Smart Girl Dumb Questions

Suborno Isaac Bari cracked basic algebra before his 2nd birthday. He's now a 13-year-old college sophomore: will he have to move back in with his parents like so many college grads are doing these days? And does this genius worry about the job market?

Nayeema sits down with Suborno — who plans to graduate from NYU next year with a double-major in math and physics. And gets to the big Q: is it dumb to be smart in an AI era where we could just put our brains in a jar, outsource intelligence to machines, and power them with tokens?

Also on the agenda: Nayeema gets corrected on the transitive property (humiliating), whether math is a “construct” (and why that’s not an insult), why cheating has basically gone nuclear since ChatGPT, and Suborno’s surprisingly spicy three-point plan to reform American education. Is this kid running for President or what?!

Send us your “dumb questions” on IG/TikTok @smartgirldumbquestions or by calling 1-855-MyDumbQ. 

Make sure you’re following Nayeema and the show on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok.  And obvi: SHARE THE SHOW WITH YOUR FRIENDS OR YOUR MOM.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How do you stay peppy when the world is on fire? Nayeema sits down with Nick Kosir — aka the Dancing Weatherman and Fox Weather meteorologist to ask: Why are all weather people hot … and what exactly do they do? Is it just vibes + a green screen? And is AI going to steal Nick’s, Nayeema’s and all of our jobs?

Also on the agenda: cloud seeding, climate change, whether the World Meteorological Organization is the illuminati, the human cost of naming people after hurricanes and Nick’s compelling advice for how to change a life and take a risk at any age. 

Send us your “dumb questions” on IG/TikTok @smartgirldumbquestions or by calling 1-855-MyDumbQ. Follow Nick @nickkosir

Make sure you’re following Nayeema and the show on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok.  And obvi: SHARE THE SHOW WITH YOUR FRIENDS OR YOUR MOM.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Who picks Iran’s Ayatollah? What are the Israelis and Americans up to? How did we get here? AND: WILL IT EVER END? Today’s SGDQ bonus drop is an IRAN 101 cutdown of a Summer 2025 conversation Nayeema had with Dr. Vali Nasr, a John Hopkins SAIS professor, Middle East expert and author of Iran’s Grand Strategy.

IMPORTANTLY: The original conversation (available in the show feed) was taped in June 2025, on the heels of the Twelve Day War. We hope this version provides context and perspective to ground your curiosity. It's an escape from the doomscrolling and a supplement (not substitute) for the news. A lot has happened in the last 8-ish months so Nayeema recommends checking out Professor Nasr's most recent writings and interviews to track the evolution of the situation in Iran and his own perspective.

You can find Dr. Nasr on X @vali_nasr. Follow Nayeema on IG or X too – and you can find the show on IG, TikTok & YouTube @smartgirldumbquestions. 

Slide into our DMs, call us at 1-855-MYDUMBQ or send your dumbest questions to [email protected] 
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is it time to date ChatDaddy? Today we're playing you a debate Nayeema hosted at New York's Comedy Cellar for a show we love: Open to Debate. Nayeema moderates an academic, fun and relevant showdown between Dr. Thao Ha of University of Arizona's HEART Lab, and Dr. Justin Garcia of the Kinsey Institute around this question: Could dating an AI be better than dating a human? 

Be sure to get more Open to Debate on Apple, Spotify,  YouTube or Substack. They share SGDQ's values of curiosity and openness and have thought-provoking debates on topics ranging from the war on drugs to US China policy and whether we should eat anything with a face. You can also get more of Justin in the SGDQ episode Are We Really Having Less Sex  in the feed below  or in his **newly released** book: The Intimate Animal. And in the interest of equal time and because she rocks, we'll need to have Thao Ha on soon too!

Want to be on SGDQ? Send us your “dumb questions” on IG/TikTok @smartgirldumbquestions or by calling 1-855-MyDumbQ. Make sure you’re following Nayeema and the show on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok.  And obvi: SHARE THE SHOW WITH YOUR FRIENDS AND YOUR MOM.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is our language becoming unrecognizable and is that the internet’s fault? Nayeema sits down with Adam Aleksic (aka Etymology Nerd), a linguistics nerd and author of Algospeak — to decode how social media is rewiring the words we use, the way we say them, and what counts as “normal” language now. They get into euphemisms, censorship, why some words go viral, why “woke” became a culture-war grenade, and what happens when the dictionary can’t keep up. 

Link to Yuval's speech at Davos: HERE

Want to be on SGDQ? Send us your “dumb questions” on IG/TikTok @smartgirldumbquestions or by calling 1-855-MyDumbQ. Or, you know, call Congress at (202) 224-3121.

Make sure you’re following Nayeema and the show on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok.  And obvi: SHARE THE SHOW WITH YOUR FRIENDS AND YOUR MOM.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices