11 April 2021
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Jul 21, 2020 —
Robert Wright & David Livingstone Smith
- David’s new book, On Inhumanity: Dehumanization and How to Resist It
- The tension at the heart of dehumanization
- David: Genocides are moralistic
- The essential role of psychological essentialism
- Dehumanization in American politics
- When David received death threats after critiquing Jordan Peterson
- The “Great Chain of Being” and our complex conception of monsters
- Why David doesn’t like the term “the banality of evil”
- How to resist dehumanization
Jul 19, 2020 —
John Horgan & Philip Goff
- Philip’s 2019 book, Galileo’s Error: Foundations for a New Science of Consciousness
- What’s the difference between panpsychism and philosophical idealism?
- John: Solipsism is “an absolute impediment to a truly scientific theory of consciousness”
- Does panpsychism “cheat” when it comes to philosophy’s fundamental problems?
- The moral dimension of panpsychism
- Hallucinogens and mystical experience
Jul 14, 2020 —
Robert Wright & Bhikkhu Bodhi
- Buddhism and the military atrocities in Myanmar and Sri Lanka
- The early political history of Buddhism
- Varieties of Buddhist rationales for nonviolence
- The history of war between Southeast Asian nations
- Is warfare antithetical to attaining enlightenment?
- Justifications for non-pacifism
- Meditation and the antiwar mindset
- Foreign policy, anti-China sentiment, and BLM protests
Jul 7, 2020 —
Robert Wright & Rutger Bregman
- Rutger’s new book, Humankind: A Hopeful History
- Debunking the “veneer theory” of human nature
- Are violence and war intrinsic to human nature?
- The human self-domestication thesis
- Why Bob doesn’t like the idea of people “deserving punishment”
- Is it bad to emphasize the dark side of human nature?
- What the debunking of the Stanford Prison Experiment can teach us
- Giving money to rich people: Why the U in UBI?
- Would UBI turn us all into couch potatoes (or worse)?
Jul 6, 2020 —
Robert Gressis & Douglas Edwards
- Doug’s new book, Philosophy Smackdown
- Plato’s Cave and the three layers of wrestling reality
- What it means when wrestlers break the fourth wall
- Real life can be “just as scripted as wrestling, if not more so”
- How and why moral virtue changed in wrestling
- The only performance where people say “you know it’s fake, right?”
- What philosophers could learn from professional wrestling
Jun 22, 2020 —
Nikita Petrov & Tony Ortega
- A Scientology ship commander calls the pandemic “suppressive and anti-social”
- Turning to L. Ron Hubbard during the pandemic: radiation as a state of mind
- The appeal of groups like Scientology in a crisis
- The pandemic is the rare mainstream event that got Scientologists’ attention
- Hubbard and Trump, Scientology and post-truth
- Nikita’s experience with an exercise similar to “past lives auditing”
- We thought the Internet was a threat to Scientology. Were we wrong?
Jun 14, 2020 —
Daniel Kaufman & Massimo Pigliucci
- Are we really as social as the Stoics believed?
- Distinguishing between the “objective” and the “real”…
- …and between the “real” and representations of the “real”
- Dan: It makes no difference whether or not values are objective
- Massimo’s solution to the omnivore’s dilemma
- Massimo: “Values are never separate from facts”
Jun 5, 2020 —
Daniel Kaufman & Milton Lawson
- Spoiler alert! Critiquing Star Trek: Discovery and Picard
- Serial vs. episodic storytelling
- Why Dan hated Discovery‘s main character
- Is the show too woke?
- Debating the big twist in Picard
- Dan: Two things screw up Picard as a Star Trek show
- Throwing science out the window
- Milton: Audiences don’t know what they want
- Have younger viewers turned away from science fiction?
Jun 2, 2020 —
Robert Wright & Paul Bloom
- Paul describes the view from Toronto
- Zero- and non-zero-sum aspects of the pandemic
- Paul: Canada’s multiparty system helps defuse polarization
- A disaster without solidarity
- How our emotions caused us to underreact to the pandemic
- Masks and mobs
- Trump’s fragile feelings
- Why has the external threat of the disease not united humanity?
- A deep dive into the meaning of statistical significance
May 27, 2020 —
Robert Wright & Andrew Sullivan
- Remembering Andrew’s recently deceased dog Eddy
- Can we explain the bond between dogs and people?
- The many disgusting things that dogs love
- Andrew angers the cat lovers in the audience
- Are there actually “cat people” and “dog people”?
- Dogs’ use of affection as a tool
- What can we learn from dogs about how to be present?
- Andrew: “I do think that after death I will be with my dogs”
- Andrew wants the economy to open up—a little
May 24, 2020 —
Robert Wright & Jacqueline Novogratz
- Jacqueline’s new book, Manifesto for a Moral Revolution: Practices to Build a Better World
- Female saints as childhood role models
- How Jacqueline helped start Rwanda’s first microfinance bank
- Jacqueline’s “patient capital” investment nonprofit, Acumen
- The four steps toward building moral imagination
- Toilet entrepreneurship in Nairobi
- Changing the market for coffee and chocolate farmers
- Can identity connect as well as it divides?
- Jacqueline: A moral revolution must come from inside us
May 20, 2020 —
Daniel Kaufman & Crispin Sartwell
- Dan’s in-progress book, Prolegomena for a Pluralist Metaphysics
- Avoiding the “crazy positions”
- A stereoscopic view of the “scientific” and “manifest” images
- Dan: A world with people in it is only explainable in fragmentary terms
- Crispin sees the leading edge of the new dualism
- On the ontological status of coming-of-age stories
- Previewing future fights
May 12, 2020 —
Robert Wright & John Horgan
- John fails the coronavirus antibody test; Bob consoles him
- Science fiction, free will, and robot sex
- The Devs interpretation of quantum mechanics
- The Wright-Horgan interpretation of Devs, part 1 (spoilers)
- The Wright-Horgan interpretation of Devs, part 2 (lots of spoilers)
- John: we need the concept of free will more than we need God
- Is the many worlds interpretation consoling or terrifying?
May 11, 2020 —
Daniel Kaufman & Jesse Singal
- The continuing battle over gender in philosophy
- Harm avoidance vs. competing interests
- Jesse: There’s disagreement within the trans community over what it means to be trans
- Dan: “This is madness to everyone other than the people inside the tent”
- The social dynamics of philosophy
- Ordinary language and “they”
- Will the trans movement moderate?
- Dan: Philosophy is in trouble and the pandemic is making it worse
Apr 28, 2020 —
Robert Wright & Evan Thompson
- Evan’s new book, Why I Am Not a Buddhist
- Evan’s critique of “Buddhist modernism” and “Buddhist exceptionalism”
- Which of Buddhism’s major claims are naturalistic?
- Is Buddhism fundamentally different than other religions?
- Bob defends Buddhist insights into human psychology
- Evan’s case against “neural Buddhism”
- Does a clearer view of reality make you more equanimous?
- All about nirvana
- Debating evolutionary psychology
- Evan: This book is friendly criticism
Apr 23, 2020 —
Epidemiological Modeling, Policy, and Covid-19 (Daniel Kaufman, Eric Winsberg, & John Symons)
- How to model an epidemic
- The costs and benefits of cost-benefit analysis
- Turning coronavirus models into coronavirus policy
- Eric: Your intuitions about the virus’s spread are “useless”
- The use and abuse of epidemiological models
- Pandemic models and failures of political leadership
- Our scandalous lack of infection-rate data
- Why suppressing the virus “is a marathon, not a sprint”
Apr 20, 2020 —
John Horgan & Errol Morris
- Can we ever really know the world?
- Debating the ideas of Thomas Kuhn, famous philosopher of science
- Will we ever see the end of war?
- Errol’s book about Kuhn, The Ashtray: (Or the Man Who Denied Reality)
- Errol: Science without truth cannot live
- John sticks up for Kuhn
- Errol’s vexed personal relationship with Kuhn
- Stephen Hawking’s sense of humor
- Errol: “We’re a dumbass species”
- The glass is half empty and filled with poison
Apr 9, 2020 —
Daniel Kaufman & Massimo Pigliucci
- Will the pandemic forever change college education?
- Laying out the “hard problem” of consciousness
- Why panpsychism is not a solution to the problem
- The battle between radicals and conservatives in physics
- Physicalism vs. idealism
- Massimo explains “scientific metaphysics”
- Why illusionism is not a solution to the problem
- Misrepresentations vs. useful representations
Apr 7, 2020 —
Robert Wright & Scott Barry Kaufman
- Scott’s new book, Transcend: The New Science of Self-Actualization
- Debunking myths about Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
- The origins of humanistic psychology
- Optimism for the thinking person
- Psychological security in an era of new threats and superficial social connections
- Psychological growth: exploration, love, and purpose
- Defining “peak experiences”
- Scott says Bob is a “transcender.” Bob is skeptical.
- Is this a kind of secular spirituality?
- Evaluating peak experiences achieved through psychedelics
Mar 31, 2020 —
Daniel Kaufman & Robert B. Talisse
- Robert’s new book, Overdoing Democracy
- The revealing differences between Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts
- The diminishing importance of place in American culture
- How homogeneity distorts groups
- Partisan identity has become the core of our social selves
- Is this the inevitable product of late capitalism?
- What happens after Trumpism runs its course?
- Robert finds optimism in a Nashville bluegrass club
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?
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