Big Ideas

Big Ideas

episodes

Interviews with scholars promoting big ideas.

Dominik A. Haas, "South Asia Before Religion: Reflections on an Anachronistic Concept" (Knowledge Commons Works, 2026)

July 23, 2026

South Asia Before Religion

Dominik A. Haas
Hosted by Raj Balkaran

South Asia Before Religion: Reflections on an Anachronistic Concept (Knowledge Commons Works, 2026) critically examines the applicability of the conce…

David I. Waddington, "The Hidden Curriculum of Video Games" (McGill-Queen's UP, 2026)

July 22, 2026

The Hidden Curriculum of Video Games

David I. Waddington

Despite decades of inflammatory rhetoric, the real risk of video games lies not in their violent imagery but in the ethical and political sensibilitie…

Hector Amaya, "The Economy of Anonymity: Power in the Age of Identification" (Stanford UP 2026)

July 18, 2026

The Economy of Anonymity

Hector Amaya
Hosted by Pete Kunze

We use avatars to play video games. We use pseudonyms on social media. We use VPNs to mask our identities and activities. In the digital realm, anonym…

Sue Donaldson and Will Kymlicka, "Animals and the Right to Politics" (Oxford UP, 2026)

July 17, 2026

Animals and the Right to Politics

Sue Donaldson and Will Kymlicka
Hosted by Kyle Johannsen

The assumption that only humans can engage in politics—that only humans are 'zoon politikon'—is foundational to the Western tradition of political phi…

Jay Belsky, "Nature of Nurture: Rethinking Why and How Childhood Adversity Shapes Development" (Harvard UP, 2026)

July 13, 2026

Nature of Nurture

Jay Belsky
Hosted by Renee Garfinkel

Children who grow up in troubled circumstances―experiencing deprivation or instability, living in a dangerous neighborhood or an abusive family―are mo…

Bryan Alexander, "Peak Higher Ed: How to Survive the Looming Academic Crisis" (Johns Hopkins UP, 2026)

June 28, 2026

Peak Higher Ed

Bryan Alexander
Hosted by Michael LaMagna

Over the past decade, American colleges and universities have seen enrollment decline, campuses close, programs cut, faculty and staff laid off, and p…

Inside the Mississippi Marathon: How Mississippi Dramatically Improved Its Education System with Rachel Canter

June 19, 2026

Inside the Mississippi Marathon

Rachel Canter
Hosted by Caleb Zakarin

In 2008, Rachel Canter founded Mississippi First, an education non-profit with the mission of improving educational outcomes for students across the s…

How Does the Second-Hand Book Business Really Work? with WeBuyBooks Co-Founder Mike Lane

June 12, 2026

How Does the Second-Hand Book Business Really Work?

Mike Lane
Hosted by Caleb Zakarin

Today I’m speaking with Mike Lane, Managing Director and co-founder of WeBuyBooks about the economics of the second-hand book business. WeBuyBooks is …

AI, Algocracy, and Democracy's Challenging Road Ahead with Andrew Sorota

June 12, 2026

AI, Algocracy, and Democracy's Challenging Road Ahead

Andrew Sorota
Hosted by Caleb Zakarin

Like many people, I've been following the developments of AI, testing out new models and following the deluge of news stories about the fight for supr…

Rivka Weinberg, "The Meaning of It All: Ultimate Meaning, Everyday Meaning, Cosmic Meaning, Death, and Time" (Oxford UP, 2026)

June 3, 2026

The Meaning of It All

Rivka Weinberg
Hosted by Blain Neufeld

You can stock your life with important work, relationships, activities, and art, and yet, you can still ask: what's the point of it all? Almost every …

Franziska Sittig and Noam Petri, "Intellectual Self-Destruction: How the West Gambles Away Its Future" (Ibidem Press, 2025)

May 27, 2026

Intellectual Self-Destruction

Franziska Sittig and Noam Petri
Hosted by Drora Arussy

In my recent conversation with Sittig, we explored her co-authored book Intellectual Self-Destruction: How the West Gambles Away Its Future (Ibidem Pr…

Kate Brown, "Tiny Gardens Everywhere: The Past, Present and Future of the Self-Provisioning City" (W. W. Norton, 2026)

May 19, 2026

Tiny Gardens Everywhere

Kate Brown
Hosted by Michael Stauch

Kate Brown, Distinguished Professor in the History of Science at MIT joins Michael Stauch to discuss her new book Tiny Gardens Everywhere: The Past, P…

Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, "The Mattering Instinct: How Our Deepest Longing Drives Us and Divides Us" (Liveright Publishing, 2026)

May 12, 2026

The Mattering Instinct

Rebecca Newberger Goldstein
Hosted by Renee Garfinkel

MacArthur Fellow and National Humanities Medalist Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, author of Plato at the Googleplex and The Mind-Body Problem, returns wi…

Claudia Goldin, "Career and Family: Women’s Century-Long Journey toward Equity" (Princeton UP, 2021)

May 6, 2026

Career and Family

Claudia Goldin
Hosted by Marshall Poe

A century ago, it was a given that a woman with a college degree had to choose between having a career and a family. Today, there are more female coll…

Russell McCutcheon, "Manufacturing Religion: The Discourse on Sui Generis Religion and the Politics of Nostalgia, second edition" (Oxford UP, 2026)

May 4, 2026

Manufacturing Religion:

Russell McCutcheon
Hosted by Jacob Barrett

First published in 1997, Manufacturing Religion was a controversial book because it critiqued a widely adopted style of scholarship that presumes that…

Justin Bailey, "An Anthropology of Wandering: How Adventure Can Alleviate a Fearful Culture" (2026)

April 25, 2026

An Anthropology of Wandering

Justin Bailey
Hosted by Amisah Bakuri

In a culture saturated by speed, safety protocols, and mediated fear, what might we rediscover by walking or hiking slowly into the unknown? In this …

Liz Bucar, "Beyond Wellness: How Restoring the Religious Roots of Spiritual Practices Can Heal Us" (Penguin, 2026)

April 23, 2026

Beyond Wellness

Liz Bucar
Hosted by Gregory Soden

Liz Bucar is a religious ethicist and professor of religion at Northeastern University, as well as a certified intenSati and Kripalu yoga instructor…

Adam Zeman, "The Shape of Things Unseen: A New Science of Imagination" (Bloomsbury, 2025)

April 8, 2026

The Shape of Things Unseen

Adam Zeman
Hosted by Gregory McNiff

A compelling insight into how our imagination works, based on the latest scientific research. People often think of imagination as something used onl…

Melissa Butcher, "The Trouble with Freedom: Love, Hate and America’s Future" (Manchester UP, 2026)

April 7, 2026

The Trouble with Freedom

Melissa Butcher
Hosted by Matt Dawson

As Melissa Butcher puts it in her book The Trouble with Freedom: Love, Hate and America’s Future (Manchester UP, 2026) when asked to rank the importan…

Douglas H. Erwin, "The Origins of the New: Novelty and Innovation in the History of Life, Culture, and Technology" (Princeton UP, 2026)

April 6, 2026

The Origins of the New

Douglas H. Erwin

The Origins of the New (Princeton University Press, 2026) presents a revolutionary approach to evolutionary success in all realms of life. In this gro…