About This Episode

Join us at The Hammerstein Ballroom in NYC as Neil deGrasse Tyson and Eugene Mirman investigate society and the human condition with the help of bestselling author Malcolm Gladwell, sociologist Dr. Alondra Nelson and comedian Wyatt Cenac. Using Gladwell’s books Blink, Outliers, David and Goliath and The Tipping Point as background, Neil and our guests explore issues like sexism, class privilege and whether racism is an innate reflex or the result of socialization through religion, family and the media. You’ll hear how moving to blind auditions changed the gender mix in major orchestras overnight, and how your facial expressions indicate whether you’ll get divorced. Find out how the culture of NASA led to the Challenger disaster and whether institutional change is even possible. Learn why it takes 10,000 hours of work to turn talent into genius – with comparisons to Mozart and Beyoncé. Plus, Gladwell explains why the legend of David and Goliath, which plays into society’s love of underdogs, is really the story of an experienced warrior using superior firepower and technology to beat a blind man in a knife fight.

NOTE: All-Access subscribers can listen to this entire episode commercial-free here: StarTalk Live! Sociology and the Human Condition.