Converging Dialogues

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Michael Gurven about humans living for seven decades. They discuss our evolution for seven decades, post-reproductive life, healthspan vs. lifespan, subsistence populations, multigenerational cooperation, older age, seven decades in the future, and many more topics. Michael Gurven is an evolutionary anthropologist and professor at University of C...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with John Burt about Lincoln and moral conflict. They discuss Lincoln’s tragic pragmatism for morals and public engagement, on slavery and emancipation, implicit concepts, freedom, moral obsessions, and liberalism. They also talk about morals and violence, popular sovereignty, cultural shifts, the Whig party, Rawls, modern comparisons, America as an i...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Audrey Truschke about the history of India. They discuss India as a subcontinent, the Indus Valley civilization, nomadic to cities and empires, trade, Indo-European language and Sanskrit, Vedas and Hinduism, and development of other religions. They also talk about Ashoka, the caste system, Muslims, Ghurids, Sikhism, the Mughal Empire, British Raj...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Scott McGill and Susannah Wright about their new English translation of The Aeneid. They discuss past English translations of The Aeneid, plot of The Aeneid, and comparisons with Homer’s epics. They discuss authorship of Virgil, The Aeneid as Roman propaganda, translating from Latin into English and the oral vs. written tradition. They also talke...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Bernd Roeck about the Renaissance. They discuss what the Renaissance gave to the modern world, the Renaissance and the West, seven pillars of modernity, and the impact of other civilizations on the Renaissance. They discuss the level of impact that Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome deserve on the Renaissance, Christianity and the West, Islamic impa...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Jon Lee Anderson about the Taliban in Afghanistan over the past 20 years. They provide an overview of Afghanistan, how the Taliban came to power, makeup of the Taliban, their intentions for an Islamic state, Hamid Karzai, Taliban resurgence in 2012, US withdrawal, Taliban reign at present, the future of Afghanistan, and many more topics. Jon Lee...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with John Tolan about the history of Islam. The give an overview of Islam, discuss the Prophet Muhammad, succession and split after his death, Umayyad caliphate, Abbasid Caliphate, and 3 caliphates of 1000 AD. They talk about the Turks and Ottoman empire, Wahhabism, Arab nationalism, Islam in the 21st century, and many more topics. John Tolan is Profe...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with John Cochrane about the Euro. They talk about the Euro, European Central Bank (ECB), inflation and price stability, and the differences between the US Federal Reserve and the ECB. They talked about the creation of the Euro, joining the EU, debates about “end the Fed,” Greek crisis, covid-19 pandemic and inflation, future of the Euro, and many mor...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Walter Scheidel about ancient history. They ask what is ancient history, why Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome are heavily emphasized, globalism, and classicism. They discuss some of the evolutionary history of humans, nomadic to stationary, human writing, The West, future of the classics, and many more topics. Walter Scheidel is a historian and au...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Moudhy Al-Rashid about ancient Mesopotamia. They discuss the uniqueness of Mesopotamia and the Fertile Crescent, importance of cuneiform, Sumerian to Akkadian writing, importance of clay for writing, ancient astronomy, and many more topics. Moudhy Al-Rashid is an Assyriologist and Honorary Fellow at Wolfson College at the University of Oxford. Sh...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Laurence Hurst about the imperfection of evolution. They discuss mutation, selection, and adaptation, DNA and waste, larger and smaller populations, sickle cell anemia, embryology, gene editing and CRISPR, and many more topics. Laurence Hurst is Professor of Evolutionary Genetics in The Milner Centre for Evolution, at the University of Bath, UK....

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Michael P. Lynch about truth and politics. They discuss local and national politics, defining truth, “Twitbookians,” liberal pluralism, role of institutions, Rawls and morals, truth in politics, and many more topics. Michael P. Lynch is Provost Professor of the Humanities and Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the Universi...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Georgios Varouxakis about “the West.” They define the west, discuss different meanings and ideas about the west, and how western ideas came from the east. They also talk about “L’Occident,” impact of Christendom, separating Russia from the West, and Comte. They talk about whether Western values can exist without Christianity, WWI and WWII, the co...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Mark Blyth and Nicolò Fraccaroli on inflation. They define inflation, provide positive and negative of inflation, and how prices are measured. They talk about housing interest rates, Federal Reserve, inflation in the 70s, Biden stimulus, Hyperinflation in Turkey and Argentina, Trump’s tariffs, and many more topics. Mark Blyth is the William R. Rh...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Henry Abbott on the Peak Performance Project (P3) within sports medicine. They discuss the landscape of injuries in the U.S., P3, chronic injuries, healthy movement and hip rotation, landing and ACL injuries, prevention and recovery, mental endurance, and many more topics. Henry Abbott is an award-winning journalist and founder of TrueHoop. He le...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Judith Scheele about the human history of the Sahara. They discuss the perceptions of the Sahara, landscape of the Sahara, sand and freshwater, multiple uses of camels, peoples of the Sahara, Slavery and race in the Sahara, Islam, contemporary Sahara, and many more topics. Judith Scheele is professor of social anthropology at the École des hautes...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Karen Hao about OpenAI and the current landscape about AI. They discuss the origins of OpenAI, Sam Altman and his motivations, his relationships with Elon Musk and Peter Thiel, using cheap labor in Venezuela and Kenya for AI, supercomputers and mega campuses for data centers, and many more topics. Karen Hao is a bestselling author and award-winni...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Katherine Stewart about democracy and American authoritarianism. They discuss the evolution of conservatives to the Far Right, critiques of the Far Right, reactionary nihilism and the anti-woke. They discuss issues such as abortion, conservative conventions, religion, and many more topics. Katherine Stewart is a journalist and author who has been...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Fawaz Gerges about continuous Western involvement in the Middle East. They discuss misconceptions of the Middle East, role of colonialism, Iran and Turkey being exceptions to foreign colonial involvement, Arab Nationalism, Civilizations and colonialism, political Islam, and many more topics. Fawaz A. Gerges is Professor of International Relations...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Agustina Paglayan about mass education around the world. They discuss education as a tool for political and social order, theories of education, and explicit aims of government education. They also talk about early critical thinking, nationalism, and education worldwide. They discuss mass education and violence, indoctrination, curriculums, teach...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Kasia Szymanska about translation of texts. They discuss how many translations can diverge from one source, translating into English, post-1989 Poland and translation, ethics of translation, the poem VIA, A Clockwork Orange translations, and many more topics. Kasia Szymanska is Lecturer in translations studies at the University of Manchester. Her...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Vali Nasr about the recent political history of Iran. They give an overview of Iran’s political motives and strategy, impact of the Persian empire and Shia Islam, and Reza Khan and Iranian nationalism. They talk about the impact of “Kemalism,” the 1979 Iranian revolution, the Iran-Iraq war, rise of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, Iran’s relati...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Padraic Scanlan about the Irish famine. They provide an overview of the Irish famine, discuss the relationship between Ireland and Britain and how British colonialism impacted the Irish famine. They talk about potatoes in Ireland, formation of the United Kingdom, variables leading up to the Irish famine, potato blight, exiting the famine, generat...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Jacob Mchangama about the history of free speech. They discuss free speech in Europe, defining free speech, limits of free speech and ethics of free speech. They also talk about the free speech recession, origins of free speech, Athenian and Roman empires, Abbasid Caliphate, ancient India, printing press and enlightenment, John Stuart Mill, free...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Paul Chaisty and Stephen Whitefield about public opinion in Russia. They discuss Russia’s transformation since the fall of the Soviet Union, Consolidation and contestation within Russia’s hybrid political economy, and generational changes under Putin. They talk about authoritarianism, collecting public data in Russia, changes in Russian public op...