Ezra Klein On: Sane News Consumption; The Power of Meditation; The Future of the Species; And the Message of His Tattoo

This is the 10% happier podcast. I'm Dan Harris. Hey gang, how are we doing? One of the ways that I try to keep myself sane in today's rather insane news environment is to listen to voices from across the ideological spectrum.

I find it counterintuitively calming to consistently challenge my own views. So I have folks I listen to on the right, in the center, and on the left. One of my favorite voices on the left, a guy who, in my opinion, does a real service through his public sense making, is Ezra Klein, who works for the New York Times, where he's an opinion writer and the host of the Ezra Klein show, which is a hugely popular must-hear podcast. You may have seen that Ezra has been on a PR rumspringa of late promoting his new book, which is called Abundance, which hit number one on the New York Times bestsellers list.

We don't talk about that book at all in this interview. Although I do recommend you read it, the basic thesis is that America's core problem right now is not a lack of resources or ideas, but a failure to build, to complete ambitious projects in areas like affordable housing, infrastructure, and climate change. Anyway, instead of talking about that in this interview, I talked to Ezra, a guy who really is living in the eye of the storm when it comes to the news, about how he maintains some degree of equanimity. We talk about his digital hygiene, his meditation practice, and his tattoo, which is a reminder to maintain intellectual humility. We also talk about his new end of the day ritual, and about the future of the species at what appears to be a pivotal and potentially quite dangerous moment.

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