28 March 2020
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Mar 27, 2020 —
Robert Wright & Ruth Whippman
- Ruth’s book, America the Anxious
- Ruth is skeptical that meditation leads to happiness
- Is being in the moment overrated?
- Is there a mindful view of the coronavirus pandemic?
- Radical self-help at the Landmark Forum
- The CEO of Zappos created a happiness city in Las Vegas. It did not go well.
- A plea for tolerance in the battle over attachment parenting
- Why are Mormons so gosh darn happy?
- Happiness in the UK vs. the US
Mar 24, 2020 —
Aryeh Cohen-Wade & Jesse Singal
- Jesse’s new article, “The Rise of PTSD”
- How society viewed traumatized veterans of WWII vs. Vietnam
- Effective treatments for PTSD
- The danger of trauma becoming an identity
- From 9/11 to coronavirus, we live in traumatic times
- Speech policing and social climbing in the name of trauma
- Jesse’s forthcoming book, The Quick Fix
Mar 20, 2020 —
Robert Wright & Narayan Helen Liebenson
- Is Bob a bad yogi?
- Narayan’s book, The Magnanimous Heart
- Narayan’s journey from Janet to Narayan
- How Narayan entered contemplative practice
- Learning from snakes and lizards in Thailand
- Defining the Buddhist term dukka as “a constant squeeze”
- Dealing with feelings of grief and loss after a divorce
- Narayan: Not taking sides is not the same as passivity
- Mindfulness and the death of a loved one
Mar 10, 2020 —
Robert Wright & Robin Wang
- Unpacking the Dao De Jing‘s famous opening line, “The Dao that can be told is not the eternal Dao”
- “The way” as a descriptive and prescriptive moniker
- Rising above the perspective of the moment
- The relationship among Daoism, Confucianism, and Zen Buddhism
- Spirituality and transcendence in Daoism
- Robin’s work as a consultant on The Karate Kid remake
- Why Robin’s book uses “yinyang” instead of “yin and yang”
Mar 6, 2020 —
Daniel Kaufman & Helen Joyce
- Helen’s forthcoming book on gender
- Why are younger women attracted to novel gender theories?
- Social constructivism vs. self-constructivism
- Did feminists bring this upon themselves?
- Helen: Immigration caused Britain’s political realignment
- Helen’s narrative of the evolution of trans identity
- Why is it harder to be a girl now, when society is less sexist?
- Dan: Online porn has made teenage boys undateable
Mar 2, 2020 —
Nikita Petrov & John Horgan
- Nikita’s new project, Psychopolitica.com
- A collection of DMT stories
- The drama and the silliness of life as experienced by children
- The ontological status of DMT entities
- Three big pretenses: “I exist,” “I know what’s going on,” “Everything is ok”
- Between a zombie and a madman
- The paradoxical writings of Jorge Luis Borges
- John’s new book, Pay Attention
- Podcasting is the new rock’n’roll
Feb 26, 2020 —
Robert Wright & David Bentley Hart
- David’s new book, That All Shall Be Saved: Heaven, Hell, and Universal Salvation
- What does the New Testament actually say about Hell?
- Original sin and the crucifixion of Jesus
- David’s case against eternal damnation
- Free will, sin, and freedom
- What did “the Kingdom of Heaven” mean to Jesus?
- David: Envisioning the afterlife “always results in a kind of cartoon”
- David’s quick thoughts on the mind-body problem
- Mysticism in the Eastern Orthodox Church
Feb 24, 2020 —
Daniel Kaufman & Robert Gressis
- Robert’s essay examining whether pansexuality is obligatory
- Orientation vs. desire
- Is the push for trans rights undermining gay and lesbian rights?
- Dan: Sexual attractions can’t be subject to moral scrutiny
- Kant and the malleability of sexual consciousness
- Dan fears the totalitarian impulse
- Trans activists vs. lesbians
Feb 18, 2020 —
Daniel Kaufman & Milton Lawson
- In praise of Uncut Gems
- Why does Adam Sandler’s dirtbag character evince such sympathy?
- Punishment and forgiveness in narrative storytelling
- In praise of Dolemite Is My Name
- Eddie Murphy’s triumphant return to SNL
- Is offensive comedy coming back?
- Why were these two films snubbed by the Oscars?
- Expertise vs. experience in cultural criticism
Feb 11, 2020 —
Robert Wright & Alexander Wendt
- In a new TEDx talk, Alex calls for a science of UFOs
- Why Bob finds two naval sightings credible
- Alex: “There’s some decent chance that these things are alien”
- Alex’s proposal for a UFO monitoring system
- Might it be suicidal to let ETs know that we know about them?
- Alex: Maybe the aliens are waiting for us to figure it out
- What explains the taboo against academic study of UFOs?
- Alex’s willingness to be misperceived as a crank
Feb 8, 2020 —
Daniel Kaufman & Spencer Case
- Spencer describes being quarantined in Wuhan, China
- What is “moral realism”?
- Can you be a moral realist and a moral subjectivist at the same time?
- Revisiting Plato’s Ring of Gyges
- Dan: There’s no evidence of morality beyond performances
- The trouble with giving advice
- “All things considered,” what ought you to do?
- What we lost in the Scientific Revolution
Feb 5, 2020 —
How to Live a Good Life (Robert Wright, Massimo Pigliucci, & Skye Cleary)
- Skye and Massimo’s new co-edited book, with Daniel Kaufman, How to Live a Good Life
- Existentialism’s intersections with Stoicism
- How Skye encountered Existentialism while in business school
- Sartre and de Beauvoir’s famous attempt to live a life of freedom
- Are philosophers a bunch of hypocrites?
- Personal authenticity vs. social convention
- Why Stoicism doesn’t mean passive acceptance
- Skye and Massimo on the philosophies they found most interesting
- How Wittgenstein would view this book
Jan 28, 2020 —
John Horgan & Massimo Pigliucci
- How Massimo’s midlife crisis moved him from biologist to philosopher
- What’s the point of philosophy?
- Philosophical doubt as as a counterweight to scientific confidence
- John mistrusts science’s yearning for certainty
- Massimo’s path to stoicism
- Can reason make you happier?
- Abusive Buddhist gurus and other unexpectedly bad people
- Was Seneca a hypocritical asshole?
Jan 16, 2020 —
John Horgan & Steve Taylor
- Steve’s childhood experiences of euphoria in nature
- Why Steve prefers “wakefulness” to “enlightenment”
- Does being “awakened” make you a better person?
- Steve: “Being a parent is a spiritual path”
- Steve’s new book, Spiritual Science
- “Panspiritism” as an alternative to panpsychism
- How is “the spirit” different than God?
- Was there a point in prehistory when man behaved morally?
- Brexit, Trump, and encounters with death that lead to transformation
Jan 6, 2020 —
Robert Wright & Gideon Rosen
- Defining “moral realism”
- Cognitivists vs. noncognitivists
- Are moral beliefs just expressions of human desires?
- Human happiness is better than human suffering…right?
- Considering whether you can be both a Darwinian and a moral realist
- Moral progress, teleology, and mysticism
- Why you “have to take something for granted” in any philosophical system
- The bedrock sources of meaning in life
- If life has meaning, does moral realism logically follow?
Dec 28, 2019 —
Daniel Kaufman & Joseph Biehl
- Why Joe left academia
- Bemoaning the apathy of today’s college students
- Joe’s nonprofit, the Gotham Philosophical Society
- How can philosophers help improve a place like New York City?
- Should philosophy be parochial or universalist?
- Philosophical anti-realism and parochialism
- Neighborhood pride in the cosmopolitan city
Dec 24, 2019 —
Robert Wright & Rhonda Magee
- Rhonda’s path to meditation and Buddhism
- Rhonda’s new book, The Inner Work of Racial Justice
- Is equanimity the enemy of activism?
- Using mindfulness to overcome biases and stereotypes
- How Rhonda deploys contemplative practices in her law school classroom
- Can one feel compassion for a cop who shot an unarmed black man?
Dec 17, 2019 —
Daniel Kaufman & Spencer Case
- In praise of non-elite institutions
- Spencer’s journey from Mormonism to professional philosophy
- Does philosophy matter?
- The role of temperament in shaping philosophers’ views
- Does moral philosophy contribute to moral progress?
- Dan: It doesn’t matter whether God exists
- Dan and Spencer’s concerns about the role of activism in philosophy
- Does it matter if philosophy matters?
- Spencer: Trying to live with integrity is central to philosophy
Dec 4, 2019 —
Daniel Kaufman & Massimo Pigliucci
- Are philosophers experts?
- Socrates didn’t have a PhD
- Massimo hates when teachers claim to learn “just as much” from their students
- What does philosophers’ expertise actually consist of?
- How much is philosophy like mathematics?
- What philosophers of science can teach scientists
- The disappointing personal morality of moral philosophers
- Grandmothers, the examined life, and the people who live best
Dec 2, 2019 —
Robert Wright & Jay Michaelson
- Jay’s new book, Enlightenment by Trial and Error
- Why Jay embarked on a path of mysticism
- Ayahuasca, unitive experiences, and bad trips
- Jews who are “religious but not spiritual”
- Finding “real happiness” through meditation
- Varieties of enlightening experience
- What’s distinctive about Jewish mysticism?
- The things Jay still takes from Judaism
Nov 25, 2019 —
Robert Wright & Paul Bloom
- A new study says empathy can increase political polarization
- How empathy operates in today’s political environment
- Is cognitive empathy a form of intelligence?
- The Machiavellian uses of cognitive empathy
- A counterproductive #Resistance view of Trump supporters
- Paul doesn’t understand how anyone can still support Trump
- Why “dehumanization” isn’t the real problem
- Paul’s core message: “Don’t listen to your heart”
Nov 22, 2019 —
David Ottlinger & J.P. Messina
- How should we define censorship?
- The sort of censorship that has no inherent moral valence
- Various ways non-state actors can censor
- When private censorship has moral stakes
- Examining moral grandstanding
- A changed heart vs. a false front
- Could we ever resolve all our disagreements?
- Reason, passion, and the founding of the Republic
Nov 11, 2019 —
Daniel Kaufman & Meghan Daum
- Meghan’s new book, The Problem with Everything
- The premature obsolescence of Generation X
- Meghan’s positive reaction to negative reviews of her book
- Joan Didion’s critique of the Women’s Movement
- The effect of online porn on Millennials
- Why do institutions capitulate to Twitter mobs?
- How Gen Xers are dealing with aging
Nov 8, 2019 —
Robert Wright & Roger Haight
- Why Pope John Paul II did not like Roger’s book Jesus Symbol of God
- Roger’s new book, Faith and Evolution: Grace-Filled Naturalism
- The intractability of the problem of evil
- Ways to understand God not as a big person in the sky
- Is natural selection an instrument of divine creation?
- Roger’s heterodox view of Jesus of Nazareth
- Roger’s problem with original sin
- What is a “grace-filled naturalism”?
Nov 1, 2019 —
Robert Wright & Preston Greene
- Why many intelligent people think we’re living in a simulation
- The philosophical argument that you’re probably not real
- How cosmic rays might (and might not) reveal that reality is fake
- Preston’s dire warning against trying to determine if we’re in a simulation
- Is the simulation hypothesis non-falsifiable?
- Is “the simulation” just religion for atheists?
Oct 22, 2019 —
Daniel Kaufman & Crispin Sartwell
- Why Crispin loves writing takedowns of cultural icons
- Crispin: Ludwig Wittgenstein is overrated
- Dan objects to people who try to live their lives philosophically
- Hume and the limits of human reason
- Wittgenstein’s critique of representationalism
- Did Wittgenstein debunk philosophical skepticism?
- Crispin: I want my metaphysics to be compatible with my common sense
Oct 21, 2019 —
Robert Wright & Nicholas Diakopoulos
- Nick’s new book, Automating the News
- Why Nick is not an alarmist about the automation of journalism
- The types of journalism jobs that algorithms can’t replace
- Successful collaborations between human journalists and machines
- The perils of algorithmic fact-checking
- Nick’s current research
- Bob hopes for a bot that can assign blame for international law violations
- Can the power of Twitter bots be used for good?
Oct 18, 2019 —
Robert Wright & John Horgan
- What is scientism, and who is doing it?
- Postmodernism and whether science just tells “stories”
- John criticizes the “ideological fervor” of evolutionary psychology
- The hubris of scientists in the ’80s and ’90s
- Has science reached its fundamental limits in trying to explain consciousness?
- John wins his Nobel Prize “long bet” on string theory
- The various corrupting influences on scientists
- A brief debate on higher purpose
Oct 15, 2019 —
This Podcast Is Self Care (Aryeh Cohen-Wade, Drew Spears, & Cait Raft)
- Cait and Drew’s podcast, This Podcast Is Self Care
- Emotional labor vs. self care
- Unpacking the idea that self care is just for women
- Crystals, sage, and “fake magic is real”
- Why are Millennials so attracted to self care and the supernatural?
- Astrology as anti-capitalism
- The hot new trend of “self-grandparenting”
- Why Aryeh loves the podcast
Oct 4, 2019 —
Robert Wright & Bhikkhu Bodhi
- What is the foundation of Buddhist ethics?
- Experiencing not-self
- Buddhism is a synthesis of consequentialism and virtue ethics
- The origins of Buddhism’s concern for animal welfare
- Does the Buddha want you to be vegetarian?
- Why isn’t there more anti-militarist activism among Buddhists?
- Trying to comply with the Buddhist ideal of “right speech”
- Mental defilements and their eradication
- Does Buddhism’s emphasis on equanimity discourage activism?
Oct 1, 2019 —
Daniel Kaufman & Massimo Pigliucci
- What are “natural kinds”?
- What the former planet Pluto can teach us about natural kinds
- Massimo’s changing views on theoretical entities
- Is there a paradigm shift on the horizon in evolutionary biology?
- Is skepticism toward natural kinds the same as skepticism toward essential properties?
- Why Massimo is skeptical of the concept of “laws of nature”
- Describing “ultimate reality”
- Can we distinguish between sex and gender without natural kinds?
- Can we have a conception of “normal” without natural kinds?
Sep 20, 2019 —
Robert Wright & Agnes Callard
- Why Agnes once lay down on the yellow line in the middle of the road
- What explains “akrasia,” or weakness of will?
- Agnes’s book, Aspiration: The Agency of Becoming
- How Agnes views free will and self-creation
- How do you become the “you” that you want to be?
- Aspiration and the divine
- Agnes’s forthcoming book on how Socrates changed the rules
Sep 16, 2019 —
Daniel Kaufman & David Ottlinger
- The fight, and meta-fight, in philosophy over trans issues
- David’s essay on philosophy and activism
- The admonition to “go read the literature”
- Dan: The profession needs to push back against the mob
- Should philosophers avoid signing petitions?
- David regrets the “neglect of the ordinary virtues” in this battle
- How professors should teach controversial subjects
Sep 11, 2019 —
Robert Wright & Nina Strohminger
- Nina’s research on how we understand the self
- The traits that make your self yourself
- Buddhism and the continuity of self through time
- The link between egocentrism and an equanimous attitude toward death
- Bob: Not-self is hard to experience and very hard to understand
- Asian Buddhists vs. “white boy Buddhists”
- Does a happy life require virtuous behavior?
Sep 3, 2019 —
Daniel Kaufman & E. John Winner
- A brief history of 20th-century literary criticism
- John’s battles against radical feminists as a grad student at SUNY Albany
- Post-structuralism and “how modernity failed itself”
- English department politics
- John: “Postmodernity is all around us”
- Postmodernity in the world vs. in the academy
- Post-postmodernism and cultural stagnancy
Sep 1, 2019 —
Robert Wright & Alexander Wendt
- Why Alex shifted from international relations to quantum physics
- Alex: “We are walking wave functions”
- Do the origins of consciousness and free will lie in the wave collapse?
- Quantum decision theory and human irrationality
- The advantage of viewing humanity as quantum rather than classical
- How a nation-state is like a quantum state
- Alex: Language is best understood quantumly
- The possibility of collective consciousness
Aug 26, 2019 —
John Horgan & Frederick Crews
- How Frederick became a Freudian and then an anti-Freudian
- Frederick: Psychoanalysis is the Metamucil of the intellectuals
- The politics of anti-Freudianism
- Why has Freud persisted in the public imagination?
- Frederick psychoanalyzes John
- Repressed memories as a Freudian legacy
- Frederick’s new book, Freud: The Making of an Illusion
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