Big Ideas

Big Ideas

episodes

Interviews with scholars promoting big ideas.

Thinking Machines: Will Robots Have Rights?

November 20, 2024

Thinking Machines: Will Robots Have Rights?

Hosted by UConn PopCast

It’s the UConn Popcast, and in this episode of our series on artificial intelligence, we discuss Joanna Bryson’s essay “Robots Should be Slaves.” We…

Saadia Yacoob, "Beyond the Binary: Gender and Legal Personhood in Islamic Law" (U California Press, 2024)

November 16, 2024

Beyond the Binary

Saadia Yacoob
Hosted by Shehnaz Haqqani

Saadia Yacoob’s excellent new book, Beyond the Binary: Gender and Legal Personhood in Islamic Law (U of California Press 2024), makes a compelling arg…

Rachael Litherland and Philly Hare, "People with Dementia at the Heart of Research: Co-Producing Research through The Dementia Enquirers Model" (Jessica Kingsley, 2024)

November 16, 2024

People with Dementia at the Heart of Research

Rachael Litherland and Philly Hare
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

People with dementia are uniquely qualified to discuss the challenges of their condition and the features of effective support, but their voices are a…

Matti Eklund, "Alien Structure: Language and Reality" (Oxford UP, 2024)

November 10, 2024

Alien Structure

Matti Eklund
Hosted by Carrie Figdor

It is not uncommon to encounter people who think and talk about the world so differently from the way you do that it’s not really possible to put your…

Harvey Whitehouse, "Inheritance: The Evolutionary Origins of the Modern World" (Harvard UP, 2024)

November 10, 2024

Inheritance

Harvey Whitehouse

Each of us is endowed with an inheritance--a set of evolved biases and cultural tools that shape every facet of our behavior. For countless generation…

Libuse Hannah Veprek, "At the Edge of AI: Human Computation Systems and Their Intraverting Relations" (Transcript, 2024)

November 8, 2024

At the Edge of AI

Libuse Hannah Veprek

How are human computation systems developed in the field of citizen science to achieve what neither humans nor computers can do alone? In At the Edg…

Roberto Morales-Harley, "The Embassy, the Ambush, and the Ogre: Greco-Roman Influence in Sanskrit Theater” (Open Book, 2024)

November 7, 2024

The Embassy, the Ambush, and the Ogre

Roberto Morales-Harley
Hosted by Raj Balkaran

The Embassy, the Ambush, and the Ogre: Greco-Roman Influence in Sanskrit Theater (Open Book, 2024) presents a sophisticated and intricate examination …

Mara Kardas-Nelson, "We Are Not Able to Live in the Sky: The Seductive Promise of Microfinance" (Metropolitan Books, 2024)

November 5, 2024

We Are Not Able to Live in the Sky

Mara Kardas-Nelson
Hosted by Nick Pozek

In this deeply researched and compelling narrative, journalist Mara Kardas-Nelson examines the complex history and impact of microfinance - the practi…

Anneli Jefferson, "Are Mental Disorders Brain Disorders?" (Routledge, 2024)

November 4, 2024

Are Mental Disorders Brain Disorders?

Anneli Jefferson
Hosted by Adrian Kind

The question of whether mental disorders are disorders of the brain has led to a long-running and controversial dispute within psychiatry, psychology …

Nicholas Spencer, "Magisteria: The Entangled Histories of Science & Religion" (Oneworld, 2024)

November 1, 2024

Magisteria

Nicholas Spencer

Most things you 'know' about science and religion are myths or half-truths that grew up in the last years of the nineteenth century and remain widespr…

David Peña-Guzmán: Animals Dream and That Makes Them Morally Considerable (JP)

October 31, 2024

Animals Dream and That Makes Them Morally Considerable (JP)

David M. Peña-Guzmán

In his marvelous new book, When Animals Dream: The Hidden World of Animal Consciousness (Princeton UP, 2023), David Peña-Guzmán (SF State as well as …

Michael Hardt, "The Subversive Seventies" (Oxford UP, 2023)

October 29, 2024

The Subversive Seventies

Michael Hardt

A thought-provoking reconsideration of how the revolutionary movements of the 1970s set the mold for today's activism. The 1970s was a decade of "s…

Peter Harrison, "Some New World: Myths of Supernatural Belief in a Secular Age" (Cambridge UP, 2024)

October 29, 2024

Some New World

Peter Harrison
Hosted by Adrian Guiu

In his famous argument against miracles, David Hume gets to the heart of the modern problem of supernatural belief. 'We are apt', says Hume, 'to imagi…

Nathan J. Murphy, "The Ideas That Rule Us: How Other People's Ideas Rule our Lives and How to Change it" (Prepolitica, 2024)

October 26, 2024

The Ideas That Rule Us

Nathan J. Murphy
Hosted by Garima Garg

The Ideas That Rule Us: How Other People's Ideas Rule Our Lives and How to Change it (Prepolitica, 2024), political theory researcher, author, and ent…

Matilde Masso, "Contested Money: Towards a New Social Contract" (Routledge, 2023)

October 25, 2024

Contested Money

Matilde Masso

Discussing money is always accompanied by controversy as well as enchantment. Debating what money is and how it performs its main functions in the con…

René Boer, "Smooth City: Against Urban Perfection, Towards Collective Alternatives" (Valiz, 2023)

October 22, 2024

Smooth City

René Boer
Hosted by Timi Koyejo

In cities across the world, a new urban condition is spreading rapidly: an ever-increasing push toward efficiency, sanitization, surveillance and the …

Steven Levitsky, "Tyranny of the Minority: How to Reverse an Authoritarian Turn, and Forge a Democracy for All" (Crown, 2024)

October 22, 2024

Tyranny of the Minority

Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt
Hosted by Karyne Messina

America is undergoing a massive experiment: It is moving, in fits and starts, toward a multiracial democracy, something few societies have ever done. …

Li-Hsiang Lisa Rosenlee, "Confucian Feminism: A Practical Ethic for Life" (Bloomsbury, 2024)

October 20, 2024

Confucian Feminism

Li-Hsiang Lisa Rosenlee
Hosted by Jessica Zu

In Confucian Feminism: A Practical Ethic for Life (Bloomsbury, 2024), Li-Hsiang Lisa Rosenlee expands the theoretical horizons of feminism by using ch…

Francisco Aboitiz, "A History of Bodies, Brains, and Minds: The Evolution of Life and Consciousness" (MIT Press, 2024)

October 19, 2024

A History of Bodies, Brains, and Minds

Francisco Aboitiz

Francisco Aboitiz is a professor at the Medical School and the director of the Interdisciplinary Center for Neuroscience at Pontificia Universidad Cat…

The Social Contract in the Ruins: A Conversation with Dr. Paul DeHart

October 16, 2024

The Social Contract in the Ruins

Paul R. DeHart
Hosted by Laura Laurent

In the latest episode of Madison’s Notes, we sit down with Dr. Paul DeHart, professor of Political Science at Texas State University and author of The…