Converging Dialogues

Latest Episodes:

#281 - Justinian: Emperor, Soldier, Saint: A Dialogue with Peter Sarris Nov 23, 2023

Show notes

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Peter Sarris about the Roman emperor, Justinian. They give an overview of Justinian, provide the context of the Roman Empire, discuss the rise of Justin and him adopting Justinian and Justinian’s succession. They talk about the lessons Justinian learned from Justin’s reign, urgency and energy early in Justinian’s reign and his emphasis on religious law. They discuss the importance of Armenia, zealous nature of Justinian with his religious laws, the Hagia Sofia and other religious sites, military campaigns, and the impact of his religious laws. They talk about the relationship dynamics with his wife, how he handled pandemics and disease, the legacy of Justinian, and many other topics.

Peter Sarris is Professor of Late Antique, Medieval, and Byzantine studies and Fellow of Trinity College at the University of Cambridge. He has been Visiting Fellow at Rice University and Dumbarton Oaks Research Library, Washington, DC (Harvard University). His research has focused on the social, economic and legal history of Late Antiquity, the Early Middle Ages and Byzantium, with a particular focus on the political economy of the East Roman Empire from the fourth to sixth centuries. He is the author of many publications, including the most recent book, Justinian: Emperor, Soldier, Saint.

Twitter: @peter_sarris

Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

#280 - The Four Realms of Existence: A Dialogue with Joseph LeDoux Nov 20, 2023

Show notes

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Joseph LeDoux about human cognition, consciousness, and existence. They discuss his work with Michael Gazzaniga on split brain patients, the four realms of existence, idea of the self, personality and temperament, and integration information theory. They talk about the extended mind, habits and goal direct behaviors, granular and sub-granular areas of the prefrontal cortex for consciousness, and Tulving’s 3 layers of consciousness. They also discuss cognition as a psychological concept, fear, first order and higher order theory, AI and consciousness, and many more topics.

Joseph LeDoux is the Henry and Lucy Moses Professor of Science at NYU in the Center for Neural Science, and he is the director of the Emotional Brain Institute at NYU. He also a Professor of Psychiatry and Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at NYU Langone Medical School. His work is focused on the brain mechanisms of memory and emotion and he is the author of numerous books including his most recent book, The Four Realms of Existence. He has received numerous awards and he is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the New York Academy of Sciences, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a member of the National Academy of Sciences. He is also the lead singer and songwriter in the rock band, The Amygdaloids.

Website: https://joseph-ledoux.com/

Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

#279 - Carbon Accounting and Climate Change: A Dialogue with Kristian Rönn Nov 16, 2023

Show notes

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Kristian Rönn about carbon accounting and climate change. They talk about his work with Future for Humanity and how he created Normative. They discuss the landscape of climate change at the moment, his company Normative, and the differences between net zero and carbon neutral. They discuss carbon offsets, carbon accounting, and ton-year accounting. They talk about scopes 1, 2, & 3, global regulations, cap and trade, greenwashing, impact of AI on carbon accounting, and many more topics.

Kristian Rönn is the CEO and Co-founder of Normative. He has previously worked at the University of Oxford’s Future for Humanity analyzing global catastrophic risks. His background is in mathematics, philosophy, computer science, and artificial intelligence.

Website: https://normative.io/

Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

#278 - Conservation Presidents in the 20th Century: A Dialogue with Douglas Brinkley Nov 13, 2023

Show notes

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Douglas Brinkley about various conservation presidents in the 20th century. They discuss his process for how he wrote his conservation trilogy, understanding the psychology of Theodore Roosevelt (TR’s) and how conservation was important to him, and TR’s complex relationship with animals that included preservation and hunting. They talk about how TR used the Federal Government to protect natural land, his relationship with Native Americans, and his overall legacy. They discuss Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) using the Federal Government for enacting policies to protect forests, building dams, and creating recreation areas, and how he tied conservation with economic growth. They discuss the impact of Rachel Carson and John F. Kennedy (JFK) for the environmental wave in the 60s, the environmental justice movement, Richard Nixon seizing the moment of environmental activism, climate change in the present moment, and many more topics.

Douglas Brinkley is the Katherine Tsanoff Brown Chair in Humanities and Professor of History at Rice University, a CNN Presidential Historian, and a contributing editor at Vanity Fair. He is the author of numerous books including the conservation trilogy which include, The Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America, Righteous Heritage: Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Land of America, and Silent Spring Revolution: John F. Kennedy, Rachel Carson, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, and the Great Environmental Awakening.

Six of his books have been named New York Times “Notable Books of the Year” and seven became New York Times bestsellers. He received a Grammy Award in 2017 as co-producer of Presidential Suite: Eight Variations on Freedom (Best Jazz Ensemble). The New-York Historical Society selected Brinkley in 2017 as their official U.S. Presidential Historian. He is on the Board of Trustees at Brevard College and the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library. He is a member of the Century Association, Council of Foreign Relations and James Madison Council of the Library of Congress.

Website: https://douglasbrinkley.com/

Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

#277 - The 200 Million Year History of Eves: A Dialogue with Cat Bohannon Nov 09, 2023

Show notes

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Cat Bohannon about the evolutionary history of females. They discuss her background, limited female subjects in many research papers, “morgie” and how milk became important, other features of milk such as bonding, attachment, and the “let-down” reflex. They also talk about the different types of wombs for monotremes, marsupials, and placentals, placenta and the menstrual cycle, and risks of pregnancy. They also talk about the grandmother hypothesis, future of females, and many more topics.

Cat Bohannon is a research and author with her PhD from Columbia University. She has studied the evolution of narrative and cognition. Her writing has appeared in Scientific American, Science magazine, The Best American Nonrequired Reading, Lapham’s Quarterly, and other outlets. She is the author of the book, Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution.

Website: https://www.catbohannon.com/

Twitter: @catbohannon

Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

#276 - A Segmented History of The Chapter: A Dialogue with Nicholas Dames Nov 06, 2023

Show notes

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Nicholas Dames about the history of the chapter. They discuss how chapters have boundaries, define what is a chapter, and talk about literacy form. They also talk about the chapter as temporal units or scenes, Tabula Bembina and the first chapter, capitulation and Augustine, and how the chapter evolved with the history of the Bible. They also discuss the chapter in the 15th century, Locke’s anti-chapter theory, Jane Austen and the significance of chapter word count, Tolstoy and episodes, and Dickens and Eliot with diurnal time. They also discuss Machado’s inbetweenness, the Antique-Diminutive Model, chapter in film, the future of the chapter, and many more topics.

Nicholas Dames is the Theodore Kahan Professor of Humanities in the Department of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University. He has been a recipient of Columbia’s Presidential Teaching Award (2005), a Charles Ryskamp Fellowship from the American Council of Learned Societies (2005-6), the Lenfest Distinguished Faculty Award (2008), and the Mark Van Doren Award for Teaching (2013). In 2009-2010 he was chair of the MLA’s Division on Prose Fiction Executive Committee. From 2011-2014 he was chair of the Department of English and Comparative Literature. His main interests are in the history and theory of the novel, the hsitory of reading, and 19th century fiction. He is the author of the most recent book, The Chapter: A Segmented History from Antiquity to the Twenty-First Century.

Website: https://nicholasdames.org/

Twitter: @n_j_dames

Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

#275 - Animal Consciousness: A Dialogue with Walter Veit Nov 02, 2023

Show notes

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Walter Veit about animal consciousness. They talk about various frameworks for understanding consciousness, the naturalist approach, cognitive ethology, and pathological complexity thesis. They discuss consciousness arising in the Cambrian period, defining consciousness, free will, consciousness profile, Integrated Information Theory, interacting with animals, and many more topics.

Walter Veit is a lecturer in philosophy at the University of Reading. He is also the Director of the PPE Program and the Philosophy MA Program. He is also an external member of the Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy at the University of Munich. He has his PhD from the School of History and philosophy of Science at the University of Sydney. His research interests have been on animal ethics, welfare, and evolution. He is the author of the book, A Philosophy for the Science of Animal Consciousness.

Website: https://walterveit.com/

Twitter: @wrwveit

Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

#274 - A Theory of Everyone: A Dialogue with Michael Muthukrishna Oct 30, 2023

Show notes

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Michael Muthukrishna about energy, cooperation, and global themes. They discuss the broad scope of the book, importance of theory, energy being essential for cooperation, corruption and cooperation, laws of life, cooperation fueling human growth, and some of the negative aspects of cooperation. They also talk about intelligence, immigration, wealth inequality, meritocracy, and many other topics.

Michael Muthukrishna is Associate Professor of economic psychology in the Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He has his PhD in psychology from the University of British Columbia and his main interests are in cooperation, cross-cultural differences, and corruption. He is the author of the latest book, A Theory of Everyone: The New Science of Who We Are, How we got here, and Where we are going.

Website: https://www.michael.muthukrishna.com/

Twitter: @mmuthukrishna

Book Website: https://www.atheoryofeveryone.com/

Substack: Michael Muthukrishna

2019 paper on theory: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-018-0522-1

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected