Podcast Episodes
Back to Search228. Steven Koonin on what climate science tells us, what it doesn't, and why it matters, based on his book Unsettled
Episode 228
According to Steven Koonin, when it comes to climate change, the media, politicians, and other prominent voices have declared that "the science is se…
4 years, 5 months ago
227. Richard Nisbett on Thinking
Episode 227
In this wide-ranging conversation Shermer and Nisbett discuss Nisbett's research showing how people reason, how people should reason, why errors in r…
4 years, 5 months ago
226. Suzanne Nossel on defending free speech for all, based on her book Dare to Speak
Episode 226
Online trolls and fascist chat groups. Controversies over campus lectures. Cancel culture versus censorship. The daily hazards and debates surroundin…
4 years, 5 months ago
225. Nancy Segal — Deliberately Divided: Inside the Controversial Study of Twins and Triplets Adopted Apart
Episode 225
In the early 1960s, the head of a prominent New York City Child Development Center and a psychiatrist from Columbia University launched a study desig…
4 years, 5 months ago
224. Bobby Duffy on The Generation Myth: Why When You're Born Matters Less Than You Think
Episode 224
Boomers are narcissists. Millennials are spoiled. Gen Zers are lazy. We assume people born around the same time have basically the same values. But, …
4 years, 5 months ago
223. Paul Bloom on the pleasures of suffering and the meaning of life
Episode 223
We go to movies that make us cry, or scream, or gag. We poke at sores, eat spicy foods, immerse ourselves in hot baths, run marathons. Some of us eve…
4 years, 6 months ago
222. Suzanne O'Sullivan on psychosomatic disorders and other mystery illnesses
Episode 222
Michael Shermer speaks with award-winning Irish neurologist Suzanne O'Sullivan about her work exploring the complexity of psychogenic illness affecti…
4 years, 6 months ago
221. Antonio Damasio — Feeling & Knowing: Making Minds Conscious
Episode 221
In recent decades, many philosophers and cognitive scientists have declared the problem of consciousness unsolvable, but Antonio Damasio is convinced…
4 years, 6 months ago
220. Charles Foster on Being a Human: Adventures in Forty Thousand Years of Consciousness
Episode 220
Drawing on psychology, neuroscience, natural history, agriculture, medical law and ethics, Charles Foster, in Being a Human, makes an audacious atte…
4 years, 6 months ago
219. In-Person Conversation (in Shermer's Home) with Steven Pinker on Rationality: What it is, Why it Seems Scarce, Why it Matters in Shermer's Home
Episode 219
In this conversation with Steven Pinker on his new book Rationality, the Harvard psychologist and Michael Shermer discuss how today humanity is reach…
4 years, 6 months ago