MeaningofLife.tv

Cullen’s new book about the heyday of the funny pages, Cartoon County ... What it was like to grow up as the child of a cartoonist ... Artists who were politically liberal and culturally conservative ... An idyllic white world created for a quasi-idyllic time ... No belly-buttons, no male nipples ... How Cullen took over writing Prince Valiant—and how that shaped his subsequent writing ...

American paranormal culture, from dabblers to devotees ... Speaking in tongues vs. alien visitations ... The search for Bigfoot turns professional ... Can you be both "normal" and "paranormal"? ... Why ghost stories seem to "latch onto our brains" ... The data behind the reissue of Joseph's book, Paranormal America ...

The pervasiveness of sexual harassment ... Human nature according to Socrates, the Google memo guy, and Bob ... Are gendered behavioral differences innate or learned? ... John: Scientists keep trying, and failing, to discern the roots of human behavior ... Can you be both enlightened—in the Buddhist sense—and immoral ... Sexual harassment in science and philosophy ...

Just how Euro-centric are American philosophy departments, anyway? ... Is racism baked into Western philosophy? ... A brief account of Western dalliances with Eastern thought ... Why new movements in philosophy must kill their ancestors ... Why do philosophy departments stay white? Subtle self-selection, Bryan says ... Is philistinism killing philosophy as a discipline? ...

John continues to ruffle the feathers of scientists and philosophers ... Concepts of consciousness, from pure materialism to panpsychism ... John: The solipsism problem will keep the mind-body problem problematic ... Daniel Dennett’s inordinate aversion to mystery ... John gives us the plot spoiler about his book-in-progress ... Bob thought he had Dan Dennett cornered. But then… ... Are we in a simulation? Perish the thought, says John ...

Ellen’s new book The Happiness Hack as an owner’s guide to the human brain ... Distraction as a “dopamine hijack” ... Conditioning the mind for happiness ... The neurology behind self-inflicted emotional wounds ... How to change happiness from “destination” to “journey” ... Ellen’s tips for “hacking into” contentment and purpose ...

Pondering free will before Thanksgiving’s excesses ... Shaun: Determinism is too complicated to be intuitive ... The benefits of blame ... Is “free” will just a matter of semantics? ... What game theory experiments tell us about moralistic anger ... Shaun: It’s okay to use determinism to forgive yourself ... Do the “uncaused effects” of quantum physics bear on the free will question? ...

The Rohingya crisis in Myanmar ... Is Aung San Suu Kyi to blame? ... The Buddhists inciting violence against Muslims ... The conditions that foster Buddhist nationalism ... Myanmar’s theocratic vibes ... Who’s helping the Rohingya? ...

How philosopher Arthur Danto attempted to define art ... Danto’s preoccupation with Warhol’s Brillo Boxes ... Is art just “aboutness”? ... Crispin: Danto’s historicity constrained his concept of art ... Dan questions Hegel on art’s inherent purpose ... Why common crafts may come to replace high art ...

Martin Luther’s Ninety-five Theses, 500 years later ... Luther was very hard on himself, and the consequences were huge ... Why Luther’s sermons went viral in 16th-century Germany ... Luther’s mark on future Protestant denominations ... The Diet of Worms and its improbably dramatic aftermath ... Why did Prince Frederick III of Saxony protect Luther? ...