with Julia Galef
March 9, 2014 Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson returns for this episode of Rationally Speaking, with a particular question to discuss: Should he call himself an atheist? The impetus is a recent dust-up over Neil’s appearance on Big Think, in which he explained that he avoids the label “atheist” because it causes people to make all sorts of unflattering … Read more
February 23, 2014 This episode features special guest Zach Weinersmith, author of “Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal,” a popular webcomic about philosophy and science. Zach clarifies his position in the ongoing “philosophy vs. science” fight, poses a question to Julia and Massimo about the ethics of offensive jokes, and discusses BAHFest, his “Bad Ad Hoc Hypotheses” conference lampooning evolutionary psychology … Read more
February 9, 2014 Those among us who loathed high school calculus might feel some trepidation at the premise in this week’s episode of Rationally Speaking. MIT Physicist Max Tegmark joins us to talk about his book “Our Mathematical Universe: My Quest for the Ultimate Nature of Reality” in which he explains the controversial argument that everything around us is … Read more
January 26, 2014 On this episode, recorded live at the Jefferson Market Library in New York City, Rationally Speaking podcast celebrates its 100th episode! The show features a full hour of audience Q’s and Julia & Massimo’s A’s. Topics range from science, philosophy and the borderlands between the two. The questions push the hosts to … Read more
December 22, 2013 Creative geniuses are always a little bit cuckoo, right? At least, that’s the impression you’d get from TV, movies, and plenty of common wisdom. In this episode of Rationally Speaking, Massimo and Julia are joined by psychologist Judith Schlesinger, author of The Insanity Hoax: Exposing the Myth of the Mad Genius, who explains why … Read more
December 8, 2013 What qualifies someone as mentally ill? The standard for diagnosis is the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), which just released a 5th edition in 2013 — but just how objective is it? This episode of Rationally Speaking features Dr. Jerome Wakefield, psychiatrist, PhD in philosophy, and author of “The Loss of … Read more
November 24, 2013 Few philosophers have as wide of an impact on the general public as ethicist Peter Singer, this week’s guest on Rationally Speaking podcast. Singer’s utilitarian arguments about how we should treat animals, why we have a moral obligation to give to charity, whether infants should count as “people,” and more have won him … Read more
November 10, 2013 It seems like a week can’t go by without a news story about how neuroscience has discovered the neurological basis of love, morality, addiction, you name it. Yet how much explanatory power does neuroscience really have — and are we putting too much trust in its findings? On this episode of Rationally … Read more
October 27, 2013 Is the mind a kind of computer? This episode of Rationally Speaking features philosopher Gerard O’Brien from the University of Adelaide, who specializes in the philosophy of mind. Gerard, Julia, and Massimo discuss the computational theory of mind and what it implies about consciousness, intelligence, and the possibility of uploading people onto computers.
October 13, 2013 What’s the difference between science and pseudocience — and is it even possible to draw a clean line separating them? In this episode of Rationally Speaking, Massimo and Julia interview philosopher Maarten Boudry from Ghent University. Tune in to hear them discuss Massimo and Maarten’s new book, “Philosophy of Pseudoscience: Reconsidering the Demarcation Problem”… and … Read more