Stephen Dubner Returns Again

Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard

Armchair Umbrella

Tv & Film, Music, Comedy

4.6 • 68.3K Ratings

🗓️ 22 October 2025

⏱️ 111 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Stephen Dubner (Freakonomics, When to Rob a Bank, Freakonomics Radio) is an award-winning journalist, author, and radio host. Stephen returns once again to the Armchair Expert to discuss the power and necessity of disgust, the ethics of yelling at AI, and reflecting on the 20th publishing anniversary of Freakonomics. Stephen and Dax talk about being prodded by society into binary thinking, the compulsions in being perpetually online that don’t jibe with human nature, and what he does when presented with a ‘for us or against us’ argument. Stephen explains the concept of the illusion of explanatory depth, why during these times he’s in give-a-stranger-a-hug mode, and being exhausted in a good way about this human world.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Wondry Plus subscribers can listen to Armchair Expert early and ad free right now.
0:06.5	Join Wondry Plus in the Wondry app or on Apple Podcasts.
0:10.0	Or you can listen for free wherever you get your podcasts.
0:13.9	Welcome, welcome, welcome to armchair expert, experts on expert.
0:17.1	I'm Dan Dubner and I'm joined by Stephen Padman.
0:20.8	Hello. Returning guests, one of our favorite guests. Maybe it's number three for him. We love him. God, we love him. We don't need any game plan. No, he's just fun to talk to and he's so interesting and it's a lot of good thoughts. I love him. He's like a polymath. He's cute and playful. Stephen Dubner. I ran into him minutes
0:41.5	after we left. Yeah. He was on his way there to meet somebody. Yes, I ran into him and he invited me to
0:47.3	hang out with him. But I had to pass up the opportunity. Why? Because I was working. I went there
0:53.3	to work and I had to complete it.
0:55.3	Did you see his guess? Yes. He's a producer on Freakonomics. Oh, okay. Stephen Devner is the host of
1:01.5	Freakonomics Radio and co-author of the Freakonomics books, which have won many awards and sold millions of
1:06.7	copies around the world. 2025 is the 20th anniversary of the Freakonomics book and the 15th anniversary of Freakonomics
1:12.9	Radio.
1:14.1	Check out Freakonomics.
1:16.2	The new edition drops November 11th and his new television show out early 2026, which
1:23.0	he is noncommittal about the title, but currently it's titled Better in Person. So keep your eyes
1:29.0	peeled for both of those Stephen Dubner projects. Please enjoy one of our faves, Stephen Dubner.
1:35.2	This episode of Armchair Expert is presented by Apple Pay. You know, holiday shopping can be a hassle,
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	...

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