Episodes

On this episode, Lessig asks: How is money a problem in a democracy, and how is it like the other problems we’re facing in our democracy?

On this episode, Lessig explains the legal background to the Maine initiative, from Citizens United to the case that gave us SuperPACs: SpeechNow v. FEC (2010).

On this episode, Lessig introduces the upcoming Maine initiative that could end SuperPACs and lays out the plan for Season 6 of Another Way.

For this final episode of Season 5, Lessig speaks to TedX Berlin about AI, democracy, and the future. You can watch a video recording of this TedX talk here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zYHqg1PwoQ

In 2020, in the middle of a pandemic, Jon Stever launched an extraordinary experiment to draw together a representative sample of the world to discuss the climate and ecological crisis the world is facing. In this conversation, I talk to him about how he and his team did that, and what it teaches us about the potential for citizen assemblies generally. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Ireland has been perhaps the most impressive example of citizen assemblies addressing national issues in a new and edifying way. David Farrell is an academic who has studied the Irish example. I talk with him about what Ireland can teach the rest of the world. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Katrín Oddsdóttir is a founding mother of the still-not-ratified Iceland Constitution. In 2012, the people of Iceland told their Parliament to adopt a constitution based on the draft that she and 24 other Icelanders crafted. They had crafted their draft based upon the results from two citizens assemblies. We hear about that history and what it can teach us going forward. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data f...

Claudia Chwalisz is a social entrepreneur, spreading the gospel of citizen assemblies. In this episode we talk to her about citizens assemblies' potential and how they are spreading across the world. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Not all AI is democracy ending AI. Some can support democracy and make it better. In this episode, I talk to Kim Polese, whose career launching transformative technologies (beginning with Java) has landed with a democracy enhancing AI, CrowdSmart. We talk about its potential, as well as the open source alternative, pol.is. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

David Van Reybrouck's book, Against Elections, helped crystalize a movement for citizen assemblies. In my conversation with him, we talk about the origin of this idea, and how it could complement democracy. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Chloe Maxim and Canyon Woodward built a people focused movement in rural Maine to change the way politics works. I talk to them about their book, Dirt Road Revival, and the organization they've launched, DirtRoadOrganizing.org, aiming to change how we do politics, for the better. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Eli Pariser, Executive Director of MoveOn at 23, and founder of UpWorthy, talks to me about creating healthy online spaces, and democratic activism that builds up democracy rather than tearing it down. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

After hope, we need health. Josh Greene, professor of psychology at Harvard University and author of Moral Tribes talks to me about building healthier engagement between increasingly polarized citizens. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Jennifer Pahlka, founder of the Code for America and former Deputy CTO, talks with me about improving digital governmental capacity, working from her new book, Recoding America: Why Government is Failing in the Digital Era and How We Can Do Better. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Our first lifeboat is hope — hope that government could actually do good. Brink Lindsey, formerly of the Cato Institute, and now Director of the Open Society Project at the Niskanen Center, talks to me about governmental capacity, and how we could make it better. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We can make our unrepresentative representative democracy representative. But AI may mean that's not enough. This episode introduces the final section of this season — lifeboats: the changes we could make to make it so democracy can survive. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

AI has already affected our society fundamentally. That effect first happened through social media. In this episode, we speak with Tristan Harris, co-founder of the Center for Humane Technology, about that first effect, and what we can expect as AI evolves. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What happens when news must compete? How does that affect the news? In this episode, we talk to Ben Smith, a journalist and entrepreneur who played a central role in the transformation of media through social media. His book, Traffic, tells that story better than any other just now. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

No technology in the last two generations has more affected ordinary life and ordinary politics more profoundly than social media. In this episode, we talk to NYU Stern School of Business Professor Jonathan Haidt about how social media has changed us, and especially our kids, and what we might do to respond. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What was media like? How has media changed? In this episode, we talk to Princeton Professor Markus Prior about the architecture of public media, over the period of what he calls "broadcast democracy," and in the period we're living within today. How does that architecture affect the politics that is possible? Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

There was a time when the presumption of democracy — that the people were rational and guided our democracy to reasoned conclusions — was true. Or tru-ish. In this episode, we speak with the authors of one of the most important work studying this relatively healthy period, Ben Page and Robert Shapiro. Their 1992 book — The Rational Public — presented an enormous amount of evidence demonstrating how democracy worked. We discuss what made that working possible. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz co...

The premise of the first part to this season is that our broken democracy can be fixed. The solutions are clear and achievable. Many of them would be enacted if the Democrats regained sufficient control of our government. But in this part, we explore why these solutions won't be enough. We can right the overturned tables for sure; but there's a gash in the hull that will make even these changes not enough. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our c...

The obscure rules of the Senate are an important part of the dysfunction of American democracy today. In this episode, we speak to a former Secretary for the Majority of the United States Senate and, for the last two years of the Obama administration, the Deputy Assistant to the President for Legislative Affairs at the White House, Martin Paone. There is perhaps no one in America with a better sense of how our Senate works — or doesn't work — or with a better intuition about how to fix it. Host...

Just 8% of voters elect 83% of the House: This is the fact standing behind the reform proposed by Nick Troiano in his book, The Primary Solution, which we discuss in this episode. The problem is truly astonishing. And the solution is quite genius. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.