Converging Dialogues

Latest Episodes:

#231 - The Neuroscience of Music: A Dialogue with Lawrence Sherman & Dennis Plies Jun 01, 2023

Show notes

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Lawrence Sherman and Dennis Plies about the neuroscience of music. They discuss how they wrote the book together, define music, discuss the different parts of the brain involved in music, and the different elements of music. They also discuss musical preferences, differences between composing and improvising, curiosity, memory, truth in art, and many more topics.

Lawrence Sherman is a neuroscientist and professor of neuroscience at the Oregon Health and Science University where he also runs a lab. His widely published on brain development and disease and has investigated the neuroscience connections with music. You can find his work here.

Dennis Plies is a musician and music professor at Warner Pacific University. He has played the marimba and has recorded albums in various genres such as jazz and classical. They are the author of the book, Every Brain Needs Music.

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#230 - Unmasking Libertarianism: A Dialogue with Andrew Koppelman May 28, 2023

Show notes

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Andrew Koppelman about Libertarianism. They discuss why Libertarianism is so popular, how it is a mutated form of liberalism, Hayek and his views, and on rights. They also talk about taxation, the philosophy of Ayn Rand, role of regulation, Liberalism today, Obamacare, and many more topics.

Andrew Koppelman is the John Paul Stevens Professor of Law, Professor (by courtesy) of Political Science, and Philosophy Department Affiliated Faculty at Northwestern University. His research focuses on issues at the intersection of law and political philosophy. He has received numerous awards and has written more than 100 scholarly articles and numerous books, including the most recent, Burning Down the House: How Libertarian Philosophy was Corrupted by Delusion and Greed.

Website: https://andrewkoppelman.com/

Twitter: @andrewkoppelman

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#229 - Defying the British Empire: A Dialogue with David Veevers May 25, 2023

Show notes

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with David Veevers about the various perspectives around the British Empire. They talk about why people ignore some parts of history but emphasize others, Irish resistance, how the British colonized North America, and their interactions with various Native peoples. They discuss the British empire and the hegemony in Asia, meeting resistance in Africa, and having a full and complete picture of the history of the British Empire.

David Veevers is an award-winning historian and Lecturer in Early Modern History at the University of Bangor. His holds a PhD from the University of Kent. His research areas are on the international role of the British Empire. He is the author of the latest book, The Great Defiance: How the World Took on the British Empire.

Twitter: @davidveevers1

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#228 - The Possibility of Life: A Dialogue with Jaime Green May 22, 2023

Show notes

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Jaime Green about the origins of life, other planets, and meaning. They discuss the origins of life on earth, why humans ask the big questions of life, and life on other planets. They talk about AI, machine learning, utility of sci-fi films, UFOs and many more topics.

Jaime Green is a writer, editor, and essayist. She is the series editor for The Best American Science and Nature Writing. She is also a lecturer at Smith College. She is the author of the latest book, The Possibility of Life: Science, Imagination, and Our Quest for Kinship in the Cosmos.

Website: https://www.jaimegreen.net/

Twitter: @jaimealyse

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#227 - Without Children: A Dialogue with Peggy O'Donnell Heffington May 18, 2023

Show notes

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Peggy O’Donnell Heffington about women’s rights, choice, and children. They talk about some of the reasons why women don’t have children, Millennials having children later, and structural aspects of choice. They discuss the history of abortion, contraception laws, Roe V. Wade, Dobbs ruling, the history and origins of the nuclear family, grandmother hypothesis, public perceptions of people without children, and many more topics.

Peggy O’Donnell Heffington is an Assistant Instructional Professor in the Department of History at the University of Chicago. Her interests are on historical research, gender, and women’s history. She is the author of the latest book, Without Children: The Long History of Not Being A Mother.

Website: http://poheffington.com/

Twitter: @peggyohdonnell

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#226 - The Pandemic Paradox: A Dialogue with Scott Fulford May 15, 2023

Show notes

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Scott Fulford about the economical paradox during the COVID-19 pandemic. They discuss what is the pandemic paradox ( spending less and saving more), income vs. wealth, state of the economy pre-pandemic, and the economy during the beginning of the pandemic. They talk about the CARES act, subsequent acts after the CARES act, the American Rescue Plan, childhood poverty, childcare and women’s labor, the work revolution, inflation, and many more topics.

Scott Fulford is Senior Economist at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). He was also Assistant Professor of Economics and International Studies at Boston College. He holds a BA in Economics and a BS in Mathematics from Stanford University. He has a MA and PhD in Economics from Princeton University. He is the author of numerous economics papers and of the new book, The Pandemic Paradox: How the COVID Crisis Made Americans More Financially Secure.

Website: https://www.scott-fulford.com/

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#225 - Making the Rational Decisions: A Dialogue with Lionel Page May 11, 2023

Show notes

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Lionel Page about rational decision-making and behavioral economics. They discuss the history and contours of behavioral economics, work of Kahneman and Tversky, and why an evolutionary framework is important for behavioral economics. They also talk about heuristics, cognitive biases, gains and loses, game theory, Nash equilibrium, cooperation, belief systems, and many more topics.

Lionel Page is an economist and Professor of economics at The University of Queensland in Australia. His research interests are in decision-making, game theory, and economics. He has been widely-published in economic journals and is the author of the book, Optimally Irrational.

Substack: Optimally Irrational

Twitter: @page_eco

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#224 - Brains As Prediction Machines: A Dialogue with Andy Clark May 08, 2023

Show notes

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Andy Clark about prediction processing, embodiment, and reality. They discuss the predictive processing model, Bayesian brain, and the role of human growth and development for the brain. They question what is reality, Friston’s Free Energy Principle, controlled hallucinations, and computational psychiatry. They also talk about reward vs. salience, prediction error, body budget, consciousness, the extended mind, and many other topics.

Andy Clark is a Philosopher and Professor of Cognitive Philosophy at the University of Sussex. His main research interests are embodied cognition, computational neuroscience, and artificial intelligence. He is the author of numerous books including his most recent book, The Experience Machine. You can find his work here.

Twitter: @cogsandy

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#223 - The Legacy of Sultan Süleyman: A Dialogue with Kaya Sahin May 04, 2023

Show notes

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Kaya Sahin about Sultan Süleyman and the Ottoman Empire. They provide an overview of the Ottoman Empire and how Süleyman was a critical leader, his upbringing, succession, and spreading the boundaries of the Empire. They also talk about the importance of the Grand Vizier, conflicts with the Hungarians and Hapsburgs, his legacy, and many more topics.

Kaya Sahin is a Historian and Associate Professor of History at Indiana University, Bloomington. His major research areas are focused with the early Ottoman Empire and the spread of governance, religion, and political and economic challenges. He has written a handful of books including the most recent, Peerless Among Princes. You can find his work here.

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#222 - Cats: An Evolutionary Story: A Dialogue with Jonathan Losos May 01, 2023

Show notes

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Jonathan Losos about the evolutionary story of cats. They discuss how cats are semi-domesticated and similar around the world. They talk about how cats meow and purr to humans and less so with other cats. They discuss the sociality of cats, feral cats, and the evolutionary history of cats. They talk about the five different groups of cats, where cats originate from, different breeds of cats, genetics, where they roam, the future of cats and many other topics.

Jonathan Losos is an evolutionary ecologist who studies rapid evolution, ecology, and phylogenetics. He has his PhD from the University of California and taught at Harvard University for over 10 years. Currently, he is a professor at Washington University (St. Louis) and is the founder of the Living Earth Collaborative. He is the recipient of the Daniel Giraud Elliot Medal, the Theodosius Dobzhansky Prize, the Edward O. Wilson Naturalist Award, and the David Starr Jordan Prize. He is the author of numerous books including the most recent book, The Cat’s Meow.

Website: https://biology.wustl.edu/people/jonathan-losos

Twitter: @jlosos

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