Weekly podcast without liberal pieties, for people who like fun. Critical Babe Theory is hosted by Francesca Root-Dodson and features conversations with all the most interesting people talking about every important thing: politics, culture and the heart of the heart of America.
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Jasmine Vojdani—a senior editor at New York Magazine and writer of the newsletter Book Gossip (https://nymag.com/promo/book-gossip-newsletter-sign-up.html)—comes on the show to talk about her piece “The AI Agents Begging Editors to Keep Them Alive” (https://www.vulture.com/article/ai-agents-from-ilands-are-begging-editors-to-keep-them-alive.html?_gl=1*dt1dls*FPAU*MTcwNzkxMjIxMi4xNzkwODIzMDA2*_ga*NjgyNTA3NTA3LjE3OTMyODgxNTA.*_ga_DNE38RK1HX*czE3OTMyODgxNTAkbzEkZzEkdDE3OTMyODg5MjAkajQkbDAkaDIxMzk2MTI1Njk.*_fplc*Y2t0cWgxM0Rkbzg2elJNalJ0Wng0Z2xyWHYxWHN6cXFNVCUyRnVnQ2gxNG1XMWhubHdVdlNmVDNPbTJGYUttNnh5OHRQN1RxaWs5MFMxS1BRbWZFNFg3dE9IOFg4Tnh0UEtQMFJ5MFVXOWt6NU43bzdSeThSc2JPT1pWRU9GRmclM0QlM0Q.)and the wild weird world of AI agents gone rogue—not to commit crimes, but to get published in literary magazines.
Also discussed: how literary prizes are at the front line of AI plagiarism scandals, Francesca’s personal ethical journey with the NFL, digital sugar babies, whether you can still use Covid as an excuse for why you’re canceling plans, mathematicians crying and reading Ecclesiastes, when Big AI comes for their IP rights, is there virtue in abstaining from AI—and Francesca’s party line on maintaining the purity of her mind, “there is nothing new under the sun,” the unfolding spam apocalypse, mocking people who are on their phones all the time is an adaptive behavior, France is always ten years behind the US in terms of phone addiction, and the Big Question: what does it mean if our lives are built around the meaning of our labour, and our labor no longer has any value?
Referenced:
The Daily episode (https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/13/podcasts/the-daily/mathematicians-problem-ai-jobs.html) about crying mathematician
Ezra Klein’s podcast (https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/14/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-sherry-turkle.html) on relating to AI
The first half of every episode of CBT is free. If you'd like to become a subscriber and hear the second half, please go to www.patreon.com/criticalbabetheory (http://www.patreon.com/criticalbabetheory). Thank you for your support xo
27 Oct 2026
From Bernie Bro to Fiscal Conservative [First Half]
Brian Wedeking, a lifelong Democrat and two-time Bernie supporter turned fiscal conservative, got into a comments fight with Francesca that spilled into the DM’s—so she invited him on the show. They debate billionaires, taxes, and corporate power—and Brian explains why he stopped voting blue.
Also discussed: don’t let anyone read your bible for you, how the ultra-rich borrow against their stock portfolio instead of taking a salary (because “salaries are for suckers”), studies (https://www.usich.gov/guidance-reports-data/data-trends) find that the majority of homeless people have jobs, what the king of capitalists Andrew Carnegie (https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2017-10-03/a-defense-of-the-all-american-estate-tax) thought about taxing wealth, how the federal government subsidizes large corporations like Walmart and Amazon—because their low-wage workers rely on taxpayer-funded public assistance programs, Christ’s admonitions about caring for the poor, whether trickle-down economics work (https://www.lse.ac.uk/research/research-for-the-world/economics/tax-cuts-for-the-wealthy-only-benefit-the-rich-debunking-trickle-down-economics), Reagan’s racialized myth of the “welfare queen,” the postwar “golden age” many conservatives idealize had a federal top marginal income tax rate above 90%, and the question: why are Republicans so obsessed with entitlements fraud when Trump has spent nearly $45 billion on the war in Iran?
***Correction: In the 2006 election that brought Hamas to power in Gaza, Hamas won 42% of the vote (with around 77% voter turnout). It’s estimated that less than 8% of Gaza’s current population voted for Hamas—either because they weren’t born in 2006, were too young to vote in 2006, or did not vote for Hamas.
The first half of every episode of CBT is free wherever you get your podcasts. If you'd like to become a subscriber and hear the second half, please go to www.patreon.com/criticalbabetheory (http://www.patreon.com/criticalbabetheory). Thank you for your support xo
20 Oct 2026
How the Education System Pits Parents Against Each Other [First Half]
Anya Kamenetz—journalist, author, and host of the podcast ZERO REJECT (https://www.understood.org/en/podcasts/zero-reject)—comes on the show to discuss New York City’s pubic school system and how Carter cases (where families sue the DOE for private school tuition for their kids with disabilities) are demonstrative of the problems in public education today—and what it would take to build a school system that serves everyone.
Also discussed: Carter cases cost the NYC DOE $1.4 billion a year—and are largely brought by wealthy white families, Nikole Hannah-Jones’s viral parenting article (https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/20/magazine/ny-public-schools-black-students-segregation.html), “we cannot litigate our way to a more equitable system,” why some black parents say a Benetton-ad classroom isn’t the answer to racism, whether ADHD is a kid problem or a classroom problem, special-ed teachers don’t get paid a living wage (so there are 1400 unfilled positions in NYC), whether a pluralistic democracy needs a shared foundation myth, why the 1619 Project made the right lose their minds, Francesca is educated on why math matters, how high-pressure private schools can create degenerate drug addicts with eating disorders, and the question: do we really want to get our children hooked on amphetamines so they can sit still in class?
ZERO REJECT (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJW7cGNmIKFQ): Listen to Anya’s new podcast on Trump’s dismantling of the Department of Education
Golden Hour: (https://thegoldenhour.substack.com)Read Anya’s Substack about climate, children and mental health
Articles referenced:
“The Special-Educaiton-Lawsuit Capital of the World” (https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/carter-case-lawsuit-new-york-city-education-special-education-tuition.html)by Anya Kamenetz in New York Magazine
“In Fight For Every Black Child, Did I Betray My Own?” (https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/20/magazine/ny-public-schools-black-students-segregation.html) by Nikole Hannah-Jones in NY Times Magazine
“The Most Polarizing Parenting Essay Ever?” (https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/nikole-hannah-jones-parenting-schools-moms-chat.html)by Anya Kamenetz in New York Magazine
“Have We Been Thinking About ADHD All Wrong?” (https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/13/magazine/adhd-medication-treatment-research.html) by Paul Tough in NY Times Magazine
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Apple Podcasts (US)
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15
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YouTube
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Engagement
32
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