This podcast is about conversations — long ones. With mothers. Fathers. Economists. Therapists. Religious leaders. Skeptics. People from the left and the right. People who agree with me. People who don’t.
Not to prove a point.
But to explore what it actually means to live a principled life in a messy world.
If you’re here for outrage, this probably won’t be your show.
But if you’re here for honest conversation — and maybe to reconsider a few assumptions along the way — I’m really glad you’re here.
Two hundred and fifty years ago, a group of imperfect people signed a document that changed everything. They didn't agree on everything. They signed it anyway. Today I have some news that fits the moment.
1 Jul 2026
The Fertility Crisis Is Already Here | Lyman Stone on Fertility, Forecasting, and the Future America Isn't Ready For
Lyman Stone is a demographer and senior fellow at the Institute for Family Studies. He is also the founder of Demographic Intelligence, which produces fertility and population forecasting models for organizations that need to plan beyondwhat government reports are willing to model.
His headline finding: the Social Security trustees are not modeling the worst-case. Their baseline assumes the US returns to near-replacement fertility in the 2040s. Their worst-case holds flat at 1.6 children per woman. Lyman believesfertility could go lower. He has tried to notify them. They haven't changed the model.
In this conversation Lyman and Dee Dee talk about the low fertility trap — what it looks like when a society loses its muscle memory for having children, and how hard it is to climb back out. About what the iPhone did to socialization, and why marriage and fertility are just two items on a long list of social activities that are declining. About the girl boss myth — why women's labor force participation is not the primary driver of low fertility. About what actually shapes whether a young person wants children: not policy, not economics, but the rating they give their friends.
They also talk about the crowbar model of pronatal policy, why he wants to pay Taylor Swift a billion dollars to make a lullaby album, and what four moms in his basement sounded like while they were recording.
Lyman Stone on X
@lymanstoneky
Lyman Stone on Substack
lymanstonky.substack.com
Institute for Family Studies
ifstudies.org
Demographic Intelligence
https://www.demographicintel.com/
IFS Survey: Supportive Friends and Fertility Intentions
ifstudies.org
IFS Report: What Makes Parents Feel Supported?
https://ifstudies.org/blog/what-makes-parents-feel-supported-money-not-babysitting
IFS Report: Open Floor Plans and Family-Friendly Housing
https://www.city-journal.org/article/family-homes-real-estate-bedrooms-apartments
Lyman's appearance on Christopher Rufo's podcast
https://christopherrufo.com/p/whats-fueling-americas-fertility
Topics:Demography | US Fertility Crisis | Social SecurityProjections | Pronatal Policy | Low FertilityTrap | Institute for Family Studies | Marriage andFamily | Religious Community | Housing Design | Gen X Women | Principled Living
More Than One Way to Live a Principled Life | Fort Collins, CO
24 Jun 2026
AI Has Principles. Do You? | Anthony Franco on Frameworks, Failure, and Building AI That Works
Anthony Franco has started eight companies and sold six of them. One sale — a user experience agency calledEffective — went to WPP, the largest advertising conglomerate in the world. He also helped develop Airstrip, one of the first iPhone apps, which Steve Jobs introduced at an Apple developer keynote.
He is now the founder of First Strategies AI and the author of The Wiser Method Master Playbook — a design thinking framework for organizations that want to move AI from pilot project to actual operation. He focuses on companies with 50 to 500 employees. He says enterprise is where good ideas go to die slowly.
In this conversation Anthony and Dee Dee talk about the twelve principles of AI that every organization needs before it touches a model. About what it actually means to use AI as a thoughtpartner. About why AI gives you a C+ on the first pass and what you have to do to get to an A. About why English majors are currently outperforming engineers at prompting, and what that says about the moment we are in.
He also talks about the time he used ChatGPT to resolve an argument with his wife — and realized, an hour in, that he was wrong.
Topics: AI Frameworks | The Wiser Method | 12 Principles of Operational AI | Entrepreneurship | CoBuilder | UX Design | AI Adoption | Principled Leadership | AI operationalization principles | The Wiser Method framework | AI in political campaigns and organizations AI in customerservice and ethics | Resource consumption and environmental impact of AI | Principles for responsible AI use | AI in political campaigns and marketing | Practical steps for AI adoption in business
Resources
The Wiser Method Book -https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CXYZ1234
AI First Principles GitHub Repository -https://github.com/AI-First-Principles
Anthony Franco's LinkedIn -https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthonyfranco
First Strategies AI Website -https://firststrategiesai.com
Wiser: The Wiser Method Master Playbook -https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0XXXXXX
FirstStrategy.ai - https://firststrategy.ai
Cursor Tool for Knowledge Management -https://cursor.com
Guest links
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthonyfranco
LinkedIn - https://linkedin.com/in/anthonyfranco
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