Humanities (Audio)

Robert Pogue Harrison is the chairman of the Department of French and Italian at Stanford University, and the author of several critically acclaimed books, including "The Dominion of the Dead," which examines the complicated ways that the living relate to the dead. In this edition of "Up Next," Harrison discusses the declining fortunes of the dead in modern society and what that decline says about our future. Series: "Up Next: Perspectives on the Future of Everything" [Health and Medicine] [Humanities] [Show ID: 30068]

A fundamental of scientific analysis is the rejection of stories. Anecdotes can mislead you and solid analysis of the data is needed to ensure that coincidence is not mistaken for correlation. But one of the fundamentals of communication is the human need for stories to make an emotional connection to the information provided. Lucy Jones, Science Advisor for Risk Reduction, U.S. Geological Survey, explores the successes and challenges in bridging this gap between scientists and the larger public. Series: "UC Berkeley Graduate Lectures" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 30176]

UCSB Script to Screen hosts director Jay Roach (Austin Powers trilogy) and screenwriter John McNamara for a conversations about Trumbo, a historical piece about a blacklisted screen writer and the screen writing process. Series: "Carsey-Wolf Center" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 30277]

Gerd Gigerenzer, director of the Center for Adaptive Behavior and Cognition at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin, wants us all to be more “risk savvy.” He explores different kinds of risks and the ways we are misled and manipulated by politicians, financial advisors, doctors and others who purport to be looking out for us. Series: "SAGE Center for the Study of the Mind" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 30163]

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes Jan Assmann, Honorary Professor of Cultural and Religious Studies at the University of Constance, for a discussion of his career as a Egyptologist and scholar of comparative religions. After reflections on his formative years in a German medieval town suffering from the ravages of World War II and its aftermath, Assmann describes the community of Egyptologists and the intellectual influences that shaped his scholarship. He also characterizes the intellectual joys and hardships of field research in ancient tombs. Finally, he touches on some of the themes of his scholarship including the evolution of ideas that characterize religious change; comparison of Moses and Akhenaten; and the importance of writing, canonization, and exegesis to cultural memory and the resilience and survival of religions. Series: "Conversations with History" [Humanities] [Show ID: 30173]

An evening of conversation and celebration at the close of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Dr. Jonas Salk featuring his sons Jonathan and Peter, author Mary Walshok and Gary Robbins, science editor of the San Diego Union-Tribune. The panel reflects on how Jonas Salk, his wife Francoise Gilot and his Institute shaped San Diego and its fledgling biomedical community; the interplay between Salk and other leaders in building the civic infrastructure, and other remembrances from the Salk brothers about their father’s discovery of a vaccine for polio. Series: "The Library Channel" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 29919]

In his book “The Nazis Next Door: How America Became A Safe Haven For Hitler’s Men,” Eric Lichtblau investigates a trove of newly discovered documents which bring to light an unknown era post WWII. He discusses how Nazis were protected by the U.S. government to become spies, intelligence assets, and leading scientists and engineers. Series: "Herman P. and Sophia Taubman Endowed Symposia in Jewish Studies" [Humanities] [Show ID: 29505]

UCSB’s Script to Screen visits Comic Con 2015 in San Diego. Series: "Carsey-Wolf Center" [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 30030]

All humans have the capacity for aggression and reconciliation. However, it is cultural institutions that harness aggression by shaping cognition, corresponding emotions and defining appropriate responses. In this talk, Polly Wiessner (Univ of Utah) compares the cultural institutions related to aggression and violence and their outcomes in two different societies: Ju/’hoan hunter-gatherers of the Kalahari and Enga horticulturists of Papua New Guinea. She tries to show “what culture has to do with it” and demonstrate real consequences. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 28353]

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes Yale Law School Professor John Fabian Witt for a discussion of the craft of legal history. Topics covered include: understanding context in legal narratives; nationalism and cosmopolitanism in the evolution of civil liberties and tort law; and the importance of slavery, emancipation, and the established laws of nations in the making of Lincoln’s Code, a revolutionary change in U.S. laws of war. The conversation concludes with thoughts on how legal history could inform a discussion of the sharing economy’s impact on the law Series: "Conversations with History" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 30077]