21 October 2018
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Oct 5, 2018 —
Robert Wright & Lama Surya Das
The Wright Show
- Is Buddhism a philosophy or a religion?
- Surya Das: “I’m enlightened enough for now”
- Attachment, aversion, and “original goodness”
- Is an enlightened person by definition a moral person?
- Not-self and Emerson’s “transparent eyeball”
- The Dzogchen approach to enlightenment
- Surya Das: Trump has the spark of Buddha nature (and so do you)
Sep 20, 2018 —
Nikita Petrov & John Horgan
- John’s new book, Mind-Body Problems, is free online
- “What are we really, what can we be, and what should we be?”
- Robert Trivers, an evolutionary biologist with an affinity for violence
- Douglas Hofstadter, a playful writer, but a melancholic person
- Why ex-materialist Christof Koch embraced panpsychism
- How losing a daughter made Stuart Kaufman study the paranormal
- Story time! Nikita and John exchange psychedelic tales
TAGS biology | cognitive science | consciousness | enlightenment | evolution | human nature | meditation | mind-body problem | philosophy | psychology | religion | science | spirituality
Aug 15, 2018 —
Aryeh Cohen-Wade & Philip Christman
Culturally Determined
- Phil’s essay, “What Is It Like to Be a Man?”
- Modern male stereotypes: Homer Simpson vs. Harvey Weinstein
- Proud Boys, Jordan Peterson, and the crisis of masculinity
- The trans challenge to gender norms
- Phil explains why his Christian faith doesn’t provide him with certainty
- Contrasting certainty in Judaism and Christianity
Jul 11, 2018 —
Robert Wright & Michael Shermer
The Weirdness of Physics
- Michael’s controversial Scientific American column on the “final mysterians”
- Bob’s thought experiment about God and quantum mechanics
- The split among philosophers over the free will question
- Revisiting Thomas Nagel’s famous essay, “What is it like to be a bat?”
- What’s a harder problem, God or consciousness?
- What laws should govern a colony on Mars?
- Michael reports from inside the Intellectual Dark Web
- Deconstructing Jordan Peterson’s appeal
- Bob: Life is hard and religion can help
TAGS consciousness | Daniel Dennett | free will | Islam | New Atheists | philosophy | physics | religion | Richard Dawkins | science
Jul 6, 2018 —
Robert Wright & John Haught
The Wright Show
- John’s book, The New Cosmic Story
- Pierre Teilhard de Chardin and cosmic evolution
- What it means to say that “God is more Omega than Alpha”
- John: We live in an “awakening universe”
- Putting religion in cosmic context
- Does “rightness” exist apart from human judgment?
- Why John takes comfort in the “unfinishedness” of the universe
- Alfred North Whitehead’s influence on John’s worldview
- Why John rejects Perennialism
Jun 27, 2018 —
Aryeh Cohen-Wade & Alissa Wilkinson
Culturally Determined
- First Reformed, Paul Schrader’s new film that takes Christianity seriously
- Schrader’s European art-house influences
- The film contrasts two versions of American Protestantism
- Ethan Hawke’s restrained lead performance
- Spoiler alert! Analyzing the film’s shocking twists
- The intentionally ambiguous ending
- Reaction to the film from the Christian press
Jun 20, 2018 —
William Black & Jemar Tisby
- Jemar’s path from educator to historian
- How racial history shapes the landscape of the Deep South
- The “quiet exodus” of black Christians from white evangelical churches
- Not a “skin problem,” but a “sin problem”
- Jemar: Kindness isn’t just being polite to avoid offense
- Bill explains the historic racial divide within the Cumberland Presbyterian Church
Jun 13, 2018 —
Stephen Asma & Rami Gabriel
Emotions and the Brain
- Where do culture, emotion, and cognition intersect?
- Is altruism a fluke of humans’ inherently selfish nature?
- How Western individualism clouds our view of human nature
- Stephen: The strongest cultural adaptations are shared unconsciously
- An evolutionary explanation of Trump’s cult of personality
- Complicating the narrative on immigrant cultural values and success
- Reactions to Stephen’s new book, Why We Need Religion
May 25, 2018 —
Robert Wright & Massimo Pigliucci
Ancient Wisdom
- What is the Logos?
- The practicality of metaphysics
- Philo of Alexandria’s vision of global harmony
- Plotinus and the connection between human and divine
- The Logos and Christianity
- The Logos as an algorithm
- Why do the laws of physics infallibly work?
- Carl Jung and the Logos (and Jordan Peterson’s Jungianism)
May 4, 2018 —
Robert Wright & Steven Pinker
The Wright Show
- Steve’s new book, Enlightenment Now, and Bob’s critique
- Cognitive biases that undergird tribalism
- Bob wants to crowdfund a meditation retreat for Steve, who is uncooperative
- How Al Gore’s climate change activism may have hurt his own cause
- Is it crazy to suspect that there’s a larger purpose unfolding through the workings of nature?
- Has our growing grasp of computation and cognition made consciousness less mysterious or more so?
Apr 27, 2018 —
Robert Wright & Chris Stedman
The Wright Show
- Chris’s experience as a humanist chaplain at Harvard and Yale
- Secular community with a moral tone
- Atheism, anti-theism, and humanism
- What Richard Spencer doesn’t like about the Abrahamic faiths
- Atheism and tribalism
- Atheistic fervor as a response to religious trauma
- An inspirational atheism
- Does some New Atheist rhetoric encourage bigotry?
Apr 23, 2018 —
Philip Menchaca & Kelly Baker
- The Ku Klux Klan’s appeal to Protestant America
- How the KKK rationalized a Jewish Jesus
- The Birth of a Nation and the symbology of the burning cross
- How to “love thy neighbor” as a Klansman (answer: very selectively)
- Kelly: The Klan declined, but its politics went mainstream
- Kelly’s search for apocalyptic rhetoric in Klan literature
Mar 8, 2018 —
Aryeh Cohen-Wade & Pater Edmund Waldstein
Culturally Determined
- Why the Mortara case is still provoking argument 150 years later
- Pater Edmund offers a defense of Pope Pius IX
- Integralism and different conceptions of liberty
- What would an integralist Catholic state look like?
- How Pater Edmund became a monk (with a blog)
- The day-to-day life of a modern meditating monk
Feb 5, 2018 —
William Black & Benjamin Park
- The Mormon Church’s new president, 93 year-old Russell M. Nelson
- The decades-long campaign to incorporate the Church into the American mainstream
- Does the Church clash with academic historical study?
- Untangling the fates of remarried Mormons’ souls
- The LDS Church as a contained society within the US
- Why did the first Mormon women choose polygamy?
Jan 29, 2018 —
Robert Wright & Michael Shermer
The Meaning of Future Life
- The time Michael thought he was being abducted by aliens
- Michael’s new book, Heavens on Earth
- Deepak Chopra’s afterlife
- Why uploading your brain to achieve immortality makes no sense
- Is radical life extension just bunk?
- The Second Coming, presented by Ray Kurzweil
- What consolation can the atheist offer to the dying?
- The spookiest thing that’s ever happened to Michael
TAGS aging | atheism | Buddhism | consciousness | death | Hinduism | mind-body problem | New Atheists | religion | the future | transhumanism
Jan 8, 2018 —
Philip Menchaca & Jonathan Young
- Who was Joseph Campbell?
- Applying the idea of the monomyth to The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
- Can we disentangle myths from culture?
- Cinderella and mental health
- How Jonathan uses mythology in psychotherapy
- Is it healthy to think of yourself as a hero on a quest?
- Religion and the experience of meaning vs. the idea of meaning
Oct 29, 2017 —
Robert Wright & Craig Harline
The Wright Show
- Martin Luther’s Ninety-five Theses, 500 years later
- Luther was very hard on himself, and the consequences were huge
- Why Luther’s sermons went viral in 16th-century Germany
- Luther’s mark on future Protestant denominations
- The Diet of Worms and its improbably dramatic aftermath
- Why did Prince Frederick III of Saxony protect Luther?
Sep 24, 2017 —
Nikita Petrov & Tony Ortega
- Former Scientology executive Marty Rathbun’s private conflict with the Church
- New breakthroughs in media coverage of Scientology
- How the Church swiftly conquered US law and the IRS
- What makes Scientology different from other religions?
- How L. Ron Hubbard invented a reality for his followers
- Why Scientology isn’t concerned with the apocalypse
- The Church’s beef with professional psychology
Jun 28, 2017 —
Robert Wright & Jay Garfield
The Wright Show
TAGS Buddhism | enlightenment | ethics | free will | human nature | meditation | philosophy | religion | self
Jun 27, 2017 —
David Kyuman Kim & Eboo Patel
Love-Driven Politics
Jun 22, 2017 —
Josh Summers & Linda Blanchard
TAGS Buddhism | enlightenment | Hinduism | human nature | meditation | mindfulness | philosophy | religion
May 15, 2017 —
Daniel Kaufman & Massimo Pigliucci
Sophia
- Massimo’s new book How to Be a Stoic
- Why we all need a philosophy of life
- Why Stoicism can appeal to Christians, Buddhists, and atheists alike
- Stoic virtues, disciplines, and areas of study
- Cynics—the monks of Stoicism
- Things within and outside your control
- Massimo’s Stoic version of a Dear Abby column
Apr 25, 2017 —
Josh Summers & David Barash
TAGS biology | Buddhism | free will | fundamentalism | genetics | mind-body problem | mythology | philosophy | religion
Mar 13, 2017 —
Nikita Petrov & Tony Ortega
- How the Church of Scientology managed to run a “prison”
- L. Ron Hubbard’s theory of the mind
- “Auditing” and the “superpowers” it leads to
- Did Hubbard believe his own mythology?
- The cruel humor of LRH’s space opera
- The SeaOrg: A billion years of snitching and interrogations
- Scientology after Hubbard and outside the U.S.
Feb 22, 2017 —
Robert Wright & Micah Redding
The Meaning of Future Life
TAGS Christianity | death | human nature | Islam | Judaism | love | religion | technology | the future | transhumanism
Feb 20, 2017 —
Robert Wright & Mark Van Steenwyk
The Wright Show
- Meet Mark Van Steenwyk, Christian Anarchist
- Mark’s mystical experience at a Bible camp
- The time Mark was diagnosed with demonic possession
- Forms of Christian activism
- Trump makes anarchism more appealing
- Mystical dimensions of political activism
- Getting the attention of Christians via civil disobedience
Jan 19, 2017 —
Robert Wright & Dale Wright
The Wright Show
TAGS Buddhism | Christianity | compassion | consciousness | enlightenment | meditation | mindfulness | perception | philosophy | politics | religion | spirituality | war | Zen
Jan 16, 2017 —
Robert Wright & James Currier
The Wright Show
TAGS atheism | Buddhism | empathy | family | Hinduism | human nature | identity | meditation | philosophy | religion | ritual | science | spirituality | Sunday Assembly
Jan 13, 2017 —
Robert Wright & Mark Juergensmeyer
The Wright Show
- How Mark got his start studying under Reinhold Niebuhr
- Using religion to justify violence
- The appeal of ISIS’s apocalyptic vision
- What Obama got right—and wrong—in his response to terrorism
- Will Trump’s war on terrorism lead to another 9/11?
- What would Reinhold Niebuhr say about religion and violence today?
- Reinhold Niebuhr’s Christian realism
TAGS Christianity | Donald Trump | foreign policy | fundamentalism | Islam | politics | psychology | religion | terrorism | violence | war
Dec 25, 2016 —
Robert Wright & John Paul Lederach
The Wright Show
TAGS anger | empathy | ethics | foreign policy | human nature | moral imagination | peace | psychology | religion | violence | war
Dec 20, 2016 —
Robert Wright & Giulio Prisco
The Meaning of Future Life
TAGS consciousness | death | physics | religion | spirituality | technology | the future | transhumanism
Dec 18, 2016 —
Nikita Petrov & George Young
- Does Russian thought have anything to contribute to the world?
- Nikolay Fedorov, an eccentric thinker who influenced Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky
- Fedorov’s plan: Immortality for everyone
- “Kinship” as a fundamental property of all matter
- A mass movement for the spiritual unity of humankind
- Vladimir Solovyov’s The Meaning of Love: Sexuality as a path to a Christian utopia
- Christ as the ultimate role model
TAGS Christianity | consciousness | death | evolution | history | human nature | literature | mysticism | occult | philosophy | politics | religion | science | spirituality | technology | the future | transhumanism
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