Provocative Enlightenment Radio

Humans possess an extraordinary capacity for cultural production, from the arts and language to science and technology. How did the human mind―and the uniquely human ability to devise and transmit culture―evolve from its roots in animal behavior? Darwin’s Unfinished Symphony presents a captivating new theory of human cognitive evolution. Professor Kevin Laland shows how the learned and socially transmitted activities of our ancestors shaped our intellects through accelerating cycles of evolutionary feedback.

Kevin Laland is Professor of Behavioural and Evolutionary Biology at the University of St Andrews, UK. After completing his PhD at University College London, Laland held a Human Frontier Science Programme fellowship at UC Berkeley, followed by BBSRC and Royal Society University Research fellowships at the University of Cambridge, before moving to St Andrews in 2002. He has published nearly 250 scientific articles and 11 books on a wide range of topics related to animal behaviour and evolution, particularly social learning, cultural evolution and niche construction. He is an elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology.

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Few people would or should want to learn to recite Pi to 22,514 decimal places, draw landmarks in breathtaking detail, or remember the contents of 12,000 books. Everyone is different. By refusing to gawp at these feats, preferring instead to focus on the person behind them, Dr Treffert sends out the message that it is the creative, imaginative processes at the root of such abilities that matter most. Only by considering the context of savants’ lives can we more fully and properly understand the gifts that they possess.

Dr. Darold Treffert received his medical degree and psychiatric residency training at the University of Wisconsin Medical School. His first position was setting up a Children’s Unit at Winnebago Mental Health Institute in Winnebago, Wisconsin. That is where he met his first savant in 1962.

He was a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin Medical School, Department of Psychiatry for many years. He has written extensively in the professional literature on the rights of the mentally ill, stress management (under the title of Rustproofing People or Mellowing), autism and savant syndrome. In 2016 Agnesian HealthCare, St. Agnes Hospital, established the Treffert Center to preserve and expand Dr. Treffert’s work with savant syndrome and other forms of exceptional brain performance.

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Neuroscientist Lisa Feldman Barrett completely rejects the theory of emotion that suggests our reactions to what happens around us are hardwired and universal. In How Emotions Are Made, Dr. Barrett offers groundbreaking new research that proves emotion is constructed by our brains and our bodies as we go along. Dr. Barrett provocatively contradicts a century of scientific thought when she argues that emotions are not cross-culturally universal, fear does not live in the amygdala, etc.

Lisa Feldman Barrett, PhD, is a University Distinguished Professor of Psychology at Northeastern University, with appointments at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital in Psychiatry and Radiology. She received a NIH Director’s Pioneer Award for her research on emotion in the brain, and the 2018 APS Mentor Award For Lifetime Achievement.

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Challenging our understanding of what it means to be human, Joel Salinas, a Harvard-trained researcher and neurologist at Massachusetts General, shares his experiences with mirror-touch synesthesia, a rare and only recently identified neurological trait that causes him to feel the emotional and physical experiences of other people. Salinas refers to his condition as a kind of compulsory mindfulness, a heightened empathic ability that offers him invaluable clues about how to see and live the world through other people’s perspectives.

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Daniel L. Shapiro, PhD, is a world-renowned expert on the psychology of conflict resolution. Named one of Harvard’s top 15 professors by the Harvard Crimson, he is founder and director of the Harvard International Negotiation Program and regularly advises everyone from hostage negotiators to families in crisis, disputing CEOs to clashing heads of state. He has launched successful conflict resolutions in the Middle East, Europe, and East Asia.

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Ms. Creant is a book intended to raise our consciousness by asking questions on topics our societies tell us NOT to discuss openly. Sex, equality, politics, and religion are all topics on his conversational table. In researching this book looking for answers to the question: Why do women behave as they do? He discovered some answers which made him take notice of many behavioral patterns.

E. A. Barker believes he is an average middle-age guy who has led a mostly average life. His readers may not agree with his assessment. The single biggest difference between him and most other people, is his pursuit of knowledge. Throughout his life he never stopped asking the simplest question: Why? E. A. fancies himself as a collector of ideas and a purveyor of dot connections. He attempts to present his findings in an entertaining fashion in an effort to encourage people to read—especially men who are reading far too little these days. He is an advocate of education for its ability to affect social reform and actively promotes the idea that a global conscience is possible.

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Andy Molinsky is a Professor at Brandeis University’s International Business School, with a joint appointment in the Department of Psychology. Andy received his Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior and M.A. in Psychology from Harvard University. Andy’s work helps people develop the insights and courage necessary to act outside their personal and cultural comfort zones when doing important, but challenging, tasks in work and life. His research and writing has been featured in Harvard Business Review, Inc. Magazine, Psychology Today, the Financial Times, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Boston Globe, NPR and Voice of America. Andy was awarded as a Top Voice for LinkedIn for his work in education. His first book, Global Dexterity (Harvard Business Review Press, 2013), received the Axiom Award (Silver Medal) for Best Business Book in International Business & Globalization and has been used widely in organizations around the world, including Boeing, AIG, the US Air Force Academy, and the Clinton Foundation, among others. His new book Reach was published with Penguin Random House in January 2017. He teaches, consults, and lectures widely to university and corporate audiences. To learn more about Provocative Enlightenment Radio, go to http://www.provocativeenlightenment.com

From the author of the very successful MindBody Code comes a new book that examines the impact our cultural beliefs have on our health and longevity. Drawing on extensive scientific research and his years of experience as a clinical neuropsychologist, Dr. Mario Martinez explores the cultural conditions that influence our sense of self and explains how this affects the diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment of disease as well as the way we think about aging.

Dr. Mario Martinez is a licensed clinical psychologist and best-selling author. He lectures worldwide on his pioneering work in biocognitive science, a new mind-body paradigm that investigates the inherited causes of health and how our cultural beliefs affect our immune, nervous, and endocrine systems. Based on how the immune system makes decisions under conditions of uncertainty, Dr. Martinez has also developed a unique model of organizational science he calls The Empowerment Code to teach executives of global companies how to maximize productivity while enhancing wellness.

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Professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Iceland, Erlandur Haraldsson has researched reincarnation for many years. He has published some one-hundred papers in peer-reviewed journals, and written eight books including “At the Hour of Death with Karlis Osis,” a major study of deathbed-visions. I Saw a Light and Came Here: Children´s Experiences of Reincarnation is primarily based on my investigations of one hundred cases of children who spoke about memories of a past life. Includes a psychological study of these children.

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Kirkus Reviews says this about Byrd’s book, “Byrd’s memoir almost reads like a suspenseful novel, and readers are sure to be gripped by the possible explanations she provides for (her son’s) seemingly inexplicable memories. She also thoughtfully reflects on her own spirituality, and the ways in which her son’s revelations challenged her Christian faith . . . On the whole, this is an affecting portrayal of parenthood, and an affectionate love letter from a mother to her unusual child. An eclectic mix of mystery, memoir, and the supernatural.”

Cathy Byrd is a busy realtor and mother of two young children who never had aspirations of becoming a writer until her son began sharing vivid memories of being a baseball player in the 1920s and ‘30s. When she is not busy writing or selling homes, the most likely place to find Cathy is on a baseball field in Southern California.

To learn more about Provocative Enlightenment Radio, go to http://www.provocativeenlightenment.com