You Are Insufficiently Grateful for Modernity | Interview: Chelsea Follett

No one ever accused Jonah Goldberg of nostalgic longing for the Middle Ages. Accordingly, he’s grown tired of the tradbros and hippies who claim that the premodern world was just better. In that vein, he welcomes the Cato Institute’s Chelsea Follett, author of The Grim Old Days. Listen in as Chelsea and Jonah discuss the causes and effects of the Industrial Revolution, life expectancy, working hours, grandparents, sanitation, animal welfare, health and wellness, childhood, environmentalism, smartphones, Rousseau’s “noble savage,” witches, and romanticization of the past. Show Notes: The Remnant is a production of ⁠The Dispatch⁠, a digital media company covering politics, policy, and culture from a nonpartisan perspective. To access all of The Dispatch’s offerings—including the Saturday Ruminant, audio versions of all our articles and newsletters, and Jonah’s twice-weekly G-File—⁠click here⁠. Instructions on how to set up your members-only feed can be found here, and if you’d like to remove all ads from your podcast experience, consider becoming a premium Dispatch member ⁠by clicking here⁠. Want to see more of The Dispatch in Google search? Add Us as a Preferred Source Jonah Goldberg is editor-in-chief and co-founder of The Dispatch, based in Washington, D.C. Prior to that, enormous lizards roamed the Earth. More immediately prior to that, Jonah spent two decades at National Review, where he was a senior editor, among other things. He is also a bestselling author, longtime columnist for the Los Angeles Times, commentator for CNN, and a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. When he is not writing the G-File or hosting The Remnant podcast, he finds real joy in family time, attending to his dogs and cat, and blaming Steve Hayes for various things. The podcast transcription below was generated using artificial intelligence and may include occasional errors or misspellings. Jonah Goldberg 0:00 [upbeat music] Oh. Jonah Goldberg 0:14 [upbeat music] Ladies and gentlemen, uh, Jonah Goldberg 0:16 can I please have your attention? Can you dig it? [crowd cheering] Jonah Goldberg 0:27 Greetings, dear listeners. This is Jonah Goldberg, host of the "Remnant Podcast," brought to you by The Dispatch and Dispatch Media. Many of you have heard me lament in the past my desire for a German word for the feeling of sort of melancholy or m- weltschmerz upon discovering a book that didn't exist when you were working on your last book. And whatever that word would be, I will take, I will take advice in the comments. "The Grim Old Days" by Chelsea Follett would be at the top of that list. Chelsea Follett is a research fellow at the Cato Institute's Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity, working with humanprogress.org, uh, which is at least partly run by my friend Marian Tupy. It's one of the more depressing books, or it's one of the more, um, uplifting books if you think about, uh, the fact that you're reading about what's in our rear-view mirror rather than what's in our future. But I will leave that to our, our guest today, Chelsea Follett, to, uh, further explain. So Chelsea, welcome to "The Remnant." Chelsea Follett 1:26 Thank you so much for having me on. Interactive transcripts are available to Premium members. Join to follow along with the audio. Join Now More We Think You’d Like