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PODCAST

The Michael Shermer Show

Michael Shermer

The Michael Shermer Show is a series of long-form conversations between Dr. Michael Shermer and leading scientists, philosophers, historians, scholars, writers and thinkers about the most important issues of our time.

science natural sciences

All Episodes

01:39:35

The Future of AI: Consciousness and Ethical Dilemmas

The Michael Shermer Show ·

2024/10/15

How should we go about understanding LLMs? Do these language models truly understand what they are saying? Or is it possible that what appears to be intelligence in LLMs may be a mirror that merely reflects the intelligence of the human observer? In this episode, Terry Sejnowski explores the history and future of AI and its profound implications for understanding the human mind. He explains AI’s evolution from early logic-based systems to cutting-edge advancements like deep learning and large

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01:14:25

Words, Actions, and Liberty: Tara Smith Decodes the...

The Michael Shermer Show ·

2024/10/12

First Amendment scholar and philosopher Tara Smith offers a comprehensive analysis of free speech, situating her work within the broader intellectual landscape. She examines the perspectives of historical figures like John Locke, Thomas Jefferson, and John Stuart Mill while addressing contemporary issues such as social media speech, “cancel culture,” and religious exemptions. Smith’s approach involves dissecting key concepts like censorship and freedom, exploring the crucial distinction between

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01:28:36

Psychogenic Illness and the Nocebo Effect

The Michael Shermer Show ·

2024/10/08

Ask a question and participate in future episodes. The nocebo effect demonstrates how the mind can cause illness through negative expectations, as highlighted by a famous incident in a U.S. textile factory in the 1960s. Workers believed a bug was causing dizziness, nausea, and other symptoms, yet no physical cause was found. This mysterious outbreak underscores the potent influence of beliefs on health, a phenomenon that’s becoming increasingly relevant in understanding modern psychosomatic

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01:36:02

How Religions Compete for Money, Power, and People

The Michael Shermer Show ·

2024/10/05

Ask a question and participate in future episodes of the show. Religion in the twenty-first century is alive and well across the world, despite its apparent decline in North America and parts of Europe. Vigorous competition between and within religious movements has led to their accumulating great power and wealth. Religions in many traditions have honed their competitive strategies over thousands of years. Today, they are big business; like businesses, they must recruit, raise funds, disburse

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01:01:09

Why Ronald Reagan Wanted to Abolish Nuclear Weapons...

The Michael Shermer Show ·

2024/10/01

Max Boot’s revelatory biography of Ronald Reagan, a decade in the making, offers a nuanced portrait of the actor-turned-politician who ushered in a transformative conservative era in American politics. Despite his fame, Reagan remained enigmatic even to those closest to him. Boot’s work, avoiding both hagiography and criticism, charts Reagan’s epic journey from Depression-era America to “Morning in America.” The biography provides fresh insights into key aspects of Reagan’s presidency, including

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01:00:30

Settler Colonialism: Ideology, Violence, and Justice

The Michael Shermer Show ·

2024/09/28

Since Hamas’s attack on Israel last October 7, the term “settler colonialism” has become central to public debate in the United States. A concept new to most Americans, but already established and influential in academic circles, settler colonialism is shaping the way many people think about the history of the United States, Israel and Palestine, and a host of political issues. This short book is the first to examine settler colonialism critically for a general readership. By critiquing the most

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01:35:35

Gray Matters: Exploring the Frontiers of Neurosurgery

The Michael Shermer Show ·

2024/09/24

Dr. Theodore Schwartz’s book Gray Matters: A Biography of Brain Surgery offers a comprehensive exploration of neurosurgery, a field barely a century old that profoundly connects two human beings. The book delves into the history of how early neurosurgeons came to understand the complex human brain and how this challenging specialty emerged. Drawing from his own cases and various archives, Schwartz provides insights into the practical aspects of brain surgery and its life-or-death nature. The book

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19:19

Biology vs. Gender Ideology: The Science Behind the...

The Michael Shermer Show ·

2024/09/21

Biologist Colin Wright joins the podcast to explore one of today’s most contentious topics: the intersection of biological sex and gender. Drawing on his expertise in animal behavior and evolutionary biology, Colin breaks down key concepts such as biological sex, gender identity, and gender dysphoria. He also examines the shift in societal definitions of what it means to be a man or woman, and how these evolving perspectives fit with long-standing biological principles. This session was presented at

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01:11:21

Taming Silicon Valley: AI’s Perils and Promise

The Michael Shermer Show ·

2024/09/17

AI could bring unprecedented advancements in science and technology, but Gary Marcus, in Taming Silicon Valley, warns it might also lead to democracy’s collapse or even human extinction. With Big Tech manipulating both the public and government, are we prepared for the consequences of AI’s unchecked power? Marcus urges that the choices we make today will define our future. Can we harness AI’s potential without losing control? Exposing AI’s flaws and Big Tech’s grip on policymakers, Marcus offers

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56:42

Matt Ridley, Steven Pinker, and Michael Shermer...

The Michael Shermer Show ·

2024/09/13

From the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic to the rise of DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) initiatives and Artificial Intelligence, in this episode Steven Pinker, Matt Ridley, and Michael Shermer challenge conventional narratives and explore how we can continue to move forward. They discuss the state of democracy, autocracy, and the lessons learned from historical crises, while offering insights into how innovation, rationality, and education can lead us through challenging times. This session

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50:55

Slavery, Enlightenment, and America’s Refounding

The Michael Shermer Show ·

2024/09/10

Michael Shermer and Matthew Stewart explore the heretical philosophical roots of the American Republic, including Enlightenment influences and the Founding Fathers’ religious beliefs. They discuss Epicurean and ancient Greek ideas, slavery’s moral contradictions, and its role in causing the Civil War, with figures like John Brown and Frederick Douglass shaping abolitionist movements that ultimately led to emancipation. Matthew Stewart is an independent philosopher and historian who has written

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01:25:31

How to Think About Souls, UFOs, Time, Belief, and...

The Michael Shermer Show ·

2024/09/07

From precognitive dreams and telepathic visions to near-death experiences, UFO encounters, and beyond, so-called impossible phenomena are not supposed to happen. But they do happen—all the time. Jeffrey J. Kripal asserts that the impossible is a function not of reality but of our everchanging assumptions about what is real. How to Think Impossibly invites us to think about these fantastic (yet commonplace) experiences as an essential part of being human, expressive of a deeply shared reality that is

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25:54

Pseudohistory Makes a Comeback on Tucker Carlson's Show

The Michael Shermer Show ·

2024/09/06

During a two-hour interview with Tucker Carlson, Darryl Cooper made sensational claims about the Holocaust and World War II, with Carlson calling him "the best and most honest popular historian in the United States." In this solo episode, Michael Shermer takes a critical look at the pseudohistory and historical revisionism presented by Cooper on Carlson's show.

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01:41:48

The Science of Disbelief: Understanding Atheism and...

The Michael Shermer Show ·

2024/09/03

In Disbelief: The Origins of Atheism in a Religious Species, Will Gervais explores the interconnected nature of religious belief and atheism in human psychology. Gervais proposes that understanding religion requires solving two evolutionary puzzles: the Puzzle of Faith, examining how Homo sapiens became uniquely religious, and the Puzzle of Atheism, investigating how disbelief exists within this religious species. This approach yields a comprehensive theory explaining both faith and atheism,

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02:25:38

The Road to Singularity: Ben Goertzel on AGI and The...

The Michael Shermer Show ·

2024/09/01

Dr. Ben Goertzel is a multidisciplinary scientist, entrepreneur, and author, originally from Brazil. He currently resides on an island near Seattle after living in Hong Kong. He leads prominent AI organizations like the SingularityNET Foundation, OpenCog Foundation, and the AGI Society, which hosts an annual Artificial General Intelligence conference. Goertzel is also deeply involved in AI development through organizations like Rejuve, Mindplex, and Cogito, and serves as a musician in Jam Galaxy

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31:37

Unmasking the Unknown: UFOs, Alien Tech, and Military...

The Michael Shermer Show ·

2024/08/30

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof. It’s no different when it comes to UFO frenzy. There is a need to separate fact from fiction in UAP claims. In this episode, Shermer delves into the growing interest in UAPs (formerly UFOs), especially in light of UFOlogist Lue Elizondo’s book Imminent. Elizondo claims the U.S. government has long been aware of extraterrestrial intelligence, backed by reports of unidentified craft surveilling military sites. The episode explores these bold assertions

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01:17:48

Principled Strategies for Surviving and Defeating...

The Michael Shermer Show ·

2024/08/27

The stated goals of diversity, equity, and inclusion programs are often reasonable, if not noble—to create a more welcoming and inclusive environment for all. Yet, as more and more people are discovering, DEI as commonly practiced isn’t a natural extension of past civil rights movements or an ethical framework for opposing discrimination on the grounds of race, sex, etc. Rather, it is inextricably connected with an illiberal and authoritarian ideology—Critical Social Justice—that demands adherence

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01:17:25

The Cultural History of Charles Fort and His Followers

The Michael Shermer Show ·

2024/08/25

Charles Fort, a maverick writer, fascinated by bizarre occurrences like flying saucers, Bigfoot, and frogs raining from the sky, scanned newspapers and magazines for reports of anomalies, advancing a philosophy that saw science as a small part of a larger system where truth and falsehood constantly transformed. His work found a following of skeptics who questioned not only science but also the press, medicine, and politics, led by the adman and writer Tiffany Thayer, who founded the Fortean Society

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43:37

The Logic of Nuclear Policy: Deterrence and MAD...

The Michael Shermer Show ·

2024/08/23

As if 2024 couldn't get any weirder, tensions in the Middle East have escalated with the United States sending one of our nuclear submarines to the Mediterranean as a deterrent signal to Iran that they better think twice about attacking Israel. That sub, the Ohio-class USS Georgia, carries non-nuclear cruise missiles. But 14 of our 18 Ohio-class submarines have nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles—each sub has in its belly the nuclear equivalent of all the bombs dropped in World War II. Multiply that

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01:31:43

Why Men Are Struggling, Why It Matters, and What to...

The Michael Shermer Show ·

2024/08/20

In his book Of Boys and Men and through his work at the American Institute for Boys and Men, Richard V. Reeves addresses the growing crisis facing boys and men in modern society. He argues that economic and social changes have left many males struggling in education, work, and family life, while institutions and laws have failed to adapt. Reeves criticizes both conservative and progressive politicians for their inability to provide effective solutions. He emphasizes that addressing these issues

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584 results

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