President Donald Trump has been using the phrase “common sense” a lot. But it turns out that this is nothing new for politicians.

This hour, we look at how common sense is used in politics. Plus, is there really such a thing as common sense? We dig into what it means and if it’s possible to teach it to artificial intelligence.

GUESTS: 


Sophia Rosenfeld: Walter H. Annenberg Professor of History and Chair of the Department of History at the University of Pennsylvania; she is the author of multiple books, including Common Sense: A Political History and her new book, The Age of Choice: A History of Freedom in Modern Life


Mark Whiting: Research fellow at the Computational Social Science lab at the University of Pennsylvania and chief technology officer of the startup Pareto.AI; you can find the common sense survey here 


Mayank Kejriwal: Research professor and principal scientist at the University of Southern California

The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!

Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Angelica Gajewski, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired on March 6, 2025.

President Donald Trump has been using the phrase &ldquo;common sense&rdquo; a lot. But it turns out that this is nothing new for politicians.
This hour, we look at how common sense is used in politics. Plus, is there really such a thing as common sense? We dig into what it means and if it&rsquo;s possible to teach it to artificial intelligence.
GUESTS:&nbsp;
<ul>
<li>
Sophia Rosenfeld: Walter H. Annenberg Professor of History and Chair of the Department of History at the University of Pennsylvania; she is the author of multiple books, including <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674284166">Common Sense: A Political History</a> and her new book, <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691164717/the-age-of-choice?srsltid=AfmBOopFjkkIIWyeLsGPSJ5oZW5RYZPyJX0OcwP2mrzCbvxVkSW_h-Es">The Age of Choice: A History of Freedom in Modern Life</a>
</li>
<li>
Mark Whiting: Research fellow at the Computational Social Science lab at the University of Pennsylvania and chief technology officer of the startup Pareto.AI; you can find the common sense survey <a href="https://commonsense.seas.upenn.edu/">here</a>&nbsp;
</li>
<li>
Mayank Kejriwal: Research professor and principal scientist at the University of Southern California
</li>
</ul>
The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-colin-mcenroe-show/id714179884">Apple Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/0AXtqrzWounIoJyIqz003p">Spotify</a>, <a href="https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9b6b3cee-f69b-4729-a78b-181f851d80e8/the-colin-mcenroe-show">Amazon Music</a>, <a href="https://tunein.com/podcasts/News--Politics-Podcasts/The-Colin-McEnroe-Show-p1208473/">TuneIn</a>, <a href="https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/the-colin-mcenroe-show-connecticut-public-lXR08dxQSM5/">Listen Notes</a>, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode!
<a href="https://www.ctpublic.org/newsletters">Subscribe to The Noseletter</a>, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show.
Join the conversation on <a href="https://facebook.com/ColinMcShow">Facebook</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/colinmcshow">Twitter</a>.
Colin McEnroe, Angelica Gajewski, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired on March 6, 2025.

The Colin McEnroe Show is public radio’s most eclectic, eccentric weekday program. The best way to understand us is through the subjects we tackle: Neanderthals, tambourines, handshakes, the Iliad, snacks, ringtones, punk rock, Occam’s razor, Rasputin, houseflies, zippers. Are you sensing a pattern? If so, you should probably be in treatment. On Fridays, we try to stop thinking about what kind of ringtones Neanderthals would want to have and convene a panel called The Nose for an informal roundtable about the week in culture.

<a href="https://www.ctpublic.org/show/the-colin-mcenroe-show/about">The Colin McEnroe Show</a> is public radio’s most eclectic, eccentric weekday program. The best way to understand us is through the subjects we tackle: Neanderthals, tambourines, handshakes, the Iliad, snacks, ringtones, punk rock, Occam’s razor, Rasputin, houseflies, zippers. Are you sensing a pattern? If so, you should probably be in treatment. On Fridays, we try to stop thinking about what kind of ringtones Neanderthals would want to have and convene a panel called <a href="https://www.ctpublic.org/tags/the-nose">The Nose</a> for an informal roundtable about the week in culture.

Advertisement