Santiago Ramos

1 month ago | wisdomofcrowds.live | Shadi Hamid |Damir Marusic |Santiago Ramos

Current time: 0:00 / Total time: -51:20Audio playback is not supported on your browser. Please upgrade. Recent events suggest that the balance of power is breaking down. Trump is achieving executive supremacy. In less fancy terms, Trump looks like he’s becoming a dictator. Rule of law might be slipping away. and agree about all this. But they disagree about which recent event is the true inflection point.

2 months ago | wisdomofcrowds.live | Mana Afsari |Damon Linker |Santiago Ramos |Shadi Hamid

Current time: 0:00 / Total time: -55:02Audio playback is not supported on your browser. Please upgrade. is a writer and sometime contributor to Wisdom of Crowds, whose career has taken her from the RAND Corporation, to a job as an assistant to a a great American poet, to the position of Research Associate at the Aspen Institute’s Philosophy and Society Initiative.

Feb 6, 2025 | wisdomofcrowds.live | Santiago Ramos |Shadi Hamid |Damir Marusic |John Ganz

Donald Trump and Elon Musk are moving quickly, so we decided to release this episode a few days early. In a half-week of alarming developments, Trump has announced that the United States might send troops to Gaza to transfer the Palestinian population to Egypt or Jordan, and to aid in reconstructing the country. Elon Musk has become the undertaker of government agencies, the wrecker of the civil service.

Jan 29, 2025 | commonwealmagazine.org | Brian Swann |Santiago Ramos |Vanessa R. Corcoran |Jonathan Malesic

I found bits of it even when   it maybe wasn’t there like clouds      or shadow. I found it when         I wasn’t even looking or didn’twant it, or it found me when   least expected, but when I tried      to grab, away it squirmed and bit me         hard. How confusing, life! I’ve often begged it to let me go.    I’ll keep quiet, I say. I won’t say      a word. No one will blame you,         no one will know. I’ll hide awayfrom it all. Think I care? it says. So   in silence I wait, going nowhere.

Jan 29, 2025 | commonwealmagazine.org | Regina Munch |Santiago Ramos |Vanessa R. Corcoran |Jonathan Malesic

In college, a guidance counselor regularly lectured our cohort on the importance of being “impactful.” Impactful people are “doers”: they see a problem, need, or inefficiency, and through relentless grit and superior vision, they make change. Impactful people have their elevator pitch down. They have diverse interests and strengths while also being obsessively focused on their goal. They’re on the cutting edge, but they make it look effortless and obvious.