New Books Network
Big Ideas
Technology January 20, 2022

In AI We Trust

Power, Illusion and Control of Predictive Algorithms

Helga Nowotny

Hosted by Galina Limorenko
Today I talked to Helga Nowotny about her new book In AI We Trust: Power, Illusion and Control of Predictive Algorithms (Polity, 2021).One of the most persistent concerns about the future is …

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Interviews with scholars promoting big ideas.

Economics January 18, 2022

The Super Age

Decoding Our Demographic Destiny

Bradley Schurman

Hosted by Galina Limorenko
Societies all over the world are getting older, the result of the fact that we are living longer and having fewer children. At some point in the near future, much …
Anthropology January 14, 2022

Being a Human

Adventures in Forty Thousand Years of Consciousness

Charles Foster

Hosted by Galina Limorenko
How did humans come to be who we are? In his marvelous, eccentric, and widely lauded book Being a Beast, legal scholar, veterinary surgeon, and naturalist extraordinaire Charles Foster set …
Anthropology January 7, 2022

Between Gaia and Ground

Four Axioms of Existence and the Ancestral Catastrophe of Late Liberalism

Elizabeth A. Povinelli

Hosted by Adam Bobeck
In Between Gaia and Ground: Four Axioms of Existence and the Ancestral Catastrophe of Late Liberalism (Duke UP, 2021),  Elizabeth A. Povinelli theorizes the climatic, environmental, viral, and social catastrophe …
Psychology January 4, 2022

Havana Syndrome

Mass Psychogenic Illness and the Real Story Behind the Embassy Mystery and Hysteria

Robert W. Baloh and Robert E. Bartholomew

Hosted by Galina Limorenko
It is one of the most extraordinary cases in the history of science: the mating calls of insects were mistaken for a “sonic weapon” that led to a major diplomatic …
Van Leer Institute Series on Ideas with Renee Garfinkel December 29, 2021

American Schism

How the Two Enlightenments Hold the Secret to Healing our Nation

Seth David Radwell

Hosted by Renee Garfinkel
Why are Americans so angry? American Schism: How the Two Enlightenments Hold the Secret to Healing our Nation (Greenleaf, 2021) explores history to find the answer to a divided America …
Critical Theory December 24, 2021

The Interfact

On Structure and Compatibility in Object-Oriented Ontology

Gabriel Yoran

Hosted by Adam Bobeck
Objects in object-oriented ontology (OOO) are mysterious and inexhaustible entities. But since OOO grants ontological priority to objects, it should have an easy time referring to objects. But this is …
Genocide Studies December 22, 2021

Everyday Peace

How So-Called Ordinary People Can Disrupt Violent Conflict

Roger Mac Ginty

Hosted by Christopher Davey
Roger Mac Ginty's book Everyday Peace: How So-Called Ordinary People Can Disrupt Violent Conflict (Oxford UP, 2021) focuses on how individuals and communities navigate through, and out of, conflict. Through theory …
Critical Theory December 15, 2021

The Trouble with Passion

How Searching for Fulfillment at Work Fosters Inequality

Erin Cech

Hosted by Dave O'Brien
Should we love work? In The Trouble with Passion: How Searching for Fulfillment at Work Fosters Inequality (U California Press, 2021), Erin Cech, an Associate Professor of Sociology at the …
Critical Theory December 28, 2021

Practicing Cooperation

Mutual Aid Beyond Capitalism

Andrew Zitcer

Hosted by Rachel Pagones
Have you ever stopped to think about your local grocery cooperative and what makes it different than, say Safeway or Giant or Whole Foods? That is, if you have a …
Political Science December 14, 2021

Divided Armies

Inequality and Battlefield Performance in Modern War

Jason Lyall

Hosted by Lamis Abdelaaty
Why do some armies fare better than others on the battlefield? In Divided Armies: Inequality and Battlefield Performance in Modern War (Princeton UP, 2020), Jason Lyall argues that a state's prewar treatment …
Systems and Cybernetics December 14, 2021

The Web of Meaning

Integrating Science and Traditional Wisdom to Find our Place in the Universe

Jeremy Lent

Hosted by Kevin Lindsay
In this episode of Systems and Cybernetics I had the pleasure of spending an hour with Jeremy Lent, talking with him about his newest book The Web of Meaning: Integrating …
Public Policy November 30, 2021

The Future of Capitalism

Facing the New Anxieties

Paul Collier

Hosted by Leo Nasskau
Deep new rifts are tearing apart the fabric of Britain and other Western societies: thriving cities versus the provinces; the high-skilled elite versus the less educated. As these divides deepen …
Critical Theory November 29, 2021

Praxis and Revolution

A Theory of Social Transformation

Eva von Redecker

Hosted by Fulya Pinar
The concept of revolution marks the ultimate horizon of modern politics. It is instantiated by sites of both hope and horror. Within progressive thought, “revolution” often perpetuates entrenched philosophical problems …
Systems and Cybernetics November 19, 2021

Buddhist and Taoist Systems Thinking

The Natural Path to Sustainable Transformation

Josep M. Coll

Hosted by Kevin Lindsay
I recently sat down with Josep M. Coll to discuss his new book Buddhist and Taoist Systems Thinking: The Natural Path to Sustainable Transformation (Routledge, 2021). This book is the latest …
Science, Technology, and Society November 16, 2021

Alien Listening

Voyager's Golden Record and Music from Earth

Daniel K. L. Chua and Alexander Rehding

Hosted by Sarah Kearns
In 1977 NASA shot a mixtape into outer space, and it remains the only human-made object to have left the solar system. The Golden Record aboard the Voyager spacecrafts contained world …
The Future of Higher Education November 15, 2021

Come to Believe

How Jesuits Are Reinventing Education (Again)

Steve Katsouros

Hosted by David Finegold
Father Steve Katsouros, founder and CEO of the Come To Believe Network, shares the inspirational story of the founding of Arrupe College at Loyola University Chicago which has been recognized as a …
Van Leer Institute Series on Ideas with Renee Garfinkel November 10, 2021

Drunk

How We Sipped, Danced, and Stumbled Our Way to Civilization

Edward Slingerland

Hosted by Renee Garfinkel
Ever since Noah exited the ark, human beings have been wanting to get drunk and high. Why? Drunk: How We Sipped, Danced, and Stumbled Our Way to Civilization (Hachette, 2021) …
Spiritual Practice and Mindfulness November 8, 2021

One Unbounded Ocean of Consciousness

Simple Answers to the Big Questions of Life

Tony Nader

Hosted by John Weston
Tony Nader, MD, PhD, a medical doctor trained at Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (PhD in neuroscience) and globally recognized expert in the science of consciousness and human …
Language November 3, 2021

Making AI Intelligible

Philosophical Foundations

Herman Cappelen and Josh Dever

Hosted by Malcolm Keating
In their open-access publication, Making AI Intelligible: Philosophical Foundations (Oxford University Press, 2021), Herman Cappelen and Josh Dever argue that philosophers of language can contribute to a deeper understanding of …