Virtual Sentiments

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In Virtual Sentiments, Kristen Collins interviews scholars and practitioners grappling with the most pressing problems in political economy today with an eye to the past.

  1. 9 HR AGO

    Henry Farrell on AI as a Social Technology

    On this episode of Virtual Sentiments, Kristen Collins speaks with Henry Farrell about AI, democracy, and political economy. Farrell argues that large language models are best understood not as emerging individual intelligences, but as “social technologies” that process and reorganize vast stores of human cultural information, much like markets, bureaucracies, and democracies process knowledge. The conversation explores deliberative democracy, civil society, Silicon Valley, AI regulation, and the risks of treating politics as an optimization problem. Farrell emphasizes the messiness of democratic life as essential to resisting authoritarianism and building a better future. Henry Farrell is the SNF Agora Professor of International Affairs at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. He is the author of various books, including Underground Empire: How America Weaponized the World Economy (Henry Holt and Co., 2023) and Of Privacy and Power: The Transatlantic Fight over Freedom and Security (Princeton University Press, 2019), both coauthored with Abraham Newman, as well as The Political Economy of Trust: Institutions, Interests, and Inter-Firm Cooperation in Italy and Germany (Cambridge University Press, 2009). **This episode was recorded on January 7, 2026** Show Notes: Virtual Sentiments | State Capture and the Meaning of Democracy with Samuel BaggHenry Farrell’s Substack, Programmable MutterHenry Farrell and Abraham Newman, The Enshittification of American Power (Wired, 2025)Henry Farrell and Hahrie Han, AI and Democratic Publics (Knight First Amendment Institute, 2025)Farrell, Gopnik, Shalizi, and Evans, Large AI models are cultural and social technologies (Science, 2025)Farrell, Mercier, and Schwartzberg, Analytical Democratic Theory: A Microfoundational Approach (APSR, 2022)Farrell, Where Trump is Vulnerable and How to Act on It (New York Times, 2025)Farrell, The Same Old Fantasies Behind AI and New Technology (Lawfare, 2025)Herbert A. Simon, The Sciences of the Artificial (The MIT Press, 1970)F.A. Hayek, The Use of Knowledge in Society (Liberty Fund, 2013)Cosma Shalizi, The Singularity in Our Past Light-Cone (Three-Toed Sloth, 2010)Andrew Lentini, Reimagining Democracy in the Age of AI (SNF Agora, 2024)Hugo Mercier and Dan Sperber, Why do humans reason? Arguments for an argumentative theory (BBS, 2011)North, Wallis, and Weingast, Violence and Social Orders (Cambridge University Press, 2009)Cory Doctorow, The Bezzle: A Martin Hench Novel (Tor Books, 2025)If you like the show, please subscribe, leave a 5-star review, and tell others about the show! We're available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and wherever you get your podcasts. Follow the Hayek Program on Twitter: @HayekProgram Learn more about Academic & Student Programs Follow the Mercatus Center on Twitter: @mercatus

    1hr 19min

  2. 8 APR

    State Capture and the Meaning of Democracy with Samuel Bagg

    On this episode of Virtual Sentiments, Kristen Collins speaks with political theorist Samuel Bagg about his recent book The Dispersion of Power: A Critical Realist Theory of Democracy (Oxford University Press, 2024). Instead of understanding democracy as an idealized process of collective self-rule, Bagg argues that democracy’s core purpose is to prevent any one group from capturing the state. The conversation explores how this focus on state capture reshapes debates about populism, technocracy, and liberalism, while offering a more realistic account of how power operates in modern societies. Collins and Bagg also discuss the dangers of over-intellectualizing politics, the limits of deliberative democracy, and the role of inequality and private power in shaping political outcomes. The episode closes with a forward-looking discussion of democratic renewal, emphasizing the importance of organizing, civic infrastructure, and building countervailing power in civil society as essential to resisting authoritarianism and sustaining democratic life. Show Notes: Virtual Sentiments | Deva Woodly on Civil Society and the Politics of CareAlex Opera, Adam Smith on Political Judgment: Revisiting the Political Theory of the Wealth of Nations (The Journal of Politics, 2022)Paul Sagar, The real Adam Smith (Aeon, 2018)Tyler McBrien, What is ‘State Capture’? A Warning for Americans (New York Times, 2025)Samuel Bagg, Democratic Disenchantment (Boston 50 Review, 2024)Samuel Bagg, Would you sit on a jury to review government regulations? (The Conversation, 2024)Theory of Virtual Sentiments | On Adam Smith's Critique of State Capture**This episode was recorded August 29, 2025.** If you like the show, please subscribe, leave a 5-star review, and tell others about the show! We're available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and wherever you get your podcasts. Follow the Hayek Program on Twitter: @HayekProgram Learn more about Academic & Student Programs Follow the Mercatus Center on Twitter: @mercatus

    1hr 31min

  3. 11 MAR

    Maria Pia Paganelli on 250 Years of Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations

    On this episode of Virtual Sentiments, Kristen Collins speaks with Maria Pia Paganelli about Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations on the occasion of its 250th anniversary. Their conversation situates Smith as a sharp moral and political critic of monopoly and empire. Paganelli situates the book in the vibrant world of the Scottish Enlightenment and shows how Smith’s central concern was not wealth for its own sake, but the material conditions that make human flourishing possible. Together, Collins and Paganelli explore Smith’s views on trade, education, public debt, war, and justice, offering a rich and accessible portrait of The Wealth of Nations as both a foundational work of political economy and a deeply normative indictment of the British commercial system in Smith’s time. Dr. Maria Pia Paganelli is a professor of economics at Trinity University in San Antonio where she teaches classes in the principles of economics, the economics of law, Smithian economics, a study abroad course on the history of Iceland, and more. She is the author of The Routledge Guidebook of Smith's Wealth of Nations (Routledge, 2020), and co-edited the books Adam Smith and Rousseau: Ethics, Politics, and Economics (Edinburgh University Press, 2018), and The Oxford Handbook on Adam Smith (Oxford university Press, 2013). Show Notes: Adam Smith’s An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (Liberty Fund, 1982), available for free at Liberty Fund’s Online Library of Liberty.Maria Pia Paganelli, “The Adam Smith Problem in Reverse: Self-Interest in Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations and Theory of Moral Sentiments”Maria Pia Paganelli, “To Intervene or Not to Intervene: This is Smith’s Problem”Maria Pia Paganelli, “Adam Smith the Dissenter”Maria Pia Paganelli, “Adam Smith and the Morality of Political Economy: A Public Choice Reading”Maria Pia Paganelli and Reinhard Schumacher, “Do not take peace for granted: Adam Smith’s warning on the relation between commerce and war.”Maria Pia Paganelli and Reinhard Schumacher, “Smith and Hume at War: The Differing Views of Adam Smith and David Hume on Commerce and International Warfare”If you like the show, please subscribe, leave a 5-star review, and tell others about the show! We're available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and wherever you get your podcasts. Follow the Hayek Program on Twitter: @HayekProgram Learn more about Academic & Student Programs Follow the Mercatus Center on Twitter: @mercatus

    1hr 23min

  4. 13/08/2025

    Amit Ron and Abraham Singer on What Companies Owe Democracy

    On this episode of Virtual Sentiments, host Kristen Collins speaks with Amit Ron and Abraham Singer, co-authors of Everyone’s Business:What Companies Owe Society (The University of Chicago Press, 2024). Together, Ron and Singer argue that businesses should move beyond profit and stakeholder models to actively protect democratic practices such as inclusion, reflexivity, and public oversight. They reject corporate claims to “civil disobedience” as prone to self-interest and warn against lobbying practices that create only the appearance of public participation. Drawing on the idea of institutional pluralism, they emphasize that democracy’s role is to continually assess and revise the work of different institutions to ensure they serve the public interest. Dr. Amit Ron is an Associate Professor in School of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Arizona State University, focusing on the history of political economy and democratic theory. Dr. Abraham Singer is an Associate Professor of Management at Quinlan School of Business at Loyola University Chicago, specializing in business ethics and political theory. Read more work from Kristen Collins. Show Notes: Abe and Amit's book, Everyone’s Business: What Companies Owe Society (The University of Chicago Press, 2024)Virtual Sentiments, S3E1 "Kris Rose on Deliberative Democracy and Meta's Community Forums"Virtual Sentiments, S3E5 "Alice Siu on Deliberative Polling and the Future of Democratic Dialogue"Virtual Sentiments, S1E4 "Jennifer Forestal on Designing Democratic Digital Spaces"Kevin Elliot’s Democracy for Busy PeopleMark Warren’s article, "Political Corruption as Duplicitous Exclusion"Pierre-Yves Néron's Seeing Like a Firm: Social Justice, Corporatiosn and the Conservative OrderScherer and Palazzo's 2007 article, "Toward a Political Conception of Corporate Responsibility: Business and Society Seen From a Habermasian Perspective"If you like the show, please subscribe, leave a 5-star review, and tell others about the show! We're available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and wherever you get your podcasts. Follow the Hayek Program on Twitter: @HayekProgram Learn more about Academic & Student Programs Follow the Mercatus Center on Twitter: @mercatus

    1hr 37min

  5. 16/07/2025

    Susan Brison on the Aftermath of Sexual Violence and the Remaking of the Self

    **Content Warning** This episode includes discussions of sexual assault and attempted murder, which may be distressing for some listeners. Please listen with care. On this episode of Virtual Sentiments, host Kristen Collins speaks with Susan Brison, author of Aftermath: Violence and the Remaking of a Self (Princeton University Press, 2002; 20th Anniversary Edition, 2023). In this conversation, Brison reflects on trauma, gendered violence, and the limits of traditional philosophy. She shares the story of her own rape, the trial that followed, and how it shaped her research and philosophy. Their conversation explores the feminist claim that “the personal is political,” emphasizing how trauma disrupts trust and identity, and how recovery requires relational support. Brison also critiques the punitive criminal justice system, advocating for restorative approaches that promote healing over retribution. Dr. Susan Brison is Susan and James Wright Professor of Computation and Just Communities and Professor of Philosophy at Dartmouth College where she is also Director of the Susan and James Wright Center for the Study of Computation and Just Communities. Read more work from Kristen Collins. Show Notes: APA Studies's special issue on Susan's work, "Feminism and Philosophy"Judith Herman's Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence—From Domestic Abuse to Political TerrorNancy Sherman's Afterwar: Healing the Moral Wounds of Our SoldiersJonathan Shay's Achilles in Vietnam: Combat Trauma and the Undoing of CharacterRobin Dembroff's "Real Men on Top"Linda Martin Alcoff's Rape and ResistanceMary Ann Franks's "Democratic Surveillance"If you like the show, please subscribe, leave a 5-star review, and tell others about the show! We're available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and wherever you get your podcasts. Follow the Hayek Program on Twitter: @HayekProgram Learn more about Academic & Student Programs Follow the Mercatus Center on Twitter: @mercatus

    1hr 31min

  6. 18/06/2025

    Deva Woodly on Civil Society and the Politics of Care

    On this episode of Virtual Sentiments, host Kristen Collins chats with Deva Woodly on her book, Reckoning: Black Lives Matter and the Democratic Necessity of Social Movements (Oxford University Press, 2021), which draw from on-the-ground interviews with leaders in the Black Lives Matter Movement to comment on social movements and their role in democracy. In response to our current political moment, Woodly offers an alternative vision rooted in care, mutual aid, and solidarity economies, and highlights the ongoing erosion of the old order and the emergence of new democratic practices. The episode is both an urgent call to action and a hopeful reminder that democratic reconstruction begins with the small, collective acts of everyday life. Dr. Deva Woodly is a Professor of Political Science at Brown University. Woodly's work develops the concept of radical Black feminist pragmatism, offering a political vision grounded in care, solidarity, and participatory democracy. Her research and public commentary illuminate how movements like Black Lives Matter are reshaping our political landscape from the ground up. Read more work from Kristen Collins. Show Notes: Robert Putnam's Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American CommunityAlexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in AmericaErik Olin Wright's How to Be an Anti-Capitalist in the 21st CenturyBernard Harcourt's Cooperation: A Political, Economic, and Social TheoryIf you like the show, please subscribe, leave a 5-star review, and tell others about the show! We're available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and wherever you get your podcasts. Follow the Hayek Program on Twitter: @HayekProgram Learn more about Academic & Student Programs Follow the Mercatus Center on Twitter: @mercatus

    1hr 32min

  7. 21/05/2025

    Alice Siu on Deliberative Polling and the Future of Democratic Dialogue

    On this episode of Virtual Sentiments, host Kristen Collins chats with Alice Siu on how deliberative polling fosters informed, respectful public dialogue. They discuss the method’s use in both in-person and on AI-assisted virtual forums, its role in shaping policy, and its potential to reduce polarization. Alice highlights the importance of teaching deliberative skills in schools and how real-time, structured conversations can strengthen democracy. Dr. Alice Siu is an Associate Director at Stanford University’s Deliberative Democracy Lab and a senior research fellow at the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law. Read more work from Kristen Collins. Show Notes: Alice’s book chapter, “Reimagining Democracy: The Role of Technology and Deliberation”Alice's paper for the American Political Science Review, "Can Deliberation Have Lasting Effects?"Alice’s paper for the American Political Science Review, “Is Deliberation an Antidote to Extreme Partisan Polarization? Reflections on ‘America in One Room’”Results of Alice’s work with Meta, April 2024, April 2025, “Results of First Global Deliberative Poll® Announced by Stanford’s Deliberative Democracy Lab”New York Times article, “She Is in Love With ChatGPT”S1E4, Jennifer Forestal on Designing Democratic Digital SpacesS3E1, Kris Rose on Deliberative Democracy and Meta's Community ForumsIf you like the show, please subscribe, leave a 5-star review, and tell others about the show! We're available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and wherever you get your podcasts. Follow the Hayek Program on Twitter: @HayekProgram Learn more about Academic & Student Programs Follow the Mercatus Center on Twitter: @mercatus

    1hr 22min

  8. 23/04/2025

    Hannah Gais on the Far-Right Rallies and Social Media Presence

    On this episode of Virtual Sentiments, host Kristen Collins chats with Hannah Gais on the far-right rallies and social media presence on platforms like Telegram and X. Hannah explores the events of the Unite the Right rally, the storming of the capital on January 6th, the far-right in the wake of the first and second Trump presidencies, and the dangers of expanding domestic terrorism laws. **This episode was recorded in December 2024. Hannah Gais is a journalist and researcher focused on the radical right at the Southern Poverty Law Center. Read more work from Kristen Collins. Show Notes: Hannah's work with Cassie Miller, "Capitol Insurrection Shows How Trends On The Far-Right’s Fringe Have Become Mainstream"Hannah’s 2021 New Republic article, "A New 'War on Terrorism' Is the Wrong Way to Fight Domestic Extremists"Brennan Center report co-authored by Mike German, "Fighting Far-Right Violence and Hate Crimes"Hannah’s work drawing connections between more extreme figures and more mainstream figures like Tucker Carlson, "In Rural Pennsylvania, Extremists Declare ‘Victory is Ours’" and "For CPAC Attendees, ‘America Is Under Attack’"Hannah's article, "welcome to america"On Terrorgram indictments, "That's three strikes, run for your life"If you like the show, please subscribe, leave a 5-star review, and tell others about the show! We're available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and wherever you get your podcasts. Follow the Hayek Program on Twitter: @HayekProgram Learn more about Academic & Student Programs Follow the Mercatus Center on Twitter: @mercatus

    1hr 21min
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In Virtual Sentiments, Kristen Collins interviews scholars and practitioners grappling with the most pressing problems in political economy today with an eye to the past.

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