The Wright Show (audio)

Skye and Massimo's new co-edited book, with Daniel Kaufman, How to Live a Good Life ... Existentialism's intersections with Stoicism ... How Skye encountered Existentialism while in business school ... Sartre and de Beauvoir's famous attempt to live a life of freedom ... Are philosophers a bunch of hypocrites? ... Personal authenticity vs. social convention ... Why Stoicism doesn’t mean passive acceptance ... Skye and Massimo on the philosophies they found most interesting ... How Wittgenstein would view this book ... This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit nonzero.substack.com/subscribe

Defining "moral realism" ... Cognitivists vs. noncognitivists ... Are moral beliefs just expressions of human desires? ... Human happiness is better than human suffering...right? ... Considering whether you can be both a Darwinian and a moral realist ... Moral progress, teleology, and mysticism ... Why you "have to take something for granted" in any philosophical system ... The bedrock sources of meaning in life ... If life has meaning, does moral realism logically follow? ... This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit nonzero.substack.com/subscribe

Rhonda's path to meditation and Buddhism ... Rhonda's new book, The Inner Work of Racial Justice ... Is equanimity the enemy of activism? ... Using mindfulness to overcome biases and stereotypes ... How Rhonda deploys contemplative practices in her law school classroom ... Can one feel compassion for a cop who shot an unarmed black man? ... This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit nonzero.substack.com/subscribe

Catherine's new book, How to Be an Epicurean ... How Epicureanism is like and unlike utilitarianism ... How the ancient Epicureans viewed nature and reality ... Comparing Epicureanism with its big rival, Stoicism ... On suffering and death ... Epicurean influence on post-Enlightenment science and philosophy ... This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit nonzero.substack.com/subscribe

Jay's new book, Enlightenment by Trial and Error ... Why Jay embarked on a path of mysticism ... Ayahuasca, unitive experiences, and bad trips ... Jews who are "religious but not spiritual" ... Finding “real happiness” through meditation ... Varieties of enlightening experience ... What’s distinctive about Jewish mysticism? ... The things Jay still takes from Judaism ... This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit nonzero.substack.com/subscribe

A new study says empathy can increase political polarization ... How empathy operates in today’s political environment ... Is cognitive empathy a form of intelligence? ... The Machiavellian uses of cognitive empathy ... A counterproductive #Resistance view of Trump supporters ... Paul doesn't understand how anyone can still support Trump ... Why "dehumanization" isn't the real problem ... Paul's core message: "Don't listen to your heart" ... This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit nonzero.substack.com/subscribe

Why Pope John Paul II did not like Roger's book Jesus Symbol of God ... Roger's new book, Faith and Evolution: Grace-Filled Naturalism ... The intractability of the problem of evil ... Ways to understand God not as a big person in the sky ... Is natural selection an instrument of divine creation? ... Roger's heterodox view of Jesus of Nazareth ... Roger's problem with original sin ... What is a "grace-filled naturalism"? ... This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit nonzero.substack.com/subscribe

Why many intelligent people think we're living in a simulation ... The philosophical argument that you're probably not real ... How cosmic rays might (and might not) reveal that reality is fake ... Preston's dire warning against trying to determine if we're in a simulation ... Is the simulation hypothesis non-falsifiable? ... Is "the simulation" just religion for atheists? ... This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit nonzero.substack.com/subscribe

Nick's new book, Automating the News ... Why Nick is not an alarmist about the automation of journalism ... The types of journalism jobs that algorithms can't replace ... Successful collaborations between human journalists and machines ... The perils of algorithmic fact-checking ... Nick's current research ... Bob hopes for a bot that can assign blame for international law violations ... Can the power of Twitter bots be used for good? ... This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit nonzero.substack.com/subscribe

What is scientism, and who is doing it? ... Postmodernism and whether science just tells "stories" ... John criticizes the "ideological fervor" of evolutionary psychology ... The hubris of scientists in the '80s and '90s ... Has science reached its fundamental limits in trying to explain consciousness? ... John wins his Nobel Prize "long bet" on string theory ... The various corrupting influences on scientists ... A brief debate on higher purpose ... This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit nonzero.substack.com/subscribe

What is the foundation of Buddhist ethics? ... Experiencing not-self ... Buddhism is a synthesis of consequentialism and virtue ethics ... The origins of Buddhism's concern for animal welfare ... Does the Buddha want you to be vegetarian? ... Why isn’t there more anti-militarist activism among Buddhists? ... Trying to comply with the Buddhist ideal of "right speech" ... Mental defilements and their eradication ... Does Buddhism’s emphasis on equanimity discourage activism? ... This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit nonzero.substack.com/subscribe

Why Agnes once lay down on the yellow line in the middle of the road ... What explains "akrasia," or weakness of will? ... Agnes's book, Aspiration: The Agency of Becoming ... How Agnes views free will and self-creation ... How do you become the "you" that you want to be? ... Aspiration and the divine ... Agnes's forthcoming book on how Socrates changed the rules ... This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit nonzero.substack.com/subscribe

Nina's research on how we understand the self ... The traits that make your self yourself ... Buddhism and the continuity of self through time ... The link between egocentrism and an equanimous attitude toward death ... Bob: Not-self is hard to experience and very hard to understand ... Asian Buddhists vs. "white boy Buddhists" ... Does a happy life require virtuous behavior? ... This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit nonzero.substack.com/subscribe

Why Alex shifted from international relations to quantum physics ... Alex: "We are walking wave functions" ... Do the origins of consciousness and free will lie in the wave collapse? ... Quantum decision theory and human irrationality ... The advantage of viewing humanity as quantum rather than classical ... How a nation-state is like a quantum state ... Alex: Language is best understood quantumly ... The possibility of collective consciousness ... This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit nonzero.substack.com/subscribe

Ron's new book, McMindfulness: How Mindfulness Became the New Capitalist Spirituality ... A brief history of mindfulness in America ... Ron's critique of the corporate teaching of mindfulness ... A tool vs. a path ... Ron: The mindfulness industry individualizes social problems ... A call for civic mindfulness ... Can capitalism and spirituality be reconciled? ... This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit nonzero.substack.com/subscribe

Common misconceptions about meditation retreats ... Hitting the bliss button ... Scheduled vs. unscheduled retreats ... How austere does it have to be to be effective? ... Process vs. outcomes ... Bob's mini-epiphany about his dripping sink ... Is meditation "for" something? ... Pitfalls after leaving a retreat ... Tips for first-timers ... This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit nonzero.substack.com/subscribe

Serene’s new book, Call It Grace: Finding Meaning in a Fractured World ... Serene’s theological upbringing and early encounters with Calvin’s writings ... What a romantic tragedy early in life taught Serene about God’s grace ... A revelatory brush with death in rural India ... Timothy McVeigh and the challenge of forgiveness ... How Serene’s father met an epic challenge to his faith and his charity ... This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit nonzero.substack.com/subscribe

Lee’s new book The Scientific Attitude: Defending Science from Denial, Fraud, and Pseudoscience  ... Why scientific theories are never “proved” ... Karl Popper’s principle of falsification explained  ... Why the philosophy of science hasn’t been useful to scientists ... Why philosophers of science need a new way to talk about evidence ... Can philosophy of science help refute science deniers?  ... Flat Earthers, science denial, and the scientific attitude  ... Cognitive bias, ideology, and the social sciences  ... Lee: There is no consensus about the epistemological status of science ... The hubris of “naive realism”  ... This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit nonzero.substack.com/subscribe

A brief primer on the free will vs. determinism debate ... Are moral responsibility and determinism compatible? ... Is punishment a tragic necessity or a moral good? ... Gideon tries to convince Bob that compatibilism is coherent ... Gideon's distinctive take on compatibilism ... A thought experiment about the moral culpability of an ancient slaveholder ... Free will and the mind-body problem ... Buddhist ideas about punishment ... This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit nonzero.substack.com/subscribe

David's new book, This View of Life ... In what sense, if any, could evolution be conscious? ... The need to complete the Darwinian revolution ... An evolutionary psychology discussion makes Bob tape his mouth shut ... How successful groups avert the tragedy of the commons ... Convergent cultural evolution ... David: Evolution shows that neither laissez faire nor centralized planning works ... A preview of the coming Bob vs. David showdown over group selection ... This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit nonzero.substack.com/subscribe