Jun 19, 2025 · 1 hr 10 min · 8 segments
Last episode we met two Princeton political scientists who are bad at virology. Today we learn that they are also bad at political science. **Where to find us:**…
Peter ShamshiriHostThere's like the Pandemic, upper case, and that's like March, April, little bit of May 2020.
And then there's the pandemic, lower case, which is the rest of human civilization.
What's kind of amazing is that the pandemic does, at this point, become kind of more of a political science question.
Okay.
So, a lot of the cases and deaths of the first two months of the pandemic were kind of locked in by how much community spread there had been.
Once we come out of those initial lockdowns, however, we have a much lower background rate of COVID infection, and cities and states have much more ability to balance how severe is the pandemic versus how much do we want to reopen our economies.
Right.
Right.
And so, i- i- if you want to think about it thematically, it's like last episode was how they're bad at epidemiology, but this episode is how they're also bad at political science.
Well, to be clear, this is slightly deeper lore than we need, but I-
... have a political science degree, so I can say this stuff.
These are my words.
These are our words.
I have to, like, cut this and put it into pr- the previous episode because it seems like you're, like, against political science as a field.
(laughs)
People don't understand that I know that this is a blow-off major.
You can't fucking dick around with me-
There's like the Pandemic, upper case, and that's like March, April, little bit of May 2020.
And then there's the pandemic, lower case, which is the rest of human civilization.
What's kind of amazing is that the pandemic does, at this point, become kind of more of a political science question.
Okay.
So, a lot of the cases and deaths of the first two months of the pandemic were kind of locked in by how much community spread there had been.
Once we come out of those initial lockdowns, however, we have a much lower background rate of COVID infection, and cities and states have much more ability to balance how severe is the pandemic versus how much do we want to reopen our economies.
Right.
Right.
And so, i- i- if you want to think about it thematically, it's like last episode was how they're bad at epidemiology, but this episode is how they're also bad at political science.
Well, to be clear, this is slightly deeper lore than we need, but I-
... have a political science degree, so I can say this stuff.
These are my words.
These are our words.
I have to, like, cut this and put it into pr- the previous episode because it seems like you're, like, against political science as a field.
(laughs)
People don't understand that I know that this is a blow-off major.
You can't fucking dick around with me-
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