Risky Business Preview

Here’s a preview of another podcast we enjoy, Risky Business with Nate Silver and Maria
Konnikova. Risky Business is a weekly podcast about making better decisions. Hosted by
journalist and psychologist Maria Konnikova and data analyst and election forecaster Nate
Silver, who both happen to be accomplished high-stakes poker players, the show explores how
we navigate uncertainty in politics, poker, and everyday life. From unpacking AI hype to diving
deep into election forecasting to discussing trust on reality TV, they break down the odds behind
the headlines. Because every choice is a bet. New episodes drop on Wednesdays and Fridays
—listen to Risky Business wherever you get podcasts.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hey, Joe and Tracy here, we're stopping by to share
with you another podcast we think you'll really enjoy and
find to be insightful, sharp and entertaining from Pushkin Industries.
It's called Risky Business and it's hosted by our friends
Nate Silver and Maria Kanakova.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
Right, you might remember Nate and Maria from when they
joined us last year to talk about political prediction markets.
We were talking about how they work, how accurate they
actually are, and what they can tell us about election
campaigns and their outcomes.

Speaker 1 (00:28):
Or you might be familiar with their work. Nate's the
founder of five thirty eight and the Steam journalist and
a political analyst. Maria has a PhD in psychology and
is a New York Times bestselling author. And they're both
high stakes poker players, so they know a thing or
two about taking risks, making bets, and calling out bluff.

Speaker 2 (00:44):
On Risky Business, they look at how decisions are made
and they break down the odds, incentives and risks behind
the headlines to understand who's making moves and why. So
they look at everything from politics to sports, to personal decisions,
AI high electoral races, and of course reality TV.

Speaker 1 (01:03):
Enjoy this preview of risky Business and if you like it,
fun Risky Business wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes
released twice a week on Wednesdays and Saturday.

Speaker 3 (01:19):
Hey everyone, I'm Maria Kondakova, I'm Nate Silver, and this
is I'm Maria Kannakova.

Speaker 4 (01:32):
I'm Nate Silver, and this is Risky Business, a show
about making good decisions.

Speaker 3 (01:39):
We did it. We're so good, We're so smart. This
podcast is going to be amazing. So Nate, I'm really
excited to be hosting this show with you because you're
a statistician. You're someone who comes at the world from
a very rigorous, logical, mathematical perspective, and I think that
this is just such a beautiful perspective to look at

(02:01):
risk and risky decision making.

Speaker 4 (02:03):
And Maria, I'm excited to be hosting with you. I mean,
we're great friends, but you're also a PhD in psychology,
You've written multiple best selling books, you have worked for
The New Yorker. You're a little bit more even keel
than I am, too, which sometimes is a great influence
on me.

Speaker 3 (02:16):
Plus, obviously we're both poker players, and we've both won
and as you always point out lost, Yeah, hundreds of
thousands of dollars in the world of poker tournaments. And
so that's a lens that we're going to be using
to approach this entire show. Because poker isn't just about
playing cards, it's about making good decisions. It's about a

(02:39):
framework for thinking about the world and in risky business.
That's what we're going to be doing. We're going to
be helping our listeners understand decision making using this framework.
So what exactly are we going to be talking about. Well,
obviously we're going to be talking about poker and the
world of gambling.

Speaker 4 (02:59):
We'll be talking about politics and the news as well. Look,
we'll talk about the probabilities there as well as tactics
and strategy around politics and current events. How do things
like expected value or game theory affect decisions that affect
all of our lives.

Speaker 3 (03:14):
And obviously we'll also be talking about kind of the
more personal elements of psychology, philosophy and the decisions that
we make in our daily lives that don't have anything
to do with the news but have everything to do
with living well.

Speaker 4 (03:27):
The show is a co production of Pushkin Industries and
iHeartMedia and it's available wherever you want to listen.