https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/sciencesalon/mss481_Edward_Goldberg_2024_10_29.mp3 Download MP3 The United States as Global Liberal Hegemon: How the U.S. Came to Lead the World examines America’s role as the global liberal hegemon. Using a historical analysis to understand how the United States came to serve as the world leader, Goldberg argues w…

Edward Goldberg analyzes the United States’ emergence as the global liberal hegemon, detailing its geographical and economic advantages that led to its post-World War II dominance. He argues that America’s shift from merely being an international police force to acting as the world’s central banker solidifies its unique global role. Goldberg furthe…

https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/sciencesalon/mss480_Talia_Lavin_2024_10_26.mp3 Download MP3 All across America, a storm is gathering: from book bans in school libraries to anti-trans laws in state legislatures; fire-bombings of abortion clinics and protests against gay rights. The Christian Right, a cunning political force in America for more tha…

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 firs…

https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/sciencesalon/mss479_Mark_Weinstein_2024_10_22.mp3 Download MP3 Big Tech is driving us, our kids, and society mad. In the nick of time, Restoring Our Sanity Online presents the bold, revolutionary framework for an epic reboot. What would social media look like if it nourished our critical thinking, mental health, pr…

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, addressi…

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 g…

https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/sciencesalon/mss478_Neal_Stephenson_2024_10_18.mp3 Download MP3 Neal Stephenson is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the novels Termination Shock, Fall; or, Dodge in Hell, Seveneves, Reamde, Anathem, The System of the World, The Confusion, Quicksilver, Cryptonomicon, The Diamond Age, Snow Crash, and Zodia…

https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/sciencesalon/mss477_Terry_Sejnowski_2024_10_15.mp3 Download MP3 In ChatGPT and the Future of AI, the sequel to The Deep Learning Revolution, Terrence Sejnowski offers a nuanced exploration of large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT and what their future holds. How should we go about understanding LLMs? Do these l…

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 fo…

https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/sciencesalon/mss476_Tara_Smith_2024_10_12.mp3 Download MP3 Situating her analyses within the broader intellectual landscape, First Amendment scholar and philosopher Tara Smith takes up the views of such historical figures as John Locke, Thomas Jefferson and John Stuart Mill, while also addressing contemporary clash…

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…

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 outbrea…

https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/sciencesalon/mss475_Michael_Bernstein_2024_10_08.mp3 Download MP3 Can beliefs make you sick? Consider “The June Bug” incident from a U.S. textile factory in the early 1960s. Many employees began to feel dizzy, had an upset stomach, and vomited. Some were even hospitalized. The illness was attributed to a mysterious…

https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/sciencesalon/mss474_Paul_Seabright_2024_10_05.mp3 Download MP3 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.…

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…

https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/sciencesalon/mss473_Max_Boot_2024_10_01.mp3 Download MP3 From best-selling biographer Max Boot comes this revelatory portrait, a decade in the making, of the actor-turned-politician whose telegenic leadership ushered in a transformative conservative era in American politics. Despite his fame as a Hollywood star and…

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…

https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/sciencesalon/mss472_Adam_Kirsch_2024_09_28.mp3 Download MP3 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 sha…

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, a…

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…

https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/sciencesalon/mss470_Colin_Wright_2024_09_21.mp3 Download MP3 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 biologi…

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 definiti…

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 toda…

https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/sciencesalon/mss469_Gary_Marcus_2024_09_17.mp3 Download MP3 On balance, will AI help humanity or harm it? AI could revolutionize science, medicine, and technology, and deliver us a world of abundance and better health. Or it could be a disaster, leading to the downfall of democracy, or even our extinction. In Tamin…

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 lea…

https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/sciencesalon/mss468_Pinker_Ridley_2024_09_13.mp3 Download MP3 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 c…

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 Doug…

https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/sciencesalon/mss467_Matthew_Stewart_2024_09_10.mp3 Download MP3 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 …

https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/sciencesalon/mss466_Jeff_Kripal_2024_09_08.mp3 Download MP3 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 n…

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 …

https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/sciencesalon/mss465_Michael_Shermer_2024_09_06.mp3 Download MP3 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 Sherm…

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 Ca…