Hey there, it's Stephen Dupner, Steve Levitt's Freakonomics co-author and the host of Freakonomics Radio.

I wanted to let you know about a new podcast we've just added to the Freakonomics Radio network.

It's called Sudir Breaks the Internet. The host is Sudir Venkatesh, a sociologist at Columbia

University, who spent the first couple decades of his career embedding himself with drug gangs and

gun runners, sex workers. You may remember Sudir from the first Freakonomics book, if you ever read it.

Sudir wrote an amazing book himself called Gang Leader for a Day. That book called The Attention

of a guy named Mark Zuckerberg, who was running a company called Facebook, and that is how Sudir

Venkatesh, Ivy League sociologist, chronicler of the criminal underworld, suddenly found himself

in Silicon Valley, working at Facebook. He spent three years there and then another two at Twitter.

Both companies wanted him to apply the tools of sociology to better understand their virtual

communities, but especially to address things like hate speech, bullying, and any plots that might

lead to, say, an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Sudir Breaks the Internet is a new show about the

people who create and run our digital universe. The massive promise and the massive problems

that often ensue. You can get it now on any podcast app that's Sudir, SUDHIR, Breaks the Internet.

For a sneak peek, stick around at the end of this episode, and let us know what you think. We are at

RadioAtFreakonomics.com. Thanks.

When I was a kid, I had all sorts of wild fantasies about how my life would turn out.

I would become a secret agent working undercover for the CIA. I would have my own TV show.

I would marry into the Kennedy clan. Although none of those childhood dreams came true for me,

my guest today, Amrillis Fox, has done them all.

Welcome to People I Mostly Admire, with Steve Levitt.

Amrillis Fox spent nearly a decade working as a CIA operative, recounting her experiences

...