Maiden Mother Matriarch with Louise Perry

In this bonus episode, Rob Henderson and I discussed the legacy of Aaron Sorkin, and the end of the political era that his work represented.
Discussed in the episode:
Sorkin interviewed on the BBC.
Rob’s NYT piece on The West Wing.

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Give the gift of everyday luxury and make every moment comfortable. Head to cozyearth.com and use my code COZYMMM for 20% off sitewide. And if you get a Post-Purchase Survey, be sure to mention you heard about Cozy Earth at the Maiden Mother Matriarch podcast.

We are all descended from thousands of generations of parents who successfully raised their children to adulthood. But, unlike those parents, we all have access to plentiful food, indoor plumbing, effective medicine, and all of the other technologies that make modern life so comfortable. You might expect, therefore, that the modern experience of parenthood would feel easy. Why doesn't it?

My guest today first started thinking about the unnaturalness of modern parenting when she became the mother of two little kids, born close together in age. She was spending much of her time alone with them and feeling acutely stressed. It set her thinking about the evolutionary mismatch between this very isolated existence, and the way in which our ancient ancestors raised their children.

Elena Bridgers is a science writer and author of the substack 'Motherhood Until Yesterday.' Today we spoke about the many ways in which modern parenting is historically strange – from co-sleeping to alloparenting to birth spacing. What can hunter gatherers teach us about how to make parenting easier?
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In this bonus episode, Nina Power and I reviewed Emerald Fennell's new film "Wuthering Heights." Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

MMM is sponsored by 321 - a new online introduction to Christianity, presented by former MMM guest Glen Scrivener. Check it out for free at 321course.com/MMM. Just enter your email, choose a password and you’re in — there’s no spam and no fees.

Give the gift of everyday luxury and make every moment comfortable. Head to cozyearth.com and use my code COZYMMM for 20% off sitewide. And if you get a Post-Purchase Survey, be sure to mention you heard about Cozy Earth at the Maiden Mother Matriarch podcast.

Testing a foetus or an embryo for some medical conditions is now a routine part of the modern pregnancy experience. Prenatal Down’s Syndrome tests, for instance, are now so widespread that in some Scandinavian countries almost 100 per cent of women choose to abort a foetus diagnosed with the condition, or – if using IVF – not implant the affected embryo. The result is a visible change to these populations: there are simply no more people with Down’s to be seen on the streets of Iceland and Denmark.

New technology is now available – at a high price – for those who want to go further. So-called polygenic embryo screening can give a very full picture of the adult that the embryo could become, including his or her vulnerability to an enormous number of diseases – heart disease, diabetes, cancer – and also the physical and psychological traits that he or she would likely possess: height, hair colour, athletic ability, conscientiousness, altruism, intelligence.

Is this a good thing? Should we welcome a world in which parents are routinely selecting their embryos in this way?

I'm joined today by two guests who take a very different view.

Emma Waters is a policy analyst at the Center for Technology and the Human Person at the Heritage Foundation. Her work focuses on family, biotechnology, and reproductive medicine.

Jonathan Anomaly is a philosopher, author of the book 'Creating Future People: The Science and Ethics of Genetic Enhancement', and is also the director of scientific research and communication for Herasight, a genetics startup that offers polygenic embryo screening.

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In this bonus episode, I spoke with Mary Harrington about the latest tranche of Epstein files, and what the scandal reveals about politics, power, and men. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.