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Ask HN: Favorite “Adam Ruins Everything”-esque media? (blogs, podcasts, etc)

7 points by jlelonm ↗ HN
I enjoy the pursuit of truth in general, and love examining the incentives of agents in systems (particularly legal / societal / anthropological systems).

I recently stumbled upon a series called "Adam Ruins Everything" on Netflix, and while I haven't actually researched or verified its claims, I do love the motivation behind the show: revealing "what's actually going on" and why.

I'd love to hear about media with similar themes and goals (books, blogs, podcasts, shows, etc).

2 comments

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smt88
You might like the podcasts Common Sense with Dan Carlin, You Are Not So Smart, and Invisibilia.
yesenadam
Some random things that come to mind: game theory, Nietzsche, Goffman's Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, Chomsky's political works, GK Chesterton (e.g. Heretics), Freakonomics, Cialdini's Influence, JR Saul (e.g. Voltaire's Bastards, The Doubter's Companion), Bertrand Russell (e.g. Unpopular Essays, Sceptical Essays, Freedom and Organization 1814-1914), Santayana (e.g. Egotism in German Philosophy), Scott Noble[0] and Adam Curtis' documentaries. The Devil's Dictionary, Metaphors We Live By, The Moral Animal

If I had to pick just one for you - Voltaire's Bastards.

edit: Also La Rochefoucauld's Maxims should be very high on a list of exposés - it's a savage exposé of oneself. La Bruyere's Characters is a milder but still at-times-scathing exposé of the world. As is Fable of the Bees..

[0] http://metanoia-films.org/