The Michael Shermer Show

Across America, a storm is brewing as the Christian Right gains unprecedented power. From book bans to anti-trans laws, this political force is reshaping the nation. In her book, Wild Faith, author Talia Lavin delves deep into the motivations of this movement, exploring its segregationist past and apocalyptic future through primary sources and firsthand accounts. Lavin introduces readers to a cast of characters within the Christian Right, including self-proclaimed prophets, Christian militias, and influential political figures. She examines the movement's impact on various aspects of society, from abortion rights to child welfare. Wild Faithconfronts the pressing question of whether American democracy can withstand this organized theocratic movement. Shermer and Lavin discuss historical phenomena like the Satanic Panic and Recovered Memory Movement, as well as contemporary issues such as the movement's influence on societal institutions, opposition to abortion and LGBTQ+ rights, and Christian Zionism. The conversation also delves into apocalyptic beliefs, control of female sexuality, and the movement's impact on children and families.

Mark Weinstein, a tech entrepreneur, privacy expert—and one of the visionary inventors of social networking—explores how social platforms could be redesigned to foster critical thinking, mental health, privacy, and democracy in his book Restoring Our Sanity Online. The book offers actionable solutions for reimagining our digital landscape, addressing crucial issues like user empowerment, privacy concerns, and protecting children from social media's negative impacts. Weinstein, founder of privacy-focused platform MeWe and a frequent media commentator, brings his expertise in social networking and online privacy to examine emerging technologies and their implications for social media's future. His book provides insights for users, parents, educators, and policymakers seeking to understand and improve our digital environment. Shermer and Weinstein discuss AI's impact on social media platforms and personal relationships, solutions to combat teen mental health issues, and strategies for parental control. They examine protective measures, Web3's promises regarding privacy and data ownership, and methods to defeat bots and trolls. The conversation also explores social media's potential mental health benefits, creating equitable creator economies, and operating without surveillance capitalism.

Neal Stephenson is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of novels including Termination Shock, Seveneves, Cryptonomicon, and Snow Crash. His works blend science fiction, historical fiction, and cyberpunk, exploring mathematics, cryptography, philosophy, and scientific history. Born in Fort Meade to a family of scientists, he holds a degree in geography and physics from Boston University. As noted by The Atlantic, his prescient works anticipated the metaverse, cryptocurrency, and AI revolution. His latest novel is Polostan, the first installment in his Bomb Light cycle. Shermer and Stephenson discuss: professional and speculative fiction writing, the interplay of genetics and fate, historical contingency (particularly regarding Hitler and nuclear weapons), atomic bomb development and ethics, game theory in nuclear deterrence, cryptocurrency, AI advancement and mind uploading, human evolution, Mars colonization politics, and philosophical concepts like Peirce's Fallibilism and Platonic realism.

How should we go about understanding LLMs? Do these language models truly understand what they are saying? Or is it possible that what appears to be intelligence in LLMs may be a mirror that merely reflects the intelligence of the human observer? In this episode, Terry Sejnowski explores the history and future of AI and its profound implications for understanding the human mind. He explains AI's evolution from early logic-based systems to cutting-edge advancements like deep learning and large language models, including ChatGPT, emphasizing the need for clear operational definitions and a strong mathematical foundation to advance AI research. Sejnowski also highlights the parallels between scientific discovery and engineering, discussing practical applications of AI in areas such as language translation and weather prediction. Terry Sejnowski is the Francis Crick Chair at The Salk Institute for Biological Studies and a Distinguished Professor at the University of California, San Diego. He has published over 500 scientific papers and 12 books, including ChatGPT and The Future of AI: The Deep Language Revolution.

First Amendment scholar and philosopher Tara Smith offers a comprehensive analysis of free speech, situating her work within the broader intellectual landscape. She examines the perspectives of historical figures like John Locke, Thomas Jefferson, and John Stuart Mill while addressing contemporary issues such as social media speech, "cancel culture," and religious exemptions. Smith's approach involves dissecting key concepts like censorship and freedom, exploring the crucial distinction between speech and action. Tara Smith is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin, where she has taught since 1989. A specialist in moral, legal, and political philosophy, she is author of the books Judicial Review in an Objective Legal System (Cambridge University Press, 2015), Ayn Rand's Normative Ethics: The Virtuous Egoist (Cambridge, 2006), Viable Values: A Study of Life as the Root and Reward of Morality (Rowman and Littlefield, 2000), and Moral Rights and Political Freedom (Rowman and Littlefield 1995). Smith's scholarly articles span such subjects as rights conflicts, the morality of money, everyday justice, forgiveness, friendship, pride, moral perfection, and the value of spectator sports. Shermer and Smith discuss the First Amendment, the definition of freedom, the nature of rights, and how freedoms are won or lost. The conversation explores contemporary issues such as social media censorship, hate speech, and the blurring lines between speech and action. It also delves into legal concepts like libel, slander, and compelled speech. Historical context is provided through references to influential figures like Oliver Wendell Holmes and his introduction of the clear and present danger test in First Amendment law.

Ask a question and participate in future episodes. The nocebo effect demonstrates how the mind can cause illness through negative expectations, as highlighted by a famous incident in a U.S. textile factory in the 1960s. Workers believed a bug was causing dizziness, nausea, and other symptoms, yet no physical cause was found. This mysterious outbreak underscores the potent influence of beliefs on health, a phenomenon that's becoming increasingly relevant in understanding modern psychosomatic conditions like the controversial Havana Syndrome. In this episode, Michael H. Bernstein, an expert on placebo and nocebo effects, explains how psychological factors can result in perceived physical harm. As co-author of The Nocebo Effect: When Words Make You Sick, Bernstein shares insights into the intersection of psychology, medicine, and public health. His research focuses on reducing opioid dependence by leveraging the placebo effect, while also exploring the ethical concerns surrounding nocebo-related side effects. Michael Bernstein, Ph.D., is an experimental psychologist and an Assistant Professor in The Department of Diagnostic Imaging at Brown University's Warren Alpert Medical School. His work is focused on harnessing the placebo effect to reduce opioid use among pain patients. He is Director of the Medical Expectations Lab at Brown. He is the co-author of the new book The Nocebo Effect: When Words Make You Sick, with Charlotte Blease, Cosima Locher, and Walter Brown. Shermer and Bernstein discuss: the placebo and nocebo effects, brain imaging, and the ethics of using these phenomena in medicine. Bernstein discusses the biology and psychology behind these effects, touching on notable cases such as Voodoo deaths and Havana Syndrome. Other subjects include psychogenic illnesses, patient-clinician interactions, alternative medicine, and how expectations can amplify or mitigate pain, anxiety, and depression. The conversation also delves into anticipatory nausea, psychotherapy, and the impact of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT).

Ask a question and participate in future episodes of the show. Religion in the twenty-first century is alive and well across the world, despite its apparent decline in North America and parts of Europe. Vigorous competition between and within religious movements has led to their accumulating great power and wealth. Religions in many traditions have honed their competitive strategies over thousands of years. Today, they are big business; like businesses, they must recruit, raise funds, disburse budgets, manage facilities, organize transportation, motivate employees, and get their message out. Economist Paul Seabright argues that religious movements are a special kind of business: they are platforms, bringing together communities of members who seek many different things from one another—spiritual fulfilment, friendship and marriage networks, even business opportunities. Their function as platforms is what has allowed religions to consolidate and wield power, which can be used for good and for harm. Paul Seabright is a Professor of Economics in the Industrial Economics Institute and Toulouse School of Economics at the University of Toulouse, France. His new book is The Divine Economy: How Religions Compete for Wealth, Power, and People.

Max Boot's revelatory biography of Ronald Reagan, a decade in the making, offers a nuanced portrait of the actor-turned-politician who ushered in a transformative conservative era in American politics. Despite his fame, Reagan remained enigmatic even to those closest to him. Boot's work, avoiding both hagiography and criticism, charts Reagan's epic journey from Depression-era America to "Morning in America." The biography provides fresh insights into key aspects of Reagan's presidency, including "trickle-down economics," the Cold War's end, and the Iran-Contra affair. Boot's definitive work stands as a compelling presidential biography, rivaling any in recent decades. The author, a Russia-born naturalized American historian and foreign policy analyst, brings his expertise to this comprehensive examination of Reagan's life and legacy. Shermer and Boot discuss Reagan's early life, his political evolution from a liberal to a conservative, his presidency, and the impact of his policies on modern conservatism. Boot provides insights into Reagan's views on social issues, nuclear weapons, and his relationships with key figures like Gorbachev. The discussion also touches on the current state of the Republican Party and the challenges it faces today.

Since Hamas's attack on Israel last October 7, the term "settler colonialism" has become central to public debate in the United States. A concept new to most Americans, but already established and influential in academic circles, settler colonialism is shaping the way many people think about the history of the United States, Israel and Palestine, and a host of political issues. This short book is the first to examine settler colonialism critically for a general readership. By critiquing the most important writers, texts, and ideas in the field, Adam Kirsch shows how the concept emerged in the context of North American and Australian history and how it is being applied to Israel. He examines the sources of its appeal, which, he argues, are spiritual as much as political; how it works to delegitimize nations; and why it has the potential to turn indignation at past injustices into a source of new injustices today. A compact and accessible introduction, rich with historical detail, the book will speak to readers interested in the Middle East, American history, and today's most urgent cultural-political debates. Adam Kirsch is the author of several books of poetry and criticism. A 2016 Guggenheim Fellow, Kirsch is an editor at the Wall Street Journal's Weekend Review section and has written for publications including The New Yorker, Slate, The Times Literary Supplement, The New York Times Book Review, Poetry, and Tablet. He lives in New York. His new book is On Settler Colonialism: Ideology, Violence, and Justice. Shermer and Kirsch discuss settler colonialism and its implications for current events, particularly in Israel. Kirsch explains the ideology behind labeling Israel a settler colonial state, tracing its roots to historical colonization. They explore anti-Semitism on college campuses, the complexities of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and settler colonialism's critique of Western civilization. The conversation delves into the broader implications of this ideology, including how it complicates discussions of justice and historical accountability.

Dr. Theodore Schwartz's book Gray Matters: A Biography of Brain Surgery offers a comprehensive exploration of neurosurgery, a field barely a century old that profoundly connects two human beings. The book delves into the history of how early neurosurgeons came to understand the complex human brain and how this challenging specialty emerged. Drawing from his own cases and various archives, Schwartz provides insights into the practical aspects of brain surgery and its life-or-death nature. The book covers a wide range of brain-related topics that have long captivated public interest, including famous cases like JFK's assassination and President Biden's brain surgery, as well as the NFL's management of CTE. Dr. Schwartz also discusses the field's latest advancements and tackles philosophical questions about the unity of self and free will. As a practicing neurosurgeon and professor at Weill Cornell Medicine, Schwartz brings a unique perspective to this cultural and scientific history of a mind-blowing human endeavor. Theodore Schwartz, MD, is the David and Ursel Barnes Endowed Professor of Minimally Invasive Neurosurgery at Weill Cornell Medicine, one of the busiest and highest-ranked neurosurgery centers in the world. He has published over five hundred scientific articles and chapters on neurosurgery, and has lectured around the world—from Bogotá to Vienna to Mumbai—on new, minimally invasive surgical techniques that he helped develop. He also runs a basic science laboratory devoted to epilepsy research. He studied philosophy and literature at Harvard. His new book is: Gray Matters: A Biography of Brain Surgery. Shermer and Schwartz explore a wide range of neurosurgical topics, from Schwartz's career path to brain anatomy and anesthesia. They discuss brain mapping, sports-related injuries, tumors, strokes, and famous medical cases. The conversation delves into neurological conditions like dementia and historical practices like lobotomies. They examine the neuroscience of aggression, philosophical questions about consciousness and free will, and the concept of self. Personal experiences, including Schwartz's father's stroke, are shared. The discussion includes future technologies like Neurolink and their potential impact on brain-computer interfaces.

Biologist Colin Wright joins the podcast to explore one of today's most contentious topics: the intersection of biological sex and gender. Drawing on his expertise in animal behavior and evolutionary biology, Colin breaks down key concepts such as biological sex, gender identity, and gender dysphoria. He also examines the shift in societal definitions of what it means to be a man or woman, and how these evolving perspectives fit with long-standing biological principles. This session was presented at FreedomFest 2024. To see more speeches and sessions from FreedomFest, visit freedomfest.com/civl.

AI could bring unprecedented advancements in science and technology, but Gary Marcus, in Taming Silicon Valley, warns it might also lead to democracy's collapse or even human extinction. With Big Tech manipulating both the public and government, are we prepared for the consequences of AI's unchecked power? Marcus urges that the choices we make today will define our future. Can we harness AI's potential without losing control? Exposing AI's flaws and Big Tech's grip on policymakers, Marcus offers eight solutions to avert disaster—from ensuring data rights to enforcing strict oversight. But will governments act in time? Marcus calls for citizens to push for change before it's too late. Will we rise to the challenge, or let AI's future be shaped by a few, for their own gain? Shermer and Marcus discuss various aspects of AI, including the current state of AI, AGI, and Generative AI like ChatGPT, and the AI we should aim for. They explore the key problems to solve, the 12 biggest threats of Generative AI, and the moral landscape of Silicon Valley, highlighting its influence on public opinion and government policy. Issues like data rights, privacy, transparency, and liability are examined, alongside the need for independent oversight. The conversation also covers the incentives driving AI development, the debate between private and government regulation, and the importance of international AI governance for managing its global impact.

From the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic to the rise of DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) initiatives and Artificial Intelligence, in this episode Steven Pinker, Matt Ridley, and Michael Shermer challenge conventional narratives and explore how we can continue to move forward. They discuss the state of democracy, autocracy, and the lessons learned from historical crises, while offering insights into how innovation, rationality, and education can lead us through challenging times. This session was presented at FreedomFest 2024. To see more speeches and sessions from FreedomFest, visit freedomfest.com/civl.

Michael Shermer and Matthew Stewart explore the heretical philosophical roots of the American Republic, including Enlightenment influences and the Founding Fathers' religious beliefs. They discuss Epicurean and ancient Greek ideas, slavery's moral contradictions, and its role in causing the Civil War, with figures like John Brown and Frederick Douglass shaping abolitionist movements that ultimately led to emancipation. Matthew Stewart is an independent philosopher and historian who has written extensively about the philosophical origins of the American republic, the history of philosophy, management theory, and the culture of inequality. His work has appeared in The Atlantic, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, and Harvard Business Review, among other publications. In recent years he has lived in Boston, New York, and Los Angeles, and is currently based in London. He is the author of Nature's God: The Heretical Origins of the American Republic and An Emancipation of the Mind: Radical Philosophy, the War over Slavery, and the Refounding of America.

From precognitive dreams and telepathic visions to near-death experiences, UFO encounters, and beyond, so-called impossible phenomena are not supposed to happen. But they do happen—all the time. Jeffrey J. Kripal asserts that the impossible is a function not of reality but of our everchanging assumptions about what is real. How to Think Impossibly invites us to think about these fantastic (yet commonplace) experiences as an essential part of being human, expressive of a deeply shared reality that is neither mental nor material but gives rise to both. Thinking with specific individuals and their extraordinary experiences in vulnerable, open, and often humorous ways, Kripal interweaves humanistic and scientific inquiry to foster an awareness that the fantastic is real, the supernatural is super natural, and the impossible is possible. Jeffrey J. Kripal holds the J. Newton Rayzor Chair in Philosophy and Religious Thought at Rice University. He is the author of numerous books, including The Superhumanities: Historical Precedents, Moral Objections, New Realities, The Flip: Epiphanies of Mind and the Future of Knowledge, Authors of the Impossible: The Paranormal and the Sacred, Esalen: America and the Religion of No Religion, Mutants and Mystics: Science Fiction, Superhero Comics, and the Paranormal, and just published, also by the University of Chicago Press, How to Think Impossibly: About Souls, UFOs, Time, Belief, and Everything Else.

During a two-hour interview with Tucker Carlson, Darryl Cooper made sensational claims about the Holocaust and World War II, with Carlson calling him "the best and most honest popular historian in the United States." In this solo episode, Michael Shermer takes a critical look at the pseudohistory and historical revisionism presented by Cooper on Carlson's show.

In Disbelief: The Origins of Atheism in a Religious Species, Will Gervais explores the interconnected nature of religious belief and atheism in human psychology. Gervais proposes that understanding religion requires solving two evolutionary puzzles: the Puzzle of Faith, examining how Homo sapiens became uniquely religious, and the Puzzle of Atheism, investigating how disbelief exists within this religious species. This approach yields a comprehensive theory explaining both faith and atheism, shedding light on humanity's religious evolution and the current trend of abandoning belief. Gervais draws on cognitive science, cultural evolution, and evolutionary psychology to challenge existing theories of religion. Will Gervais, PhD, is a prominent cultural evolutionary psychologist specializing in the scientific study of atheism. His research, featured in major media outlets, bridges cultural evolution, evolutionary psychology, and cognitive science. Gervais's interdisciplinary work has earned him recognition as a Rising Star by the Association for Psychological Science and garnered awards from the American Psychological Association and the Foundation for Personality and Social Psychology. In Disbelief, Gervais employs accessible prose and compelling examples to explain humanity's religious origins, the shift away from faith, and strategies for navigating religious divides in our culturally evolved landscape. Shermer and Gervais explore the nature of religion, various belief systems, and atheism's prevalence and perception. They delve into the cognitive foundations of faith, evolutionary perspectives on religion, and its historical and societal roles. The discussion covers the adaptive nature of belief, religious diversity, and the impact of religion on personal and social well-being. They also consider the future of belief systems and potential alternatives to traditional religion.

Dr. Ben Goertzel is a multidisciplinary scientist, entrepreneur, and author, originally from Brazil. He currently resides on an island near Seattle after living in Hong Kong. He leads prominent AI organizations like the SingularityNET Foundation, OpenCog Foundation, and the AGI Society, which hosts an annual Artificial General Intelligence conference. Goertzel is also deeply involved in AI development through organizations like Rejuve, Mindplex, and Cogito, and serves as a musician in Jam Galaxy Band, the first-ever band led by a humanoid robot. Additionally, he played a key role in the creation of the Sophia robot at Hanson Robotics and now works on the development of Grace, Sophia's sister, at Awakening Health. Goertzel's research spans fields such as artificial intelligence, cognitive science, natural language processing, and theoretical physics, resulting in over 25 scientific books and 150 technical papers. He frequently lectures at global conferences and has an extensive background in academia, having earned a PhD in mathematics from Temple University and serving on university faculties in the U.S., Australia, and New Zealand. His most recent book, The Consciousness Explosion, explores the intersection of human consciousness and the technological singularity. Shermer and Goertzel explore various topics related to AI, including the nature of intelligence, AGI, the alignment problem, consciousness, and sentience. They consider AI dystopia, utopia, and protopia, along with ethical and legal issues, such as AI values and universal basic income (UBI). Other discussions involve mind uploading, self-driving cars, robots like Sophia, and whether AI can solve political and economic problems or even achieve consciousness.

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof. It's no different when it comes to UFO frenzy. There is a need to separate fact from fiction in UAP claims. In this episode, Shermer delves into the growing interest in UAPs (formerly UFOs), especially in light of UFOlogist Lue Elizondo's book Imminent. Elizondo claims the U.S. government has long been aware of extraterrestrial intelligence, backed by reports of unidentified craft surveilling military sites. The episode explores these bold assertions and the tension between believers and skeptics, including scientists like Avi Loeb and institutions like the Department of Defense, which have disputed such claims. Listeners interested in extraterrestrial intelligence, UFOs, and government secrecy will find this discussion compelling. Shermer reflects on historical UFO figures like Bob Lazar and Travis Walton, questioning their credibility while exploring the widespread belief in imminent "disclosure" of alien contact. Through interviews with experts and analysis of various UAP phenomena, the episode challenges listeners to discern fact from fiction, offering an intriguing examination of what could be humanity's most profound discovery.

The stated goals of diversity, equity, and inclusion programs are often reasonable, if not noble—to create a more welcoming and inclusive environment for all. Yet, as more and more people are discovering, DEI as commonly practiced isn't a natural extension of past civil rights movements or an ethical framework for opposing discrimination on the grounds of race, sex, etc. Rather, it is inextricably connected with an illiberal and authoritarian ideology—Critical Social Justice—that demands adherence to its tenets and punishes any dissent from its dogma. Even the mildest questions about Critical Social Justice claims—that all white people are racists, that all underrepresented minorities are oppressed, that sex and gender differences have no biological basis, that censorship is a necessary good—are regularly met by DEI trainers and HR officers with pat commands: "Educate yourself," "Do the work," "Listen and learn." At work, raises, promotions, and future employment often depend on our nodding approval of such claims. At school, grades, nominations, and awards are often contingent upon our active agreement with these beliefs. In our daily lives, Critical Social Justice ideology poses a genuine threat not only to our fundamental rights but also to the future of our democratic systems, but if we suggest this, we risk being canceled or shunned by community members. When facing a choice between silent submission and risky if ethical opposition, what is a person to do? While a growing number of groups concerned about the nature of Critical Social Justice have begun to attack it from the top down through legal, financial, and political means, The Counterweight Handbook takes a decidedly different and novel approach. It works from the bottom up and is written to empower individuals who wish to combat Critical Social Justice in their personal and professional lives. Based on the author's years of experience studying, exposing, and fighting Critical Social Justice ideology and advising individuals and organizations struggling with it, The Counterweight Handbook is designed to help people address Critical Social Justice problems in the most ethical and effective way possible. It not only offers principled responses to the main claims of Critical Social Justice but also teaches individuals what to do when they are asked to affirm beliefs they do not hold, undergo training in an ideology they cannot support, or submit to antiscientific testing and retraining of their "unconscious" minds. In short, it is for all of us who believe in freedom of speech and conscience, who wish to push back against the hostile work and educational environments Critical Social Justice has created, and who want to stand up for our individual liberties and universal rights. Helen Pluckrose is a liberal political and cultural writer and was one of the founders of Counterweight. A participant in the Grievance Studies Affair probe that highlighted problems in Critical Social Justice scholarship, she is the coauthor of Cynical Theories and Social (In)justice. She lives in England and can be found on X @HPluckrose Shermer and Pluckrose discuss: origin of the problem • DEI and CRT • what it means to "Educate yourself," "Do the work," "Listen and learn." • top-down vs. bottom-up counter measures • race reckoning • antiracism • gender ideology • decolonizing and dismantling • fragility • intersectionality • normativity • positionality • privilege • wokeness.

Charles Fort, a maverick writer, fascinated by bizarre occurrences like flying saucers, Bigfoot, and frogs raining from the sky, scanned newspapers and magazines for reports of anomalies, advancing a philosophy that saw science as a small part of a larger system where truth and falsehood constantly transformed. His work found a following of skeptics who questioned not only science but also the press, medicine, and politics, led by the adman and writer Tiffany Thayer, who founded the Fortean Society. Joshua Blu Buhs argues in Think to New Worlds that the Fortean movement provided tools to expand the imagination, explore the social order, and demonstrate power dynamics, inspiring science fiction writers, avant-garde modernists, and post-World War II flying saucer enthusiasts to uncover the hidden structures of reality in an ever-expanding universe filled with unexplained occurrences and visionary possibilities. Joshua Blu Buhs is a scholar of the overlap of politics, biology, and ecology in twentieth-century America and has written articles that have appeared in Isis, Environmental History, The World of Genetics, and Journal of the History of Biology. His PhD is in the history of science from Penn State. He is the author of Bigfoot: The Life and Times of a Legend and The Fire Ant Wars: Nature, Science, and Public Policy in Twentieth-Century America, both published by the University of Chicago Press. His new book is Think to New Worlds: The Cultural History of Charles Fort and His Followers. Shermer and Buhs discuss his research and writing on weird phenomena like Bigfoot, Charles Fort, Fortean followers, anomaly hunting, science fiction, UFOs, skeptics, and the cultural impact of Fortean ideas that blurred the boundaries between truth and falsehood, undermining expert authority and fueling conspiracies.

As if 2024 couldn't get any weirder, tensions in the Middle East have escalated with the United States sending one of our nuclear submarines to the Mediterranean as a deterrent signal to Iran that they better think twice about attacking Israel. That sub, the Ohio-class USS Georgia, carries non-nuclear cruise missiles. But 14 of our 18 Ohio-class submarines have nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles—each sub has in its belly the nuclear equivalent of all the bombs dropped in World War II. Multiply that by 14 and let your imagination be properly staggered. Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces have pushed into Russian territory and Putin is outraged at the invasion. How far can Ukraine go before Putin uses his battlefield tactical nukes in response? In this solo episode, Michael Shermer discusses the threat of nuclear annihilation and explores the evolutionary origins of our moral emotions and logic of deterrence based on game theory. Focus of the analysis: the need to reduce nuclear stockpiles and shifting the taboo from using to owning nuclear weapons.

In his book Of Boys and Men and through his work at the American Institute for Boys and Men, Richard V. Reeves addresses the growing crisis facing boys and men in modern society. He argues that economic and social changes have left many males struggling in education, work, and family life, while institutions and laws have failed to adapt. Reeves criticizes both conservative and progressive politicians for their inability to provide effective solutions. He emphasizes that addressing these issues doesn't undermine gender equality; rather, it's possible to support both men and women simultaneously. Reeves highlights that while women still face disadvantages in areas like pay and leadership, men—especially those from minority or low-income backgrounds—are falling behind in other aspects of life. His approach aims to provide innovative solutions to these complex challenges without compromising the goal of gender equality. Richard Reeves is the founding president of the American Institute for Boys and Men (AIBM). Before this, he was a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, focusing on economic inequality, racial justice, social mobility, and issues affecting boys and men. He authored several books, including Of Boys and Men and Dream Hoarders. Reeves founded AIBM in 2023 to address challenges facing boys and men. Recently, Melinda French Gates announced a $20 million donation to AIBM as part of her $1 billion pledge to support women's rights. Shermer and Reeves discuss the gender gap in higher education, which has reversed since 1972, with men now earning only 42 percent of degrees. They explore boys lagging in English, higher male suicide rates, and premature deaths. They note lower employment rates for Black men and societal preferences for daughters. The conversation covers conflicting messages about masculinity and critiques of "boy culture." They examine how these issues intersect with various ideologies and societal problems, affecting boys' development and challenging traditional views on gender roles and expectations.

In her autobiographical book On the Warpath, archaeologist Elizabeth Weiss recounts her battles on the front lines of the culture war in academia. Her opposition to the reburial of Native American remains, her insistence that indigenous knowledge is not science, and her fight against political correctness have exposed her to numerous controversies, including a court case, cancel culture campaigns, and the university shutting her out of its collection over a photograph of her holding a skull. Weiss tells the story of her fight for science against superstition and her attempts to promote free speech and academic freedom, while examining the current challenges facing universities through her battles against absurdities such as attempts to bar "menstruating personnel" (formerly known as women) from curation facilities and plans to declare X-rays sacred for repatriation to Native Americans. Elizabeth Weiss is a controversial and world-renowned anthropology professor, specializing in the analysis of human skeletal remains. For much of her career she was based at San Jose State University, where she curated one of the largest collections of skeletal remains in the U.S. She is the author of numerous books and articles, and she played an essential role in bringing the Smithsonian's traveling exhibition "What Does it Mean to be Human?" to the San Francisco Bay Area. She's been featured in The New York Times, Science and USA Today, and has been interviewed on Fox News and Newsmax. She currently lives in New York City, where she holds a visiting fellowship with Heterodox Academy. Shermer and Weiss discuss the politicization of archaeology, covering Weiss's experiences in the field, including controversies like the Kennewick Man, the binary nature of sex in bone studies, and the impact of "wokeness" on anthropology. They also explore issues like the connection between modern tribes and ancient remains, the peopling of the Americas, and Weiss's discrimination experiences, including her lawsuit against San Jose State University.

Life as No One Knows It by Sara Imari Walker tackles the challenging question of defining life, a problem as complex as understanding consciousness or matter's existence. Walker argues that current definitions are inadequate for comprehending life's origins or potential extraterrestrial forms. She proposes that solving this puzzle requires revolutionary thinking and an experimentally verifiable theory. This is crucial for both creating life in laboratories and searching for it on other planets. Walker suggests a new paradigm for understanding physics and life, exploring the work of innovative scientists who are reframing fundamental questions about the universe. The book concludes with a bold theory for identifying and classifying life, applicable beyond Earth. It's a rigorous yet accessible work that celebrates life's mystery while demonstrating physics' explanatory power. Sara Imari Walker is an astrobiologist and theoretical physicist focused on the origin and discovery of life. She's a professor at Arizona State University and deputy director of the Beyond Center. Walker is also affiliated with the Berggruen Institute and Santa Fe Institute. Her award-winning research on life's origins has gained international recognition and media attention. Shermer and Walker explore diverse topics including defining life, self, and organisms; philosophical concepts like materialism and idealism; origins of life research; assembly theory; consciousness; free will; symbiogenesis; exoplanet biosignatures; alien civilizations; and the intersection of extraterrestrial search with religion. They discuss paradigm shifts in understanding life's origins, potential alien characteristics, and the Kardashev scale.

As cryptocurrency surged in popularity during the pandemic, many were drawn by the promise of wealth and revolutionizing sectors like finance, art, and politics. Figures like FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried became emblematic of this new era, but his meteoric rise was marred by scandal as his aggressive, profit-driven tactics led to one of the biggest financial fraud cases in U.S. history. Unlike idealists like Ethereum's Vitalik Buterin, Bankman-Fried's approach mirrored the risky financial practices that triggered the 2008 crisis. Cryptomania delves into the crypto industry's tumultuous 20 months, exposing its male-dominated, overhyped world, and chronicling the clash between profiteers and visionaries, the creation of speculative bubbles, and the human toll of its inevitable collapse. Andrew R. Chow is a correspondent for Time who covers technology, culture, and business. He has written four Time cover stories, including about the impacts of the AI corporate arms race and a prescient profile of Vitalik Buterin months before the 2022 crypto crash. He has previously written for The New York Times, Pitchfork, and NBC News. His first book is Cryptomania: Hype, Hope and the Fall of a Billion-Dollar Fintech Empire. Shermer and Chow discuss a comprehensive overview of money's evolving landscape and future potential. They trace its progression from fiat currencies to cryptocurrencies, exploring Bitcoin's rise and crypto's utopian ideals. The conversation examines NFTs' role in crypto's popularity and downfall, Sam Bankman-Fried's controversial career, and how crypto's crash mirrored the 2008 financial crisis, revealing similar systemic issues despite promises of revolution.

Evolutionary biologist and author, Richard Dawkins, explores how the body, behavior, and genes of every living creature serve as a record of their ancestors' worlds, similar to how a lizard's skin reflects its desert origins. In his new book, Dawkins shows that these genetic "books of the dead" offer insights into the history of life, revealing how animals have adapted to challenges over time. He argues that understanding these evolutionary patterns unlocks a vivid and nuanced view of the past, allowing us to see the remarkable continuity in how life overcomes obstacles. Richard Dawkins was the inaugural Charles Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University. He is best known for The Selfish Gene, The Blind Watchmaker, and The God Delusion. Dawkins has made significant contributions to evolutionary theory and popular science, emphasizing the gene-centered view of evolution. His latest book, The Genetic Book of the Dead, explores how genes serve as an archive of ancestral history. Dawkins continues to write and lecture on science and reason. Shermer and Dawkins discuss Dawkins' new book, The Genetic Book of the Dead, exploring how an animal's genes can be interpreted as a record of its ancestral history. They delve into the interdisciplinary nature of evolutionary studies, linking archaeology, biology, and geology. The conversation clarifies the difference between genetic and phenotypic records, using the metaphor of QR codes to explain how genetic information encodes environmental history. They also touch on the future implications of this research for understanding evolution.

After the Flying Saucers Came explores the global fascination with UFOs, tracing its origins to the summer of 1947 when a pilot's sighting in Washington State sparked widespread reports of "flying saucers." This phenomenon, fueled by Cold War anxieties and space age aspirations, captivated the world, leading to disputed government inquiries, sensational news stories, and a fervent community of ufologists. Author Greg Eghigian delves into how UFO sightings and alien encounters have shaped cultural and scientific debates, influenced by fears of conspiracies, hoaxes, and the allure of extraterrestrial life. He chronicles the evolution of UFO discourse across the United States, Europe, Latin America, Asia, and Russia, examining the impact of these mysteries on our perceptions of science, technology, and humanity. Through the lens of history, media, and personal testimonies, the book offers a comprehensive look at how UFOs have captured both the imagination and skepticism of society. Michael Shermer and Greg Eghigian explore the intriguing questions of extraterrestrial life and UFO phenomena in this podcast episode. They delve into the distinction between the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) and the scientific study of UFOs and UAPs (unidentified aerial phenomena). By examining these two questions—Are they out there? and Have they come here?—they shed light on how each area approaches the evidence and implications differently. Additionally, they discuss Bayesian reasoning as a method to assess the likelihood and credibility of UFO sightings and claims. Whether you're a skeptic or a believer, this discussion will challenge your perceptions and deepen your understanding of the ongoing debate about extraterrestrial visitation.

Psychologist Joshua Coleman, PhD, explores the complex issue of estrangement between parents and adult children, which he terms a "silent epidemic." He attributes this phenomenon to factors such as increasing individualism, emphasis on personal happiness, economic insecurity, and changing perceptions of parental roles. Drawing from his professional experience and personal journey with his own estranged daughter, Dr. Coleman offers guidance to parents navigating these difficult relationships. His approach focuses on understanding the adult child's perspective, developing strategies for reconciliation, and finding ways to heal or move forward. Rules of Estrangement provides parents with tools to engage in meaningful conversations and cultivate healthier relationships with their adult children, while also addressing the emotional toll of estrangement. Joshua Coleman, PhD, is a psychologist in private practice and Senior Fellow with the Council on Contemporary Families. A frequent guest on NPR and Today, his advice has also appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, the Wall Street Journal, CNN, Chicago Tribune and other publications. A popular conference speaker, he has given talks to the faculties at Harvard, the Weill Cornell Department of Psychiatry and other academic institutions. Dr. Coleman is co-editor with historian Stephanie Coontz of seven online volumes of Unconventional Wisdom: News You Can Use: a compendium of noteworthy research on the contemporary family. He is the father of three adult children, has a teenage grandson and lives with his wife in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is the author of The Marriage Makeover: Finding Happiness in Imperfect Harmony. His latest book is Rules of Estrangement: Why Adult Children Cut Ties and How to Heal the Conflict. Shermer and Coleman discuss: estrangement, exploring its causes and effects through personal experiences and societal trends. They examine the impact of divorce, generational shifts, and cultural changes on family dynamics. The conversation covers various factors contributing to estrangement, including individualism, economic insecurity, mental health issues, and ideological differences. They also address the roles of psychotherapy, in-laws, and inheritance in family relationships. The discussion touches on reconciliation possibilities and the long-term consequences of estrangement, drawing insights from recent literature on generational behaviors and mental health.

Shermer and Lipsky discuss: the scientists who first sounded the alarm about climate change • science consensus that global warming is real and human caused • the politicization of climate change • George H.W. Bush and Obama • a collective action problem • climate skeptics • Climategate • strategies of global warming skeptics • connection between cigarette smoking/tobacco industry and climate change • what is to be done now. David Lipsky is a contributing editor at Rolling Stone. His fiction and nonfiction have appeared in The New Yorker, Harper's, The Best American Short Stories, and many others. His new book is The Parrot and the Igloo: Climate and the Science of Denial.

For years as an award-winning war reporter, Sebastian Junger traveled to many front lines and frequently put his life at risk. And yet the closest he ever came to death was the summer of 2020 while spending a quiet afternoon at the New England home he shared with his wife and two young children. Crippled by abdominal pain, Junger was rushed to the hospital by ambulance. Once there, he began slipping away. As blackness encroached, he was visited by his dead father, inviting Junger to join him. "It's okay," his father said. "There's nothing to be scared of. I'll take care of you." That was the last thing Junger remembered until he came to the next day when he was told he had suffered a ruptured aneurysm that he should not have survived. This experience spurred Junger—a confirmed atheist raised by his physicist father to respect the empirical—to undertake a scientific, philosophical, and deeply personal examination of mortality and what happens after we die. How do we begin to process the brutal fact that any of us might perish unexpectedly on what begins as an ordinary day? How do we grapple with phenomena that science may be unable to explain? And what happens to a person, emotionally and spiritually, when forced to reckon with such existential questions? In My Time of Dying is part medical drama, part searing autobiography, and part rational inquiry into the ultimate unknowable mystery. Sebastian Junger is The New York Times bestselling author of Tribe, War, Freedom, A Death in Belmont, Fire, and The Perfect Storm, and codirector of the documentary film Restrepo, which was nominated for an Academy Award. He is also the winner of a Peabody Award and the National Magazine Award for Reporting. Shermer and Junger discuss: his near-death experience and his curent beliefs • NDEs and OBEs • hallucinations • altered states of consciousness • sensed presence effect • sleep paralysis • why there is no "proof" of an afterlife • living forever • belief in life after death • empirical truths vs. mythic truths • longevity and how to live longer.

Common ground is hard to find in today's politics. Many people, frustrated with a system demanding constant compromise, blame the Constitution for the discord. However, conservative scholar Yuval Levin argues that the Constitution is not the problem but the solution. In American Covenant, Levin blends engaging history with lucid analysis to reveal the Constitution's true genius and its power to facilitate constructive disagreement, negotiate resolutions, and forge unity in a fractured society. He also offers practical solutions for reforming malfunctioning aspects of the constitutional order. Hospeful and insightful, American Covenant celebrates the Constitution's remarkable power to unite a diverse society, reassuring us that a less divided future is possible. Levin's work is rooted in the best of our political tradition, highlighting the framers' sophisticated grasp of political division and the Constitution's exceptional ability to foster unity. Yuval Levin is the director of social, cultural, and constitutional studies at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI). He is the founder and editor of National Affairs and a senior editor at The New Atlantis. Levin's previous books include The Fractured Republic and A Time to Build. A former member of the White House domestic policy staff under George W. Bush, he lives in Maryland. Shermer and Levin discuss: Trump assassination attempt: conspiracy or incompetence? • Biden cognitive infirmities and why the party can't replace him • Out of 340 million Americans why did we end up with these two guys? • why the country is more polarized than ever before • the unique genius of the founding fathers • The Federalist Papers • why the three branches of government—legislative, executive, judicial—were established • what the founders got right and what they got wrong.

In this episode, we explore the conspiracy theories surrounding the July 13 assassination attempt on President Donald Trump. Despite the evidence suggesting the shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, acted alone, numerous theories have emerged. These include claims that the Secret Service staged the event, foreign governments were involved, and the shooter was part of Antifa or backed by Never-Trumper Republicans. We delve into why such theories gain traction, examining cognitive and emotional factors like event magnitude, proportionality bias, anomaly hunting, personal incredulity, hindsight bias, patternicity, agenticity, uncertainty bias, and teleological thinking. While some legitimate questions remain unanswered, we emphasize the importance of applying the Conspiracism Principle: never attribute to malice what can be explained by randomness or incompetence. Tune in to understand why rational people often believe in irrational conspiracies.

Jay Bhattacharya is a Professor of Health Policy at Stanford University and a research associate at the National Bureau of Economics Research. He directs Stanford's Center for Demography and Economics of Health and Aging. His work focuses on the health and well-being of vulnerable populations, with a particular emphasis on the role of government programs, biomedical innovation, and economics. His recent research is on the epidemiology of COVID-19 as well as an evaluation of policy responses to the epidemic. Shermer and Bhattacharya discuss: loss of trust in medical and scientific institutions • how well did lockdowns and masks really work • Lab Leak vs. Zoonomic hypothesis • hydroxychloroquine & ivermectin • debating anti-vaxxers, RFK, Jr., and conspiracy theories • myocarditis, Robert Malone, mRNA vaccines, Joe Rogan, Peter Hotez • The Great Barrington Declaration • the cost to the economy and education • which countries and states did better or worse.

Whole Foods Market's Cofounder and CEO for 44 years, John Mackey offers an intimate and provocative account of the rise of this iconic company and the personal and spiritual journey that inspired its remarkable impact. The growth of Whole Foods isn't just a business success story—it's the story of a retail, cultural, and dietary revolution that has forever changed the industry and the way we eat. After more than four decades at the helm, John Mackey is ready to share never-before-told tales of the people and passions behind the beloved brand. The Whole Story invites readers on the adventure of building Whole Foods Market: the colorful cast of idealists and foodies who formed the company's DNA, the many breakthroughs and missteps; the camaraderie and the conflict, and the narrowly avoided disasters. Mackey takes us inside some of the most consequential decisions he had to make and honestly shares his regrets looking back. For the millions of people who know and love Whole Foods, Mackey's story is a candid look at the fellowship and meaning born of a shared mission and how an inimitable entrepreneur shepherded a startup hippy food store into the market-leading international brand it is today. John Mackey is an entrepreneur and the co-founder and visionary of Whole Foods Market. In his 44 years of service as CEO, the natural and organic grocer grew from a single store in Austin, Texas, to 540 stores in the U.S., U.K. and Canada, with annual sales exceeding $22 billion. Mackey co-founded the Conscious Capitalism Movement and co-authored a New York Times and Wall Street Journal best-selling book entitled Conscious Capitalism: Liberating the Heroic Spirit of Business and follow up, Conscious Leadership: Elevating Humanity Through Business. He is also the co-author of The Whole Foods Diet: The Lifesaving Plan for Health and Longevityand The Whole Foods Cookbook: 120 Delicious and Healthy Plant-Centered Recipes. Mackey currently serves on the board of directors for Conscious Capitalism, The Motley Fool, CATO Institute, The Institute for Cultural Evolution, and Students for Liberty and is pursuing his next business venture, Love.Life. Shermer and Mackey discuss: timing is everything: how the 70s shaped a natural foods empire • mentors, education, and the entrepreneurial spirit • scaling up: from a single store to a market revolution • challenging business norms: unions, salaries, and ownership models • food quality: private vs. government regulation • spiritual evolution: Christianity and Eastern wisdom to psychedelics • political transformation: co-op dweller to libertarian capitalist • the IPO experience: taking whole foods public • ultra-marathon hiking: pushing physical and mental limits. Intrigued? Listen to John Mackey's fascinating story of personal growth and business innovation.

Aella is a writer, blogger, data analyst, and sex worker who has written extensively about the psychology and economics of online sex work, conducting extensive surveys and research in order to understand the ecosystem of sex workers. She grew up in Idaho as the oldest of three daughters of conservative parents who were part of a community of fundamentalist Christians, where she was homeschooled; their family name has been withheld in media coverage for privacy reasons. She moved out at age 17 after a fallout with her parents, and in 2012, after quitting a job as an assembly line worker in a factory, began working as a camgirl. She eventually became one of the highest-earning creators on OnlyFans, making over $100,000 in some months. By 2021, she was described as having set herself apart partly by conducting extensive market research, e.g. surveying almost 400 fellow female OnlyFans performers about their incomes and identifying factors that were correlated with higher earnings. Shermer and Aella discuss: Aella's conservative Christian upbringing • sex work and feminism • male-female sexual psychology differences • why women are choosier and more risk averse • what men and women regret about sex • BDSM, fetishes, and sexual violence • the women who sell sex and the men who buy sex • agency and volition in sex work: women and men • virtual sex, phone sex, cyber sex • pornography: good or bad? • decriminalizing sex work.

Nathan Law is a young Hong Kong activist, currently in exile and based in London. During the Umbrella Movement in 2014, Nathan was one of the five representatives who took part in the dialogue with the government, debating political reform. Upholding non-violent civic actions, Nathan, Joshua Wong and other student leaders founded Demosistō in 2016 and ran for the Legislative Council election. Nathan was elected with 50,818 votes in the Hong Kong Island constituency and became the youngest Legislative Councilor in history. Yet his seat was overturned in July 2017 following Beijing's constitutional reinterpretation, despite international criticism. Nathan was later jailed for his participation in the Umbrella Movement. The persecution sparked global concern over Beijing's crackdown on human rights and democratic movement in Hong Kong. In 2018, Nathan and his fellow student activists Joshua Wong and Alex Chow were nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by U.S. congressmen and British parliament members. Due to the risk imposed by the draconian National Security Law, Nathan left Hong Kong and continues to speak up for Hong Kong people at the international level. In 2020, he was listed as one of the 100 most influential people in the world by TIME magazine. He is the author of the new book Freedom: How We Lose It and How We Fight Back. Shermer and Law discuss: a brief history of Hong Kong • National Security Law • crimes of secession • how Asia's most liberal city changed so fundamentally • how rights and freedoms are won or lost • the truth: what it is and who owns it • reform society from within • freedom of speech • freedom of the press • the enemies of dictators • why democracies are fragile.

A.J. Jacobs learned the hard way that donning a tricorne hat and marching around Manhattan with a 1700s musket will earn you a lot of strange looks. In the wake of several controversial rulings by the Supreme Court and the ongoing debate about how the Constitution should be interpreted, Jacobs set out to understand what it means to live by the Constitution. In The Year of Living Constitutionally, A.J. Jacobs tries to get inside the minds of the Founding Fathers by living as closely as possible to the original meaning of the Constitution. He asserts his right to free speech by writing his opinions on parchment with a quill and handing them out to strangers in Times Square. He consents to quartering a soldier, as is his Third Amendment right. He turns his home into a traditional 1790s household by lighting candles instead of using electricity, boiling mutton, and—because women were not allowed to sign contracts—feebly attempting to take over his wife's day job, which involves a lot of contract negotiations. The book blends unforgettable adventures—delivering a handwritten petition to Congress, applying for a Letter of Marque to become a legal pirate for the government, and battling redcoats as part of a Revolutionary War reenactment group—with dozens of interviews from constitutional experts from both sides. Jacobs dives deep into originalism and living constitutionalism, the two rival ways of interpreting the document. Much like he did with the Bible in The Year of Living Biblically, Jacobs provides a crash course on our Constitution as he experiences the benefits and perils of living like it's the 1790s. He relishes, for instance, the slow thinking of the era, free from social media alerts. But also discovers the progress we've made since 1789 when married women couldn't own property. Now more than ever, Americans need to understand the meaning and value of the Constitution. As politicians and Supreme Court Justices wage a high-stakes battle over how literally we should interpret the Constitution, A.J. Jacobs provides an entertaining yet illuminating look into how this storied document fits into our democracy today. A.J. Jacobs is a journalist, lecturer, and human guinea pig whose books include Drop Dead Healthy, The Year of Living Biblically, and The Puzzler. A contributor to NPR, The New York Times, and Esquire, among other media outlets, Jacobs lives in New York City with his family. His new book is The Year of Living Constitutionally: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Constitution's Original Meaning. Shermer and Jacobs discuss: what possessed him to spend a year living constitutionally and biblically • what the Constitution really says and means • the Supreme Court's rulings on guns, religion, women's rights and more • what happens if you become an ultimate originalist and follow the Constitution using the mindset and tools of the Founders • why originalism is not the best approach • what happened when he carried a musket on the streets of NYC • an 18th century view of rights • election cakes • epistemic humility • democracy • how that Founders would be shocked at today's government, and how the president is far too powerful.

Is Lemuria a real place, or the fever dream of crackpots, mystics, conspiracy theorists, and Bigfoot hunters? Below the waters where the Pacific and Indian Oceans lies a lost continent. One of hopes and dreams that housed a race of beings that arrived from foreign planets and from which sprang humanity, religion, civilization, and our modern world. It was called Lemuria and it was all fake. What began as a theoretical land bridge to explain the mystery of lemurs on Madagascar quickly got hijacked to become the evolutionary home of humankind, the cradle of spirituality, and then the source of cosmological wonders. Abandoned by science as hokum, Lemuria morphed into a land filled with ancient, advanced civilizations, hollowed-out mountains full of gold and crystals, moon-beings descending in baskets, underground evil creatures, and a breast-feeding Bigfoot. The history of Lemuria is populated with a dizzying array of people from early Darwinists to conspiracy spouting Congressmen, globetrotting madams, Rosicrucians, Hollow-Earthers, sci-fi writers, UFO contactees, sleeping prophets, New Age channelers, a "Mother God", and a tequila swigging conspiracy theorist. Historian Justin McHenry provides a thoughtful exploration of how pseudo-science hijacked the gentle Victorian-era concept of Lemuria and, in following decades, twisted it into an all-encompassing home for alternative ideas about race, spirituality, science, politics, and the paranormal. Justin McHenry is a writer, historian, and archivist. His writing has appeared in magazines such as FATE, newspapers, journals, and various online publications like Belt Mag, 100 Days of Appalachia, and he edited the collection of stories, The Garden at Rose Brake. He received his Master's degree in History from West Virginia University. His new book is Lemuria: A True Story of a Fake Place. Shermer and McHenry discuss: how organisms get to islands from mainlands • how lemurs get to Madagascar • rafting sweepstakes vs. land bridges. • Alfred Russel Wallace and Island biogeography • Zoologist Philip Sclater • Ernst Haeckel to Hitler • Alexander von Humboldt • Johann Wolfgang von Goethe • Land of Mu and Atlantis • Ignatius Donnelly, Atlantis • Madame Blavatsky • Hermes Trismegistus and Hermeticism, Rosicrucians • pseudohistory, pseudoarchaeology and mythology.

Michelle Dowd was born into an ultra-religious cult, "The Field," started in the 1930s by her grandfather, who convinced generations of young male followers that he would live five hundred years and ascend to the heavens when doomsday came. Michelle Dowd is a professor of journalism at Chaffey College and contributor to The New York Times, Alpinist, The Los Angeles Book Review, Catapult, OnlySky, and other national publications. She founded The Chaffey Review, an award-winning literary journal, advises student media, teaches poetry and critical thinking in the California State prisons, and has been recognized as a Longreads Top 5 for The Thing with Feathers, on the relationship between environmentalism and hope. Her memoir is Forager: Field Notes for Surviving a Family Cult.

Robert Powell, a founding Board member of the Scientific Coalition for UAP Studies, has studied the UFO subject for 17 years. His work is encapsulated in UFOs: A Scientist Explains What We Know (And Don't Know)which provides a scientific rationale for the reality of non-terrestrial craft that are intelligently controlled. Powell begins his book by familiarizing the reader with the history of UFOs and he identifies the more enigmatic and interesting UFO sightings. He examines the characteristics of these sightings that argue against a prosaic explanation: extreme acceleration, electromagnetic interference, bending light, no obvious propulsion mechanisms, and a lack of interaction with the atmosphere. Powell discusses the recent events that have caused our government to change the term from UFO to UAP. Included is information never before released indicating the government possesses not just two videos but five videos from 2015 of UFOs operating in the vicinity of the USS Roosevelt nuclear aircraft carrier. Powell also discuss the extraterrestrial hypothesis considering the thousands of exoplanets that have been discovered in the last twenty years. Powell challenges the reader to consider all the implications that must be considered if intelligent life discovers us first. He looks at how we as individuals and as a society react to UFOs. He documents actions taken by our military that include instances when we have fired on UFOs. Powell argues that it is time for a change in the study of UFOs. The phenomenon has been with us for 75 years and we have learned very little as the decades have passed. The author makes the case for what needs to be done going forward. The solution he proposes will require a paradigm shift in our thinking and his book provides the information needed to understand that paradigm shift. Robert Powell is a founding Board member of the Scientific Coalition for UAP Studies (SCU). He was the Director of Research at MUFON from 2007–2017 and created MUFON's Science Review Board in 2012. Robert is one of two authors of the detailed radar/witness report on the "Stephenville Lights" as well as the SCU report "UAP: 2013 Aguadilla, Puerto Rico". He is also the primary author on the recently published paper, "A Forensic Analysis of Navy Carrier Strike Group Eleven's Encounter with an Anomalous Aerial Vehicle" and a secondary author of a paper published in the journal Entropy entitled, "Estimating Flight Characteristics of Anomalous Unidentified Aerial Vehicles." Robert is a member of the Society for Scientific Exploration, the UFODATA project, and the National Space Society. Shermer and Powell discuss: • technosignatures and biosignatures • convergent vs. contingent evolution • SETI science vs. UFO/UAP science • Are they out there? Have they come here? • what alien intelligence might be like (biological, digital, or otherwise) • Bayesian reasoning about UFOs and UAPs • the U.S. military UAP videos and what they represent • The Disclosure Project from the U.S. government • Projects Sign, Blue Book, Cyclops, Grudge • AATIP (Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program) • directionality and teleology in evolution of life • interstellar travel • Dyson spheres, rings, and swarms.

We often assume that religious beliefs are no different in kind from ordinary factual beliefs—that believing in the existence of God or of supernatural entities that hear our prayers is akin to believing that May comes before June. Neuroscientist and philosopher Neil Van Leeuwen shows that, in fact, these two forms of belief are strikingly different. Our brains do not process religious beliefs like they do beliefs concerning mundane reality; instead, empirical findings show that religious beliefs function like the imaginings that guide make-believe play. Van Leeuwen argues that religious belief―which he terms religious "credence"―is best understood as a form of imagination that people use to define the identity of their group and express the values they hold sacred. When a person pretends, they navigate the world by consulting two maps: the first represents mundane reality, and the second superimposes the features of the imagined world atop the first. Drawing on psychological, linguistic, and anthropological evidence, Van Leeuwen posits that religious communities operate in much the same way, consulting a factual-belief map that represents ordinary objects and events and a religious-credence map that accords these objects and events imagined sacred and supernatural significance. It is hardly controversial to suggest that religion has a social function, but Religion as Make-Believe breaks new ground by theorizing the underlying cognitive mechanisms. Once we recognize that our minds process factual and religious beliefs in fundamentally different ways, we can gain deeper understanding of the complex individual and group psychology of religious faith. Neil Van Leeuwen is Associate Professor of Philosophy and Neuroscience at Georgia State University and a recipient of the European Commission's Marie Curie Fellowship. His research has been featured in The New York Times and The Atlantic and on NPR. His new book is Religion as Make-Believe: A Theory of Belief, Imagination and Group Identity. Shermer and Van Leeuwen discuss: his own personal religious journey (or lack thereof) • "believe," "make-believe," and "pretend play" • "taking God seriously" • 4 Principles of Factual Belief • Tanya Luhrmann's How God Becomes Real: Kindling the Presence of Invisible Others • willing suspension of disbelief • group identity • sacred values • The Puzzle of Religious Rationality • that voice we all hear in our heads • "hearing the voice of God" • hallucinations and psychoses • sleep paralysis • angels and demons • sensed presences • witches and witchcraft.

Each year at least a billion children around the world are victims of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) that range from physical abuse and racial discrimination to neglect and food deprivation. The brain plasticity of our most vulnerable makes the adverse effects of trauma only that much more damaging to mental and physical development. Those dealt a hand of ACEs are more likely to drop out of school, have a shorter life, abuse substances, and suffer from myriad mental health and behavioral issues. The crucial question is: How do we intervene to offer these children a more hopeful future? Neurobiologist and educator Dr. Marc Hauser provides a novel, research-based framework to understand a child's unique response to ACEs that goes beyond our current understanding and is centered around the five Ts—the timing during development when the trauma began, its type, tenure, toxicity, and how much turbulence it has caused in a child's life. Using this lens, adults can start to help children build resilience and recover—and even benefit—from their adversity through targeted community and school interventions, emotional regulation tools, as well as a new frontier of therapies focused on direct brain stimulation, including neurofeedback and psychedelics. While human suffering experienced by children is the most devastating, it also presents the most promise for recovery; the plasticity of young people's brains makes them vulnerable, but it also makes them apt to take back the joy, wonder, innocence, and curiosity of childhood when given the right support. Vulnerable Minds is a call to action for parents, policymakers, educators, and doctors to reclaim what's been lost and commit ourselves to our collective responsibility to all children. Marc Hauser is an educator, neuroscientist, and the founder of Risk Eraser, a program that helps at-risk kids lead healthier lives. He is a former professor of evolutionary biology and psychology at Harvard University and the author of over three hundred papers. His books include Wild Minds: What Animals Really Think, Moral Minds: The Nature of Right and Wrong, Evilicious: Cruelty = Desire + Denial, and his new book Vulnerable Minds: The Harm of Childhood Trauma and the Hope of Resilience. Shermer and Hauser discuss: • Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) • Hauser's personal adversities • types of adversity • LeBron James story from childhood trauma to NBA triumph • The Dark Triad: psychopathy, machiavellianism, narcissism • Attachment Theory • Disorganized Attachment • Borderline Personality Disorder • sexual abuse and eating disorders • substance abuse, suicide, obesity, depression, liver disease, school dropout, lower life expectancy • timing, duration, severity, and predictability of ACEs.

Dr. Einat Wilf is a leading intellectual and original thinker on matters of foreign policy, economics, education, Israel, and the Jewish people. She was a member of the Israeli Parliament from 2010-2013 on behalf of the Labor and Independence parties. Dr. Wilf has a BA in Government and Fine Arts from Harvard University, an MBA from INSEAD in France (Institut Européen d'Administration des Affaires), and a PhD in Political Science from the University of Cambridge. Born and raised in Israel, Dr. Wilf served as an Intelligence Officer in the Israel Defense Forces. Dr. Wilf is also the author of six books including: My Israel, Our Generation, Back to Basics: How to Save Israeli Education (At No Additional Cost), It's NOT the Electoral System, Stupid, Winning the War of Words, Telling Our Story (a collection of Wilf's essays on Israel, Zionism and the path to peace,) and The War of Return: How Western Indulgence of the Palestinian Dream Has Obstructed the Path to Peace. Shermer and Wilf discuss: Why Israel? Why the Jews? Anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism • Karim Khan • accusations of genocide, induced famine, and war crimes against Netanyahu • who will recognize a Palestinian state? • why, after 7 months of fighting, the IDF has been unable to defeat Hamas • AP story outlining 4 options for Gaza: full scale military occupation; lighter occupation; grand bargain; a deal with Hamas • Zionism, Judaism, and Israel • Palestine, Palestinians, and the Gaza strip • Hamas, Hezbollah, and terrorism in the Middle East • Why students & student groups are pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel • The Abraham Accords • The Two-State Solution.

So much of what we hear about China and Russia today likens the relationship between these two autocracies and the West to a "rivalry" or a "great-power competition." Some might consider it alarmist to say we are in the midst of a second Cold War, but that may be the only responsible way to describe today's state of affairs. What's more, we have come a long way from Mao Zedong's infamous observation that "political power grows out of the barrel of a gun." Now we live in an age more aptly described by Vladimir Putin's cryptic prophecy that "artificial intelligence is the future not only of Russia, but of all mankind, and whoever becomes the leader in this sphere will become ruler of the world." George S. Takach's incisive and meticulously researched new volume, Cold War 2.0, is the book we need to thoroughly understand these frightening and perilous times. In the geopolitical sphere, there are no more pressing issues than the appalling mechanizations of a surveillance state in China, Russia's brazen attempt to assert its autocratic model in Ukraine, and China's increasingly likely plans to do the same in Taiwan. But the key here, Takach argues, is that our new Cold War is not only ideological but technological: the side that prevails in Cold War 2.0 will be the one that bests the other in mastering the greatest innovations of our time. Artificial intelligence sits in our pockets every day—but what about AI that coordinates military operations and missile defense systems? Or the highly sophisticated semiconductor chips and quantum computers that power those missiles and a host of other weapons? And, where recently we have seen remarkable feats of bio-engineering to produce vaccines at record speed, shouldn't we be concerned how catastrophic it would be if bio-engineering were co-opted for nefarious purposes? Takach thoroughly examines how each of these innovations will shape the tension between democracy and autocracy, and how each will play a central role in this second Cold War. Finally, he crafts a precise blueprint for how Western democracies should handle these innovations to respond to the looming threat of autocracy—and ultimately prevail over it. George S. Takach holds a bachelor's degree in history, political economy, and philosophy from the University of Toronto; a graduate degree from the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs at Carleton University; and a law degree from the University of Toronto. For forty years, he practiced technology law at McCarthy Tétrault, Canada's premier law firm. He has written three books on technology law/tech commercial subjects. Cold War 2.0: Artificial Intelligence in the New Battle between China, Russia, and America is his first book for a general audience. Shermer and Takach discuss: Vladimir Putin: "artificial intelligence is the future not only of Russia, but of all mankind, and whoever becomes the leader in this sphere will become ruler of the world." • what AI will be able to do in the coming decades • China's surveillance state • Russia and Ukraine • Cold War 1.0: Autocracy, Democracy and Technology • Cold War 2.0: AI and Autocracy and Democracy • semiconductor chip supremacy • biotechnology • how China's invasion of Taiwan is likely to unfold, and what the U.S. can do about it.

A new understanding of memory is emerging from the latest scientific research. In Why We Remember, pioneering neuroscientist and psychologist Charan Ranganath radically reframes the way we think about the everyday act of remembering. Combining accessible language with cutting-edge research, he reveals the surprising ways our brains record the past and how we use that information to understand who we are in the present, and to imagine and plan for the future. Memory, Dr. Ranganath shows, is a highly transformative force that shapes how we experience the world in often invisible and sometimes destructive ways. Knowing this can help us with daily remembering tasks, like finding our keys, and with the challenge of memory loss as we age. What's more, when we work with the brain's ability to learn and reinterpret past events, we can heal trauma, shed our biases, learn faster, and grow in self-awareness. Including fascinating studies and examples from pop culture, and drawing on Ranganath's life as a scientist, father, and child of immigrants, Why We Remember is a captivating read that unveils the hidden role memory plays throughout our lives. When we understand its power—and its quirks—we can cut through the clutter and remember the things we want to remember. We can make freer choices and plan a happier future. Charan Ranganath is a Professor at the Center for Neuroscience and Department of Psychology and director of the Dynamic Memory Lab at the University of California at Davis. For over 25 years, Dr. Ranganath has studied the mechanisms in the brain that allow us to remember past events, using brain imaging techniques, computational modeling and studies of patients with memory disorders. He has been recognized with a Guggenheim Fellowship and a Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellowship. He lives in Davis, California. Outside of neuroscience, Dr. Ranganath is also a songwriter and guitarist with a number of recording credits, including a song on a feature film soundtrack. Shermer and Ranganath discuss: how memories are stored by neurons • forgetting — memory in there somewhere or lost forever? • episodic, semantic, working, flashbulb, long-term, and short-term memory • recovered memories vs. false memories + confabulation, conflation • Alzheimer's, dementia, senility • PTSD and bad memories • déjá vu • memory triggers • learning as a form of memory • social memories (extended self) • MEMself vs. POVself • uploading memories into the cloud • improving memory: what works, what doesn't.

In recent years, condemnations of racism in America have echoed from the streets to corporate boardrooms. At the same time, politicians and commentators fiercely debate racism's very existence. And so, our conversations about racial inequalities remain muddled. In Metaracism, Brown University Professor of Africana Studies Tricia Rose cuts through the noise with a bracing and invaluable new account of what systemic racism actually is, how it works, and how we can fight back. She reveals how—from housing to education to criminal justice—an array of policies and practices connect and interact to produce an even more devastating "metaracism" far worse than the sum of its parts. While these systemic connections can be difficult to see—and are often portrayed as "color-blind"—again and again they function to disproportionately contain, exploit, and punish Black people. By helping us to comprehend systemic racism's inner workings and destructive impact, Rose shows how to create a more just America for us all. Tricia Rose is Chancellor's Professor of Africana Studies and the director of the Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America at Brown University. She has received fellowships from the Ford and Rockefeller Foundations, and her research has been funded by the Mellon and Robert Wood Johnson Foundations. She co-hosts with Cornel West the podcast The Tight Rope. She is the author of Longing to Tell: Black Women's Stories of Sexuality and Intimacy, The Hip Hop Wars: What We Talk About When we Talk About Hip Hop—and Why it Matters, Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary America, and her new book Metaracism: How Systemic Racism Devastates Black Lives—and How We Break Free. Shermer and Rose discuss: the policies, practices, laws, and beliefs that are racist in 2024 America and what can be done about them • racism, structural racism, systemic racism, metaracism • Rose's working-class background growing up in 1960s Harlem • deep-root cause-ism •being "caught up in the system" • Trayvon Martin, Kelley Williams-Bolar, and Michael Brown • Rose's response to Black conservative authors like Shelby Steele and Thomas Sowell • why she believes Coleman Hughes is wrong about color-blindness • Obama, George Floyd and race relations today • reparations.

Those who are pursuing social justice too often fail to incorporate the insights of sociology, and when they do make use of sociology, they often draw heavily from claims that are highly contested, unsupported by the evidence, or outright false. This book shows why learning to think sociologically can help us to think better about social justice, pointing us toward possibilities for social change while also calling attention to our limits; providing us with hope, but also making us cautious. Offering a series of tips for thinking better about social justice, with each chapter giving examples of bad sociological thinking and making the case for drawing from a broader range of sociological theory and research to inform social justice efforts, it advocates an approach rooted in intellectual and moral humility, grounded in the normative principles of classical liberalism. A fresh approach to social justice that argues for the importance of sociological understanding of the world in our efforts to change it, How to Think Better About Social Justice will appeal to scholars and students of sociology with interests in social justice issues and the sociology of morality, as well as those working to bring about social change. Bradley Campbell is a professor of sociology at California State University, Los Angeles. His work examines moral conflict, including violent conflicts such as genocide as well as nonviolent conflicts on college campuses over politics and free speech. He is the author of The Geometry of Genocide: A Study in Pure Sociology and co-author of The Rise of Victimhood Culture: Microaggressions, Safe Spaces, and the New Culture Wars. He has also co-authored op-ed articles about contemporary moral conflicts that have appeared in Time, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and The New York Times. Shermer and Campbell discuss: the telos of sociology: truth or activism? • Can we make people better? • evaluating ideologies • victimhood culture vs. honor culture • conflicting rights and social tradeoffs • CRT, DEI, cancel culture, identity politics • the true motives of woke, progressive leftists • How widespread is the problem of woke ideology? • equality vs. equity • overt racism vs. systemic racism.

Sean Carroll is creating a profoundly new approach to sharing physics with a broad audience, one that goes beyond analogies to show how physicists really think. He cuts to the bare mathematical essence of our most profound theories, explaining every step in a uniquely accessible way. Quantum field theory is how modern physics describes nature at its most profound level. Starting with the basics of quantum mechanics itself, Sean Carroll explains measurement and entanglement before explaining how the world is really made of fields. You will finally understand why matter is solid, why there is antimatter, where the sizes of atoms come from, and why the predictions of quantum field theory are so spectacularly successful. Fundamental ideas like spin, symmetry, Feynman diagrams, and the Higgs mechanism are explained for real, not just through amusing stories. Beyond Newton, beyond Einstein, and all the intuitive notions that have guided homo sapiens for millennia, this book is a journey to a once unimaginable truth about what our universe is. Sean Carroll is Homewood Professor of Natural Philosophy at Johns Hopkins University, and Fractal Faculty at the Santa Fe Institute. He is host of the Mindscape podcast, and author of From Eternity to Here, The Particle at the End of the Universe, The Big Picture, and Something Deeply Hidden. He has been awarded prizes and fellowships by the National Science Foundation, NASA, the American Institute of Physics, the Royal Society of London, and many others. He lives in Baltimore with his wife, writer Jennifer Ouellette. His new book series, The Biggest Ideas in the Universe, includes one volume on Space, Time, and Motion, and this new volume on Quanta and Fields. Shermer and Carroll discuss: the measurement problem in physics • wave functions • entanglement • fields • interactions • scale • symmetry • gauge theory • phases • matter • atoms • time • double-slit experiment • superposition • directionality in nature • the multiverse • known unknowables • Is there a place for God in scientific epistemology?

As a Hillary voter, a New York Times reporter, and frequent attendee at her local gay bars, Nellie Bowles fit right in with her San Francisco neighbors and friends—until she started questioning whether the progressive movement she knew and loved was actually helping people. When her colleagues suggested that asking such questions meant she was "on the wrong side of history," Bowles did what any reporter worth her salt would do: she started investigating for herself. The answers she found were stranger—and funnier—than she expected. In Morning After the Revolution, Bowles gives readers a front-row seat to the absurd drama of a political movement gone mad. With irreverent accounts of attending a multiday course on "The Toxic Trends of Whiteness," following the social justice activists who run "Abolitionist Entertainment LLC," and trying to please the New York Times's "disinformation czar," she deftly exposes the more comic excesses of a movement that went from a sideshow to the very center of American life. Deliciously funny and painfully insightful, Morning After the Revolution is a moment of collective psychosis preserved in amber. This is an unmissable debut by one of America's sharpest journalists. Nellie Bowles is a writer living in Los Angeles. Previously, she was a correspondent at The New York Times where, as part of a team, she won the Gerald Loeb Award in Investigations and the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Journalism Award. Now she is working with her wife, Bari Weiss, to build The Free Press, a new media company, where she also writes the weekly TGIF column which is released every Friday, thank God…or whoever. Shermer and Bowles discuss: what it's like to work at The New York Times • what it's like to found a new media company • same-sex marriage • Liberalism vs. Progressivism • the Black Lives Matter, #metoo, and transgender movements • Patrisse Khan-Cullors • White privilege • somatic abolitionism • LGBTQ • IDAHOBIT • BBIPOC • CHAZ • homelessness • anti-racism • cancel culture • defund the police • protests.