Chris Hayes makes a dwelling from consideration: What deserves some, what doesn’t, and the way to be sure that the public provides their very own restricted span of it to the proper issues.
That sounds easy sufficient. However as I discovered throughout my dialog with Hayes, which kicks off season two of The Big Interview podcast, it’s more and more not. In 2025, the host of MS Now’s All In With Chris Hayes launched The Sirens’ Name: How Consideration Grew to become the World’s Most Endangered Useful resource—a e-book whose central thesis argues that focus has develop into the defining commodity of recent life.
Consistent with that theme, Hayes himself is all over the place audiences spend time: opining on TV, internet hosting a podcast known as Why Is This Occurring?, interacting together with his 1000’s of followers on social networks, and posting vertical movies there as effectively. In different phrases, Hayes is each adept at contemplating the consideration economic system from an mental perch and is collaborating in it as an consideration service provider himself.
That’s particularly why I wished to discuss to Hayes, and discuss to him proper now. He has, in spite of everything, spent years learning and theorizing about consideration. Given our present circumstances, it will most likely behoove the remainder of us to do some of the similar. I used to be on the lookout for Hayes’ take on how the consideration economic system is more and more shaping every thing from leisure and elections to ICE raids and world wars, and the way each customers and journalists might take into consideration their very own function in that economic system as soberly and thoughtfully as attainable.
Once we sat down in early March, the US and Israel’s struggle with Iran was simply getting began. Even in these early days, it had develop into a black gap for our consideration, from relentless information alerts to President Trump’s Fact Social posts to AI-generated Division of Warfare propaganda. We had to discuss it—together with Hayes’ views on the uneasy alliance between Silicon Valley and Washington, DC, his social media technique, and what the left is getting flawed about AI.
This interview has been edited for size and readability.
KATIE DRUMMOND: Chris Hayes, welcome to The Huge Interview.
CHRIS HAYES: It is nice to be right here. I am an enormous fan of WIRED. You guys are doing superb work.
Thanks.
I write about WIRED in the e-book. I bear in mind asking my dad and mom for the subscription. I feel it was for Christmas. I used to be like a diehard. Each single web page.
I’ve been considering so much about WIRED previous, current, and future. I feel the very early WIRED had a really rebellious, countercultural spirit. And I’d argue the WIRED we are operating has that very same spirit, however directed at the business that was born of the 1993 WIRED.
Completely. We take into consideration who’s the incumbent, who’s the rebel, and the valence of that switching. That WIRED vibe was Whole Earth ’Lectronic Link, like the unique huge bulletin board, form of post-hippie cybernaut. Kinda libertarian, but additionally form of left-coded, however positively very hopeful utopian and in addition very rebel towards the powers that be. What occurred was the powers that be are now the people who sat with the president at his inauguration.
They positive did. And we sure did cover that.
So the rebel vibe is now directed in a distinct course.
We’re sitting down in New York. It is a Wednesday in early March. It’s laborious to consider only a few days in the past that the United States and Israel launched an all-out assault on Iran, which has escalated remarkably shortly. I’d be remiss not to point out that this is the second chief this yr that President Trump has ousted. The primary being Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela. What is taking place in the Center East is terrifying. It’s unhappy. Tons of of individuals are lifeless, together with US service members. It is additionally, although, one more all-consuming information cycle. It is a brain-melting, mind-numbing tempo of stories. We’re going to spend loads of time on this dialog speaking about consideration. When you consider international battle and struggle on this period, how a lot of it is about consideration?
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