Reason with Science

This episode is with Martin Rees. Prof. Rees is a cosmologist and astrophysicist at Cambridge University  and  co-founder of the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk. He was  President of the Royal Society. His latest book is 'On the future: Prospects for humanity'. In this conversation we talk about the evidence for big bang, aliens,  threats to humanity, space travel and how to envision the future of  humanity?  

More about Martin's work: https://www.martinrees.uk/ 

Follow Martin on twitter: https://twitter.com/LordMartinRees  

Timestamps: 

00:00:00 Introduction 

00:00:55 Progress of humanity so far!  

00:01:53 Contribution of science and technology to the future of humanity  

00:04:40 What is science and technology?  

00:06:16 Debates on science and religion 

00:07:20 Copernican revolution  

00:08:55 Our place in the universe 

00:12:26 How complexity arises from matter? 

00:13:23 Is everything deterministic?  

00:14:28 Predicting effectively 

00:15:46 How will we go extinct?  

00:18:09 Issues with globalization  

00:20:03 Why can't we resolve the issues of climate change? 

00:22:50 Should we be alarmed about genetic engineering? 

00:27:21 Artificial intelligence and it's future impacts 

00:29:29 Silicon-based future of humanity  

00:31:26 Humanity beyond earth  

00:33:25 Humans exploring the universe 

00:37:13 Space exploration advantages 

00:39:30 Other species for humans survival  

This episode is with Frans De Waal. He is a professor in Emory  University's psychology department and the Director of the Living Links  Center at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center. He is the author  of several popular books like 'Chimpanzee politics', The age of empathy'  and 'The bonobo and the atheist'. His latest book is 'Different: gender  through the eyes of a primatologist'.

In this conversation we talk about  evolution of sex and gender in humans, primates, and mammals.  

More about Frans's work: https://www.emory.edu/LIVING_LINKS/people/dewaal.shtml 

List of his books: https://www.amazon.com/Frans-De-Waal/e/B000APOHE0/ref=aufs_dp_mata_dsk  

Timestamps: 

00:00:00 Introduction 

00:00:54 Primatologist's take on gender    

00:06:54 Biases in human cultures  

00:08:15 Sex and gender in the society  

00:10:58 Difference between sex and gender   

00:15:11 Toxic masculinity 

00:16:48 Do sapiens have male dominated societies? 

00:20:20 Power struggles in the societies  

00:21:39 Violence in the societies  

00:23:47 Violence in the bonobos 

00:25:10 Can we decrease the violence? 

00:28:19 Can nurture control nature? 

00:28:50 Rapes in primates   

00:31:15 Friendship, cooperation and peacemaking  

00:35:39 Monogamy in primates  

00:37:06 Same-sex sex  

00:39:31 Transgenders 

00:45:23 Maternal instincts and xenophobia   

00:52:37 How far nurture can change nature?   

01:00:07 Thank you!   

This is a conversation with Dr. Robert Lustig. Dr. Lustig is a neuroendocrinologist with expertise in metabolism, obesity, and nutrition.  He’s the Emeritus Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology at UCSF. His latest book is Metabolical: The Lure and the Lies of Processed Food, Nutrition, and Modern Medicine. In this conversation we talk about role of processed food in the chronic diseases, Focus of modern medicine, what is the best diet?, science of sugar and importance of nutrition.  

Find our more about Dr. Lustig's work: https://robertlustig.com/

Check out his books: https://robertlustig.com/books/ 

Timestamps: 

00:00:00 Introduction 

00:02:14 What does healthy mean?  

00:08:06 Prevention is better than cure!  

00:09:16 Focus of present medicine 

00:13:04 Metabolic syndrome  

00:16:56 A calorie is calorie! 

00:23:51 Protect the liver and feed the gut! 

00:25:31 Importance of fiber in diet! 

00:28:38 Role of exercise for health 

00:30:42 Changing the society for good health  

00:33:00 Role of genetics and metabolic syndrome 

00:37:31 What is a good diet?

00:41:32 Intermittent fasting   

00:43:25 Sugar in processed food 

00:45:35 Real foods  

00:48:23 Public education about nutrition  

00:57:46 Eating desserts  

01:01:18 Thank you!

This is second part of the conversation with Prof. Alice Hughes. She is  working at XTBG in China. Her work focuses on understanding patterns of  biodiversity and drivers of biodiversity change, with an aim to form  more rigorous & appropriate conservation. In this conversation we  discuss about what are bats, evolution of bats, importance of the bats  for the biodiversity, bats and viruses, eating bats, bats and pandemic,  biodiversity, importance of biodiversity, various ways for biodiversity  conservation, diversity in science and women in science.

Guest info: 

Website: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1HNTYjVHFATRbARoPvs-VYFplsy6WSZpJ8CLexygh2IA/edit

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AliceCHughes?s=20

Episode links:

Website: https://www.reasonwithscience.com/home/bats-pandemic-and-women-in-science-with-alice-hughes

Youtube: https://youtu.be/lmtiT04a1so

Spotify: 

Apple podcast:  

Google podcast: 

Follow Reason with Science:

Website: https://www.reasonwithscience.com/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/reasonwithscience

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5qFLGsPWjL4GAGidmF2nKh

Apple podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/reason-with-science/id1641776894

Google podcast: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy9iMjMyNDZlOC9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw

Timestamps:

0:00 Introduction 

0:51 What are bats? 

04:57 How many species of bats? 

05:42 Evolution of bats? 

08:12 Habitats of bats? 

11:35 Immunity of bats 

17:00 Are bats beautiful? 

21:14 Eating bats 

24:49 Why we should know, what to eat 

26:30 Lifestyle for you and others 

27:18 Why do we need biodiversity? 

31:10 Biodiverse world 

31:31 Challenges for the conservation of biodiversity 

34:22 Biodiversity and role of consumers 

36:13 Being conscious of what are you eating 

39:13 What you can do from distance for biodiversity conservation? 

44:03 Supporting local populations to support biodiversity 

51:17 Diversity in science 52:28 Gender roles in science 

54:53 Science of genders 

57:02 How to overcome gender biases?  

1:00:30 Can 50-50% formula work in research institutes? 

1:05:10 Education and science communication to flourish science 

1:07:27 Nobel prizes for women! 

1:09:38 Experience of a woman in science 

1:11:24 Find out more about Alice's work 

1:12:07 Thanks!

Michael Strevens is a professor of Philosophy at New York University. He  is specialized on the philosophy of science. His major interests  include explanation, complex systems, probability, confirmation, the  social structure of science, and causation; the psychology of concepts;  and the philosophical applications of cognitive science. He is the  author of The Knowledge Machine: How Irrationality Created Modern  Science, Thinking Off Your Feet: How Empirical Psychology Vindicates  Armchair Philosophy and Depth. 

In this conversation, we talk about: philosophy of science, work of the  great philosophers of science Karl Popper and Thomas Kuhn, what is  science, how science works, the knowledge machine, iron rule,  irrationality of science, arrival of modern science, iron rule of  science for artificial intelligence.  

Guest info : 

Website : http://www.strevens.org/ 

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Michael-Strevens/e/B001JSCAMI/ref=dp_byline_cont_pop_book_1  

Episode links:  

Website: https://www.reasonwithscience.com/home/philosophy-meets-science-with-michael-strevens 

Youtube: https://youtu.be/1FfqgPceI2Y 

Spotify:  

Apple podcast:  

Google podcast:   

Follow Reason with Science:  

Website: https://www.reasonwithscience.com/  

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/reasonwithscience  

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5qFLGsPWjL4GAGidmF2nKh  

Apple podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/reason-with-science/id1641776894  

Google podcast: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy9iMjMyNDZlOC9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw  

Here's the outline of the session: 

0:00 Introduction  

0:38 A philosopher of science   

1:47 Work of Karl popper and Thomas Kuhn  

4:43 What did Popper and Kuhn miss?  

8:39 What is science?   

17:40 The knowledge machine  

21:37 Irrational science   

31:28 Nature of empirical evidence   

37:50 Power struggles in science   

42:16 Iron rule of science   

49:10 Einstein was right!   

51:35 Proof reading in science   

54:49 Why it took so much time for science to arrive?   

1:01:08 Power of science   

1:04:44 Science and pseudoscience   

1:07:31 Education and science   

1:11:09 Who is a scientist?  

1:16:20 Read the knowledge machine   

1:19:02 Science with robots  

1:22:16 More about Michael's work  

Listen to Michael's talk at the royal institute: https://youtu.be/aaf6qDk3-ic  

#philosophy #reasonwithscience #evolution

This is the conversation with Prof. Alice Hughes. She is working at XTBG  in China. Her work focuses on understanding patterns of biodiversity  and drivers of biodiversity change, with an aim to form more rigorous  & appropriate conservation. In this conversation we discuss about  what is evolution, how it works, why it is important to study, Evolution  vs intelligent design, Artificial breeding, proof of evolution and  complex traits like altruism. 

Guest info:

Researchgate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Alice-Hughes-3

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AliceCHughes

CV: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1HNTYjVHFATRbARoPvs-VYFplsy6WSZpJ8CLexygh2IA/edit

Episode links: 

Website: https://www.reasonwithscience.com/home/what-is-evolution-with-alice-hughes

Youtube: https://youtu.be/N7_TKmEX_Y0

Spotify: 

Apple podcast: 

Google podcast:

Follow Reason with Science: 

Website: https://www.reasonwithscience.com/ 

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/reasonwithscience 

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5qFLGsPWjL4GAGidmF2nKh 

Apple podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/reason-with-science/id1641776894 

Google podcast: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy9iMjMyNDZlOC9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw

Timestamps: 

00:00:00 Introduction 

00:00:57 Alice's work 

00:03:36 Life beyond humans 

00:05:12 What Evolution by natural selection is? 

00:12:12 Timescale of evolution 

00:17:15 What is genetics and a gene? 

00:22:25 Effects of changes in genes 

00:24:01 Importance of variation in natural selection 

00:25:03 Strangeness of Panda's 

00:26:18 Importance of breeding for evolution 

00:27:39 A walk toward our common ancestor with chimpanzees and bonobos 

00:31:40 Success of humans in passing on their gene pools 

00:35:28 Evolution of religion 

00:38:53 Evolution vs Intelligent design 

00:42:47 Proof of evolution 

00:45:45 Sexual or asexual reproduction 

00:49:37 Altruism  

00:52:45 Homosexuality 

00:56:24 Adoption 

00:58:59 Why it is difficult to understand evolution? 

01:02:23 Material to read 

01:03:17 Thanks!

Desmond Morris is a renowned zoologist, surrealist painter, writer and a  TV presenter from UK. He is 93 years old now and still working with the  same passion. In this rather long discussion, we covered various  topics, like: His early life, growing up during world war II, his  interest in zoology and surrealism, writing one of the top 100  bestsellers "The naked ape", Human tribalism, gender roles in human  society and what is the secret of a long life.  

To explore more of his work, please visit:  https://www.desmond-morris.com/ 

You can visit his surrealist gallery at: https://www.thesurrealistartgallery.com/ 

Here's a list of his books: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=desmond+morris&i=stripbooks&crid=2YCH510PTLKG6&sprefix=desmond+morr%2Caps%2C255&ref=nb_sb_ss_c_2_12_ts-doa-p 

Watch his series on "Human animal" here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsU4WRVpS-k&list=PL6rhwBk0BMZRBRSsziiG73xYPaXq3BxNU&index=2 

Episode links:   

Website: https://www.reasonwithscience.com/home/the-artistic-ape-with-desmond-morris

Youtube: https://youtu.be/l7JdHUX8ZEM

Spotify:  

Apple podcast:   

Google podcast:   

Follow Reason with Science:   

Website: https://www.reasonwithscience.com/   

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/reasonwithscience   

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5qFLGsPWjL4GAGidmF2nKh  

Apple podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/reason-with-science/id1641776894   

Google podcast: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy9iMjMyNDZlOC9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw

Timestamps: 

0:00 Welcome and introduction   

0:58 Growing up during WWII  

5:46 Similarities between an artist and a scientist  

9:55 The naked ape  26:55 Human zoo and tribalism  

34:26 How strong our tribal urges are?  

45:47 Gender equality and roles in human societies  

54:50 Arms race between culture and the biology?  

58:23 Congo: the artist  1:04:03 The trap: beginning of surrealism  

1:09:23 What is the secret of a long life?  

1:12:27 Question from Anna Papageorgiou  

1:22:03 Question from Dr. Julie Thakur  

1:25:37 Farewell  

#reasonwithscience #desmondmorris #nakedape

This  episode is with Frans De Waal. He is a professor in Emory University's  psychology department and the Director of the Living Links Center at the  Yerkes National Primate Research Center. He is the author of several  popular books like 'Chimpanzee politics', The age of empathy' and 'The  bonobo and the atheist'. His latest book is 'Different: gender through  the eyes of a primatologist'.

More about Frans's work: 

https://www.emory.edu/LIVING_LINKS/people/dewaal.shtml

List of his books:

https://www.amazon.com/Frans-De-Waal/e/B000APOHE0/ref=aufs_dp_mata_dsk

Episode links:  

Website: https://www.reasonwithscience.com/home/how-human-values-evolve-with-frans-de-waal

Youtube: https://youtu.be/liNH1h8lZN4

Spotify:  https://open.spotify.com/episode/2i8GktbaqgXDJQMPPiWYil?si=57d5f213d9c54bb2

Apple podcast:  https://podcastsconnect.apple.com/my-podcasts/show/reason-with-science/407cd478-4271-4319-8318-fc378d4e7ccb/episode/how-human-values-evolve-with-frans-de-waal/fc5141bc-2820-4f39-9f8b-443e571546c5

Google podcast:  https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy9iMjMyNDZlOC9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw/episode/YTI5OGE5NjMtZGNmMy00ZTRmLTllMzMtYmY1NjdkZmZmOWYw?sa=X&ved=0CAUQkfYCahcKEwiY97-TiM76AhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQLA

Follow Reason with Science:  

Website: https://www.reasonwithscience.com/  

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/reasonwithscience  

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5qFLGsPWjL4GAGidmF2nKh  

Apple podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/reason-with-science/id1641776894  

Google podcast: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy9iMjMyNDZlOC9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw

Timestamps: 

00:00:00 Welcome and introduction  

00:00:35 Journey of Frans De Waal  

00:01:58 Why to study animals?   

00:04:51 Are humans rational?  

00:07:31 Evolution of blind faith?  

00:09:04 What is the foundation of morality? 

00:12:15 What is reciprocity?   

00:14:41 Importance of reciprocity in societies   

00:16:00 Do hierarchies exist? What is their need in the society?  

00:19:48 Where is the power in a hierarchy?  

00:21:28 Bonobos and the matriarchy!   

00:24:34 Unconscious bias  

00:28:07 Luit: an alpha male targeted by a coup in the colony  

00:31:07 Do animals grieve?   

00:33:13 Consciousness and Sentience   

00:36:49 Do we need zoo's?  

00:38:46 Chimp Haven: A project for chimpanzee's released for research labs  

00:40:38 Future of farm animals   

00:42:43 Saving animals from poaching   

00:44:01 International orangutan day   

00:44:57 Questions from Dr.  Kavyashree Manjunath  

00:48:36 Question from Dr.  Devendra Mohan Mathur   

00:50:58 Questions from Dr. Neha Shukla  

00:55:59 Question from Dr. Manu Sharma  

00:57:19 Question from Anna Papageorgiou  

01:00:00 Question from Reema Masey  

01:01:55 Question from Dr. Sara bologna  

01:04:04 Question from Dr.  Sreetama Bhadra  

01:06:12 Upcoming book and farewell 

#morality #religion #reasonwithscience