Serious Inquiries Only

We're going to take a look at Jordan Peterson's debate techniques and his arguments for God and have some fun along the way!  

Was that whole thing legitimate? Was it BS? Or something in between? Dr. Eric Jaffe is the perfect expert to give us the objective facts on this and help us understand everything going on!

Inspired by an Opening Arguments episode during the heartbeat bills, Dr. Nathan Thompson and soon-to-be-Dr. Rachel Feltman embarked on research where they collated "facts" from abortion legislation across the country and examined its medical/anatomical accuracy and misleadingness. Their work was published ( read it here! ) in the February 2025 issue of Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Healt...

Gary Chapman's model of five love languages has been well-embraced by people as they navigate dating, marriage, and other relationship moments. Dr. Sharon Flicker joins the show to discuss what exactly they are, how Chapman came up with them, and her research in evaluating whether your partner's ability to "speak" your love language actually results in a happier relationship. Are you an expert in...

It's part 2 with Alejandro and Julia from theluddite.org ! We get the worst AI "research" of all, we talk big picture, and then Alejandro and Julia give us some tools for spotting bad AI research and coverage on our own! Are you an expert in something and want to be on the show?  Apply here ! Please support the show on patreon ! You get ad free episodes, early episodes, and other bonus content! Th...

Alejandro and Julia of theluddite.org  join us to debunk some terrible AI research, and the bad reporting compounding the problems on top of that. Also, what is AI? Can it ever think for itself? Are you an expert in something and want to be on the show? Apply here ! Please support the show on patreon ! You get ad free episodes, early episodes, and other bonus content! This content is CAN credentia...

This is a part 2! Make sure to catch the previous episode in the feed. If you're on the left and at all active on the internet, you have probably seen this shared. It's called " Trump Lost. Vote Suppression Won ." Here's the first bit: "Trump lost. That is, if all legal voters were allowed to vote, if all legal ballots were counted, Trump would have lost the states of Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylv...

If you're on the left and at all active on the internet, you have probably seen this shared. It's called " Trump Lost. Vote Suppression Won ." Here's the first bit: "Trump lost. That is, if all legal voters were allowed to vote, if all legal ballots were counted, Trump would have lost the states of Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Georgia. Vice-President Kamala Harris would have won the Presi...

Katherine Stewart joins us again ( she was on episode 439 ) to talk about her new book, Money, Lies, and God ! Katherine's books have been vital to understanding the Right. This book tackles different factions - the billionaires, Christian Nationlists, and the New Right, among others - and their strange alliances that have successfully taken over our country. Are you an expert in something and wan...

And the unending moral cowardice of Republican politicians means he gets to do what he wants. It's a Thomas needs to say things one again, sorry.

The absolute man-babies who make up the anti-woke movement are always crying about some very minor thing that makes other people's lives better and is no actual burden to them, but is different than the past. This week, that thing happens to be... ASL interpreters at press conferences and such? It's hard to imagine how sensitive you'd have to be to have a problem with this, but their victimhood co...

SIO471 - I just can't anymore with this. It's so fucking pathetic that mainstream media and a whole bunch of pundits, even on the left, have to do this thing where they play dumb and pretend people like Elon have any sort of credibility. There is no plausible deniability on this and to pretend otherwise isn't good journalism or skepticism. It's... bad... those. Are you an expert in something and w...

Buckle up because we have so many Health and Human Services nominees to get into on this episode, and surprisingly nearly all of them are actually doctors of medicine! Are you an expert in something and want to be on the show?   Apply here ! Please please pretty please  support the show on patreon ! You get ad free episodes, early episodes, and other bonus content!

We're back with Dr. Rick to continue our discussion of what we might be facing with the next Trump administration's HHS, but he refuses to leave the recording without giving us something to feel happy about! Then we kick off Lydia's cabinet nominee deep dive with Dr. Janette Nesheiwat, Trump's nominee for the Surgeon General. Are you an expert in something and want to be on the show?   Apply here...

Lydia has spread Opening Arguments' fashwatch to SIO, and we're calling in a doctor to keep it under control! Dr. Rick Sullivan joins us to walk through the Health and Human Services Agency, its various entities, and what kind of impact we might be looking at under the next Trump administration. ProPublica obtained Project 2025 private training videos. Click here  to check them out if you dare! Ar...

I've felt like I wanted to say a ton about this since day 1, but keep holding back. I finally hit brain saturation and just need to share. I think I have a useful way of looking at this whole thing, hope you'll consider it. Oh and also, f--- UnitedHealthcare and f--- the for profit healthcare industry in its entirety. Please read this incredible ProPublica piece. I finally started a monthly donati...

SIO466 - Dr. Gary Slutkin has been cited in Salon and other outlets as an expert epidemiologist who runs an impressive NGO that helps reduce violence. While he may be an epidemiologist, almost everything else about him and his claims seems to be... very likely bull shit. Dr. Jenessa Seymour joins us to break this down. It gets more and more bull shit as we go, and eventually we're both live debunk...

Hey folks, this is more of an SIO, but I recorded a solo show because I have to debunk this myth about Kamala losing 10-15m Democratic votes, and Trump only keeping his same voters from 2020. That isn't correct at all. I also have a million other thoughts that I really just want to get out there and that I hope will be helpful.

Dr. Jenessa Seymour is back to talk more about synesthesia! There are some absolutely fascinating case studies that Jenessa covers in this episode, and we theorize how in the world synesthesia happens. The brain is impossible. Are you an expert in something and want to be on the show?   Apply here ! Please please pretty please  support the show on patreon ! You get ad free episodes, early episodes...

Dr. Janessa Seymour is back! This time she teaches us all about synesthesia. How does it work? How many people have it? Are they just faking it? How do we test for it? This episode features one of the most mind-blowing things I've ever heard on this show. I really enjoyed this one! Are you an expert in something and want to be on the show?   Apply here ! Please please pretty please  support the sh...

Everyone's favorite dino guy Dr. Eric Jaffe returns! This time, he takes us through what happened when the dinosaurs died. How did it happen? What does the evidence show and how has our understanding of that changed over time? How in the world did anything survive? Also, what did other mass extinctions look like? All this and so much more! Are you an expert in something and want to be on the show?...

What's your best option? Stop the moon and let it fall? Nuke the center of the planet? Create a mini black hole? Astrophysicist Dr. Bryan Gillis is here to help us destroy the entire planet. It might not be as easy as the movies make it seem... Are you an expert in something and want to be on the show?   Apply here ! Please please pretty please  support the show on patreon ! You get ad free episod...

In 2020, the United Kingdom’s (NHS) commissioned an inquiry to provide recommendations for the healthcare of transgender adolescents. It was overseen by a pediatrician named Dr. Hillary Cass and was completed in April 2024. It became known as the Cass Review , and it has since been used to justify depriving a lot of people of the healthcare they badly need. But is it good science? Obviously not. Y...

In this episode, Dr. Eric Jaffe walks us through the history of CRISPR, how it works, how it's being used currently, and how it could be applied in the future. How quickly will we be able to eradicate mosquitoes? I say let's just do it, but Dr. Jaffe has some concerns. Are you an expert in something and want to be on the show?   Apply here ! Please please pretty please  support the show on patreon...

Dr. Eric Jaffe is back! This time, he's going to teach us about CRISPR. But, in order to do that, he first needs to lay a foundation about genetics more broadly, and how complex it actually is. Why is it that mapping the human genome didn't instantly give us the ability to change whatever we want about ourselves? Are you an expert in something and want to be on the show?   Apply here ! Please plea...