Radio Live - Podcasts - Keen On America - Evan Puschak: On Public Benches, Superman, Blade Runner, and Other Stuff That Gives Life Meaning

Evan Puschak: On Public Benches, Superman, Blade Runner, and Other Stuff That Gives Life Meaning

Author: Andrew Keen August 31, 2022 Duration: 41:24

Podcast episode

Keen On America

Society Commentary Culture News

Keen On America is a sharp, fast-moving podcast hosted by author and commentator Andrew Keen. Known for asking impertinent questions, Keen cross-examines some of the world’s most thoughtful voices on politics, economics, history, culture, the environment, and technology. Each episode digs beneath headlines and hype to uncover what is really shaping America today and how those forces connect to global change. Listeners can expect challenging conversations rather than easy talking points, as Keen presses guests to explain not just what is happening, but why it matters and what might come next. Whether you are trying to make sense of polarized politics, rapid technological disruption, or shifting social norms, this show offers a bracing, critical lens. Tune in and listen episodes of Keen On America to hear Andrew Keen interrogate the ideas and assumptions that define contemporary American life.

Hosted by Andrew Keen, Keen On features conversations with some of the world’s leading thinkers and writers about the economic, political, and technological issues being discussed in the news, right now.

In this episode, Andrew is joined by Evan Puschak, author of Escape Into Meaning: Essays on Superman, Public Benches, and Other Obsessions.

Evan Puschak is the creator of the popular YouTube channel The Nerdwriter, which has more than three million subscribers. He has a degree in film production from Boston University. Find out more at YouTube.com/Nerdwriter1 and @TheeNerdwriter.

More episodes

Politics Without Politicians: Hélène Landemore's Case for Citizen Rule

13.02.2026 Duration: 46:23

"How can you not be a populist in this day and age?" — Hélène LandemoreIn February 2020, The New Yorker profiled a Yale professor making the case for citizen rule. Six years later, that political scientist, Hélène Landem…

Episode page

Can Billionaire Backlash Save Democracy? Pepper Culpepper on our Age of Corporate Scandal

12.02.2026 Duration: 42:38

"I will say that QAnon was right and I was wrong." — Pepper CulpepperFrom Bannon and Trump to Summers, Gates, Blavatnik and Chomsky, the Epstein scandal has revealed elites of all ideological stripes behaving shamefully…

Episode page

Yes, It's Fascism: Jon Rauch on Trump and the F Word

11.02.2026 Duration: 41:15

"You either need to call it fascism or you need to invent a new word with more or less the same meaning." — Jonathan RauchJonathan Rauch's viral Atlantic essay has reignited the debate over what to call the Trump adminis…

Episode page

Californian True Crime: A Killing in Cannabis

10.02.2026 Duration: 37:04

"The black market exists only because we decided that this form of trade should be illegal." — Scott EdenIn October 2019, tech executive Tushar Atre was abducted from his oceanfront home in Santa Cruz and found murdered…

Episode page

Rage in the American Republic

10.02.2026 Duration: 46:54

"We all love Thomas Paine. We just wish we liked him." — Jonathan TurleyJonathan Turley's new book asks a deceptively simple question: why did the American Revolution become the longest-running successful democracy while…

Episode page

Documenting America: How to See Beyond the Algorithm

08.02.2026 Duration: 33:10

"It may not be Mister Right YouTube, but it is Mister Right Now." — Erika DildayOn Super Bowl Sunday — with America celebrating its 250th anniversary — Erika Dilday joins to discuss the power of documentary film to cut t…

Episode page

Whoosh! That Really Was a Week in Tech: Winner-Take-All AI and the $1 Trillion Selloff

08.02.2026 Duration: 37:07

"I didn't use my own software this week because the OpenAI agents were better. And that's me retiring my own software." — Keith TeareSomething broke this week. Both Anthropic and OpenAI launched multi-agent systems—"agen…

Episode page

Catching More Than Passes From Bobby: Stephen Schlesinger on what RFK Can Still Teach America

06.02.2026 Duration: 49:17

What kind of leadership can hold a fractured democracy together?About the GuestStephen Schlesinger is an American historian, author, and foreign policy analyst. The son of Arthur Schlesinger Jr.—Pulitzer Prize–winning hi…

Episode page

Your Data Will Be Used Against You: Andrew Guthrie Ferguson on Policing in the Age of Self-Surveillance

05.02.2026 Duration: 38:41

A man was convicted by his own heartbeat — and that's just the beginning of our digital dystopia.About the GuestAndrew Guthrie Ferguson is Professor of Law at George Washington University Law School and a national expert…

Episode page

To Catch a Fascist: The Ethics of Unmasking the Radical Right

05.02.2026 Duration: 38:57

An anti-fascist spy handed American officials evidence of murderous intent from a Nazi planning server — and they declined to act.About the GuestChristopher Mathias is a journalist covering the far right, formerly a seni…

Episode page

How Meat Can Save the Planet: The Vegan Case

03.02.2026 Duration: 49:04

Can meat save the planet? That’s the paradoxical promise of the longtime vegan activist Bruce Friedrich, founder of the Good Food Institute. In his new book, Meat, Friedrich argues that plant-based and cultivated meat ca…

Episode page

It's Always Exploding Somewhere: Why No Weapon Is Ever Perfect

02.02.2026 Duration: 41:06

There’s something absurdly Strangelovian about the American quest for a perfect weapon. As Jeffrey Stern warns in The Warhead, his new history of The Paveway, the first “smart” bomb, weapons are always, like their human…

Episode page

Where's the Countercultural Outrage to Trump?

01.02.2026 Duration: 32:37

Why did Nixon trigger a remarkable cultural American renaissance while Trump has generated an avalanche of social media bluster, but few great movies, songs or novels? For Silicon Valley critic Jon Taplin, the problem is…

Episode page

AI's Adolescent Crisis: And It's Still Just a Toddler

01.02.2026 Duration: 40:15

Is AI going through an adolescent crisis, even it’s still just a toddler? There certainly seems to be a lot of adolescent angst amongst our new AI overlords like Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei. In his latest essay, appropria…

Episode page

Running Away From America: The Rhodes Scholar Who Ran a Male Brothel in Bali

31.01.2026 Duration: 23:22

When asked what his parents did, Atlantic CEO and competitive marathoner Nicholas Thompson had a stock response. "My mother's an art historian at Babson," he would answer, "my father runs a male brothel in Bali." Thompso…

Episode page