Gerrymandering, hard-wired brains and the baby under the desk

Could big data make elections more fair? One of our listeners is looking for answers about gerrymandering, and we got some help this week from Justin Levitt, professor of law at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. He has something to say about elected officials listening to their constituents.

Then, we’re looking back at previous episodes of Make Me Smart that focused on why it’s so hard for people to really listen to each other. We go all the way back to episode one, where we posed this question to people at the presidential inauguration and at the Women’s March: “What do you want the other side to know about you?”

And of course, we’re listening again to our full interview with George Lakoff, who for many years was a professor of cognitive science and linguistics at the University of California, Berkeley. He has plenty to say about the way our brains are hard wired to reject information that conflicts with our world view.

Plus: Where do you put the baby when your boss won’t give you paternity leave?

Don’t forget to vote for what we should call “moral capitalism”! There’s a link to the poll at MakeMeSmart.org