00:47:15 The Question of Intent The Rohingya and Gaza00:52:05 What The Court Says And Hind Rajab And Anne Frank01:01:34 The Symbolic Term And The Focus on Palestine01:07:18 The ICC Trial Israel Didn't Want To See01:13:52 Convincing People They Aren't Free And Hamas's Undemocratic Choice To Act01:18:55 Camouflaged Genocide The Key To the Door01:27:44 Proving Camouflaged Genocide As A TestBECOME A MEMBER - MONTHLY MEMBERS ONLY LIVESTREAM https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5NIku35U9thGG9WBJjE0sw/joinFor more from Jay visit whatjaythinks.com

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