Podcast Episodes
Back to SearchThe Psychology of Gaslighting, Bullying, Cults, and Coercion
Episode 596
What do gaslighting, bullying, cults, and coercion have in common? In this episode, Michael Shermer speaks with Jennifer Fraser about the psychology …
1 month ago
Did Jesus Really Change Western Morality? Bart Ehrman
Episode 595
How much of what we call "basic morality" is actually inherited from Christianity? Bart Ehrman joins Michael Shermer for a wide-ranging conversation …
1 month ago
Lionel Shriver on Immigration, Religion, and the Decline of the West
Episode 594
Michael Shermer sits down with novelist and essayist Lionel Shriver for a wide-ranging conversation about what happens when old political labels stop…
1 month, 1 week ago
The Biggest Blind Spot of the Climate Movement: Nuclear Energy
Episode 593
Zion Lights used to be deep inside the environmental movement: protests, arrests, road blockades, the whole thing. Then she started looking closely a…
1 month, 2 weeks ago
DOGE, Government Fraud, and AI Audits
Episode 592
Jeremy Jones joins Michael Shermer to talk about DOGE AI, government fraud, and the strange reality that some of the biggest problems in public life …
1 month, 2 weeks ago
Heretics: The Scientists Who Were Mocked But Later Proven Right
Episode 591
Why do some world-changing ideas get ignored, attacked, or buried for years before anyone takes them seriously?
Michael Shermer sits down with The Ec…
1 month, 3 weeks ago
Shermer Says 7: Responding to Fan Mail … "Who Was Jesus?"
Episode 590
Michael Shermer responds to a remarkable letter from a group of eighth graders at a Christian school in Texas who say they've been praying for him an…
1 month, 3 weeks ago
Why the Same Childhood Doesn't Affect Everyone the Same Way
Episode 589
For decades, developmental psychologist Jay Belsky has focused on one of the biggest questions in human development: how do early experiences shape t…
1 month, 3 weeks ago
Who Gets to Edit Culture? Sensitivity Readers & Censorship in Book Publishing
Episode 588
Publishing likes to imagine itself as a marketplace of ideas with a strong immune system: good arguments win, bad ones fade, and editors act as princ…
2 months ago
Filming Corey Feldman & "Corey's Angels": The Weird World Behind the Curtain
Episode 587
Documentary filmmaker Marcie Hume (BBC alum; Magicians: Life in the Impossible) joins Michael Shermer to talk about her new verité film Corey Feldman…
2 months, 1 week ago