Pessimists Archive Podcast

I have some important news about Build For Tomorrow.   And here's my new show, Help Wanted: https://link.chtbl.com/85RcT5bT  Get in touch! Newsletter: onethingbetter.email Website: jasonfeifer.com Instagram: @heyfeifer Twitter: @heyfeifer Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For decades, people have been told they have a certain “learning style.” Maybe you think you're a visual learner, for example, or a reading/writing learner. But new research is upending all that. Here's what we got wrong — and how we can become truly better learners. The “Build For Tomorrow” book is here! Grab your copy at www.jasonfeifer.com/book Get in touch! Newsletter: onethingbetter.email Website: jasonfeifer.com Instagram: @heyfeifer Twitter: @heyfeifer Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In 1923, a famous scientist predicted how work would change in 2023. Now, 100 years later, we can confirm: He was shockingly right… and yet totally wrong. What happened? The answers can tell you a lot about what's coming in the next 100 years, and how technology will (and maybe won't) change work forever. The “Build For Tomorrow” book is almost here! Grab your copy at www.jasonfeifer.com/book Get in touch! Newsletter: jasonfeifer.bulletin.com Website: jasonfeifer.com Instagram: @heyfeifer Twitter: @heyfeifer mfmpod.com Nth Venture Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Everyone's freaking out! How can that be put to good use? In this episode, we discuss the unexpected benefits of the bubonic plague, what the four-day workweek tells us about the future of work, how world-changing technologies become adopted, why business failures lead to success, how to use crises to change the status quo, and more. This episode originally aired on The Jordan Harbinger Show, as he interviewed me, Build For Tomorrow host Jason Feifer. The “Build For Tomorrow” book is almost here! Grab your copy at www.jasonfeifer.com/book Get in touch! Newsletter: jasonfeifer.bulletin.com Website: jasonfeifer.com Instagram: @heyfeifer Twitter: @heyfeifer mfmpod.com Ladderlife.com/buildfortomorrow Jordanharbinger.com/subscribe JenniKayne.com/home Nth Venture Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Have you ever messed up — or just thought you messed up! — and then obsessed over what you could have done better? This episode is about what's happening in your brain, why you're doing it, and how to finally let it go. The “Build For Tomorrow” book is almost here! Grab your copy at www.jasonfeifer.com/book Get in touch! Newsletter: jasonfeifer.bulletin.com Website: jasonfeifer.com Instagram: @heyfeifer Twitter: @heyfeifer mfmpod.com Indeed.com/ARCHIVE Jordanharbinger.com/subscribe JenniKayne.com/home Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You can find opportunity in the hardest situations. But how? To answer that out, we take lessons from one of the most fascinating changes in cultural history -- when the record player was invented. Many people loved it, but musicians hated it. They tried to stop it. But their anti-recorded-music campaign did not go as planned. This is a story about what it takes -- for us all! -- to let go of the past and embrace the future. The “Build For Tomorrow” book is almost here! Grab your copy at www.jasonfeifer.com/book Get in touch! Newsletter: jasonfeifer.bulletin.com Website: jasonfeifer.com Instagram: @heyfeifer Twitter: @heyfeifer mfmpod.com Indeed.com/ARCHIVE Jordanharbinger.com/subscribe JenniKayne.com/home Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Want to fix the problem with work today? It starts by understanding the common phrase “nobody wants to work anymore” — including what's right about it, what's wrong about it, and why critics have been using these exact same words for more than a century. The “Build For Tomorrow” book is almost here! Grab your copy at www.jasonfeifer.com/book Get in touch! Newsletter: jasonfeifer.bulletin.com Website: jasonfeifer.com Instagram: @heyfeifer Twitter: @heyfeifer mfmpod.com Indeed.com/ARCHIVE Jordanharbinger.com/subscribe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Barbie sales were plummeting. A new leader had a vision: The doll needed to be “a reflection of our times.” But how do you make something more modern? In this episode, we learn how Barbie took some big risks — and then take a trip through toy history, to discover just how much our toys say about ourselves. The “Build For Tomorrow” book is almost here! Grab your copy at www.jasonfeifer.com/book Get in touch! Newsletter: jasonfeifer.bulletin.com Website: jasonfeifer.com Instagram: @heyfeifer Twitter: @heyfeifer mfmpod.com Indeed.com/ARCHIVE Jordanharbinger.com/subscribe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The teddy bear: Is it cute and cuddly, or a “horrible monstrosity” that'll destroy humanity? In 1907, many people feared the worst — that this new toy would ruin young girls' developing maternal instincts, and lead us to a terrible fate. This is the story of how the teddy bear changed us all… and how we then changed the bear. The “Build For Tomorrow” book is almost here! Grab your copy at www.jasonfeifer.com/book Get in touch! Newsletter: jasonfeifer.bulletin.com Website: jasonfeifer.com Instagram: @heyfeifer Twitter: @heyfeifer mfmpod.com Indeed.com/ARCHIVE Jordanharbinger.com/subscribe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our brains are full of fun facts: the memory span of a goldfish, Marie Antoinette's famous words, the vomitoriums of Rome, and more. But what if it's all wrong? In this episode, I debunk more than a dozen common misconceptions and then ask: Why do we remember misinformation so easily? And is there a better way to learn? The “Build For Tomorrow” book is almost here! Grab your copy at www.jasonfeifer.com/book Get in touch! Newsletter: jasonfeifer.bulletin.com Website: jasonfeifer.com Instagram: @heyfeifer Twitter: @heyfeifer mfmpod.com Indeed.com/ARCHIVE NetSuite.com/BFT Redhat.com/command-line-heroes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The four-day workweek was once just an experiment. Now it's regular life for many people. So what's that like? In this episode, we look at the good, the bad, the reason our workweek evolved the way it did, and what it'll take to get everyone else another day off. The “Build For Tomorrow” book is almost here! Grab your copy at jasonfeifer.com/book Get in touch! Newsletter: jasonfeifer.bulletin.com Website: jasonfeifer.com Instagram: @heyfeifer Twitter: @heyfeifer Sponsors: mfmpod.com Indeed.com/ARCHIVE NetSuite.com/BFT Redhat.com/command-line-heroes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Do you wish you could predict the future? Not in a street-corner psychic kind of way, but in a more personal, meaningful way. How can you know what's coming, and to know what decisions you should make? To answer that, we talk to many experts — including the head of a group called the Superforecasters! — who explain how to do just that. The “Build For Tomorrow” book is almost here! Grab your copy at jasonfeifer.com/book Get in touch! Newsletter: jasonfeifer.bulletin.com Website: jasonfeifer.com Instagram: @heyfeifer Twitter: @heyfeifer Sponsors: Indeed.com/ARCHIVE NetSuite.com/BFT Redhat.com/command-line-heroes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Climate change is described as a “generational battle,” in which young people care and older people don't. But this is a perfect example of how we think about generations all wrong — and that has big consequences. If we can drop our assumptions about generational divides, we might just have a shot at solving some of the world's most urgent problems. Get in touch! Newsletter: jasonfeifer.bulletin.com Website: jasonfeifer.com Instagram: @heyfeifer Twitter: @heyfeifer Sponsors: Indeed.com/ARCHIVE Lightstream.com/BFT Shopify.com/BUILD jordanharbinger.com/subscribe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Who is to blame for people's poor writing skills? It isn't texting or tweeting. It's a fateful decision made in 1875, from which we've never recovered. In this episode, we find out what went wrong — and how today's educators are reinventing the way writing is taught. Get in touch! Newsletter: jasonfeifer.bulletin.com Website: jasonfeifer.com Instagram: @heyfeifer Twitter: @heyfeifer Sponsors: mfmpod.com Indeed.com/ARCHIVE Lightstream.com/BFT Beforeithappened.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We like to laugh at lawmakers for their technology ignorance, like when Sen. Richard Blumenthal asked a Facebook executive if she'll “commit to ending finsta.” But how do gaffes like these actually happen? The answer is more complicated than you'd think. In this episode, a deep investigation into the cause and effects of a political gaffe — and why it's something that we, together, should want to fix. Get in touch! Newsletter: jasonfeifer.bulletin.com Website: jasonfeifer.com Instagram: @heyfeifer Twitter: @heyfeifer Sponsors: betterhelp.com/build Expressvpn.com/BUILDFORTOMORROW beforeithappened.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sex robots?! For decades, people have debated their dangers or called them ridiculous. But what if these bots can actually be a good thing? Here is the surprisingly human argument for a dystopian-sounding technology — and why it matters far beyond the bedroom. Get in touch! Newsletter: jasonfeifer.bulletin.com Website: jasonfeifer.com Instagram: @heyfeifer Twitter: @heyfeifer Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

People worry that technology changes our brains. It's the reason why tech critics talk about dopamine, a chemical that they say turns us into social media addicts. But when I called actual brain scientists and asked them to fact-check the critics, I heard a very different story: Our brains are way more flexible than we think, they say. And dopamine? It's complicated. Get in touch! Website: jasonfeifer.com Newsletter: jasonfeifer.bulletin.com Instagram: Instagram.com/heyfeifer Twitter: Twitter.com/heyfeifer Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is everything really political these days? Or has it always been that way? To answer that, let's look at the story of knitting. Can anything get simpler than knitting? Balls of yarn! Comfy socks! So when the knitting community began reckoning with racism recently, many people complained that it ruined their simple pleasure.  But the history of knitting is long and controversial — and includes many of today's most hotly debated topics. (Sexism! Conspiracy theories! Fears of automation!) On this episode: Knitting's surprising past, and what happens when one knitter tries to make change today. Get in touch: Website: jasonfeifer.com Newsletter: jasonfeifer.bulletin.com Instagram: Instagram.com/heyfeifer Twitter: Twitter.com/heyfeifer Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The most dangerous thing about smartphones, according to critics, is that we're never bored. Boredom is healthy, they say! But history and science may say otherwise. People have spent thousands of years desperately trying to escape boredom, and even considered it a sin or disease. So should we really feel guilty every time we fill a dull moment with a screen? In this episode, we dig into the surprisingly fascinating history of boredom — which once terrified America's Founding Fathers and has long been a symbol of class and status — as well as the science of what boredom does to our brains. Get in touch! Website: jasonfeifer.com Newsletter: jasonfeifer.bulletin.com Instagram: Instagram.com/heyfeifer Twitter: Twitter.com/heyfeifer Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You might think you're bad at talking with strangers. But in fact, you were built to talk to them — and you're more natural at it than you know. In this episode, we go back millions of years to learn how our cultures and even our bodies were shaped by strangers, and what that can teach us about healing today's great divides. Get in touch! Website: jasonfeifer.com Newsletter: jasonfeifer.bulletin.com Instagram: Instagram.com/heyfeifer Twitter: Twitter.com/heyfeifer Check out guest Joe Keohane's book, “The Power of Strangers” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Many people are reminiscing about the things they enjoyed during Covid, which is a surprisingly common thing to happen after bad or challenging times. Why do we do this? Because our memories work in strange, unexpected, but ultimately very helpful ways. In this episode, we take a deep dive into how our memories work — including why we remember good more than bad, why reminiscing about the past prepares us for the future, and how, in some way, we are all living a lie. (And that's OK.) Get in touch: Website: jasonfeifer.com Newsletter: jasonfeifer.bulletin.com Instagram: Instagram.com/heyfeifer Twitter: Twitter.com/heyfeifer Free audio course on how to become more adaptable: https://www.jasonfeifer.com/free-training-audio-course/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Are smartphones and social media addictive? Tech critics say yes. But actual addiction researchers say something else — and they point to ways in which our broad use of the word “addiction” can cause real harm. In this episode, we look at the history of supposedly “addictive” technologies, understand the surprisingly odd science behind today's scariest claims, and discover who really has the power to break these supposed “addictions.” (Hint: It's you.) Get in touch! Website: jasonfeifer.com Newsletter: jasonfeifer.bulletin.com Instagram: Instagram.com/heyfeifer Twitter: Twitter.com/heyfeifer Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What was once only available to kings and queens, but that you can do today? The answer: Shocking stuff you've never even thought of. If you ever worry that our world is in decline, this episode can help put that in perspective. We also look at some amazing predictions from 1921 about 2021, and see how we're living in the world they only fantasized about. Get in touch! Web: jasonfeifer.com Instagram: @heyfeifer Twitter: @heyfeifer Newsletter: jasonfeifer.bulletin.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You've heard the story: Young people got “participation trophies” as kids, and it taught them to be entitled, lazy workers. But here's what you haven't heard: Participation trophies are 100 years old, and for most of that time, they were considered a good thing. Here's the real story of how these trophies became villainized… and what their actual impact is.   Get in touch! Website: jasonfeifer.com Newsletter: jasonfeifer.bulletin.com Instagram: Instagram.com/heyfeifer Twitter: Twitter.com/heyfeifer Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You can learn a lot from a simple margarita… because when you take one home from a restaurant in America, you're participating in a change that was hundreds of years in the making. In this episode, we dig deep into how cocktails-to-go became suddenly legal (and why they were once illegal in the first place). It's a surprisingly complex story that reveals our weird history with alcohol, and how the smallest shifts can lead to unexpectedly massive changes. Get in touch! Website: jasonfeifer.com Newsletter: jasonfeifer.bulletin.com Instagram: Instagram.com/heyfeifer Twitter: Twitter.com/heyfeifer (Click “Free Training” at the top for my course on how to become more adaptable!) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We like to say that things were better before. But... what year was that, exactly? Join me on a trip through history, as we return to every supposed "golden age" to find out just how golden it was. Then we answer the big question: Is nostalgia useful or harmful, and how do we make people more excited for tomorrow? This is a full remake of our classic 2016 episode, now with lots more insights and history! Get in touch! Website: jasonfeifer.com Newsletter: jasonfeifer.bulletin.com Instagram: Instagram.com/heyfeifer Twitter: Twitter.com/heyfeifer Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This podcast was called Pessimists Archive. Now it's called Build For Tomorrow. Why? Because this show is optimistic — and it needed a name that reflected that. It's the same show you love, now with a name that loves you back. Ready to help spread optimism? Here are some things you can do: 1. Sign up for my newsletter about how to find opportunity in change! 2. Tell friends about the show! Need my help? DM me on Instagram or Twitter. I'm happy to send a note to your friend. 3. Stay tuned. Because there's lots more fun stuff to come. By the way, the Pessimists Archive social media feeds are NOT changing their name. Thank you! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We once knew how to do important things... until new technology made us weaker, lazier, and dumber. That's a story we've told ourselves for centuries. But is it true? Get in touch! Website: jasonfeifer.com Newsletter: jasonfeifer.bulletin.com Instagram: Instagram.com/heyfeifer Twitter: Twitter.com/heyfeifer Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

These feel like historic times… so how can we share our wisdom and experiences with future generations? Turns out, it's really hard! This episode explores why time capsules fail, why almost nothing lasts for thousands of years, why the future may not care about us after all—and why all of that is just fine. Get in touch! Website: jasonfeifer.com Newsletter: jasonfeifer.bulletin.com Instagram: Instagram.com/heyfeifer Twitter: Twitter.com/heyfeifer Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you've ever voted in an election, watched the Bachelor, or worried about the end of days, then you've probably fallen for a specific rhetorical trick. In this episode, we explore the history of the phrase “the most important election of our lifetime,” and why the human brain is so UNIQUELY, INSANELY, OUTRAGEOUSLY(!!!) susceptible to hyperbole. Get in touch! Web: jasonfeifer.com Email. jasonfeifer@gmail.com Twitter / Instagram: @heyfeifer Newsletter: https://jasonfeifer.bulletin.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We have a clear narrative about the 2016 and 2020 election hacking: It's social media's fault. But Russia has used the same strategy against America for 100 years (and that's just the start). If we treat this like it's only a Facebook problem, then we'll never truly protect our elections. This is the history of election hacking in America, and the repercussions of calling something “unprecedented” when it's not. Get in touch! Web: jasonfeifer.com Email. jasonfeifer@gmail.com Twitter / Instagram: @heyfeifer Newsletter: https://jasonfeifer.bulletin.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The fork isn't just a tool for eating. It's also one of the greatest symbols of individualism — a utensil that people opposed for thousands of years, and that only gained acceptance once we started thinking differently about ourselves. This is the story of how the fork shaped us. Get in touch! Web: jasonfeifer.com Email. jasonfeifer@gmail.com Twitter / Instagram: @heyfeifer Newsletter: https://jasonfeifer.bulletin.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

People said radio was too addictive... then TV was too addictive... and now smartphones are too addictive! Why does every generation say the same things about its new technology (and why do our fears rarely come true?) In this episode, we dive into the fascinating research that explains our cycles of panic — and explain how to finally end it. Get in touch! Web: jasonfeifer.com Email. jasonfeifer@gmail.com Twitter / Instagram: @heyfeifer Newsletter: https://jasonfeifer.bulletin.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What does it take for two different people to find common ground? To answer that, we dig into a nine-year-old mystery. In 2011, two very different guys shared a pair of earbuds on the New York City subway. A photo of them went viral multiple times … but who were they, and what were they really doing? All is revealed. Get in touch! Twitter/Instagram: @pessimistsarc Web: pessimists.co Email: pessimistsarchive@gmail.com Thanks to our sponsors: Betterhelp.com/archive Plume.com/pessimists

People are refusing to wear masks during a pandemic. Why? To understand, we rewind to the “Anti-Mask League” of 1919 and to the opposition to seatbelt laws in the 1990s. Then we answer the big question: If people won’t listen to mandates, what *will* they listen to? Contact us! Twitter: twitter.com/pessimistsarc Web: pessimists.co Email: pessimistsarchive.com Thanks to our sponsors: Plume.com/pessimists Betterhelp.com/archive Hullopillow.com/pessimistsarchive

Covid-19 has interrupted our world, but it's also likely to improve it. After all, history shows that massive disruption is followed by massive opportunity. So what’s in store for us now? In this episode, we learn the surprising consequences of past crises, explore the innovations that may come from Covid-19, and try to understand why disasters are so productive. Get in touch! Email: pessimistsarchive@gmail.com Website: pessimists.co Twitter: twitter.com/pessimistsarc Instagram: Instagram.com/pessimistsarc

Refrigerators are unnatural, unhealthy, and probably just a fad -- at least, that's according to the people who once sold ice. But the history of refrigeration actually raises some very real, very relevant questions: What's natural? How should innovation work? And why do some businesses guarantee their own failure?

Today, people complain about self-obsessed millennials. Yesterday, they complained about children celebrating their birthdays. When the birthday party became popular in the 19th century, people worried that it would corrupt community, spoil children, and contradict the bible. But the truth -- about why we celebrate our birthdays and ourselves -- is far more complicated. Get in touch! Twitter: twitter.com/pessimistsarc Web: pessimists.co Email: pessimistsarchive@gmail.com

Do you suffer from automobile face? What about airplane face? Or moving-picture face? These are just some examples from a strange historical pattern: For more than a century, people have claimed that new technologies are physically deforming our faces -- and we still say it today. On this episode, we explore where this fear comes from, what it means, and what happens when the fear really does come true. Time to put on your podcast face! Get in touch: Twitter: @pessimistsarc Web: pessimists.co Email: pessimistsarchive@gmail.com

Cute and cuddly, or a “horrible monstrosity” that’ll destroy humanity? In 1907, many people feared the worst—that this new toy would ruin young girls’ developing maternal instincts, and lead us to a terrible fate. This is the story of how the teddy bear changed us all… and how we then changed the bear. Get in touch! Twitter: @pessimistsarc Web: www.pessimists.co Email: pessimistsarchive@gmail.com

Vanity was born when the mirror was discovered. That’s what the Chicago Record wrote in 1895, around the time when mirrors became a household item. People (and especially women) were condemned for looking in the mirror, and accused of being sinful. But then the mirror altered the way we think about vanity altogether—forever changing the way we look at ourselves. In this episode, we explore the history of the mirror, the history of vanity, and what it can teach us about today’s obsession over selfies. Get in touch! Twitter: twitter.com/pessimistsarc Web: pessimists.co Email: pessimistsarchive@gmail.com

As cities freak out over e-scooters today, it’s worth looking back at when these devices were actually new. Why did people love motorized scooters in 1915, what’s different a century later, and what does all of this have to do with roller skates? They’re big questions. And the answers just might lead us to rethink how our cities are designed.

In the 1950s, America declared war on the comic book. People feared that they’d turn children into hardened criminals, and so opponents burned them in large piles, states banned them, and the U.S. Senate investigated their dangers. The man leading the charge was a psychologist named Fredric Wertham, whose research fueled people’s fears. In this episode, we take a close look at Wertham to ask: How does someone come to yield so much cultural influence? And how should the rest of us react? Get in touch: Twitter: twitter.com/pessimistsarc Web: pessimists.co Email: pessimistsarchive@gmail.com

The elevator has had a lot of ups and downs. (Sorry, sorry.) As the innovation gained popularity in the late 1800s, it had a profound effect on the way we organize our cities and ourselves. It was also blamed for a rise in crime, for causing something called brain fever, for destroying civil society, and more. On this episode of Pessimists Archive, we look at how the elevator shaped our world, why not everyone loved that, and what it has to teach us about the next big change. Because while the elevator may seem like old technology today, it has a big lesson for us about the future of transportation. Contact us: Twitter: @pessimistsarc Web: pessimists.co Email: pessimistsarchive@gmail.com

Kids! They’re lazy, narcissistic, and disrespectful -- or so says the older generation. But when you look back through history, you’ll discover that older generations have been saying a version of the same thing for thousands of years. Our question is: Why? And we found an answer. Get in touch: Twitter: @pessimistsarc Web: pessimists.co Email: pessimistsarchive@gmail.com

Why are new dances always so scandalous? Grinding, freak dancing, swing dancing, rock-n-roll -- each had their opponents. But at the beginning of it all was the waltz. We may think of the waltz as classy and performative today, but as it gained popularity in the early 1800s, the dance was called disgusting, dangerous, an “obscene display … confined to prostitutes and adulteresses”, and worse. Why? In this episode, we explore how the waltz got people so riled up, how everyone finally got over it, and what the whole sweaty tale can teach us about the future of scandalous dances. Reach out! Twitter: @pessimistsarc Email: pessimistsarchive@gmail.com Web: pessimists.co

“We are in great haste to construct a magnetic telegraph from Maine to Texas,” wrote Henry David Thoreau, “but Maine and Texas, it may be, have nothing important to communicate.” And he was hardly a lone voice that questioned, feared, or outright opposed the telegraph after it was introduced in the mid-1800s. It was humanity’s first taste of mass communications, and immediately triggered the same concerns about information overload, frivolous communications, loss of privacy, and moral corruption that today we blame on the internet. In this episode, we trace today’s concerns back to their origins. Contact us: Web: pessimists.co Twitter: @pessimistsarc Email: pessimistsarchive@gmail.com

When a frothy American congressman wanted to make his case against chain stores, he reached for the greatest comparison of evil he could think of: “Let’s keep Hitler’s methods of government and business in Europe,” he said. And that pretty well sums up the attitude towards chain stores in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Today, we have a complex but largely peaceful relationship with these companies. We may blame them for closing down local mom-and-pop shops, but we largely use them without complaint, and sometimes even love them. But when chain stores were new, the reaction against them was fierce. Chain stores were accused of destroying democracy, of limiting freedom, of corrupting young people, and of being evil, evil, evil. (Just wait: The word gets used a lot.) States even tried to ban them. In this episode of Pessimists Archive, we investigate why chain stores were so steeply resisted -- a fight that may just change the way you think about business. Get in touch! Email: pessimistsarchive@gmail.com Twitter: @pessimistsarc Web: pessimists.co

Novels are to entertainment what orange juice is to Coca Cola -- a wholesome alternative to modern vices. Or at least, that's how we think of them now. But long before television and videogames, or before comic books and D&D, novels were the new and scary form of entertainment. They were accused of corrupting the youth, of planting dangerous ideas into the heads of housewives, of and distracting everyone from more serious, important books. In this episode, we explore the roots of anti-novel hysteria, and explore what impact it really did have on us. (And if you're looking for a good novel, check out host Jason Feifer's new novel, Mr. Nice Guy!) Get in touch: Twitter: @pessimistsarc Web: pessimists.co Email: pessimistsarchive@gmail.com Thanks to our sponsor, Element AI, and its podcast The AI Element.

“A big humbug” -- that’s how one critic described America’s first subway system. Other opponents were more extreme. It would release dangerous underground air, some said. It would disturb the dead, others said. A religious leader in Boston declared it a project of Lucifer himself. Why were people so opposed to this new form of transportation? To understand it, we have to rewind centuries -- to a time when people thought that Earth was hollow, and that hell was directly under their feet. Contact us! Twitter: @pessimistsarc Email: pessimistsarchive@gmail.com Web: pessimists.co

Whatever you think you know of margarine, put that aside. When the spread was first invented in the mid-1800s, it was made very differently -- and solved very real problems for the nutrient-starved people of the time. That sent the dairy industry into a full-blown panic, leading to margarine’s demonization (and then taxation and strange discoloration). In this episode, we explore how the dairy industry got politicians all riled up, what it says about industries’ ability to halt innovation, and why it took more than a century for butter and margarine to finally square off in the most fair fight of them all: a true food fight.