Robert Boyd & Peter Richerson — How Ice Age Climate Chaos Made Humans Cultural Animals (#157) For the last one to two million years, the main force shaping the human lineage has not been natural selection, but the culture we've accumulated. Why us? August 14, 2024
David Deutsch & Steven Pinker (First Ever Public Dialogue) — AGI, P(Doom), and The Enemies of Progress (#153) With the Enlightenment under attack from multiple sides, two rational optimists come together for their first ever public dialogue. December 20, 2023
Stephen Wolfram — Constructing the Computational Paradigm (#148) Stephen Wolfram was a physics prodigy. But he's also built massively valuable companies and projects. What are the secrets of Wolfram the entrepreneur? August 19, 2023
Katalin Karikó — Forging the mRNA Revolution (#147) Katalin Karikó is a Hungarian-American biochemist. She is one of the inventors of mRNA technology. August 02, 2023
Richard Rhodes — The Making of the Atomic Bomb (#146) Richard Rhodes is an American historian and the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Making of the Atomic Bomb. July 26, 2023
Palmer Luckey — Science (Non)fiction (#144) Palmer Luckey ("the real-life Tony Stark") is an American tech entrepreneur and billionaire. He has founded two companies: Oculus VR and defence-tech company Anduril. April 26, 2023
Against Bayesianism — David Deutsch (#139) Bayesianism, the doctrine that it's always rational to represent our beliefs in terms of probabilities, dominates the intellectual world, April 25, 2022
#130: Is Science Reaching Its Limits? – John Horgan John Horgan is a science journalist and Director of the Center for Science Writings at the Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, May 10, 2021
#121: The Doyen Of Behavioural Genetics On Untangling Nature And Nurture – Robert Plomin Robert Plomin is one of the world’s leading behavioural geneticists. He is currently MRC Research Professor in Behavioural Genetics at February 22, 2021
#118: The Wisdom Of Frank Wilczek Frank Wilczek won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2004. Read the full transcript [TRANSCRIPT COMING SOON] February 01, 2021
#114: On Ayn Rand, Cooperation, And Successful Societies – David Sloan Wilson David Sloan Wilson is an evolutionary biologist and the author of Atlas Hugged. Transcript JOE WALKER: David Sloan Wilson, welcome back January 01, 2021
#100: An Ode To The Uncorrelated Thinker – Eric Weinstein Eric Weinstein is a mathematician and the Managing Director of Thiel Capital. Show notes Selected links * Follow Eric: Website | Twitter * The September 28, 2020
#98: The Meaning Of Human Existence, And The Search For Alien Life – Avi Loeb Avi Loeb is Chair of Harvard’s Astronomy Department. Show notes Selected links * Follow Avi: Website * The Myth Of Sisyphus, by September 24, 2020
#87: In The Foothills Of A Pandemic – Yaneer Bar–Yam Yaneer Bar-Yam is a physicist and the founding president of the New England Complex Systems Institute. Show notes Selected links * Follow March 09, 2020
#85: The Evolution Of A Renegade – David Sloan Wilson David Sloan Wilson is an evolutionary biologist. This episode of the podcast is brought to you by Freelancer.com and by February 18, 2020
#84: The Intellectual Wild South – Eric Weinstein Eric Weinstein is a mathematician and the Managing Director of Thiel Capital. This episode of the podcast is brought to you January 31, 2020
#48: My Friend Richard, and Theories of the Universe – Leonard Susskind Leonard Susskind is Felix Bloch professor of Theoretical physics at Stanford University, and one the fathers of String Theory. In this May 17, 2018