Converging Dialogues

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Eugene Rogan about the 1860 Damascus massacre. They discuss why the 1860 Damascus massacre is still relevant, relationship between Egypt and the Ottomans, Mishaqa as US Vice-Consulate in Damascus, Ottoman Tanzimat Reforms, Druzes and Maronites with rising tensions in Lebanon and Damascus. They also talk about al-Qadir’s influential role, events a...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Maxwell Stearns about potential changes to the Constitution. They discuss the general narrative about the US Constitution, overview of his proposed reforms, third parties as spoilers, generational shifting of parties, and history of political parties in the 19th century. They also talked about positive vs. negative rights, gerrymandering, Germany...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Aziz Rana about the failures of the US Constitution. They discuss the timeframe of 1887-1987, why people resist criticisms of the US Constitution, and creedal constitutionalism. They discuss the positive aspects of the Constitution, empire settlerism and the US state in post-reconstruction era. They discuss the Socialist Party of America, WWI and...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Lynn Tesser about the various ways of thinking about empire. They discuss moving from empire to nation states, define nationalism vs. nation states, and sovereignty and modular nationalism. They talk about rebellions in the Americas as being more mixed, the Greek revolution as performed by elites, the Balkans and Anatolia in the post-Ottoman peri...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Batja Mesquita about the impact of culture on emotions. The discuss the distinctions between emotions, feelings, and affect, universalist vs. social constructionist theories, and the expression of emotions. They discuss the MINE vs. OURS framework, emotions in other cultures, shame and how it presents differently in other countries, emotionally a...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Natalie Foster about the guarantee framework for economic stability for all Americans. They discuss what is the guarantee and why government involvement is essential, FDR and basic rights, the rise of neoliberal and neoconservative policies, and the features of the guarantee over the past 15 years. They discuss the importance of community organiz...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Tricia Rose about systemic racism in the United States. They discuss why and how racism persists, how it looks different from decades past, and how it evolves in institutions. They define metaracism, discuss individuals vs. institutions, understanding systems theory, colorblindness, and many more topics. Tricia Rose is Chancellor’s Professor of A...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Robert Merry about the Presidency of James Polk. They give and overview of James Polk, influence of Andrew Jackson, Polk’s personality and trajectory, and the four major issues he tackled as President. They discuss Polk’s expansionism, the Mexican-American War, Polk’s one-term deal, legacy, and many more topics. Robert W. Merry has an extensive b...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Alex Edmans about misinformation and the role of human biases. They discuss how to look at data, confirmation bias, statements not facts, facts not data, and the value and limits of the scientific method. They also discuss data mining and ethics with stats, correlation not being causation, data with social issues, and many more topics. Alex Edman...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Stephanie Ternullo about the political shift from liberal to conservative in the American heartland over the 20th century. They discuss how she constructed her study, makeup of the three Midwest cities used in the study, New Deal coalition, place-based partisanship, role of unions, and many more topics. Stephanie Ternullo is Assistant Professor i...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Paco Calvo about the intelligence of plants. They discuss plant blindness, plant intelligence, sun tracking and internal representations, predictive processing, and what is it like to be a plant. They discuss domesticated and wild plants, time, individuality of plants, ethics, and many more topics. Paco Calvo is a cognitive scientist and philosop...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Andrew Boryga about his novel on victimhood. They discuss how he approaches writing novels vs. non-fiction pieces, choosing themes for the novel, personal influence on fictional characters, evolution of characters, and using tragedy and victimhood for clout. They also discuss dealing with social justice themes, shaped by environment, stereotypes,...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Cole Bunzel about the Islamic branch of Wahhābism. They talk about the current landscape of Wahhābism, extreme and non-extreme uses of Wahhābism and some of the differences between terrorists groups that use Wahhābism. They discuss Ibn Abd al-Wahhab and how he started a movement, modeling himself after the Prophet Muhammad, being against polythei...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with James Marcus about the life and work of Ralph Waldo Emerson. They discuss how the book is formed and how themes are pulled from Emerson’s life, his religious background and relationship with religion over his lifetime, unitarianism, and when do we find our identity. They talk about first and second marriages, self-reliance and individualism, natu...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with James Traub about Hubert Humphrey. They define liberalism, background and context of Humphrey and his internal motivations, how he governed as mayor in Minneapolis, and how he was a liberal and a progressive. They talk about his time as a U.S. Senator, a cold war liberal, and his relationship with Lyndon Johnson. They discuss Humphrey’s foreign a...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Michèle Lamont about recognition and interpersonal dynamics. They define recognition and worth, the three avenues of building recognition and ordinary universalism, and what blocks change. They talk about inequality, individualism/collectivism, and challenges of the American dream. They also discuss using media, role of institutions, how we can r...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with S. Frederick Starr about the lives and work of Ibn Sina and Biruni. They discuss who were Ibn Sina and Biruni, their time and context, and the correspondence between Ibn Sina and Biruni. They discuss their interactions in the Muslim world, Ibn Sina as vizier, the canon of Ibn Sina and the canon of Biruni. They also discuss work post-canon, how th...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Clay Routledge about nostalgia. They define nostalgia, nostalgia being forward thinking, nostalgia with positive and negative memories, and the downsides of nostalgia in pop culture. They discuss nostalgia with self-concept, self-continuity, and self-esteem, nostaglia for understanding existential anxiety and death, best ways to use nostalgia, an...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Lisa Bortolotti about delusions. They talk about why we should think about delusions, delusions as emotional and rational beliefs, defining delusions, clinical and non-clinical delusions, and why we believe delusions. They talk about when delusions cause harm, can people change their delusional beliefs, and many more topics. Lisa Bortolotti is a...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Ajit Varki about the evolutionary origins of denial and self-deception. They discuss the evolutionary perspective of human origins, self-awareness in humans, theory of mind, and how false beliefs and denial evolved. They also discuss lying, self-deception, religion, positive uses of deception, climate change, future of Mind Over Reality theory, a...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Sima Samar about her life and work for women’s rights. They discuss her reasoning for writing her memoirs, history of modern Afghanistan, impact of Islam, and the rule of the Taliban. They talk about her work in medicine and human rights advocacy, women’s rights in Afghanistan, becoming Vice President and Minister of Women’s Affairs of Afghanista...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Peter Kramer about Prozac. They talk about the 30th anniversary of Listening To Prozac and antidepressants, origins of antidepressants, classes of antidepressants, selfhood, criticisms of SSRIs and the serotonin hypothesis, risk of suicide with Prozac, future of SSRIs, and more more topics. Peter Kramer is a psychiatrist who practiced and taught...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Stefanos Geroulanos about the history of prehistory. They talk about why studying history is important and why it is not final, the emphasis on the nature of man, why Rousseau and Hobbes’ ideas still persist, human nature and equality, and the impact of Darwin. They also talk about the impact of Marx, Neanderthals, thin veneer, and the instincts,...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Jorell Meléndez Badillo about the history of Puerto Rico. They talk about the origins of the island of Puerto Rico, Taino peoples, reasons for Columbus coming to Puerto Rico, and indigenous peoples fighting back. They talk about enslaved peoples in the mid 16th century, origins of the term “Puertorriqueños,” impact of race and colorism, and hards...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Elizabeth Barnes about the ideas surrounding health. They discuss why we care about health and how we define health, social impact of health, and discussing health publicly. They also talk about shame and stigma with health, disability and health differences, ameliorative skepticism, and many more topics. Elizabeth Barnes is Professor of Philosop...