Conversations with Peter Boghossian

Dr. Benedict Beckeld is a philosopher and author. He explores the denigration of social customs, history, and values in his latest book, "Western Self-Contempt: Oikophobia in the Decline of Civilizations." Beckeld's writing can be found in Quillette, City Journal, The American Conservative, and the Salisbury Review, among other publications. "Western Self-Contempt: Oikophobia in the Decline of Civilizations" by Benedict Beckeld https://www.amazon.com/dp/1501763180 Website http://www.benedictbeckeld.com/ YouTube: / @benedictbeckeld Twitter https://twitter.com/BenedictBeckeld Watch this episode on YouTube.

Stephanie Winn is the host of the You Must Be Some Kind of Therapist Podcast. She is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist based in Portland, Oregon. She also appears in the upcoming documentary film, "No Way Back: The Reality of Gender Affirming Care". Watch this episode on YouTube.

Mark Goldblatt is an author, essayist, and theologian. In his recent book "I Feel, Therefore I Am: The Triumph of Woke Subjectivism," Goldblatt examines the tension between subjective belief and the inescapable demands of reality. Goldblatt is an education professor at SUNY's Fashion Institute of Technology. His other books include "Might as Well Be Dead," the "Twerp" series, and "Bumper Sticker Liberalism." Goldblatt's essays can be found in The New York Times, Newsday, The New York Post, USA Today, Reason Magazine, and many other publications. Watch the episode on YouTube.

Ed Diehl is an Oregon State Congressman. He has debated the chair of Behavioral Health over the bill HB 2002. This episode can also be watched on YouTube.

James Lindsay is a bestselling author, mathematician, and a leading expert on the ensuing culture war. He is the founder of "New Discourses," a website and podcast analyzing the theory behind, effects of, and solutions to "Woke Marxism". James speaks widely on language, education, and Social Justice ideology. In May, he spoke to the European Union Parliament about this evolved form of Marxism in Western culture. James' books include "Cynical Theories," which he wrote with Helen Pluckrose, "How to Have Impossible Conversations," which he wrote with yours truly, "Race Marxism: The Truth About Critical Race Theory and Praxis", and also his most recent book, "The Marxification of Education: Paulo Freire's Critical Marxism and the Theft of Education." Watch this episode on YouTube.

The world's leading skeptic, author Michael Shermer, explains what it would take for him to believe claims of extraterrestrial visitation. Michael follows Pierre-Simon Laplace's principle, popularized by Carl Sagan: "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." Michael has bet $1,000 that irrefutable evidence of human contact with aliens will not materialize by the end of next year. So far, he has no takers. Peter and Michael discuss the brain as "an engine of belief" and how the human desire for transcendence and moralization leads people to extend their confidence beyond the warrant of the evidence. Education is one antidote to this cognitive malady, and Michael promotes teaching children statistics, probability, and how to "think like scientists". Peter and Michael also discuss organizational splintering (including in the skeptic and atheist movement), fashionable beliefs, why believers in alien visitations aren't interested in SETI, Bayesian reasoning, the deep state, true conspiracies, Dr. Paul Hotez vs. RFK Jr., childhood gender transition, and Michael's forthcoming book, Truth. Dr. Michael Shermer is the founding publisher of Skeptic magazine, the host of The Michael Shermer Show, and a Presidential Fellow at Chapman University where he teaches Skepticism 101. Michael wrote a monthly column for Scientific American for 18 years. He is the author of several books, including the New York Times bestsellers Why People Believe Weird Things and The Believing Brain. His latest book is Conspiracy: Why the Rational Believe the Irrational.

Twitter: @michaelshermer You can watch this conversation on YouTube!

Michael Shellenberger appreciates the challenge skeptics offer regarding the existence of UFOs (also termed UAPs, "Unexplained Aerial Phenomena"). Skeptics, true believers, and everyone in between have taken note of Michael's reporting on the topic. In this conversation with Peter Boghossian, Michael explains his level of confidence about visitations by non-terrestrial spacecraft. (Peter says the verified discovery of alien spacecraft would be a revolution comparable to humanity's domestication of fire—and he wants it to be true but requires evidence.)

Peter and Michael also discuss a more down-to-earth possible cover-up regarding the source of COVID-19. They explore free speech, censorship for adults vs. children, the Orwellian "Institute for Strategic Dialogue," levels of societal hate, "crazy-making," the attitudinal disposition to the truth as a basis of friendship, their friendship, and much more. Michael Shellenberger is an author, investigative journalist, and the founder & president of Environmental Progress, a nonprofit research organization. He also co-founded the California Peace Coalition, an alliance of parents of children killed by fentanyl and parents of homeless addicts. Michael is the author of Break Through: From the Death of Environmentalism to the Politics of Possibility (with Ted Nordhaus), Apocalypse Never: Why Environmental Alarmism Hurts Us All, and most recently, San Fransicko: Why Progressives Ruin Cities. He also coauthored An EcoModernist Manifesto. Twitter: @shellenberger Skeptic Michael Shermer also spoke with Michael Shellenberger about his reporting on alien spacecraft. Next week, we'll hear Peter's interview with Shermer! Watch this episode on YouTube

Helen Joyce is causing a lot of trouble. YouTube recently removed her conversation with Jordan Peterson (due to vague accusations of "hate speech" and "inciting violence") and the BBC doesn't invite her on air anymore. Among her heresies, she is guilty of believing there are two sexes and saying it out loud.

Helen, an Irish journalist, bestselling author, and director of advocacy at Sex Matters, spoke to Peter Boghossian about the differences between men and women. In many arenas, the differences don't matter, but they are a matter of consequence regarding women's privacy, vulnerability, and physical competition.

Peter and Helen discuss the definition of sex, why trans men should be allowed in women's spaces, the tragedy of the commons, fa'afafine, evolution, the "thought-terminating cliché," the tribal fear of rejection, the cultivation of mental illness, why institutions are losing their North Stars, and much more.

Trans: When Ideology Meets Reality by Helen Joyce Helen Joyce on Twitter: @HJoyceGender Watch this conversation on YouTube!

"Is the trans movement anti-gay?" In honor of Pride Month, Peter Boghossian begins this conversation with an investigation into the increasing rejection of trans ideology by the LGB (without the T) community. Peter's guest is Andrew Doyle, acclaimed author, comedian, and host of Free Speech Nation on GB News. Here's an important piece of information to better understand this conversation: Andrew is gay.

Andrew explains the impact the trans movement has inflicted on gay people over the last several years, including the rise of abusive language toward gays he "hasn't seen since the '80s." Lesbians are labelled "sexual racists" or "transphobes" if they reject trans women as partners. (The same is true for gay men rejecting trans men—that is, women—but the abuse is not as pervasive.) Peter and Andrew discuss the incoherence of gender ideology, the nature of sexual attraction, how predators manipulate gender self-ID, and the sterilization of gay youth.

Also discussed: Bad woke art, sensitivity readers, primary education, censorship, standpoint epistemology, critical thinking, the long history of human fantasy and folly, and more. Andrew Doyle is a journalist, playwright, satirist, and comedian. He is the creator of Titania McGrath, "a radical intersectionalist poet committed to feminism, social justice and armed peaceful protest." He is the host of Free Speech Nation and an unabashed lover of art and literature. Watch this conversation on YouTube!

According to journalist and author Kenny Xu, progressives fail to grasp the importance of merit in academic admissions and degree conferral, particularly in medicine. While Xu supports the long-held liberal ideal of equal opportunity through education, he argues that the university is not the place to address group achievement gaps. Instead, educational interventions need to begin much earlier—ideally in kindergarten.

In this conversation, Peter Boghossian and Xu discuss holistic admissions vs. merit in medicine, overcoming "diversity statements," calculating competence, the elevation of kindness over data, discrimination against Asian students, what the SAT measures, why merit requires objectivity, the humility of the scientific method, the unsustainability of "kind lies," violence against Asians, and much more.

Kenny Xu is a journalist, author, and president of Color Us United, a non-profit organization advocating for a race-blind America. His forthcoming book is School of Woke: How Critical Race Theory Infiltrated American Schools and Why We Must Reclaim Them (August 1, 2023). Xu reported on academic discrimination against Asians in his former book, An Inconvenient Minority: The Harvard Admissions Case and the Attack on Asian American Excellence. Watch this conversation on YouTube!