Offline with Jon Favreau

Crooked Media

Jon Favreau, the chronically online host of Pod Save America, puts down his phone for an hour each week to go deeper on the questions shaping this chaotic moment in history.

From the future of democracy and AI to raising kids and staying sane, Offline makes room for honest conversations, arguments you haven't heard, and ideas that might change your mind. New episodes every Saturday.

New episodes drop every Saturday, wherever you get your podcasts and on the Offline YouTube channel.

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29 episodes
weekly
Avg 58 min
English

Episodes 29

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#234
May 9 · 52 min
Healing Our Broken Brains
Cal Newport, computer scientist and author of Deep Work, joins Offline to explain why we need a revolution in cognitive fitness, and how AI is going to get in the way. Cal and Jon explore how smartphones and AI are destroying our ability to concentrate, how our attention spans are a third of what they were just twenty years ago, and how we can practice “deep work” in our constantly interrupted digital environment. For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email transcripts@crooked.com and include the name of the podcast, episode title, and episode date.
#233
May 2 · 55 min
How Screens Have Warped Morality
Megan Garber, staff writer at The Atlantic and author of the new book Screen People, joins Offline to explain how we’re no longer just an audience for the media we consume; we’re also actors and producers in an endless show of our own creation. She and Jon discuss the corrosive nature of an internet filled with “main characters,” whether it’s possible to overcome screen person syndrome, and why our survival as a country depends on it.
#232
April 25 · 1 hr 4 min
God In The Machine
With Pope Leo XIV stepping up his criticisms of the Trump administration this month, the president is out for blood...and not the transubstantiated kind. Christopher Hale, author of the Letters from Leo newsletter, joins Offline to explain the real threat this woke offline pope poses to MAGA. He and Jon discuss why the head of the Catholic Church is so obsessed with AI, how the Democratic Party should make space for more religious people, and the wisdom of Leo’s boomerisms like “an algorithm will never replace a hug.” For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email transcripts@crooked.com and include the name of the podcast.
#231
April 18 · 53 min
The Revolt of the College Grads
New York Times journalist Noam Scheiber stops by the pod to talk to Jon about his new book Mutiny: The Rise and Revolt of the College-Educated Working Class, in which he argues that stagnant wages and rising student debt have changed the economic promise once offered by a college degree. The two discuss how college-educated workers are responding to this new reality, both individually and collectively; how AI may supercharge the pains already felt by new college grads; and how it's all reshaping — and may even break — our political system. For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email transcripts@crooked.com and include the name of the podcast.
#230
April 11 · 55 min
Sam Altman's Big Little Lies
New Yorker journalist Andrew Marantz joins Offline to break down his new investigation into Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT. Over the course of hundreds of interviews, including over a dozen with Altman himself, Andrew and his coauthor Ronan Farrow unveiled a leader who tells people exactly what they want to hear, whether or not it’s true. Just like the AI model he created! Jon and Andrew discuss the contradictory narratives coming out of OpenAI, whether they could build portals that summon aliens, and how Altman’s resolve to go “founder mode” means he may be headed down the same well-traveled path as many tech oligarchs before him. For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email transcripts@crooked.com and include the name of the podcast.
#229
April 4 · 58 min
Big Tech's Big Tobacco Moment
Mark Zuckerberg is finally being held accountable–not by government regulators, board members or shareholders, but by two lawsuits. Tech journalist Casey Newtown, editor of Platformer, joins Offline to explain how a young woman in California beat Meta and Google on the grounds that Instagram and YouTube had destroyed her mental health. Jon and Casey discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the case, whether losing end-to-end encryption could lead to a surveillance state, and what happens if social platforms’ defensive shield, Section 230, is overturned. Then Jon speaks to New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez about his successful lawsuit against Meta, how the social media company plans to appeal it, and whether the case he’s made could ultimately lead the Supreme Court to regulate this 21st century addiction. For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email transcripts@crooked.com and include the name of the podcast.
#228
March 28 · 54 min
Optimism In Our Age of Anxiety
Why fight for a better future if we don't believe one is possible? Why organize, why vote? Dr. Deepika Chopra, the "Optimism Doctor," joins the show to talk about the dangers of cynicism, and to explain how optimism is a more rational and democracy-safeguarding response to this political moment. In her new book, The Power of Real Optimism, Dr. Chopra argues that the outlook is neither a trait nor mindset; it's a learnable set of skills that even the most pessimistic among us can incorporate. And it’s an essential safeguard against the paralyzing, numbing effect our media ecosystem has on our brains. For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email transcripts@crooked.com and include the name of the podcast.
#227
March 23 · 43 min
What We Lose When We Bet on War
Life or death decisions are being gamified for profit on online prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket. But these platforms may also have the potential to create a modernized—if morally questionable—method of opinion polling. Politico Magazine contributing writer Nancy Scola joins Offline to explain the rise of these markets, the argument for them, and the people in D.C. who stand to gain the most. But first! Senator Chris Murphy stops by the show to break down the brand new BETS OFF Act, which bans wagering on government actions, terrorism, war, assassination, and events where an individual knows or controls the outcome. He and Jon discuss the bill's prospects for passing, and discuss what happens to us spiritually when every moral question becomes a market.
#226
March 14 · 1 hr 3 min
Trump's Memeification of War
Journalist and historian Anne Applebaum joins Offline to discuss America’s slide towards autocracy, as illustrated through Trump's war of choice in Iran. Anne is a staff writer at The Atlantic, an authoritarianism expert, and the host of the "Autocracy in America" podcast. She and Jon discuss how Trump and the White House are using propaganda to minimize the seriousness of this war, what our president has learned from other autocrats, and why Anne is still hopeful that American democracy can still prevail. For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email transcripts@crooked.com and include the name of the podcast.

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