Episodes

  • How to Hack Your Brain's Moral Code (Joshua Greene)

    How to Hack Your Brain's Moral Code (Joshua Greene)
    Jul 14 2026
    What if a quiz show could fix America's political divide? Amanda talks with Harvard psychologist Joshua Greene about the neuroscience behind moral decision-making, why people don't donate to the charities that do the most good even when they want to, and how a simple cooperative quiz game is measurably reducing animosity between Republicans and Democrats. Amanda and Joshua also dig into effective altruism without the guilt trip, why dialogue alone often fails to bridge divides, and Joshua's own surprising evolution on religion and meditation. Added bonus: Listeners can try Joshua's donation-matching platform at givingmultiplier.org/knox to give to a cause you love (Amanda's is The Innocence Center) and a highly effective charity at the same time, with bonus matching funds for Hard Knox listeners. https://givingmultiplier.org/invite/KNOX Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 4 mins
  • Humor as Catharsis

    Humor as Catharsis
    Jul 9 2026
    As she prepares for the premiere of her one-woman show, Cartwheel, at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe this August, Amanda has been thinking about the relationship between tragedy and comedy. This episode from her 20-part Resilience series on the Waking Up app is a look at why finding humor in tragedy is more than a coping mechanism, but a genuine survival skill, and how that idea has shaped her approach to bringing her story to the stage. Hear the full 20-episode Resilience series at wakingup.com/amandaknox. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    17 mins
  • Old School: The Outlaw (Seth Ferranti)

    Old School: The Outlaw (Seth Ferranti)
    Jun 30 2026
    Seth Ferranti is a former LSD kingpin and fugitive on the US Marshall’s Top 15 Most Wanted list who faced a highly publicized and lengthy prison sentence due to the DEA's early-'90s crackdown on LSD. The self-described outlaw and ahead-of-his-time activist is now a journalist and filmmaker whose past life informs all aspects of his work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    52 mins
  • Good News Bad News

    Good News Bad News
    Jun 23 2026
    Amanda woke up to good news and bad news arriving at the exact same moment — again. In true Hard Knocks fashion, that personal experience sends Chris and Amanda down a rabbit hole exploring one of life's most disorienting puzzles: is there really such a thing as good news or bad news at all? From the Buddhist parable of the farmer to Stoic amor fati to Mel Brooks playing ball with the universe, they dig into what Zen, Taoism, and a lifetime of very public verdicts can teach us about staying sane when fate won't stop flipping the script. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    48 mins
  • Why Fear Makes Bad Policy (Laura Porter)

    Why Fear Makes Bad Policy (Laura Porter)
    Jun 16 2026
    The death penalty is often sold as justice. But what if it's just a very expensive decades-long process, doesn't deter crime, and gets it wrong often enough that 190 people have been exonerated from death row? Amanda sits down with Laura Porter, executive director of the U.S. Campaign to End the Death Penalty and former public defender of 12 years, for a conversation that refuses to stay on the surface. They get into the historical roots of America's cultural attachment to capital punishment, why the deterrence argument has been largely debunked, and what evidence-based violence prevention actually looks like in practice. They also ask the harder question underneath all of it: if the goal is a safer society and genuine healing for victims, is the death penalty even aimed at the right target? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 3 mins
  • Fifty Words for Snow

    Fifty Words for Snow
    Jun 9 2026
    Amanda Knox is a multi-linguist and self-described word nerd. In this essay she explores the fascinating world of untranslatable words, the ones that exist in some languages but not others, and what they reveal about the cultures that invented them. And at the end of it all, Amanda makes one of her own. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    16 mins
  • Old School: The Canceling of the American Mind (Greg Lukianoff)

    Old School: The Canceling of the American Mind (Greg Lukianoff)
    Jun 2 2026
    Greg Lukianoff is one of our nation's foremost defenders of free speech, co-author of "The Canceling of the American Mind," and president of FIRE, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. His journey to this place wasn’t easy, on a personal level, but the depressive spiral Greg eventually transcended gave him insight into the problems plaguing our public discourse. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    53 mins
  • Married to the Work

    Married to the Work
    May 26 2026
    What happens when your creative partner is also your spouse? Amanda and Chris dive into the messy, rewarding world of creative collaboration,from co-writing a book of love poems to navigating the high-stakes pressure of building a one-woman comedy show headed to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. They get real about the tension between structure and spontaneity, brutal feedback vs. the compliment sandwich, and what it actually means to support someone's creative vision when you don't always agree on what's funny. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 9 mins