Today's episode is a recording of a debate that occurred a few weeks ago between me and Jamelle Bouie, who is a columnist for the New York Times. This debate was hosted by TED as well as Open to Debate, formerly known as Intelligence Squared. The motion was, "Does Colorblindness Perpetuate Racism?" Jamelle took the affirmative and I took the negative. Now there's a long backstory to this debate surrounding my recent TED Talk on color blindness and and I go into the details of this in the intro t...
Aug 11, 2023•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 32
My guest today is Philip Goff. Phillip is a philosopher known for his work on consciousness and the philosophy of mind, particularly for his defense of panpsychism, the view that consciousness is a fundamental feature of the universe. He's an associate professor at Durham University in the UK. His books include "Galileo's Error: Foundations for a New Science of Consciousness", and "Consciousness and Fundamental Reality". Phillip is an advocate of a controversial but very interesting theory of co...
Aug 04, 2023•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 31
Today's episode is a roundtable discussion about AI safety with Eliezer Yudkowsky, Gary Marcus, and Scott Aaronson. Eliezer Yudkowsky is a prominent AI researcher and writer known for co-founding the Machine Intelligence Research Institute, where he spearheaded research on AI safety. He's also widely recognized for his influential writings on the topic of rationality. Scott Aaronson is a theoretical computer scientist and author, celebrated for his pioneering work in the field of quantum computa...
Jul 28, 2023•1 hr 31 min•Ep. 30
My guest today is Lee Fang. Lee Fang is an investigative reporter, formerly of The Intercept and The Nation. His writing is focused on the influence of money in politics, security state overreach, and civil liberties. He was also responsible for releasing part of the Twitter files many months ago. In this episode, we talk about the wide breadth of Lee's work, including his early reporting about the Koch brothers. We talk about whether there is a deep state, we talk about the collusion between Tw...
Jul 21, 2023•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 29
My guest today is Jeannie Fontana. Jeannie is the CEO of the TREAT California Initiative. TREAT is a statewide initiative that would create a $5 billion funding agency for psychedelic research, which has proven highly effective for conditions like PTSD and Depression. Jeannie was a founding member of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, which performs stem cell research. She has also advocated on behalf of patients with Lou Gehrig's disease. Jeannie and I talk about her background...
Jul 14, 2023•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 28
My guest today is Jean Twenge. Jean is a psychologist, author, and professor of psychology at San Diego State University. She's best known for her research on generational differences. Her book, "Generation Me", dealt with millennials. Her book, "iGen", which is how I first encountered her, deals with Gen Z. Now she's back with a massive new book called "Generations: The Real Differences Between Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, Boomers, and Silents―and What They Mean for America's Future" In this epis...
Jul 07, 2023•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 27
My guest today is John Wood Jr. John is a national leader at Braver Angels, which is a grassroots organization dedicated to the work of political depolarization. He's also a writer for USA Today. He's a former vice chairman of the Republican Party of LA County and a former nominee for Congress. John is also the host of the podcast "Uniting America with John Wood Jr." John and I talk about 2020 and the legacy of BLM. We talk about the emotional and psychological pull of wokeness. We talk about th...
Jun 30, 2023•55 min•Ep. 26
My guest today is Peter Singer. Peter Singer is a renowned Australian moral philosopher best known for his work in applied ethics, particularly regarding animal rights and global poverty. He's considered a leader in the development of the modern animal rights movement, which was hugely influenced by his 1975 book, "Animal Liberation". He's just released a new version of the book called "Animal Liberation Now", which we discussed today. We talk about what has changed since he wrote the original b...
Jun 23, 2023•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 25
My guest today is Thomas Chatterton Williams. Thomas is a great writer whose books include "Losing My Cool" and "Self-Portrait in Black and White", both of which I highly recommend. Thomas and I talk about a host of subjects here, but we pay special attention to the legacy of the Black Lives Matter movement, and 2020 in particular. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jun 16, 2023•46 min•Ep. 24
My guest today is Keyu Jin. Keyu Jin is a Chinese economist currently teaching at the London School of Economics, and she just published a book called "The New China Playbook". Keyu gave a TED Talk about a month ago, the same week that I did, and that's how I became aware of her. So Keyu has an unorthodox stance on China, at least to a Western audience. It's now a bipartisan consensus that China is our main geopolitical rival and that we ought to treat China as if not an outright enemy th...
Jun 09, 2023•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 23
My guest today is Razib Khan. Razib is a population geneticist, writer, and entrepreneur. He is a prominent voice in the realm of genetic genealogy, where he illuminates the interplay of genes, history, and culture. His writing has been featured in the New York Times, India Today, the National Review, and his scholarly work is cited in many scientific journals. Razib also has a very interesting Substack called "Unsupervised Learning". In this episode, we talk about commercial genetic testing com...
Jun 02, 2023•1 hr 32 min•Ep. 22
This episode is actually my appearance on the Goodfellows podcast, which is run by the Hoover Institution. They asked me about the reparations proposal that was recently put forward in California. They also asked me about the legacy of Black Lives Matter. We talk about the 1619 Project. We talk about color blindness and a post-racial society. Finally, they went on to ask me what advice I would give to young black kids today. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did. Learn more about y...
Jun 02, 2023•39 min•Ep. 21
My guest today is Jerry Coyne. Jerry is an evolutionary biologist and geneticist. He received his PhD from Harvard in 1978, after which he served as a professor at the University of Chicago in the Department of Ecology and Evolution for over two decades. His seminal work is on the speciation of fruit flies. Jerry is also the author of two books, including "Why Evolution Is True", which is also the name of his blog, and "Faith Versus Fact". In this episode, we talk about the tension between evolu...
May 26, 2023•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 19
My guest today is Dr. Jonathan Metzl. Jonathan is a psychiatrist and author and a professor of sociology at Vanderbilt University. He's written several books including "The Protest Psychosis", "Prozac on the Couch", "Against Health" and the topic of today's conversation, "Dying of Whiteness: How the Politics of Racial Resentment Is Killing America's Heartland", which received the Robert F. Kennedy award for nonfiction. In "Dying of Whiteness", Jonathan argues that GOP policies like cutting educa...
May 19, 2023•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 18
My guest today is Paul Bloom. Paul Bloom is a renowned psychologist, professor and author currently teaching at Yale University and University of Toronto. He's published many books including "Descartes' Baby", "How Pleasure Works", "Just Babies", "Against Empathy", "The Sweet Spot", and the topic of today's conversation, "Psych: The Story of the Human Mind". In this episode, we'll be discussing a broad summary of the field and findings of psychology, touching on its various branches and explorin...
May 12, 2023•1 hr 25 min•Ep. 17
My guest today is David Deutsch. David is a renowned physicist and philosopher, best known for his work on quantum computation and his contributions to the field of quantum mechanics. He's a fellow of the Royal Society and a visiting professor of physics at the University of Oxford. David has written two books called "The Fabric of Reality" and "The Beginning of Infinity" In this episode, we talk about the purpose of science. We discuss the concept of an explanation and its crucial role in the s...
May 09, 2023•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 16
My guest today is Vincent Lloyd. Vincent is a professor at Villanova University where he directed the Black Studies Program, leads workshops on anti-racism and transformative justice, and has published books on anti-black racism, including "Black Dignity: The Struggle against Domination". Now, Vincent is one of those rare guests with whom I have profound disagreements on the topic of race, but who's actually willing to have the conversation, which I'm very grateful for. Vincent came to my attent...
May 05, 2023•1 hr 46 min•Ep. 15
My guest today is Robert Wright. Robert is an author and journalist whose work has spanned a variety of topics from evolutionary psychology and game theory to the nature of consciousness and the role of mindfulness meditation in society. He's the author of many best-selling books, including "The Moral Animal", ''Nonzero'', and ''Why Buddhism is True''. In today's conversation, we explore the intersection of science, spirituality, and ethics, as well as how Robert's work can help us navigate the ...
Apr 28, 2023•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 140
My guest today is Andrew Doyle. Andrew is a British comedian, writer, and political commentator. He's best known for creating and writing the satirical character Titania McGrath, a fictional social justice warrior who parodies extreme progressive activism. Doyle is also a frequent contributor to The Spectator, Spiked, and many other publications, where he writes on topics related to free speech, political correctness, and social justice. He's also written several books including "Woke: A Guide t...
Apr 21, 2023•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 14
My guests today are Sarah Hader and Meghan Daum, who co-host the podcast called "A Special Place in Hell". Sarah, Meghan, and I talk about the difficulty of dating in New York City when you have heterodox politics. I talk about how the death of my mother influenced my attitude toward science and alternative medicine. We talk about social contagion and gender dysphoria. We talk about Sarah Hader's origin story as an ex-Muslim. We talk about Meghan's origin story as a hater of phoniness. We talk a...
Apr 14, 2023•1 hr 41 min•Ep. 13
On the 21st of March, I participated in an Intelligence Squared debate against Black Lives Matter co-founder Alicia Garza and Congressman Jamaal Bowman. The motion of the debate was: "Has the Democratic Party gone too far left?" So the Political scientist Ruy Teixeira and I argued in the affirmative while Alicia and Jamal argued the negative. Now this debate was frustrating for me at times and I think you'll hear exactly when those times are. However, overall I'm really glad that I did it and I ...
Apr 07, 2023•1 hr 8 min
My guest today needs no introduction, but I'll give him one anyway. Neil deGrasse Tyson is an astrophysicist, author, and science communicator. Neil is the Frederick P. Rose Director of the Hayden Planetarium at the Rose Centre for Earth and Space in New York City. He's also hosted and co-hosted numerous science-related TV and radio programs, including Nova Science Now, and Cosmos: A SpaceTime Odyssey. Neil has written several books, including "The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America’s Fav...
Apr 01, 2023•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 11
My guest today is Batya Ungar-Sargon. Batya is a deputy opinion news editor at Newsweek and a columnist at Compact magazine. Before that, she was the opinion editor of The Forward. In this episode, we talk about tribalism and individualism. We talk about how journalism and media became woke. We talk about the shift from journalism being a working-class profession to a profession for elites and the consequences of that shift. We also talk about gender ideology and at the end, Batya turns the tabl...
Mar 25, 2023•1 hr 32 min•Ep. 10
My guest today is Nita Farahany. Nita is a professor of Law and Philosophy at Duke Law School. She is the founding director of the Duke Science and Society. She is the faculty chair of the Duke MA in Bioethics and Science Policy and Principal Investigator at slap lab. In 2010, she was appointed by President Obama to the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues where she served until 2017. She's an appointed Member of the National Advisory Council for the National Institute for ...
Mar 17, 2023•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 9
My guest today is Africa Brooke. Africa is a London-based consultant, writer, and life coach. She is the host of the "Beyond the Self" podcast. In this episode, we talk about her background growing up in Zimbabwe and her experience as an immigrant to the UK. We talk about her journey from alcoholism to sobriety. We talk about her essay, "Why I'm leaving the cult of wokeness?" We also talk about the notion of self-sabotage. Africa is essentially a life coach for high-profile clients and at some p...
Mar 10, 2023•1 hr 29 min•Ep. 8
My guest today is Marc Andreessen. Marc is an entrepreneur, venture capital investor, and software engineer. Marc co-founded Mosaic, which was the first widely used Internet browser, as well as Netscape. He also co-founded Opsware and Ning. He is on the board of Meta, and his most important achievement is that he's the first billionaire to ever appear on this podcast. Marc and I talk about venture capital as a whole and why VC firms on average fail to outperform the stock market. We talk about t...
Mar 04, 2023•53 min•Ep. 7
Today's conversation is a roundtable with several guests instead of my usual one on one. My guests today are Kmele Foster (Co-Founder of Free Think and Host of The Fifth Column Podcast), Chloé Valdary (Founder of Theory of Enchantment and Host of The Heart Speaks Podcast), and David Bernstein (Author of the recent book "Woke Antisemitism"). We discuss Ron DeSantis' and Chris Rufo's war on wokeness. We discuss Kmele's position on race abolition. We talk about the relationship between Black and Je...
Feb 24, 2023•1 hr 40 min•Ep. 131
My guest today is Kathleen Stock. Kathleen is a philosopher and a writer, and she was a philosophy professor at the University of Sussex for many years, until she was stampeded out of her job by a mob of angry students. As you'll hear in this episode, Kathleen's main offense was her views on trans issues, which are broadly aligned with people like JK Rowling and Helen Joyce. Due to these critiques of Trans activist ideology, she was more or less run out of her university. Kathleen's story didn't...
Feb 17, 2023•1 hr 26 min•Ep. 6
The topic of today's episode is the Israel-Palestine conflict. I've avoided discussing Israel on this podcast for two reasons. First, because I didn't know enough to feel qualified to weigh in on it. Second, because it may literally be the most radioactive topic on planet Earth. A tiny mistake or misplace word can cause a level of backlash that I just don't want to deal with. However, two things have changed over the past few months. I discuss these two factors in detail in the first few minutes...
Feb 10, 2023•1 hr 28 min•Ep. 5
My guest today is Inaya Folarin Iman. Inaya is the founder of The Equiano Project, a British organization dedicated to promoting free speech, common humanity, and universalism. She recently organized a conference called "Towards the Common Good" hosted at Cambridge, where John McWhorter, Glenn Loury, Thomas Chatterton Williams, and yours truly, spoke along with a host of British thinkers who are fighting in the same trenches that people like John, Glenn, Thomas and myself are. Inaya is one of th...
Feb 03, 2023•1 hr 24 min•Ep. 4
