Why Daniel wrote a biography of David Foster Wallace ... "This Is Water" and Wallace's search for meaning ... How Wallace's depression shaped his worldview ... The double-edged sword of self-consciousness ... Wallace's effort to see reality through the eyes of others ... Wallace's suicide and literary legacy ...

Glenn's born-again Christian experience ... A double life: Harvard professor and crack addict ... How the death of a close friend shattered Glenn's faith ... Is a secular life a less meaningful life? ... Glenn's communitarian understanding of moral truth ... Why hedonism isn't enough ...

David’s new book, Does Altruism Exist? ... Human society as an organism that evolves ... Why Bob disagrees with David's worldview ... People are nicer than economists think they should be ... How cultural evolution is like genetic evolution ... The butterfly effect and group-selection theory ...

Andrew's unorthodox Christianity ... The darkest fifteen minutes of Andrew's life ... Andrew: "God is forgiveness" ... Silent monks and psychedelic experiences ... Jesus vs. Nietzsche ... Andrew: Good religion, not atheism, will beat bad religion ...

Why the Quran doesn’t give rise to young-earth arguments ... Islam’s relationship with science ... The politicization of evolution in Muslim societies ... Creationism as an expression of minority identity ... The debate among Muslims about evolution ... How Richard Dawkins has fueled the rejection of evolution ...

How scientific are the social sciences? ... Glenn defends the reliability of economic predictions ... The strengths and weaknesses of "natural experiments" ... How much does culture affect economic behavior? ... New insights from behavioral economics ... Dan: We trust the social sciences too much ...

Is loving your kids just your genes helping themselves? ... Matt's strange new respect for Tony Soprano ... How the web made writing more meaningful ... Why Matt is more religious than spiritual ... The origins of Matt's phenomenal productivity ... Would living forever be kind of a drag? ...

Paul Tillich's conception of God as "the ground of being" ... Viewing the Christian tradition as symbolic, not literal ... Tillich's engagement with Eastern mysticism ... How Tillich wrestled with the problem of evil ... Tillich's recasting of the idea of divine revelation ... Is there consolation in Tillich's view of death? ...

Unraveling the history of autism ... Preparing autistic children for productive lives ... Successful adults on the autism spectrum ... Temple and Steve recall first meeting Oliver Sacks ... The link between genius and disability ... The immortal life of Oliver Sacks ...

Clayton's research into the psychology of religious belief ... The difference between awe and inspiration ... Evidence that inspiration causes belief in God ... The effects of remembering personally inspiring events ... What happens during moments of spiritual transcendence ... Believing in a loving God vs. a controlling God ...