Podcast appearances and mentions of Rebecca Goldstein

Today's crossword was by award-winning crossword constructor Rebecca Goldstein and, if not award-winning, deserving-of-award crossword constructor Adam Wagner. Unsurprisingly, the result was ... award-winning, or at least worthy of 5 squares on the JAMCR scale, for reasons that we will let you discover (no spoilers here, nary a one!) by listening to today's episode.Show note imagery: PERU, where the potatoes come from

Steve Mello talks the long-term financial impacts of small criminal justice fines. “Fines and Financial Wellbeing” by Steven Mello. OTHER RESEARCH WE DISCUSS IN THIS EPISODE: "Report on the economic well-being of U.S. households in 2017" by Jeff Larrimore, Alex Durante, Kimberly Kreiss, Christina Park, and Claudia Sahm. "Criminalizing poverty: The consequences of court fees in a randomized experiment" by Devah Pager, Rebecca Goldstein, Helen Ho, and Bruce Western. "The Government Revenue, Recidivism, and Financial Health Effects of Criminal Fines and Fees" by Tyler Giles. "The Impact of Criminal Financial Sanctions: A Multi-State Analysis of Survey and Administrative Data" by Keith Finlay, Matthew Gross, Carl Lieberman, Elizabeth Luh, and Michael Mueller-Smith.

This was a spookily fun crossword by Rebecca Goldstein, who we are fairly certain won the ORCA Constructor of the Year Award sometime in the not too distant past -- 2024, we read on the internet -- for creating crosswords just like today's. So, to see what it takes to become Constructor of the Year, check out Rebecca's latest and, of course, this episode!Show note imagery: BABKA, fun to say, even more fun to eat!We love feedback! Send us a text...Contact Info:We love listener mail! Drop us a line, crosswordpodcast@icloud.com.Also, we're on FaceBook, so feel free to drop by there and strike up a conversation!

Rebecca Goldstein is a great crossword constructor. Adam Wagner is no slouch himself. Put them together and you get ... well, this crossword, a crafty puzzler with some delicious clung. We have all the deets inside, a few (possibly even useful

After yesterday's epic struggle, today's crossword was a refreshing change of pace, with an uplifting theme (literally!), and great clues. The authors were Rebecca Goldstein and Ariela Perlman, the latter making her debut appearance in the NYTimes. Deets inside, so have a listen, and remember that feedback is always welcome.Just a reminder that it has been scientifically proven that solving crosswords can keep those little gray cells in top-notch condition, and a subscription to the NYTimes crossword is as cheap as borscht, as they say (we're not entirely sure who "they" are, nor, tbh, what borscht is currently going for) ... the point is, the NYTimes is a great bargain, so check it out -- nytimes.com/crosswords, where you're bound to find a large and welcoming subscription button, definitely worth clicking.Show note imagery: A man who needs no introduction ...We love feedback! Send us a text...Contact Info:We love listener mail! Drop us a line, crosswordpodcast@icloud.com.Also, we're on FaceBook, so feel free to drop by there and strike up a conversation!

It's Round Two (the round of 32) of Ryan's Middle Name -- vote AGAIN in the bracket (and see the previous round's scores here). This week, Ryan and Brian do some non-NYT puzzles in the Thunder Round, so solve them if you haven't: Sat. 9/28/24 Spyscape ("Bridge of Spies") by Shannon Rapp and Will Eisenberg (online link) Tues. 10/8/24 Universal by Shmuel Schmell (PUZ link) Wed. 10/9/24 Vulture ("With a Twist") by J. Smith-Cameron, Kate Hawkins, and Rachel Fabi (online link) Wed. 10/23/24 AVCX ("Down the Drain") by Rebecca Goldstein (free trial subscription available) Fri. 11/1/24 People ("Thanks for the Memories") by Robyn Weintraub (online link) Fri. 11/8/24 Slate by Ben Zimmer (online link) And there's also a Contest of Still Going On, available at https://bemoresmarter.com/contest If you get bored (how could you?!), write something for the Fill Me In wiki. And if you're feeling philanthropic, donate to our Patreon. Do you enjoy our show? Actually, it doesn't matter! Please consider leaving us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts. This will help new listeners find our show, and you'll be inducted into the Quintuple Decker Turkey Club. Drop us a note or a Tweet or a postcard or a phone call — we'd love to hear from you. Helpful links: Apple Podcasts link: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fill-me-in/id1364379980 Google Play link: https://player.fm/series/fill-me-in-2151002 Amazon/Audible link: https://www.amazon.com/item_name/dp/B08JJRM927 RSS feed: http://bemoresmarter.libsyn.com/rss Contact us: Email (fmi@bemoresmarter.com) / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram We're putting these words here to help with search engine optimization. We don't think it will work, but you probably haven't read this far, so it doesn't matter: baseball, crossword, crosswords, etymology, game, hunt, kealoa, movies, musicals, mystery, oscar, pizza, puzzle, puzzles, sandwiches, soup, trivia, words

He's a polymath who cares deeply about the world, tries to understand it, and straddles many fields. He's played a key role over the last few decades in India's journey towards development. Ajay Shah joins Amit Varma in episode 402 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about his life and times. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.)   Also check out: 1. Ajay Shah on Twitter and Substack. 2. Everything is Everything -- Ajay Shah's YouTube show with Amit Varma. 3. Life Lessons -- A course taught by Ajay Shah and Amit Varma. 4. In Service of the Republic: The Art and Science of Economic Policy — Vijay Kelkar and Ajay Shah. 5. XKDR Forum. 6. The LEAP blog. 7. Previous episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Ajay Shah: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13. 8. The Surface Area of Serendipity -- Episode 39 of Everything is Everything.  9. The Economic Lives of the Poor -- Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo. 10. The Universe of Chuck Gopal — Episode 258 of The Seen and the Unseen. 11. The Hiking Episode -- Episode 35 of Everything is Everything. 12. Declutter -- Episode 30 of Everything is Everything. 13. The Life and Times of Mrinal Pande — Episode 263 of The Seen and the Unseen. 14. Pushpesh Pant Feasts on the Buffet of Life — Episode 326 of The Seen and the Unseen. 15. The Life and Times of Ira Pande -- Episode 369 of The Seen and the Unseen. 16. A Meditation on Form -- Amit Varma. 17. A Passion for Cycling -- Episode 53 of Everything is Everything. 18. Il Lombardia: Tadej Pogačar delivers historical fourth consecutive victory. 19. Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy. 20. Seven Stories That Should Be Films -- Episode 23 of Everything is Everything (including Ajay's retelling, 'The Fat Frogs of Tatsinskaya'). 21. India's Greatest Civil Servant — Episode 167 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Narayani Basu, on VP Menon). 22. VP Menon: The Unsung Architect of Modern India — Narayani Basu. 23. Five Epic Stories That Must Be Films -- Episode 29 of Everything is Everything (including Amit's retelling of VP Menon's story). 24. Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945 — Tony Judt. 25. The God That Failed -- Edited by Richard Crossman. 26. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich -- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. 27. Free to Choose -- Milton Friedman and Rose Friedman. 28. Both Sides Now -- Joni Mitchell. 29. How to Write a Paper -- Episode 62 of Everything is Everything. 30. Jim Corbett on Wikipedia and Amazon. 31. Trek The Sahyadris -- Harish Kapadia. 32. Inflation Targeting Rocks! -- Episode 68 of The Seen and the Unseen. 33. The Heckman Equation. 34. A Deep Dive Into Education -- Episode 54 of Everything is Everything. 35. The Two Cultures -- CP Snow. 36. Shivaji and His Times -- Jadunath Sarkar. 37. Suyash Rai Embraces India's Complexity — Episode 307 of The Seen and the Unseen. 38. Seeing Like a State — James C Scott. 39. The Tyranny of Experts — William Easterly. 40. Are You Just One Version of Yourself? -- Episode 3 of Everything is Everything. 41. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Ramachandra Guha: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. 42. The Life and Times of KP Krishnan — Episode 355 of The Seen and the Unseen. 43. Our Population Is Our Greatest Asset -- Episode 20 of Everything if Everything. 44. Population Is Not a Problem, but Our Greatest Strength -- Amit Varma. 45. Plato (or Why Philosophy Matters) — Episode 109 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rebecca Goldstein). 46. How to Do Development -- Episode 57 of Everything is Everything. 47. Lant Pritchett Is on Team Prosperity — Episode 379 of The Seen and the Unseen. 48. The Life and Times of Chess -- Episode 52 of Everything is Everything. 49. Fixing the Knowledge Society -- Episode 24 of Everything is Everything. 50. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms — Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah). 51. The Reformers -- Episode 28 of Everything is Everything. 52. The Beauty of Finance -- Episode 21 of Everything is Everything. 53. What's Wrong With Indian Agriculture? -- Episode 18 of Everything is Everything. 54. The Life and Times of Montek Singh Ahluwalia — Episode 285 of The Seen and the Unseen. 55. The Importance of Finance — Episode 125 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah). 56. India in Transition: Freeing the Economy -- Jagdish Bhagwati. 57. The UNIX Episode -- Episode 32 of Everything is Everything. 58. Don't Mess With the Price System -- Episode 66 of Everything is Everything. 59. Four Papers That Changed the World -- Episode 41 of Everything is Everything. 60. The Ghost and the Darkness -- Stephen Hopkins. 61. India's Massive Pensions Crisis — Episode 347 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah & Renuka Sane). 62. Understanding India's Pensions Disaster -- Episode 65 of Everything is Everything. 63. What Bruce Springsteen Means to Us -- Episode 13 of Everything is Everything. 64. Distance From Delhi -- The Takshashila Institution. 65. Beyond A Boundary -- CLR James. 66. Letters for a Nation: From Jawaharlal Nehru to His Chief Ministers 1947-1963 -- Jawaharlal Nehru. 67. Yes Minister and Yes Prime Minister — Jonathan Lynn and Antony Jay. 68. The Long Road to Change -- Episode 36 of Everything is Everything. 69. The Tragedy of Our Farm Bills — Episode 211 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah). 70. Government's End: Why Washington Stopped Working -- Jonathan Rauch. 71. Understanding deviations from the fiscal responsibility law in India -- Pratik Datta, Radhika Pandey, Ila Patnaik and Ajay Shah. 72. Who Lends to the Indian State? -- Aneesha Chitgupi, Ajay Shah, Manish Singh, Susan Thomas and Harsh Vardhan. 73. The Percy Mistry report. 74. Bare Acts. 75. Subhashish Bhadra on Our Dysfunctional State — Episode 333 of The Seen and the Unseen. 76. Shruti Rajagopalan on our constitutional amendments. 77. The First Assault on Our Constitution — Episode 194 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tripurdaman Singh). 78. Sixteen Stormy Days — Tripurdaman Singh. 79. Caged Tiger: How Too Much Government Is Holding Indians Back — Subhashish Bhadra. 80. Subhashish Bhadra on Our Dysfunctional State — Episode 333 of The Seen and the Unseen. 81. The Matrix -- Lana Wachowski & Lilly Wachowski. 82. How Family Firms Evolve -- Episode 34 of Everything is Everything. 83. From Imperial to Adaptive Firms -- Episode 37 of Everything is Everything. 84. Graduating to Globalisation -- Episode 48 of Everything is Everything. 85. Jeff Bezos on The Lex Fridman Podcast. 86. Born to Run -- Bruce Springsteen. 87. Go to the root cause (2007) -- Ajay Shah. 88. Bhargavi Zaveri-Shah Will Not Wear a Blue Tie to Work — Episode 389 of The Seen and the Unseen. 89. Understanding the State -- Episode 25 of Everything is Everything. 90. Every Act of Government Is an Act of Violence -- Amit Varma. 91. When Should the State Act? -- Episode 26 of Everything is Everything. 92. Public Choice Theory Explains SO MUCH -- Episode 33 of Everything is Everything. 93. Public Choice – A Primer -- Eamonn Butler. 94. The Journey of Indian Finance -- Ajay Shah. 95. Amrita Agarwal Wants to Solve Healthcare -- Episode 393 of The Seen and the Unseen. 96. Fortress and Frontier in American Health Care -- Robert Graboyes. 97. We Love Vaccines! We Love Freedom! -- Episode 27 of Everything is Everything. 98. The Art and Science of Economic Policy — Episode 154 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vijay Kelkar & Ajay Shah). 99. Pranay Kotasthane on Amazon. 100. A blog post is a very long and complex search query to find fascinating people and make them route interesting stuff to your inbox -- Henrik Karlsson. 101. For Whom the Bell Tolls -- Ernest Hemingway. 102. Essays in Persuasion -- John Maynard Keynes. 103. The Ascent Of Man -- Jacob Bronowski. 104. How to Modernise the Working of Courts and Tribunals in India -- Many authors including Ajay Shah. 105. How to Modernise the Working of Courts and Tribunals in India -- Ajay Shah. 106. The lowest hanging fruit on the coconut tree — Akshay Jaitly and Ajay Shah. 107. Climate Change and Our Power Sector — Episode 278 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshay Jaitley and Ajay Shah). 108. The Brave New Future of Electricity -- Episode 40 of Everything is Everything. 109. False Alarm: How Climate Change Panic Costs Us Trillions, Hurts the Poor, and Fails to Fix the Planet -- Bjorn Lomborg. 110. Stay Away From Luxury Beliefs -- Episode 46 of Everything is Everything. 111. Nuclear Power Can Save the World -- Joshua S Goldstein, Staffan A Qvist & Steven Pinker. 112. But Clouds Got In My Way -- Ayush Patnaik, Ajay Shah, Anshul Tayal and Susan Thomas. 113. Everybody Lies — Seth Stephens-Davidowitz. 114. The Truth About Ourselves — Amit Varma. 115. Capitalism and Freedom -- Milton Friedman. 116. Against the Grain -- James C Scott. 117. The Beatles, Dire Straits, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and Bruce Springsteen on Spotify. Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new course called Life Lessons, which aims to be a launchpad towards learning essential life skills all of you need. For more details, and to sign up, click here. Amit and Ajay also bring out a weekly YouTube show, Everything is Everything. Have you watched it yet? You must! And have you read Amit's newsletter? Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It's free! Also check out Amit's online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘Dreaming' by Simahina.

On this episode of the Energy Security Cubed Podcast, Kelly Ogle and Joe Calnan begin with a discussion on major issues in global energy security, including the causes of the current oil market volatility and recently announced Canadian tariffs on Chinese EVs. For the interview section of the podcast, we take a look back at a previous episode featuring Elizabeth Press about the International Renewable Energy Agency's recent report, "Geopolitics of the Energy Transition: Critical Materials". You can find this report here: www.irena.org/Publications/2023/…Critical-Materials Guest Bio: - Elizabeth Press is Director of Planning and Programme Support at the International Renewable Energy Agency Host Bio: - Kelly Ogle is the CEO of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute Reading Recommendations - "American Dirt", by Jeanine Cummins: www.amazon.ca/American-Dirt-Nove…mins/dp/1250209765 - "Betraying Spinoza: The Renegade Jew Who Gave Us Modernity", by Rebecca Goldstein: www.amazon.ca/Betraying-Spinoza-…nity/dp/0805211594 Interview recording Date: August 23, 2023 Energy Security Cubed is part of the CGAI Podcast Network. Follow the Canadian Global Affairs Institute on Facebook, Twitter (@CAGlobalAffairs), or on LinkedIn. Head over to our website at www.cgai.ca for more commentary. Produced by Joe Calnan. Music credits to Drew Phillips.

Gregory Chaitin is a pioneering mathematician and computer scientist, renowned for founding algorithmic information theory. Gregory published his first groundbreaking paper at the age of 15 and has been a key figure at the Institute for Advanced Study, contributing extensively to the fields of metabiology and complexity theory. YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/PoEuav8G6sY Become a YouTube Member Here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdWIQh9DGG6uhJk8eyIFl1w/join Patreon: https://patreon.com/curtjaimungal (early access to ad-free audio episodes!) Join TOEmail at https://www.curtjaimungal.org Links: - Algorithmic Information Theory (book): https://www.amazon.com/Algorithmic-Information-Cambridge-Theoretical-Computer/dp/0521616042 - Gregory Chaitin on TOE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMPnrNL3zsE - Institute for Advanced Study (site): https://www.ias.edu/ - Joscha Bach and Karl Friston on TOE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcQMYNi9a2w - Brian Greene on TOE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2EtTE9Czzo - World Science Festival (site): https://cdn.worldsciencefestival.com/ - The Limits of Understanding (Chaitin and Minsky): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfY-DRsE86s - Rebecca Goldstein on TOE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkL3BcKEB6Y - Rebecca Goldstein's novel: https://www.amazon.com/Mind-Body-Problem-Contemporary-American-Fiction/dp/0140172459 - Rebecca Goldstein's book on Spinoza: https://www.amazon.com/Betraying-Spinoza-Renegade-Modernity-Encounters-ebook/dp/B002JKVXG4/?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_w=rivGj&content-id=amzn1.sym.f76d456a-cb0d-44de-b7b0-670c26ce80ba&pf_rd_p=f76d456a-cb0d-44de-b7b0-670c26ce80ba&pf_rd_r=138-5679914-4668743&pd_rd_wg=AKE2J&pd_rd_r=752b687b-83e1-4181-b3e6-789765943a84&ref_=aufs_ap_sc_dsk - Stephen Wolfram on TOE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YRlQQw0d-4 - David Chalmers's book: https://www.amazon.com/Conscious-Mind-Search-Fundamental-Philosophy/dp/0195117891 - David Chalmers on Mindfest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5r9V1ryksnw Timestamps: 00:00 - Intro 01:12 - Contradictions in Mathematics 10:56 - Generating New Ideas 21:10 - Physics in History 23:17 - Academia is like a Prison 26:09 - Philosophers and Math 37:41 - Advice for Curt 42:15 - Outro / Support TOE Support TOE: - Patreon: https://patreon.com/curtjaimungal (early access to ad-free audio episodes!) - Crypto: https://tinyurl.com/cryptoTOE - PayPal: https://tinyurl.com/paypalTOE - TOE Merch: https://tinyurl.com/TOEmerch Follow TOE: - NEW Get my 'Top 10 TOEs' PDF + Weekly Personal Updates: https://www.curtjaimungal.org - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theoriesofeverythingpod - TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@theoriesofeverything_ - Twitter: https://twitter.com/TOEwithCurt - Discord Invite: https://discord.com/invite/kBcnfNVwqs - iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/better-left-unsaid-with-curt-jaimungal/id1521758802 - Pandora: https://pdora.co/33b9lfP - Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4gL14b92xAErofYQA7bU4e - Subreddit r/TheoriesOfEverything: https://reddit.com/r/theoriesofeverything Join this channel to get access to perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdWIQh9DGG6uhJk8eyIFl1w/join #science Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dr. Rebecca Goldstein and J.J. communicate the story of Spinoza's herem and outline the radicalism of his Ethics. Our first mini-series!! Welcome to the first episode of our three-parter covering friend of the pod, Benedict "Barukh" Spinoza.Please send any complaints or compliments to podcasts@torahinmotion.orgFor more information visit torahinmotion.org/podcastsRebecca Newberger Goldstein graduated summa cum laude from Barnard College and immediately went on to graduate work at Princeton University, receiving her Ph.D. in philosophy. She then returned to her alma mater as an Assistant Professor of Philosophy, where she taught the philosophy of science, philosophy of mind, and philosophy of mathematics. She has also been a Professor or Fellow at Rutgers, Columbia, Trinity College, Yale, NYU, Dartmouth, the Radcliffe Institute, the Santa Fe Institute, and the New College of the Humanities in London.Goldstein is the author of six works of fiction, the latest of which was Thirty-Six Arguments for the Existence of God: A Work of Fiction, as well as three books of non-fiction: Incompleteness: The Proof and Paradox of Kurt Gödel; Betraying Spinoza: The Renegade Jew Who Gave Us Modernity; and Plato at the Googleplex: Why Philosophy Won't Go Away.In 1996 Goldstein became a MacArthur Fellow, receiving the prize which is popularly known as the “Genius Award.” In 2005 she was elected to The American Academy of Arts and Sciences.  In 2006 she received a Guggenheim Fellowship and a Radcliffe Fellowship. In 2008, she was designated a Humanist Laureate by the International Academy of Humanism. Goldstein has been designated Humanist of the Year 2011 by the American Humanist Association, and Freethought Heroine 2011 by the Freedom from Religion Foundation. In that year she also delivered the Tanner Lectures on Human Values at Yale University, entitled "The Ancient Quarrel: Philosophy and Literature," which was published by University of Utah Press.In September, 2015, Goldstein was awarded the National Humanities Medal by President Obama in a ceremony at the White House. The citation reads: "For bringing philosophy into conversation with culture. In scholarship, Dr. Goldstein has elucidated the ideas of Spinoza and Gödel, while in fiction, she deploys wit and drama to help us understand the great human conflict between thought and feeling.”

Queer and trans youth have always been here. From the Southwest Virginia LGBTQ+ History Project, we proudly present Episode 7 on the history of queer youth in Southwest Virginia.  All of the archival audio interviews in this episode are drawn from oral histories in the ⁠LGBTQ History Collection⁠ at the Virginia Room, Roanoke Public Libraries, located in Roanoke, Virginia. The oral history narrators featured in today's program include: Theodore Cassel, Don Muse, Catina Lowery, Yoedie Swain, and Garland Gravely. A special thank you to Sydney Pennix, Rebecca Goldstein, Raquel Dominguez, Eli, Tristan, and Keely for all of your contributions to this podcast. And thank you to Dr. Samantha Rosenthal as well for her guidance on this podcast episode. The music in today's episode comes from: ⁠Purple Planet Music⁠. Please subscribe and share. You can find more information about the Southwest Virginia LGBTQ History Project, and this podcast, at ⁠swvalgbtqhistory.org⁠. We are also on Facebook at ⁠Southwest Virginia LGBTQ History Project⁠, and follow us on Instagram at ⁠swvalgbtqhistory⁠. 

Rebecca Goldstein has a knack for creating festive, fun crosswords, and her streak is unbroken as a result of today's fine work -- so far she's having a BANNERYEAR. The crossword was tough but fair, definitely worth 5 squares on the JAMCR scale -- deets inside!Show note imagery: Oh, sure, India gave the world chess, shampoo, and cashmere, but these all pale in comparison to their greatest invention, NAAN

Today's crossword is by award winning (!) crossword constructor Rebecca Goldstein and Rachel Fabi, and the two have constructed a wonderful puzzle that is sure to whet your appetite for more of their work. The theme -- which will also whet your appetite -- is fine, but there were some other clues worth cheering. Allow us to point out, for example, 30A, One nickname for Elizabeth, ELLY; 9D, Genre for Da Brat or DaBaby, RAP;  and 2D, US Soccer star, RAPINOE, to which we can only say 34D, Cheer at a soccer stadium, OLE!Show note imagery: Apples to ApplesContact Info:We love listener mail! Drop us a line, crosswordpodcast@icloud.com.Also, we're on FaceBook, so feel free to drop by there and strike up a conversation!

A delightful Thursday crossword, an adjective we often find ourselves having to dust off when Rebecca Goldstein is the author, as is indeed the case today. It's not easy turning lead into gold, but she has done so magnificently, in several senses, as will become apparent once you've had a listen. Also, many of the lacunae in yesterday's crossword have been filled, thanks to some insightful listener mail, so for all that and more, download, listen up, and ... enjoy!Heavy D, in HD

Rebecca Goldstein is a philosopher and novelist. She received her Ph.D. in philosophy from Princeton University and studied with Thomas Nagel. She is a MacArthur Follow and was awarded the National Humanities Medal by Barack Obama. Rebecca is also an expert on Spinoza and Gödel, and has a whole bevy of other wide-ranging interests. In this episode, Robinson and Rebecca discuss her novel the Mind-Body Problem, atheism, Spinoza, and what makes life meaningful in a godless world. Rebecca's most recent book is Plato at the Googleplex: Why Philosophy Won't Go Away (Pantheon, 2014). Rebecca's Website: https://www.rebeccagoldstein.com Thirty-Six Arguments for the Existence of God: https://a.co/d/dAoDqbU Plato at the Googleplex: https://a.co/d/c1vvVaw OUTLINE 00:00 In This Episode… 00:45 Introduction 02:40 Publishing a First Novel 14:01 Philosophy and Literature 22:11 From Judaism to Atheism 42:36 Arguments Against the Existence of God 01:02:45 On Spinoza 01:16:14 Mattering Robinson's Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between.  --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/robinson-erhardt/support

An impressive Sunday crossword by veteran constructors Rebecca Goldstein and Rachel Fabi, who in preparation for Thanksgiving have cooked up a  puzzle to be thankful for,  stuffed with a delicious array of bad (i.e., good) puns and good (i.e., great) clues to chew on. Deets inside, so please subscribe / download / listen up / enjoy!Contact Info:We love listener mail! Drop us a line, crosswordpodcast@icloud.com.Also, we're on FaceBook, so feel free to drop by there and strike up a conversation!

For those of you who have been hoarding tech terms like they're going out of style (which being tech terms, they will), now's your chance to haul them out, and for a good cause: to solve a great puzzle by Shannon Rapp (her debut!) and Rebecca Goldstein (her 10th, or in binary, 1010!).  A fine Tuesday, clearly worth 5 squares on the JAMCR scale.Contact Info:We love listener mail! Drop us a line, crosswordpodcast@icloud.com.Also, we're on FaceBook, so feel free to drop by there and strike up a conversation!

A nice Saturday crossword by Rebecca Goldstein, with some curious clues such as 30A, Call from a server, maybe, ADIN (we're still trying to work that one out!!); the magnificent 44A, Oxford English Dictionary's Word of the Year in 2022, describing an unapologetically self-indulgent state, GOBLINMODE (delightful!); and the devious 28D, "Just the check", IMSET. All in all a great crossword, and Rebecca's debut Saturday puzzle (she's had 9, all told).Contact Info:We love listener mail! Drop us a line, crosswordpodcast@icloud.com.Also, we're on FaceBook, so feel free to drop by there and strike up a conversation!

On this episode of the Energy Security Cubed Podcast, Kelly Ogle and Joe Calnan begin with a discussion on major issues in global energy security, including an update on the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, a discussion of global oil demand forecasts, and some considerations surrounding methanol-fueled ships. For the interview section of the podcast, Kelly talks with Elizabeth Press about the International Renewable Energy Agency's recent report, "Geopolitics of the Energy Transition: Critical Materials". You can find this report here: https://www.irena.org/Publications/2023/Jul/Geopolitics-of-the-Energy-Transition-Critical-Materials Guest Bio: - Elizabeth Press is Director of Planning and Programme Support at the International Renewable Energy Agency Host Bio: - Kelly Ogle is the CEO of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute Reading Recommendations - "American Dirt", by Jeanine Cummins: https://www.amazon.ca/American-Dirt-Novel-Jeanine-Cummins/dp/1250209765 - "Betraying Spinoza: The Renegade Jew Who Gave Us Modernity", by Rebecca Goldstein: https://www.amazon.ca/Betraying-Spinoza-Renegade-Gave-Modernity/dp/0805211594 Interview recording Date: August 23, 2023 Energy Security Cubed is part of the CGAI Podcast Network. Follow the Canadian Global Affairs Institute on Facebook, Twitter (@CAGlobalAffairs), or on LinkedIn. Head over to our website at www.cgai.ca for more commentary. Produced by Joe Calnan. Music credits to Drew Phillips.

YouTube link https://youtu.be/zMPnrNL3zsE Gregory Chaitin discusses algorithmic information theory, its relationship with Gödel incompleteness theorems, and the properties of Omega number.  Topics of discussion include algorithmic information theory, Gödel incompleteness theorems, and the Omega number. Listen now early and ad-free on Patreon https://patreon.com/curtjaimungal. Sponsors:  - Patreon: https://patreon.com/curtjaimungal (early access to ad-free audio episodes!) - Crypto: https://tinyurl.com/cryptoTOE - PayPal: https://tinyurl.com/paypalTOE - Twitter: https://twitter.com/TOEwithCurt - Discord Invite: https://discord.com/invite/kBcnfNVwqs - iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/better-left-unsaid-with-curt-jaimungal/id1521758802 - Pandora: https://pdora.co/33b9lfP - Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4gL14b92xAErofYQA7bU4e - Subreddit r/TheoriesOfEverything: https://reddit.com/r/theoriesofeverything - TOE Merch: https://tinyurl.com/TOEmerch LINKS MENTIONED: - Meta Math and the Quest for Omega (Gregory Chaitin): https://amzn.to/3stCFxH - Visual math episode on Chaitin's constant: https://youtu.be/WLASHxChXKM - Podcast w/ David Wolpert on TOE: https://youtu.be/qj_YUxg-qtY - A Mathematician's Apology (G. H. Hardy): https://amzn.to/3qOEbtL - The Physicalization of Metamathematics (Stephen Wolfram): https://amzn.to/3YUcGLL - Podcast w/ Neil deGrasse Tyson on TOE: https://youtu.be/HhWWlJFwTqs - Proving Darwin (Gregory Chaitin): https://amzn.to/3L0hSbs - What is Life? (Erwin Schrödinger): https://amzn.to/3YVk8Xm - "On Computable Numbers, with an Application to the Entscheidungsproblem" (Alan Turing): https://www.cs.virginia.edu/~robins/T... - "The Major Transitions in Evolution" (John Maynard Smith and Eörs Szathmáry): https://amzn.to/3PdzYci - "The Origins of Life: From the Birth of Life to the Origin of Language" (John Maynard Smith and Eörs Szathmáry): https://amzn.to/3PeKFeM - Podcast w/ Stephen Wolfram on TOE: https://youtu.be/1sXrRc3Bhrs - Incompleteness: The Proof and Paradox of Kurt Gödel (Rebecca Goldstein): https://amzn.to/3Pf8Yt4 - Rebecca Goldstein on TOE on Godel's Incompleteness: https://youtu.be/VkL3BcKEB6Y - Gödel's Proof (Ernest Nagel and James R. Newman): https://amzn.to/3QX89q1 - Giant Brains, or Machines That Think (Edmund Callis Berkeley): https://amzn.to/3QXniYj - An Introduction to Probability Theory and Its Applications (William Feller): https://amzn.to/44tWjXI TIMESTAMPS: - 00:00:00 Introduction - 00:02:27 Chaitin's Unconventional Self-Taught Journey - 00:06:56 Chaitin's Incompleteness Theorem and Algorithmic Randomness - 00:12:00 The Infinite Calculation Paradox and Omega Number's Complexity (Halting Probability) - 00:27:38 God is a Mathematician: An Ontological Basis - 00:37:06 Emergence of Information as a Fundamental Substance - 00:53:10 Evolution and the Modern Synthesis (Physics-Based vs. Computational-Based Life) - 01:08:43 Turing's Less Known Masterpiece - 01:16:58 Extended Evolutionary Synthesis and Epigenetics - 01:21:20 Renormalization and Tractability - 01:28:15 The Infinite Fitness Function - 01:42:03 Progress in Mathematics despite Incompleteness - 01:48:38 Unconventional Academic Approach - 01:50:35 Godel's Incompleteness, Mathematical Intuition, and the Platonic World - 02:06:01 The Enigma of Creativity in Mathematics - 02:15:37 Dark Matter: A More Stable Form of Hydrogen? (Hydrinos) - 02:23:33 Stigma and the "Reputation Trap" in Science - 02:28:43 Cold Fusion - 02:29:28 The Stagnation of Physics - 02:41:33 Defining Randomness: The Chaos of 0s and 1s - 02:52:01 The Struggles For Young Mathematicians and Physicists (Advice) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode from the Institute's Vault we hear from Rebecca Goldstein, an American philosopher, novelist, and public intellectual. She holds a Ph.D. in philosophy of science from Princeton University, and has written ten books, both fiction and non-fiction. Her first book was her 1983 novel, The Mind Body Problem. Goldstein spoke to the Institute in 2006 about her book, Betraying Spinoza: The Renegade Jew Who Gave Us Modernity (Schocken Books, 2009). A bit about the book:  In 1656, Amsterdam's Jewish community excommunicated Baruch Spinoza, and, at the age of twenty-three, he became the most famous heretic in Judaism. He was already germinating a secularist challenge to religion that would be as radical as it was original. He went on to produce one of the most ambitious systems in the history of Western philosophy, so ahead of its time that scientists today, from string theorists to neurobiologists, count themselves among Spinoza's progeny. In Betraying Spinoza, Rebecca Goldstein sets out to rediscover the flesh-and-blood man often hidden beneath the veneer of rigorous rationality, and to crack the mystery of the breach between the philosopher and his Jewish past. Goldstein argues that the trauma of the Inquisition' s persecution of its forced Jewish converts plays itself out in Spinoza's philosophy. The excommunicated Spinoza, no less than his excommunicators, was responding to Europe' s first experiment with racial anti-Semitism. Here is a Spinoza both hauntingly emblematic and deeply human, both heretic and hero--a surprisingly contemporary figure ripe for our own uncertain age. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

In this episode from the Institute's Vault we hear from Rebecca Goldstein, an American philosopher, novelist, and public intellectual. She holds a Ph.D. in philosophy of science from Princeton University, and has written ten books, both fiction and non-fiction. Her first book was her 1983 novel, The Mind Body Problem. Goldstein spoke to the Institute in 2006 about her book, Betraying Spinoza: The Renegade Jew Who Gave Us Modernity (Schocken Books, 2009). A bit about the book:  In 1656, Amsterdam's Jewish community excommunicated Baruch Spinoza, and, at the age of twenty-three, he became the most famous heretic in Judaism. He was already germinating a secularist challenge to religion that would be as radical as it was original. He went on to produce one of the most ambitious systems in the history of Western philosophy, so ahead of its time that scientists today, from string theorists to neurobiologists, count themselves among Spinoza's progeny. In Betraying Spinoza, Rebecca Goldstein sets out to rediscover the flesh-and-blood man often hidden beneath the veneer of rigorous rationality, and to crack the mystery of the breach between the philosopher and his Jewish past. Goldstein argues that the trauma of the Inquisition' s persecution of its forced Jewish converts plays itself out in Spinoza's philosophy. The excommunicated Spinoza, no less than his excommunicators, was responding to Europe' s first experiment with racial anti-Semitism. Here is a Spinoza both hauntingly emblematic and deeply human, both heretic and hero--a surprisingly contemporary figure ripe for our own uncertain age. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode from the Institute's Vault we hear from Rebecca Goldstein, an American philosopher, novelist, and public intellectual. She holds a Ph.D. in philosophy of science from Princeton University, and has written ten books, both fiction and non-fiction. Her first book was her 1983 novel, The Mind Body Problem. Goldstein spoke to the Institute in 2006 about her book, Betraying Spinoza: The Renegade Jew Who Gave Us Modernity (Schocken Books, 2009). A bit about the book:  In 1656, Amsterdam's Jewish community excommunicated Baruch Spinoza, and, at the age of twenty-three, he became the most famous heretic in Judaism. He was already germinating a secularist challenge to religion that would be as radical as it was original. He went on to produce one of the most ambitious systems in the history of Western philosophy, so ahead of its time that scientists today, from string theorists to neurobiologists, count themselves among Spinoza's progeny. In Betraying Spinoza, Rebecca Goldstein sets out to rediscover the flesh-and-blood man often hidden beneath the veneer of rigorous rationality, and to crack the mystery of the breach between the philosopher and his Jewish past. Goldstein argues that the trauma of the Inquisition' s persecution of its forced Jewish converts plays itself out in Spinoza's philosophy. The excommunicated Spinoza, no less than his excommunicators, was responding to Europe' s first experiment with racial anti-Semitism. Here is a Spinoza both hauntingly emblematic and deeply human, both heretic and hero--a surprisingly contemporary figure ripe for our own uncertain age. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/jewish-studies

In this episode from the Institute's Vault we hear from Rebecca Goldstein, an American philosopher, novelist, and public intellectual. She holds a Ph.D. in philosophy of science from Princeton University, and has written ten books, both fiction and non-fiction. Her first book was her 1983 novel, The Mind Body Problem. Goldstein spoke to the Institute in 2006 about her book, Betraying Spinoza: The Renegade Jew Who Gave Us Modernity (Schocken Books, 2009). A bit about the book:  In 1656, Amsterdam's Jewish community excommunicated Baruch Spinoza, and, at the age of twenty-three, he became the most famous heretic in Judaism. He was already germinating a secularist challenge to religion that would be as radical as it was original. He went on to produce one of the most ambitious systems in the history of Western philosophy, so ahead of its time that scientists today, from string theorists to neurobiologists, count themselves among Spinoza's progeny. In Betraying Spinoza, Rebecca Goldstein sets out to rediscover the flesh-and-blood man often hidden beneath the veneer of rigorous rationality, and to crack the mystery of the breach between the philosopher and his Jewish past. Goldstein argues that the trauma of the Inquisition' s persecution of its forced Jewish converts plays itself out in Spinoza's philosophy. The excommunicated Spinoza, no less than his excommunicators, was responding to Europe' s first experiment with racial anti-Semitism. Here is a Spinoza both hauntingly emblematic and deeply human, both heretic and hero--a surprisingly contemporary figure ripe for our own uncertain age. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/intellectual-history

In this episode from the Institute's Vault we hear from Rebecca Goldstein, an American philosopher, novelist, and public intellectual. She holds a Ph.D. in philosophy of science from Princeton University, and has written ten books, both fiction and non-fiction. Her first book was her 1983 novel, The Mind Body Problem. Goldstein spoke to the Institute in 2006 about her book, Betraying Spinoza: The Renegade Jew Who Gave Us Modernity (Schocken Books, 2009). A bit about the book:  In 1656, Amsterdam's Jewish community excommunicated Baruch Spinoza, and, at the age of twenty-three, he became the most famous heretic in Judaism. He was already germinating a secularist challenge to religion that would be as radical as it was original. He went on to produce one of the most ambitious systems in the history of Western philosophy, so ahead of its time that scientists today, from string theorists to neurobiologists, count themselves among Spinoza's progeny. In Betraying Spinoza, Rebecca Goldstein sets out to rediscover the flesh-and-blood man often hidden beneath the veneer of rigorous rationality, and to crack the mystery of the breach between the philosopher and his Jewish past. Goldstein argues that the trauma of the Inquisition' s persecution of its forced Jewish converts plays itself out in Spinoza's philosophy. The excommunicated Spinoza, no less than his excommunicators, was responding to Europe' s first experiment with racial anti-Semitism. Here is a Spinoza both hauntingly emblematic and deeply human, both heretic and hero--a surprisingly contemporary figure ripe for our own uncertain age. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A nice Sunday puzzle by Rebecca Goldstein and Rafael Musa: Jean tore through it, Mike got lost in the grid and if it weren't for the St. Bernards might never have been found.  The theme was BOOTiful, and there were some joyous clues in the grid, such as 46D, Angles above 90 degrees?, HOTYOGA (

To kick-off the second season of Data Malarkey, Sam Knowles talks to one of the all-time greats of academic psychology – Steven Pinker, the Johnstone Family Professor of Psychology at Harvard University. An experimental psychologist interested in all aspects of language, mind, and human nature, Steve is one of the most important public intellectuals – and best-selling authors – of the past 30 years. He came to global attention with his 1994 book, The Language Instinct, and followed that three years later with How The Mind Works.   In the 2000s, Steve's interests – and popular-science best sellers – have flexed and grown to cover nature and nurture, human progress, violence (or otherwise) in society, and most recently, rationality. Many listeners will be familiar with The Blank Slate, The Better Angels of our Nature, Enlightenment Now, and – most recently – Rationality. A less well-known but important work is Steve's 2014 book The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person's Guide to Writing in the 21st Century, and what it has to say about the Curse of Knowledge.   Garlanded by media, national and international associations, and academic institutions around the world, Steve is generally agreed to be one of the world's leading thinkers and most influential writers. He is that rarest of creatures – a serious, practicing academic who writes with great clarity for both his peers and an intelligent lay audience. Our conversation was recorded remotely, via the medium of Riverside.fm, on 18 May 2023.   Thanks to Joe Hickey for production support.   Podcast artwork by Shatter Media.   Voice over by Samantha Boffin.   Steve spends his time reading, teaching, and writing – totally immersing himself when it comes to books. And when he's not doing that, he's walking, hiking, cycling, travelling and talking with his wife, the novelist and philosopher, Rebecca Goldstein. He also has a passion – and a real skill – for photography, a passion developed from his early-career research in visual cognition and his love of visual aesthetics.   This episode covers so much in just 45 minutes, from why the world is rather less violent than the news cycle might suggest to the replicability crisis in psychology; from our faulty belief that a sample will be representative of a population, to underpowered psychological research using too few experimental subjects. More than once, Steve refers to Amos Tversky's 1971 paper in Psychological Bulletin, “Belief in the law of small numbers”. As Steve points out: “He did warn us. We should have listened!” For those unfamiliar with this seminal, overlooked paper – here it is.   And while we're very much in the wheelhouse of an academic psychologist at the height of his profession, at all times Steve avoids the Curse of Knowledge, which he defines as “the difficulty in imagining what it's like for some else not to know something that you know”. As the Curse of Knowledge is a repeated target of Sam's in his data storytelling training, host and guest wig out about the Curse, which Steve also characterises as a lack of Theory of Mind. Other topics covered in this episode include: what insight is and how to move from data to insight; the very real power of analogy (like the solar system for atomic structure) in driving breakthrough innovation and understanding; the dangers (and shortcomings) of AI. While Steve suspects the dangers have been overstated, he's all for minimising deep fakes – on news in particular – and fraud.  EXTERNAL LINKS Steve's home page – https://stevenpinker.com Photos by Steven Pinker – http://stevepinker.com The Harvard Department of Psychology page for Steve – https://psychology.fas.harvard.edu/people/steven-pinker   To find out what kind of data storyteller you are, complete our data storytelling scorecard at https://data-storytelling.scoreapp.com. It takes just two minutes to answer 12 questions, and we'll send you your own personalised scorecard which tells you what kind of data storyteller you are.  

India is run in a top-down way with a Northern bias -- and this is a problem. Nilakantan RS joins Amit Varma in episode 320 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss how and why our Southern states perform so much better -- and are punished for it. Also discussed: virtue ethics, the charms of Madras and the dangers of storytelling. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out:1. Nilakantan RS on Twitter, YouTube and Instagram. 2. South vs North: India's Great Divide -- Nilakantan RS. 3. Chandrahas Choudhury's Country of Literature — Episode 288 of The Seen and the Unseen. 4. Lessons in Investing (and Life) — Episode 208 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Deepak Shenoy). 5. Crossing Over With Deepak Shenoy -- Episode 271 of The Seen and the Unseen. 6. Amitava Kumar Finds the Breath of Life — Episode 265 of The Seen and the Unseen. 7. Aadha Gaon — Rahi Masoom Raza.. 8. From Cairo to Delhi With Max Rodenbeck — Episode 281 of The Seen and the Unseen. 9. Phineas Gage. 10. The Great Man Theory of History. 11. Pandemonium in India's Banks — Episode 212 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tamal Bandyopadhyay). 12. Rukmini Sees India's Multitudes — Episode 261 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rukmini S). 13. On Bullshit — Harry Frankfurt. 14. The Facts Do Not Matter — Amit Varma. 15. Facts Don't Matter. Stories do -- Amit Varma. 16. It is immoral to have children. Here's why -- Amit Varma. 17. Better Never to Have Been -- David Benator. 18. Wanting — Luke Burgis. 19. René Girard on Amazon and Wikipedia. 20. The Life and Times of Shanta Gokhale — Episode 311 of The Seen and the Unseen. 21. The Gentle Wisdom of Pratap Bhanu Mehta — Episode 300 of The Seen and the Unseen. 22. Beyond Words: Philosophy, Fiction, and the Unsayable -- Timothy Cleveland. 23. Consider the Hamiltonian. 24. The Life and Times of Jerry Pinto — Episode 314 of The Seen and the Unseen. 25. Murder in Mahim — Jerry Pinto. 26. Mallikarjun Mansur and Bhimsen Joshi on Spotify. 26. Paul Krugman on the internet in 1998. 27. The naked man with an egg -- Amit Varma's prompt and ChatGPT's reply. 28. The Liberal Nationalism of Nitin Pai -- Episode 318 of The Seen and the Unseen. 29. The Rooted Cosmopolitanism of Sugata Srinivasaraju — Episode 277 of The Seen and the Unseen. 30. Adam Gopnik, Michel Martin, Paul Harding and Timothy Gowers. 31. Tinkers -- Paul Harding. 32. Eraserhead -- David Lynch. 33. There's a Name for the Blah You're Feeling: It's Called Languishing -- Adam Grant. 34. The variants on Chess.com. 35. A Summons to Memphis -- Peter Taylor. 36. Virtue Ethics on Wikipedia, Britannica and Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 37. VP Menon: The Unsung Architect of Modern India — Narayani Basu. 38. India's Greatest Civil Servant — Episode 167 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Narayani Basu). 39. A Venture Capitalist Looks at the World — Episode 213 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Sajith Pai). 40. The Indus Valley Playbook — Sajith Pai. 41. Fixing Indian Education — Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 42. Understanding Indian Healthcare — Episode 225 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 43. Karthik Muralidharan Examines the Indian State — Episode 290 of The Seen and the Unseen. 44.  Our Unlucky Children (2008) — Amit Varma. 45.  Fund Schooling, Not Schools (2007) — Amit Varma. 46. Elite Imitation in Public Policy — Episode 180 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Alex Tabarrok). 47. Centrally Sponsored Government Schemes — Episode 17 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Pranay Kotasthane). 48. Population Is Not a Problem, but Our Greatest Strength — Amit Varma. 49. Arrow's Impossibility Theorem. 50. Athenian Democracy and Socrates. 51. Plato (or Why Philosophy Matters) -- Episode 109 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rebecca Goldstein). 52. Our Parliament and Our Democracy — Episode 253 of The Seen and the Unseen (w MR Madhavan). 53. The Anti-Defection Law — Episode 13 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Barun Mitra).. 54. Urban Governance in India — Episode 31 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan). 55. Gopal Krishna Gokhale, Mahadev Govind Ranade and Gopal Ganesh Agarkar. 56. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on the creator ecosystem with Roshan Abbas, Varun Duggirala, Neelesh Misra, Snehal Pradhan, Chuck Gopal, Nishant Jain, Deepak Shenoy, Abhijit Bhaduri and Gaurav Chintamani. 57. The Walk -- Robert Walser. 58. So Long, See You Tomorrow -- William Maxwell. 59. All Aunt Hagar's Children -- Edward P Jones. 60. The Known World -- Edward P Jones. 61. Slow Man -- JM Coetzee. 62. The Changeling -- Kenzaburo Oe. 63. Earthlings -- Sayaka Murata. 64. Birth of a Theorem -- Cedric Villani. 65. Gilead -- Marilynne Robinson. 66. If I Survive You -- Jonathan Escoffery. 67. Donnie Darko -- Richard Kelly. Check out Amit's online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It's free! Episode art: ‘Conflict' by Simahina.

It's a long show, but it's worth it, as Ryan and Brian are joined in the studio by Shannon Rapp (aka Norah Sharpe / an Expert in Sconces / "the name is fake but the puzzles are real."™). We've got surprising homophones eunuchs/UNIX, more Eric than you knew was possible, a Thunder Round of non-NYT delicacies, and a new segment of "Kealoa," featuring UGH vs. ICK. Stuff to click: Daily Crossword Links: every puzzle you could dream of Grids For Kids, launching this Saturday, February 4 The Jargon File (not a "secure" link, so it may not show up in some podcast apps) Sniglets, which apparently don't have their own website? This week's Thunder Round, with Twitter links where we have them: My Jewish Learning by Rebecca Goldstein (this link goes to the 1/27/23 puzzles, but we talk about the 1/20/23 puzzle) Autostraddle by Rachel Fabi (we did this puzzle) Black Crossword by Juliana Pache The Modern Crossword Crossword Club by Kelsey Dixon (we did this puzzle) Xtra Magazine by Ada Nicolle (we did this puzzle) Crucinova by Quiara Vasquez If you get bored (how could you?!), write something for the Fill Me In wiki. And if you're feeling philanthropic, donate to our Patreon. Do you enjoy our show? Actually, it doesn't matter! Please consider leaving us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts. This will help new listeners find our show, and you'll be inducted into the Quintuple Decker Turkey Club. Drop us a note or a Tweet or a postcard or a phone call — we'd love to hear from you. Helpful links: Apple Podcasts link: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fill-me-in/id1364379980 Google Play link: https://player.fm/series/fill-me-in-2151002 Amazon/Audible link: https://www.amazon.com/item_name/dp/B08JJRM927 RSS feed: http://bemoresmarter.libsyn.com/rss Contact us: Email (fmi@bemoresmarter.com) / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram / Google Voice (315-510-9892) We're putting these words here to help with search engine optimization. We don't think it will work, but you probably haven't read this far, so it doesn't matter: baseball, crossword, crosswords, etymology, game, hunt, movies, musicals, mystery, oscar, pizza, puzzle, puzzles, soup, trivia, words

Elizabeth Luh talks about the effects of financial penalties in the criminal justice system. “The Impact of Financial Sanctions: Regression Discontinuity Evidence from Driver Responsibility Fee Programs in Michigan and Texas” by Keith Finlay, Matthew Gross, Elizabeth Luh, and Michael Mueller-Smith. *** Probable Causation is part of Doleac Initiatives, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. If you enjoy the show, please consider making a tax-deductible contribution. Thank you for supporting our work! *** OTHER RESEARCH WE DISCUSS IN THIS EPISODE: “Drawing Blood from Stones: Legal Debt andSocial Inequality in the Contemporary United States” by Alexes Harris, Heather Evans, and Katherine Beckett. “Fines and Financial Wellbeing” by Steven Mello. [Working paper.] ”Does Punishment Compel Payment? Driver's License Suspensions and Fine Delinquency” by Ryan E. Kessler. [Working paper.] “Disparate Fine Collection: Evidence using Chicago Parking Tickets” by Elizabeth Luh. [Working paper.] “Punishment and Deterrence: Evidence from Drunk Driving” by Benjamin Hansen. “Learning from Law Enforcement” by Libor Dusek and Christian Traxler. “Criminalizing Poverty: The Consequences of Court Fees in a Randomized Experiment” by Devah Pager, Rebecca Goldstein, Helen Ho, and Bruce Western. “Measuring Child Exposure to the U.S. Justice System: Evidence from Longitudinal Links between Survey and Administrative Data” by Keith Finlay, Michael Mueller-Smith, and Brittany Street. “Criminal Court Fees, Earnings, and EExpenditures: A Multi-state RD Analysis of Survey and Administrative Data” by Carl Lieberman, Elizabeth Luh, and Michael Mueller-Smith. [Working paper available from the authors upon request.] “The (Non)Economics of Criminal Fines and Fees” by Tyler Giles. “A Proposal to End Regressive Taxation through Law Enforcement” by Michael Makowsky. “Revenue-Motivated Law Enforcement: Evidence, Consequences, and Policy Solutions” by Michael Makowsky.

WATCH: https://youtu.be/wHORa9hwScU Rebecca Newberger Goldstein is a novelist, public intellectual and Professor of Philosophy. She has written ten books, both fiction and non-fiction. She graduated summa cum laude from Barnard College, receiving the Montague Prize for Excellence in Philosophy, and immediately went on to graduate work at Princeton University, receiving her Ph.D. in philosophy. She has taught at Columbia and Rutgers. She has been a visiting scholar at Brandeis University, a visiting professor in the Department of Philosophy at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, a Visiting Professor of Philosophy and English at NYU, as well as Visiting Professor of Philosophy at the New College of the Humanities, London, England. She has been the recipient of many awards, including the 2014 National Humanities Medal given by President Barack Obama, the 2011 Humanist of the Year from the American Humanist Association, the Koret Jewish Book Award in Jewish Thought for her book Betraying Spinoza, the National Jewish Book Award for Strange Attractors, and the National Jewish Book Award and the Edward Lewis Wallant Award for Mazel. Goldstein has been named a Fellow of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University, a Guggenheim Fellow, a MacArthur Fellow, and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She has also been awarded Whiting Foundation Fellowship. CONNECT: - Website: https://tevinnaidu.com - Instagram: https://instagram.com/drtevinnaidu - Facebook: https://facebook.com/drtevinnaidu - Twitter: https://twitter.com/drtevinnaidu - LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/drtevinnaidu TIMESTAMPS: (0:00) - Introduction (0:45) - The Mind-Body Problem & the Matter with Matter (9:54) - Consciousness (13:45) - Descartes & Spinoza (18:37) - Materialism (21:56) - Minds & behaviour in other species (29:24) - NCCs, Artificial Intelligence & Teleology (34:25) - The awe inspiring story of what makes us human (39:23) - Theories of consciousness (46:03) - Free Will & Agency (50:42) - Morality (54:48) - Spirituality, Religion & Longing to Matter (1:00:48) - Secular Humanism (1:05:07) - Rebecca & Steven Pinker's amazing story together (1:07:10) - Conclusion Website · YouTube

WATCH: https://youtu.be/wHORa9hwScU Rebecca Newberger Goldstein is a novelist, public intellectual and Professor of Philosophy. She has written ten books, both fiction and non-fiction. She graduated summa cum laude from Barnard College, receiving the Montague Prize for Excellence in Philosophy, and immediately went on to graduate work at Princeton University, receiving her Ph.D. in philosophy. She has taught at Columbia and Rutgers. She has been a visiting scholar at Brandeis University, a visiting professor in the Department of Philosophy at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, a Visiting Professor of Philosophy and English at NYU, as well as Visiting Professor of Philosophy at the New College of the Humanities, London, England. She has been the recipient of many awards, including the 2014 National Humanities Medal given by President Barack Obama, the 2011 Humanist of the Year from the American Humanist Association, the Koret Jewish Book Award in Jewish Thought for her book Betraying Spinoza, the National Jewish Book Award for Strange Attractors, and the National Jewish Book Award and the Edward Lewis Wallant Award for Mazel. Goldstein has been named a Fellow of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University, a Guggenheim Fellow, a MacArthur Fellow, and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She has also been awarded Whiting Foundation Fellowship. CONNECT: - Website: https://tevinnaidu.com - Instagram: https://instagram.com/drtevinnaidu - Facebook: https://facebook.com/drtevinnaidu - Twitter: https://twitter.com/drtevinnaidu - LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/drtevinnaidu TIMESTAMPS: (0:00) - Introduction (0:45) - The Mind-Body Problem & the Matter with Matter (9:54) - Consciousness (13:45) - Descartes & Spinoza (18:37) - Materialism (21:56) - Minds & behaviour in other species (29:24) - NCCs, Artificial Intelligence & Teleology (34:25) - The awe inspiring story of what makes us human (39:23) - Theories of consciousness (46:03) - Free Will & Agency (50:42) - Morality (54:48) - Spirituality, Religion & Longing to Matter (1:00:48) - Secular Humanism (1:05:07) - Rebecca & Steven Pinker's amazing story together (1:07:10) - Conclusion Website · YouTube · YouTube

My mission is creating better conversations to spread understanding and compassion. This podcast is a small part of what I do. Drop by https://constantine.name for my weekly email, podcasts, writing and more.

In this episode, Dr. Nader sits down with Dr. Rebecca Newberger Goldstein to discuss: What is Consciousness and what is Reality? What do we know and what do we not know? Dr. Goldstein is an acclaimed novelist and brilliant philosopher. She studied philosophy at Barnard and earned her Ph.D. at Princeton University. Her career bridges the cultural divides between the humanities, the arts and the sciences. She has written several books and won several awards, including a MacArthur Genius Award and the National Humanities Medal, awarded by former President, Barack Obama. Dr. Goldstein taught at several universities and lectures all over the world. Her first novel, "The Mind-Body Problem”, was a great success. Nine more books have followed, and now she's also writing and preparing a new book. Seven of these books were fiction, including "36 Arguments for the Existence of God: A Work of Fiction”. And two philosophical biographies, “Incompleteness: The Proof and Paradox of Kurt Gödel” and “Betraying Spinoza: The Renegade Jew Who Gave Us Modernity”. Goldstein's latest book is “Plato at the Googleplex: Why Philosophy Won't Go Away.” She is an important voice in the current active debates between religion and science. Discover more of Dr. Goldstein's work on her website: https://www.rebeccagoldstein.com Like this show? Please leave us a review here! Download a copy of your own One Unbounded Ocean of Consciousness here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08Z7C9WHB/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i0 Episode Resources: Dr Tony Nader | Instagram instagram.com/drtonynader Dr Tony Nader | LinkedIn linkedin.com/company/dr-tony-nader Dr Tony Nader | Facebook facebook.com/DrTonyNader Dr Tony Nader | Twitter twitter.com/drtonynader

Dan Graves, CPA, Partner with Weaver Risk Advisory Services, and Rebecca Goldstein, CPS, Partner with Weaver's Assurance Services Team, returned from the recently held 2021 CCBO (Community College Business Officers), where they gave a joint presentation on grant compliance. They shared their experiences and insights from the conference with Adam Jones, Weaver's State Government Practice Leader. “The presentation Dan and I gave went through the whole gamut of the grant lifecycle,” Goldstein explained. “We started with what does the grant cycle look like, and emphasizing, ‘you need to think about compliance, not just at the beginning or end, but throughout the grant lifecycle.'” There are many new fund streams available for community colleges due to COVID relief packages, therefore, Goldstein and Graves discussed the importance of understanding what funding is available and the compliance rules involved. “One of the things that a lot of questions and a lot of topics about the conference were about the HEERF and CARES funding,” Graves said. “The COVID relief funding was a huge topic throughout the conference, and with those dollars comes a lot of special new purchases and new things that colleges and universities typically haven't spent money on with grant funds.” One challenge for educators is to ensure they have the appropriate internal controls and reporting in place so that whatever funds they spend are valid expenditures. Another hot topic at the conference was the emergence of data and making data-driven decisions. “That encompasses anything from registration to a lot of the initiatives that the federal government is using federal funds to make sure they achieve educational outcomes,” Graves said. “They're using data-driven decisions through the enrollment process and the registration process.” On the operational side, artificial intelligence helps generate automated workflows and better communication with students.

ThoughtCast spoke to author and academic Rebecca Goldstein about her novel "36 Arguments for the Existence of God: A Work of Fiction".

In Episode 195 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Andy Norman, an award-winning author, public philosopher, and prominent advocate for the field of “cognitive immunology,” which studies the mind's resistance to bad ideas. In this conversation you will learn how mental immunity works, how epidemics of irrationality occur, and how present cultural conditions exacerbate the spread of bad ideas by compromising our mental faculties, exploiting loopholes in the evidentiary chain of reasoning that most of us rely on in order to assess, accept, or reject claims and assertions. Whether we're talking about the spread of baseless online conspiracies, increased political polarization, or the bewildering popularity of cancel culture, rethinking and reforming our approach to inquiry and dialectic is urgently needed. In the Overtime, Andy and Demetri discuss ontological truth and explore the limitations of science and reason in helping ascertain reality. It includes discussions about spirituality, religion, the immaterial, and whether or not it is possible to know something authoritatively, even if you can't explain it logically or through evidentiary reasoning. They also discuss mattering theory, something Demetri has covered in a prior episode with Rebecca Goldstein, as well as how to build up our mental immunity using concrete steps that help us become better thinkers and better brokers of information during a time when this is desperately needed. You can access the episode overtime, as well as the transcript and rundown to this week's episode through the Hidden Forces Patreon Page. All subscribers gain access to our overtime feed, which can be easily added to your favorite podcast application. If you enjoyed listening to today's episode of Hidden Forces you can help support the show by doing the following: Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | SoundCloud | YouTube | CastBox | RSS Feed Write us a review on Apple Podcasts Subscribe to our mailing list through the Hidden Forces Website Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou Subscribe & Support the Podcast at https://patreon.com/hiddenforces Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod Follow Demetri on Twitter at @Kofinas Episode Recorded on 06/15/2021

I interview Roy Speckhardt, Executive Director of the American Humanist Association and author of Justice-Centered Humanism: How (and Why) to Engage in Public Policy for Good. We talk about how Humanists can expand their concerns from separation of church and state to current issues like race, class, gender, and sexuality; his impending retirement from AHA after 16 years; and the controversial decisions by the AHA Board to withdraw the Humanist of the Year Awards from Richard Dawkins (1996 recipient) and Lawrence Krauss (2015). [Former Humanist of the Year Award recipients Stephen Pinker and Rebecca Goldstein issued a letter of criticism against the decision on Dawkins.] For more about Roy and his work visit RoySpeckhardt.com. For more about the American Humanist Association visit AmericanHumanist.org. To buy a copy of Justice-Centered Humanism click here. Plus: I discuss the troubling pro-Trump consolidation of power within the Republican Party, and the recent "Call for American Renewal" by a group of about 100 conservatives seeking reformation of the Republican Party or (failing that) formation of a rival third party. Theme music courtesy of Body Found. Follow American Freethought on the intertubes: Website: AmericanFreethought.com  Twitter: @AMERFREETHOUGHT Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/21523473365/ Libsyn Classic Feed: https://americanfreethought.libsyn.com/rss Contact: john@americanfreethought.com Support the Podcast: PayPal funds to sniderishere@gmail.com  

ThoughtCast spoke to author and academic Rebecca Goldstein about her novel "36 Arguments for the Existence of God: A Work of Fiction". The post Rebecca Goldstein: the atheist with a soul appeared first on ThoughtCast®.

Noam Chomsky in his only Ask Me Anything in years. Video version here: https://youtu.be/pUWmTXkpHjE Links to what's been mentioned in the video are below (scroll).00:00:00 Introduction00:02:03 What do Gödel's incompleteness theorems say about mathematical realism / linguistics? (Prof. Rebecca Goldstein)00:04:25 Progress on the science of consciousness? (Prof. Anil Seth)00:09:52 Modern Ptolemaic models in science00:11:29 Analyzing infinitival phrases (Prof. Daniel Bonevac)00:14:38 Are there units of culture, like memes? (Prof. Joseph Velikovsky)00:21:55 Extralinguistic experiences being fathomed only through linguistics? (Andres Zuleta)00:25:16 Can you perceive a thought even if you don't verbally express it? (Rivulet)00:27:37 Is there a Chomskyan pre-grammar for religion like Eric Weinstein suggests? (Aro Own)00:33:52 On Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations and its influence on Chomsky (Jack McGreevy)00:39:51 Conscious volition vs. unconscious "wiring" in relation to free will (Joel Suro)00:44:51 Is mathematics itself the domain of all languages? (Boris Costello)00:46:33 Is language created from the top down (enforcement from authorities) or bottom up ("the people")?00:49:47 Social constructionism vs. Chomsky00:51:47 Jung's archetypes' relationship to Chomskyan grammar00:54:02 Bakunin, freedom, language, and human nature00:57:51 What revolutionary words / phrases have we forgotten that we should re-learn?00:58:39 How has Chomsky's views on universal grammar changed since he conceived it?01:08:13 Change vs. Evolution (variation, replication, selection)01:15:12 The invention of terms like LatinX and BIPOC, etc. Is there something different about them?01:17:14 The Sapir Whorf hypothesisPatreon for conversations on Theories of Everything, Consciousness, Free Will, and God: https://patreon.com/curtjaimungalHelp support conversations like this via PayPal: https://bit.ly/2EOR0M4Twitter: https://twitter.com/TOEwithCurtiTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/better-left-unsaid-with-curt-jaimungal/id1521758802Pandora: https://pdora.co/33b9lfPSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4gL14b92xAErofYQA7bU4eGoogle Podcasts: https://play.google.com/music/listen?u=0#/ps/Id3k7k7mfzahfx2fjqmw3vufb44iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/better-left-unsaid-with-curt-jaimungal/id1521758802* * *Rebecca Goldstein's interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkL3BcKEB6YAnil Seth's interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hUEqXhDbVsAnil Seth's twitter: https://twitter.com/anilksethDaniel Bonevac's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/PhiloofAlexandriaEric Weinstein interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KElq_MLO1kw* * *Subscribe if you want more conversations on Theories of Everything, Consciousness, Free Will, God, and the mathematics / physics of each.* * *I'm producing an imminent documentary Better Left Unsaid http://betterleftunsaidfilm.com on the topic of "when does the left go too far?" Visit that site if you'd like to contribute to getting the film distributed (early-2021).

CONSCIOUSNESS - Why do we have inner awareness? Why does it ‘feel like something' inside to see, hear, taste, think? It's called ‘consciousness' and it seems mysterious—but can science explain it? We talk to experts at the 20th biennial conference, “Toward a Science of Consciousness.” Featuring Stuart Hameroff, David Chalmers, Daniel Dennett, Deepak Chopra, Susan Blackmore and Rebecca Goldstein.

CONSCIOUSNESS - Is consciousness something special in the universe, a carrier of meaning and purpose? Or is consciousness a mere artifact of the brain, a by-product of evolution? I hope consciousness is special, which is why I must be a skeptic. Featuring Nicholas Humphrey, Julian Baggini, Rebecca Goldstein, Galen Strawson, Anthony Grayling, and Raymond Tallis.

In this episode, Andrew speaks to philosopher and novelist, Rebecca Goldstein about what she believes, from the lust for truth to building an integrated worldview, and why every person matters.

Rebecca Goldstein is an American philosopher, novelist and public intellectual. She holds a Ph.D. in philosophy of science from Princeton University and is sometimes grouped with novelists such as Richard Powers and Alan Lightman, who create fiction that is knowledgeable of, and sympathetic toward, science. * * * I'm producing an imminent documentary Better Left Unsaid http://betterleftunsaidfilm.com on the topic of "when does the left go too far?" Visit that site if you'd like to contribute to getting the film distributed (in 2020) and seeing more conversations like this.

Rebecca Goldstein wrote a book of Platonic dialogues, in which Plato is on a 21st-century book tour in America. It’s called Plato at the Googleplex.We talk about Plato and whether you can do philosophy and politics at the same time, and the Harper’s letter in favour of “open debate” that Goldstein signed and Twitter got mad about. We discuss when, if ever, it’s a good idea to constrain free speech and inquiry. https://www.rebeccagoldstein.com/ Art: Marijke BouchierMusic: David Zikotivz and Clayton TappEditing, episode art and social: SepidehSupport the show (https://www.patreon.com/user?u=35146517&fan_landing=true)

Jordan Peterson has challenged and revitalized our postmodern conceptions of meaning, morality and religion. But without the metaphysics of Christianity, it is unclear how some of Peterson’s optimistic claims can be grounded. The result is that he sounds like an atheist when he talks to a Christian, but he sounds like a Christian when he talks to an atheist. Without a literal God, the Jungian psychologist is essentially an atheist with extra steps. Regardless, is Peterson ultimately a friend or a foe of traditional Christianity?LinksVisit our website: https://www.wellreadchristian.comCheck our our blog: https://www.wellreadchristian.com/blogFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/wellreadchristianTwitter: https://www.twitter.com/WellReadChrist1Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfGxz4OH1-hVD0fL9AWR4Xg

Rebecca Goldstein is a philosopher, novelist, and public intellectual. She has written ten books, both fiction and nonfiction.   Brought to you by Haberland Group (HaberlandGroup.com) and Hardy Haberland's Programs (HardyHaberland.com).   This podcast is brought to you by Haberland Group. Haberland Group is a global provider of marketing solutions. With multidisciplinary teams in major world markets, our holding companies specialize in advertising, branding, communications planning, digital marketing, media, podcasting, public relations, as well as specialty marketing. If you are looking for a world-class partner to work on marketing programs, go to HaberlandGroup.com and contact us.   This podcast is also brought to you by Hardy Haberland's Programs. Hardy provides educational programs for high performers who want world-class achievement, true fulfillment, and lasting transformation in their lives. He also provides consulting for established brands and businesses that have generated a minimum of $3 million in annual sales. If you need a catalyst for transformation and a strategist for success at the highest level, go to HardyHaberland.com and apply.   If you enjoyed this episode, please consider to rate, review, and subscribe on Apple Podcasts/iTunes. It takes less than 60 seconds and it really makes a difference. Rate, review, and subscribe at HardyHaberland.com/iTunes.

Rebecca Goldstein is a philosopher, novelist, and public intellectual. She has written ten books, both fiction and nonfiction.   If you enjoyed this episode, please consider to rate, review, and subscribe on Apple Podcasts/iTunes. It takes less than 60 seconds and it really makes a difference. Rate, review, and subscribe at HardyHaberland.com/iTunes.

Season 3, Episode 5: Rebecca Goldstein – Why Mattering Matters Rebecca Goldstein is an award-wining philosopher and novelist, an unexpected combination from an original thinker. We talk about her latest work on why mattering matters to us and how the search for a more meaningful life is essential to our mental health and well-being. We […]

Varför är Baruch Spinoza fortfarande en aktuell och viktigt filosof? Rebecca Goldstein är amerikansk professor i filosofi och både fack- och skönlitterär författare. Hon är just nu Sverigeaktuell med översättningen av sin bok Spinoza och jag. I detta extra långa avsnitt av podden berättar hon om sin uppväxt i en ortodox judisk familj i New York, sin syn på ateism, och självklart även en hel del om Spinoza. 

On January 26, 2018 Dr. Craig participated in a dialogue with Jordan Peterson and Rebecca Goldstein at the University of Toronto.

REFLECTION QUOTES “The power of just mercy is that it belongs to the undeserving. It's when mercy is least expected that it is most potent – strong enough to break the cycle of victimization and victimhood, retribution and suffering.” ~Bryan Stevenson, lawyer, activist in Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption “Everybody makes excuses for themselves they wouldn't be prepared to make for other people.” ~Rebecca Goldstein, Plato at the Googleplex: Why Philosophy Won't Go Away “Christianity was also, to my surprise, radical – far more radical than the leftist ideologies with which I had previously been enamored.” “Christianity, it turned out, looked nothing like the caricature I once held…. God wants broken people, not self-righteous ones. And salvation is not about us earning our way to some place in the clouds through good works. On the contrary; there is nothing we can do to reconcile ourselves to God. As a historian, this made profound sense to me. I was too aware of the cycles of poverty, violence and injustice in human history to think that some utopian design of our own, scientific or otherwise, might save us.” ~Dr. Sarah Irving-Stonebraker (PhD, Cambridge) Australian historian “The letter of the law is too cold and formal to have a beneficial influence on society. Whenever the tissue of life is woven of legalistic relations, there is an atmosphere of moral mediocrity, paralyzing man's noblest impulses.” ~Alexander Solzhenitsyn in his 1978 Harvard Address “Power is perhaps humanity's most dangerous drug.” ~Rebecca McLaughlin, (PhD, Cambridge) author and activist SERMON PASSAGE Genesis 33:18-35:4 (ESV) Genesis 33 18 And Jacob came safely to the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, on his way from Paddan-aram, and he camped before the city. 19 And from the sons of Hamor, Shechem's father, he bought for a hundred pieces of money the piece of land on which he had pitched his tent. 20 There he erected an altar and called it El-Elohe-Israel. Genesis 34 1 Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to see the women of the land. 2 And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her, he seized her and lay with her and humiliated her. 3 And his soul was drawn to Dinah the daughter of Jacob. He loved the young woman and spoke tenderly to her. 4 So Shechem spoke to his father Hamor, saying, “Get me this girl for my wife.” 5 Now Jacob heard that he had defiled his daughter Dinah. But his sons were with his livestock in the field, so Jacob held his peace until they came. 6 And Hamor the father of Shechem went out to Jacob to speak with him. 7 The sons of Jacob had come in from the field as soon as they heard of it, and the men were indignant and very angry, because he had done an outrageous thing in Israel by lying with Jacob's daughter, for such a thing must not be done. 8 But Hamor spoke with them, saying, “The soul of my son Shechem longs for your daughter. Please give her to him to be his wife. 9 Make marriages with us. Give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves. 10 You shall dwell with us, and the land shall be open to you. Dwell and trade in it, and get property in it.” 11 Shechem also said to her father and to her brothers, “Let me find favor in your eyes, and whatever you say to me I will give. 12 Ask me for as great a bride-price and gift as you will, and I will give whatever you say to me. Only give me the young woman to be my wife.” 13 The sons of Jacob answered Shechem and his father Hamor deceitfully, because he had defiled their sister Dinah. 14 They said to them, “We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one who is uncircumcised, for that would be a disgrace to us. 15 Only on this condition will we agree with you—that you will become as we are by every male among you being circumcised. 16 Then we will give our daughters to you, and we will take your daughters to ourselves, and we will dwell with you and become one people. 17 But if you will not listen to us and be circumcised, then we will take our daughter, and we will be gone.” 18 Their words pleased Hamor and Hamor's son Shechem. 19 And the young man did not delay to do the thing, because he delighted in Jacob's daughter. Now he was the most honored of all his father's house. 20 So Hamor and his son Shechem came to the gate of their city and spoke to the men of their city, saying, 21 “These men are at peace with us; let them dwell in the land and trade in it, for behold, the land is large enough for them. Let us take their daughters as wives, and let us give them our daughters. 22 Only on this condition will the men agree to dwell with us to become one people—when every male among us is circumcised as they are circumcised. 23 Will not their livestock, their property and all their beasts be ours? Only let us agree with them, and they will dwell with us.” 24 And all who went out of the gate of his city listened to Hamor and his son Shechem, and every male was circumcised, all who went out of the gate of his city. 25 On the third day, when they were sore, two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brothers, took their swords and came against the city while it felt secure and killed all the males. 26 They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the sword and took Dinah out of Shechem's house and went away. 27 The sons of Jacob came upon the slain and plundered the city, because they had defiled their sister. 28 They took their flocks and their herds, their donkeys, and whatever was in the city and in the field. 29 All their wealth, all their little ones and their wives, all that was in the houses, they captured and plundered. 30 Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble on me by making me stink to the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites. My numbers are few, and if they gather themselves against me and attack me, I shall be destroyed, both I and my household.” 31 But they said, “Should he treat our sister like a prostitute?” Genesis 35 1 God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there. Make an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.” 2 So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Put away the foreign gods that are among you and purify yourselves and change your garments. 3 Then let us arise and go up to Bethel, so that I may make there an altar to the God who answers me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone.” 4 So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods that they had, and the rings that were in their ears. Jacob hid them under the terebinth tree that was near Shechem.

On this episode Zack talks talks to philosopher & novelist Rebecca Goldstein about her recent books, philosophy, and much more.

In Episode 69 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with renowned philosopher and novelist Rebecca Goldstein, about the philosophy of mattering and what makes human life worth living. The question of “what makes life worth living,” is something that human beings have been grappling with since time immemorial. Perhaps, nowhere did this question pose a more existential imperative than in ancient Greece, which provides the setting for this conversations. The show begins with an anecdote from “The Histories of Herodotus,” where the ancient historian recounts the story of King Croesus, the late ruler of Lydia, who governed the lands of western Anatolia in the mid-sixth century B.C. At the height of his reign, Croesus was visited by Solon, the lawgiver who had just laid the foundations for Athenian democracy. "Stranger of Athens,” inquired Croesus, “we have heard much of thy wisdom and of thy travels through many lands, from love of knowledge and a wish to see the world. I am curious therefore to inquire of thee, whom, of all the men that thou hast seen, thou deemest the most happy?" Croesus, expecting to hear the sound of his own name sung from Solon’s lips, was angered by the Athenian's reply. Solon proceeded to extol the virtues of otherwise “ordinary” men who lacked the trappings of wealth and power that Croesus so readily possessed. Seeing the king’s dissatisfaction, Solon responded with words that would come to haunt not only Croesus but which would obsess the whole of Athenian society for decades to come: «μηδένα προ του τέλους μακάριζε». Solon’s message was clear: Let me see your life’s ending. Only then I can know if you lived a good and happy life. Only then I can know if you lived a life worth praising. Not long after Solon’s visit, Croesus’ kingdom was invaded and conquered by Cyrus the Great, ruler of the Persian Empire. Condemned to death, it is said that Croesus yelled out Solon’s name three times from the flaming pyre atop which his body burned. It was not until that moment that he understood the message that Solon had so dutifully delivered. Croesus believed himself to be the happiest man, because of all the material wealth and power he had accumulated. But we cannot judge the happiness or the worth of a human life until it is over. A good life requires a good death, and learning how to live requires that we wrestle with our own mortality. The question of “what makes life worth living” therefore, was another way of asking: “what justifies life’s suffering?” Unlike for the Christians who succeeded them, there was, for the Greeks, no easy answer. It’s why they would congregate every spring in the amphitheater to laugh and cry and work out their grief over the pitiless predicament of human existence. 'Fairness’ was as foreign a concept to the Greeks as fate is to us. The stories of Croesus, Minos, Oedipus, Agamemnon, and the like were not only reminders of how the fortunes of the fated turn; they were also evidence for the futility of relying on present circumstances for evaluating the merits of existence. It is no surprise, therefore, that this obsession with deriving meaning from one’s own life independent of the whims of tempestuous Gods or of fated circumstance manifested itself in Greek philosophy. Its open-endedness posed an existential imperative then, as it does today. Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod

Rebecca’s childhood: poor, religious, and patriarchal ... How Bertrand Russell helped Rebecca lose her faith ... The problem of beauty ... When Rebecca shared a transcendent moment with a troop of baboons ... From physics to philosophy ... From philosophy to fiction ... Does art better address the mind-body problem than philosophy does? ... Reasons to feel optimistic about the world ...

Professor Rebecca Newberger Goldstein is one of the most influential thinkers in the world of public philosophy. Amongst many other philosophical texts, Goldstein is the author of The Mind-Body Problem, Betraying Spinoza: The Renegade Jew Who Gave Us Modernity, 36 Arguments for the Existence of God: A Work of Fiction and Plato at the Googleplex: Why Philosophy Won’t Go Away. For many, Goldstein’s talent for bringing philosophy to life through her wit and beautiful storytelling is unapparelled. In the words of A. C. Grayling, “Like Plato… Goldstein has both literary and philosophical gifts of the highest order: the combination is superb.” The list of Goldstein’s accomplishments is exhaustingly extensive; let us mention just five of many. Professor Goldstein was named a MacArthur Fellow (popularly known as the “genius award”) in 1996 and elected to The American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2005. In 2011, she was designated Free-thought Heroine by the Freedom from Religion Foundation and Humanist of the Year by The American Humanist Association, and in September of 2015, awarded the National Humanities Medal by President Obama in a ceremony at the White House. The reason cited? "For bringing philosophy into conversation with culture. In scholarship, Dr Goldstein has elucidated the ideas of Spinoza and Gödel, while in fiction, she deploys wit and drama to help us understand the great human conflict between thought and feeling."

Welcome to 'Episode 48 (Part I)', where we'll be talking to Rebecca Newberger Goldstein about the nature and purpose of philosophy. Professor Rebecca Newberger Goldstein is one of the most influential thinkers in the world of public philosophy. Amongst many other philosophical texts, Goldstein is the author of The Mind-Body Problem, Betraying Spinoza: The Renegade Jew Who Gave Us Modernity, 36 Arguments for the Existence of God: A Work of Fiction and Plato at the Googleplex: Why Philosophy Won’t Go Away. For many, Goldstein’s talent for bringing philosophy to life through her wit and beautiful storytelling is unapparelled. In the words of A. C. Grayling, “Like Plato… Goldstein has both literary and philosophical gifts of the highest order: the combination is superb.” The list of Goldstein’s accomplishments is exhaustingly extensive; let us mention just five of many. Professor Goldstein was named a MacArthur Fellow (popularly known as the “genius award”) in 1996 and elected to The American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2005. In 2011, she was designated Free-thought Heroine by the Freedom from Religion Foundation and Humanist of the Year by The American Humanist Association, and in September of 2015, awarded the National Humanities Medal by President Obama in a ceremony at the White House. The reason cited? "For bringing philosophy into conversation with culture. In scholarship, Dr Goldstein has elucidated the ideas of Spinoza and Gödel, while in fiction, she deploys wit and drama to help us understand the great human conflict between thought and feeling."

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/spinoza. Baruch Spinoza was a 17th century Dutch philosopher who laid the foundations for the Enlightenment. He made the controversial claim that there is only one substance in the universe, which led him to the pantheistic belief in an abstract, impersonal God. What effect did Spinoza have on Enlightenment thinkers? What are the philosophical – and religious – consequences of believing that there is only one substance in the universe? And why do scientists today still take him seriously? John and Ken welcome back Rebecca Goldstein, author of "Betraying Spinoza: The Renegade Jew Who Gave Us Modernity."

A recent dialogue event at Wycliffe College, Canada saw Jordan B Peterson, Rebecca Goldstein and William Lane Craig in conversation on the question “Is there meaning to life?” In this podcast-only edition of the show Justin introduces the event. One of the participants, Jordan B Peterson, has become an increasingly influential voice and will join Justin in person on Unbelievable? for the start of a series of special programmes called The Big Conversation in early June.  For the video of the Wycliffe College event https://www.wycliffecollege.ca/religionandsociety For Unbelievable? the Conference 2018: http://www.premier.org.uk/justask  Get signed copies of Unbelievable? the book and audiobook: www.unbelievablebook.co.uk  Get Unbelievable? the Conference 2017 DVD/CD & Digital Download: http://www.premier.org.uk/shop  For more faith debates visit http://www.premierchristianradio.com/Shows/Saturday/Unbelievable Join the conversation: Facebook and Twitter Get the MP3 Podcast of Unbelievable? Via RSS or Via Itunes

Sam Harris speaks with Rebecca Goldstein and Max Tegmark about the foundations of human knowledge and morality. Rebecca Goldstein is a MacArthur Fellow, a professor of philosophy, and the author of five novels and a collection of short stories. She lives in Boston, Massachusetts. Her latest book is Plato at The Googleplex: Why Philosophy Won’t Go Away. Twitter: @platobooktour Max Tegmark is a professor of physics at MIT and the co-founder of the Future of Life Institute. Tegmark has been featured in dozens of science documentaries. He is the author of Our Mathematical Universe and Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence. Twitter: @Tegmark

In this episode of the Making Sense podcast, Sam Harris speaks with Rebecca Goldstein and Max Tegmark about the foundations of human knowledge and morality. SUBSCRIBE to continue listening and gain access to all content on samharris.org/subscribe.

Ett upplysande avsnitt om humanism med författaren, debattören och föreläsaren Christer Sturmark, som också är ordförande för Humanisterna Sverige, en förening vars syfte är att arbeta för ett sekulärt samhälle och kritiskt tänkande. Det pratas således även viss sekularisering och vi tar vägen via namn som Bertrand Russel, Rebecca Goldstein och Steven Pinker.

Broken Sleep (Other Press)Spanning 1940s to 2020s America and told with contagious vivacity, Broken Sleep knits the stories of four distinctly memorable characters into an indelible portrait of American culture that is at once sweeping, irreverent, and heartbreaking. When everyman Moses Teumer discovers that he has an aggressive form of leukemia, his search for a donor who can save him sets off a wild chain of events as he discovers that the woman who raised him is not his birth mother. Encompassing a Pynchon-esque saga of rock music, sex, drugs, art, and politics, this novel is an unforgettable examination of the secrets we keep and the risks we take in the name of commandeering our own destinies. After his diagnosis, Moses is led to his real mother, Salome Savant, a rebellious avant-garde artist who has spent her life in and out of a mental health facility. Salome’s son and Moses’s half-brother is Alchemy Savant, the mercurial front man of the world-renowned rock band The Insatiables. As Moses’s fate intertwines with Salome and Alchemy’s, the shocking secrets of his lineage and his Jewish identity are revealed. As Moses begins to lose his grip on the life he once thought he had, Alchemy abandons music to launch a political campaign to revolutionize 2020s America. Joining these characters is Ambitious Mindswallow, aka Ricky McFinn, who journeys from juvenile delinquency in Queens to being The Insatiables’ bassist and Alchemy’s Sancho Panza, along with an unforgettable constellation of artists, musicians, movie stars, and creatives who populate the twisted terrain of the Teumer and Savant family’s pasts and futures.As each of Bauman’s characters comes closer to understanding their identity and the truth about their origins, the reader is gripped by this portrait of life lived to the fullest.  A colorful and provocative tale that takes the reader from Los Angeles to NYC to London to Brazil, Broken Sleep stuns with its propulsive energy and its hilarious and poignant observations about myth-making, the secrets we keep from one another, and how we come to terms with our pasts.Praise for Broken Sleep“Such a pleasure to plunge into this joyous kaleidoscope of a novel, a multi-voiced tumbling chorus of outrageous characters, hidden parenthood, secrets and discoveries, the gritty outré art world of the 1970s, rockers and mad visionaries and a man named Moses who just wants to live his life when illness forces him to open up the closed door of his family’s mysterious past. I haven’t seen a book with such energy and joy and sweeping delights since The World According to Garp. Bauman’s novel is a tour de force.” —Janet Fitch, author of Paint It Black and White Oleander“Consuming multitudes of novels before it and after, Bruce Bauman’s flipbook-epic spectacularly shuffles voice and memory—a careening travelogue on psychic terrains of fate, art, sex, madness, history, philosophy, rock ’n’ roll, the personal political, and laws of identity for which no statute of limitations can exist. This is raging, inspiration-jacked literary insomnia at the deepest hour of our brilliant dreaming.” —Steve Erickson, author of These Dreams of You and Zeroville“Broken Sleep is a stunning, original, unpredictable novel, with a mix of wild voices and riveting, driving stories.  I love all the characters… The world that Bauman imagines is chilling and vivid, and there is an abundance of wisdom throughout the book, with startling insights on every page. The novel is a brilliant success—brave, wonderfully eccentric, utterly confident and engrossing.” —Joanna Scott, author of De Potter’s Grand Tour“Broken Sleep is an unabashedly Big Think book that refuses to be categorized. On the surface it’s a roller coaster, jetting forward with ideas/observations on everything from avant-garde art to rock ’n’ roll renown to history and philosophy. Yet beneath the surface it is also a warm-hearted exploration of the deep messiness of families. Of parents, present and absent, and their children. Of siblings and spouses and volitional families of friends and bandmates. It’s a simultaneously poignant and exhilarating ride.” —Melvin Jules Bukiet, author of After“Broken Sleep could be considered the author’s great American retort to Stephen Dedalus’s declaration in Joyce’s Ulyssesthat ‘History is a nightmare from which I am trying to awake.’...Bauman’s philosophical, humorous, and compelling storytelling ponders many different riddles of exile—personal, political, artistic with an always acute eye and an unfailingly intense empathy.” —Anthony Miller, critic and author"Bruce Bauman is one of the most engaging and engaged writers and thinkers that I know." —Rebecca Goldstein, author ofPlato at the GoogleplexBruce Bauman is the author of the novel And the Word Was. Among his awards are a COLA (City of Los Angeles) Fellowship in Literature, a Durfee Foundation grant, and a UNESCO/Aschberg Fellowship. His work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Salon, BOMB, Bookforum, and numerous anthologies and literary magazines. Bauman is an instructor in the CalArts MFA Writing Program and Critical Studies Department and has been Senior Editor of Black Clock literary magazine since its inception in 2003. Born and raised in New York City, he lives in Los Angeles with his wife, the painter Suzan Woodruff.

More at http://philosophytalk.org/shows/philosophy-fiction. Philosophers think a lot about fiction. But do novelists think about philosophy? Do philosophers make good fictional characters? Can good stories be built around philosophical problems? When awarding its Genius prize to philosopher-novelist Rebecca Goldstein, the MacArthur Foundation said "[her] writings emerge as brilliant arguments for the belief that fiction in our time may be the best vehicle for involving readers in questions of morality and existence.'' Ken and John explore philosophy in fiction with Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, author of "The Mind-Body Problem" and "36 Arguments for the Existence of God: A Work of Fiction."

Weekly JourneywithJesus.net postings, read by Dan Clendenin. Essay by Dan Clendenin: *Blind Bartimaeus* for Sunday, 25 October 2015; book review by Brad Keister: *Plato at the Googleplex: Why Philosophy Won’t Go Away* by Rebecca Goldstein (2014); film review by Dan Clendenin: *Race to Nowhere* (2010); poem selected by Dan Clendenin: *Ode on Solitude* by Alexander Pope.

REFLECTION QUOTES “The reason why the theme of repentance is neglected, as indeed it is not only in modern secular society but in the church, is because it is a costly thing to repent. It does mean reshaping your life in quite a radical way. And people, just because they find it too costly of a prospect, …try to devise a way of being ‘Christian' which doesn't involve anything…radical….” ~J.I. Packer, British-born theologian “Each of us is a singular narrative, which is constructed, continually, unconsciously, by, through, and in us—through our perceptions, our feelings, our thoughts, our actions; and, not least, our discourse, our spoken narrations.” ~Oliver Sacks (1933-2015), famed neurologist “My feelings are not God. God is God. My feelings do not define truth. God's word defines truth. My feelings are echoes and responses to what my mind perceives. And…many times…my feelings are out of sync with the truth. When that happens– and it happens everyday in some measure– I try not to bend the truth to justify my imperfect feelings, but rather I plead with God: Purify my perceptions…and transform my feelings so that they are in sync with truth.” ~John Piper, Christian author and speaker “Everybody makes excuses for themselves they wouldn't be prepared to make for other people.” ~Rebecca Goldstein, Plato at the Googleplex: Why Philosophy Won't Go Away “…insecure in our relationships and anxious about intimacy, we look to technology for ways to be in relationships and protect ourselves from them at the same time.” ~Sherry Turkle, professor of social sciences and technology at MIT “Our goal is to create a beloved community, and this will require a qualitative change in our souls as well as a quantitative change in our lives.” ~Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968), Baptist minister and civil right leader “Christianity means community through Jesus Christ and in Jesus Christ.” ~Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1909-1945), martyred by in a Nazi death camp SERMON PASSAGE Romans 12 (NASB) 1 Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. 3 For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith. 4 For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, 5 so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. 6 Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith; 7 if service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching; 8 or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness. 9 Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor; 11 not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; 12 rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, 13 contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality. 14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. 16 Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation. 17 Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Respect what is right in the sight of all men. 18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men. 19 Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. 20 “But if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him drink; for in so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

REFLECTION QUOTES “If we don't understand our tools, then there is a danger we will become the tool of our tools. We think of ourselves as Google's customers, but really we're its products.” ~Rebecca Goldstein, Plato at the Googleplex: Why Philosophy Won't Go Away “By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was offering up his only begotten son…” ~Hebrews 11 (NASB) “Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.” “He knew it was God the Almighty who now put him to the test; he knew it was the greatest sacrifice which could be demanded of him; but he knew also that no sacrifice was too great which God demanded—and he drew forth his knife. Who strengthened Abraham's arm, who supported his right arm that it drooped not powerless? For he who contemplates this scene is unnerved. Who strengthened Abraham's soul so that his eyes grew not too dim to see either Isaac or the ram? For he who contemplates this scene will be struck with blindness. And yet, it is rare enough that one is unnerved or is struck with blindness, and still more rare that one narrates worthily what there did take place between father and son.” “Remove form the Christian Religion, as Christendom has done, it's ability to shock, and Christianity…is altogether destroyed. It then becomes a tiny superficial thing, capable neither of inflicting deep wounds nor of healing them, …it forgets the qualitative distinction between man and God.” ~Søren Kierkegaard, 19th c. Danish Philosopher “True faith rests upon the character of God and asks no further proof than the moral perfections of the One who cannot lie…. Faith is the gaze of a soul upon a saving God.” ― A.W. Tozer (1897-1963), American pastor and author “The main reason…that you cannot extract ethical principles from Christianity and set them up on their own is that Christianity is not an ethical system. It is not meant to be a prescription for good behavior, although good behavior is one of its side effects. It is a story. Christians believe that it is a true story but a story, nonetheless.” ~ William Kirk Kilpatrick, former longtime professor at Boston College SERMON PASSAGE Genesis 22:1-19 (NASB) 1 Now it came about after these things, that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 2 He said, “Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.” 3 So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him and Isaac his son; and he split wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. 4 On the third day Abraham raised his eyes and saw the place from a distance. 5 Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey, and I and the lad will go over there; and we will worship and return to you.” 6 Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son, and he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together. 7 Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” And he said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” 8 Abraham said, “God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” So the two of them walked on together. 9 Then they came to the place of which God had told him; and Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood, and bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 12 He said, “Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.” 13 Then Abraham raised his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the place of his son. 14 Abraham called the name of that place The Lord Will Provide, as it is said to this day, “In the mount of the Lord it will be provided.” 15 Then the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven, 16 and said, “By Myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies. 18 In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.” 19 So Abraham returned to his young men, and they arose and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham lived at Beersheba. Hebrews 11:17-19 (NASB) 17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was offering up his only begotten son; 18 it was he to whom it was said, “In Isaac your descendants shall be called.” 19 He considered that God is able to raise people even from the dead, from which he also received him back as a type.

During this week’s radio show you will learn about: The emotion in logic and why our instincts are not irrational How we create emotional rules to guide our interactions with others Why emotions are a an effective and sophisticated tool for balancing and complementing our rational side The role of modern philosophy on reason and happiness The emphasis philosophy places on reason and the way that affects happiness

During this week’s radio show you will learn about: The emotion in logic and why our instincts are not irrational How we create emotional rules to guide our interactions with others Why emotions are a an effective and sophisticated tool for balancing and complementing our rational side The role of modern philosophy on reason and happiness The emphasis philosophy places on reason and the way that affects happiness

(From March 2014) Rebecca Goldstein says some of her best friends are “philosophy jeerers,” convinced that anything philosophers can do, scientists can do better. She begs to differ, and offers the grandaddy of Western philosophy as exhibit A. 21st-century America has a surprising amount in common with Athens c. 400 BCE, Rebecca says, and Plato still has a thing or two to teach us moderns. She shows how well the 2,400-year-old-man has aged by transporting him to our own times in her new book “Plato at the Googleplex: Why Philosophy Won't go Away.” Rebecca and I talked about the world of the ancient Greeks, the death of Socrates, the relevance of Plato and what philosophy is good for. Plus a bonus segment: just how timely is Plato? Philosophical rapper Dr. Awkward makes the case in rhymes.

This Communications Forum special event will explore the differences and similarities in the kinds of knowledge available through inquiry in the sciences and humanities, and the ways that knowledge is obtained. The panelists will be historian, novelist, and columnist James Carroll; philosopher and novelist Rebecca Goldstein; author and physicist Alan Lightman; and biologist Robert Weinberg. Seth Mnookin, Associate Director of the Forum, will moderate. Speakers James Carroll is a historian, novelist, and journalist. His works of nonfiction include An American Requiem, which won the National Book Award, and Constantine's Sword, now an acclaimed documentary. Writing frequently about Catholicism in the modern world, Carroll has a prize-winning column in The Boston Globe. He is Distinguished Scholar-in-Residence at Suffolk University in Boston. Rebecca Newberger Goldstein is a philosopher and novelist and the author of ten books, including, most recently, 36 Arguments for the Existence of God: A Work of Fiction and Plato at the Googleplex: Why Philosophy Won’t Go Away. Goldstein is on the World Economic Forum's Global Council of Values and was named Humanist of the Year by the American Humanist Association in 2011. She is the recipient of numerous awards for her scholarship and fiction, including a MacArthur Fellowship. Alan Lightman is a physicist, novelist, and essayist. In astrophysics, he has made fundamental contributions to gravitation theory, the behavior of black holes, and radiation processes in extreme environments. His 1993 novel Einstein’s Dreams was an international bestseller, and in 2000, his book The Diagnosis was a finalist for the National Book Award in fiction. He is currently Professor of the Practice of the Humanities at MIT and teaches in the Graduate Program in Science Writing. Robert A. Weinberg is one of the world’s leading molecular biologists and the discoverer of the first gene known to cause cancer. His work focuses on the molecular and genetic mechanisms that lead to the formation of human tumors, and his recent work has examined how human cancer cells metastasize. In 1997, President Bill Clinton awarded him the National Medal of Science, the nation's highest scientific honor. Weinberg is Professor of Biology at MIT and a founding member of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research. Seth Mnookin is Associate Director of the MIT Communications Forum and Acting Director of MIT's Gradute Program in Science Writing. His most recent book, The Panic Virus: The True Story Behind the Vaccine-Autism Controversy, was published in 2011.

Rebecca Goldstein says some of her best friends are “philosophy jeerers,” convinced that anything philosophers can do, scientists can do better. She begs to differ, and offers the grandaddy of Western philosophy as exhibit A. 21st-century America has a surprising amount in common with Athens c. 400 BCE, Rebecca says, and Plato still has a thing or two to teach us moderns. She shows how well the 2,400-year-old-man has aged by transporting him to our own times in her new book “Plato at the Googleplex: Why Philosophy Won't go Away.” Rebecca and I talked about the world of the ancient Greeks, the death of Socrates, the relevance of Plato and what philosophy is good for. Plus a bonus segment: just how timely is Plato? Philosophical rapper Dr. Awkward makes the case in rhymes.

Rebecca Goldstein, a professor of philosophy and the author of five novels and a collection of short stories, joins us on Point of Inquiry to discuss atheism, philosophy and her new book, Plato at the Googleplex: Why Philosophy Won't Go Away. Along with some of her weightier philosophical works she has also recently published 36 Arguments for the Existence of God: A Work of Fiction, a novel that is both deep and playful in its examination of apologist positions.  Goldstein, who will be a guest at the upcoming Women in Secularism III conference, has written five novels -- including the recent 36 Arguments for the Existence of God: A Work of Fiction -- as well as a number of short stories, essays, and biographical studies. As someone with a distinguished career teaching Philosophy of Science, Philosophy of Mind, and as the recipient of a MacArthur Fellow "Genius Award", and the Humanist of the Year award, she is in an exciting position to discuss historic, current and developing ideas in thought and the field of philosophy. 

Cognitive psychologist, Steven Pinker, has been dubbed "science's agent provocateur". Pinker studies how the mind works. Presenter Jim al-Khalili wants to find out how his mind works. Pinker replies: "as a psychologist you look at your own life as data and say geez that's what I'm like". From verbs to violence, he's author of several books that many say are mind-changing. He's now something of a science superstar, but his early experiments with electrodes on rats didn't quite go according to plan: "I realised then that that kind of science required a level of meticulousness that I just didn't have". So instead of studying neuroscience, he became a cognitive psychologist. Now perhaps better known for his writing than his science, he shot to fame with his book The Language Instinct, based on his early studies of how children tackle irregular verbs, for example saying "holded" not held, and "digged" instead of dug. These cute sounding mistakes are proof that three year olds are grammatical geniuses, he says. And he met his wife Rebecca Goldstein over an irregular verb. Later, Pinker set the cat among the social science pigeons by stressing the importance of nature rather than nurture: an assertion that led to some bitter arguments with, among others, the psychologist Oliver James. He readily admits that genes aren't everything: he's decided not to have children and says "if my genes don't like it, they can go jump in the lake". But he says, "there's a phobia of genetics that it's time to get over". Our failure to even think about genetic influences has given us a false impression of the amount of influence parents have over their children: it's skewed the science. Parents like to think that they mould and shape their children in certain ways but Pinker argues, as long as children are not abused, parenting makes little difference to how they turn out at 18. His most recent book 'The Better Angels of Our Nature' is about the decline in global violence from 8500 BC. Despite two World Wars, Vietnam, Kosovo, Iraq, Darfur and many others, Pinker asserts that we are living in the most peaceful times ever and wants to know why our better angels triumph over our inner demons. Is he now showing the better angel of his Nature? Each week on The Life Scientific, Jim al-Khalili invites a leading scientist to tell us about their life and work: he wants to get under their skin and into their minds. And he'll ask what their discoveries might do for us. He talks to Nobel laureates as well as the next generation of beautiful minds and finds out what inspired them to do science in the first place and what motivates them to keep going. Fellow scientists will comment on their work, putting it in context and offering alternative perspectives. Future guests include: astronomer Jocelyn Bell-Burnell; the brains behind the Human Genome Project, John Sulston; Molly Stevens, a tissue engineer who's work growing bones could mean the end of metal pins for broken legs; Hugh Montgomery, who discovered the fitness gene. Themes and ideas from the interviews will be explored on The Life Scientific website, which will aggregate some of the best Radio 4 Science archive around the topics discussed in the programmes.

Jes Constantine and Todd Stiefel reflect on the AHA 70th Annual Conference, highlighting the acceptance speech by Humanist of the Year, Rebecca Goldstein. Also, listen to an interview with a very special surprise guest. Don't forget to celebrate the National Day of Reason on Thursday, May 5, 2011!

Philosopher/Novelist Rebecca Goldstein discusses her latest book, "36 Arguments for the Existence of God: A Work of Fiction." She and Robert consider the case for and against religion.

Host Cyrus Webb of Conversations LIVE! Radio welcomes author Rebecca Goldstein (36 Arguments For The Existence of God) at the top of the hour and author Steven Young (Changed Destiny) at 30 minutes past the hour to discuss their latest books.

Best known for his Incompleteness Theorem, Kurt Gödel (1906–1978) is considered one of the most important mathematicians and logicians of the 20th century. By showing that the establishment of a set of axioms encompassing all of mathematics would never succeed, he revolutionized the world of mathematics, logic, and philosophy. Rebecca Goldstein is the author of Incompleteness: The Proof and Paradox of Kurt Gödel and most recently, Betraying Spinoza: The Renegade Jew Who Gave Us Modernity. She is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and has received many awards for her fiction and scholarship, including a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Fellowship. She shares her insight into the life and work of Kurt Gödel.