Build For Tomorrow
Want to take control of the future? In each episode of this podcast, Entrepreneur magazine editor in chief Jason Feifer takes something that seems concerning or confusing today, and then learns its surprising history, what important things we’re missing, and the solutions that can make us smarter and better. (The show was previously called Pessimists Archive.)
Episodes
March 14, 2023 • 34 mins
I have some important news about Build For Tomorrow.
And here’s my new show, Help Wanted: https://link.chtbl.com/85RcT5bT
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Newsletter: onethingbetter.email
Website: jasonfeifer.com
Instagram: @heyfeifer
Twitter: @heyfeifer
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February 23, 2023 • 40 mins
For decades, people have been told they have a certain “learning style.” Maybe you think you’re a visual learner, for example, or a reading/writing learner. But new research is upending all that. Here’s what we got wrong — and how we can become truly better learners.
The “Build For Tomorrow” book is here! Grab your copy at www.jasonfeifer.com/book
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December 29, 2022 • 45 mins
In 1923, a famous scientist predicted how work would change in 2023. Now, 100 years later, we can confirm: He was shockingly right… and yet totally wrong. What happened? The answers can tell you a lot about what’s coming in the next 100 years, and how technology will (and maybe won’t) change work forever.
The “Build For Tomorrow” book is almost here! Grab your copy at www.jasonfeifer.com/book
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November 30, 2022 • 75 mins
Everyone’s freaking out! How can that be put to good use? In this episode, we discuss the unexpected benefits of the bubonic plague, what the four-day workweek tells us about the future of work, how world-changing technologies become adopted, why business failures lead to success, how to use crises to change the status quo, and more.
This episode originally aired on The Jordan Harbinger Show, as he interviewed me, Build For Tomorr...
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October 27, 2022 • 39 mins
Have you ever messed up — or just thought you messed up! — and then obsessed over what you could have done better? This episode is about what’s happening in your brain, why you’re doing it, and how to finally let it go.
The “Build For Tomorrow” book is almost here! Grab your copy at www.jasonfeifer.com/book
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Newsletter: jasonfeifer.bulletin.com
Website: jasonfeifer.com
Instagram: @heyfeifer
Twitter: @heyfeifer
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September 29, 2022 • 42 mins
You can find opportunity in the hardest situations. But how?
To answer that out, we take lessons from one of the most fascinating changes in cultural history -- when the record player was invented. Many people loved it, but musicians hated it. They tried to stop it. But their anti-recorded-music campaign did not go as planned.
This is a story about what it takes -- for us all! -- to let go of the past and embrace the future.
The “...
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August 25, 2022 • 42 mins
Want to fix the problem with work today? It starts by understanding the common phrase “nobody wants to work anymore” — including what’s right about it, what’s wrong about it, and why critics have been using these exact same words for more than a century.
The “Build For Tomorrow” book is almost here! Grab your copy at www.jasonfeifer.com/book
Get in touch!
Newsletter: jasonfeifer.bulletin.com
Website: jasonfeifer.com
Instagram: @h...
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July 28, 2022 • 45 mins
Barbie sales were plummeting. A new leader had a vision: The doll needed to be “a reflection of our times.” But how do you make something more modern? In this episode, we learn how Barbie took some big risks — and then take a trip through toy history, to discover just how much our toys say about ourselves.
The “Build For Tomorrow” book is almost here! Grab your copy at www.jasonfeifer.com/book
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June 30, 2022 • 48 mins
The teddy bear: Is it cute and cuddly, or a “horrible monstrosity” that’ll destroy humanity? In 1907, many people feared the worst — that this new toy would ruin young girls’ developing maternal instincts, and lead us to a terrible fate. This is the story of how the teddy bear changed us all… and how we then changed the bear.
The “Build For Tomorrow” book is almost here! Grab your copy at www.jasonfeifer.com/book
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May 26, 2022 • 46 mins
Our brains are full of fun facts: the memory span of a goldfish, Marie Antoinette’s famous words, the vomitoriums of Rome, and more. But what if it’s all wrong? In this episode, I debunk more than a dozen common misconceptions and then ask: Why do we remember misinformation so easily? And is there a better way to learn?
The “Build For Tomorrow” book is almost here! Grab your copy at www.jasonfeifer.com/book
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April 28, 2022 • 40 mins
The four-day workweek was once just an experiment. Now it’s regular life for many people. So what’s that like? In this episode, we look at the good, the bad, the reason our workweek evolved the way it did, and what it’ll take to get everyone else another day off.
The “Build For Tomorrow” book is almost here! Grab your copy at jasonfeifer.com/book
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Newsletter: jasonfeifer.bulletin.com
Website: jasonfeifer.com
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March 31, 2022 • 49 mins
Do you wish you could predict the future? Not in a street-corner psychic kind of way, but in a more personal, meaningful way. How can you know what’s coming, and to know what decisions you should make? To answer that, we talk to many experts — including the head of a group called the Superforecasters! — who explain how to do just that.
The “Build For Tomorrow” book is almost here! Grab your copy at jasonfeifer.com/book
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February 24, 2022 • 40 mins
Climate change is described as a “generational battle,” in which young people care and older people don’t. But this is a perfect example of how we think about generations all wrong — and that has big consequences. If we can drop our assumptions about generational divides, we might just have a shot at solving some of the world’s most urgent problems.
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Newsletter: jasonfeifer.bulletin.com
Website: jasonfeifer.com
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January 27, 2022 • 46 mins
Who is to blame for people’s poor writing skills? It isn’t texting or tweeting. It’s a fateful decision made in 1875, from which we’ve never recovered. In this episode, we find out what went wrong — and how today’s educators are reinventing the way writing is taught.
Get in touch!
Newsletter: jasonfeifer.bulletin.com
Website: jasonfeifer.com
Instagram: @heyfeifer
Twitter: @heyfeifer
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December 27, 2021 • 45 mins
We like to laugh at lawmakers for their technology ignorance, like when Sen. Richard Blumenthal asked a Facebook executive if she’ll “commit to ending finsta.” But how do gaffes like these actually happen? The answer is more complicated than you'd think. In this episode, a deep investigation into the cause and effects of a political gaffe — and why it's something that we, together, should want to fix.
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Newsletter: jas...
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November 25, 2021 • 47 mins
Sex robots?! For decades, people have debated their dangers or called them ridiculous. But what if these bots can actually be a good thing? Here is the surprisingly human argument for a dystopian-sounding technology — and why it matters far beyond the bedroom.
Get in touch!
Newsletter: jasonfeifer.bulletin.com
Website: jasonfeifer.com
Instagram: @heyfeifer
Twitter: @heyfeifer
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October 28, 2021 • 42 mins
People worry that technology changes our brains. It’s the reason why tech critics talk about dopamine, a chemical that they say turns us into social media addicts. But when I called actual brain scientists and asked them to fact-check the critics, I heard a very different story: Our brains are way more flexible than we think, they say. And dopamine? It’s complicated.
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Website: jasonfeifer.com
Newsletter: jasonfeifer.b...
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September 30, 2021 • 46 mins
Is everything really political these days? Or has it always been that way?
To answer that, let’s look at the story of knitting. Can anything get simpler than knitting? Balls of yarn! Comfy socks! So when the knitting community began reckoning with racism recently, many people complained that it ruined their simple pleasure.
But the history of knitting is long and controversial — and includes many of today’s most hotly debated topi...
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August 26, 2021 • 45 mins
The most dangerous thing about smartphones, according to critics, is that we're never bored. Boredom is healthy, they say! But history and science may say otherwise. People have spent thousands of years desperately trying to escape boredom, and even considered it a sin or disease. So should we really feel guilty every time we fill a dull moment with a screen?
In this episode, we dig into the surprisingly fascinating history of bore...
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July 30, 2021 • 47 mins
You might think you’re bad at talking with strangers. But in fact, you were built to talk to them — and you’re more natural at it than you know. In this episode, we go back millions of years to learn how our cultures and even our bodies were shaped by strangers, and what that can teach us about healing today’s great divides.
Get in touch!
Website: jasonfeifer.com
Newsletter: jasonfeifer.bulletin.com
Instagram: Instagram.com/heyfei...
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