The Michael Shermer Show
Episodes
Evidence-Based Charity and Moral Psychology
17 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In the U.S. alone, more than $400 billion are donated to charity each year—equivalent to two percent of American GDP. This generosity is wonderful, ...
The Suggestible Brain
14 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In The Suggestible Brain, cognitive psychologist Amir Raz delves into how suggestions can influence everything from wine preferences to memory and emo...
Rationality, Science Fiction, and Humanity's Future
10 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Guy P. Harrison is an acclaimed author of nine thought-provoking books that encourage curiosity and critical thinking. In this engaging episode, he an...
Building a Wealthier, Fairer Society
07 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Historically, Western societies were defined by stark divisions between wealth and poverty, with only a slim middle class. Today, the economic landsca...
Gareth Gore Investigates: Opus Dei, Dark Money, and Global Deception
03 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Banco Popular, once a top global bank, collapsed unexpectedly in 2017. Investigative journalist Gareth Gore initially expected to find another case of...
The Current State of Atheism and Separation of Church and State
30 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this thought-provoking conversation, Dan Barker, a former evangelical preacher turned prominent atheist and co-president of the Freedom from Religi...
Paul Ehrlich on The Population Bomb, Climate Change, and the Ethics of Extinction
26 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Paul Ehrlich reflects on his extensive career, including what he got wrong in The Population Bomb, the challenges of population growth, and the critic...
From the Big Bang to God: The Universe's Biggest Mysteries
23 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Journey to the frontiers of human knowledge with astrophysicist Kelsey Johnson as she explores mind-bending questions about the cosmos. Rather than ju...
Inventing God: Psychology of Belief and the Rise of Secular Spirituality
19 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Michael Shermer interviews Jon Mills, a psychoanalyst and philosopher, on a variety of topics, including the evolution of psychoanalysis, the dynamics...
2024 Election Postmortem
14 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this special solo episode, Michael Shermer reflects on the 2024 election.
Fentanyl and the Opioid Epidemic
12 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In 2023, 107,543 Americans died from an overdose—over 75 thousand of those overdosed from fentanyl. This is almost double the number of people who d...
Stories From the Front Lines of Abortion Care (Dr. Warren Hern)
08 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Warren Hern's book, Abortion in the Age of Unreason: A Doctor's Account of Caring for Women Before and After Roe v. Wade, chronicles the difficult...
The Most Important Election of My Lifetime … Again (Michael Shermer)
31 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this solo episode, Michael Shermer discusses the upcoming election, reflecting on the historical context of past elections and the political polari...
The Future of Global Order and America's Influence
29 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Edward Goldberg analyzes the United States' emergence as the global liberal hegemon, detailing its geographical and economic advantages that led to it...
Faith, Politics, and Power: Talia Lavin on the Christian Right's America
26 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Across America, a storm is brewing as the Christian Right gains unprecedented power. From book bans to anti-trans laws, this political force is reshap...
The Social Reset: Big Tech, Mental Health, and the Future of Connection
22 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Mark Weinstein, a tech entrepreneur, privacy expert—and one of the visionary inventors of social networking—explores how social platforms could be...
Neal Stephenson on Predicting the Metaverse, Crypto, and AI Decades Ahead
19 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Neal Stephenson is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of novels including Termination Shock, Seveneves, Cryptonomicon, and Snow Crash. His works...
The Future of AI: Consciousness and Ethical Dilemmas
15 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How should we go about understanding LLMs? Do these language models truly understand what they are saying? Or is it possible that what appears to be i...
Words, Actions, and Liberty: Tara Smith Decodes the First Amendment
12 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
First Amendment scholar and philosopher Tara Smith offers a comprehensive analysis of free speech, situating her work within the broader intellectual ...
Psychogenic Illness and the Nocebo Effect
08 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Ask a question and participate in future episodes. The nocebo effect demonstrates how the mind can cause illness through negative expectations, as hig...
How Religions Compete for Money, Power, and People
05 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Ask a question and participate in future episodes of the show. Religion in the twenty-first century is alive and well across the world, despite its ap...
Why Ronald Reagan Wanted to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (Max Boot)
01 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Max Boot's revelatory biography of Ronald Reagan, a decade in the making, offers a nuanced portrait of the actor-turned-politician who ushered in a tr...
Settler Colonialism: Ideology, Violence, and Justice
28 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Since Hamas's attack on Israel last October 7, the term "settler colonialism" has become central to public debate in the United States. A concept new ...
Gray Matters: Exploring the Frontiers of Neurosurgery
24 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Theodore Schwartz's book Gray Matters: A Biography of Brain Surgery offers a comprehensive exploration of neurosurgery, a field barely a century o...
Biology vs. Gender Ideology: The Science Behind the Debate
21 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Biologist Colin Wright joins the podcast to explore one of today's most contentious topics: the intersection of biological sex and gender. Drawing on ...
Taming Silicon Valley: AI's Perils and Promise
17 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
AI could bring unprecedented advancements in science and technology, but Gary Marcus, in Taming Silicon Valley, warns it might also lead to democracy'...
Matt Ridley, Steven Pinker, and Michael Shermer Challenge Conventional Narratives
13 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
From the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic to the rise of DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) initiatives and Artificial Intelligence, in this episod...
Slavery, Enlightenment, and America's Refounding
10 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Michael Shermer and Matthew Stewart explore the heretical philosophical roots of the American Republic, including Enlightenment influences and the Fou...
How to Think About Souls, UFOs, Time, Belief, and Everything
07 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
From precognitive dreams and telepathic visions to near-death experiences, UFO encounters, and beyond, so-called impossible phenomena are not supposed...
Pseudohistory Makes a Comeback on Tucker Carlson's Show
06 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
During a two-hour interview with Tucker Carlson, Darryl Cooper made sensational claims about the Holocaust and World War II, with Carlson calling him ...
The Science of Disbelief: Understanding Atheism and the Evolution of Religion
03 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In Disbelief: The Origins of Atheism in a Religious Species, Will Gervais explores the interconnected nature of religious belief and atheism in human ...
The Road to Singularity: Ben Goertzel on AGI and The Fate of Humanity
01 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Ben Goertzel is a multidisciplinary scientist, entrepreneur, and author, originally from Brazil. He currently resides on an island near Seattle af...
Unmasking the Unknown: UFOs, Alien Tech, and Military Secrets?
30 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof. It's no different when it comes to UFO frenzy. There is a need to separate fact from fiction in UAP ...
Are We Confused About Social Justice? (Helen Pluckrose)
27 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The stated goals of diversity, equity, and inclusion programs are often reasonable, if not noble—to create a more welcoming and inclusive environmen...
The Cultural History of Charles Fort and His Followers
25 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Charles Fort, a maverick writer, fascinated by bizarre occurrences like flying saucers, Bigfoot, and frogs raining from the sky, scanned newspapers an...
The Logic of Nuclear Policy: Deterrence and MAD Explained.
23 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
As if 2024 couldn't get any weirder, tensions in the Middle East have escalated with the United States sending one of our nuclear submarines to the Me...
Why Men Are Struggling, Why It Matters, and What to Do About It
20 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In his book Of Boys and Men and through his work at the American Institute for Boys and Men, Richard V. Reeves addresses the growing crisis facing boy...
Bones, Bias, and Backlash: Elizabeth Weiss on the Politicization of Anthropology
17 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In her autobiographical book On the Warpath, archaeologist Elizabeth Weiss recounts her battles on the front lines of the culture war in academia. Her...
The Physics of Life's Emergence
13 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Life as No One Knows It by Sara Imari Walker tackles the challenging question of defining life, a problem as complex as understanding consciousness or...
Cryptomania: Hype, Hope, and the Fall of a Billion-Dollar Fintech Empire
10 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
As cryptocurrency surged in popularity during the pandemic, many were drawn by the promise of wealth and revolutionizing sectors like finance, art, an...
Richard Dawkins on Genetic Insights Into the History of Life
06 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Evolutionary biologist and author, Richard Dawkins, explores how the body, behavior, and genes of every living creature serve as a record of their anc...
UFO Sightings Around the World: A Comprehensive History
03 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
After the Flying Saucers Came explores the global fascination with UFOs, tracing its origins to the summer of 1947 when a pilot's sighting in Washingt...
Parent-Child Estrangement: How Does Divorce Affect Children?
30 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Psychologist Joshua Coleman, PhD, explores the complex issue of estrangement between parents and adult children, which he terms a "silent epidemic." H...
The Influence of Politics and Tribalism on Climate Science
27 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Shermer and Lipsky discuss: the scientists who first sounded the alarm about climate change • science consensus that global warming is real and huma...
Death and the Search for Meaning in the Afterlife
23 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
For years as an award-winning war reporter, Sebastian Junger traveled to many front lines and frequently put his life at risk. And yet the closest he ...
Division and Polarization in American Politics: Balancing Majority Rule and Minority Rights
20 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Common ground is hard to find in today's politics. Many people, frustrated with a system demanding constant compromise, blame the Constitution for the...
Michael Shermer Reflects on the Trump Assassination Attempt
17 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we explore the conspiracy theories surrounding the July 13 assassination attempt on President Donald Trump. Despite the evidence sugg...
Thinking Critically About COVID: Conspiracies vs. Nuance and Facts (Jay Bhattacharya)
13 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Jay Bhattacharya is a Professor of Health Policy at Stanford University and a research associate at the National Bureau of Economics Research. He dire...
From Hippie to Whole Foods Mogul
09 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Whole Foods Market's Cofounder and CEO for 44 years, John Mackey offers an intimate and provocative account of the rise of this iconic company and the...
Aella — From a Christian Upbringing to Sex Work
02 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Aella is a writer, blogger, data analyst, and sex worker who has written extensively about the psychology and economics of online sex work, conducting...
Hong Kong's Turmoil: Insights from an Exiled Political Leader
29 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Nathan Law is a young Hong Kong activist, currently in exile and based in London. During the Umbrella Movement in 2014, Nathan was one of the five rep...
Living Constitutionally: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Constitution's Original Meaning
26 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A.J. Jacobs learned the hard way that donning a tricorne hat and marching around Manhattan with a 1700s musket will earn you a lot of strange looks. I...
Lemuria: A True Story of a Fake Place
22 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Is Lemuria a real place, or the fever dream of crackpots, mystics, conspiracy theorists, and Bigfoot hunters? Below the waters where the Pacific and I...
Born into a Cult (Michelle Dowd)
18 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Michelle Dowd was born into an ultra-religious cult, "The Field," started in the 1930s by her grandfather, who convinced generations of young male fol...
UFOs: What We Know (And Don't Know)
15 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Robert Powell, a founding Board member of the Scientific Coalition for UAP Studies, has studied the UFO subject for 17 years. His work is encapsulated...
Religion as Make-Believe: A Theory of Belief, Imagination, and Group Identity
11 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We often assume that religious beliefs are no different in kind from ordinary factual beliefs—that believing in the existence of God or of supernatu...
Vulnerable Minds: The Harm of Childhood Trauma and the Hope of Resilience
08 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Each year at least a billion children around the world are victims of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) that range from physical abuse and racial d...
How to Achieve Peace in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
04 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Einat Wilf is a leading intellectual and original thinker on matters of foreign policy, economics, education, Israel, and the Jewish people. She w...
How Likely Is War Over Taiwan?
01 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
So much of what we hear about China and Russia today likens the relationship between these two autocracies and the West to a "rivalry" or a "great-pow...
Neuroscientist Explains Selective Memory (Charan Ranganath)
28 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A new understanding of memory is emerging from the latest scientific research. In Why We Remember, pioneering neuroscientist and psychologist Charan R...
Metaracism: How Systemic Racism Devastates Black Lives
25 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In recent years, condemnations of racism in America have echoed from the streets to corporate boardrooms. At the same time, politicians and commentato...
How to Think About Social Justice
21 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Those who are pursuing social justice too often fail to incorporate the insights of sociology, and when they do make use of sociology, they often draw...
Sean Carroll Explains Quantum Field Theory
18 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Sean Carroll is creating a profoundly new approach to sharing physics with a broad audience, one that goes beyond analogies to show how physicists rea...
Co-Founder of The Free Press reports on the Culture Wars (Nellie Bowles)
14 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
As a Hillary voter, a New York Times reporter, and frequent attendee at her local gay bars, Nellie Bowles fit right in with her San Francisco neighbor...
The Latest Research on Consciousness (Christof Koch)
11 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In Then I Am Myself the World, Christof Koch explores the only thing we directly experience: consciousness. At the book's heart is integrated-informat...
Everything is Predictable: How Bayesian Statistics Explain Our World
07 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
At its simplest, Bayes's theorem describes the probability of an event, based on prior knowledge of conditions that might be related to the event. But...
The New Science of Planet Hunting in the Cosmos
04 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
For thousands of years, humans have wondered whether we're alone in the cosmos. Now, for the first time, we have the technology to investigate. But on...
The Science of Happines
30 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We all want to be happier, but our brains often get in the way. When we're too stuck in our heads we obsess over our inadequacies, compare ourselves w...
How Rhetoric Shapes Your Opinions
27 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Robin Reames breaks down the major techniques of rhetoric, pulling back the curtain on how politicians, journalists, and "journalists" convince us to ...
Accomplishment and Happiness (Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker)
23 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We push ourselves toward the highest-paying, most prestigious jobs, seeking promotions and public recognition. As Adam Gopnik points out, the result i...
Should We Prepare for Nuclear War? (Annie Jacobsen)
20 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Pulitzer Prize finalist Annie Jacobsen investigated this ticking-clock scenario, based on dozens of exclusive new interviews with military and civilia...
An AI... Utopia? (Nick Bostrom, Oxford)
16 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Nick Bostrom's previous book, Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies, changed the global conversation on AI and became a New York Times bestsel...
Life on Mars? (Robert Zubrin)
13 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
When Robert Zubrin published his classic book The Case for Mars a quarter century ago, setting foot on the Red Planet seemed a fantasy. Today, manned ...
Robots and the People Who Love Them
09 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Shermer and Herold discuss: social robots, sex robots, robot nannies, robot therapists • flying cars, jetpacks and The Jetsons • Masahiro Mori •...
The Formation, Diversification, and Extinction of World Religions
06 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Thousands of religions have adherents today, and countless more have existed throughout history. What accounts for this astonishing diversity? This ex...
The Wisdom and Wonder of Being Uncertain
02 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In an era of terrifying unpredictability, we race to address complex crises with quick, sure algorithms, bullet points, and tweets. How could we find ...
The End of Race Politics (Coleman Hughes)
30 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
As one of the few black students in his philosophy program at Columbia University years ago, Coleman Hughes wondered why his peers seemed more pessimi...
How to Repair America's Broken Democracy
26 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Order the Artificial Intelligence issue of SKEPTIC magazine at https://www.skeptic.com/magazine/archives/29.1/ (available in print or digital format)....
Bad Therapy: Why the Kids Aren't Growing Up (Abigail Shrier)
23 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In virtually every way that can be measured, Gen Z's mental health is worse than that of previous generations. Youth suicide rates are climbing, antid...
An Unfinished History of the Holocaust
19 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The Holocaust is much discussed, much memorialized, and much portrayed. But there are major aspects of its history that have been overlooked. Spanning...
The Weirdness of the World
16 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Do we live inside a simulated reality or a pocket universe embedded in a larger structure about which we know virtually nothing? Is consciousness a pu...
The Story of Female Empowerment & Getting Canceled: Elite Commando and Kickboxing World Champion Leah Goldstein
12 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A conversation with Leah Goldstein on becoming a kickboxing world champion, ultra-endurance cyclist, and an elite commando combating terrorism. For th...
Who Wrote the Qur'an, Why, and What Does it Really Say?
09 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Over a billion copies of the Qur'an exist – yet it remains an enigma. Its classical Arabic language resists simple translation, and its non-linear s...
Purpose in the Eyes of a Psychiatrist
05 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Generations have been taught that evolution implies there is no overarching purpose to our existence, that life has no fundamental meaning. We are mer...
Does Humanity Function as a Single Superorganism?
02 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Could humans unknowingly be a part of a larger superorganism—one with its own motivations and goals, one that is alive, and conscious, and has the p...
The Power of Noticing What Was Always There
27 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Have you ever noticed that what is thrilling on Monday tends to become boring on Friday? Even exciting relationships, stimulating jobs, and breathtaki...
China's Grip on Rare-Earth Elements and the Future of Global Energy Security
24 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
To build electric vehicles, solar panels, cell phones, and millions of other devices means the world must dig more mines to extract lithium, copper, a...
mRNA Vaccines, Mask Mandates, and the COVID-19 Response (Paul Offit)
20 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
As a member of the FDA Vaccine Advisory Committee and a former member of the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices to the CDC, Dr. Paul Offit ...
Foster Care, Family, and Social Class
17 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Rob Henderson was born to a drug-addicted mother and a father he never met, ultimately shuttling between ten different foster homes in California. Whe...
How U.S. Public Health Has Strayed From Its Liberal Roots
13 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The Covid-19 response was a crucible of politics and public health—a volatile combination that produced predictably bad results. As scientific exper...
Against the New Politics of Identity
10 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In Against the New Politics of Identity, philosopher Ronald A. Lindsay offers a sustained criticism of the far-reaching cultural transformation occurr...
What Determines Who Succeeds in the NBA?
06 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Former Google data scientist and bestselling author of Everybody Lies Seth Stephens-Davidowitz turns his analytic skills to the NBA. Shermer and Steph...
Transforming Mental Health: Little Treatments, Big Effects
03 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
If you've ever wanted mental health support but haven't been able to get it, you are not alone. In fact, you're part of the more than 50% of adults an...
Overcoming Self-Censorship in the Age of Outrage
30 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
As a society we are self-censoring at record rates. Say the wrong thing at the wrong moment to the wrong person and the consequences can be dire. Thin...
One Couple's Vacation Caused 100,000 People to Die
27 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
If you could rewind your life to the very beginning and then press play, would everything turn out the same? Or could making an accidental phone call ...
Head of TED Talks Shares a New Vision of Generosity
23 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
As head of TED, Chris Anderson has had a ringside view of the world's boldest thinkers sharing their most uplifting ideas. Inspired by them, he believ...
Are Parallel Universes and Extra Dimensions Real?
17 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Our books, our movies—our imaginations—are obsessed with extra dimensions, alternate timelines, and the sense that all we see might not be all the...
Michael Shellenberger Explains Government Censorship of Social Media
09 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Michael Shellenberger explains the role of government agencies in social media censorship, his work on the Twitter files, and the differences between ...
Multiculturalism and Lessons From the Rwandan Genocide
03 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
As it absorbs record numbers of new immigrants, the U.S. faces critical questions: is it better to promote a unifying, shared identity that transcends...
The Meaning of Life (A Message for the Holidays)
24 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The meaning of life is in the here and now.