# Derek Thompson On Meaning In Our Web World

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-dishcast-with-andrew-sullivan-1371188/derek-thompson-on-meaning-in-our-web-world
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-dishcast-with-andrew-sullivan-1371188/derek-thompson-on-meaning-in-our-web-world.md
Podcast: [The Dishcast with Andrew Sullivan](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-dishcast-with-andrew-sullivan-1371188)
Published: 2026-04-10T17:59:47+00:00
Episode link: https://andrewsullivan.substack.com/p/derek-thompson-on-meaning-in-our
Audio file: https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/193536850/0dc4014cc2c5f8b4e413f6106f9521c1.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-dishcast-with-andrew-sullivan-1371188/episodes/derek-thompson-on-meaning-in-our-web-world
Duration seconds: 2195

## Resource

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit andrewsullivan.substack.com Derek Thompson is a long-time writer at The Atlantic. His books include Hit Makers , On Work , and Abundance , which he co-wrote with Ezra Klein. Derek also has an excellent substack and hosts a podcast called “Plain English.” This episode was recorded on March 17. For two clips — on the impact of Abundance , and the difference between being alone and anti-social — head to our YouTube page . Other topics: growing up near DC; theater his first love; the two of us trading stories of stage acting; pursuing journalism after 9/11; how writing has evolved in the 21st century; conspiracy theories online; AI creating doubt; strategizing the Abundance book; Virtually Normal ; books as totems; blue vs red city governance; housing deregulation; “procedural fetish” vs Trumpian chaos; government spurring innovation; Derek’s piece “ The Anti-Social Century ”; OnlyFans; looking at smartphones in a gay bar; Kierkegaard; Camus; tradition as a ballast; meaning through limits; fatherhood; Hegseth reveling in dominance; Nietzsche; the tribalism of early humans; wokeness and the Trump cult; liquid modernity; consumerism replacing meaning; the fertility crisis; the growing dominance of Orthodox Jews in Israel; and Oakeshott and infinite games of non-winning. Browse the Dishcast archive for an episode you might enjoy. Coming up: Jeffrey Toobin on the pardon power, Tiffany Jenkins on privacy in a liberal democracy, Adrian Wooldridge on “the lost genius of liberalism,” HW Brands on the life of George Washington; Greg Lukianoff on free speech, and Tom Junod on his memoir and masculinity. As always, please send any guest recs, dissents, and other comments to dish@andrewsullivan.com .

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## Transcript

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