Question of the Day
Question of the Day is the show for listeners who are short on time and long on curiosity. It is a fast-paced conversation between author and entrepreneur James Altucher and Freakonomics co-author Stephen Dubner: two smart, unconventional thinkers who have been talking together for years, often over a long-running backgammon match. Now they are letting you in on the game, too. You will quickly become addicted to their wonderful, wry observations as they ponder each Question of the Day. The answers await you every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
Episodes
September 7, 2016 • 18 mins
How do two friends say goodbye to each other? If you're Stephen Dubner and James Altucher, you do so by recording a podcast. Question of the Day has produced 177 episodes and a live special over the span of just one year, and now our hosts are putting the show on hiatus in order to launch and grow their other endeavors. On today's final episode, for now, hear James and Stephen talk about goodbyes, backgammon matches, what they've l...
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September 6, 2016 • 15 mins
Why didn't Stephen invite James to his children's bar and bat mitzvahs? Did it have something to do with how James acted at Stephen's 50th birthday party? Today, James and Stephen contemplate what it's like making new friends as middle-aged introverts compared to during adolescence, and discuss how it's easier to broadcast your social signals as mature adults.
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September 5, 2016 • 20 mins
Is it more important to set an actual price when you're negotiating a deal, or to control the terms on which a price is to be set? When James was selling his first company, he ended up with millions less than he anticipated because the other party tipped the scales in their favor. Now, James uses this same technique in his own favor when he's sitting at the negotiating table. Learn more about this technique and how Stephen crowdsou...
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August 31, 2016 • 21 mins
Two questions in one day? Today, James and Stephen take on questions from two listeners who want to know if a more active and socially engaged electorate would create a better political system. Would the populace actually be better informed by watching cable news on a regular basis and reading their tabloid or broadsheet of choice, or would they just be further cementing the ideological divide that media outlets are polarized to? O...
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August 30, 2016 • 14 mins
What's the greatest factor that lead to Donald Trump securing the Republican presidential nomination? If you're Stephen Dubner, you'll say that electoral politics is a form of entertainment and Donald Trump has put in lots of deliberate practice as an entertainer, while 'traditional' politicians only appear in the spotlight every two-to-six years. However, will Trump's entertaining expertise and the billions of dollars of free airt...
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August 29, 2016 • 18 mins
You have to get uptown to your office for a meeting. You can hail an Uber and be there in 8 minutes, or you can walk and arrive in 24 minutes. Which option is the "lazy" one? This disagreement is the crux of today's conversation about what constitutes laziness and to what degree it is actually a productive creative trait. Would you pay to sit in the car and arrive quickly, or do the exercise but arrive later than the person you're ...
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August 24, 2016 • 16 mins
If NASA were to give the opportunity to leave everything behind and settle on Mars, with no return ticket, would you take them up on the offer? Some might jump at the offer, but many people haven't even explored outside of their own country, nonetheless planet. Today, James and Stephen discuss the prospects of leaving the Earth, literally, as well as what other options might present themselves for people who aren't trying to escape...
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August 23, 2016 • 15 mins
Are Stephen and James recommending "The Purge"? No, but today they and QOD social media followers are chiming in on what single law they think should be eliminated. James channels his inner-Ron Paul and makes a stance that the FDA should be abolished or drastically weakened, but can he convince Stephen that it's a legitimately good idea?
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August 22, 2016 • 19 mins
What can James take away from having a comedian in the booth with him for four days? Today, on Marina Franklin's final guest co-hosting episode, James and Stephen give Marina a lightning round of questions about comedy and the comedy business. Some of the topics touched upon include: Getting your set ready for late night talk shows, Jerry Seinfeld's mom jeans, and Marina's one piece of advice for up-and-coming comedians.This episod...
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August 17, 2016 • 17 mins
How do you when your podcast co-host sponsors the same English soccer team as you? What about when your comedian friend gets her own TV show and major movie deals? The intersection of competition and cooperation are just the beginning of today's engaging conversation between our hosts and guest Marina Franklin.
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August 16, 2016 • 17 mins
How many selfies do you take with your friends before settling on one that's "social media worthy"? Our guest co-host Marina Franklin thinks whatever the number is, it's a lot higher than what it used to be, and it's because our global level of self-consciousness is rising rapidly. Listen on as Marina, James, and Stephen discuss the difference in perception between looking in a mirror and at your smartphone screen, and why Stephen'...
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August 15, 2016 • 26 mins
You're in the middle of a stand-up comedy set - maybe your second or third that night - when your act is suddenly derailed by an audience member who is completely uninterested in the performance. That's what happened to our guest co-host of the next four episodes, Marina Franklin, before she came in to record with James and Stephen. Today we discuss why one person's negative opinion can dwell in the mind of a performer, even when t...
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August 10, 2016 • 15 mins
Have you ever wondered what James and Stephen do every morning that has elevated them to the style icons they are today? No? Nevertheless, today we discuss brush-free hairstyles vs. needing to be groomed like a puppy, going to the gym for aesthetic purposes vs. keeping up physically with teenage children, and the importance of contentment vs. happiness.This episode is sponsored by Squarespace.
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August 9, 2016 • 15 mins
Do you get excited about the Olympic Games? Even if you don't, you're likely to end up watching a few events on TV throughout the two and a half weeks that it dominates most media outlets. Today, Stephen and James discuss their relationship to "the games" in addition to reliving what a scandalous year 1994 was.This episode is sponsored by Mott & Bow.
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August 8, 2016 • 18 mins
Are you pouring your productive potential down the drain when you spend your free time playing games? Today, James argues that deep knowledge of a game's rules and strategy could be beneficial in a way similar to learning a new language. However, Stephen's research has shown that the return-on-investment of actual language learning is incredibly low. Still, our hosts' personal and professional relationship with each other has been ...
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August 3, 2016 • 16 mins
If a website could be considered a country, Facebook would be the largest country in the world, with nearly 2 billion "digital citizens". What type of effect does this forum have on world culture? James' personal introversion has benefited as he's able to reach his social network without stepping out of his comfort zone, but is our digital culture creating more ills than benefits to our greater society?This episode is sponsored by ...
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August 2, 2016 • 16 mins
Is there an effective way for a novelist or non-fiction author to capture people's attention nowadays? If Stephen were to begin his writing career today, would he still have pursued a track through newspaper editorial to major-publisher book writing? Do people retain enough information from reading a book to make it a worthwhile endeavor? All of these questions and more get answered on today's episode of Question of the Day.This ep...
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August 1, 2016 • 20 mins
Do you feel the need to shake up your work life after twenty-plus years in the job market? Professional self re-inventors Stephen and James are here to help. Both hosts have pivoted their careers multiple times, some of which while keeping their former full-time jobs, and today they give advice and examples to what their methods have been to keep them on their toes creatively.This episode is sponsored Mott & Bow.
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July 27, 2016 • 18 mins
What did Negin Farsad discover when she and a group of other Muslim-American stand up comedians toured the "American Heartland"? The further removed she was geographically from bleeding heart liberals, the more open people were to discuss race relations without worrying about giving PC answers. Today, Negin discusses the issue with James and Stephen, and gets their "liberal white guy" views on the subject.This episode is sponsored ...
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July 26, 2016 • 18 mins
Negin Farsad joins Stephen and James again today, and we learn that while all three are some sort of professional public speaker, it remains the group's greatest source of social anxiety. Listen on as our hosts self-deprecate while extolling their fears, including a traumatizing experience James had in the first grade. Also, Stephen throws back to last week's episode 156 by remembering something else he learned in college!
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