At a Distance

Ashtanga yoga teacher Eddie Stern, author of the book “One Simple Thing: A New Look at the Science of Yoga and How It Can Transform Your Life,” speaks with us about the nature of self, the need to balance positivity with realism, and how we’re all “appendages of the Earth.”

Sam Seder, host of the daily political talk show The Majority Report, talks with us about how the Covid-19 pandemic is creating an opportunity for building a more durable society and his hope that we’ll see a greater cultural and social awareness around our interconnectedness.

Artist Anicka Yi talks about our overall lack of knowledge about viruses, the vital role of art right now, the human relationship to nature and biology, and why she hopes Covid-19 may lead us all to “take a step back from our human-centric ways.”

Michael Murphy, the founding principal and executive director of MASS Design Group, discusses the links between architecture, design, and public health; how Slow Food has helped pave the way for a “Slow Space” movement; and his tactful approach to memorial making.

Donatien Grau, the head of contemporary programs at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, speaks with us about the role of a museum in a time of quarantine, the transportive quality of art, and what we can all learn from the late couturier Azzedine Alaïa about the importance of taking time.

Maxine Bédat, founder and director of the New Standard Institute, talks about the impact of Covid-19 on how we think about fashion and sustainability, the need to no longer consider ourselves “consumers,” and why building a better world can begin in our closets.

Jeff Gordinier, the food and drinks editor at Esquire magazine, discusses the cataclysmic shake-up of the restaurant industry amidst the Covid-19 pandemic and the spiritual nature of foraging for, growing, fermenting, and cooking your own food.

Long Now Foundation executive director Alexander Rose speaks with us about storytelling as an act of memory-making, his view on the Anthropocene, and how we should and could better prepare for the next global crisis after Covid-19.

Tobias Rees, the Reid Hoffman Professor at the New School for Social Research and a director of the Los Angeles-based Berggruen Institute, talks about the importance of bridging philosophy and art with engineering and science to better understand ourselves and our world.

The futurist, technologist, and urbanist Thomas Ermacora discusses the importance of shifting our habits toward nature, why Silicon Valley has an opportunity right now to prove it can actually leverage digital tools for good, and the worldwide need for greater civil disobedience.

Food urbanist and architect Carolyn Steel, author of the book “Sitopia: How to Live Well on a Hungry Planet,” talks about how Covid-19 is going to forever alter our planet, why food shouldn’t be cheap, and what’s required for a “good society.”

Journalist and Trumpcast co-host Virginia Heffernan speaks with us about the perils of President Trump’s response to Covid-19, why she views Fox News as “a snuff-and-porn channel passing as news,” and her fascination with microbiology.

Economist Chris Canavan discusses the challenges of rebuilding the economy after the pandemic, why he believes the golden age of the humanities is before us, and the need for us all to think more about our relationship to time.

Philosopher and New School professor Simon Critchley talks about the ways in which the Covid-19 virus may be rewiring our very being, the need to better understand our anxiety, and how the pandemic is revealing how much we don’t know.

Post-traumatic stress expert Bessel van der Kolk, author of “The Body Keeps the Score,” discusses the essential need to befriend your body in this time of quarantine, why social deprivation is “the worst form of punishment,” and the importance of staying connected with others.

Environmentalist, author, and journalist Bill McKibben explores the economic shock of Covid-19, the links between the climate crisis and the current pandemic, and how biology and physics can’t be negotiated with.

Spencer Bailey and Andrew Zuckerman, The Slowdown's co-founders and this podcast’s hosts, discuss the Covid-19 crisis and how it led to the creation of this new series, which features long-view conversations with philosophers, psychologists, writers, artists, and other leading minds.