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18 July 2025

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Michael Brendan Dougherty (The Slurve, National Review, ISIMy Father Left Me Ireland) and Freddie deBoer (The ANOVA, Brooklyn College)

On The Score, Freddie wonders why geeks are so aggrieved when geek culture, as embodied by Game of Thrones, is ascendant. Michael notes that an obsession with being the victim is a key aspect of the culture war, and they discuss why “you’re doing it wrong” has become a prime trope of online conversation. They consider the forced resignation of Mozilla CEO Brendan Eich, and the left’s effort to thoroughly stigmatize opposition to same-sex marriage. Freddie makes the case for legalizing polygamy, and explains why he’s an apathetic atheist. Has atheism become pathological? Plus: What would happen if everyone’s Gmail archive suddenly became public?

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Recorded:Apr 15    Posted:Apr 15, 2014
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The Score | Apr 15, 2014 | Michael Brendan Dougherty & Freddie deBoer

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Connor Echols discusses the latest on the US-Iran crisis with Alan Eyre, a distinguished fellow at the Middle East Institute and a former core member of the US team that negotiated the 2015 Iran deal.

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Connor Echols talks to best-selling author Barry Eisler about his new novel, The System.

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The Truth about Sam Altman

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Robert Wright and Timothy B. Lee, author of the Understanding AI newsletter, discuss what two new biographies reveal about the OpenAI CEO.

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Robert Wright speaks to Alex Jordan and Courtney Rawlings, hosts of the Quincy Institute’s new Always at War podcast, about the structural and psychological causes of international conflict—and of US military interventions in particular.

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Jake Werner of The Quincy Institute and Connor Echols discuss the latest developments in the US-China trade war.

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Elon’s Abject Surrender

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Robert Wright and psychologist Paul Bloom discuss the roots of the Trump-Musk blowup, why Elon caved, and whether he can recover from the fallout.

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Robert Wright and Steven Adler—former safety researcher at OpenAI—discuss what it was like at the firm as Chat-GPT emerged, whether the chip war on China is smart, Dario Amodei’s grand geopolitical strategy, and more.