Converging Dialogues

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla. has a dialogue with Phillips O’Brien about war, peace, and power. They discuss the idea of great powers, why short, clinical wars do not really happen, size and population of countries, economics and materials, societal and structural elements for power, leadership, allies, and many more topics.

Phillips Payson O’Brien is a professor of strategic studies and head of the School of International Relations at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. He is a regular contributor to Foreign Affairs and The Atlantic. He is the author of six books, including the mo...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Caleb Scharf about the past and future dynamics of space exploration. They discuss astrobiology, why look for life in space, dispersal, how we got to the moon (and why we haven’t gone back?!), major obstacles for space travel, going to Mars, Jupiter, Venus, the Sun, the future of space exploration, and many more topics.

Caleb Scharf received the 2022 Carl Sagan Medal while director of astrobiology at Columbia University and is currently the senior scientist for astrobiology at NASA’s Ames Research Center. He has written several previous trad...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Edward Watts about the 2,000 years of the Roman Empire. They provide an overview of the Roman Empire and the origins of the Romans, Greek influence and building institutions, Roman citizenship and identity, and the transition from Roman monarchy to Republic. They also talk about Cincinnatus, Carthage, transition from Republic to Empire, Marcus Aurelius, succession and Constantine, along with Christianity and rise of Islam. They also discuss Charlemagne, Macedonia, collapse of the Roman Empire, and many more topics.

Edward Watts is an author and historian and holds the Alkiviadis...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Sven Beckert about a global history of capitalism. They discuss how capitalism has always been global, positive and negative aspects of capitalism, origins and trading from a distance, capitalism within the state and in the countryside, slavery, working class, wealth and income inequality, capitalism in the 21st century, and many more topics.

Sven Beckert is Laird Bell Professor of History at Harvard University. His research and teaching center on the history of the United States in the nineteenth century, with a particular emphasis on the history of capitalism...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Quico Toro about the current trends with modern charlatans. They talk about how charlatans have become more mainstream in present society, who is their audience, infamous charlatans, astrology, belief, social media, Trump, and many more topics.

Quico Toro is a writer and editor who serves as the global opinion columnist for the Washington Post. He is based in Tokyo, Japan. He is the co-author (with Moises Naim) of the book, Charlatans: How Grifters, Swindlers, and Hucksters Bamboozle the Media, the Markets, and the Masses.

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Robin Waterfield and Polly Low about the new translation of Thucydides’s History of the Peloponnesian War. They talk about the various plot points of the history, historical writing, inspiration from Herodotus, Polis city-states, and ethnicities and people groups. They also talk about authorship, oral vs. written history, translating from Attic Greek to English, translation choices, and many more topics.

Robin Waterfield is a British classical scholar, translator, and editor, specializing in Ancient Greek philosophy. He has written and/or translated many works, including the recent English translation of...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Stanley Bill and Ben Stanley about the modern political themes of Poland. They discuss the rise of the Law and Justice party (PiS) and neoliberalism, Poland post-1989 and liberalism, and the impact of globalization and Western influence on Poland. They also talk about “Poland A” and “Poland B” and the rural and urban regions, cultural issues and backlash, institutional challenges, Poland’s current economics, future of Poland, and many more topics.

Stanley Bill is Professor of Polish Studies, University of Cambridge. He is Chair of the Cambridge Committee for Russia...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Cynthia Paces about the history of Prague. They talk about Prague as the heart of Europe, cultural diversity, and origins of Prague. They discuss Charles IV, Rudolph II, Maria Theresa, and Frantisek Palacky as major figures in developing Prague as a modern and cosmopolitan city. They talk about Prague throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, and many more topics.

Cynthia Paces is a historian and professor of history at The College of New Jersey. Her main interests are in East-Central Europe and an interdisciplinary approach to history, incorporating...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Michael Gurven about humans living for seven decades. They discuss our evolution for seven decades, post-reproductive life, healthspan vs. lifespan, subsistence populations, multigenerational cooperation, older age, seven decades in the future, and many more topics.

Michael Gurven is an evolutionary anthropologist and professor at University of California-Santa Barbara. He has conducted fieldwork for two decades with South American indigenous populations, and his work takes an evolutionary perspective on behavior, health, physiology and psychology. Since 2002, he has co-directed the Tsimane’ Health and Life History Project to better understand how as...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with John Burt about Lincoln and moral conflict. They discuss Lincoln’s tragic pragmatism for morals and public engagement, on slavery and emancipation, implicit concepts, freedom, moral obsessions, and liberalism. They also talk about morals and violence, popular sovereignty, cultural shifts, the Whig party, Rawls, modern comparisons, America as an idea, and many other topics.

John Burt is a professor of American literature at Brandeis University. His main research interests are 19th-century American literature, 20th-century American literature (especially poetry), Southern Gothic fiction, American romantic fiction, composition, and rhetoric. He is...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Audrey Truschke about the history of India. They discuss India as a subcontinent, the Indus Valley civilization, nomadic to cities and empires, trade, Indo-European language and Sanskrit, Vedas and Hinduism, and development of other religions. They also talk about Ashoka, the caste system, Muslims, Ghurids, Sikhism, the Mughal Empire, British Raj, India today and the future of India.

Audrey Truschke is Professor of South Asian History at Rutgers University in Newark, New Jersey. She is the author of four books, including the most recent book, India: 5,000 Years of...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Scott McGill and Susannah Wright about their new English translation of The Aeneid. They discuss past English translations of The Aeneid, plot of The Aeneid, and comparisons with Homer’s epics. They discuss authorship of Virgil, The Aeneid as Roman propaganda, translating from Latin into English and the oral vs. written tradition. They also talked about the Iambic vs. Dactylic meter, relationship between humans and gods, why The Aeneid is still relevant for the 21st century, and many more topics.

Scott McGill is Deedee McMurtry Professor in Humanities at...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Bernd Roeck about the Renaissance. They discuss what the Renaissance gave to the modern world, the Renaissance and the West, seven pillars of modernity, and the impact of other civilizations on the Renaissance. They discuss the level of impact that Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome deserve on the Renaissance, Christianity and the West, Islamic impact on the Renaissance, Western European marriage pattern, feudalism, origins of the University and the importance of art during the Renaissance. They also discuss the Gutenberg Press, New World discoveries, the high Renaissance, Socratic dialogue in...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Jon Lee Anderson about the Taliban in Afghanistan over the past 20 years. They provide an overview of Afghanistan, how the Taliban came to power, makeup of the Taliban, their intentions for an Islamic state, Hamid Karzai, Taliban resurgence in 2012, US withdrawal, Taliban reign at present, the future of Afghanistan, and many more topics.

Jon Lee Anderson is an author and a staff writer for The New Yorker. As a longtime observer of political violence and revolutionary movements, he has reported from many war zones over the years, including...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with John Tolan about the history of Islam. The give an overview of Islam, discuss the Prophet Muhammad, succession and split after his death, Umayyad caliphate, Abbasid Caliphate, and 3 caliphates of 1000 AD. They talk about the Turks and Ottoman empire, Wahhabism, Arab nationalism, Islam in the 21st century, and many more topics.

John Tolan is Professor of History at Université de Nantes and works on the history of religious and cultural relations between the Arab and Latin worlds in the Middle Ages and on the history of religious interaction a...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with John Cochrane about the Euro. They talk about the Euro, European Central Bank (ECB), inflation and price stability, and the differences between the US Federal Reserve and the ECB. They talked about the creation of the Euro, joining the EU, debates about “end the Fed,” Greek crisis, covid-19 pandemic and inflation, future of the Euro, and many more topics.

John H. Cochrane is the Rose-Marie and Jack Anderson Senior Fellow of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Physics at MIT, and earned...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Walter Scheidel about ancient history. They ask what is ancient history, why Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome are heavily emphasized, globalism, and classicism. They discuss some of the evolutionary history of humans, nomadic to stationary, human writing, The West, future of the classics, and many more topics.

Walter Scheidel is a historian and author and is the Dickason Professor of the Humanities and Professor of History at Stanford University. He has his MPhil and PhD in Ancient History from the University of Vienna. He is one of the...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Moudhy Al-Rashid about ancient Mesopotamia. They discuss the uniqueness of Mesopotamia and the Fertile Crescent, importance of cuneiform, Sumerian to Akkadian writing, importance of clay for writing, ancient astronomy, and many more topics.

Moudhy Al-Rashid is an Assyriologist and Honorary Fellow at Wolfson College at the University of Oxford. She has a Bachelors in Philosophy from Columbia University’s Columbia College, an MPhil in Cuneiform Studies, and a DPhil in Oriental Studies at the University of Oxford (Wolfson College), where she now researches the use of metaphor in de...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Laurence Hurst about the imperfection of evolution. They discuss mutation, selection, and adaptation, DNA and waste, larger and smaller populations, sickle cell anemia, embryology, gene editing and CRISPR, and many more topics.

Laurence Hurst is Professor of Evolutionary Genetics in The Milner Centre for Evolution, at the University of Bath, UK. He has his DPhil in Zoology from Oxford University. His research interests cover a broad span of evolution, genetics and genomics, predominantly using computational and mathematical techniques to understand the way genes and genomes evolve. He is...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Michael P. Lynch about truth and politics. They discuss local and national politics, defining truth, “Twitbookians,” liberal pluralism, role of institutions, Rawls and morals, truth in politics, and many more topics.

Michael P. Lynch is Provost Professor of the Humanities and Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the University of Connecticut. He has his PhD in philosophy from Syracuse University. His work mostly centers around truth, ethics, democracy, and epistemology of technology. He is the author of numerous books, including the most recent, On Truth In Poli...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Georgios Varouxakis about “the West.” They define the west, discuss different meanings and ideas about the west, and how western ideas came from the east. They also talk about “L’Occident,” impact of Christendom, separating Russia from the West, and Comte. They talk about whether Western values can exist without Christianity, WWI and WWII, the cold war, decline of the West, future of the West, and many other topics.

Georgios Varouxakis is Professor of the History of Political Thought and Co-Director of the Centre for the Study of the Histor...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Mark Blyth and Nicolò Fraccaroli on inflation. They define inflation, provide positive and negative of inflation, and how prices are measured. They talk about housing interest rates, Federal Reserve, inflation in the 70s, Biden stimulus, Hyperinflation in Turkey and Argentina, Trump’s tariffs, and many more topics.

Mark Blyth is the William R. Rhodes ’57 Professor of International Economics and the Director of the Rhodes Centre for International Economics and Finance at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University. He holds a joint appointment in the d...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Henry Abbott on the Peak Performance Project (P3) within sports medicine. They discuss the landscape of injuries in the U.S., P3, chronic injuries, healthy movement and hip rotation, landing and ACL injuries, prevention and recovery, mental endurance, and many more topics.

Henry Abbott is an award-winning journalist and founder of TrueHoop. He led ESPN’s 60-person NBA digital and print team, which published several groundbreaking articles and won a National Magazine Award. He is the author of the book, Ballistic: The New Science of Injury-Free Athletic Performance.

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Judith Scheele about the human history of the Sahara. They discuss the perceptions of the Sahara, landscape of the Sahara, sand and freshwater, multiple uses of camels, peoples of the Sahara, Slavery and race in the Sahara, Islam, contemporary Sahara, and many more topics.

Judith Scheele is professor of social anthropology at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales (School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences, EHESS). She has spent almost two decades living in and researching Saharan societies. She is the author of three previous bo...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Karen Hao about OpenAI and the current landscape about AI. They discuss the origins of OpenAI, Sam Altman and his motivations, his relationships with Elon Musk and Peter Thiel, using cheap labor in Venezuela and Kenya for AI, supercomputers and mega campuses for data centers, and many more topics.

Karen Hao is a bestselling author and award-winning reporter covering artificial intelligence. She was an application engineer at the first startup to spin out of Google[x]. She received a B.S. in mechanical engineering and minor in energy...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Katherine Stewart about democracy and American authoritarianism. They discuss the evolution of conservatives to the Far Right, critiques of the Far Right, reactionary nihilism and the anti-woke. They discuss issues such as abortion, conservative conventions, religion, and many more topics.

Katherine Stewart is a journalist and author who has been covering the rise of the anti-democratic movement for over 16 years. Her writing appears in The New York Times op ed, New Republic, Religion News Service and others. Her 2012 book, The Good News Club: The Christian Right’s Stealth As...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Fawaz Gerges about continuous Western involvement in the Middle East. They discuss misconceptions of the Middle East, role of colonialism, Iran and Turkey being exceptions to foreign colonial involvement, Arab Nationalism, Civilizations and colonialism, political Islam, and many more topics.

Fawaz A. Gerges is Professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), and holder of a Professorship in Contemporary Middle East Studies. He was also the inaugural Director of the LSE Middle East Centre from 2010 until 2013.

He earned a doctorate...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Agustina Paglayan about mass education around the world. They discuss education as a tool for political and social order, theories of education, and explicit aims of government education. They also talk about early critical thinking, nationalism, and education worldwide. They discuss mass education and violence, indoctrination, curriculums, teachers and quality education, and many more topics.

Agustina S. Paglayan is a political science and public policy professor at the University of California, San Diego, and a nonresident fellow at the Center for Global Development. She is an expert in...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Kasia Szymanska about translation of texts. They discuss how many translations can diverge from one source, translating into English, post-1989 Poland and translation, ethics of translation, the poem VIA, A Clockwork Orange translations, and many more topics.

Kasia Szymanska is Lecturer in translations studies at the University of Manchester. Her research is in translation and comparative literature, literary translation, translation politics, and multilingual writing — especially with reference to the East European context.

Her work to date has appeared in, among others, PMLA, Contemporary Literature, Slavic and Ea...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Vali Nasr about the recent political history of Iran. They give an overview of Iran’s political motives and strategy, impact of the Persian empire and Shia Islam, and Reza Khan and Iranian nationalism. They talk about the impact of “Kemalism,” the 1979 Iranian revolution, the Iran-Iraq war, rise of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, Iran’s relationship with Syria, Nuclear power, future of Iran, and many more topics.

Vali Nasr is the Majid Khadduri Professor of International Affairs and Middle East Studies at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Padraic Scanlan about the Irish famine. They provide an overview of the Irish famine, discuss the relationship between Ireland and Britain and how British colonialism impacted the Irish famine. They talk about potatoes in Ireland, formation of the United Kingdom, variables leading up to the Irish famine, potato blight, exiting the famine, generational impact, and many more topics.

Padraic Scanlan is Associate Professor at the Centre for Industrial Relations and Human Resources, cross-appointed to the Centre for Diaspora and Transnational Studies at the University of Toronto. He is...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Jacob Mchangama about the history of free speech. They discuss free speech in Europe, defining free speech, limits of free speech and ethics of free speech. They also talk about the free speech recession, origins of free speech, Athenian and Roman empires, Abbasid Caliphate, ancient India, printing press and enlightenment, John Stuart Mill, free speech in the 21st century, and many more topics.

Jacob Mchangama is the founder and Executive Director of The Future of Free Speech. He is also a research professor at Vanderbilt University and a...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Paul Chaisty and Stephen Whitefield about public opinion in Russia. They discuss Russia’s transformation since the fall of the Soviet Union, Consolidation and contestation within Russia’s hybrid political economy, and generational changes under Putin. They talk about authoritarianism, collecting public data in Russia, changes in Russian public opinion, social media, propaganda, how Russians vote, identity, Russia-Ukraine war, post-Putin Russia, and many other topics.

Paul Chaisty is professor of Russian and East European politics in the Department of Politics and International Relations, the Oxford School of Global and...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Yuval Levin about the importance of reforming our institutions. They discuss why institutions are important, individuals and institutions, slow change with institutions, and the mistrust and dislike of institutions. They also make the case for elites, building broad political coalitions, Trump’s 2nd first 100 days, reforming journalism, family in the 21st century, and many more topics.

Yuval Levin is the director of Social, Cultural, and Constitutional Studies at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), where he also holds the Beth and Ravenel Curry Chair in Public Policy. The founder an...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Olga Khazan on whether one could change their personality. They discuss why someone would want to change their personality, constancy over the lifespan, and why she used the BIG-5. They talk about extroversion and connection, neuroticism and mindfulness, openness to experience, conscientiousness, agreeableness, values, and many more topics.

Olga Khazan is a staff writer for The Atlantic. Prior to that, she was The Atlantic’s Global editor. She has also written for the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, Forbes, and other publications. She is...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Robert Plomin on behavioral genetics. They discuss why behavioral genetics has explanatory power, heritability, genetics and psychological research, SNPs, GWAS, and epigenetics. They also talk about shared and non-shared environments, twin models and adoption models, heritability and cognitive abilities, heritability and personality, psychopathology, and many other topics.

Robert Plomin is MRC Research Professor in Behavioral Genetics at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King’s College London. He helped launch the Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Research Centre, which brings together genetic and environmental strategies to understand individual di...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Hugo Shakeshaft about ancient greeks ideas about beauty and the gods. They discuss beauty in ancient Greece and its impact on modern times, architecture and beauty, beauty and aesthetics, and the gods and beauty. They talk about the relationship between humans and the gods, superficial and deeper beauty, beauty and nature, beauty as power, role of religion, and many more topics.

Hugo Shakeshaft is a classicist, art historian, and artist. He is a specialist in the cultural history of ancient Greece and its legacy. His research ranges across...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Daniel Mendelsohn on his new English translation of Homer’s The Odyssey. They discuss the massive impact of The Odyssey, major themes in the Odyssey, authorship, and translation for our time. They talk about the lines and meter of the Odyssey in English, oral to written form, adapting the Odyssey, relevance for the 21st century, and many more topics.

Daniel Mendelsohn is an internationally bestselling author, critic, essayist, and translator. He is a professor of literature at Bard College. He has degrees in Classics from the University of Vi...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Jenara Nerenberg about the importance of nuance thinking and healthy dialogue with others. They discuss self-censoring, groupthink, rise of gurus, podcasters, and influencer culture. They also talk about heterodox thinking, ethics of speaking to a larger audience, healthy dialogue with others, and many other topics.

Jenara Nerenberg is a journalist, author, and founder of The Neurodiversity Project. She has interdisciplinary training from Harvard in public health, business, and government. She is the author of the latest book, Trust Your Mind: Embracing Nuance in a World of Self-silencing.

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Agustín Fuentes about biological sex. They talk about the history of sex evolution, the importance of gametes, intersex individuals, and history of sex binary. They talk about gonads and hormones, sex variation in the animal kingdom, spectrum question, gender, gender and sports, gender and bathrooms, and many other topics.

Agustín Fuentes is an anthropologist and professor of anthropology at Princeton University. His research focuses on the entanglement of biological systems with the social and cultural lives of humans, our ancestors, and a few of the other an...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with William Dalrymple about India and the Golden Road. They define the Golden Road of ancient India, discuss evidence other cultures interacted with India, and discuss the spread of Buddhism out of India. They talk about similarities and differences with the Silk Road, Kushans and Scythians, Hinduism, Islam, the Golden Road’s impact on modern India, and many more topics.

William Dalrymple is a Historian, Journalist, and Broadcaster. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, the Royal Asiatic Society and the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and ha...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Greg Grandin about a new history of the Americas. They discuss the term “American,” landscape of the Americas in pre-colonial years, Spanish colonialism, British colonialism, and the American and French Revolutions. They talk about Bolívar and Gran Colombia, the Monroe Doctrine, FDR’s new deal in Latin America, the future of America, and many other topics.

Greg Grandin is a historian and professor of history at Yale University. He has his Bachelors from Brooklyn College and PhD from Yale University. He has been a member of the America...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Gina Rippon about autism in females. They discuss the increase in autism cases, defining autism, and origins of autism. They also talk about the history of the autism diagnosis, identity, current diagnostic criteria, specific presentations in females, neurological features, eating disorders, future of autism research, and many more topics.

Gina Rippon is Professor Emeritus of Cognitive NeuroImaging at Aston University in the UK. Her research involves the use of state-of-the-art brain imaging techniques to investigate developmental disorders such as autism, profiling different patterns of brain activity in autistic...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Robert Garland about death in the ancient world. They talk about how ancient cultures considered death, beginnings of understanding death, process of dying, funerals, different cultural beliefs about the afterlife, caring for the bodies of the deceased, afterlife for non-believers, and many more topics.

Robert Garland is Emeritus Professor at Colgate University. He has his PhD from University College, London. His main interests have been in ancient histories and classics. He is the author of numerous books including the most recent book, What To Expect When You’re De...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Nicholas Wolfinger and Matthew McKeever about single motherhood since 1980. They discuss major causes of single motherhood, income, workforce change, teenage mothers, and low fertility rates. They also talk about the differences between divorced vs. non-married mothers, income and family size, race, 1979 longitudinal cohort, single motherhood in the 21st century, and many other topics.

Nicholas Wolfinger is professor of family and consumer studies and sociology at the University of Utah. He has a Ph.D. in Sociology from UCLA. He is widely published and cited within academia and has...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Emily Falk about the neuroscience of choice and change. They discuss studying values, strengths and limits of fMRIs, value system in the brain, reward system, making choices, the self, making future choices, values with others, and many more topics.

Emily Falk is professor of Communication, Psychology, Marketing, and OID (Operations, Information, and Decisions) at the University of Pennsylvania. She is also the director of the Communication Neuroscience Lab, the vice dean of the Annenberg School for Communication, and the director of the Climate Communication Division of the Annenberg...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Helen King about the history of the female body. The give an overview of the four parts (breasts, clitoris, hymen, womb) of the female body and discuss how medicine shaped positive and negative ideas about the female body. They talk about breasts, clitoris, female genital mutilation, hymen, womb, and many more topics.

Helen King is Professor Emerita of Classical Studies at The Open University. She is an elected member of the General Synod of the Church of England, where she is vice chair of Together, which campaigns on...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Dalton Conley about the social genome. They discuss the nature/nurture debate, polygenic index (PGI), and ethics of PGI and Genome Wide Association Studies (GWAS) studies. They give some critiques of The Bell Curve, three major Gene-Environmental interactions (active, passive, reactive), epigenetics, the social genome, and many more topics.

Dalton Conley is a sociologist and professor of sociology at Princeton University. He is also a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research and faculty affiliate at the New York Genome Center. He has his Bachelors from...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Jaap de Roode about how animals heal themselves. They discuss whether animals intentionally or unintentionally seek out medicinal plants, four ways animals fight infection, Monarch butterflies and treating against parasites, chimps and their gut health. They also talk about birds using cigarettes in their nests, ants and rezin, goats and sheep having preferences, cats and dogs eating grass, and many other topics.

Jaap de Roode is a biologist and professor of biology at Emory University. He has a MSc in Population Biology from Wageningen University in the Netherlands...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Henry Gee about the decline and fall of the human species. They discuss the lifetime and decline of a species, when humans began to decline, what does it mean to be human, bipedalism, Homo Erectus, and slow human growth. They also talk about domestication and disease impacting humans, overpopulation concerns and low fertility rates, climate change, future of humankind, and many more topics.

Henry Gee is a Paleontologist and is the Senior Editor for the scientific journal Nature. He received his PhD from the University of Cambridge. Along...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Alan Baddeley about his model of working memory. They define short-term memory, metacognition, overview of memory, memory loss and self-identity, and chunking in working memory. They talk about the levels of processing model, attention and working memory, overview of his multi-component model of working memory, and the six divisions of the model. They discuss the model with individuals with schizophrenia, forgetting and long-term memory, Alzheimer’s and Dementia, ADHD, psychological assessments for memory, emotion and memory, EMDR, future of working memory research, and many more topics.

Alan Baddeley is...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Neil Shubin about polar science in the arctic and Antarctica. They discuss polar science, Arctic and Antarctica, hot ice, blue ice, life under the Antarctic ice, fossil discoveries, meteorites, climate change, and many other topics.

Neil Shubin is a Paleontologist and Evolutionary Biologist. He is the Robert Bensley Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago and the Associate Dean for academic strategy of the Biological Sciences Division. His research focuses on the evolution of new organs and he and his team discovered the 375 million-year-old Tiktaalik fossil. He...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with C. Daniel Batson about his work on empathy and altruism. They discuss the empathy-altruism hypothesis, Bloom’s work on empathy, empathic concern, egoistic and altruistic motives, cooperation, future of altruism/empathy research, and many more topics.

C. Daniel Batson is a social psychologist and Emeritus Professor at the University of Kansas. He has a PhD in theology and PhD in Psychology both from Princeton University. His research has focused on altruism, empathic concern, the psychology of religion.

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Agnes Callard about Socrates and living a philosophical life. They discuss untimely questions, intellectual intimacy, savage commands, socratic ethics, truth inquiries, living a philosophical life, and many more topics.

Agnes Callard is a philosopher and Associate Professor of philosophy and Director of Undergraduate Studies at the University of Chicago. She has her Bachelors from the University of Chicago and her PhD from Berkeley. Her primary research areas are ancient philosophy and ethics. She has written for The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Atlantic, Harper’s and ot...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Michael Albertus about land power. They define land power, land sovereignty, and discuss land ownership. They talk about the great reshuffle, settler reforms, collective reforms, land-to-tiller reforms, and cooperative reforms. They discuss federal vs. private lands, 1860 Homestead Act, land and race, Native Americans and land, El Salvador and land control, Venezuela’s land revolution, land reconciliation in South Africa, and many more topics.

Michael Albertus is a Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago. He studied math, electrical engineering, and political science at the University of Mi...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Sophia Rosenfeld about the modern history of choice. They discuss the concept of choice in different domains of society, choice and freedom in liberalism and neoliberalism, choice in shopping, choice in religion, choosing romantic partners, choice in politics, choice in reproductive rights, and many more topics.

Sophia Rosenfeld is Walter H. Annenberg Professor of History and Chair of the Department of History at the University of Pennsylvania, where she teaches European and American intellectual and cultural history with a special emphasis on the Enlightenment, the trans-Atlantic Age of...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Eugene Finkel about the Ukraine-Russian War. They discuss Russia’s 200 year crusade to end Ukraine, identity, shared histories, and impact of Mongol and Ottoman empires. They talk about the Donbas and Crimea regions, Putin’s version of history, Galicia and Eastern Front in WWI, Ukraine independence, and Stalin’s Russification of Ukraine. They discuss Ukraine post- Soviet Union, 2014 annexation of Crimea and start of the current war, the 2022 invasion, current state of the war, peace, and many other topics.

Eugene Finkel is the Kenneth H. Keller Professor of Intern...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Christine Rosen about changes in our experiences within today’s society. They talk about the value of human experience, speed of change with technology, becoming users not individuals, embodied experience, and spatiality. They also discuss audience capture, institutional reform, our future experiences, and many more topics.

Christine Rosen is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where she focuses on American history, society and culture, technology and culture, and feminism. Concurrently she is a columnist for Commentary magazine and one of the cohosts of The Commentary Magazine Po...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Jonathan Rauch about the impact of Christianity on democracy in the United States. They discuss Christianity without dogma, why secular America should care about Christianity, and if a secular religion is possible. They talk about why people are less religious, evangelical Christians aligned with MAGA, liberalism and post-liberalism, mormonism, future of Christianity and democracy, and many more topics.

Jonathan Rauch is a Senior Fellow of Governance Studies at Brookings Institute. He is a journalist and author of eight books. He is a contributing writer at The Atlantic and...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Rahul Bhatia about the many recent changes in India. They provide an overview of the recent social changes in India, the Citizenship Act and National Register, Citizenship based on religion, protests against the Citizenship Act, history of the RSS, Infosys, Modi, and many more topics.

Rahul Bhatia is a journalist and author of The New India, a book of narrative reportage about the road to authoritarianism in India and its effects on ordinary citizens.His work has been published in the Guardian Long Read, the New Yorker, the...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with James M. Bradley about the life and president of Martin Van Buren. They discuss how Van Buren built the modern political party system, background and upbringing of Van Buren, influence of Aaron Burr, Van Buren’s temperament, his time as New York State Senator, Attorney General, U.S. Senator, and Governor of New York. They talk about Van Buren being campaign manager for Andrew Jackson’s presidential campaign, Secretary of State for Jackson, Van Buren’s own presidency, legacy of Van Buren, and many more topics.

James M. Bradle...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Christopher Cox about Woodrow Wilson and his interactions with women’s rights. They discuss the complicated history and legacy of Woodrow Wilson, landscape of the women’s Suffrage movement, and the origins of Wilson’s racist and sexist ideas. They talk about his time at Bryn Mawr College, ignoring women’s rights as governor, and how he won the Presidency in 1912. They discuss his removal of African-Americans from the Civil Service division, his interactions with the National American Women Suffrage Association (NAWSA), handling women’s rights protests, change to supporting the Anthon...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Yardena Schwartz about the 1929 Jewish Massacre in Hebron. They give an overview of the 1929 Hebron massacre, review of Ottoman and British rule of Palestine, and talk about Hebron and holy sites in Palestine. They also discuss an independent Palestine, motivations and propoganda before the 1929 massacre, Haj Amin, lineage of Amin to present-day Palestinian leadership, October 7 massacre, and many more topics.

Yardena Schwartz is an award-winning journalist and Emmy-nominated producer. From 2013 to 2023 she was based in Israel, where she reported for dozens of publications, including the New York Times...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Nathan Thrall about Palestinians living in Jerusalem. They discuss using narrative to discuss the Palestinian experience in Jerusalem, provide an overview of the geography, wall, and West Bank. They talk about sovereign rights, home, color ID cards for Palestinians in the West Bank, 1st intifada of 1987, October 7, future of Israel-Palestine relations, and many other topics.

Nathan Thrall is is an American writer living in Jerusalem. In 2024, he received the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction for A Day in the Life of Abed Salama: Anatomy of. A Jerusalem Tragedy...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Lauren Oakes about forest and trees and the impact of climate change. They talk about the Global Tree Restoration study of 2019, impact of forests on the planet, and how we obtain data on forests. They talk about what is a forest, reforestation and afforestation, forest transition, and the Carboniferous period. They talk about the Land Gap Report, carbon accounting, offsets, incentive structures, ecosystem services, urban forests, and many more topics.

Lauren E. Oakes is an ecologist and writer who writes on forests, climate, the complex relationship humans have...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Michel Brahic about prions. They provide an overview of proteins, prion proteins, Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, and importance of cells and ribosomes. They also talk about neuroanatomical regions relevant for prions, Lewy Body, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, memory, future of medical research, and many more topics.

Michel Brahic, an expert in viral and prion infections of the brain, is Professeur Honoraire at Institut Pasteur in Paris. He has been Directeur de Recherche at CNRS and Consulting Professor at Stanford University School of Medicine. His work has been published in Nature, Cell...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Sarah B. Hrdy about a natural history of fathers. They discuss fathers as caregivers, different roles, role of prolactin with male care, decrease of testosterone in new fathers, alloparenting, grandmother hypothesis, attachment in fathers, fatherhood in the 21st century, and many more topics.

Sarah B. Hrdy is an anthropologist and primatologist who is professor emerita at the University of California-Davis. She has her PhD in Anthropology from Harvard University. She is a former Guggenheim fellow and has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Geoffrey Wawro about the Vietnam War. They discuss why the U.S. chose to get involved in Vietnam, Eisenhower’s approach, JFK’s approach, and the attempted coups in Vietnam. They talk about the domino theory, McNamara, U.S. involvement in Vietnam in 1964/1965, the draft, high casualties of 1967/1968, public sentiment, LBJ not running for re-election, Nixon’s approach, legacy of the Vietnam War, and many other topics.

Geoffrey Wawro is Distinguished Research Professor of Military History and Founding Director of the Military History Center at the University of North...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Nick Lloyd about the Eastern Front of World War I. They discuss the Eastern Front and why it has been neglected in popular understanding, major players and landscape of the Eastern Front, and the role of Galicia. They discuss 1915 and fall of Serbia, impact of the Russian Revolution, final years of the war, and many more topics.

Nick Lloyd is Professor of Modern Warfare at King's College London based at the Joint Services Command & Staff College in Shrivenham, Wiltshire. He has PhD from the University of Birmingham. He...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Robin Waterfield about his new English translation of Aesop’s Fables. They discuss the timeless nature of Aesop’s fables, translating the fables, selecting the 400 fables, and authorship of the fables. They also discuss categorizing the fables, their structure, morals and ethics in the fables, comparisons with other fables, and many other topics.

Robin Waterfield is a British classical scholar, translator, and editor, specializing in Ancient Greek philosophy. He has written and/or translated many works, including the recent English translation of Aesop’s Fables.

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Paula Fredriksen about the various Christianities in the early 1st and 2nd centuries. They discuss how there are many Christianities, contradictions within the New Testament, integration of Jews and pagans in the Mediterranean in the 1st century, and Jewish diaspora. They also talk about the crucifixion of Jesus, the idea of Israel, and persecution of early Christians. They discuss early eschatology, early church fathers, Constantine, Asceticism, and many more topics.

Paula Fredriksen is fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Aurelio Professor of Scripture emerita at...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Ben Goldfarb about road ecology. They define road ecology, discuss current landscape of roadways in the U.S., and discuss road crossings. They talk about the human impact of animal roadkill, Banff National park, current state of road crossings, Federal and State involvement, road crossings in cities, future of road crossings, and many more topics.

Ben Goldfarb is an independent conservation journalist who has written fiction and non-fiction in various outlets such as The Atlantic, Science, The New York Times, The Washington Post, National Geographic, The Guardian, Outside...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Alex Christofi about the history of Cyprus. They discuss Cypriot identity, Greek and Turkish involvement, and the origins and mythology of Cyprus. They talk about olive culture and royal purple, Cyprus in the Bible, Islam, the Ottomans, British involvement, independence, the 1974 coup d’etat, present and future of Cyprus, and many more topics.

Alex Christofi is Editorial Director at Transworld Publishers. He is the author of numerous essays, reviews, and short pieces that have appeared in the Guardian, New Humanist, Prospect, New European, The White Review, The Brixton Review...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Benjamin Winegard about the 2024 U.S. Elections. They discuss their overall thoughts, examine the results and the county shifts nationwide, and talk about Trump and Trump-lite candidates. They talk about split-ticket voting, current state of MAGA, Latinos, gender, ballot measures, Trump’s 2nd term, how Democrats reset their agenda, and many more topics.

Benjamin Winegard is an Assistant Professor of psychology at Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri. He holds a Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology with an emphasis on evolution. His current interests are on human progress, po...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Arlie Hochschild about pride and shame in Appalachia. They discuss the political Right in Appalachia and framework of pride and shame, demographic makeup of the population in Appalachia, current challenges in Appalachia, and the emotions of pride, shame, and guilt. They talk about the appeal of the far Right, immigration and nationalism, liberals abandoning the working class, how we repair the politics divides, and many other topics.

Arlie Hochschild is writer and Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the University of California-Berkeley, where she also earned her PhD. Her...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Jason Stanley about the importance of preserving history. They talked about why authoritarians attempt to erase history, fascist ideas, nationalism, immigration, book burning, classical education, how to defend history, and many other topics.

Jason Stanley is the Jacob Urowsky Professor of Philosophy at Yale University and honorary professor at the Kyiv School of Economics. Before coming to Yale in 2013, he was Distinguished Professor in the Department of Philosophy at Rutgers University and was also Professor at the University of Michigan (2000-4) and Cornell University (1995-2000). He has his...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Mario Livio about finding life in our universe. They define life, discuss if we are alone, and the improtance of telescopes showing galaxies. They talk about the goldilocks zone, how life began on earth, proteins and genes, and building blocks of life on other planets. They talk about tidal forces, exoplanets, UAPs, intelligent life, and many more topics.

Dr. Mario Livio is an astrophysicist, author, and speaker. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He has published more than 500 scientific articles and...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Sheena Mason about race and culture. They talk about the increased focus on race, racelessness and the wayfinder, defining race/ism and history of the categories of race. They talk about culture, history, and ethnicity, mixed race and ethnicity, anti-racism, practical ways to end racism, and many more topics.

Sheena Michele Mason is an assistant professor of English at SUNY Oneonta. She holds a PhD with distinction in English from Howard University and specializes in Africana and American literature studies and philosophy of race. She is published with...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Emily Herring about the life and philosophy of Henri Bergson. They discuss who he was and why he is forgotten, changes in his childhood, and how he choose philosophy. They talk about his concepts of Durée, freedom, and memory. They talk about his relationship with Proust, his global popularity, evolution, later life, his legacy, and many more topics.

Emily Herring is a writer based in Paris. She has her PhD in the history and philosophy of science from the University of Leeds. Her writing has appears in A...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones about the history of the various Cleopatra queens. They discuss the 7 major Cleopatras, gender roles and norms in Egypt, and the context of the Antigonids, Ptolemies, and Seleucids. They talk about Cleopatra I, incestuous marriages, Potbelly and Cleopatra II and III. They discuss the ethnicity of Cleopatra VII, her various romantic relationships, her suicide, legacy of the Cleopatras, and many more topics.

Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones is Chair and Professor of Ancient History at Cardiff University. He has his PhD in Ancient History from Cardiff University and has...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Nathan J. Robinson about US foreign policy. They discuss his collaboration with Noam Chomsky, myth of American idealism, and positive elements of US foreign policy. They discuss US foreign policy in Latin America, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel and Palestine, and China. They talk about current threats of climate change and nuclear weapons and the future of US foreign policy.

Nathan J. Robinson is editor of Current Affairs and a political columnist at The Guardian. His work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New R...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Melissa Eddy about the life and chancellorship of Angela Merkel. They discuss Merkel’s general themes and profile, gender and fashion, and her East German origins. They talk about her major achievements, criticisms, interactions with world leaders, her legacy, and many more topics.

Melissa Eddy is a journalist based in Berlin who covers German business, economics, and politics for The New York Times. She has covered Chancellor Angela Merkel since she entered office in 2005. A Minnesota native fluent in German and French, she came to Germany as a Fu...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Musa al-Gharbi about the new elite, “wokeness,” and symbolic capitalism. They discuss why we should still care about “wokeness” and cancel culture, history of the four great “awokenings,” and sincerity of those that have “woke” beliefs. They define and discuss symbolic capitalism, people denying their new elite status, defining “woke” and the history of the word. They talk about “wokeness” as a new religion, the anti-woke, DEI, and many more topics.

Musa al-Gharbi is a sociologist and Assistant Professor in the School of Communication and Journalism and Fellow in Sociology at Columbia...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with David Chaffetz about the history of the horse and impact with empires. They discuss the origins of the horse and living alongside humans, herding and horse milk, domesticating the horse and riding horses. They talk about the Steppe environment, rise of chariots, the Scythians and mounted combat, horses used within empires, and China’s relationship with horses. They talk about the Kushans, Turks, Chinggis Khan, Timur, WWI, and many more topics.

David Chaffetz is a regular Asian Review of Books contributor, member of the Royal Society for Asian Af...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Mark Updegrove about the Presidency of Lyndon Johnson. They discuss the elusive figure of LBJ, his intuition for politics, and ascending to the Presidency. They talk about the “Johnson treatment,” Civil Rights, Lady Bird, and his war on poverty. They discuss his foreign policy, not running for re-election in 1968, legacy, and many more topics.

Mark Updegrove is the president and CEO of the LBJ Foundation and serves as Presidential Historian for ABC News. From 2009 to 2017, he was the director of the LBJ Presidential Library, where in 2014 he hosted the...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Bruce Gordon about a history of the Bible. They discuss the origins of how the Bible formed in the 2nd Century, original audience of the Bible, Codex and canonization and how we got 66 books. They talk about original languages, the Bible as an icon and symbol, different ways of reading and interpreting the Bible, and the impact of the Gutenberg Press. They talk about the King James Bible (KJV), missions, global legacy, and many other topics.

Bruce Gordon is the Titus Street Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Yale...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Renée DiResta about misinformation and digital delusions. They define misinformation and disinformation, rise of influencers, and incentive structures. They discuss audience capture, online ethical responsibilities, the Twitter files, election interference, and many other topics.

Renée DiResta is the former technical research manager at the Stanford Internet Observatory, a cross-disciplinary program of research, teaching, and policy engagement for the study of abuse in information technologies. Her work examines rumors and propaganda in the digital age. She has analyzed geopolitical campaigns created by foreign powers such as Russia, Ch...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Alice Driver about immigrants working at meatpacking factories. They discuss moral beauty in immigrants work, immigrants who work in meatpacking factories, and how the factories operate. They talk about onsite medical clinics, the Clintons relationship with Tyson Foods, and challenges during the pandemic. They discuss the class action lawsuit against Tyson Foods, future of the industry, and many more topics.

Alice Driver is a writer and author. She has her Masters and PhD in Hispanic Studies from the University of Kentucky. She has won many awards for her...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Paul North and Paul Reitter about their new English translation of Karl Marx’s Capital I. They discuss their process editing and translation Capital I, the 2nd German edition and various English and French translations, and the motivations for Marx. They discuss Marx’s thought and Marx’s impact, his main thesis in Capital I, and some of the interactions with Hegel’s thought. They also talk about Marx’s labor theory of value, the enduring legacy of Marx, and many other topics.

Paul North is Chair and Professor...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Marlene Laruelle about the rise of Illiberalism. They talk about liberalism, illiberalism, impact of immigration and socioeconomic issues, and the current and future state of the EU. They discuss Le Pen and far-right in France, Orban in Hungary, the AFD in Germany, and state of Central Eurasian countries. They talk about the Russian-Ukrainian war, motivations of Putin, propaganda, peace in Ukraine, illiberalism in the United States, and many other topics.

Marlene Laruelle is Research Professor of International Affairs and Political Science at The George Washington University, and Director...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Josephine Quinn about a 4,000 year history of the world. They discuss why “the West” is not an accurate or helpful framing, civilizational thinking, importance of sailing, and different people groups in one region. They also talked about the importance of ancient/isolated languages (i.e., Sumerian, Ugaritic), the Iberian regions absorbing elements of the Levant in the 2nd Millennium, invention of Greece, Rome and Byzantium, Crusades, the idea of “Europe,” moving away from civilizational thinking, and many more topics.

Josephine Quinn is currently Professor of Ancient History at Oxford U...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Lindsay Chervinsky about the presidency of John Adams. They provide an overview of Adams’s presidency, maintaining the cabinet, the XYZ affair, Alien and Sedition Acts, Fries Rebellion, replacing Pickering and McHenry, Election of 1800, legacy of Adams, and many more topics.

Lindsay M. Chervinsky a historian of the presidency, political culture, and the government. She is the Executive Director of the George Washington Presidential Library. She obtained her PhD in history from the University of California, Davis and has been a fellow at the Kluge Center at the Li...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Steven Mithen about the evolutionary history of language. They discuss the language puzzle, provide an overview of human evolution, importance of bipedalism, and fossil record gaps. They discuss different human species, how language works, origins and spread of different languages, and the physiology of speech. They also talk about the neurology of language, language evolving over time, language connected with thinking and emotions, future of language, and many other topics.

Steven Mithen is a Professor of Early Prehistory in the Department of Archaeology at the University of Reading...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Benjamin Nathans about the Soviet dissident movement. They discuss how he complied all of the narratives together, why the Soviet dissident movement matters and how the Soviet legal system was used. They discuss civil disobedience vs. civil obedience, Alexander Volpin, Sinyavsky-Daniel affair, and what rights looked like in the Soviet Union. They talked about the makeup of the dissident movement, the Red Square demonstration, Initiative group, fifth directorate, Solzhenitsyn, other civil rights movements, legacy, and many more topics.

Benjamin Nathans is Associate Professor of History at the University...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Brett Loyd on political polling. They discuss what polls can and cannot tell us, sample size, random sampling, flex quotas, weighting variables, and sample characteristics. They talk about question order and wording on polling surveys, phone and online polling, internal vs. external polling and national vs. state polls. They talk about how pollsters got the 2016 election wrong, characteristics of a Trump voter, and education level. They talk about the 2020 and 2022 elections, why there was no red wave in 2022, and reproductive rights. They discuss the 2024 election, battleground states, Harris’s challenges, co...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Isaac Nakhimovsky about the holy alliance. They discuss understanding current events through historical events, what is the holy alliance, “friend of mankind,” debates around the holy alliance, La Harpe and Czartoryski, Krug, Kant, and history of religion, league of nations, and the holy alliance today.

Isaac Nakhimovsky is Associate Professor of History and Humanities at Yale University. Previously, he was research fellow at Emmanuel College and the Faculty of History in the University of Cambridge. He received his PhD in Political Science from Harvard University. His research focuses on t...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Elizabeth Saunders on elites dictating foreign policy. They discuss negative public opinion, the elites comprised of military, administration, and legislators, and the differences with hawks and doves. They talk about McNamara and LBJ in Vietnam, Truman, Korea, and Taiwan, and Bush in Afghanistan and Iraq. They also discuss Obama on Syria, future insider’s games, and many more topics.

Elizabeth Saunders is Professor of Political Science at Columbia University. She previously taught in the School of Foreign Service and the Director of the Mortara Center for International Studies, as...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Arik Kershenbaum about why and how animals communicate with each other. They discuss the differences between language and communication in animals, respectfully communicating with animals, and the six animals he studied for communication. They talk about howling in wolves, clicks in dolphins, comprehension in parrots, singing in the hyrax and gibbons, chimps, humans, and many more topics.

Arik Kershenbaum is a zoologist and College Lecturer at Girton College, University of Cambridge and is formerly Herchel Smith Research Fellow in Zoology at the University of Cambridge. He has his...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Nick Romeo on different and alternative economies. They talked about reimagining capitalism, improving economic pedagogy in academia, True Price, a living wage, and Job Guarantee program. They discuss the gig economy, purpose economy, scaling alternative economies, and many more topics.

Nick Romeo is a Journalist and Author who has focused his writing on economics, policy, and culture. Currently, he is a writer for The New Yorker and has written pieces in outlets such as The Atlantic, The New York Times, and The New Republic. He is the author...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with B. Rosemary Grant on her life and work on genetics and evolutionary change. They discuss an overview of her life and research, her childhood and being raised in England in WWII, her interest in genetics, and moving to Canada and meeting her husband. They discuss how she balanced raising a family and her career, her work over 40 years in the Galapagos Islands, retirement and continued research, her legacy, and many other topics.

B. Rosemary Grant is an evolutionary biologist and Emeritus Professor at Princeton University. Her research focuses...