with Julia Galef
February 21, 2016 We like to think of doctors as experts, whose recommendations are backed up by solid evidence. So why does it keep happening that a widely used medical intervention — like estrogen replacement therapy, or heart stents — turns out to be useless, or even harmful? This episode features Dr. Vinay Prasad, author of “Ending … Read more
February 7, 2016 Julia invites philosopher and blogger Dan Fincke onto the show, inspired by a productive disagreement they had on Facebook. Their topic in this episode: civility in public discourse. Do atheists and skeptics have a responsibility to be civil when expressing disagreement, and does that responsibility vary depending on who their target is? Is there … Read more
January 24, 2016 You’ve probably heard about victims of con artists — like the people who hand over their life savings to sketchy gurus or psychics, or the people who wire thousands of dollars to a “Nigerian prince” who just needs some help getting his far bigger fortune to you. And you’ve probably thought to … Read more
December 27, 2015 Do you remember when you were a kid, and you had that great day at Disneyland where you got to meet Bugs Bunny? No? Think harder. It was a sunny day… In this episode of Rationally Speaking, Julia interviews psychologist Elizabeth Loftus, whose pioneering work on human memory revealed that our memories can … Read more
December 13, 2015 In this episode, psychologist Susan Gelman describes her work on the psychological trait of essentialism: the innate human urge to categorize reality and to assume that those categories reflect meaningful, invisible differences. Julia and Susan discuss why the discovery of essentialism in children was such a surprise to scientists, how the language we use … Read more
November 29, 2015 We’re all familiar with Santa Claus — but how much do you *really* know about that jolly old elf? In this episode, Julia interviews philosophy professor David Kyle Johnson, the author of “The Myths that Stole Christmas.” Kyle explains the little-known, and somewhat sinister, origin story of Santa Claus — and then Kyle … Read more
November 15, 2015 There are two contradictory stories about politics and class: On the one hand, that the Republicans are the party of the fat cat businessmen and the Democrats are the party of the people. And on the other hand, that the Republicans are the party of the salt-of-the-earth Joe Sixpacks, while the Democrats … Read more
November 1, 2015 This episode of Rationally Speaking features Jesse Richardson, a creative director who has been using his advertising background “for good and not for evil,” as he puts it — by building skeptic sites that go viral. Jesse’s most famous creation is “Your Logical Fallacy Is,” an illustrated poster featuring the names and descriptions … Read more
October 20, 2015 Most people are terrible at predicting the future. But a small subset of people are significantly less terrible: the Superforecasters. On this episode of Rationally Speaking, Julia talks with professor Phil Tetlock, whose team of volunteer forecasters has racked up landslide wins in forecasting tournaments sponsored by the US government. He and Julia … Read more
October 4, 2015 Parents in the United States are spending more time and energy than ever to ensure that their children turn out happy, healthy, and successful. But what does the evidence suggest about the impact of their efforts? Economist Bryan Caplan (and the author of “Selfish Reasons to Have More Kids”) argues that, despite our … Read more