17 December 2025
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Oct 10, 2016 —
Robert Wright & Jonathan Gold
- The seminal Buddhist philosopher Vasubandhu, hero of Paving the Great Way
- Buddhist and Darwinian arguments for reality not being as it seems
- The ‘hyper-reductionism’ of Buddhism
- Meditation and the doctrine of emptiness
- Does the Buddhist view of causality leave room for agency?
- Are the past and the future real?
- Hindu and Buddhist versions of non-duality
Oct 9, 2016 —
Robert Wright & Wesley Wildman
- Wesley explains “transreligious theology”
- What’s religious about religious naturalism?
- Can science help us understand ultimate reality?
- Bringing religious thought and philosophy together
- Be skeptical of spiritual experiences
- Don’t just love your enemies, understand them
- Wesley: “Purpose” isn’t a useful category
Oct 5, 2016 —
Vlad Chituc & Frank Bures
- The Geography of Madness, Frank’s book about “penis theft” and other “culture-bound” syndromes
- How believing that you’re going to die can kill you
- How to cure “penis theft?”
- The challenge of ethically responding to seemingly crazy beliefs
- Frank: The body isn’t like a machine
- Belief-boosted runners, windmill syndrome, and the weird case of Coca-Cola poisoning
Oct 1, 2016 —
Robert Wright & Stephen Batchelor
- What Buddhim really is (and isn’t) about
- What various Buddhist traditions have to offer
- The Buddha as a practical philosopher
- How the Buddha revolutionized meditation
- The idea of not-self, and its connection to an ethical life
- Why death is not the end even if there’s no rebirth
- The ethical dimension of enlightenment
Sep 26, 2016 —
Josh Summers & JP Sears
- Meet JP Sears, the New Age Stephen Colbert
- Josh receives ultraspiritual guidance from JP
- Shining a light of satire on the “shadow side” of spiritual practices
- Where JP’s comedy comes from
- Stepping out of the comfort zone, and other spiritual disciplines
- Watch Josh transform into an ultra-ultra-post-spiritual guru
Sep 25, 2016 —
Robert Wright & David Corn
- How is Hillary’s ‘basket of deplorables’ different from Romney’s ’47 percent?’
- The root causes of xenophobia
- Trump’s policy proposals as ’emotional metaphors’
- Struggling to empathize with Trump voters
- Political correctness and its opposites
- The warping effects of fear
- Who marginalized Middle America?
- Trumpism after Trump
Sep 21, 2016 —
Robert Wright & Erik Braun
- Erik’s book The Birth of Insight and its hero, Ledi Sayadaw
- Three marks of existence: impermanence, suffering, and not-self
- Origins and characteristics of American Buddhism
- How Burmese politics shaped Western Buddhism
- Ledi’s take on how meditation leads to enlightenment
- The ethical side of Buddhist practice
- Erik’s meditation practice
Sep 17, 2016 —
Nikita Petrov & George Young
- What is Russian cosmism?
- The religious side of cosmism
- Cosmism as a response to the challenges of the 20th century
- Nature as a temporary enemy and eternal friend
- Pavel Florensky, the Russian da Vinci
- Plant life as a spiritual ideal
- The father of the Soviet space program, and his weird spirituality
- Cosmism and transhumanism: Compare and contrast
- Cosmism as a Russian propaganda project
Sep 12, 2016 —
Robert Wright & Robert George
- Why Robby refuses to support Trump
- Is history shaped more by social forces or human agency?
- Robby gives an insider’s view on why Appalachia is Trump country
- The declining influence of religion
- How a lack of humility poisons politics
- Contempt in current political rhetoric
- Robby: Politicians need to get out of the identity politics game
Sep 1, 2016 —
Robert Wright & Ken Wharton
- The future is real, and we could travel there
- Reasons to think the future may influence the present
- Can retro-causality explain quantum entanglement?
- Why our intuitions about time are wrong
- Is there a place for free will in a deterministic universe?
- The many worlds theory, quantum computers, and events without causes
Aug 28, 2016 —
Daniel Kaufman & David Ottlinger
- Putting Kant’s work in context
- Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason and Prolegomena
- Kant’s radical innovations in the Critique
- Defining different kinds of thought
- Active and passive faculties of the mind
- Are there two worlds, or two aspects of one world?
- Consequences of intertwining the world and the mind
Aug 19, 2016 —
Robert Wright & Douglas Osto
- Doug’s book Altered States: Buddhism and Psychedelic Spirituality in America
- Psychedelics as gateway drugs to Buddhism
- Common ground between Buddhism and psychedelic spirituality
- What is Psychedelic Buddhism?
- When are psychedelics unhealthy?
- Compare and contrast between Mahayana and Theravada Buddhism
Aug 15, 2016 —
Daniel Kaufman & Massimo Pigliucci
- Is a “theory of everything” possible?
- Dan and Massimo recap their previous discussions on progress
- In what sense has philosophy gotten “better” over time?
- How the “realists” v. “anti-realists” debate shows that philosophy progresses
- Comparing early utilitarianism to modern utilitarianism
- Why science has become increasingly segmented
- Is epistemology dead or is it advancing?
- Why philosophy matters
Jul 13, 2016 —
Robert Wright & Cristina Bicchieri
- What is a social norm?
- Why do norms like genital mutilation exist?
- Ways to change norms (and ways to fail)
- Change we have seen: smoking, gay marriage, bullying
- Fear disrupts norms and helps people like Trump
- The internet as a tool against “pluralistic ignorance”
- Why the political establishment is in trouble
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