The Michael Shermer Show

Why We Follow Orders: The Neuroscience of Compliance and Control

19 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Why do ordinary people carry out extraordinary harm when simply told to do so? From the Holocaust to the genocides in Rwanda, Bosnia, and Cambodia, hi...

Amanda Knox: Life After the Crime That Wasn't Hers

15 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Amanda Knox spent nearly four years in prison and eight years on trial for a murder she didn't commit—and became a notorious tabloid story in the pr...

What Einstein Meant by God: Science, Spirituality, and the Search for Meaning

08 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Albert Einstein remains renowned around the world for revolutionizing our understanding of the cosmos, but very few realize that the celebrated scient...

What Happened to the Intellectual Dark Web?

01 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Outside of the academics and activists whose ideology came to dominate the West in the second decade of the twenty-first century, arguably no group in...

Sex and Beauty: The Extraordinary Implications of Darwin's Strangest Idea (Matt Ridley)

25 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In all animals, mating is a deal. But few creatures behave as if sex is a simple, even mutually beneficial, transaction. Many more treat it with rever...

The Hoax of the Century: Iron Mountain

18 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Phil Tinline, author of the new book Ghosts of Iron Mountain, explores the origins of the infamous Report from Iron Mountain, its role in conspiracy c...

Does the West Need a Religious Revival? (Shermer Solo)

11 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

A few reflections on religion following The Free Press debate in Austin, TX on February 27, 2025. Michael Shermer and Adam Carolla (atheists) faced of...

Money, Lies, and God

11 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Michael and Katherine Stewart discuss the rise of religious nationalism in America, its impact on public education, and the broader implications for d...

Who Counts? Ethics in the Treatment of Animals and AI

08 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Michael Shermer and Jeff Sebo explore moral philosophy, focusing on animal rights, sentience, and consciousness. They discuss the definitions of moral...

New Research on The Evolution of Intelligent Life

02 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The guests today are co-authors of a new paper in Science Advances titled: "A reassessment of the 'hard-steps' model for the evolution of intelligen...

Sex Work, Ethics, and Evolutionary Psychology: What REALLY Happens on Sugar Daddy Websites?

18 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

What is a sugar daddy, really? The answer might disturb you. Brook Urick takes us into the shadowy world of sugar dating, where young women are lured ...

Half a Thousand Episodes: Still Chasing Truth

11 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In our 501st episode, Michael Shermer takes a moment to reflect on his long journey with skepticism and what he learned recording half a thousand epis...

The Faith Deficit: Does America Need a Spiritual Backbone?

04 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

What happens to American democracy if Christianity is no longer able, or no longer willing, to perform the functions on which our constitutional order...

The Psychology of Serial Killers

28 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Dr. Rachel Toles, a licensed forensic psychologist, delves into the psychology of criminals, addressing the motivations behind some of the world's mo...

What if Death Isn't the End? The Science of Forever

21 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Just as surgeons once believed pain was good for their patients, some argue today that death brings meaning to life. But given humans rarely live beyo...

What Are We Really Fighting Over? Understanding Outrage Through Moral Psychology

14 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode, Kurt Gray offers a groundbreaking perspective on the moral mind, challenging the assumption that liberals and conservatives have radi...

How to Start a New Country

07 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

It's clear states, borders, and countries constantly evolve. But how do countries form? And what does it take to start a new one? In this episode, Mic...

How the Greatest Investors Win in Life and Markets

21 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

William Green delves into the lives of iconic investors like Buffett, Munger, and Templeton, unraveling how their approaches extend beyond financial s...

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...