Modernity has forced the human spirit into a tunnel - is the light at the end the way back to Paradise, or an unstoppable train coming to end the human experiment?

Come join my Patreon!

https://patreon.com/c/HemlockPatreon

Original Video Credit (Kenan Institute for Ethics, 2002):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obeI1ea5ox4

Music of Tibet (1967)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_Tibet_(album)

Why Religion Matters (2001)

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25885.Why_Religion_Matters

Books and People

Summer of the Gods - Edward J. Larson (Scopes Trial)

The Origins of Love and Hate (Unfinished) - Ian D. Suttie, cited by John Bowlby

The Soul of the American University by George M. Marsden

Chapters

(00:00:00) Intro

(00:03:02) Main Talk, Skip Intro

Outline

This talk features Dr. Huston Smith, a distinguished professor of religion and philosophy, discussing themes from his work, particularly relevant to his then-forthcoming book "Why Religion Matters." He posits that modernity, driven by the success of the scientific method, has inadvertently led to "scientism"—a worldview that limits reality to the material and measurable. This scientific worldview, he argues, has shunted the human spirit into a metaphorical "tunnel," characterized by a loss of transcendence, the sense of a greater, qualitative reality that was central to traditional religious outlooks.

Smith identifies higher education, the media, and the law as institutions reinforcing this tunnel by promoting skepticism towards non-scientific truths and marginalizing religious perspectives in public life, creating an environment less hospitable to the human spirit compared to the "enchanted garden" of traditional views.

Despite this confinement, Dr. Smith sees potential "light at the end of the tunnel," pointing to several hopeful trends. These include the "fairness revolution" advancing minority and gender rights, a shift in psychology towards understanding human nature as fundamentally seeking communion and love (challenging Freudian drives), and developments in physics and cognitive science that suggest limitations to the purely materialist worldview and acknowledge realities potentially beyond space-time or current comprehension. He contrasts these positive signs with his concern that biology remains somewhat stuck in a reductive Darwinian framework, often polarizing the discussion unnecessarily. Throughout the lecture and Q&A, Smith emphasizes the enduring importance of the transcendent perspective offered by world religions for a complete understanding of reality and human flourishing.

Keywords

Huston Smith, Religion, Philosophy, Transcendence, Modernity, Scientism, Scientific Worldview, Traditional Worldview, Human Spirit, Tunnel Metaphor, Higher Education, Media Criticism, Law, Native American Church, Peyote, Fairness Revolution, Human Nature, Physics, Cognitive Science, Consciousness, Darwinism, Why Religion Matters, Multi-phonic Chanting.

Book 3 of Boethius' 6th century masterpiece De consolatione philosophiae

CONTACT FORM:

https://form.typeform.com/to/kW1uMg8G

Listen to previous sections:

Project Introduction, Essay by Scott Goins and Barbara H. Wyman

Book 1 - To Oppose Evil Men

Book 2 - Fortune's Wheel

Thanks for your patience. Remember, at least you're not dying alone in a tower for no good reason. And if you are, sorry for the wait.

Learn more about Franco and his research:

https://www.keele.ac.uk/socialsciences/staff/francocastroescobar/

https://uk.linkedin.com/in/fcastroescobar

Come join my Patreon!

https://www.patreon.com/c/HemlockPatreon

Summary

In this conversation, Franco Castro Escobar, a peace researcher and PhD candidate, discusses the historical and contemporary issues surrounding nuclear weapons, particularly focusing on Japan's anti-nuclear movement. The dialogue explores the origins of nuclear disarmament efforts, the role of scientists and intellectuals, the impact of censorship, and the environmental consequences of nuclear testing.

Chapters

(00:00) Introduction to Nuclear Disarmament and Peace Research
(04:32) The Historical Context of Nuclear Weapons in Japan
(12:30) The Role of Scientists and Intellectuals in Anti-Nuclear Movements
(20:39) Censorship and Early Opposition in Post-War Japan
(30:47) The Impact of Nuclear Weapons on Society and Environment
(37:54) Tactical Nuclear Weapons: Myths and Realities
(51:54) Contemporary Nuclear Arms Control and Its Challenges
(01:00:10) Erosion of Arms Control Treaties
(01:05:27) The Role of the NPT in Global Security
(01:12:10) Nuclear Weapons as a Deterrent
(01:15:54) The Impact of Nuclear Weapons on Global Politics
(01:19:44) Youth Activism Against Nuclear Weapons
(01:28:19) The Future of Nuclear Energy
(01:49:09) Building a Youth Archive for Anti-Nuclear Activism

-//-

Books:

-The World Set Free, H. G. Wells (1913)

-Confronting the Bomb: Lawrence S. Wittner

https://www.lawrenceswittner.com/books/confronting-the-bomb

-The Ocean on Fire, Anaïs Maurer

https://www.dukeupress.edu/the-ocean-on-fire

-Political Fallout, Toshihiro Higuchi

https://www.sup.org/books/sociology/political-fallout

-Nuclear is Not the Solution, M. V. Ramana

https://www.versobooks.com/products/3013-nuclear-is-not-the-solution

-Being Nuclear: Africans and the Global Uranium Trade, Gabrielle Hecht

https://gabriellehecht.org/being-nuclear/

-The Rape of Nanking, Iris Chang

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rape_of_Nanking_(book)

-The Free World, Louis Menand

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/21/books/review/louis-menand-the-free-world.html

-The Wizards of Armageddon, Fred Kaplan

http://www.fredkaplan.info/wizards.htm

Articles and News

Lawrence Livermore National Ignition Facility Tests Nuclear Arsenal

All Rainwater is Poison (Microplastics)

Fukushima Nuclear Disaster was Preventable, Company Responsible

Nuclear Reactor on Moon as Part of Artemis Mission

Pentagon Identifies Climate Change as Top Nat'l Sec Threat

The Baby Tooth Survey (Radiation in Baby Teeth)

Trump Admin Alters Nuclear Posture Review (NPR)

Texas Wildfire at Nuclear Weapons Facility

Cost Overruns on SENTINEL ICBM Modernization Program

Art, Poetry, Prose

The Maruki Gallery for the Hiroshima Panels

https://marukigallery.jp/en/hiroshimapanels/

Hiroshima: Three Witnesses (Book of Poetry, trans. Richard H. Minear)

https://a.co/d/1c6Tky0

When We Say Hiroshima, Kurihara Sadako

https://press.umich.edu/Books/W/When-We-Say-Hiroshima

People & Organizations

-Garry Davis (World Citizen)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Davis

-"Hibakusha" (Japanese term, “nuclear-affected person/nuclear bomb survivor”)

-John Lewis Gaddis (Cold War Historian, “The Long Peace”)

-Robert  “Bo” Jacobs (Cold War as Limited Nuclear War)

https://bojacobs.net/

Significant Events, Treaties

Atoms for Peace Speech, Eisenhower 1953

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atoms_for_Peace

Castle-Bravo Hydrogen Bomb Test (March 1954, Bikini Atoll, 15 Megatons)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_Bravo

Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons (1968)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_on_the_Non-Proliferation_of_Nuclear_Weapons

Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (1963)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partial_Nuclear_Test_Ban_Treaty

Errata

I said the Bravo test yielded 30 megatons, it actually yielded 15.

Help support the show, get access to exclusive episodes, and keep the podcast ad-free forever:

https://patreon.com/c/HemlockPatreon

Write-up on the May 68 barricades:

https://jacobin.com/2018/05/how-beautiful-it-was

The original recording was made in late April 2008 by the BBC.

Chapters

(00:00:00) Casablanca Intro

(00:06:39) 1) The Year of Revolutions: 1968

(00:48:43) 2) Philosophy in the Streets

References and Keywords

Charles de Gaulle, Joseph Stalin, CGT (Trade Union Confédération Générale du Travail), Women's Liberation, Birth Control Pill, Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault, Herbert Marcuse, Jean-Paul Sartre, Slavoj Zizek, Jacques Lacan, Guy Debord and the Situationists, Gilles Deleuze, Alain Badiou, David Cunningham (Radical Philosophy), Simon Critchley, "Boredom is counterrevolutionary", École Normale Supérieure, Henri Bergson, Structuralism, Jacques Rancière, Claude Levi-Strauss, Deconstruction.

Books:

The Society of the Spectacle - Guy Debord

The Order of Things - Michel Foucault

The Ends of Man - Jacques Derrida

Écrits (Writings) - Jacques Lacan

Reading Capital - Louis Althusser

Come join my Patreon!

https://patreon.com/c/HemlockPatreon

Check out Roy's Work:

https://www.youtube.com/@DrRoyCasagranda

Watch the original video:

https://youtu.be/D8s_qxWcN9I

Description from original:

The 1,000-year Legacy of Ibn Sina is Dr. Roy's first lecture for the Museum of the Future's Lessons from the Past (2025). This collaboration between the Museum of the Future and Dr. Roy aims to explore 10 topics ranging from the life of the father of modern medicine to examples of great leadership to the birth of the Most Serene Republic of Venice.

(Originally uploaded April 3rd 2025)

Ibn Sina:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avicenna

PART 1 (HoPAA #160a):

https://open.spotify.com/episode/5taLk6nbSkUZ3kGgRIgoSk?si=7724226c6b1042e1

Come join my Patreon!

https://www.patreon.com/c/HemlockPatreon

Learn more about Professor Darren Staloff's Work (Yes, he's still alive…)

https://hamilton.center.ufl.edu/people/darren-staloff/

This series was originally titled "The Search for a Meaningful Past" and is available on YouTube.

Chapters:

(00:00:00) Intro

(00:01:12) Arnold Toynbee and World Historical Speculation

(00:47:26) R. G. Collingwood “The Idea of History”

(01:33:36) Positivist Historiography

(02:19:48) Arthur Danto's Narration and Knowledge

(03:06:20) Fernand Braudel's “On History”

(03:52:11) Poststructuralism and the Linguistic Turn

(04:39:06) William McNeill's “Plagues and People”

(05:25:46) The Heterogeneity of Historical Knowledge

(06:10:32) Outro

-//-

Check out Dr. Lain's Work:

https://law.richmond.edu/faculty/clain/

Pre-Order "Secrets of the Killing State: The Untold Story of Lethal Injection"

https://a.co/d/7tqFYeB

Come join my Patreon!

https://www.patreon.com/c/HemlockPatreon

-//-

Show Notes:

People Mentioned:

Michel Foucault

Dan Carlin

Books, Podcasts:

Discipline and Punish

Hardcore History: Painfotainment

Our Class: Trauma and Transformation in an American Prison (Chris Hedges)

I did a podcast about torture, both in Abu Ghraib and in American prisons in the context of the "global war on terror":

https://www.patreon.com/posts/s1e3-tortured-110682686

Studies and Citations:

The reversal rate on death sentences:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2015/03/17/most-death-penalty-sentences-are-overturned-heres-why-that-matters/

4.1% on death row are factually innocent (National Academy of Sciences):

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1306417111

Anders Breivik

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anders_Behring_Breivik#Prison_life

-Let me know in the comments what I missed and I'll add it back in-

Buy Dr. Boursier's Book Precious Precarity and Support Her Work:

https://a.co/d/8h6xu0D

Come join my community on Patreon (free to sign up!)

https://patreon.com/HemlockPatreon

Chapters

(00:00) Introduction to the Crisis at the Border

(02:54) Helen's Journey into Advocacy

(09:27) Conditions in Detention Centers

(13:05) Legal and Human Rights Violations

(15:27) The Journey of Migrant Families

(22:29) Art as a Healing Tool

(35:45) Understanding Femicide and Feminicide

(43:37) U.S. Complicity in Central American Violence

(44:30) Historical Context of U.S. Intervention in Latin America

(48:41) The Flores Settlement Agreement and Child Asylum Seekers

(51:53) The Role of Indifference in Immigration Policy

(56:04) The Impact of Immigration on American Society

(01:01:42) The Power of Storytelling in Asylum Cases

(01:10:13) Reflections on Justice and Compassion

(01:18:01) Environmental Impacts of the Border Wall

(01:25:03) Faith, Politics, and the Call to Justice

Works Referenced (Books, Articles):

Trauma and Recovery, Judith Herman

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/542700.Trauma_and_Recovery

Everyone Who is Gone is Here, Jonathan Blitzer

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/145624514-everyone-who-is-gone-is-here

Epistemic Injustice: Power and the Ethics of Knowing, Miranda Fricker

https://academic.oup.com/book/32817?login=false

Femicide: The Politics of Woman Killing, ed. Jill Radford and Diana E. H. Russell

https://docslib.org/doc/5701267/femicide-the-politics-of-woman-killing

2666, Roberto Bolaño

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2666

Works Referenced (People)

Elie Wiesel

Dawn Martin-Hill (Indigenous Studies, PhD)

https://rematriation.com/dawn-martin-hillmother-scientist-activist/

Hope Frye (Lawyer, Flores Settlement)

https://immigrationhistory.org/item/the-flores-settlement/

Works Referenced (Film and Documentary)

Sophie's Choice

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084707/

American Scar: The Environmental Tragedy of the Border Wall

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cx71C4iguuk&pp=ygUNYW1lcmljYW4gc2Nhcg%3D%3D

Trails of Hope and Terror the Movie

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6095044/

-//-

tags:

migrant families, ICE detention, human rights, femicide, art therapy, U.S.-Mexico border, advocacy, immigration, trauma recovery, social justice, U.S. intervention, Latin America, asylum seekers, Flores Settlement Agreement, immigration policy, indifference, environmental impact, justice, storytelling, faith

Come join my Patreon!

https://patreon.com/HemlockPatreon

Watch the conversation on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDzcdGzjXmI

Originally titled “The Search for a Meaningful Past”⁠

YouTube Playlist:

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRGCfeEu2DRR4_Px-vrIfyPRkmzaDbmyf&si=xa1Cw7i66We6QoXR

Check out Dr. Darren Staloff's Work:

https://hamilton.center.ufl.edu/people/darren-staloff/

Support this work on Patreon:

⁠https://patreon.com/HemlockPatreon⁠

NB: The chapter on Mircea Eliade has been already published on this channel as HoPAA #158.

Chapters:

(00:00:00)-Intro

(00:00:36)-1.Philosophies, Theories, and Interpretations of Human History

(00:43:56)-2.Mircea Eliade's Cosmos and History of Cyclical Time

(01:29:07)-3.Vico's New Science of History

(02:16:01)-4.Kant's Idea for a Universal History

(03:02:54)-5.Hegel's Philosophy of History

(03:49:59)-6.Marx's Historical Materialism

(04:32:10)-7.Nietzsche's Critique of Historical Consciousness

(05:19:49)-8.Weber's Historical Sociology

-//-