Category: Podcast

I’m so excited to have Lawrence Krauss on the show today! Professor Krauss is a theoretical physicist and cosmologist who blew all of our minds with his lecture and previous book, A Universe from Nothing. His new book, The Greatest Story Ever Told, takes us back through the history of how exactly we know what we do about our universe. I highly recommend it, and I hope you enjoy the interview even half as much as I did!

Check out the new book here!

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Given the preemptive bashing of the CBO by Republicans and the subsequent release of a pretty damning score on the AHCA bill, I wanted to take a look at how the CBO did at predicting the effects of Obamacare. Is the Trump administration on solid ground when it says that the CBO is wildly inaccurate and partisan?

After that I discuss four very thought provoking questions I received in the voicemail segment!

Sources:

CBO Basic History

Fact Check on CBO Predictions

More Critical Look at CBO Predictions

CBO Predictions for AHCA

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Joining us today is Travis Rieder! Travis is a philosopher at Johns Hopkins who deals with Population Ethics and related questions. Find his academic page here. Given the uncertainty of outcomes of our potential children, and given the many problems humanity faces due to overpopulation, is it morally acceptable to have children? Travis and I discuss that question and many related ones in a fascinating philosophy edition of SIO!

Here are Travis’s main works on these questions, for further reading:
1. Adoption and Procreation
2. Population Engineering
3. Small Family Ethic (book)
Highest-impact Media Pieces:
4. NPR Profile
5. Response to Critics

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In today’s episode I want to discuss one of the most significant battles that will be fought in the new administration: that is the repeal and replacement of Obamacare. While looking into a lot of the claims made by Sean Spicer and other Trump apologists, I was struck by how fascinating the story of Obamacare really is. So, the first 15 minutes or so of today’s episode is on the history of Obamacare, and what implications it has for the future of Trumpcare.

Good Obamacare Timeline, Another Good Timeline, CNN’s Piss-Poor Timeline

NYT Article on Trumpcare, Demographics That Will Suffer Most

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Joining me today is Michael Marshall, host of the podcast Be Reasonable.  On his show, Marsh speaks with people who have incredibly fringe views.  Whether it’s a ghost hunter or flat Earther, Be Reasonable allows a place for these folks to speak at length on their views. Marsh messaged me after my interview with Trump supporter Dr. Price because of the similarity in that recording to what Marsh is doing on his show. In this interview, Marsh and I have a dialogue about what tactics he uses when speaking to people of vastly different views, and I pick his brain on a number of issues involved. There’s a lot to learn here about how I want to conduct interviews in the future when I’m dealing with someone of vastly different views.

Check out Marsh’s charity goodthinkingsociety.org

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In today’s episode, after a few thoughts on the Trump address to Congress and his BS spending plan, the topic is “How to change people’s minds.” Haeley and I set about to do some research on a: how possible it is to change minds, and b: if so, what are the best methods? I take a look at and describe a number of studies that shed light on this issue, and the goal is to apply it to both the Dr. Price debate and any future debates! Have a listen and see what conclusions we reached!
After that I’ve got an extra long voicemail and response segment, since I didn’t do one last week. I had a ton of voicemail and I picked out some good ones to react to.

Here are the links to the articles/studies we referenced:

Paradoxical Thinking study

ChangeMyView study

Why Facts Don’t Change Our Minds

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Joining us today is Ron Miscavige – the father of Scientology cult leader David Miscavige. Ron has a long history with the church and he takes us through the background of how his son went from an asthmatic 9 year old to the supreme leader of Scientology, and further, how Ron managed his and his wife’s eventual escape from the organization.

To get deeper into Ron’s story, check out his book here.

Here are links to the documents Ron mentioned:

Document 1 from Ron

Fair Game Policy Document

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It finally happened. Milo said something that was horrifying enough for people who 5 minutes ago talked like it’s all about freedom of expression and it doesn’t matter how much we disagree, to say “nah never mind, let’s de-platform him.” In today’s episode I clear up what I view as SO much fallacious reasoning on this issue. People are actually viewing what happened to Milo as a reason that we should have been platforming him all along. To me, this is completely contradictory. Find out why in today’s episode!

Overtime Larry Wilmore

Detailed article about the Adelaide Kramer harassment

Current Affairs article

Conatus News interviewed Thomas

Black Bloc protesting

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Today’s episode is my attempt at a calm, rational dialogue with a Trump supporter. I knew Dr. Price supported Trump as a candidate but I was unsure how he would view the first month plus of Trump’s presidency. I ask him about that, and some debate and discussion follows. I don’t want to give anything away about it, but please listen and I’ll provide some comment after.

If you’re interested in Dr. Price’s work, check out his website.

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This week, Thomas talks about the recent increase in “fake news” coming from the more liberal outlets. From “spin”, to misinformation, to outright lies there are plenty of examples to choose from among recent headlines! Is this just what happens to the party that is not in power?

Thomas also tackles some Trump updates and some listener voicemails.

Atlantic interview with the managing editor or Snopes

New York Magazine article on possible election hacking
538 article debunking it

Washington Post Article about State Department Resignations
CNN article debunking it

Woman dies because of Trump’s “Muslim Ban”
Follow-up debunking it

Police Raid and burn Tipis at Standing Rock
Debunked here, here, and here.

Bill Maher and Piers Morgan Clip

 

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