Episodi
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In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Lisa Bortolotti about delusions. They talk about why we should think about delusions, delusions as emotional and rational beliefs, defining delusions, clinical and non-clinical delusions, and why we believe delusions. They talk about when delusions cause harm, can people change their delusional beliefs, and many more topics.
Lisa Bortolotti is a philosopher and Professor of Philosophy at the University of Birmingham. She is Editor in Chief of Philosophical Psychology. She has her PhD in philosophy and her main interests are in philosophy of science, irrational beliefs, and epistemic injustice.
Website: https://lisabortolotti.blogspot.com/
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In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Ajit Varki about the evolutionary origins of denial and self-deception. They discuss the evolutionary perspective of human origins, self-awareness in humans, theory of mind, and how false beliefs and denial evolved. They also discuss lying, self-deception, religion, positive uses of deception, climate change, future of Mind Over Reality theory, and many more topics.
Ajit Varki received training in physiology, medicine, biology, and biochemistry at the Christian Medical College, Vellore, The University of Nebraska, Omaha, and Washington University, St. Louis. He was trained and board-certified in internal medicine, hematology, and oncology. He joined the faculty of the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) in 1982.Dr. Varki is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, National Academy of Medicine, American Society for Clinical Investigation, Association of American Physicians, and of Sigma Xi. He has been a recipient of a MERIT award from the NIH, the American Cancer Society Faculty Research Award, as well as three of the highest honors in the field: the Karl Meyer Award (2005), the International Glycoconjugate Organization Award (2007), the Rosalind Kornfeld Award for Lifetime Achievement in Glycobiology (2020), and the ASBMB Herbert Tabor Research Award (2023). He was also elected President of the American Society for Clinical Investigation (1998â1999), President of the Society for Glycobiology (1996) and served Editor-In-Chief of the Journal of Clinical Investigation (1992â1997). He is recognized for creating the first major open access research journal, The Journal of Clinical Investigation, JCI (1996), as well as the first major open access textbook, Essentials of Glycobiology (2008). Dr. Varki was honored with the Old Cottonian of Eminence Award at the 150th Anniversary of Bishop Cotton Boy's School in Bangalore, India (2015) and he was also honored with the Annual Research Day Distinguished Faculty Medal and Oration at his medical school alma mater, the Christian Medical College, Vellore, India (2020). Dr. Varki's interests in human evolution also led him to propose a novel Mind Over Reality Transition theory about human origins, in the book, Denial.
Link to paper: https://cmm.ucsd.edu/research/labs/varki/_files/publications/b200.pdf
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In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Sima Samar about her life and work for womenâs rights. They discuss her reasoning for writing her memoirs, history of modern Afghanistan, impact of Islam, and the rule of the Taliban. They talk about her work in medicine and human rights advocacy, womenâs rights in Afghanistan, becoming Vice President and Minister of Womenâs Affairs of Afghanistan. They also discuss her work on the human rights commission, being nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009, womenâs rights around the world, the future of Afghanistan, and many more topics.
Sima Samar is a human rights advocate, Nobel Peace Prize nominee, and global influential female figure. She received her MD from Kabul University Medical College. Since 2002 she has been the Chairperson of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) which holds human rights violators accountable and sets the human rights agenda in Afghanistan. She is also the Chairperson of the Commission for the Prevention of Torture and was the Chairperson of the Asia Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institutions (APF).
Prior to her appointment as the chair of AIHRC, she was the Vice President of the Interim Administration of Afghanistan and the first Minister of Womenâs Affairs. She served as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Sudan between 2005 and 2009 and has been appointed as a member of the United Nationâs Secretary-Generalâs High-Level Advisory Board on Mediation. Samar also served as member of High Level Panel for Internal Displacement.
Her commitment to her community is evident through her NGO Shuhada Organizationâs work in operating 55 middle and high schools for girls and boys in Afghanistan, and three schools in Quetta, Pakistan for Afghan refugees. In addition to this Shuhada operates 12 clinics and three hospitals in Afghanistan and one hospital in Quetta for refugees, dedicated to providing education and healthcare, particularly focusing on women and girls.
Website: https://shuhada.org.af/
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In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Peter Kramer about Prozac. They talk about the 30th anniversary of Listening To Prozac and antidepressants, origins of antidepressants, classes of antidepressants, selfhood, criticisms of SSRIs and the serotonin hypothesis, risk of suicide with Prozac, future of SSRIs, and more more topics.
Peter Kramer is a psychiatrist who practiced and taught psychiatry for over 40 years. He is Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at Brown University. He has done extensive research on depression and anti-depressants. He is the author of numerous books including the bestseller, Listening to Prozac.
Website: https://www.peterdkramer.com/
Twitter: @peterdkramer
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In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Stefanos Geroulanos about the history of prehistory. They talk about why studying history is important and why it is not final, the emphasis on the nature of man, why Rousseau and Hobbesâ ideas still persist, human nature and equality, and the impact of Darwin. They also talk about the impact of Marx, Neanderthals, thin veneer, and the instincts, Freudâs contribution, Nazi party, how we continue to understand history, and many more topics.
Stefanos Geroulanos is Director of the Remarque Institute and a professor of history at New York University. He has his BA from Princeton and his PhD from Johns Hopkins. From 2015-2017, he was Director of the Center for International Research in the Humanities and Social Sciences at NYU. His research focuses on histories of the concepts that weave together understanding of the human, of time, and of the body. He has written many books, including the most recent book, The Invention of Prehistory: Empire, Violence, and Our Obsession with Human Origins.
Website: https://www.stefanos-geroulanos.com/
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In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Jorell MelĂ©ndez Badillo about the history of Puerto Rico. They talk about the origins of the island of Puerto Rico, Taino peoples, reasons for Columbus coming to Puerto Rico, and indigenous peoples fighting back. They talk about enslaved peoples in the mid 16th century, origins of the term âPuertorriqueños,â impact of race and colorism, and hardship in Puerto Rico in the 19th century. They discuss the Lares revolution, coming to New York, Spanish-American war and the United States acquiring Puerto Rico, cultural shifts from Spanish colony to American colony, the great migration in the mid 20th century, history of parties, status of Puerto Rico, and the future of Puerto Rico.
Jorell Meléndez Badillo is a historian of Puerto Rico, the Caribbean, and Latin America. He is currently Assistant Professor of Latin American and Caribbean History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Before arriving at UW-Madison, he was a Mellon Faculty Fellow and Assistant Professor of History at Dartmouth College. His work focuses on the global circulation of radical ideas from the standpoint of working-class intellectual communities. He is the author of the book, Puerto Rico: A Natural History.
Website: https://www.jorellmelendezbadillo.com/
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In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Elizabeth Barnes about the ideas surrounding health. They discuss why we care about health and how we define health, social impact of health, and discussing health publicly. They also talk about shame and stigma with health, disability and health differences, ameliorative skepticism, and many more topics.
Elizabeth Barnes is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Virginia. Her research interests are divided between metaphysics, political philosophy, feminist philosophy, and ethics. She has written a handful books, including her most recent book, Health Problems.
Website: https://elizabethbarnesphilosophy.weebly.com/
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In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Christian Madsbjerg about perception in the world. They discuss why perception and observation are important, the work of Merleau-Ponty, perception being reality, and intersubjectivity. They discuss the role of the body in phenomenology, phenomenology of space, the âother,â practical ways of paying attention in the world, and many more topics.
Christian Madsbjerg is an author, entrepreneur, and academic who focuses on the practical and commercial application of the Human Sciences. He is the co-founder of the global consulting firm Red Associates which addressing strategy questions through empirical, organized observations of the human world. He also serves as the Chairman of the Board at the world-class architectural firm Bjarke Ingels Group, holds a non-executive director position at Fritz Hansen A/S, is an independent Director and Chair of the Nomination and Governance Committee at The Metals Company (Nasdaq: TMC), and is a member of the US board of Kvadrat A/S. He also serves as a director of the Revs Institute, a design museum and research institute. He has held the Professor of Applied Humanities position at The New School in New York City. He is the author of several books, including the most recent book, Look: How to Pay Attention in a Distracted World.
Website: https://madsbjerg.com/
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In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Helen De Cruz about wonder and awe. They define awe and wonder as distinct emotions, awe in other animals, social and cultural aspects of awe, and philosophy being born in wonder. They discuss the history of awe and wonder from ancient Greece to the Enlightenment, theories of emotions, magic and wonder, religion and wonder, Merleau-Ponty and habits, spiritual naturalism, and many more topics.
Helen De Cruz holds the Danforth Chair in the Humanities at Saint Louis University. She holds a PhD in philosophy from the University of Groningen and a PhD in archaeology and art sciences from the Free University of Brussels. Her work examines why and how humans engage in pursuits that seem remote from the immediate concerns of survival and reproduction, such as theology, mathematics, and science. She is the author of many books including the most recent, Wonderstruck: How Awe and Wonder Shape the Way We Think.
Website: https://helendecruz.net/
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In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Katlyn Carter about the origins of the United States during the revolutionary period. They discuss the concern about secrecy and transparency in government, representative government and representative democracy, pros and cons of democracy, and how democracy is different from 1776. They also talk about shifting from colonies to states, reasons for secrecy in the founding, comparisons with France, Madisonâs speed bumps for democracy, how we see transparency now in government, and many more topics.
Katlyn Carter is a historian and Assistant Professor in History at the University of Notre Dame. Her research focuses on the origins of modern representative democracy through the study of political practices and institutions. She has a Bachelors in History from the University of California, Berkeley and a PhD in History from Princeton University. She is the author of, Democracy In Darkness: Secrecy and Transparency in the Age of Revolutions.
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In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Robin Lane Fox about Homer and his Iliad. They discuss how to best read the Iliad, structure of the poem, and the use of speeches, language, and movement. They talk about the location of Troy, Homerâs authorship, Homerâs description of the Trojan war, Homerâs illiteracy, Iliadâs transcription, genius of Homer, and many more topics.
Robin Lane Fox is a historian and Emeritus Fellow of New College, Oxford, and taught Ancient History at Oxford University from 1977 to 2014. He has taught on Greek and Latin literature and Islamic history for many years. He has written many books on classical history, including his most recent book, Homer and His Iliad.
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In this episode, Xavier Bonilla and Michael Callahan have a discussion about their respective podcasts. They discuss why they decided to do this crossover episode, how Converging Dialogues started, how Where We Go Next started, and how they treat guests. They discuss their process for asking questions, motivations for interviews, importance of active listening, their process for each episode, legacy of the podcast, and many more topics.
Where We Go Next is a podcast focused on in-depth conversations with the people changing the ways we think, create, and live. Host Michael Callahan engages with visionary founders, best-selling writers, award-winning journalists, acclaimed educators, and innovative artists.
Website: https://wherewegonext.com/
Instagram: @wwgnpodcast
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In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Tara Palmeri about the 2024 US Presidential election. They discuss why there is rematch of the 2020 US Presidential election between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, Bidenâs challengers, Bidenâs age, and the Democrats âbench.â They talk about feelings mattering more than policy, immigration, predictions, and many more topics.
Tara Palmeri is a Senior political correspondent at Puck and host of the Ringerâs election podcast, âSomebodyâs Gotta Win.â Previously, she has worked as a journalist for Politico and ABC News.
Twitter: @tarapalmeri
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In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Jeffrey Rosen about the impact of Classical Writers on the founding fathers. They discuss why studying the influences of the founding fathers is important, pursuit of happiness, Franklin and the impact of Pythagoras, Adams on humility, and Jefferson as a complicated figure. They discuss Washingtonâs self-mastery, Hamilton and Madison on moderation, and many more topics.
Jeffrey Rosen is President and CEO of the National Constitution Center, where he hosts We the People, a weekly podcast of constitutional debate. He is also a professor of law at the George Washington University Law School and a contributing editor at The Atlantic. Rosen is a graduate of Harvard College, Oxford University, and Yale Law School. His essays and commentaries have appeared in The New York Times Magazine; on NPR; in The New Republic, where he was the legal affairs editor; and in The New Yorker, where he has been a staff writer. He is the author of seven previous books, including the most recent book, The Pursuit of Happiness: How Classical Writers on Virtue Inspired the Lives of the Founders and Defined America.
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In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Christopher Liddell about the five-year presidency. They discuss what is year zero and why presidential transitions are important, filling the government, and design, plan, and execution phases of year zero. They discuss the Romney transition, Trump transition, and Biden transition, standardization and flexibility with different presidents, Office of POTUS, first 200 days, the 2024 Presidential election, and many more topics.
Christopher Liddell has held senior roles in politics, the private sector, and philanthropy. He was White House Deputy Chief of Staff during the Trump Administration, and has been involved in three presidential transition cycles, including the White House operational head of transition to the Biden Administration, where he played a key role. In the private sector, he has been Chief Financial Officer of several major companies, including Microsoft and General Motors. He is also active in philanthropic projects, having been Chairman of New Zealandâs largest foundation focused on environmental preservation. He graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering from Auckland University and a Master of Philosophy from the University of Oxford. He is the author of the book, Year Zero: The Five-Year Presidency.
Website: https://chrisliddell.com/
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In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with György Buzsaki about the inside out framework of the brain. They discuss the outside-in vs. inside-out framework for understanding the brain, causation as problematic for self-organizing systems, and perception and action on thought. They mention the Bayesian brain model, reinforcement and reward, brain systems and neural syntax, space and time within the hippocampus, the future of using the inside-out framework, and many more topics.
György Buzsåki is a neuroscientist and Biggs Professor of Neuroscience at the NYU School of Medicine. He has his MD and PhD in neuroscience from the University of Pecs in Hungary. His main interest areas are on neural syntax and hippocampal networks. He is the author of numerous books including the most recent book, The Brain From Inside Out.
Website: https://buzsakilab.com/wp/
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In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Robert Trager about international governance of AI systems. They discuss why questions of AI are important, defining intelligence and machine learning, and provide an overview of the current landscape of AI systems. They talked about the ethics and governance for AI systems, how other governance models have been used, controlling the creativity of AI, civilian AI, military AI, and enforcement rules with military AI. They also mention the alignment problem, how to discuss AI in public life, and many more topics.
Robert Trager is Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Los Angeles, and International Governance Lead at the Centre for the Governance of AI. He is a recognized expert in the international governance of emerging technologies, diplomatic practice, and institutional design. His research also focuses on economic models of technology races, and regulation and industry cooperation for the public benefit in safety-critical industries. He has written two books and numerous articles in leading social science journals, including the American Political Science Review, International Organization, International Security, Foreign Affairs and many others.
Website: https://robertftrager.com/
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In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Jonathan Blitzer about Central American immigrants coming to the United States and the evolving relationship in the region. They talk about the emphasis on Central America and, more specifically, El Salvador, when discussing immigration. They discuss the many narrative accounts of immigrants from El Salvador and some of the background information on El Salvador. They provide some of the history of El Salvador and the many brutal aspects of the 12+ years civil war. They also talk about the cyclical nature of US involvement with Central America, future goals, and many more topics.
Jonathan Blitzer is a journalist and writer who currently is a staff writer at The New Yorker. His work has appeared in The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and many other publications. He is the recipient of the 2018 Immigration Journalism Prize from French-American foundation and the Media Leadership Award from the American Immigration Lawyers Association. He is the author of the new book, Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here: The United States, Central America, and the Making of A Crisis.
Twitter: @jonathanblitzer
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In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Nicholas Morton about the Mongol empire. They discuss the background overview of Seljuck Turks, Karwazman Empire, and how the Mongols conquered and governed administratively. They talk about the environmental scope of the Mongols, religious tolerance, centralized hierarchy, the fifth crusade, how the Mongols splintered, and many more topics.
Nicholas Morton is Associate Professor of History at Nottingham Trent University. He is a member of the Centre for the Study of Religion and Conflict. His main research areas are on the Crusades and Medieval Near East between the 10th and 14th centuries. He is the author of numerous books including the most recent book, The Mongol Storm: Making and Breaking Empires in the Medieval Near East.
Website: https://www.ntu.ac.uk/staff-profiles/arts-humanities/nicholas-morton
Twitter: @nicholasmorto11
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In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Vladimir Hamed-Troyansky about North Caucasian Muslims in the late Ottoman period. They discuss the landscape of the Caucasus, the Ottoman Empire, and the Russian Empire in the late 19th century. They talk about the diversity of ethnic groups in the Caucasus, the Ottoman Empire as a land of refugees, and why Russian troops perpetrated an ethnic cleansing. They discuss the term muhajir, four major migrations from the Caucasus, the Ottoman Empire as a refugee regime, 1857 immigration law, 1858 land laws, 1860 refugee commission, what happened to Circassian refugees in the Balkans, and Ottoman slavery. They discuss Circassians moving to the levant, the importance of Amman, resettlement in central Anatolia, return migration to Russia, and many other topics.
Vladimir Hamed-Troyansky is Assistant Professor of Global Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He has his Ph.D. in History from Stanford University and was a postdoctoral fellow at Columbia University. His main interest areas are in global migration and forced displacement, with expertise in the Ottoman and Russian empires and their successor states. He is the author of Empire of Refugees: North Caucasian Muslims and the Late Ottoman State.
Website: https://www.vladimirhamedtroyansky.com/
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