Converging Dialogues

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a wide-ranging dialogue with Tania Reynolds about her research on female intrasexual competition, attractiveness privilege, and free speech. They provide a sexual selection overview such as preferences for mate choice. They talk about sexual selection for cooperation, heritability in mate preferences, and the aspect of female mate choice. They discuss monogamy a...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Isaac Butler about the history of method acting in the 20th century. They discuss who was Stanislavski and how he started his theater studio and system. They discuss the impact of Tolstoy and Chekhov on Stanislavksi. They explain the expansion of the method globally and how Lee Strasberg and Stella Adler became involved with the method. They talk...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Moshe Hoffman and Erez Yoeli on game theory and how this can be used to understand human behavior. They define game theory, discuss how primary and secondary rewards can be used, and explain Nash equilibrium and hawk-dove theory. They discuss the importance of signals and the costly signaling model, signals with different audiences, and how evide...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Avram Alpert about the good enough life. They define what is the good enough life, pluralism and relativism, and spend time on what greatness is and maybe why it should not be emphasized. They discuss the elements of a good enough life for social policies, work, virtue ethics, and many other topics.  Avram Alpert is a writer, lecturer, and organi...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Daryl Davis about his career as a musician and his encounters with extreme hate groups. They discuss his background in music and how he came to be a professional musician. They talk about writing and performing music, the music industry, and his exposure of living abroad. They discuss his first encounter with a member of the KKK, his first interv...

In this dialogue, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Antone Martinho-Truswell about parrots and some of their striking similarities with humans. They discuss the importance of the phylogenetic tree, ways in which birds are connected with humans, and the specifics of bird brains. They discuss animal intelligence, corvids' use of tools, and various bird categories. They mention songbirds, parrots, a...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Steve Brusatte about the rise and fall of dinosaurs and the rise and reign of mammals. They discuss how his two books are connected and overlap, first dinosaurs, and how dinosaurs survived the great dying and diversified. They talk about the taxonomy of dinosaurs, the T. Rex, and dinosaurs connection with birds. They also discuss what makes a mam...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Jaimie Arona Krems about her research on friendship. They discuss the basic features and sex differences between how males and females have relationships. They talk about the different levels and dimensions of friendships and some of the stereotypes of friendships. They define friendship and talk about the dynamics of friends and family. They dis...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with John Milton Cooper about the life and presidency of Woodrow Wilson. They discuss the impact of the South, racism, and living in the North for Wilson. They talk about why the practice of law was not suited for Wilson and how he was more academic and cerebral in many ways. They talk about his book, Congressional Government, the infamous presidentia...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with David Peña-Guzmán on dreams in animals. They discuss how we know animals dream, history of studying dreams, and how the sleep cycle works in animals. They talk about how animal dreaming is phenomenological and not necessarily computational, whether animals have consciousness, and the various models of consciousness. They discuss lucid dreaming, i...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Steven Koonin about climate change and how to best engage with climate science. They discuss how people can trust the science on climate from institutions and published data. They mention the differences between weather and climate, radiative equilibrium, and greenhouse gases. They review the data on carbon, discuss various forms of energy such a...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla had a dialogue with Elizabeth Popp Berman about the economic style and how it has permeated American economics over the 20th Century. They start the conversation by giving an example of the economic style limiting the Obama Administration. They define and explain what the economic style is and how it will emphasize efficiency. They discuss the history of the economi...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Megan Kate Nelson on the western theater of the Civil War and the history of Yellowstone National Park. They discuss the reasoning for fighting in the western theater of the Civil War, location specifics, and various characters involved. They discuss the involvement of various Native American tribes, White Americans forcible removal of Native peo...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Zoe Chance about the power of influence. They discuss what influence is and why it is important for humans. They discuss some of the misconceptions of influence, her reframing of Daniel Kahneman's system 1 and system 1, and the necessity of saying no. They talk about the elements of negotiation, how to spot red flags, and many other topics.  Zoe...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Jomana Qaddour and Gissou Nia about many of the human rights atrocities in the Syrian conflict. They discuss the origins and data on the Syrian conflict, a chronology of events in the conflict, and allies of the Syrian government. They discuss the atrocities of human rights violations and why the international community has been on the sidelines....

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with William Harris about the origins of the human brain. They discuss the evolutionary history of the brain, rise of the neuron, and genesis of the neural tube and neuroepithelium. They talk about the phylotypic stage, neural stem cells to neurons, and four cycles of the cell. They discuss the important neuron theory, contributions of Ramon y Cajal,...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Kai Bird about Jimmy Carter. They discuss the context and environment of rural Georgia in the 1920s in which Carter was born. They talk about the impact of racism in his upbringing, importance of his Christian faith, and steady bond with his wife Rosalynn. They discuss his presidency and inflation and unemployment, Panama Canal, Camp David accord...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Douglas Futuyma about the evolution of birds. They discuss how evolutionary biology can be a very helpful lens to understand birds. They talk about the importance of the phylogenetic tree for birds, their genetics, and why variation in birds is so important. They explain the three important questions for evolution, speciation, developmental life...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Jon Alexander about a citizens story for humanity. They begin by talking about the consumer's story, how reciprocity and interdependence work in a citizens story, and how one sees the subject, consumer, and citizen story in a our present society. They talk about Taiwan as a case study of the citizen model and where populism fits into the citizen...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Christia Spears Brown about the various aspects of bias. They give a definition and overview of bias in our current society. They question whether bias can be positive and some of the human differences in the reception of bias. They talk about implicit vs. explicit bias and provide a history of institutional bias. They discuss how bias shows up i...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Riley Black about the last days of the dinosaurs. They discuss what life on earth was like with dinosaurs being very prominent and so successful in diversifying. They mention the importance of fossils for understanding dinosaurs. They discuss the asteroid and its impact on the earth. They talk about the animals that survived after the asteroid an...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Nancy Foner about immigration and some of the current data on immigration in the 21st century. They provide and overview of current immigration data, discuss the more recent waves of immigration and why the 1965 immigration bill was very important. They discuss the current racial composition of the United States, culture change, and immigrants po...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Steven Nadler about the philosophy of Spinoza. They discuss Spinoza's definition of god and the connection with nature. They talk about how humans are included within nature and the role of free will. They discuss Spinoza's moral philosophy, humans move towards preservation, and how Spinoza defines the free person. They also talk about how Spinoz...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Jessica Pierce and Marc Bekoff about a canine future without humans. They talk about how dogs could potentially survive and evolve in a post-human world. They mention the difference between breeds vs. individualized dogs, generations of dogs post-human, and how dogs have evolved with humans thus far. They also talk about features of dogs in a pos...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Andrew Knoll about the geological history of the earth. They discuss how light, gravity, dark energy, and dark matter explain the early origins of the universe and earth. They also talk about the various layers of the earth, zircons, tectonic plates, and how one defines life. They also talk about how geology can assist in telling the time of eart...