Speakeasy

This week on the podcast, writer and historian Benjamin Aldes Wurgaft joins us to talk about Meat Planet: Artificial Flesh and the Future of Food, his new book on the quest to generate meat in the lab—a substance sometimes called “cultured meat”—and what it means to imagine that this is the future of food.

The topics of Ben's books, essays, and criticism range from the history of philosophy to contemporary food culture, with stops along the way for coffee and the history of the café, the history of colleges and universities, and laboratory-grown meat and the future of food.

Links:

Meat Planet: Artificial Flesh and the Future of Food -- https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520379008/meat-planet

Ben's website -- https://benwurgaft.org/

Family life is never easy. Even more so with twelve children, six of whom develop schizophrenia.

In Hidden Valley Road, Robert Kolker details the lives of the Galvins, America's "most mentally ill family."

Part drama, part medical mystery, Hidden Valley Road examines the trials of the Galvins and the scientists keen on uncovering the cause of schizophrenia.

We had the privilege of having Aidan Simardone guest host this episode. If you enjoy their chat, keep an eye out for his forthcoming review!

Links:

Author: http://robertkolker.com/

Book: https://www.amazon.ca/Hidden-Valley-Road-Inside-American/dp/0735274479/ref=asc_df_0735274479/?tag=googleshopc0c-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=459299159758&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=2589666453663461515&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9000793&hvtargid=pla-1359432133142&psc=1

In honour of Pride Month, this week we're speaking with Toronto Sun columnist Sue-Ann Levy about her 30+ year career in journalism.

A self-described "disturber," Sue-Ann is best known for her investigative reporting asking politicians tough questions and unearthing corruption. In 2016, she released her first book, Underdog (link below), an autobiography tracing her journey through Toronto city politics.

You can follow her on Twitter @SueAnnLevy to see what she has in store following an already illustrious journalism career.

Links:

Final Column: https://t.co/HPNsTf9kOV?amp=1

Book: https://www.amazon.ca/Underdog-Confessions-Right-Wing-Jewish-Muckraker/dp/0771048009

This week on the podcast, famed Australian philosopher Peter Singer stopped by to talk about his latest book Why Vegan? and a new academic journal he co-established called The Journal of Controversial Ideas.

The book is a collection of essays from throughout Singer's career on "our failure to confront what we are doing to animals, to public health, and to our planet." The journal -- as the name suggests -- is "a forum for careful, rigorous, unpolemical discussion of issues that are widely considered controversial."

Whether you enjoy Singer's work or you're just interested in veganism and controversial ideas, you are sure to find this episode thought-provoking!

Links:

Why Vegan? -- https://wwnorton.com/books/9781631498565

The Journal of Controversial Ideas -- https://journalofcontroversialideas.org/

Professor Eric Kaufmann is one of the leading public intellectuals on populism, immigration, and identity politics.

His 2018 book, Whiteshift, sparked debate across Western intellectual circles over what the driving forces behind the rise of Trump and Brexit actually were.

Apart from speaking about Whiteshift, our conversation looks at Dr. Kaufmann's work with The Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology (CSPI), the academic climate today, and future projects he's working on

Links:

Whiteshift: https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/1419741926/ref=as_li_qf_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=speakeasy03c-20&creative=330641&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=1419741926&linkId=3e7aabe6ab20bd1b72f21c2103f29b5f

CSPI: https://cspicenter.org/

Dr. Kaufmann: https://www.sneps.net/

In an age of division, Professor Jonathan Marks believes one way to cure that is through teaching the lost art of being reasonable.

In his latest book, Let's Be Reasonable, Marks lays out the "conservative case for liberal education" by showing the universities are still a great institution for learning and growth despite fears of academic censorship.

To be sure, Marks believes censorship and the lack of political diversity amongst academics are important. Nevertheless, universities remain an unrivalled intellectual ecosystem where you can challenge and learn from others.

Let's Be Reasonable begins with the philosophical origins of the importance of reasonability by way of John Locke as well as Alexis de Tocqueville and then proceeds to convincingly layout WHY it is so important to a healthy society throughout the book. Another a must-read!

Links:

Book: https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691193854/lets-be-reasonable

Professor Marks: https://www.ursinus.edu/live/profiles/194-jonathan-marks

We sat down with Waterloo University Ph.D. students Alex Walker and Martin Harry Turpin this week to discuss some of their latest research in the field of cognitive psychology.

Alex and Martin recently co-authored an academic paper that found "pseudo-profound bullshit titles increased the perceived profoundness" of computer-generated art. In other words, people can BS their way into sounding sophisticated and avant-garde. This led us into a deeper discussion about other research the duo have conducted on the power of language and euphemisms as well as moral psychology.

Links:

Paper: http://journal.sjdm.org/19/190712/jdm190712.pdf

Alex Walker: https://scholar.google.ca/citations?user=AZNe3xoAAAAJ&hl=en

Martin Harry Turpin: https://scholar.google.ca/citations?user=RIwamqAAAAAJ&hl=en

This week on the podcast we have American historian, Peter Cozzens, stop by to talk about his latest book, Tecumseh and the Prophet.

The book represents the second instalment (following The Earth is Weeping) in Peter's exploration of Indian American history. The book follows Tecumseh and his brother, Tenskwatawa, in their mission to unite Indian tribes against the United States.

It's a great read! Robustly researched and well-balanced. If you enjoy Peter's work, keep an eye out for the final book of the trilogy coming your way in the near future!

Links:

Tecumseh and the Prophet: https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/1524733253/ref=as_li_qf_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=speakeasy03c-20&creative=330641&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=1524733253&linkId=4d7f39db0c35bb7f46099d4032ad0598

The Earth is Weeping: https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B01BAU2L2S/ref=as_li_qf_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=speakeasy03c-20&creative=330641&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=B01BAU2L2S&linkId=6c6ee8eeaa94a35e7de35abbc4524bb7

Author: http://www.petercozzens.net/