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You v. You

This episode, originally aired more than a decade ago, attempts to answer one question: how do you win against your worst impulses? Zelda Gamson tried for decades to stop smoking, but the part of her that wanted to quit couldn’t beat the part of her that refused to let go. Adam Davidson, a co-founder of the NPR podcast Planet Money, talked to one of the greatest negotiators of all time, Nobel Prize-winning Economist Thomas Schelling, whose tactical skills saw him through high-stakes conflicts during the Cold War but fell apart when he tried them on himself in his battle to quit smoking. And a baby Pat Walters complicates things — in a good way — with the story of two brothers, Dennis and Kai Woo, who forged a deal with each other that wound up determining both of their futures. Our newsletter comes out every Wednesday. It includes short essays, recommendations, and details about other ways to interact with the show. Sign up (https://radiolab.org/newsletter)! Radiolab is supported by listeners like you. Support Radiolab by becoming a member of The Lab (https://members.radiolab.org/) today. Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @radiolab, and share your thoughts with us by emailing [email protected].  
Duration
28m
Broadcast on
22 Jul 2022
Audio Format
other

This episode, originally aired more than a decade ago, attempts to answer one question: how do you win against your worst impulses? Zelda Gamson tried for decades to stop smoking, but the part of her that wanted to quit couldn’t beat the part of her that refused to let go. Adam Davidson, a co-founder of the NPR podcast Planet Money, talked to one of the greatest negotiators of all time, Nobel Prize-winning Economist Thomas Schelling, whose tactical skills saw him through high-stakes conflicts during the Cold War but fell apart when he tried them on himself in his battle to quit smoking. And a baby Pat Walters complicates things — in a good way — with the story of two brothers, Dennis and Kai Woo, who forged a deal with each other that wound up determining both of their futures.

Our newsletter comes out every Wednesday. It includes short essays, recommendations, and details about other ways to interact with the show. Sign up (https://radiolab.org/newsletter)!

Radiolab is supported by listeners like you. Support Radiolab by becoming a member of The Lab (https://members.radiolab.org/) today.

Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @radiolab, and share your thoughts with us by emailing [email protected].

 


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No, wait, you're listening to Radio Lab from WNYC. Hey, I'm Latif Nasser. This is Radio Lab, starting with a quick announcement, but a fun one. Our merch store, which we're calling Camp Radio Lab this time around because there's this great camp inspired t-shirt, is open for one more week. Head on over to RadioLab.org/shop sometime before July 29th. You can get aforementioned t-shirt as well as hats and sweatbands and other summer gear water bottle. Once you are decked out in all that Radio Lab swag, take a pic, tag us on insta or Twitter. Yeah, just show off your nerdy summer self. We'd love to see it. Again, that is RadioLab.org/shop for all your summer gear needs, which you will need because it is hot. I am sweating. You may be sweating. You may not be able to think about anything other than the next time you can get in a pool or a walk-in freezer or something. But let me ask you about something you are probably not thinking about, which is, how are those New Year's resolutions from seven months ago? How are you doing with those? I ask because the episode you are about to hear, which is an oldie, it's called you versus you, it's all about this kind of struggle, this struggle between the prudent, well-planned version of you that you imagined in the past and then the impulsive, instant gratification chasing you of this moment right now. And if you, like me, are a kind of living, walking mockery of your own imagination of yourself from the past, maybe this episode will help. Who knows? Either way, I hope you enjoy it. Here it is, you versus you. Okay, from the top, you ready? Yep. Hello. Hello. How are you doing? We're going to start things off today with this lady. Zelda, Gamson. Welcome to our little spot. It's beautiful. Thank you. She's 80 years old. And these days, Zelda lives a quiet life by the sea. On Martha's Vineyard. Did you have some coffee? She visits with her grandkids, does some gardening. We have a bird feeder and it is the bird show of the world. But life for Zelda wasn't always so calm. Back in the 60s, when our story begins, she was a very different kind of lady. She even went by a different nickname, just Z. Okay, I was a smoker 30 years. Wow.

Transcription truncated.

This episode, originally aired more than a decade ago, attempts to answer one question: how do you win against your worst impulses? Zelda Gamson tried for decades to stop smoking, but the part of her that wanted to quit couldn’t beat the part of her that refused to let go. Adam Davidson, a co-founder of the NPR podcast Planet Money, talked to one of the greatest negotiators of all time, Nobel Prize-winning Economist Thomas Schelling, whose tactical skills saw him through high-stakes conflicts during the Cold War but fell apart when he tried them on himself in his battle to quit smoking. And a baby Pat Walters complicates things — in a good way — with the story of two brothers, Dennis and Kai Woo, who forged a deal with each other that wound up determining both of their futures. Our newsletter comes out every Wednesday. It includes short essays, recommendations, and details about other ways to interact with the show. Sign up (https://radiolab.org/newsletter)! Radiolab is supported by listeners like you. Support Radiolab by becoming a member of The Lab (https://members.radiolab.org/) today. Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @radiolab, and share your thoughts with us by emailing [email protected].