In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Mark Blyth and Nicolò Fraccaroli on inflation. They define inflation, provide positive and negative of inflation, and how prices are measured. They talk about housing interest rates, Federal Reserve, inflation in the 70s, Biden stimulus, Hyperinflation in Turkey and Argentina, Trump’s tariffs, and many more topics. Mark Blyth is the William R. Rhodes ’57 Professor of International Economics and the Director of the Rhodes Centre for Internationa...
Jul 13, 2025•1 hr 22 min
In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Henry Abbott on the Peak Performance Project (P3) within sports medicine. They discuss the landscape of injuries in the U.S., P3, chronic injuries, healthy movement and hip rotation, landing and ACL injuries, prevention and recovery, mental endurance, and many more topics. Henry Abbott is an award-winning journalist and founder of TrueHoop. He led ESPN’s 60-person NBA digital and print team, which published several groundbreaking articles and w...
Jul 07, 2025•1 hr 13 min
In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Judith Scheele about the human history of the Sahara. They discuss the perceptions of the Sahara, landscape of the Sahara, sand and freshwater, multiple uses of camels, peoples of the Sahara, Slavery and race in the Sahara, Islam, contemporary Sahara, and many more topics. Judith Scheele is professor of social anthropology at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales (School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences, EHESS). She has sp...
Jul 04, 2025•59 min
In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Karen Hao about OpenAI and the current landscape about AI. They discuss the origins of OpenAI, Sam Altman and his motivations, his relationships with Elon Musk and Peter Thiel, using cheap labor in Venezuela and Kenya for AI, supercomputers and mega campuses for data centers, and many more topics. Karen Hao is a bestselling author and award-winning reporter covering artificial intelligence. She was an application engineer at the first startup t...
Jun 30, 2025•52 min
In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Katherine Stewart about democracy and American authoritarianism. They discuss the evolution of conservatives to the Far Right, critiques of the Far Right, reactionary nihilism and the anti-woke. They discuss issues such as abortion, conservative conventions, religion, and many more topics. Katherine Stewart is a journalist and author who has been covering the rise of the anti-democratic movement for over 16 years. Her writing appears in The New...
Jun 26, 2025•59 min
In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Fawaz Gerges about continuous Western involvement in the Middle East. They discuss misconceptions of the Middle East, role of colonialism, Iran and Turkey being exceptions to foreign colonial involvement, Arab Nationalism, Civilizations and colonialism, political Islam, and many more topics. Fawaz A. Gerges is Professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), and holder of a Professorship in Con...
Jun 23, 2025•1 hr 6 min
In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Agustina Paglayan about mass education around the world. They discuss education as a tool for political and social order, theories of education, and explicit aims of government education. They also talk about early critical thinking, nationalism, and education worldwide. They discuss mass education and violence, indoctrination, curriculums, teachers and quality education, and many more topics. Agustina S. Paglayan is a political science and pub...
Jun 16, 2025•1 hr 44 min
In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Kasia Szymanska about translation of texts. They discuss how many translations can diverge from one source, translating into English, post-1989 Poland and translation, ethics of translation, the poem VIA, A Clockwork Orange translations, and many more topics. Kasia Szymanska is Lecturer in translations studies at the University of Manchester. Her research is in translation and comparative literature, literary translation, translation politics, ...
Jun 12, 2025•1 hr 16 min
In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Vali Nasr about the recent political history of Iran. They give an overview of Iran’s political motives and strategy, impact of the Persian empire and Shia Islam, and Reza Khan and Iranian nationalism. They talk about the impact of “Kemalism,” the 1979 Iranian revolution, the Iran-Iraq war, rise of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, Iran’s relationship with Syria, Nuclear power, future of Iran, and many more topics. Vali Nasr is the Majid Khadd...
Jun 09, 2025•1 hr 44 min
In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Padraic Scanlan about the Irish famine. They provide an overview of the Irish famine, discuss the relationship between Ireland and Britain and how British colonialism impacted the Irish famine. They talk about potatoes in Ireland, formation of the United Kingdom, variables leading up to the Irish famine, potato blight, exiting the famine, generational impact, and many more topics. Padraic Scanlan is Associate Professor at the Centre for Industr...
Jun 05, 2025•1 hr 13 min
In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Jacob Mchangama about the history of free speech. They discuss free speech in Europe, defining free speech, limits of free speech and ethics of free speech. They also talk about the free speech recession, origins of free speech, Athenian and Roman empires, Abbasid Caliphate, ancient India, printing press and enlightenment, John Stuart Mill, free speech in the 21st century, and many more topics. Jacob Mchangama is the founder and Executive Direc...
Jun 01, 2025•1 hr 42 min
In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Paul Chaisty and Stephen Whitefield about public opinion in Russia. They discuss Russia’s transformation since the fall of the Soviet Union, Consolidation and contestation within Russia’s hybrid political economy, and generational changes under Putin. They talk about authoritarianism, collecting public data in Russia, changes in Russian public opinion, social media, propaganda, how Russians vote, identity, Russia-Ukraine war, post-Putin Russia,...
May 29, 2025•1 hr 31 min
In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Yuval Levin about the importance of reforming our institutions. They discuss why institutions are important, individuals and institutions, slow change with institutions, and the mistrust and dislike of institutions. They also make the case for elites, building broad political coalitions, Trump’s 2nd first 100 days, reforming journalism, family in the 21st century, and many more topics. Yuval Levin is the director of Social, Cultural, and Consti...
May 25, 2025•1 hr 10 min
In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Olga Khazan on whether one could change their personality. They discuss why someone would want to change their personality, constancy over the lifespan, and why she used the BIG-5. They talk about extroversion and connection, neuroticism and mindfulness, openness to experience, conscientiousness, agreeableness, values, and many more topics. Olga Khazan is a staff writer for The Atlantic . Prior to that, she was The Atlantic’s Global editor. She...
May 22, 2025•1 hr
In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Robert Plomin on behavioral genetics. They discuss why behavioral genetics has explanatory power, heritability, genetics and psychological research, SNPs, GWAS, and epigenetics. They also talk about shared and non-shared environments, twin models and adoption models, heritability and cognitive abilities, heritability and personality, psychopathology, and many other topics. Robert Plomin is MRC Research Professor in Behavioral Genetics at the In...
May 19, 2025•1 hr 45 min
In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Hugo Shakeshaft about ancient greeks ideas about beauty and the gods. They discuss beauty in ancient Greece and its impact on modern times, architecture and beauty, beauty and aesthetics, and the gods and beauty. They talk about the relationship between humans and the gods, superficial and deeper beauty, beauty and nature, beauty as power, role of religion, and many more topics. Hugo Shakeshaft is a classicist, art historian, and artist. He is ...
May 14, 2025•1 hr 5 min
In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Daniel Mendelsohn on his new English translation of Homer’s The Odyssey. They discuss the massive impact of The Odyssey, major themes in the Odyssey, authorship, and translation for our time. They talk about the lines and meter of the Odyssey in English, oral to written form, adapting the Odyssey, relevance for the 21st century, and many more topics. Daniel Mendelsohn is an internationally bestselling author, critic, essayist, and translator. H...
May 12, 2025•1 hr 21 min
In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Jenara Nerenberg about the importance of nuance thinking and healthy dialogue with others. They discuss self-censoring, groupthink, rise of gurus, podcasters, and influencer culture. They also talk about heterodox thinking, ethics of speaking to a larger audience, healthy dialogue with others, and many other topics. Jenara Nerenberg is a journalist, author, and founder of The Neurodiversity Project. She has interdisciplinary training from Harva...
May 07, 2025•1 hr 23 min
In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Agustín Fuentes about biological sex. They talk about the history of sex evolution, the importance of gametes, intersex individuals, and history of sex binary. They talk about gonads and hormones, sex variation in the animal kingdom, spectrum question, gender, gender and sports, gender and bathrooms, and many other topics. Agustín Fuentes is an anthropologist and professor of anthropology at Princeton University. His research focuses on the ent...
May 05, 2025•1 hr 27 min
In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with William Dalrymple about India and the Golden Road. They define the Golden Road of ancient India, discuss evidence other cultures interacted with India, and discuss the spread of Buddhism out of India. They talk about similarities and differences with the Silk Road, Kushans and Scythians, Hinduism, Islam, the Golden Road’s impact on modern India, and many more topics. William Dalrymple is a Historian, Journalist, and Broadcaster. He is a fellow ...
Apr 28, 2025•59 min
In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Greg Grandin about a new history of the Americas. They discuss the term “American,” landscape of the Americas in pre-colonial years, Spanish colonialism, British colonialism, and the American and French Revolutions. They talk about Bolívar and Gran Colombia, the Monroe Doctrine, FDR’s new deal in Latin America, the future of America, and many other topics. Greg Grandin is a historian and professor of history at Yale University. He has his Bache...
Apr 21, 2025•1 hr 21 min
In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Gina Rippon about autism in females. They discuss the increase in autism cases, defining autism, and origins of autism. They also talk about the history of the autism diagnosis, identity, current diagnostic criteria, specific presentations in females, neurological features, eating disorders, future of autism research, and many more topics. Gina Rippon is Professor Emeritus of Cognitive NeuroImaging at Aston University in the UK. Her research in...
Apr 16, 2025•1 hr 31 min
In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Robert Garland about death in the ancient world. They talk about how ancient cultures considered death, beginnings of understanding death, process of dying, funerals, different cultural beliefs about the afterlife, caring for the bodies of the deceased, afterlife for non-believers, and many more topics. Robert Garland is Emeritus Professor at Colgate University. He has his PhD from University College, London. His main interests have been in anc...
Apr 13, 2025•1 hr 25 min
In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Nicholas Wolfinger and Matthew McKeever about single motherhood since 1980. They discuss major causes of single motherhood, income, workforce change, teenage mothers, and low fertility rates. They also talk about the differences between divorced vs. non-married mothers, income and family size, race, 1979 longitudinal cohort, single motherhood in the 21st century, and many other topics. Nicholas Wolfinger is professor of family and consumer stud...
Apr 09, 2025•1 hr 27 min
In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Emily Falk about the neuroscience of choice and change. They discuss studying values, strengths and limits of fMRIs, value system in the brain, reward system, making choices, the self, making future choices, values with others, and many more topics. Emily Falk is professor of Communication, Psychology, Marketing, and OID (Operations, Information, and Decisions) at the University of Pennsylvania. She is also the director of the Communication Neu...
Apr 06, 2025•58 min
In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Helen King about the history of the female body. The give an overview of the four parts (breasts, clitoris, hymen, womb) of the female body and discuss how medicine shaped positive and negative ideas about the female body. They talk about breasts, clitoris, female genital mutilation, hymen, womb, and many more topics. Helen King is Professor Emerita of Classical Studies at The Open University. She is an elected member of the General Synod of th...
Apr 02, 2025•1 hr 16 min
In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Dalton Conley about the social genome. They discuss the nature/nurture debate, polygenic index (PGI), and ethics of PGI and Genome Wide Association Studies (GWAS) studies. They give some critiques of The Bell Curve, three major Gene-Environmental interactions (active, passive, reactive), epigenetics, the social genome, and many more topics. Dalton Conley is a sociologist and professor of sociology at Princeton University. He is also a Research ...
Mar 30, 2025•1 hr 25 min
In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Jaap de Roode about how animals heal themselves. They discuss whether animals intentionally or unintentionally seek out medicinal plants, four ways animals fight infection, Monarch butterflies and treating against parasites, chimps and their gut health. They also talk about birds using cigarettes in their nests, ants and rezin, goats and sheep having preferences, cats and dogs eating grass, and many other topics. Jaap de Roode is a biologist an...
Mar 24, 2025•1 hr 15 min
In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Henry Gee about the decline and fall of the human species. They discuss the lifetime and decline of a species, when humans began to decline, what does it mean to be human, bipedalism, Homo Erectus, and slow human growth. They also talk about domestication and disease impacting humans, overpopulation concerns and low fertility rates, climate change, future of humankind, and many more topics. Henry Gee is a Paleontologist and is the Senior Editor...
Mar 16, 2025•1 hr 57 min
In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Alan Baddeley about his model of working memory. They define short-term memory, metacognition, overview of memory, memory loss and self-identity, and chunking in working memory. They talk about the levels of processing model, attention and working memory, overview of his multi-component model of working memory, and the six divisions of the model. They discuss the model with individuals with schizophrenia, forgetting and long-term memory, Alzhei...
Mar 12, 2025•1 hr 49 min
