Converging Dialogues

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Stephanie Ternullo about the political shift from liberal to conservative in the American heartland over the 20th century. They discuss how she constructed her study, makeup of the three Midwest cities used in the study, New Deal coalition, place-based partisanship, role of unions, and many more topics. Stephanie Ternullo is Assistant Professor in Government at Harvard University. She has her PhD in Sociology from the University of Chicago. Her research uses multiple methods to explore the bidirectional relationship between place and politics – both how politics shape places, and how places shape political identity and behavior. She is the author of the book, How the Heartland Went Red: Why Local Forces Matter in an Age of Nationalized Politics. Website: https://stephanieternullo.com/ Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Paco Calvo about the intelligence of plants. They discuss plant blindness, plant intelligence, sun tracking and internal representations, predictive processing, and what is it like to be a plant. They discuss domesticated and wild plants, time, individuality of plants, ethics, and many more topics. Paco Calvo is a cognitive scientist and philosopher of biology, known for his groundbreaking research in the field of plant cognition and intelligence. He is a professor at the University of Murcia in Spain, where he leads the Minimal Intelligence Lab (MINT Lab), focusing on the study of minimal cognition in plants. Calvo’s interdisciplinary work combines insights from biology, philosophy, and cognitive science to explore the fascinating world of plant behavior, decision-making, and problem-solving. He is the author of the book (with Natalie Lawrence), Planta Sapiens: The New Science of Plant Intelligence. Website: https://www.um.es/mintlab/ Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Andrew Boryga about his novel on victimhood. They discuss how he approaches writing novels vs. non-fiction pieces, choosing themes for the novel, personal influence on fictional characters, evolution of characters, and using tragedy and victimhood for clout. They also discuss dealing with social justice themes, shaped by environment, stereotypes, talking about experiences honestly, and many more topics. Andrew Boryga is a writer, editor, and author who’s writing has appeared in The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The Paris Review, The Daily Beast, and many other outlets. He has also taught fiction and non-fiction writing to elementary school students, college students, and incarcerated men in Florida. He is the author of the new novel, Victim. Website: https://www.andrewboryga.com/Substack: Andrew Boryga Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Cole Bunzel about the Islamic branch of Wahhābism. They talk about the current landscape of Wahhābism, extreme and non-extreme uses of Wahhābism and some of the differences between terrorists groups that use Wahhābism. They discuss Ibn Abd al-Wahhab and how he started a movement, modeling himself after the Prophet Muhammad, being against polytheism and the cult of saints, and why Wahhābism was designed to be aggressive. They discuss the critics of Wahhābism, role of Sufism, major doctrines, three Saudi states, legacy of Wahhābism, and many other topics. Cole Bunzel is a historian and fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. He studies the history and contemporary affairs of the Islamic Middle East, with a particular focus on violent Islamism and the Arabian Peninsula. He has his MA in international relations from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and his BA and PhD in Near Eastern Studies from Princeton University. He has been a research fellow in Islamic law and civilization at the Yale Law School, and is a nonresident fellow at the George Washington University Program on Extremism. He is the editor of the blog Jihadica and has written widely on the ideology of Sunni jihadism, including his most recent book, Wahhābism: The History of A Militant Islamic Movement. Twitter: @colebunzel Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with James Marcus about the life and work of Ralph Waldo Emerson. They discuss how the book is formed and how themes are pulled from Emerson’s life, his religious background and relationship with religion over his lifetime, unitarianism, and when do we find our identity. They talk about first and second marriages, self-reliance and individualism, nature, slavery, his legacy, and many more topics. James Marcus is an editor, translator, critic and writer. He was editor-in-chief at Harper’s Magazine and worked at Columbia Journalism Review. He is the author of the latest book, Glad to the Brink of Fear: A Portrait of Ralph Waldo Emerson. Twitter: @jamesamarcus Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with James Traub about Hubert Humphrey. They define liberalism, background and context of Humphrey and his internal motivations, how he governed as mayor in Minneapolis, and how he was a liberal and a progressive. They talk about his time as a U.S. Senator, a cold war liberal, and his relationship with Lyndon Johnson. They discuss Humphrey’s foreign affairs work, his time as Vice President of the U.S., Senate years post-Vice Presidency, legacy of Humphrey, and many more topics. James Traub is a journalist and scholar specializing in international affairs. He is a columnist and contributor to the website foreignpolicy.com. He worked as a staff writer for The New Yorker from 1993 to 1998 and as a contributing writer to The New York Times Magazine from 1998 to 2011. He has also written extensively about national politics, urban affairs, and education. He has written many books, including the most recent, True Believer: Hubert Humphrey’s Quest For A More Just America. He teaches classes on American foreign policy and on the history of liberalism at NYU Abu Dhabi and at NYU. He is a fellow of the Center on International Cooperation and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.Website: https://www.traubjames.com/Substack: James Traub Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Michèle Lamont about recognition and interpersonal dynamics. They define recognition and worth, the three avenues of building recognition and ordinary universalism, and what blocks change. They talk about inequality, individualism/collectivism, and challenges of the American dream. They also discuss using media, role of institutions, how we can recognize others, and many more topics. Michèle Lamont is Professor of Sociology and of African and African American Studies and the Robert I. Goldman Professor of European Studies at Harvard University. An influential cultural sociologist who studies boundaries and inequality, she has tackled topics such as dignity, respect, stigma, racism, class and racial boundaries, and how we evaluate social worth across societies. She served as President of the American Sociological Association in 2016, was a Carnegie Fellow in 2021-2022, and is a member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, the Royal Society of Canada, and the British Academy. She is the author of numerous books, including her most recent, her most recent book is Seeing Others: How Recognition Works and How It Can Heal a Divided World. Website: https://www.michelelamont.org/ Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with S. Frederick Starr about the lives and work of Ibn Sina and Biruni. They discuss who were Ibn Sina and Biruni, their time and context, and the correspondence between Ibn Sina and Biruni. They discuss their interactions in the Muslim world, Ibn Sina as vizier, the canon of Ibn Sina and the canon of Biruni. They also discuss work post-canon, how their works were preserved, legacy of both thinkers, and many more topics.S. Frederick Starr is the founding chairman of the Central Asia -Caucasus Institute and Silk Road Studies Program, a joint transatlantic research and policy center affiliated with the American Foreign Policy Institute (AFPC) in Washington and the Institute for Security and Development Policy in Stockholm. Dr. Starr is Distinguished Fellow for Eurasia at AFPC. Starr is author of the widely acclaimed Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia's Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane. In this book on the history of the region between the 8th and 11th centuries, he argues that Central Asia was the center of the world. Lost Enlightenment has been translated into 20 languages, and received widespread praise by regional leaders, including Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev and former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani. Starr has focused on the challenge of reopening continental-wide transport passing through Central Asia and Afghanistan. This issue was the subject of a series of articles between 2000 and 2008 and of a book, The New Silk Roads, published in 2007. He is a frequent commentator on the affairs of the region, and the author of numerous articles in journals including Foreign Affairs and op-eds in various leading American and international newspapers. Starr was the founding Chairman of the Kennan Institute in Washington, and served as Vice President of Tulane University and President of Oberlin College (1983-94). He was closely involved in planning the University of Central Asia and the Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy and is a trustee of the Nazarbayev University in Kazakhstan. He earned his PhD in History at Princeton, MA at King’s College, Cambridge, and his BA at Yale, and holds five honorary degrees. Starr is also a founding member of the Louisiana Repertory Jazz Ensemble of New Orleans and founded the Greater New Orleans Foundation, the single largest non-governmental sponsor of post-Katrina recovery in that city. He has written four books on New Orleans, including New Orleans Unmasqued, Southern Comfort, and Inventing New Orleans: The Writings of Lafcadio Hearn. Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Clay Routledge about nostalgia. They define nostalgia, nostalgia being forward thinking, nostalgia with positive and negative memories, and the downsides of nostalgia in pop culture. They discuss nostalgia with self-concept, self-continuity, and self-esteem, nostaglia for understanding existential anxiety and death, best ways to use nostalgia, and many more topics. Clay Routledge is an existential psychologist, writer, and consultant. He is Vice President of Research and Director of the Human Flourishing Lab at Archbridge Institute and co-editor of Profectus, a magazine on human progress and flourishing. He has published more than 100 academic papers, co-edited three books, authored three books, and received numerous awards for his scholarly research and student mentorship. He is the author of his most recent book, Past Forward.Website: https://www.clayroutledge.com/ Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Lisa Bortolotti about delusions. They talk about why we should think about delusions, delusions as emotional and rational beliefs, defining delusions, clinical and non-clinical delusions, and why we believe delusions. They talk about when delusions cause harm, can people change their delusional beliefs, and many more topics. Lisa Bortolotti is a philosopher and Professor of Philosophy at the University of Birmingham. She is Editor in Chief of Philosophical Psychology. She has her PhD in philosophy and her main interests are in philosophy of science, irrational beliefs, and epistemic injustice. Website: https://lisabortolotti.blogspot.com/ Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Ajit Varki about the evolutionary origins of denial and self-deception. They discuss the evolutionary perspective of human origins, self-awareness in humans, theory of mind, and how false beliefs and denial evolved. They also discuss lying, self-deception, religion, positive uses of deception, climate change, future of Mind Over Reality theory, and many more topics. Ajit Varki received training in physiology, medicine, biology, and biochemistry at the Christian Medical College, Vellore, The University of Nebraska, Omaha, and Washington University, St. Louis. He was trained and board-certified in internal medicine, hematology, and oncology. He joined the faculty of the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) in 1982.Dr. Varki is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, National Academy of Medicine, American Society for Clinical Investigation, Association of American Physicians, and of Sigma Xi. He has been a recipient of a MERIT award from the NIH, the American Cancer Society Faculty Research Award, as well as three of the highest honors in the field: the Karl Meyer Award (2005), the International Glycoconjugate Organization Award (2007), the Rosalind Kornfeld Award for Lifetime Achievement in Glycobiology (2020), and the ASBMB Herbert Tabor Research Award (2023). He was also elected President of the American Society for Clinical Investigation (1998–1999), President of the Society for Glycobiology (1996) and served Editor-In-Chief of the Journal of Clinical Investigation (1992–1997). He is recognized for creating the first major open access research journal, The Journal of Clinical Investigation, JCI (1996), as well as the first major open access textbook, Essentials of Glycobiology (2008). Dr. Varki was honored with the Old Cottonian of Eminence Award at the 150th Anniversary of Bishop Cotton Boy's School in Bangalore, India (2015) and he was also honored with the Annual Research Day Distinguished Faculty Medal and Oration at his medical school alma mater, the Christian Medical College, Vellore, India (2020). Dr. Varki's interests in human evolution also led him to propose a novel Mind Over Reality Transition theory about human origins, in the book, Denial.Link to paper: https://cmm.ucsd.edu/research/labs/varki/_files/publications/b200.pdf Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Sima Samar about her life and work for women’s rights. They discuss her reasoning for writing her memoirs, history of modern Afghanistan, impact of Islam, and the rule of the Taliban. They talk about her work in medicine and human rights advocacy, women’s rights in Afghanistan, becoming Vice President and Minister of Women’s Affairs of Afghanistan. They also discuss her work on the human rights commission, being nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009, women’s rights around the world, the future of Afghanistan, and many more topics. Sima Samar is a human rights advocate, Nobel Peace Prize nominee, and global influential female figure. She received her MD from Kabul University Medical College. Since 2002 she has been the Chairperson of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) which holds human rights violators accountable and sets the human rights agenda in Afghanistan. She is also the Chairperson of the Commission for the Prevention of Torture and was the Chairperson of the Asia Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institutions (APF).Prior to her appointment as the chair of AIHRC, she was the Vice President of the Interim Administration of Afghanistan and the first Minister of Women’s Affairs. She served as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Sudan between 2005 and 2009 and has been appointed as a member of the United Nation’s Secretary-General’s High-Level Advisory Board on Mediation. Samar also served as member of High Level Panel for Internal Displacement.Her commitment to her community is evident through her NGO Shuhada Organization’s work in operating 55 middle and high schools for girls and boys in Afghanistan, and three schools in Quetta, Pakistan for Afghan refugees. In addition to this Shuhada operates 12 clinics and three hospitals in Afghanistan and one hospital in Quetta for refugees, dedicated to providing education and healthcare, particularly focusing on women and girls. Website: https://shuhada.org.af/ Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Peter Kramer about Prozac. They talk about the 30th anniversary of Listening To Prozac and antidepressants, origins of antidepressants, classes of antidepressants, selfhood, criticisms of SSRIs and the serotonin hypothesis, risk of suicide with Prozac, future of SSRIs, and more more topics. Peter Kramer is a psychiatrist who practiced and taught psychiatry for over 40 years. He is Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at Brown University. He has done extensive research on depression and anti-depressants. He is the author of numerous books including the bestseller, Listening to Prozac. Website: https://www.peterdkramer.com/Twitter: @peterdkramer Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Stefanos Geroulanos about the history of prehistory. They talk about why studying history is important and why it is not final, the emphasis on the nature of man, why Rousseau and Hobbes’ ideas still persist, human nature and equality, and the impact of Darwin. They also talk about the impact of Marx, Neanderthals, thin veneer, and the instincts, Freud’s contribution, Nazi party, how we continue to understand history, and many more topics.Stefanos Geroulanos is Director of the Remarque Institute and a professor of history at New York University. He has his BA from Princeton and his PhD from Johns Hopkins. From 2015-2017, he was Director of the Center for International Research in the Humanities and Social Sciences at NYU. His research focuses on histories of the concepts that weave together understanding of the human, of time, and of the body. He has written many books, including the most recent book, The Invention of Prehistory: Empire, Violence, and Our Obsession with Human Origins. Website: https://www.stefanos-geroulanos.com/ Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Jorell Meléndez Badillo about the history of Puerto Rico. They talk about the origins of the island of Puerto Rico, Taino peoples, reasons for Columbus coming to Puerto Rico, and indigenous peoples fighting back. They talk about enslaved peoples in the mid 16th century, origins of the term “Puertorriqueños,” impact of race and colorism, and hardship in Puerto Rico in the 19th century. They discuss the Lares revolution, coming to New York, Spanish-American war and the United States acquiring Puerto Rico, cultural shifts from Spanish colony to American colony, the great migration in the mid 20th century, history of parties, status of Puerto Rico, and the future of Puerto Rico. Jorell Meléndez Badillo is a historian of Puerto Rico, the Caribbean, and Latin America. He is currently Assistant Professor of Latin American and Caribbean History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Before arriving at UW-Madison, he was a Mellon Faculty Fellow and Assistant Professor of History at Dartmouth College. His work focuses on the global circulation of radical ideas from the standpoint of working-class intellectual communities. He is the author of the book, Puerto Rico: A Natural History. Website: https://www.jorellmelendezbadillo.com/ Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Elizabeth Barnes about the ideas surrounding health. They discuss why we care about health and how we define health, social impact of health, and discussing health publicly. They also talk about shame and stigma with health, disability and health differences, ameliorative skepticism, and many more topics. Elizabeth Barnes is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Virginia. Her research interests are divided between metaphysics, political philosophy, feminist philosophy, and ethics. She has written a handful books, including her most recent book, Health Problems.Website: https://elizabethbarnesphilosophy.weebly.com/ Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Christian Madsbjerg about perception in the world. They discuss why perception and observation are important, the work of Merleau-Ponty, perception being reality, and intersubjectivity. They discuss the role of the body in phenomenology, phenomenology of space, the “other,” practical ways of paying attention in the world, and many more topics. Christian Madsbjerg is an author, entrepreneur, and academic who focuses on the practical and commercial application of the Human Sciences. He is the co-founder of the global consulting firm Red Associates which addressing strategy questions through empirical, organized observations of the human world. He also serves as the Chairman of the Board at the world-class architectural firm Bjarke Ingels Group, holds a non-executive director position at Fritz Hansen A/S, is an independent Director and Chair of the Nomination and Governance Committee at The Metals Company (Nasdaq: TMC), and is a member of the US board of Kvadrat A/S. He also serves as a director of the Revs Institute, a design museum and research institute. He has held the Professor of Applied Humanities position at The New School in New York City. He is the author of several books, including the most recent book, Look: How to Pay Attention in a Distracted World. Website: https://madsbjerg.com/ Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Helen De Cruz about wonder and awe. They define awe and wonder as distinct emotions, awe in other animals, social and cultural aspects of awe, and philosophy being born in wonder. They discuss the history of awe and wonder from ancient Greece to the Enlightenment, theories of emotions, magic and wonder, religion and wonder, Merleau-Ponty and habits, spiritual naturalism, and many more topics. Helen De Cruz holds the Danforth Chair in the Humanities at Saint Louis University. She holds a PhD in philosophy from the University of Groningen and a PhD in archaeology and art sciences from the Free University of Brussels. Her work examines why and how humans engage in pursuits that seem remote from the immediate concerns of survival and reproduction, such as theology, mathematics, and science. She is the author of many books including the most recent, Wonderstruck: How Awe and Wonder Shape the Way We Think.Website: https://helendecruz.net/ Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Katlyn Carter about the origins of the United States during the revolutionary period. They discuss the concern about secrecy and transparency in government, representative government and representative democracy, pros and cons of democracy, and how democracy is different from 1776. They also talk about shifting from colonies to states, reasons for secrecy in the founding, comparisons with France, Madison’s speed bumps for democracy, how we see transparency now in government, and many more topics. Katlyn Carter is a historian and Assistant Professor in History at the University of Notre Dame. Her research focuses on the origins of modern representative democracy through the study of political practices and institutions. She has a Bachelors in History from the University of California, Berkeley and a PhD in History from Princeton University. She is the author of, Democracy In Darkness: Secrecy and Transparency in the Age of Revolutions. Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Robin Lane Fox about Homer and his Iliad. They discuss how to best read the Iliad, structure of the poem, and the use of speeches, language, and movement. They talk about the location of Troy, Homer’s authorship, Homer’s description of the Trojan war, Homer’s illiteracy, Iliad’s transcription, genius of Homer, and many more topics. Robin Lane Fox is a historian and Emeritus Fellow of New College, Oxford, and taught Ancient History at Oxford University from 1977 to 2014. He has taught on Greek and Latin literature and Islamic history for many years. He has written many books on classical history, including his most recent book, Homer and His Iliad. Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla and Michael Callahan have a discussion about their respective podcasts. They discuss why they decided to do this crossover episode, how Converging Dialogues started, how Where We Go Next started, and how they treat guests. They discuss their process for asking questions, motivations for interviews, importance of active listening, their process for each episode, legacy of the podcast, and many more topics. Where We Go Next is a podcast focused on in-depth conversations with the people changing the ways we think, create, and live. Host Michael Callahan engages with visionary founders, best-selling writers, award-winning journalists, acclaimed educators, and innovative artists. Website: https://wherewegonext.com/Instagram: @wwgnpodcast Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Tara Palmeri about the 2024 US Presidential election. They discuss why there is rematch of the 2020 US Presidential election between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, Biden’s challengers, Biden’s age, and the Democrats “bench.” They talk about feelings mattering more than policy, immigration, predictions, and many more topics. Tara Palmeri is a Senior political correspondent at Puck and host of the Ringer’s election podcast, “Somebody’s Gotta Win.” Previously, she has worked as a journalist for Politico and ABC News. Twitter: @tarapalmeri Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Jeffrey Rosen about the impact of Classical Writers on the founding fathers. They discuss why studying the influences of the founding fathers is important, pursuit of happiness, Franklin and the impact of Pythagoras, Adams on humility, and Jefferson as a complicated figure. They discuss Washington’s self-mastery, Hamilton and Madison on moderation, and many more topics.Jeffrey Rosen is President and CEO of the National Constitution Center, where he hosts We the People, a weekly podcast of constitutional debate. He is also a professor of law at the George Washington University Law School and a contributing editor at The Atlantic. Rosen is a graduate of Harvard College, Oxford University, and Yale Law School. His essays and commentaries have appeared in The New York Times Magazine; on NPR; in The New Republic, where he was the legal affairs editor; and in The New Yorker, where he has been a staff writer. He is the author of seven previous books, including the most recent book, The Pursuit of Happiness: How Classical Writers on Virtue Inspired the Lives of the Founders and Defined America. Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Christopher Liddell about the five-year presidency. They discuss what is year zero and why presidential transitions are important, filling the government, and design, plan, and execution phases of year zero. They discuss the Romney transition, Trump transition, and Biden transition, standardization and flexibility with different presidents, Office of POTUS, first 200 days, the 2024 Presidential election, and many more topics. Christopher Liddell has held senior roles in politics, the private sector, and philanthropy. He was White House Deputy Chief of Staff during the Trump Administration, and has been involved in three presidential transition cycles, including the White House operational head of transition to the Biden Administration, where he played a key role. In the private sector, he has been Chief Financial Officer of several major companies, including Microsoft and General Motors. He is also active in philanthropic projects, having been Chairman of New Zealand’s largest foundation focused on environmental preservation. He graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering from Auckland University and a Master of Philosophy from the University of Oxford. He is the author of the book, Year Zero: The Five-Year Presidency.Website: https://chrisliddell.com/ Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with György Buzsaki about the inside out framework of the brain. They discuss the outside-in vs. inside-out framework for understanding the brain, causation as problematic for self-organizing systems, and perception and action on thought. They mention the Bayesian brain model, reinforcement and reward, brain systems and neural syntax, space and time within the hippocampus, the future of using the inside-out framework, and many more topics. György Buzsáki is a neuroscientist and Biggs Professor of Neuroscience at the NYU School of Medicine. He has his MD and PhD in neuroscience from the University of Pecs in Hungary. His main interest areas are on neural syntax and hippocampal networks. He is the author of numerous books including the most recent book, The Brain From Inside Out. Website: https://buzsakilab.com/wp/ Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Robert Trager about international governance of AI systems. They discuss why questions of AI are important, defining intelligence and machine learning, and provide an overview of the current landscape of AI systems. They talked about the ethics and governance for AI systems, how other governance models have been used, controlling the creativity of AI, civilian AI, military AI, and enforcement rules with military AI. They also mention the alignment problem, how to discuss AI in public life, and many more topics. Robert Trager is Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Los Angeles, and International Governance Lead at the Centre for the Governance of AI. He is a recognized expert in the international governance of emerging technologies, diplomatic practice, and institutional design. His research also focuses on economic models of technology races, and regulation and industry cooperation for the public benefit in safety-critical industries. He has written two books and numerous articles in leading social science journals, including the American Political Science Review, International Organization, International Security, Foreign Affairs and many others. Website: https://robertftrager.com/ Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Jonathan Blitzer about Central American immigrants coming to the United States and the evolving relationship in the region. They talk about the emphasis on Central America and, more specifically, El Salvador, when discussing immigration. They discuss the many narrative accounts of immigrants from El Salvador and some of the background information on El Salvador. They provide some of the history of El Salvador and the many brutal aspects of the 12+ years civil war. They also talk about the cyclical nature of US involvement with Central America, future goals, and many more topics. Jonathan Blitzer is a journalist and writer who currently is a staff writer at The New Yorker. His work has appeared in The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and many other publications. He is the recipient of the 2018 Immigration Journalism Prize from French-American foundation and the Media Leadership Award from the American Immigration Lawyers Association. He is the author of the new book, Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here: The United States, Central America, and the Making of A Crisis.Twitter: @jonathanblitzer Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Nicholas Morton about the Mongol empire. They discuss the background overview of Seljuck Turks, Karwazman Empire, and how the Mongols conquered and governed administratively. They talk about the environmental scope of the Mongols, religious tolerance, centralized hierarchy, the fifth crusade, how the Mongols splintered, and many more topics. Nicholas Morton is Associate Professor of History at Nottingham Trent University. He is a member of the Centre for the Study of Religion and Conflict. His main research areas are on the Crusades and Medieval Near East between the 10th and 14th centuries. He is the author of numerous books including the most recent book, The Mongol Storm: Making and Breaking Empires in the Medieval Near East. Website: https://www.ntu.ac.uk/staff-profiles/arts-humanities/nicholas-mortonTwitter: @nicholasmorto11 Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Vladimir Hamed-Troyansky about North Caucasian Muslims in the late Ottoman period. They discuss the landscape of the Caucasus, the Ottoman Empire, and the Russian Empire in the late 19th century. They talk about the diversity of ethnic groups in the Caucasus, the Ottoman Empire as a land of refugees, and why Russian troops perpetrated an ethnic cleansing. They discuss the term muhajir, four major migrations from the Caucasus, the Ottoman Empire as a refugee regime, 1857 immigration law, 1858 land laws, 1860 refugee commission, what happened to Circassian refugees in the Balkans, and Ottoman slavery. They discuss Circassians moving to the levant, the importance of Amman, resettlement in central Anatolia, return migration to Russia, and many other topics. Vladimir Hamed-Troyansky is Assistant Professor of Global Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He has his Ph.D. in History from Stanford University and was a postdoctoral fellow at Columbia University. His main interest areas are in global migration and forced displacement, with expertise in the Ottoman and Russian empires and their successor states. He is the author of Empire of Refugees: North Caucasian Muslims and the Late Ottoman State. Website: https://www.vladimirhamedtroyansky.com/ Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Burak Kadercan about territory and nation states. They define territory and nation states, discuss empire, healthy nationalism, and ethnic groups in territories. They also define borders and discuss Westphalia, mosaic and monolithic order, Ottoman empire, war and conflict, Russia and Ukraine conflict, and many more topics. Burak Kadercan is Associate Professor of Strategy and Policy at the United States Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island. He has his Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Chicago. He was an inaugural fellow at the Center for Strategic Studies, The Fletcher School, Tufts University. He was also a Lecturer in International Relations at the University of Reading (UK) and Assistant Professor in International Relations and coordinator for the Master Program in International Security at Institut Barcelona D’Estudis Internacionals (IBEI). He is also Senior Associate at the Center on Irregular Warfare and Armed Groups (CIWAG). His main interest are in territoriality, international security, and state-formation. He is the author of Shifting Grounds: The Social Origins of Territorial Conflict.Website: http://www.burakadercan.com/ Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Nicola Clayton about cognition across many animals. They define cognition in humans and in animals, intelligence, using magic to understand cognition in animals, embodied mind in animals, and comparative cognition as a type of convergent evolution. They discuss difficulties in using human measures for evaluating animal cognition, New Caledonian crows and their intelligence, consciousness, the future of comparative cognition research, and many more topics.Nicola Clayton is Professor of Comparative Cognition in the Department of Psychology at the University of Cambridge, a Fellow of Clare College and a Fellow of the Royal Society. Her main interests areas are comparative cognition and the evolution and development of intelligence in non-verbal animals and pre-verbal children. She is currently President of the British Science Association Psychology Section. She is also in residence at Rambert Dance Company. Website: https://www.psychol.cam.ac.uk/people/nsc22%40cam.ac.uk Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Lucy Cooke about the female animals across many species. They discuss why the female species were neglected in Darwin’s studies, binary model of sex, female choice in sexual selection and the social and sexual monogamy in birds and sexual coercion with ducks. They talk about hierarchies with males and females, female dominance in lemurs, menopause, female bonding, and many more topics. Lucy Cooke is a Zoologist, broadcaster, filmmaker, and author. She has a Masters Degree in Zoology from New College-Oxford. She has been a regular guest on Radio 4 and presented on BBC, ITV, and National Geographic. She is the author of numerous books, including her most recent book, Bitch: On the Female of the Species. Website: http://www.lucycooke.tv/ Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Peter Bellwood about the five million year history of humans. They discuss the genera and species of humans and the different types of humans that lived together at the same time, genes from early human species, and the four acts of human history. They talk about Hominins arising out of the Miocene, distinct features of Australopithecus, humans in the Pleistocene, Homo Erectus walking out of Africa, Homo Floresiensis, and Neanderthals. They discuss domestication and cultivation of plants and animals in the Holocene, rice and corn in the Fertile Crescent and in China, Maize in the Western Hemisphere, Anatolian hypothesis for languages, and many other topics. Peter Bellwood is Emeritus Professor in archaeology at Australian National University. He has his PhD from Kings College-Cambridge. His research areas have focused on population migrations during prehistory eras and the spread of Austronesian languages. He is the author of numerous books, including his most recent book, The Five-Million-Year Odyssey: The Human Journey from Ape to Agriculture. Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Paul Halpern about the multiverse. They discuss the cosmological multiverse and many worlds interpretation, impact of Newton, Maxwell, and Einstein for general relativity, gravitational waves, and quantum mechanics. They also talk about different dimensions, dark matter, dark energy, string theory, the multiverse in popular culture, and many more topics. Paul Halpern is Professor of Physics at Saint Joseph’s University. He has a Bachelors, Masters, and PhD in physics. He was is the recipient of the 2002 Guggenheim Fellowship and in 1996 received a Fulbright Scholarship. He was also awarded Athenaeum Society Literary Award. He is the author of numerous books including the most recent book, The Allure of the Multiverse: Extra Dimensions, Other Worlds, and Parallel Universes.Twitter: @phalpern Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Robert Pippin about Heidegger’s philosophy in connection with German idealism. They discuss Heidegger’s ideas on the culmination of Western philosophy with Hegel, Heidegger’s emphasis on Being, meaningfulness of being, and present-at-hand and ready-to hand. They talk about the impact of Husserl on Heidegger and their different ideas concerning worldhood. They discuss Heidegger’s ideas on standing presence, unveiling and concealment, imagination and intuition, and the juxtaposition of Heidegger’s Dasein with Hegel’s Geist. They talk about Schelling’s ideas on nature, Hegel’s conceptual ideas, Heidegger as the first post-Hegelian European philosopher, poetic thinking, and many more topics. Robert B. Pippin is the Evelyn Stefansson Nef Distinguished Service Professor in the Committee on Social Thought, the Department of Philosophy, and the College at the University of Chicago. He has been awarded a Guggenheim fellowship and was twice an Alexander von Humboldt fellow. He is a winner of the Mellon Distinguished Achievement Award in the Humanities and was recently a fellow at the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and is a member of the American Philosophical Society. He is also a member of the German National Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is the author of several books and articles on German idealism and later German philosophy, including his most recent book, The Culmination: Heidegger, German Idealism, and the Fate of Philosophy. Website: https://voices.uchicago.edu/rbp1/ Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Benjamin Herold about the evolving state of suburbia. They discuss the fast development in Dallas suburbs, Black Americans in suburbs around Atlanta, Multiethnic heritage in Evanston, Illinois, potential multiple futures in Penn Hills, Pennsylvania, and the founding families and long history of Compton. They talk about culture and history in each of these locations, centrality of schools in suburbia, cultural issues, covid-19 pandemic, the future of suburbia, and many more topics. Benjamin Herold is a journalist and author who primarily has written on urban education. He has a Masters in urban education from Temple University. His work has been heavily featured in Education Week, PBS NewsHour, Huffington Post, NPR, and many other outlets. He is the author of the latest book, Disillusioned: Five Families and the Unraveling of America’s Suburbs. Website: https://www.benjaminherold.com/Twitter: @benjaminbherold Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Nelson Lichtenstein about the failures of the Clinton presidency. They discuss his collaboration with Judith Stein for the book, why Clinton focused on economic issues, Al From, Democratic Leadership Council (DLC), and the impact of Ross Perot on the 1992 Presidential election. They talk about important figures in Clinton’s economic team, failures of healthcare, economic negotiations with Japan and NAFTA. They also talk about the 1994 Crime Bill, repealing Glass-Steagall, legacy of the Clinton presidency, and many more topics. Nelson Lichtenstein is Research Professor in the Department of History at University of California-Santa Barbara (UCSB), where he directs the Center for the Study of Work, Labor, and Democracy. He has his Bachelors from Dartmouth College and Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. He has held fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Rockefeller and Guggenheim Foundations, the University of California, and from the Fulbright Commission and the Oregon Center for the Humanities. He has also been elected to the Society of American Historians and received the Sidney Hillman Foundation’s Sol Stetin Award for lifetime achievement in labor history. He is the author of numerous books including his most recent book (co-authored with Judith Stein), A Fabulous Failure: The Clinton Presidency and the Transformation of American Capitalism. Twitter: @nelsonlichtens1 Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Camilla Nord about the neuroscience of mental health. They define mental health and how the brain is central to mental health, measuring subjective vs. objective well-being, and chronic pain. They discuss depression, anhedonia, dopamine networks, behaviorism for motivation, and reward and valence. They talk about various emotional theories, gut microbiome, Bayesian brain and predictive processing, placebos, homeopathy, antidepressants, and many other topics. Camilla Nord is a neuroscientist and Associate Professor and MRC Investigator at Cambridge University. She has a degree in physiology, psychology, and philosophy from Magdalen College-Oxford. She has her PhD from the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience from University College, London. Her primary focus is on the physiology and neuroscience around mental health disorders. She is the author of the book, The Balanced Brain: The Science of Mental Health. Twitter: @camillalnord Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Paul Smaldino about agent-based models of social dynamics. They discuss why modeling in social sciences are important, quantitative and qualitative data, models and how we define them, and decomposition with complexity science. They also discuss modeling with multivariate questions, importance of theory, modeling with COVID19, modeling in politics, and many more topics. Paul Smaldino is an Associate Professor of Cognitive & Information Sciences and faculty in the Quantitative and Systems Biology graduate program at UC Merced, where he is also affiliated with the Center for Analytic Political Engagement and the Center for Interdisciplinary Neuroscience. He is also an External Professor at the Santa Fe Institute. His primary interests are how behaviors emerge and evolve in response to social, cultural, and ecological pressures, as well as how those pressures can themselves evolve. He also has broad interests related to cultural evolution, cooperation, and complex systems. He is the author of the book, Modeling Social Behavior: Mathematical and Agent-Based Models of Social Dynamics and Cultural Evolution.Website: https://smaldino.com/wp/Twitter: @psmaldino Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Ruy Teixeira about the current state of the Democratic party. They discuss how Democrats are running in 2024, why Democrats have abandoned the working class voters, and why they have pivoted to college educated voters. They talk about immigration challenges with Democrats, impact of populism on the Right and the Left, Latinos shifting to the Republican Party, cultural issues, and many more topics. Ruy Teixeira is a sociologist and political commentator who writes on issues of party coalitions and American politics. He is nonresident senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) and was previously senior fellow at the Center for American Progress from 2003 to 2022. He has a MS and PhD in Sociology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is the coauthor of The Emerging Democratic Majority and his latest book, Where Have All the Democrats Gone?Substack: Ruy Teixeira The Liberal Patriot Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Daniel Tutt about the importance of the political left reading Nietzsche seriously. They talk about Nietzsche vs. Nietzscheanism, prolepsis and prophetic/esoteric and exoteric readings, and the Janus face of Nietzschean philosophy. They discuss building culture, caste and class, current leftist readings of Nietzsche, and Losurdo’s four stages of Nietzsche. They also talk about Nietzsche and Marx on religion, reading Nietzsche as a parasite, and many more topics.Daniel Tutt is a philosopher and writer and has been trained in philosophy and psychoanalytic practice. He has taught philosophy at George Washington University and Marymount University. His interest areas and writing are focused on Marxist thought, Nietzsche’s philosophy, and social power of the intellectual. He is the author of Psychoanalysis and the Politics of the Family: The Crisis of Initiation and, his most recent book, How to Read Like A Parasite: Why the Left Got High on Nietzsche.Website: https://danieltutt.com/Twitter: @danieltutt Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Hein de Haas about migration and many of the myths surrounding immigration. They discuss why immigration is a major issue globally and its connection with nationalism, distinctions between immigration, emigration, asylum seekers, and refugees, and how migration is not at an all-time high. They also talk about internal/external migration, borders, labor demand in the USA, low-skilled vs. high-skilled workers, refugee crisis, hypocrisy on the political left and right, future of migration, and many more topics. Hein de Haas is a sociologist and a geographer who has lived and worked in the Netherlands, Morocco and the United Kingdom. He is currently Professor of Sociology at the University of Amsterdam (UvA). He has a Bachelor’s in cultural anthropology and Master’s degree in social and environmental geography from the University of Amsterdam and a PhD in social sciences from the University of Nijmegen. He has worked as a researcher at the University of Amsterdam and as a researcher and lecturer at the University of Nijmegen. He was visiting scholar at Bilkent University in Ankara (Turkey) the Program of Forced Migration and Refugee Studies at the American University of Cairo (AUC Egypt). He has been part of the International Migration Institute (IMI) at the University of Oxford and played a central role in lecturing and directing the newly established MSc in Migration Studies at the Oxford Department of International Development (ODID). He was also a fellow at the Oxford Martin School and governing body fellow at Wolfson College. He is lead author of The Age of Migration: International Population Movements in the Modern World, a seminal text book in the field of migration studies. He is the author of the new book, How Migration Really Works: The Facts About the Most Divisive Issue in Politics. Website: https://heindehaas.org/Blog: https://heindehaas.blogspot.com/Twitter: @heindehaas Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Rory Cox about the multiple origins of the just war concept. They give an overview of the Egyptian empire, nile river and its importance for the Egyptian kingdom, and the three major kingdom periods with a central monarchy. They also talk about the Hittites, boundaries of their kingdom, and why they were so short lived. They discuss the Israelites, problems with the Hebrew Bible as a primary source, and the legacy of the Israelites. They also define just war, ius ad bellum, ius ad bello, ius post bellum, and describe what war looked like in the ancient Near East. They talk about authority and divine appointment for going to war with these three kingdoms, self-defense, military ethics, culture and identity, treatment of combatants and non-combatants, importance of Deuteronomy 20 for the Israelites, violence and genocide, just war theory up to the modern era, and many more topics. Rory Cox is Senior Lecturer in History at the University of St. Andrews. He has held two international research fellowships: a Wallenberg Research Fellowship at the Stockholm Centre for the Ethics of War and Peace (University of Stockholm) in 2016; and a Humanities Collaboration Research Fellowship at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and the Huntington Library, Los Angeles, in 2017-18. He has his Bachelors in Ancient History and a Masters in Medieval Studies from University College London. He has a DPhil in history from the University of Oxford. His main focus areas are on the ethics of war, history of violence, and intellectual history. He is the author of the book, Origins of the Just War: Military Ethics and Culture in the Ancient Near East. Twitter: @drrorycox Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Lisa Feldman-Barrett about emotions. They discuss what emotions are and how they are different from affect and feelings. They also discuss the social construction model of emotions with discussion on interoception, exteroception, allostasis and homeostasis. They talk about predictive processing, Bayesian brain, emotions as heuristics, nature of reality, discrete emotions, emotions in relationships, and many more topics.Lisa Feldman Barrett is Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Director of the Interdisciplinary Affective Science Laboratory (IASLab) at Northeastern University. She also holds research appointments at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH)/Harvard Medical School in the Psychiatric Neuroimaging Program in the Department of Psychiatry, and at the Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging in the Department of Radiology. She is among the top 0.1% of the most-cited scientists in the world with more than 275 peer-reviewed scientific papers across several fields. Her research focuses on how the human brain, in continual conversation with the human body and the world, regulates the body and creates mental events, such as episodes of emotion.Dr. Barrett has also received numerous awards for service to the field of psychology, including the Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award in Psychology (2021) and the Award for Distinguished Service to Psychological Science (2013), both from the American Psychological Association. She also received the Mentor Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Association for Psychological Science (2018) and a Guggenheim Fellowship (2019). She has served on the editorial boards of psychology’s most important journals, including Psychological Science (since 2007), Psychological Review (2007-2012) and Current Directions in Psychological Science (2020-2023). She also served as president of the Association for Psychological Science (APS) in 2019–2020. She is the author of How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain and 7 1/2 Lessons About The Brain. She has also edited five scientific volumes, including the 3rd and 4th editions of the Handbook of Emotion. Website: https://lisafeldmanbarrett.com/Lab: https://www.affective-science.org/Twitter: @lfeldmanbarrett Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Danna Staaf about the natural history of cephalopods. They discuss the family of cephalopods and their anatomy along with some of the behaviors, intelligence and consciousness with cephalopods, and what convergent evolution tells us about cephalopods. They talk about how cephalopods are able to live outside water, how they live in all bodies of water, impact of climate change, and many more topics. Danna Staaf holds a PhD in invertebrate biology from Stanford university and is an expert on cephalopods. She continues to do research on cephalopods and has had her writing published in the Journal of Experimental Biology and numerous textbooks. She is the author of, Monarchs of the Sea: The Extraordinary 500-Million-Year History of Cephalopods and her latest book, The Lives of Octopuses and Their Relatives: A Natural History of Cephalopods. Website: https://www.dannastaaf.com/p/home.html Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Venki Ramakrishnan about his discovering and mapping the ribosome structure. They discuss his background in coming from India to study physics and then biology, layout of ribosome, DNA, RNA, mRNA, and proteins, what we have learned about the ribosome over the past 50+ years, x-ray crystallography, and his trip to the LMB. They also discuss his experience of seeing atomic subunits of ribosomes for the first time, winning the Nobel Prize, and the future of ribosome research. Venki Ramakrishnan is a biologist and group leader of the Medical Research Center (MRC) Laboratory of Molecular Biology and is a fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. He was President of the Royal Society from 2015 to 2020. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2009 for his work on the sequence of the ribosome structure. He is also a member of the Order of Merit since 2012. He is the author of, Gene Machine: The Race to Decipher the Secrets of the Ribosome. Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Helena de Bres about the philosophy of twins. They talk about why people are fascinated by twins, binarizing twins, definitions of selfhood, twins and individuality, and the extended mind. They also talk about twins and love, twins and dating, what twins teach people about objectification, and many more topics. Helena de Bres is Professor of Philosophy at Wellesley College. Her main interests are on philosophy of literature, specifically the nature of memoir. She also works with themes of creative writing, public philosophy, and distributive justice. She is the author of Artful Truths: The Philosophy of Memoir and her most recent book, How to be Multiple: The Philosophy of Twins.Website: https://sites.google.com/wellesley.edu/helenadebres/home?authuser=0 Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Darrin McMahon about the history of equality. They define equality and inequality, hierarchies, equality not being sameness, equality as a value, and equality in other animals. They also talk about the origins of equality, reverse hierarchy dominance theory for equality, cooperation, slavery, religion, the Greeks complicated history with equality, complexity of enlightenment values, equality in the future, and many more topics.Darrin McMahon is David W. Little Class of 1944 Professor and Chair of the Department of History at Dartmouth College. He has his PhD from Yale University. He is the recipient of major fellowships from the Mellon and Guggenheim Foundations and has been visiting scholar at Columbia University, New York University, Yale University, the University of Rouen, the École Normale Supérieur, the École des Hautes Études, and the University of Potsdam. His writings have appeared in such publications as the New York Times, the Boston Globe, the New York Times Book Review, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, Time Magazine, the New Republic, and Slates. He writes regularly for the Literary Review in London. He is the author of numerous books including the most recent, Equality: The History of an Elusive Idea. Website: https://darrinmcmahon.com/ Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Robert Jay Lifton about resilience, catastrophe, and survival. They discuss psychohistory, his work with survivors of Hiroshima, the death imprint for survivors and his work with Erik Erikson. They talk about Freud’s death drive and differences and similarities to the death imprint. They discuss understanding resilience and surviving COVID-19, individual and collective mourning, surviving the effects of climate change, protean self, survivor power, the realities of catastrophe, and many other topics. Robert Jay Lifton is a psychiatrist and pioneer of psychohistory. He has been a professor at the Washington School of Psychiatry, Yale University, Harvard University, the City University of New York, and Columbia University. Together with Erik Erikson, he convened the Wellfleet Psychohistory Group in 1966. He is the author of numerous books including the most recent, Surviving our Catastrophes: Resilience and Renewal from Hiroshima to the COVID-19 Pandemic.Website: https://www.robertjaylifton.com/ Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Samuel Moyn about cold war liberalism. They provide a definition of liberalism, cold war liberalism, and some of the differences between these two forms of liberalism. They discuss some of the lessons from Cold War liberals for liberals today and the rise of neoliberalism and neoconservatism. They discuss the work of Judith Shklar, romanticism for Shklar and Isaiah Berlin, Karl Popper and historicism, Hannah Arendt on liberalism, Lionel Trilling on Freud and Cold War liberalism, the future of liberalism, and many more topics. Samuel Moyn is Chancellor Kent Professor of Law and History at Yale University. He has his law degree from Harvard University and his PhD in modern European history from University of California, Berkeley. He is fellow at Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft and has received fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies, the Berggruen Institute, and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. His main interests are in international law, human rights, and 20th century European moral and political theory. He was recently named one of Propsect Magazine’s top thinkers in the world for 2024. He is the author of numerous books including his most recent, Liberalism Against Itself: Cold War Intellectuals and the Making of our Times. Website: https://campuspress.yale.edu/samuelmoyn/Twitter: @samuelmoyn Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe