Why Nothing Works: Robber Barons, Algorithms & Governing AI

From Breaking Math Podcast Autumn Phaneuf & Noah Giansiracusa

In this episode, Historian and author Marc Dunkelman to explain why the 19th-century fight over railroad power is the exact fight we're about to have over algorithms and AI. Drawing on his acclaimed book Why Nothing Works: Who Killed Progress — and How to Bring It Back (a Best Book of the Year in the Financial Times and The Economist), Marc unpacks the two competing tools America has always used against concentrated power — antitrust vs. regulation — and why our government's "endemic diffusion of authority" now means nobody can decide anything, from congestion pricing to clean-energy transmission lines to AI safety.

CHAPTERS

04:52 — When private projects come back to the public: Warp Speed, DARPA, CHIPS

08:55 — Two ways to fight concentrated power: break them up vs. regulate

10:52 — Railroads, island communities & the birth of regulation

12:29 — The railroad = algorithm parallel

20:33 — Why nothing gets built: the diffusion of authority

27:30 — "A voice without a veto" and the AI moment

32:53 — Where should government draw the line on new tech?

37:20 — Dunkelman the pragmatist: there is no simple answer

38:21 — Where math and AI can genuinely help public policy

40:46 — The lesson we keep overlooking

Follow Marc on X [https://x.com/MarcDunkelman]