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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.

The Michael Shermer Show

In this episode, Michael Shermer explores anomalous experiences through personal anecdotes and historical examples. He reflects on how to balance healthy skepticism with open-mindedness, and how to reckon with the very real emotional significance of such experiences—regardless of the scientific explanations behind them.

Shermer Says 3: Weird Experiences, the Meaning of Dreams, and What Mark Twain Knew About Reality

A former senior intelligence officer explains how espionage is evolving in the age of AI and amid rising global tensions with China, and why the mass harvesting of data affects not just nation-states, but all of us.
 
The discussion also explores the history of spying, what life is really like for intelligence officers, and major intelligence failures and scandals, including 9/11 and Edward Snowden's unauthorized disclosures about the NSA.
 
Anthony Vinci served as the first Chief Technology Officer at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA). Earlier in his career he served in Iraq, Africa, and Asia. He is an Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) and received his PhD in International Relations from the London School of Economics. His new book is The Fourth Intelligence Revolution: The Future of Espionage and the Battle to Save America.

A Former Spy Explains How AI is Changing Espionage

Archaeologist Ken Feder sheds light on how archaeology separates evidence from wishful thinking and entertaining storytelling. He explains what rock art, radiocarbon dating, and DNA can really tell us about the first peoples of the Americas, and talks about the different theories about ancient human migration and the impact of European contact on Native American populations. He also shares what we know about Atlantis, the Lost Tribes of Israel, and what to make of Graham Hancock's visions of an ancient apocalypse.
 
Kenneth L. Feder is professor emeritus of anthropology at Central Connecticut State University. His new book is Native America: The Story of the First People.

Did Lost Civilizations Really Exist? An Archaeologist Explains

Michael Shermer sits down with Charles Murray (author of The Bell Curve, Coming Apart, and now Taking Religion Seriously) for a riveting 100-minute conversation about Murray's late-life turn from Harvard-bred agnosticism ("Smart people don't believe that stuff anymore") to Bayesian theism ("I put the afterlife at just over 50%").
 
This wide-ranging discussion explores the evidence for the existence of God and the afterlife, the problem of evil, and the historical growth of Christianity. They also delve into topics such as the nature of consciousness, terminal lucidity, and even evolutionary vs. religious perspectives on love.
 
A thought-provoking exploration for skeptics, seekers, and anyone wondering whether the universe has a purpose.
 
Charles Murray is a policy analyst educated at Harvard and MIT and currently serves as the Hayek Emeritus Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. He is the author of several influential books, including the controversial The Bell Curve, Coming Apart, and Facing Reality. His most recent book is Taking Religion Seriously.

Charles Murray: Why I'm Taking Religion Seriously

In this episode, Harvard primatologist Christine Webb challenges one of our deepest beliefs: that humans stand apart from the rest of nature. She traces the roots of human exceptionalism from Aristotle and Descartes to modern science, and explains why we still cling to hierarchies of intelligence.
 
While most critiques of human exceptionalism focus on our moral obligation toward other species, Webb argues that they overlook what humanity stands to gain by letting go of its illusions of uniqueness and superiority.
 
Christine Webb is a primatologist at Harvard's Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, with expertise in social behavior, cognition, and emotion. Her new book is The Arrogant Ape: The Myth of Human Exceptionalism and Why it Matters.

The Myth of Human Exceptionalism: Why Humans Aren't as Special as We Think

Are we entering a Fifth Great Awakening—a cultural swing back toward religion?
 
An increasing number of books and articles are calling for a religious revival.
 "We need religion to keep our society functioning."
 "People need meaning."
 
Michael Shermer responds to and revisits the historical waves of religious fervor that shaped American life. He also asks what today's renewed interest in faith, spirituality, and meaning says about our culture.
 
Featuring commentary on new books by Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Charles Murray, and a preview of Helen Pluckrose's new article for Skeptic.

Shermer Says: Why Secularists Are Turning to Religion, The Substitution Hypothesis, Sleep Paralysis

Pulitzer-winner Caroline Fraser maps the lives and crimes of Ted Bundy and his infamous peers—the Green River Killer, the I-5 Killer, the Night Stalker, the Hillside Strangler, and even Charles Manson—and explores an intriguing hypothesis: might environmental factors have played a role in the rise of serial killers in the 1970s and '80s?
 
Caroline Fraser is the author of Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder, which won the Pulitzer Prize. She is also the author of God's Perfect Child: Living and Dying in the Christian Science Church, and her writing has appeared in The New York Review of Books, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Los Angeles Times, and London Review of Books, among other publications. Her new book is Murderland: Crime and Bloodlust in the Time of Serial Killers.

The Serial Killer Era of the 70s/80s: Lore, Patterns, and Plausible Explanations

First installment of our new series Shermer Says. 
 
Topics covered:
 
 • Debate Skills
 • Nobel Peace Prize 2025
 • Autism & Tylenol
 • COVID Vaccines & Myocarditis
 • ANTIFA
 • Bari Weiss & CBS News
 • New Skeptic Research Center Study

Shermer Says: Debate Skills, 2025 Nobel Peace Prize, Autism, Vaccines, ANTIFA, Bari Weiss & CBS News

For many decision scientists, their starting point—drawn from economics—is a quantitative formula called Rational Choice Theory, allowing people to calculate and choose the best options.
 
The problem is that this framework assumes an overly simplistic picture of the world, in which different types of values can be quantified and compared, leading to the "most rational" choice. Behavioral economics acknowledges that irrationality is common but still accepts the underlying belief from economics of what a rational decision should look like.
 
 Drawing from economics, psychology, and philosophy—and both inspired by and challenging Daniel Kahneman's Thinking, Fast and Slow—Barry Schwartz shows how the focus on rationality, narrowly understood, fails to fully describe how we think about our decisions, much less help us make better ones.
 
Barry Schwartz is professor emeritus of psychology at Swarthmore College and visiting professor at Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley. His research and writing focus on the intersection of psychology and economics, particularly with regard to decision-making, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, and the nature of human values. His books include The Paradox of Choice, Why We Work, and (as coauthor) Practical Wisdom. His new book, co-authored with the philosopher Richard Schuldenfrei, is Choose Wisely: Rationality, Ethics, and the Art of Decision-Making.

When Rationality Becomes Irrational

Why do we crave revenge? And why can't we stop? In this episode, James Kimmel explains the neuroscience behind one of our most destructive urges. Drawing from his new book, The Science of Revenge: Understanding the World's Deadliest Addiction, Kimmel reveals how revenge activates the same brain circuits as drugs like cocaine—and why even imagining payback can feel euphoric.
 
If you've ever fantasized about revenge (and who hasn't?), whether in politics or personal relationships, this episode offers a chilling yet hopeful look at the science of moral outrage and redemption.
 
James Kimmel, Jr., JD, is a lecturer in psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine, a lawyer, and the founder and co-director of the Yale Collaborative for Motive Control Studies. A breakthrough scholar and expert on revenge, he first identified compulsive revenge seeking as an addiction and developed the behavioral addiction model of revenge as a public health approach for preventing and treating violence. His new book is The Science of Revenge: Understanding the World's Deadliest Addiction—and How to Overcome It.

The Science of Revenge: Why Getting Even Feels So Good

Dr. Michael Ruse is the Lucyle T. Werkmeister Professor of Philosophy, and Director of the Program in the History and Philosophy of Science, at Florida State University. He has written or edited more than 50 books. His new book is "A Meaning to Life," which we discuss on the show, as well as:
 
 • Dr. Ruse's early life growing up as a Quaker in England and how this influenced his thinking about religion
 • why he is a bulldog against creationism but has a soft spot in his heart for religion
 • why we should not read religious texts literally, but allegorically, and when we do there are great truths to be found, just as there is in great literature
 • his beef with the New Atheists like Richard Dawkins and Daniel Dennett
 • how Darwinism is a religion
 • Darwinian existentialism
 • how a naturalist can still find morals, values, and meaning in life through the laws of nature, particularly human and social nature
 • what's wrong with academia today, and
 • what advice he would give to someone asking how to lead a meaningful life.
 
Listen to Science Salon via iTunes, Spotify, Google Play Music, Stitcher, iHeartRadio, TuneIn, and Soundcloud.
 
This Science Salon was recorded on January 16, 2019.
 
You play a vital part in our commitment to promote science and reason. If you enjoy the Science Salon Podcast, please show your support by making a donation, or by becoming a patron.

68. Dr. Michael Ruse — A Darwinian Meaning to Life

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