The Ghost in the Machine: A Conversation with Kathryn Davis

For thousands of years, writers and philosophers have wondered about the animating spirit, or the soul. Many believe it is the part of a human being that lives eternally, that connects us with all other life. However, in this age, when we have access to scientific innovations like cloning and organs grown in labs, new questions arise. Is there an invisible thread that connects humans to all life around us? In this episode, Kathryn Davis, novelist and the Hurst Writer in Residence at Washington University in St. Louis, explores what animates us and how the fantastical world she creates in her new novel, Duplex, isn't as far from reality as it first appears.