No Stupid Questions

Stephen Dubner (co-author of the Freakonomics book series) and research psychologist Angela Duckworth (author of Grit) really like to ask people questions, and came to believe there’s no such thing as a stupid one. So they made a podcast where they can ask each other as many “stupid questions” as they want. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you get your podcasts, or use the R.S.S. feed. Follow No Stupid Questions on Facebook and Twitter. And stay tuned to Freakonomics Radio and sign up for our newsletter.

EPISODE

DATE

LENGTH

57
Which Incentives Are Best at Boosting Vaccination, and Why?

Also: what does your desired superpower say about you?

6/20/2021
56
Why Is Academic Writing So Bad?

Also: what does your perfect day look like?

6/13/2021
40:40
55
What Changes Will Stick When the Pandemic Is Gone?

Also: would you take a confirmation-bias vaccine?

6/6/2021
38:29
54
Do You Really Need a Muse to Be Creative?

Also: is short-sightedness part of human nature?

5/30/2021
37:46
53
What’s the Secret to Making a Great Prediction?

Also: how do you recover from a bad day?

5/23/2021
36:17
52
How Much Should We Be Able to Customize Our World?

Also: does multitasking actually increase productivity?

5/16/2021
40:11
51
What Separates Humans From Other Animals?

Also: why do people pace while talking on the phone?

5/9/2021
37:22
50
Are You as Observant as You Think?

Also: Angela accidentally discovers the secret to a good night’s sleep.

5/2/2021
34:35
49
How Does Facing Death Change Your Life?

Also: why are we so bad at assessing risk?

4/25/2021
39:05
48
Do Good Deeds Invite More Bad Ones?

Also: what is the most significant choice you will ever make?

4/18/2021
40:07
47
Is Laziness Real?

Also: why do we dislike being alone in public?

4/11/2021
34:11
46
How Can You Stop Feeling So Irritable?

Also: what’s wrong with being impatient?

4/4/2021
39:29
45
How Much Better Do You Really Want to Be?

Also: why do we pad our speech with so much filler language?

3/28/2021
39:10
44
Is Empathy in Fact Immoral?

Also: is it better to “go with the wind” or to “be the wind”?

3/21/2021
37:47
43
What Do We Really Learn From Failure?

Also: What is teasing supposed to accomplish?

3/14/2021
38:26
42
How Does When You Are Born Affect Who You Are?

Also: how did Angela do with her no-sugar challenge?

3/7/2021
40:08
41
Why Are We So Attracted to Fame?

Also: do we subconsciously lie about our major influences?

2/28/2021
37:15
40
Have We All Lost Our Ability to Compromise?

Also: is it better to be right or “not wrong”?

2/21/2021
37:49
39
Is Everybody Cheating These Days?

Also, what’s better: to learn new skills or go deep on what you’re good at?

2/14/2021
38:09
38
What Does It Mean to Be a “Good” Man?

Also: how can you stop ruminating?

2/7/2021
35:18
37
How Do You Know if People Don’t Like You?

Also: do self-help books really help?

1/31/2021
41:13
36
Which Matters More, a First or Last Impression?

Also: does wisdom really come with age?

1/24/2021
36:38
35
Does Psychotherapy Actually Work?

Also: how many “selves” is it okay to have?

1/17/2021
32:37
34
Are Humans Smarter or Stupider Than We Used to Be?

Also: how can you become a more curious person?

1/10/2021
35:39
33
Is Optimism a Luxury Good?

Also: why is public speaking so terrifying?

1/3/2021
38:41
0
How Much of Your Life Do You Actually Control? (Rebroadcast)

Also: why do we procrastinate?

12/27/2020
37:09
32
Which Gets You Further: Talent or Effort?

Also: where is the line between acronyms, initialisms, and gibberish?

12/20/2020
33:36
31
How Much Do Your Friends Affect Your Future?

Also: which professions have the happiest people?

12/13/2020
36:38
30
Why Do We Seek Comfort in the Familiar?

Also: is a little knowledge truly a dangerous thing?

12/6/2020
35:12
29
How Do You Know When It’s Time to Quit?

Also: why is it so hard to predict success?

11/29/2020
31:39
28
Why Do We Hoard?

Also: do you spend more time thinking about the past, the present, or the future?

11/22/2020
29:14
27
How Should You Ask for Forgiveness?

Also: why is behavior change so darn hard? 

11/15/2020
37:44
26
Do Checklists Make People Stupid?

Also: what’s so great about New York City anyway?

11/8/2020
34:17
25
Is Hedonism Better Than Self-Control?

Also: is it wrong to feel inured to the pandemic?

11/1/2020
30:43
24
Why Do We Forget So Much of What We’ve Read?

Also: do we overestimate or underestimate our significance in other people’s lives?

10/25/2020
33:53
23
Is It Wrong to Crave Praise?

Also: should everyone have their own trauma score?

10/18/2020
38:33
22
Why Do We Buy Things We’ll Never Use?

Also: how is social media like a knife?

10/11/2020
31:28
21
How Can You Identify Hidden Talent? With Eric Schmidt

Also: is there a downside to billionaire philanthropy?

10/4/2020
35:03
20
Should We Separate the Art From the Artist?

Also: what is the meaning of life?

9/27/2020
32:37
19
Is There Such a Thing as Good Estrangement?

Also: how do you know if you have a “bad personality”?

9/20/2020
34:19
18
How Do You Raise a “Likable” Kid?

Also: what’s so great about friendship?

9/13/2020
29:30
17
How Can We Get More Virtue and Less ‘Virtue Signaling’?

Also: is it better to be a thinker, a doer, or a charmer? 

9/6/2020
32:23
16
What’s the Downside to Being Goal-Oriented?

Also: how does a cook become a chef? With Gabrielle Hamilton.

8/30/2020
31:36
15
How Much of Your Life Do You Actually Control?

Also: why do we procrastinate?

8/23/2020
38:07
14
Are You a Maximizer or a Satisficer?

Also: what is the best question you’ve ever been asked in a job interview?

8/16/2020
24:00
13
How Can You Stop Comparing Yourself With Other People?

Also: how can we stop confusing correlation with causation?

8/9/2020
33:50
12
Does “As If” Thinking Really Work?

Also: how effective is the placebo effect?

8/2/2020
32:47
11
Are Ambitious People Inherently Selfish?

Also: why do we habituate to life’s greatest pleasures?

7/26/2020
35:53
10
Why Are Stories Stickier Than Statistics?

Also: are the most memorable stories less likely to be true?

7/19/2020
30:20
9
Why Is It So Hard to Be Alone With Our Thoughts?

Also: how do you avoid screwing up your kids?

7/12/2020
35:10