The Michael Shermer Show

Michael Shermer — Ask Me Anything # 3

In Science Salon AMA # 3, Dr. Shermer offers a brief summary of his current opinion of Jordan Peterson and then reads his essay: “Have Archetype — Will Travel: The Jordan Peterson Phenomenon”.

Dr. Rachel Kleinfeld — A Savage Order: How the World’s Deadliest Countries Can Forge a Path to Security

In Science Salon Podcast episode # 50, Michael Shermer speaks with Dr. Rachel Kleinfeld, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where she focuses on issues of rule of law, security, and governance in post-conflict countries, fragile states, and states in transition.

Michael Shermer — Ask Me Anything # 2

Shermer reviews the latest issue of Skeptic magazine • introduces upcoming podcast guests Rachel Kleinfeld, Bruce Schneier, Mark W. Moffett, and Jared Diamond • discusses his book publishing plans for 2019, including an essay collection of his last 70 Scientific American columns • reflects on his 18 years writing for Scientific American and reads aloud the final column, titled “Stein’s Law and Science’s Mission”.

Dr. Gad Saad — Doing Gad’s Work

Shermer speaks with renowned evolutionary behavioral scientist, Gad Saad, about: his is escape to Canada from war-torn Lebanon • how he got interested in the study of human nature in general and consumer behavior in particular through the evolutionary lens • why people make the choices they do in the marketplace • why evolutionary psychology is an equal-opportunity offender to both the political left and right • what’s wrong with the Blank Slate model of human nature, and much more…

Sir Martin Rees — On the Future: Prospects for Humanity

In this wide-ranging dialogue Michael Shermer talks with Astronomer Royal Sir Martin Rees — a leading astrophysicist as well as a senior figure in UK science and a public intellectual in England and America.

Dr. Susan Blackmore — Altered States and Conscious Beings

In Science Salon # 47, Dr. Michael Shermer speaks with Dr. Susan Blackmore about: how science can test subjective mystical experiences; memes and tremes; free will and determinism; the hard problem of consciousness, out of body experiences, near-death experiences, and God.

Zac Sechler interviews Michael Shermer about Why People Believe in God

In this unusual Science Salon we bring you an interview of Dr. Shermer by Zac Sechler, a high school senior at Grace Prep High School in State College, PA.

Daniel de Visé — On Comebacks in Sports and Life

Shermer speaks with Daniel de Visé about one of the greatest athletes in American history, three-time Tour de France winner Greg LeMond. They also discuss: Lance Armstrong and the era of using Performance Enhancing Drugs in sports and the ethics of how something can be immoral if everyone is doing it. Shermer explains his game theory analysis of cheating and how to tilt the incentive matrix to encourage fair play among all agents in a system, and more…

Dr. David P. Barash — Human Nature Through a Glass Brightly

Humans have long seen ourselves as the center of the universe. This viewpoint — a persistent paradigm of our own unique self-importance — is as dangerous as it is false. In this Science Salon with Michael Shermer based on his new book Through a Glass Brightly noted biologist and evolutionary psychologist David Barash explores the process by which science has, throughout time, cut humanity “down to size,” and how humanity has responded.

Dr. Jonathan Haidt — Coming Apart

A lecture by and follow-up discussion with Dr. Jonathan Haidt about the excessive divisiveness of American politics and culture the past several years.

Dr. Clay Routledge — The Meaning of Life, the Universe, and Everything

Shermer speaks with psychologist Clay Routledge about: the evolution of motivation and goals in animals and humans • what a “purpose driven life” really means • how atheists and nonbelievers can create meaningful and purposeful lives • the self, personal identity, and existential psychology • why people believe in God and fear death • why religious people live longer and healthier lives • why one-third of atheists believe in some type of life after death • free will as a…

Dr. Debra Lieberman — That’s Disgusting! Objection: Disgust, Morality and the Law

In Science Salon # 41, Dr. Lieberman considers disgust and its impact on the legal system to show why the things that we find stomach-turning so often become the things that we render unlawful.

Dr. Kwame Anthony Appiah — Who Am I? Who Are You? The Lies That Bind: Rethinking Identity

Shermer and Appiah discuss: the 5 “Cs” of identity — Creed, Country, Color, Class, and Culture — and what they tell us about who we are, or at least who we think we are. Dr. Appiah’s work explores the nature and history of the identities that define us. It challenges our assumptions about how identities work. Appiah shows how identities are created by conflict and presents a bold new theory of identity: a ringing philosophical statement for the anxious, conflict-ridden…

Heather Mac Donald — The Diversity Delusion: How Race and Gender Pandering Corrupt the University and Undermine Our Culture

In this riveting review of the campus craziness investigative journalist, writer, and lawyer Heather Mac Donald and Michael Shermer dive deep into the root causes of what has gone wrong on college campuses, in corporations, and in government agencies, over the decades that has led to a crisis in higher education … and beyond.

Dr. Yuval Noah Harari — 21 Lessons for the 21^st Century

In this dialogue with one of the most interesting minds of our time, the Hebrew University historian and best-selling author (Sapiens, Homo Deus), Dr. Yuval Noah Harari, he and Dr. Shermer discuss: history, work, liberty, equality, community, civilization, nationalism, religion, immigration, terrorism, war, humility, God, secularism, ignorance, justice, post-truth, science fiction, education, meaning, meditation, and more…

Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson — Accessory to War: The Unspoken Alliance Between Astrophysics and the Military

In Science Salon # 37, Michael Shermer and Neil deGrasse Tyson take a deep dive into the history of science and war, and the strange but productive alliances that have been formed over the centuries—particularly those between astrophysicists and politicians, governments, military, and corporations.

Dr. Jonathan Haidt — The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas are Setting Up a Generation for Failure

In this fascinating dialogue Dr. Haidt and Dr. Shermer discuss what has been going wrong on many college campuses in the last few years. Speakers are shouted down. Students and professors say they are walking on eggshells and are afraid to speak honestly. Rates of anxiety, depression, and suicide are rising—on campus as well as nationally. How did this happen?

Dr. Tali Sharot — The Influential Mind: What the Brain Reveals About Our Power to Change Others

Cognitive neuroscientist Tali Sharot takes us on a thrilling exploration of the nature of influence. She and Shermer discuss how we can influence, for example, climate deniers to accept climate science, anti-vaxxers to accept vaccines, and creationists to accept evolution. It turns out, for example, that many of our instincts—from relying on facts and figures to shape opinions, to insisting others are wrong or attempting to exert control—are ineffective, because they are incompatible with how people’s minds operate.

Colin McGinn — Paradoxes, Puzzles, and Philosophy

In their second Science Salon conversation Michael Shermer and Colin McGinn discuss paradoxes and puzzles of philosophy, pseudo-questions, realism v. antirealism, how to deal with unknown unknowns, immortality and the nature of the self and soul.

David Quammen — The Tangled Tree: A Radical New History of Life

In Science Salon # 33, Michael Shermer talks with David Quammen, one of the best nature and science writers of our generation, about his new book on the history of one of the most exciting revolutions in evolution and genetics that is unfolding before our eyes.

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