About Meghan Cochran

Humans make decisions based on a broad and variable set of explicit and implicit beliefs. I study what people believe, where those ideas come from, and how people act upon their beliefs. My professional background is in product management, working primarily in consumer technology. I am a current student of theology at the San Francisco Theological Seminary. Previously, I studied literature at Bard College and NYU, and business administration at Harvard Business School.
Meghan Cochran studies what people believe, as a technologist and as a student of religion, business, and literature.

NBN Episodes hosted by Meghan:

Greg Epstein, "Tech Agnostic: How Technology Became the World's Most Powerful Religion, and Why It Desperately Needs a Reformation" (MIT Press, 2024)

October 30, 2024

Tech Agnostic

Greg Epstein
Hosted by Meghan Cochran

Technology has surpassed religion as the central focus of our lives, from our dependence on smartphones to the way that tech has infused almost every …

Mark W. Geiger, "Floor Rules: Insider Culture in Financial Markets" (Yale UP, 2024)

October 29, 2024

Floor Rules

Mark W. Geiger
Hosted by Meghan Cochran

Are financial markets lawless and irrational? It may seem that way from the outside, but for market insiders there are multiples sets of rules that th…

Mary Bridges, "Dollars and Dominion: US Bankers and the Making of a Superpower" (Princeton UP, 2024)

October 1, 2024

Dollars and Dominion

Mary Bridges
Hosted by Meghan Cochran

There was nothing inevitable or natural about the rise of US finance capitalism in the early twentieth century. In Dollars and Dominion: US Bankers …

Jerome E. Copulsky, "American Heretics: Religious Adversaries of Liberal Order" (Yale UP, 2024)

October 1, 2024

American Heretics

Jerome E. Copulsky
Hosted by Meghan Cochran

A question has long hung over the the United States regarding the proper role of religion in public life. Those who long for a Christian America claim…

Neil Van Leeuwen, "Religion As Make-Believe: A Theory of Belief, Imagination, and Group Identity" (Harvard UP, 2023)

September 17, 2024

Religion As Make-Believe

Neil Van Leeuwen
Hosted by Meghan Cochran

It is an intuitive truth that religious beliefs are different from ordinary factual beliefs. We understand that a belief in God or the sacredness of s…

Josh Cowen, "The Privateers: How Billionaires Created a Culture War and Sold School Vouchers" (Harvard Education Press, 2024)

September 10, 2024

The Privateers

Josh Cowen
Hosted by Meghan Cochran

School vouchers are often framed as a way to help students and families by providing choice, but evidence shows that vouchers have a negative impact o…

Jonathan Gienapp, "Against Constitutional Originalism: A Historical Critique" (Yale UP, 2024)

September 3, 2024

Against Constitutional Originalism

Jonathan Gienapp
Hosted by Meghan Cochran

The legal theory of constitutional originalism has attracted increasing attention in recent years as the US Supreme Court has tilted with the weight o…

Alexandra Popoff, "Ayn Rand: Writing a Gospel of Success" (Yale UP, 2024)

August 6, 2024

Ayn Rand

Alexandra Popoff
Hosted by Meghan Cochran

Ayn Rand is a provocative and polarizing figure. Strongly pro-capitalist and anti-communist, Rand was a dogmatic preacher of her moral philosophy. Bas…

Jan Eeckhout, "The Profit Paradox: How Thriving Firms Threaten the Future of Work" (Princeton UP, 2021)

July 29, 2024

The Profit Paradox

Jan Eeckhout
Hosted by Meghan Cochran

It is a truth universally acknowledged that as a society we want successful, profitable companies because, as Jan Eeckhout says in The Profit Paradox:…

Daniel Susskind, "Growth: A History and a Reckoning" (Harvard UP, 2024)

July 3, 2024

Growth

Daniel Susskind
Hosted by Meghan Cochran

Daniel Susskind examines the brief and powerful history of economic growth and puts it into perspective with human prosperity in Growth: A History and…

Jeremy Schipper, "Denmark Vesey's Bible: The Thwarted Revolt That Put Slavery and Scripture on Trial" (Princeton UP, 2022)

June 27, 2024

Denmark Vesey's Bible

Jeremy Schipper
Hosted by Meghan Cochran

In Denmark Vesey's Bible: The Thwarted Revolt that Put Slavery and Scripture on Trial (Princeton UP, 2022), Dr. Jeremy Schipper tells the story of a f…

Carlos M. N. Eire, "They Flew: A History of the Impossible" (Yale UP, 2023)

June 16, 2024

They Flew

Carlos M. N. Eire
Hosted by Meghan Cochran

In the early modern era, seemingly impossible stories of levitation, bilocation, and witchcraft were common and believable. The important question of …

Jonathan H. Ebel, "From Dust They Came: Government Camps and the Religion of Reform in New Deal California" (NYU Press,2023)

June 7, 2024

From Dust They Came

Jonathan H. Ebel
Hosted by Meghan Cochran

From Dust They Came: Government Camps and the Religion of Reform in New Deal California (NYU Press, 2023) tells the story of the federal government’s …

Thea Gomelauri, "The Lailashi Codex: The Crown of Georgian Jewry" (Taylor Institution Library, 2023)

June 1, 2024

The Lailashi Codex

Thea Gomelauri
Hosted by Meghan Cochran

From a remote mountain village in the Caucasian mountains of Georgia came the most surprising discovery since the Dead Sea Scrolls: a rare, beautiful,…

Tom Mueller, "How to Make a Killing: Blood, Death and Dollars in American Medicine" (Norton, 2023)

May 29, 2024

How to Make a Killing: Blood, Death and Dollars in American Medicine

Tom Mueller
Hosted by Meghan Cochran

Dialysis is a medical miracle, a treatment that allows people with kidney failure to live when otherwise they would die. It also provides a captive cu…

Joseph E. Stiglitz, "The Road to Freedom: Economics and the Good Society" (Norton, 2024)

May 20, 2024

The Road to Freedom

Joseph E. Stiglitz
Hosted by Meghan Cochran

In his latest book, The Road to Freedom: Economics and the Good Society (W. W. Norton, 2024), Nobel laureate Joseph E. Stiglitz rethinks the nature of…

Michael J. Graetz, "The Power to Destroy: How the Antitax Movement Hijacked America" (Princeton UP, 2024)

April 23, 2024

The Power to Destroy

Michael J. Graetz
Hosted by Meghan Cochran

The anti-tax movement is "the most important overlooked social and political movement of the last half century", according to our guest Michael J. Gra…

Alexej Lochmatow, "Public Knowledge in Cold War Poland: Scholarly Battles and the Clash of Virtues, 1945–1956" (Routledge, 2023)

April 1, 2024

Public Knowledge in Cold War Poland

Alexej Lochmatow
Hosted by Meghan Cochran

In the years after World War II, Polish scholars and scientists faced a complex and deeply personal political reality, the result of a long and violen…

David P. Gushee, "Defending Democracy from Its Christian Enemies" (William B. Eerdmans, 2023)

March 2, 2024

Defending Democracy from Its Christian Enemies

David P. Gushee
Hosted by Meghan Cochran

Why do some devout Christians support authoritarian leaders who threaten the very democracies that protect religious freedoms? The resounding suppor…

Paul Katsafanas, "Philosophy of Devotion: The Longing for Invulnerable Ideals" (Oxford UP, 2022)

February 13, 2024

Philosophy of Devotion

Paul Katsafanas
Hosted by Meghan Cochran

Why do some of our identity-defining commitments resist reason and critical reflection, and why do we persist in them even when they threaten our happ…

Vani Kant Borooah, "Economics, Religion and Happiness: God, Mammon and the Search for Spiritual and Financial Wealth" (Routledge, 2023)

February 5, 2024

Economics, Religion and Happiness

Vani Kant Borooah
Hosted by Meghan Cochran

Many books on happiness suggest that we have considerable control over our level of happiness by doing or not doing specific things, like mediation, e…

Neall W. Pogue, "The Nature of the Religious Right: The Struggle between Conservative Evangelicals and the Environmental Movement" (Cornell UP, 2022)

January 18, 2024

The Nature of the Religious Right

Neall W. Pogue
Hosted by Meghan Cochran

How does the Bible instruct humans to interact with the Earth? Over the last few decades, white conservative evangelical Christians have increasingly …