Converging Dialogues

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a wide-ranging dialogue with Tania Reynolds about her research on female intrasexual competition, attractiveness privilege, and free speech. They provide a sexual selection overview such as preferences for mate choice. They talk about sexual selection for cooperation, heritability in mate preferences, and the aspect of female mate choice. They discuss monogamy and polygamy in mate choice, evolutionary and moral features of attraction, and an emphasis on youth. They also mention female standards of beauty in modern society and body positivity. They discuss in detail the specific aspects of intrasexual female competition, types of aggression, and the influence of patrilocal and matrilocal societies. They discuss attractiveness privilege and how it fits within other types of privilege, menstruation and anxiety, and gender bias. They end the conversation with a discussion on the limits and boundaries of free speech. 

Tania Reynolds is a Social Psychologist and Assistant Professor at the University of New Mexico. She was also a postdoctoral research at the Kinsey Institute. She is well-published in many scientific journals and her research focuses on female intrasexual competition and cooperation, biases in social and and moral evaluations, sexual selection and life history theory. You can find her research here. Twitter: @taniaArline

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Isaac Butler about the history of method acting in the 20th century. They discuss who was Stanislavski and how he started his theater studio and system. They discuss the impact of Tolstoy and Chekhov on Stanislavksi. They explain the expansion of the method globally and how Lee Strasberg and Stella Adler became involved with the method. They talk about the differences between the system and the method and what is composed of the Method. They discuss how Marlon Brando was a genius and legend, origins of the actors legend, and some of the current modern actors that use the actors studio. They talk about current-day method acting and many more topics. 

Isaac Butler is a cultural critic, historian, theater director, and podcaster. He is the co-author of The World Only Spins Forward (with Dan Kois) and of his most recent book, The Method: How the Twentieth Century Learned to Act. He is the host of the Slate's podcast, Working. Twitter: @parabasis

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Moshe Hoffman and Erez Yoeli on game theory and how this can be used to understand human behavior. They define game theory, discuss how primary and secondary rewards can be used, and explain Nash equilibrium and hawk-dove theory. They discuss the importance of signals and the costly signaling model, signals with different audiences, and how evidence and persuasion are spun differently. They also discuss the prisoners dilemma, altruism, cooperation, punishment, and may other topics. 

Moshe Hoffman is a research scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Behavior, research fellow at MIT's Sloan School of Management and lecturer in Harvard's Economics department. His work focuses on game theory used with topics on human motivation, learning and evolution, and preferences. You can find his work here. Twitter: @moshe_hoffman

Erez Yoeli is a research scientist at MIT's Sloan School of Management and Director of MIT's Applied Cooperation Team (ACT), and also a lecturer in Harvard's Economics department. His work focuses on altruism, and how using game theory can help in working with governments and products. Purchase Hidden Games. You can find his work here. Twitter: @erezyoeli

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Avram Alpert about the good enough life. They define what is the good enough life, pluralism and relativism, and spend time on what greatness is and maybe why it should not be emphasized. They discuss the elements of a good enough life for social policies, work, virtue ethics, and many other topics. 

Avram Alpert is a writer, lecturer, and organizer. Currently, he is a fellow at the New Institute in Hamburg, Germany. He has taught at Rutgers and Princeton University and his work has been published in places such as The New York Times and The Washington Post. He is the author of a few books, including the most recent, The Good Enough Life. You can find his work here. Twitter: @avramalpert

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Daryl Davis about his career as a musician and his encounters with extreme hate groups. They discuss his background in music and how he came to be a professional musician. They talk about writing and performing music, the music industry, and his exposure of living abroad. They discuss his first encounter with a member of the KKK, his first interview with a KKK member, and subsequent meetings. They also talk about how race functions differently around the world, how people can be involved in combating extreme hate, and many other topics. 

Daryl Davis is a musician, actor, writer, author, and lecturer. As a musician and actor, he has performed with The Legendary Blues Band and Chuck Berry. He has also appeared in shows such as HBO's The Wire. As a race relations lecturer and speaker, he has appeared in many major outlets such as CNN, NBC, and The Washington Post. He is the author of Klan-Destine Relationships and the documentary Accidental Courtesy. You can find his work here. Twitter: @realdaryldavis

In this dialogue, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Antone Martinho-Truswell about parrots and some of their striking similarities with humans. They discuss the importance of the phylogenetic tree, ways in which birds are connected with humans, and the specifics of bird brains. They discuss animal intelligence, corvids' use of tools, and various bird categories. They mention songbirds, parrots, and hummingbirds and how birds communicate. The also talk about the features of parrots and their parallel with humans and many other topics. 

Antone Martinho-Truswell is the Dean and Head of Graduate House at St. Paul's College at the University of Sydney. He is also a Research Associate in the Department of Zoology at the University of Oxford. His research focuses on learning and cognition in birds and is interested in animal minds and animal cognition. He is the author of his latest book, The Parrot in the Mirror: How Evolving to be like birds made us human. You can find his research here and here. Twitter: @antonemartinho

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Steve Brusatte about the rise and fall of dinosaurs and the rise and reign of mammals. They discuss how his two books are connected and overlap, first dinosaurs, and how dinosaurs survived the great dying and diversified. They talk about the taxonomy of dinosaurs, the T. Rex, and dinosaurs connection with birds. They also discuss what makes a mammal a mammal, importance of the jaw, and how mammals coexisted with dinosaurs. They also mention how mammals survived the asteroid, their proliferation, humans, and the future of mammals. 

Steve Brusatte is a Palaeontologist who has a Bachelors in Geophysical Sciences from the University of Chicago, a Masters in Palaeobiology from the University of Bristol, and a PhD in Earth and Environmental Studies from the Columbia University, New York. He has over 150 peer-reviewed studies published and has discovered over a dozen dinosaur and mammal species. He is the author of The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs and his latest book, The Rise and Reign of the Mammals. He has also been a lead consultant on BBC's Walking with Dinosaurs, Prehistoric Planet, and Jurassic World: Dominion. You can find his work here. Twitter: @stevebrusatte

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Jaimie Arona Krems about her research on friendship. They discuss the basic features and sex differences between how males and females have relationships. They talk about the different levels and dimensions of friendships and some of the stereotypes of friendships. They define friendship and talk about the dynamics of friends and family. They discuss jealousy and how it appears in friendships, status and trust, and opposite sex friendships. They talk about female competition in the workforce, attractiveness privilege, female cooperation, and many more topics.

Jaimie Arona Krems is a Social Psychologist with a degree in Classical and Near Eastern Archeology, Masters of Liberal Arts in physiology, Masters in Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology, and a PhD in Social Psychology. Currently, she runs the Krems Social and Evolutionary Psychology Lab at The Oklahoma Center for Evolutionary Analysis (OCEAN) at Oklahoma State University. The research in her lab focuses on female cooperation and competition, friendship, stereotyping and prejudice, religion, reputation, ecological variable. Twitter: @jaimiekrems

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with John Milton Cooper about the life and presidency of Woodrow Wilson. They discuss the impact of the South, racism, and living in the North for Wilson. They talk about why the practice of law was not suited for Wilson and how he was more academic and cerebral in many ways. They talk about his book, Congressional Government, the infamous presidential election of 1912, and the first term domestic successes. They talk about Wilson's challenges with race while in office, why he kept the United States out of World War I, and the 14 points and League of Nations. They also mention his stroke, legacy, and many other topics. 

John Milton Cooper is a Historian and author who is a worldwide expert on Woodrow Wilson. He is Professor Emeritus at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where he taught history for 40 years. He the author of numerous books including the Pulitzer Prize Finalist, Woodrow Wilson: A Biography. You can find his work here. 

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with David Peña-Guzmán on dreams in animals. They discuss how we know animals dream, history of studying dreams, and how the sleep cycle works in animals. They talk about how animal dreaming is phenomenological and not necessarily computational, whether animals have consciousness, and the various models of consciousness. They discuss lucid dreaming, imagination, moral entitlements, and many more topics. 

David Peña Guzmán is an Associate Professor at San Francisco State University. He teaches on history and the philosophy of science, animal studies, and social theory. He has his PhD in Philosophy from Emory University and his work has appeared in many journals. His newest book, When Animals Dream: The Hidden World of Animal Consciousness is now available. You can find his work here. Twitter: @drpenaguzman1