The archive

August 14, 2026

A Bet On The Future Of Humanity

Planet Money · Paul Ehrlich, Julian Simon (archival) · 24 min

Why we chose this episode

Two men made a public bet about whether the world was running out of resources, and the story of who won is far less interesting than why the argument never ended. Twenty-four minutes that reframe every doom forecast you will read this year.

Listen for this question

What would make you change your mind about the next ten years?

Listen to the full episode

Every link above sends you to the creator’s own platform. We respect the original work, so we never host or summarize it here — we just point you back to the people who made it.

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Who it’s for: Anyone who has an instinct about the future and has never tested it.

Best way to listen

On a commute, with your own prediction in mind.

After the episode

Write down a prediction with a date, and put a reminder in your calendar.

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