The Podcast For Inquiry

In today's episode, Bridget talks about her book, Little Bosses Everywhere, a deep dive into pyramid scheme companies. She starts with defining what a pyramid scheme is, and why multi-level marketing firms - to use their preferred terminology - are more like a Bernie Madoff-style Ponzi scheme than a traditional company selling products. Bridget covers how MLM firms exploit their employees financia...

Dr. Adam Becker is a journalist and astrophysicist. Adam is the author of What is Real, a history of quantum mechanics. His most recent book is More Everything Forever , which dismantles tech billionaires' grandiose delusions about the future of AI and humanity. In addition to his writing, Adam is the creator and host of the podcast Dreaming Against the Machine , where he hosts conversations about...

Dr. Darragh McGee ( Instagram ) is an academic at the University of Bath and the author of Imitation Games. He details the deceptive practices gambling companies employ to entice new customers, and how they are encouraged to place bets habitually. In-play betting is very different from simply wagering on the outcome of a match - which leads to a discussion about the nature of addiction and its rel...

Yasmine Mohammed is a human rights activist and author of Unveiled: How the West Empowers Radical Muslims. Yasmine is one of the most prominent and vocal figures supporting persecuted freethinkers across the globe, from elevating the voices of marginalized freethinkers on her podcast, to creating a global network of allies across religious and political divides through the CLARITy Coalition. Yasmi...

Even as a young teenager, Dr. Steven Pinker ( @sapinker ) prized rationality as a virtue, and considered himself an anarchist. He changed that belief, however, when evidence indicated that anarchy was not a path to human flourishing. In this special episode, a co-production with the New Enlightenment Project , previous Podcast for Inquiry guest Lloyd Hawkeye Robertson returns as a co-host. Togethe...

Dr. Kelly Weinersmith ( @FuSchmu ) is the co-author (with her husband Zach) of Soonish and A City on Mars. Kelly maintains that while having humans living off Earth would be awesome, we're simply not ready for it yet. She answers many of Leslie's questions: Why can't we go to Mars if we have the will? Why can't we all just get along? Why should we expand? Why is building a habitable space station...

After years of research, David Fitzgerald has come to a surprising conclusion: that all the main characters in the world's major religions are entirely the product of human imagination. While many have long doubted the supernatural feats that religious figures are purported to have done, the assumption that these are grounded in at least a kernel of historical fact is widely held. David explains h...

All life on earth ultimately depends on energy and how it flows between biological and geochemical systems on the planet. Katherine Richardson and her team identified nine boundaries which need to be respected if our planet is to remain conducive to human thriving. Climate change is just one of them. We are exceeding six boundaries, and in recent years they are all getting worse. Katherine discuss...

Lizzie Wade is the author of APOCALYPSE : How Catastrophe Transformed Our World and Can Forge New Futures.  She is a science writer focusing on archaeology and anthropology, a contributing correspondent for Science, and her work has also appeared in Wired, Archaeology, National Geographic, and Slate. Follow her work via The Antiquarian newsletter at theantiquarian.email The conversation starts wit...

Leslie spoke about CFIC for a few minutes at the 2026 WeCanReason conference in early May. The brief talk wasn't recorded but seemed to resonate with many attendees, so today's bonus episode is Leslie recreating the speech for Podcast for Inquiry subscribers.  As with all Diatribes, the opinions expressed are Leslie's alone and do not represent CFIC or any other organization. Podcast for Inquiry i...

Dr. Caroline Brookfield is an author, speaker, and entrepreneur. Caroline helps "non-creatives" connect with a creative mindset to build confidence in change, buffer against burnout, and leverage individual originality for adaptability and problem-solving, even when facing the most perplexing challenges. Today's conversation starts with a definition of creativity. Caroline distinguishes between Bi...

Dr. Christopher Labos is a cardiologist and an affiliate member of the Department of Global and Public Health of McGill University. He is a columnist with the Montreal Gazette and Medscape, featured on the Sunday Morning House Call on CJAD radio, and has a regular TV segment with CTV Montreal and CBC Morning Live. He hosts the award-winning podcast " The Body of Evidence ."  He is the author of "...

Dr. Anthony Pinn is a professor, prolific author and much sought-after lecturer committed to academic rigor. Known internationally as a leading expert in the field of African American religion, Dr.  Pinn's teaching and research interests span liberation theologies, black religious aesthetics, religion and popular culture, and African American humanism.    On today's episode, I speak with Dr. Pinn...

Richard Carrier is the author of Sense and Goodness without God, On the Historicity of Jesus, The Scientist in the Early Roman Empire, and many other books, chapters, and articles. With a Ph. D. in ancient history from Columbia University, he specializes in the modern philosophy of naturalism, the origins of Christianity, and the intellectual history of Greece and Rome.    In today's episode, Rich...

Linda Silver Dranoff is a precedent-setting lawyer, an empowering author about law, public policy and women's rights, and a successful feminist activist for equality and family law reform. She is the author of Fairly Equal: Lawyering the Feminist Revolution . Linda has been honoured with the Order of Canada, Order of Ontario and Law Society Medal. Her latest effort is  Fairly Equal: Conversations...

No issue has split the secular community in Canada like Quebec's Bill 21. Several secular organizations have come out strongly in favour of the legislation, with some saying its only flaw being that it doesn't go far enough. Many other secular groups, including CFIC, have come out strongly against Bill 21. It was challenged in court immediately after its passage in June 2019, and the Supreme Court...

In 1975, Najla Mohamed-Lamin's grandmother fled Moroccan troops entering Western Sahara. For 50 years, Najla's family, and 200,000 of the Saharawi people, have lived in refugee camps in western Algeria.  Despite a clear legal case under international law for self-determination and a promise from Morocco to hold a referendum on the future of Western Sahara, the Saharawi people remain separated from...

Dr. Jackie Nemni is a physician specializing in respiratory medicine and spent decades looking after patients in the ICU. She retired from active practice in 2023 and has since been working part time as a MAiD assessor and provider. It is the most meaningful and rewarding thing she has ever done and wishes she had started sooner. Jackie is also an officiant with Humanist Canada and serves on its b...

Jesse Brown is the founder and editor of Canadaland , Canada's largest independent podcast network. We start our conversation talking about the state of journalism in Canada, four years after Podcast for Inquiry's inaugural episode with Jonathan Kay on the same topic. The bulk of our conversation is focused on Jesse's latest investigative reporting series, What Is Happening Here . Jews in Canada a...

Daniel is a professor of physics at UC Irvine, researching particle physics at CERN's Large Hadron Collider. He is the co-host of the podcast 'Daniel and Kelly's Extraordinary Universe' and the author of several books about physics for a general audience, including " Do Aliens Speak Physics ?" And "We have no idea". In today's episode, Daniel explores many questions, including: Would we recognize...

Dr. Rodney Schmaltz is a professor in the Department of Psychology at MacEwan University. His research focuses on the psychology of belief, with a particular interest in how people evaluate extraordinary claims. He is committed to helping people develop strong critical thinking skills and an appreciation for the value of scientific evidence in everyday life.  His work aims to improve scientific li...

Steve Ghikadis is a Humanist Officiant, who conducts secular marriages, memorials, and other life affirming celebrations. Raised as a freethinker, Steve has been married to a Christian for over a decade. Steve serves as an Ambassador for Humanist Canada , Recovering from Religion , and Sunday Assembly . Leslie speaks with Steve about his book, Humanism from the Heart . They discuss the many themes...

Leslie's conversation with Jasmin Faulk begins with what Saudi Arabia was like when she was growing up, and what has and hasn't changed since then. Jasmin talks about the fire of youth, the wisdom that comes from age, and how society needs both activists and advocates to move forward. She also shares her desire to have  genuine and difficult conversations with people with very different worldviews...

Corporate scandals are depressingly common, and it's all too easy to chalk them up to individual bad apples. Unfortunately, this simple explanation is not accurate. Guido's research led him to write The Dark Pattern: The hidden dynamics of corporate scandals, which details the nine building blocks that lead otherwise good people to do bad things. He explains the importance of context, why psychopa...

Andrew Coyne ( @acoyne ) is a columnist for The Globe and Mail and author of The Crisis of Canadian Democracy. In today's episode, Andrew makes the case that Canadian democracy is headed for a crisis. He talks about the problems of Canada's first past the post or "winner takes all" election system. The conversation includes an analysis of a wide range of issues: the diminishing contributions that...