Podcast Episodes
Back to SearchWhy I Joined the Government UAP Science Advisory Council
Episode 621
Michael Shermer has been appointed to the newly formed UAP Science Advisory Council, formed at the request of the White House and in coordination wit…
2 months, 1 week ago
Massimo Pigliucci on Doubt, Moral Courage, and Living Without Illusions
Episode 620
What does it mean to live well when certainty is unavailable?
Michael Shermer speaks with Massimo Pigliucci about moral character, ancient philosophy…
2 months, 1 week ago
Cathy Young: Why Free Societies Need Free Speech
Episode 619
Cathy Young returns to the show for a wide-ranging conversation about free speech, institutional trust, and the strange incentives shaping public deb…
2 months, 2 weeks ago
The Zodiac Killer Wasn't Real
Episode 618
The Zodiac Killer has been treated for decades as America's ultimate unsolved true crime mystery: one mysterious killer, taunting letters, cryptic ci…
2 months, 2 weeks ago
How Algorithms Use Your Data to Control You
Episode 617
Michael Shermer speaks with Oxford philosopher Carissa Véliz about the long human desire to know the future—from ancient oracles and astrology to AI,…
2 months, 3 weeks ago
Batya Ungar-Sargon: Why the Left Sees Jews Differently Now
Episode 616
Batya Ungar-Sargon joins Michael Shermer for a wide-ranging conversation about the historical relationship between Jews and the American left, and wh…
2 months, 3 weeks ago
From Equality to Equity: How Social Justice Becomes Ideology
Episode 615
Jon Mills, a philosopher, psychoanalyst, and clinical psychologist, joins Michael Shermer to discuss how social justice ideology has moved from a con…
2 months, 4 weeks ago
Can Science Fix Criminal Justice?
Episode 614
America's criminal justice debate usually gets reduced to two options: abolish the system or lock everyone up forever. Economist Jennifer Doleac thin…
3 months ago
Gad Saad: When Empathy Becomes Dangerous
Episode 613
Gad Saad returns to discuss his new book Suicidal Empathy: Dying to Be Kind, a provocative argument that empathy is not a moral trump card. Empathy c…
3 months ago
Why We Cling to Certainty, Conspiracies, and Bad Predictions
Episode 612
We like to think the future can be figured out if we just gather enough information. Pick the right expert, read the right forecast, find the right f…
3 months, 1 week ago