The Michael Shermer Show

Fred Kaplan — The Bomb: Presidents, Generals, and the Secret History of Nuclear War

The Bomb is Fred Kaplan’s definitive history of American policy on nuclear war — and Presidents’ actions in nuclear crises — from Truman to Trump. Kaplan takes us into the White House Situation Room, the Joint Chiefs of Staff’s “Tank” in the Pentagon, and the vast chambers of Strategic Command to bring us the untold stories — based on exclusive interviews and previously classified documents — of how America’s presidents and generals have thought about, threatened, broached, and just barely…

Daniel Chirot — You Say You Want a Revolution? Radical Idealism and its Tragic Consequences

Why have so many of the iconic revolutions of modern times ended in bloody tragedies? What lessons can be drawn from these failures today, in a world where political extremism is on the rise and rational reform based on moderation and compromise often seems impossible to achieve? Daniel Chirot examines a wide range of right- and left-wing revolutions around the world — from the late eighteenth century to today — to provide important new answers to these critical questions.

Diana Pasulka — American Cosmic: UFOs, Religion, Technology

More than half of American adults and more than 75 percent of young Americans believe in intelligent extraterrestrial life. This level of belief rivals that of belief in God. In Science Salon # 105 Michael Shermer speaks with Diana Pasulka about her book: American Cosmic: UFOs, Religion, Technology.

Judith Finlayson — You Are What Your Grandparents Ate: What You Need to Know About Nutrition, Experience, Epigenetics and the Origins of Chronic Disease

How many of the risks for chronic diseases, including obesity, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and dementia, can be traced back to your first 1,000 days of existence, from the moment you were conceived? Shermer and Finlayson discuss: epigenetics • epidemiology • difficulty determining causality in medical sciences • why correlation is not necessarily causation, but how it can be used to advise on diet and lifestyle changes • fruits and vegetables or meat and fat?

Robert Frank — Under the Influence: Putting Peer Pressure to Work

Shermer and Frank discuss: luck and circumstances • peer pressure • free will • self-control • happiness vs. purpose • utilitarianism vs. natural rights theory • abortion, capital punishment, polygamy, prostitution, and the selling of organs • behavioral contagions: smoking, problem drinking, obesity, tax cheating, bullying, and wasteful energy use • same-sex marriage • climate change • Universal Basic Income, and more…

Christopher Ryan — Civilized to Death: The Price of Progress

Most of us have instinctive evidence the world is ending — balmy December days, face-to-face conversation replaced with heads-to-screens zomboidism, a world at constant war, a political system in disarray. We hear some myths and lies so frequently that they feel like truths. You’re lucky to be alive here and now. Well, maybe… Civilized to Death counters the idea that progress is inherently good, arguing that the “progress” defining our age is analogous to an advancing disease.

Hugo Mercier — Not Born Yesterday: The Science of Who We Trust and What We Believe

Not Born Yesterday explains how we decide who we can trust and what we should believe — and argues that we’re pretty good at making these decisions. Hugo Mercier demonstrates how virtually all attempts at mass persuasion — whether by religious leaders, politicians, or advertisers — fail miserably.

100th Episode Special — Ask Me Almost Anything (AMA#6)

In Science Salon # 100 Michael Shermer presents a special Ask Me Almost Anything (AMA # 6) on: extraterrestrial intelligence, Generic Subjective Continuity, Trump propaganda, Eliminative Materialism, eyewitness testimony, and more.

Bobby Duffy — Why We’re Wrong About Nearly Everything: A Theory of Human Misunderstanding

In Science Salon # 99 Michael Shermer speaks with Bobby Duffy about his research into public perception across more than 40 countries, offering a sweeping account of the stubborn problem of human delusion: how society breeds it, why it will never go away, and what our misperceptions say about what we really believe.

Robert Pennock — An Instinct for Truth: Curiosity and the Moral Character of Science

In Science Salon # 98 Michael Shermer speaks with Robert Pennock about his new book An Instinct for Truth: Curiosity and the Moral Character of Science. Taking a virtue-theoretic perspective, Pennock explores curiosity, veracity, skepticism, humility to evidence, and other scientific virtues and vices.

Amber Scorah — Leaving the Witness: Exiting a Religion and Finding a Life

In this revealing conversation Amber Scorah opens the box into the psychology of religious belief to show how, exactly, religions and cults convince members that theirs is the one true religion. A coming of age story of a woman already in her thirties, this unforgettable memoir examines what it’s like to start one’s life over again with an entirely new identity.

Catherine Wilson — How to Be an Epicurean: The Ancient Art of Living Well

In Science Salon # 96 Michael Shermer speaks with Catherine Wilson about the ancient wisdom of Epicureanism: a philosophy of living well that promoted reason, respect for the natural world, and reverence for our fellow humans.

John Martin Fischer — Death, Immortality and Meaning in Life

In Science Salon # 95 Michael Shermer speaks with Distinguished Professor of Philosophy John Martin Fischer about his book Death, Immortality, and Meaning in Life — a brief yet in-depth introduction to the key philosophical issues and problems concerning death and immortality.

David Leiser — How We Misunderstand Economics and Why it Matters

In Science Salon # 94 Michael Shermer speaks with David Leiser about his new book: How We Misunderstand Economics and Why it Matters, diving into the mismatch between the complexities of economics and the constraints of human cognition that lie at the root of our misconceptions.

Geoffrey Miller — Virtue Signaling: Essays on Darwinian Politics and Free Speech

Shermer speaks with the polymathic polyamorous sapiosexual classically liberal evolutionary psychologist Geoffrey Miller about virtue signaling and why we all do it, how it works, why it’s not a bad thing, how it became a derogatory political meme, the role of virtue signaling in the evolution of the moral sentiments, and more…

Tim Samuels — Future Man: How to Evolve and Thrive in the Age of Trump, Mansplaining, and #MeToo

If ever there was an urgent need for a frank understanding of what’s going on with men, it is now. Male rage and frustration have driven resurgent populism, mass shootings, and epidemics of addiction and violence. Powerful men who have abused their positions for decades have been and are being #MeToo-outed and dismissed. The patriarchy, that solid bedrock of male power for thousands of years, seems to be crumbling…

James Traub — What Was Liberalism? The Past, Present, and Promise of a Noble Idea

Shermer and Traub discuss: the changing meaning of “liberalism” • why the first liberals were deeply skeptical of majority rule • how liberalism become the national creed of the most powerful country in the world • Donald Trump as the first American president to regard liberal values with open contempt • identity politics • political correctness • what a potential future for liberalism would look like.

Melvin Konner — Believers: Faith in Human Nature

Shermer and Konner discuss: Konner’s experience living among hunter-gatherers • how hunter-gatherers conceive of religion vs. modern peoples • the “Big Gods” theory of religion • the “God Module” • why faith is not for everyone • the rise of the nones, but why religion will never completely die out • the upside of religion, and more…

Richard Dawkins — Outgrowing God: A Beginner’s Guide

Richard Dawkins explains how the natural world arose without a designer — the improbability and beauty of the “bottom-up programming” that engineers an embryo or a flock of starlings — and challenges head-on some of the most basic assumptions made by the world’s religions.

Daniel Oberhaus — Extraterrestrial Languages

Exploring Earthlings’ various attempts to reach out to non-Earthlings over the centuries, Daniel Oberhaus poses some not entirely answerable questions. Is there not only a universal grammar (as Noam Chomsky has posited), but also a grammar of the universe? If we send a message into space, will extraterrestrial beings receive it? Will they understand? What languages will they (and we) speak? If we can’t even communicate with non-human mammals and primates, how are we going to communicate with sentient alien…

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