A return to pragmatism
5/3/202653 min
MONDAY ANALYSIS: Reese Witherspoon has copped it this week for her comments about learning how to use AI tools. Emma Grede has continued to cop it for her comments about work-from-home culture. All of this backlash got us wondering: do we need a societal return to…pragmatism? Huge thanks to Merit for making this episode of Shameless possible! Sam Altman’s Trust Issues at OpenAI | The New Yorker Radio Hour Your hosts are Zara McDonald (@zamcdonald) and Michelle Andrews (@michelleandrews1). Shameless Podcast is produced by Annabelle Lee and Eilish Gilligan, executive-produced by Lucy Hunt and audio-edited by Eilish Gilligan. Our social media team consists of Naima Fatema, Divya Simmie and Eilish Gilligan, and our partnerships manager is Cindy Luu. Want to support our show? Clicking ‘follow’ on Apple and Spotify is the best way to do that, and we're super grateful to anyone who leaves a five-star review while they're at it. Also! An old-fashioned 'Tell a Friend In Real Life' is equally appreciated. Want more? We've got more… Subscribe to our newsletter Smart, Dumb Stuff: https://tinyurl.com/4yasjphn Follow us on Instagram: https://tinyurl.com/2mf557ux Aaaand we’re on TikTok: https://tinyurl.com/2hchchrp Everything else your heart could ever desire is here: https://linktr.ee/shamelesspodcast Thanks for listening! We’re huge fans of yours. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Transcript preview
First 90 secondsReese Witherspoon· Soundbite0:00
[upbeat music] Shameless Media.
Zara McDonald· Host0:05
[upbeat music] Hello, and welcome to Shameless, the pop culture podcast for smart people who love dumb stuff. You're joined, as always, by Melbourne writers Michelle Andrews and Zara McDonald.
Michelle Andrews· Host0:41
Hello, Zazzy McDonald. Happy Monday, and hello, producer Eilish Gilligan.
Reese Witherspoon· Soundbite0:44
Hello.
Zara McDonald· Host0:45
Hello, both. Coming up on today's show, Reese Witherspoon is copping it for saying women should learn more about AI, and that has given us pause for thought, Michelle Andrews.
Michelle Andrews· Host0:56
Yes.
Zara McDonald· Host0:56
Not just about the specific conversation about women and AI. Don't worry, we won't spend this entire episode on AI. But kind of the realities of the world we live in today and how much we have to kind of weigh up idealism versus pragmatism.
Michelle Andrews· Host1:10
Yeah. A big wrestling of those two competing things. Or m- well, maybe some people don't think they're competing. Uh, we're gonna wade through it all today. We've seen a lot of similar conversations pop up online, and it's made us really wonder: where does pragmatism come into all of this? Do we need to return to pragmatism? Perhaps by the end of the episode we'll have an answer. Can't