All Episodes

#417 Rick Shenkman - Political Animals: How Our Stone-Age Brain Gets in the Way of Smart Politics

Jan 14, 2021

Rick Shenkman is the founder of George Washington University's History News Network, the website that features leading historians' perspectives on current events. He is a New York Times best-selling author of seven history books. His latest book is Political Animals: How Our Stone-Age Brain Gets in the Way of Smart Politics. Mr. Shenkman is an Emmy award-winning investigative reporter and the former managing editor of KIRO-TV, the CBS affiliate in Seattle. In 1997 he was the host, writer and producer of a prime-time series for The Learning Channel inspired by his books on myths. In 2008 he was elected a Fellow of the Society of American Historians. He gives lectures at colleges around the country on several topics, including American myths and presidential politics. More»
#416 Evert Van de Vliert: Climate, Economics, Affluence, Social Organizations, and Culture

Jan 11, 2021

Dr. Evert Van de Vliert received his PhD from the Free University in Amsterdam in 1973 and held teacher and researcher positions at the same university, at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, and at the Royal Military Academy in the Netherlands. He served as chairman of the Dutch Research Association of Social and Organizational Psychologists (1984–1989) and as research director of the Kurt Lewin Institute (1993–1996). He has published more than 200 journal articles, chapters, and books including Complex Interpersonal Conflict Behaviour: Theoretical Frontiers (1997). In 2005, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award of the International Association for Conflict Management. At present, he is professor emeritus of organizational psychology at the University of Groningen in The Netherlands. His current research concentrates on cross-national comparisons, with an emphasis on the impact of cold, temperate, and hot climates on national and organizational cultures. More»
#415 Jacob Stegenga: Philosophy of Medicine, Evidence, Disease, and Medical Nihilism

Jan 8, 2021

Dr. Jacob Stegenga is a Reader in the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge. He has published widely on fundamental topics in reasoning and rationality and philosophical problems in medicine and biology. Prior to joining Cambridge he taught in the United States and Canada, and he received his PhD from the University of California San Diego. He is the author of Medical Nihilism and Care and Cure: An Introduction to Philosophy of Medicine, and he is currently writing a book on the sciences of sexual desire. More»
#414 Robert McCauley & George Graham: Hearing Voices and Other Matters of the Mind

Jan 7, 2021

Dr. Robert McCauley is the William Rand Kenan Jr. University Professor of Philosophy at the Center for Mind, Brain, and Culture, at Emory University. More»
#413 Michael Anderson: Understanding How The Brain Evolved

Jan 4, 2021

Dr. Michael Anderson is Rotman Canada Research Chair in Philosophy of Science, Core member at the Rotman Institute of Philosophy, and Core member at the Brain and Mind Institute at the University of Western Ontario. For 2012-13, Dr. Anderson is a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, at Stanford University. His primary areas of research include an account of the evolution of the cortex via exaptation of existing neural circuitry (the "massive redeployment hypothesis"); the role of behavior, and of the brain's motor-control areas, in supporting higher-order cognitive functions; the foundations of intentionality (the connection between objects of thought and things in the world); and the role of self-monitoring and self-control in maintaining robust real-world agency. More»
#412 Agner Fog: Cultural Evolution, Memetics, Politics and the Media

Jan 1, 2021

Dr. Agner Fog is associate professor of computer science at Technical University of Denmark. Dr. Fog does research in Evolutionary Anthropology, Cultural Anthropology, Social systems and Computer Science. His current project is 'Theory of cultural change based on evolutionary psychology, evolutionary biology, and cultural evolution.' He’s the author of “Warlike and Peaceful Societies: The Interaction of Genes and Culture”, and “Cultural Selection”. More»
#411 Ann-Sophie Barwich - Smellosophy: What the Nose tells the Mind

Dec 31, 2020

Dr. Ann-Sophie Barwich is Assistant Professor of History and Philosophy of Science and Cognitive Science at Indiana University Bloomington. She is a cognitive scientist and empirical philosopher & historian of science, technology, and the senses. She divides her brain-time between the Department of History & Philosophy of Science and the Cognitive Science Program. Estimated begin of lab (EEG/Olfactometry) in early 2021. She’s the author of Smellosophy: What the Nose tells the Mind. More»
#410 Edward Watts - Mortal Republic: How Rome Fell into Tyranny

Dec 28, 2020

Dr. Edward Watts is presently the Vassiliadis Professor of Byzantine Greek History at UC San Diego, where he was formerly Co-Director of the Center for Hellenic Studies. His research interests center on the intellectual and religious history of the Roman Empire and the early Byzantine Empire. He is the author of several books on ancient history, the most recent one being Mortal Republic: How Rome Fell Into Tyranny. He also has a new book coming out in 2021, The Eternal Decline and Fall of Rome: The History of a Dangerous Idea. More»
#409 Gordon Gallup: Orgasm, Sperm Competition, Mating Strategies, Self-Recognition, and Religion

Dec 25, 2020

Dr. Gordon Gallup is Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Albany. He is best known for developing the mirror test, also called the mirror self-recognition test, or MSR, in 1970, which gauges self-awareness of animals. He also studied tonic immobility, or "animal hypnosis,". His later work on animal behavior focused on ethological approaches to the study of animal behavior under laboratory conditions. Since the 1990s, Dr. Gallup has researched human evolutionary psychology exclusively. More»
#408 Victoria Dougherty: Writing Fiction, Religion, Politics, Comedy, and Interesting Villains

Dec 24, 2020

Victoria Dougherty is the author of The Bone Church, Welcome to the Hotel Yalta, and Cold. She writes fiction, drama, and essays that revolve around lovers, killers, curses, and destinies. Her work has been published or profiled in the New York Times, USA Today, The International Herald Tribune, and elsewhere. Earlier in her career, while living in Prague, she co-founded Black Box Theater, translating, producing, and acting in several Czech plays. Her blog – COLD – features her short essays on faith, family, love, and writing. WordPress, the blogging platform that hosts some 70 million blogs worldwide, has singled out COLD as one of the Top 50 Recommended Blogs by writers or about writing. More»