“Why the West Should Be Like Wikipedia” with Nicholas Gruen

Uncomfortable Conversations with Josh Szeps

Josh Szeps

Society & Culture, Education, Comedy Interviews, Comedy, Self-improvement

4.5 • 905 Ratings

🗓️ 22 January 2026

⏱️ 78 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

How much influence do you actually have over how you are governed? Markets reward clickbait. Politics rewards tribalism. Social media rewards outrage. Almost imperceptibly, our public institutions have drifted away from their core purpose of serving your interests. Economist Nicholas Gruen argues there’s a better model hiding in plain sight. Using as his intellectual models TikTok, Wikipedia, referendums and juries, he shares with Josh a radical but practical idea that could reinvigorate democracy. You can find his videos on the subject at The Shared Centre (https://www.thesharedcentre.com).

Transcript

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0:00.0	Gahy humans. Welcome to the safe space for dangerous ideas. Here's a dangerous idea for you,
0:08.8	an uncomfortable question. How much influence do you actually have over how you're governed?
0:16.6	You live in a democracy, presumably. Presumably the state is supposed to be acting on your behalf and in your interests.
0:24.3	But how democratic are modern Western democracies in the 21st century?
0:29.6	We have the circus of political campaigning.
0:32.8	We have the influence of big business on politics.
0:35.7	We have political parties that force politicians to
0:39.1	toe the line. We have conformism. We have social media. We have a soundbite culture. And through it all,
0:46.2	how well are the interests of regular people actually articulated? Could there be a simple reform
0:53.6	that would radically re-enfranchise you and your loved ones to live in a place where you decide how things work instead of political parties and corporations?
1:06.5	Today's guest, Nicholas Gruen, is an economist.
1:09.0	He is frequently described as Australia's foremost public intellectual.
1:12.4	Some people even call him the most brilliant economist that you've never heard of.
1:15.9	He used to work in government.
1:17.3	He has a degree in law.
1:18.3	He has a degree in history.
1:19.5	He has a PhD in public policy.
1:21.9	He founded his own economic consultancy.
1:24.6	He now writes on Substack.
1:25.9	And his latest project is a video series
1:28.5	about institutional decline and how to fix it. It's called the Shared Center. And Nicholas
1:36.0	joined me in the Uncomfortable Conversation Studio to talk about TikTok and Instagram and social
	...

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