Showing results by narrator "Jim Fleming" in Arts & Entertainment

In this hour, we ask what exactly Einstein concluded about religion. First, a discussion with Richard Dawkins, Elaine Pagels, and Einstein biographer Walter Isaacson (Einstein: His Life and Universe). Next, Jungian analyst David Lindorff (Pauli and Jung: the Meeting of Two Great Minds). Then, author David Leavitt, (The Indian Clerk). Finally, mystic Father Thomas Keating.

New York Times columnist David Brooks is best known for his political writing, but he's also fascinated by recent findings in psychology and neuroscience. In fact he says many of our public policies fail because we're not actually the rational decision makers we think we are. In this hour, we'll talk with David Brooks, also, rising jazz star Vijay Iyer on the neuroscience of music.

In this hour we'll hear the latest science on brain plasticity. First, psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, and researcher Norman Doidge (The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science). Next, author Daniel Pinchbeck (2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl), and more.

"Everyone is on the Internet but they're not all talking with each other. There are groups upon groups out there, but they don't talk to one another. So while the Internet brings everyone into a share space, it does not necessarily bring them together." -- David Lynch

Are humans really unique? Not as much as we think, says renowned primatologist Frans de Waal. So what do our ape cousins - chimps & bonobos - think and feel? Also, the remarkable story of a feral child who lived with monkeys.

The Jewish High Holy Days come to an end every fall on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. This year, we're thinking about atonement and forgiveness. Whether you're Jewish or non-Jewish, secular or religious, forgiveness is something we all struggle with. Today we explore the path to forgiveness through old and new stories, music, and science.

Social media has brought us all closer together. Sometimes that's a good thing. But when it comes to online shaming, it's a bad thing. People get humiliated on Twitter, savaged in public forums and women get rape and death threats. This hour, we explore our great renaissance of public shaming.

It's been more than four decades since the Civil Rights movement ended racial segregation in America. Yet few would say African-Americans are now fully integrated – or assimilated. In this hour, African American writers talk about race, and how black history – from segregation to the Great Migration to the culture of hip hop – continues to shape our racial conversation today.

The Bible and the Quran are some of our most sacred and revered texts. They're also full of violent passages. Is religion the source of violence and intolerance around the world? We look at how sacred texts inspire both violence and liberation.

Atheists are finally coming out of the closet, and in some cases denouncing religion. Others still crave a sense of the sacred even though they don’t believe in God. Do atheists have something to learn from religion? Why do so many people call themselves "spiritual but not religious"? And why did bestselling novelist Anne Rice split very publicly with the Catholic Church?

Deep in the Amazon rainforest lives a mysterious tribe known as “the Arrow People.” One of the last unconquered tribes, they’ve had virtually no contact with the modern world. Now, they’re fighting for survival as developers cut through the Amazon. We’ll travel with an explorer who’s trying to protect the Arrow People, and meet an anthropologist whose life was transformed by Amazonian shamans and the hallucinogen ayahuasca.

How does creative work get done? When the answer finally comes to a question that's dogged you for weeks or years, where is it coming from? In this special hour, Nathan Englander - acclaimed novelist, short story writer, playwright - is our guest producer.

In this hour, the theory of evolution that is the flashpoint in the war between science and religion. First, philosopher and author Daniel Dennett (Darwin's Dangerous Idea). Next, evolutionary biologist Randy Olson (Flock of Dodos: The Evolution-Intelligent Design Circus, a documentary), and more.

Is there any evidence that vaccines cause autism? Any at all? If the answer is no, then why is anti-vaccination on the rise? Autism. Jenny McCarthy. Measles at Disneyland. How did we get here?

First, philosopher Ken Wilber, socio-biologist E.O. Wilson, popular writer on the history of religion Karen Armstrong (The Great Transformation), and evolutionary biologist and atheist Richard Dawkins (The God Delusion). Then, authors Rebecca Goldstein (Betraying Spinoza: The Renegade Jew Who Gave Us Modernity) and Francis Collins (The Language of God).

If there's one sweeping societal change that we've failed to put our finger on, it may be this: more people than ever before in America are living alone. And loving it. And, far from being dysfunctional neurotics - people who live alone are happy, socially involved and solvent. In this hour, the new alone. Also, arguments in favor of the uncoupled. And how humanists are re-imagining fellowship - without God.

Albert Camus was many things: war hero, Nobel Prize-winning novelist, and one of the 20th century’s most fascinating public thinkers. We examine the life and legacy of Camus on his 100th birthday: how a poor kid from Algeria became a revered French writer, hungry to find meaning in an absurd world, and why Camus still has a lot to tell us about a world mired in political violence.

Atheists have been called the most hated minority in America. And yet recent atheist manifestos by Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, and Sam Harris have all made the best-seller list. So have these atheists changed our thinking about religion? We'll talk about the New Atheism with Richard Dawkins and two of his critics.

Physicist Lawrence Krauss says science can finally explain the age-old mystery: How can something come out of nothing? Or, to be more specific, how can the Big Bang pop out of empty space? Krauss also set off an intellectual brawl by saying theologians and philosphers have nothing useful to say about our cosmic origins. We’ll talk with Krauss and other physicists about science, religion and the meaning of life.

Timothy Leary nearly killed the psychedelic revolution. He did more than anyone to popularize LSD and urged us all to "turn on, tune in, drop out." But Leary's indiscriminate use of mind-altering drugs created a backlash, and made them taboo for serious scholars. Now a new generation of scientists is studying hallucinogens, and finding remarkable effects. In this hour, we'll take you to the cutting edge of psychedelic research.