Many people would say they learned deep truths from art — truths about happiness, meaning, and morality.  But is that just an illusion?  Has the art fooled us into thinking we’ve learned things even though we haven’t? (Intro: Traveling in Your Mind (edited) by Loyalty Freak Music, from The Free Music Archive, CC0 1.0 Universal […]

Some biographers try to explain why their subjects made the choices that they did. But is biography like that impossible? In fact, can we ever explain why anyone did what they did? (Intro: Traveling in Your Mind (edited) by Loyalty Freak Music, from The Free Music Archive, CC0 1.0 Universal License. Outro: Swan Song (edited) […]

The novelist Patricia Highsmith is rarely praised for her characters. But are the critics making a mistake? And does the way we assess a novel’s characters say more about us than we might think?  (Intro: Traveling in Your Mind (edited) by Loyalty Freak Music, from The Free Music Archive, CC0 1.0 Universal License. Outro: Spy […]

It seems like people used to believe that important cultural conversations and insights could be found within fiction.  Has that changed?  And if so, why?  (Intro: Traveling in Your Mind (edited) by Loyalty Freak Music, from The Free Music Archive, CC0 1.0 Universal License. Outro: Dance of the Stargazer (edited) by U.S. Army Blues Band, […]

Many fans think The Dark Knight is the greatest superhero movie ever made.  But what do they love about it?  And are they right? (Intro: Traveling in Your Mind (edited) by Loyalty Freak Music, from The Free Music Archive, CC0 1.0 Universal License. Outro: The Way by Heavy Links, from The Free Music Archive, CC BY-SA […]

In this episode we discuss Aldus Huxley’s celebrated novel Brave New World.  Does the novel still have things to teach us?  (Intro: Traveling in Your Mind (edited) by Loyalty Freak Music, from The Free Music Archive, CC0 1.0 Universal License. Outro: We Start the Cure in Paris (edited) by lo-fi is sci-fi, from The Free […]

Major soccer leagues and tournaments are adopting VAR, a video replay system. But is it ruining soccer? (Intro: Traveling in Your Mind (edited) by Loyalty Freak Music, from The Free Music Archive, CC0 1.0 Universal License. Outro: Someone Else’s Memories (edited) by Revolution Void, from The Free Music Archive, CC BY 3.0 License.) Subscribe on iTunes […]

What can we demand of celebrities, athletes, and artists?  Should Magnus Carlsen have played on in the last world chess championship rather than taking an easy draw?  Should George R. R. Martin spend more time writing Game of Thrones books? (Intro: Traveling in Your Mind (edited) by Loyalty Freak Music, from The Free Music Archive, CC0 […]

Many of you emailed questions after our last podcast about single payer healthcare. In this episode, we discuss your questions about the effects of uninsurance, the financial consequences of single payer, the politics of healthcare, and many more things as well. (Intro: Traveling in Your Mind (edited) by Loyalty Freak Music, from The Free Music […]

As we approach the 2020 election, we hear a lot about single payer healthcare. But what is it? Should we like it? Along the way we discuss Alex’s new book, The Ethics of Universal Health Insurance.  (Intro: Traveling in Your Mind (edited) by Loyalty Freak Music, from The Free Music Archive, CC0 1.0 Universal License. Outro: […]