The Wright Show (audio)

Distinguishing between the numinous and the noumenal ... Kant’s religious vision ... The Copernican revolution in philosophy ... What, if anything, does the Buddhist idea of emptiness have to do with Kant? ... The transcendental status of space and time ... Can the Matrix help us understand Kant? ... Distinguishing between the noumenal and the phenomenal ... Can we transcend our phenomenal experience of the world? ... 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 got Frank his Nobel Prize ... Frank's new book, Fundamentals: Ten Keys to Reality ... Solving the mystery of dark matter ... Can quantum physics make sense? ... Frank: Mind emerges from matter, not the other way around ... Can you love an automaton? ... Complementarity as scientific concept and everyday attitude ... How Frank's Catholic upbringing influenced his scientific thinking ... Is reality an algorithm? ... The limits of human intelligence ... 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

Continuing “the Dharma of Bob” ... The evolutionary logic of cognitive biases ... Attribution error, or why your enemies seem so damn evil ... Zero-sum biases in a non-zero-sum world ... Bob fixes social media ... How cognitive biases have shaped perceptions of the Capitol riot ... The psychology of tribalism and the BLM protests ... 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

Could evolution have a higher purpose? ... The value of (some) untestable hypotheses ... What zombies can (and can’t) teach us about consciousness ... Evolutionary teleology vs. evolutionary teleonomy ... Why does evolution produce increasingly complex forms of life? ... Distinguishing between physical laws and natural processes ... Could the hypothesis that evolution is serving a larger purpose be tested? ... 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

Continuing the exploration of "the Dharma of Bob" ... Bob: There is no good alternative to global community ... Defining non-zero-sumness ... How genetic "selfishness" led to altruism ... The psychology of tribalism ... Can we bridge the polarization divide? ... Sadly, self-transcendence isn't genetically inheritable ... Does Bob see cause for optimism? ... 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

Philo of Alexandria, seminal Logos theorist ... Bob: Teleology is perfectly compatible with a scientific worldview ... A logic shaping the unfolding of life ... How Jordan Peterson understands the Logos ... Does order flow from consciousness? ... Moral progress and human interdependence ... Teleology without theology ... The Logos and the "simulation hypothesis" ... 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

Guthrie's new book, Just Faith: Reclaiming Progressive Christianity ... Guthrie's personal faith journey ... The tradition of liberal Protestantism ... Human sexuality and evangelicalism ... Guthrie sees a liberatory counternarrative in Scripture ... What drives militant atheism? ... What happened to Christian antiwar activism? ... Do young progressives privilege identity over class? ... Why Guthrie prays for President Trump ... 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

Applying cognitive empathy to the Supreme Court vacancy fight ... The danger of runaway retaliation ... Reviewing The Social Dilemma, a new documentary critical of social media ... Enhance your online stature by vilifying the other tribe! ... How will historians view the social media era? ... Can Democrats oppose Barrett mindfully? ... The links between yoga and mindfulness ... 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

How Sharon became one of the first Americans to study Buddhism in India ... Sharon's new book, Real Change: Mindfulness to Heal Ourselves and the World ... Does meditation seal you off from the world? ... Mindfully coping with anger on social media ... There's more political diversity among meditators than you might think ... Sharon explains lovingkindness meditation ... The difficult work of finding compassion for your enemies ... Planting seeds in a garden you never get to see ... 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

Ingrid's new book, Animalkind ... Animal rights vs. animal welfare ... Amazing facts about animals (and the many things we still don't know) ... Is it bad to call your dog a “pet” (or for that matter “yours”)? ... Contemplating animal consciousness ... How unethical is Bob's pescatarian diet? ... The rise of artificial meat ... Ingrid asks, "Do you think that animal was a volunteer?" ... Ingrid's extremely unusual last will and testament ... 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 live conversation with Josh Summers on cognitive empathy and mindfulness. ... 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 conversation in memory of the late journalist and podcaster Michael Brooks. ... 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

Bruce's new book, Life Is in the Transitions: Mastering Change at Any Age ... Debunking the idea of the "predictable crises of adult life" ... Two kinds of life changes: "disruptors" and "lifequakes" ... Does Bob need a lifequake? ... Bruce: "The linear model of life transitions is just wrong" ... Millennials zigging and zagging ... The ABCs of meaning: agency, belonging, cause ... How to write your own life story ... Are the stories we tell about ourselves just BS? And is that okay? ... How to change the meaning of your life ... 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, On Inhumanity: Dehumanization and How to Resist It ... The tension at the heart of dehumanization ... David: Genocides are moralistic ... The essential role of psychological essentialism ... Dehumanization in American politics ... When David received death threats after critiquing Jordan Peterson ... The "Great Chain of Being" and our complex conception of monsters ... Why David doesn't like the term "the banality of evil" ... How to resist dehumanization ... 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

Buddhism and the military atrocities in Myanmar and Sri Lanka ... The early political history of Buddhism ... Varieties of Buddhist rationales for nonviolence ... The history of war between Southeast Asian nations ... Is warfare antithetical to attaining enlightenment? ... Justifications for non-pacifism ... Meditation and the antiwar mindset ... Foreign policy, anti-China sentiment, and BLM protests ... 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

Rutger's new book, Humankind: A Hopeful History ... Debunking the "veneer theory" of human nature ... Are violence and war intrinsic to human nature? ... The human self-domestication thesis ... Why Bob doesn't like the idea of people "deserving punishment" ... Is it bad to emphasize the dark side of human nature? ... What the debunking of the Stanford Prison Experiment can teach us ... Giving money to rich people: Why the U in UBI? ... Would UBI turn us all into couch potatoes (or worse)? ... 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

Paul describes the view from Toronto ... Zero- and non-zero-sum aspects of the pandemic ... Paul: Canada's multiparty system helps defuse polarization ... A disaster without solidarity ... How our emotions caused us to underreact to the pandemic ... Masks and mobs ... Trump's fragile feelings ... Why has the external threat of the disease not united humanity? ... A deep dive into the meaning of statistical significance ... 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

Remembering Andrew’s recently deceased dog Eddy ... Can we explain the bond between dogs and people? ... The many disgusting things that dogs love ... Andrew angers the cat lovers in the audience ... Are there actually "cat people" and "dog people"? ... Dogs' use of affection as a tool ... What can we learn from dogs about how to be present? ... Andrew: "I do think that after death I will be with my dogs" ... Andrew wants the economy to open up—a little ... 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

Jacqueline's new book, Manifesto for a Moral Revolution: Practices to Build a Better World ... Female saints as childhood role models ... How Jacqueline helped start Rwanda's first microfinance bank ... Jacqueline's "patient capital" investment nonprofit, Acumen ... The four steps toward building moral imagination ... Toilet entrepreneurship in Nairobi ... Changing the market for coffee and chocolate farmers ... Can identity connect as well as it divides? ... Jacqueline: A moral revolution must come from inside us ... 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

John fails the coronavirus antibody test; Bob consoles him ... Science fiction, free will, and robot sex ... The Devs interpretation of quantum mechanics ... The Wright-Horgan interpretation of Devs, part 1 (spoilers) ... The Wright-Horgan interpretation of Devs, part 2 (lots of spoilers) ... John: we need the concept of free will more than we need God ... Is the many worlds interpretation consoling or terrifying? ... 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