Converging Dialogues

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, Biden’s challengers, Biden’s age, and the Democrats “bench.” 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 Ringer’s election podcast, “Somebody’s Gotta Win.” Previously, she has worked as a journalist for Politico and ABC News.

Twitter: @tarapalmeri

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 Washington’s 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.

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 Zealand’s 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/

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 Buzsáki 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/

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/

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

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

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/

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Burak Kadercan about territory and nation states. They define territory and nation states, discuss empire, healthy nationalism, and ethnic groups in territories. They also define borders and discuss Westphalia, mosaic and monolithic order, Ottoman empire, war and conflict, Russia and Ukraine conflict, and many more topics.

Burak Kadercan is Associate Professor of Strategy and Policy at the United States Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island. He has his Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Chicago. He was an inaugural fellow at the Center for Strategic Studies, The Fletcher School, Tufts University. He was also a Lecturer in International Relations at the University of Reading (UK) and Assistant Professor in International Relations and coordinator for the Master Program in International Security at Institut Barcelona D’Estudis Internacionals (IBEI). He is also Senior Associate at the Center on Irregular Warfare and Armed Groups (CIWAG). His main interest are in territoriality, international security, and state-formation. He is the author of Shifting Grounds: The Social Origins of Territorial Conflict.

Website: http://www.burakadercan.com/

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Nicola Clayton about cognition across many animals. They define cognition in humans and in animals, intelligence, using magic to understand cognition in animals, embodied mind in animals, and comparative cognition as a type of convergent evolution. They discuss difficulties in using human measures for evaluating animal cognition, New Caledonian crows and their intelligence, consciousness, the future of comparative cognition research, and many more topics.

Nicola Clayton is Professor of Comparative Cognition in the Department of Psychology at the University of Cambridge, a Fellow of Clare College and a Fellow of the Royal Society. Her main interests areas are comparative cognition and the evolution and development of intelligence in non-verbal animals and pre-verbal children. She is currently President of the British Science Association Psychology Section. She is also in residence at Rambert Dance Company.

Website: https://www.psychol.cam.ac.uk/people/nsc22%40cam.ac.uk