In 2016, Tim Urban, creator of the popular blog “Wait But Why” looked out at American society and knew something was off. Political tribalism was on the rise, anger was overflowing on social media, and productive discussions seemed impossible. Urban spent the next six years taking a deep-dive journey to explore the most pressing issues facing society. In the bestselling book “What’s Our Problem?” published in February 2023, Urban shares what he discovered.
In this talk, Urban zooms out on the American landscape, explaining how rapid changes in technology, geography, government and media have had unforeseen consequences. Tim believes our political thinking and conversations are constrained by the lens we use: the “horizontal” left-center-right political axis. He introduces the audience to a new way to visualize politics, using the core tool in his bestselling book: a vertical axis that can add a critical element of nuance. Tim trades the polarizing political “left” and “right” for two new, useful terms: “high-rung politics” and “low-rung politics.”
As we move from high to low, nuanced spectrums simplify to rigid binaries; rich discussion gives way to conformity and groupthink; common-humanity activism becomes common-enemy activism. In short, our problem is that low-rung politics is spreading, and high-rung politics is fading.
This event is hosted by the Colleges of Law and Business.
Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025 at 12–1 p.m.
McCollum Hall Room: Auditorium (College of Law on East Campus), 1875 N 42nd St, Lincoln NE 68583
More details at: https://events.unl.edu/cba/2025/11/20/193247/