Recorded September 2026
Broadcast October 11,, 2026
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Every day we are bombarded by advertisements for products and companies that exploit our insecurities and vulnerabilities. We’re told that we’re too fat to be loved, too lazy to be helped, or too…whatever. And if it’s not companies doing the shaming, it’s other people. Social networks are filled with commentors ridiculing those filmed acting out in public and some even organize to get the subjects of the videos fired from their jobs. Is any of this good or desirable? When is shame a moral tool for social pressure and when is it destructive? This episode explores these questions and more, relating them to health, identity, and injustice.
Cathy O’Neil is a data scientist and former math professor who moved to the private sector to work as a quant and an auditor. She is the author of two books Weapons of Math Destruction and more recently, The Shame Machine. This is her second appearance on our show. She joined us in April of 2018 to help us ask whether big data is destroying democracy.
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