All Episodes

#1164 Rafael Núñez: Embodied Cognition, Time, Space, and Mathematics

Oct 17, 2025

Dr. Rafael Núñez is a Professor of Cognitive Science at the University of California, San Diego. Dr. Núñez investigates cognition from the perspective of the embodied mind. He is particularly interested in high-level cognitive phenomena such as conceptual systems, abstraction, and inference mechanisms, as they manifest themselves naturally through largely unconscious bodily/mental activity (e.g., gesture production co-produced with a variety of conceptual mappings). He is the author of Where Mathematics Comes From: How the Embodied Mind Brings Mathematics into Being. More»
#1163 Herman Pontzer: How to Understand Human Biological Variation: "Race", Height, Gender, and More

Oct 16, 2025

Dr. Herman Pontzer is Professor of Evolutionary Anthropology and Global Health at the Global Health Institute at Duke University. Dr. Pontzer investigates the physiology of humans and other primates to understand how ecology, lifestyle, diet, and evolutionary history affect metabolism and health. He is particularly interested in cardiometabolic disease and the lifestyle factors that protect against obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease and other noncommunicable diseases that are common among industrialized populations but rare or absent in non-industrialized societies. His latest book is Adaptable: How Your Unique Body Really Works and Why Our Biology Unites Us. More»
#1162 Michael Huemer - Progressive Myths: Racism, Feminism, Gender, Science, and More

Oct 13, 2025

Dr. Michael Huemer is a professor of philosophy at the University of Colorado. He is the author of more than seventy academic articles in epistemology, ethics, metaethics, metaphysics, and political philosophy, as well as several books, like Skepticism and the Veil of Perception, Ethical Intuitionism, The Problem of Political Authority, Approaching Infinity, Paradox Lost, and Dialogues on Ethical Vegetarianism. His latest book is Progressive Myths. More»
#1161 Anna Bocca @annabocca : The Origins, Spread, and Failures of Neoliberal Capitalism

Oct 10, 2025

Anna Bocca is a YouTuber (@annabocca). She makes videos about the scams of the corporate world, our economy, society, and other topics. More»
#1160 Edward Watts - The Romans: A 2,000-Year History

Oct 9, 2025

Dr. Edward Watts is presently the Vassiliadis Professor of Byzantine Greek History at the University of California, San Diego. 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, including Mortal Republic: How Rome Fell Into Tyranny, and The Eternal Decline and Fall of Rome: The History of a Dangerous Idea. His latest book is The Romans: A 2,000-Year History. More»
#1159 Michael Hudson - Temples of Enterprise: Creating Economic Order in the Bronze Age Near East

Oct 6, 2025

Dr. Michael Hudson is President of the Institute for the Study of Long-Term Economic Trends (ISLET), a Wall Street Financial Analyst, and Distinguished Research Professor of Economics at the University of Missouri, Kansas City. He is the author of several books, including Temples of Enterprise: Creating Economic Order in the Bronze Age Near East. More»
#1158 Vibeke Ottesen: The Psychology of Political Violence

Oct 3, 2025

Dr. Vibeke Ottesen is a Norwegian criminologist with an interest in how nature and nurture combined create human behavior. She has a popular science blog – Biosocial - where she comments on news, scientific findings and literature relevant to her subject – more often than not with an evolutionary informed approach to understanding the subject matter. She has held numerous lectures on the benefits of an evolutionary informed approach to understanding the cross-cultural sex and age differences in anti-social and criminal behavior. More»
#1157 Melissa Shew & Kimberly Garchar: Philosophy for Girls

Oct 2, 2025

Dr. Melissa Shew Dr. Melissa Shew is currently the Associate Director of Teaching Excellence at Marquette University, where she is also the Faculty Director of their Executive MBA Program. More»
#1156 Eric Sprankle: The History and Science of Masturbation and Pornography

Sep 29, 2025

Dr. Eric Sprankle is a Professor of Clinical Psychology at Minnesota State University, Mankato. He is also a licensed clinical psychologist and AASECT-certified sex therapist affiliated with the Minnesota Sexual Health Institute. He is the author of DIY: The Wonderfully Weird History and Science of Masturbation. More»
#1155 Adam Chandler - 99% Perspiration: A New Working History of the American Way of Life

Sep 26, 2025

Adam Chandler is a journalist and author based in New York. A former staff writer at The Atlantic, his work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, WIRED, Vox, Slate, New York Magazine, Texas Monthly, Esquire, TIME, and elsewhere. He is the author of Drive-Thru Dreams: A Journey Through the Heart of America's Fast-Food Kingdom; and 99% Perspiration: A New Working History of the American Way of Life. More»