Armstrong & Getty On Demand – A&G Replay Monday Hour Three

iHeartPodcasts | Nov 24, 2025

Episode Overview

This replay episode of Armstrong & Getty On Demand features a strong discussion about the evolving nature of human capability over the lifespan, social trends in American society, gender dynamics shaping institutions, and a sharp critique of the state of public education leadership. With their characteristic mix of wit, skepticism, and insightful banter, Jack Armstrong, Joe Getty, and Katie unpack recent research, social commentary, and current culture war controversies.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. When Do We Hit Our ‘Functional Peak’? (04:28–16:48)

• Study Findings: A comprehensive university study says the “functional peak”—when you're at your most capable across 16 life dimensions—occurs in your late 50s or early 60s, not mid-20s as commonly believed.
  • Physical strength and speed drop after 25, but other key capabilities surge much later.
• Cognitive & Emotional Development:
  • Fluid intelligence (quick thinking, problem solving) peaks at 20–25, then declines.
    • Katie: “Fluid intelligence... peaks around 25... and declines after that.” (06:37)
  • Crystallized intelligence (accumulated knowledge and vocabulary) keeps climbing into the 60s.
  • Financial literacy and moral reasoning also peak much later.
  • Emotional intelligence and the ability to avoid the sunk cost fallacy (cutting losses) are much stronger after 60 than at 30.
    • Joe: “Older adults are about twice as likely as younger adults to avoid the sunk cost fallacy...” (09:42)
  • Personality matures—conscientiousness and emotional stability both increase well into your 60s.
• Life Experience & Wisdom:
  • Accumulated experience improves your ability to deal with adversity, stay calm, and focus, akin to a seasoned athlete in their third Super Bowl.
    • Joe: “By the time you’re playing in your third super bowl, you’re focused on the game... you can’t be the first time.” (12:51)
  • Emotional stability might partially result from “lower testosterone,” Jack jokes; Katie fires back claiming credit for maturity.

Notable Quotes

• Katie (on wisdom): “You can call it wisdom if you wanted to. Financial literacy, for some reason, improves into your late 60s, early 70s.” (07:44)
• Joe: “Twice as likely at like 60 as you would be at 30... as opposed to, ‘well, we’ve come this far, we better keep spending more money.’” (09:42)

2. Society, Aging, and Who’s In Charge? (11:00–16:48)

• Older Leadership in Politics:
  • The crew notes political leaders (Trump, Biden) are often much older than the average “functioning peak,” raising questions about cognitive fitness and finance acumen in upper age brackets.
  • Katie: “Why do we have 80 year olds running the country?” (09:22)
• Corporate Leadership Trends:
  • Younger tech CEOs (Sam Altman et al.) defy the wisdom pattern—maybe because energy and out-of-the-box innovation trump experience in these fields.
    • Joe: “Maybe energy and willingness to work 80 hours a week and not being tied to... accumulated wisdom, maybe that explains it.” (16:04)

3. Cultural Commentary: The ‘Mar-a-Lago Face’ Plastic Surgery Trend (17:42–20:52)

• Plastic Surgery in D.C.:
  • Trend among Trump insiders/wannabes for overt plastic surgery—the “Mar-a-Lago Face.”
  • Plastic surgeons note: The goal isn’t subtlety, it’s to look obviously “done” (bigger lips, tighter eyes).
  • Danger of ‘Filler Blindness’:
    • Joe: “If you add more and more product to your face... you lose sight of anatomic normalcy.” (20:44)
  • Not just women—men seeking tux, liposuction, and eyelid lifts to fit the new aesthetic.

4. Wikipedia, AI, and the Future of Information (24:49–25:09)

• Wikipedia’s Traffic Decline:
  • Wikipedia blames AI chatbots for fewer users; Joe jokes that AI just regurgitates Wikipedia and cites them.
  • Joe: “AI said the same thing [as Wikipedia], slightly reworded it, and cited them as a source.” (25:01)

5. The Great Feminization: How Gender Shapes Institutions & Wokeness (25:10–37:44)

• Essay Discussion: Joe dives into Helen Andrews’ “The Great Feminization,” dissecting how the transition from male- to female-majority workforces in law, journalism, medicine, etc., aligns with the “woke” era.
  • Landmark: The Harvard-Summers scandal—Summers was canceled after discussing differences in aptitudes/preferences between male and female scientists.
    • Joe: “The entire woke era could be extrapolated from that moment, from the details of how Summers was canceled and most of all, who did the canceling—women.” (27:00)
• Key Thesis:
  • Wokeness is less about ideology, more about “feminine” social dynamics (empathy over logic, cohesion over competition, safety over risk) dominating institutions.
  • Statistical Milestones:
    • Law firms, NYT staff, medical schools, college educators—majorities flipped female during the 2010s–2020s.
  • Joe: “Everything you think of wokeness involves prioritizing the feminine over the masculine, empathy over rationality, safety over risk, cohesion over competition.” (31:50)
• Behavioral Patterns:
  • Conflict resolution:
    • Men confront directly, reconcile openly; women prefer consensus, indirect conflict (“ostracize rather than confront”).
  • Free Speech Values:
    • 71% of men favor it over cohesion, 60% of women prefer social harmony (32:04).
  • Professionalism & Political Expression:
    • Female-dominated professions blur professional and political lines (doctors wearing pins, lanyards).
    • Joe: “Now that medicine has become more feminized, doctors wear pins and lanyards expressing views on controversial issues...” (35:40)

Notable Quotes & Moments

• Joe: “Wokeness… is simply feminine patterns of behavior applied to institutions where women were few in number until recently.” (28:59)
• Katie: “Do women ostracize their enemies as opposed to confronting them openly...? Yeah, without a doubt.” (34:08)
• Joe: “If wokeness really is the result of the Great Feminization... the eruption of insanity in 2020 was just a small, small taste of what the future holds.” (37:30)
• Katie: “When we’re all dead who remember the before times, there won’t be anybody around to say, hey, it didn’t used to be like this.” (37:44)

6. Book Review: ‘Why Fascists Fear Teachers’ by Randi Weingarten (41:36–46:44)

• Joe’s Scathing Take:
  • Dismisses the title as inflammatory: "If there was ever a flaming bag of dog crap sold as a book, this is it." (41:37)
  • Weingarten, head of the American Federation of Teachers, paints those pushing for school choice as extremists/fascists, touts public schools, and whitewashes her role in pandemic-era school closures.
  • Joe: “She’s an attempt to rehabilitate Weingarten’s image after she backed the longest school closures in American history, which yielded the largest drop [in] student performance ever recorded.” (45:46)
  • Discussion underscores how the book sidesteps meaningful policy and demonizes school choice, misrepresents statistics about public school attendance, and ignores evidence that vouchers often help disadvantaged students.
• Moral Condemnation:
  • Katie (vehemently): “I hate her so much.” (46:09)
  • The hosts question whether Weingarten truly believes she’s helping kids or if self-interest has warped her view.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Wisdom & Aging:

  • “You don’t get much time to enjoy your peak, do you? No.” – Joe Getty, (11:40)
  • “Everything we think, everything we do is chemicals sloshing around in our brain and the spark of the divine.” – Joe Getty, (13:18)

• On Social Trends:

  • “The most important sex difference in group dynamics is attitude to conflict. In short, men wage conflict openly, while women covertly undermine or ostracize their enemies.” – Joe Getty, reading from essay, (34:08)
  • “Men tend to be better at compartmentalizing than women. And wokeness was in many ways a society-wide failure to compartmentalize.” – Joe Getty, (34:11)

• On School Leadership:

  • “Do you think she actually believes she’s doing the right thing for kids? ... I don’t. There’s no way.” – Katie & Joe Getty, (46:21)

Timestamps for Important Segments

• Functional Peak & Lifelong Development: 04:28–16:48
• The ‘Mar-a-Lago Face’ & Plastic Surgery Ethos: 17:42–20:52
• Wikipedia, AI, and Information: 24:49–25:09
• The Great Feminization & Wokeness: 25:10–37:44
• Book Review: Randi Weingarten’s Education Polemic: 41:36–46:44

Conclusion

This replayed hour of Armstrong & Getty blends humorous personal anecdotes, skepticism about trending research, and pointed social commentary. The hosts puncture conventional wisdom about age and capability, question the implications of demographic shifts in power, and lampoon the worst of contemporary educational leadership. It's a mix of irreverence, analysis, and a dash of resigned concern for the future—all delivered in the show’s familiar, wisecracking style.