Podcast Episodes
Back to Search124. David J. Halperin — Intimate Alien: The Hidden Story of the UFO
Episode 124
UFOs are a myth, says David J. Halperin — but myths are real. The power and fascination of the UFO has nothing to do with space travel or life on oth…
6 years, 1 month ago
123. Gerald Posner — Pharma: Greed, Lies, and the Poisoning of America
Episode 123
Pharmaceutical breakthroughs such as antibiotics and vaccines rank among some of the greatest advancements in human history. Yet exorbitant prices fo…
6 years, 1 month ago
122. Walter Scheidel — Escape from Rome: The Failure of the Empire and the Road to Prosperity
Episode 122
What has the Roman Empire ever done for us? Fall and go away. That is the striking conclusion of historian Walter Scheidel as he recounts the grippin…
6 years, 2 months ago
121. Maria Konnikova — The Biggest Bluff: How I Learned to Pay Attention, Master Myself, and Win
Episode 121
It's true that Maria Konnikova had never actually played poker before and didn't even know the rules when she approached Erik Seidel, Poker Hall of F…
6 years, 2 months ago
120. Andrew Rader — Beyond the Known: How Exploration Created the Modern World and Will Take Us to the Stars
Episode 120
For the first time in history, the human species has the technology to destroy itself. But having developed that power, humans are also able to leave…
6 years, 2 months ago
119. Howard Bloom — Einstein, Michael Jackson, and Me: A Search for the Soul in the Power Pits of Rock and Roll
Episode 119
Howard Bloom — called "the greatest press agent that rock and roll has ever known" by Derek Sutton, the former manager of Styx, Ten Years After, and …
6 years, 2 months ago
118. Stuart Russell — Human Compatible: Artificial Intelligence and the Problem of Control
Episode 118
In the popular imagination, superhuman artificial intelligence is an approaching tidal wave that threatens not just jobs and human relationships, but…
6 years, 3 months ago
117. Matt Ridley — How Innovation Works: and Why It Flourishes in Freedom
Episode 116
Innovation is the main event of the modern age, the reason we experience both dramatic improvements in our living standards and unsettling changes in…
6 years, 3 months ago
116. Howard Steven Friedman — Ultimate Price: The Value We Place on Life
Episode 116
How much is a human life worth? Individuals, families, companies, and governments routinely place a price on human life. The calculations that underl…
6 years, 3 months ago
115. Matthew Cobb — The Idea of the Brain: The Past and Future of Neuroscience
Episode 115
For thousands of years, thinkers and scientists have tried to understand what the brain does. Yet, despite the astonishing discoveries of science, we…
6 years, 3 months ago