{"podcast":{"title":"The Dishcast with Andrew Sullivan","slug":"the-dishcast-with-andrew-sullivan-1371188","podcast_index_feed_id":1371188,"rss_url":"https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/61371.rss","website_url":"https://andrewsullivan.substack.com/podcast","image_url":"https://substackcdn.com/feed/podcast/61371/b8169094491d87e5c919fbbc549287ca.jpg","author":"Andrew Sullivan","episode_count":276,"summary":"\"To see what is in front of one's nose needs a constant struggle,\" - George Orwell.","last_synced_at":"2026-07-25T06:17:14.708828+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-dishcast-with-andrew-sullivan-1371188"},"episode":{"title":"Derek Thompson On Meaning In Our Web World","slug":"derek-thompson-on-meaning-in-our-web-world","published_at":"2026-04-10T17:59:47+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-dishcast-with-andrew-sullivan-1371188/derek-thompson-on-meaning-in-our-web-world","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-dishcast-with-andrew-sullivan-1371188","url":"https://andrewsullivan.substack.com/p/derek-thompson-on-meaning-in-our","audio_url":"https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/193536850/0dc4014cc2c5f8b4e413f6106f9521c1.mp3","summary":"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 .","meta_description":"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…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2195,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-dishcast-with-andrew-sullivan-1371188/episodes/derek-thompson-on-meaning-in-our-web-world/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-dishcast-with-andrew-sullivan-1371188/derek-thompson-on-meaning-in-our-web-world.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}