Michael Goldwater

The Shape of Dialogue

Society EN ↓ 48 episodes

The Shape of Dialogue podcast focuses on the foundational principles that make societies function at their best. It initially started with an investigation into free speech, it continues to discuss relevant and interesting topics about our world and how best to navigate through it.

Author

Michael Goldwater

Category

Society

Podcast website

shapeofdialogue.com

Latest episode

Mar 29, 2026

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Episodes

What are the pillars of our civilisation? with Rafe Champion - The Shape of Dialogue #48 29.03.2026

Australian Popperian philosopher, Rafe Champion, outlines the five pillars of peace, freedom and prosperity that are the foundations for our Western civilisation. About Rafe Champion: http://www.the-rathouse.com/aboutRafe.html The Philosophy Site of Rafe Champion - The Rat House http://www.the-rathouse.com/index.html Five pillars of peace freedom and prosperity https://rafechampion.substack.com/p/...

How do narratives shape our opinions? Ani O'Brien & Juliet Moses - The Shape of Dialogue #47 26.03.2026

Ani O'Brien is a women's rights advocate and political commentator. She has worked previously for the Leader of the Opposition (National) and is a council member of the Free Speech Union. https://aniobrien.substack.com/ Juliet Moses is spokesperson for the New Zealand Jewish Council and is a trust lawyer. This podcast features a discussion between Ani O'Brien (women's rights advocate, political co...

Are empires ethical? with Lord Nigel Biggar - The Shape of Dialogue #46 11.02.2026

About Nigel Biggar: https://nigelbiggar.uk/about/ Nigel Biggar CBE is Emeritus Regius Professor of Moral Theology at the University of Oxford and Distinguished Scholar in Residence at Pusey House, Oxford. He holds a B.A. in Modern History from Oxford and a Ph. D. in Christian Theology & Ethics from the University of Chicago. He was appointed C.B.E. “for services to Higher Education” in the 202...

How should we educate our kids? with Katharine Birbalsingh - The Shape of Dialogue #45 30.01.2026

Katharine Birbalsingh, CBE, is the Headmistress and co-founder of Michaela Community School in Wembley, London. She was Chair of the Social Mobility Commission from 2021 to 2023. Michaela School is renowned for its high standards of behaviour and academic achievement, knowledge curriculum and teaching of kindness and gratitude. In 2017, Ofsted graded the school as ‘Outstanding’ in every category....

Free Speech & Common Knowledge with Steven Pinker - The Shape of Dialogue #44 06.01.2026

About Steven Pinker - https://stevenpinker.com/biocv When Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows...: Common Knowledge and the Mysteries of Money, Power, and Everyday Life https://stevenpinker.com/publications/when-everyone-knows-everyone-knows-common-knowledge-and-mysteries-money-power-and Tickets: An Evening with Steven Pinker https://www.ticketmaster.co.nz/event/2400635CC1573F86 Antisemitic protest...

Why don’t we name it? with Brett Hall - The Shape of Dialogue #43 27.12.2025

Brett Hall talks about why the Australian government can’t name the cause of the Bondi Beach massacre of Jews. About Brett Hall - https://www.bretthall.org/about.html Josh Frydenberg urges PM Anthony Albanese to take tougher action after Bondi massacre https://youtu.be/PPVkyzg5x9M?si=o2_DKw5ymqJHih0u Music: Bach B Minor Mass Performed by John Eliot Gardiner, The Monteverdi Choir and The English Ba...

Narcissistic Transgression with Vaishnavi Sundar - The Shape of Dialogue #42 07.12.2025

Vaishnavi Sundar - Feminist, Writer, Filmmaker & Activist Vaishnavi Sundar discusses the narcissistic transgressions of trans ideology and its negative impact on women and girls. https://vaishnavisundar.com/ https://vaishnavisundar.com/about/ Behind The Looking Glass - FIRST EVER Documentary about the Wives & Children of Trans-Identified Men https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Frffv2sB8zE&...

Trans: Fact or Fiction? with Helen Joyce  - The Shape of Dialogue #41 13.11.2025

Trans: Fact or Fiction? with Helen Joyce - The Shape of Dialogue #44 Helen Joyce, campaigner for women's rights from Sex Matters, talks about our ancient common knowledge of the difference between men and a women, and the three recent seismic events pushing back against trans-ideology and its harm to women's rights and children -  The UK Cass Report in April 2024 The United States Presid...

Postmodernism, Liberal Values & How To Make A Proper British Cup Of Tea with Helen Pluckrose - The Shape of Dialogue #40 25.09.2025

https://www.hpluckrose.com/ Helen Pluckrose is a British liberal humanist writer and social commentator. She is the co-author with James Lindsay of Cynical Theories, Social (In)justice, as well as her own book, The Counterweight Handbook, about Principled Strategies for Surviving and Defeating Critical Social Justice at Work, in Schools, and Beyond.  At university, Helen studied late medieval...

What is the best pathway to knowledge? with David Deutsch - The Shape of Dialogue #39 12.09.2025

https://www.daviddeutsch.org.uk/ David Deutsch is a renowned University of Oxford physicist, philosopher, and the "father" of quantum computation. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society, and his work includes fundamental issues in physics, particularly the quantum theory of computation and information, and the new field of constructor theory. In 1985, he proposed a universal quantum computer and went...

Should universities seek truth? with Doug Elliffe - The Shape of Dialogue #38 06.09.2025

Douglas Mark Elliffe is a New Zealand academic and Professor of Psychology at the University of Auckland, where he has been affiliated since 1979 as a student and later as faculty. He completed his PhD in Psychology at the university, with a thesis titled "Multiple-schedule performance in closed economies," and joined the academic staff in 1992 to help establish the Psychology programme at the Tām...

Meaning & Storytelling with Travis Brown - The Shape of Dialogue #37 24.08.2025

About Travis Brown https://www.thesignalproductions.com/about Uncomfortable Truths:  The Reality of Gender Identity Ideology https://www.thesignalproductions.com/ The Woke Reformation is a documentary series that chronicles the origins of Woke ideology, helps people understand it and gives advice on how to push back.  https://www.wokereformation.com/ What Killed Michael Brown? https://wh...

The Communism To Woke Pipeline with James Lindsay - The Shape of Dialogue #36 12.06.2025

Critical Race Theory expert Dr. James Lindsay outlines the genealogy of communism and its evolution into woke ideologies. About Dr. James Lindsay An American-born author, mathematician, and professional troublemaker, Dr. James Lindsay has written six books spanning a range of subjects including religion, the philosophy of science and postmodern theory. He is a leading expert on Critical Race Theor...

Knowledge Based Education with Elizabeth Rata - The Shape of Dialogue #35 01.06.2025

Professor Elizabeth Rata is a sociologist of education in the School of Critical Studies, Faculty of Education and Social Work at the University of Auckland where she is Director of the Knowledge in Education Research Unit (KERU). Her main research areas are in knowledge in the curriculum, knowledge politics, ethnic revivalism, Māori education, research methods, and the history of New Zealand educ...

Science 101: Evidence vs Belief with Kendall Clements - The Shape of Dialogue #34 19.05.2025

About Kendall Clements https://profiles.auckland.ac.nz/k-clements Mātauranga Māori  Mātauranga Māori with Charles Royal - The Shape of Dialogue Podcast #15 For more on Science & Mātauranga Māori see the following playlist Science & Mātauranga Māori Playlist

To error correct or not to error correct? with Peter Boghossian - The Shape of Dialogue #33 26.01.2025

https://peterboghossian.com https://linktr.ee/peterboghossian Bruce Gilley - https://www.nas.org/authors/bruce_gilley

Literacy Matters with Dr Melissa Derby - The Shape of Dialogue #32 11.09.2024

Dr Melissa Derby is a Senior Lecturer teaching early literacy and human development at the University of Waikato's Tauranga campus and online. Melissa completed her PhD at the University of Canterbury, and her study was part of A Better Start National Science Challenge. Her primary area of research is early literacy, and in particular, in exploring the role of whānau in fostering foundational prel...

Losing Women’s Rights with Jill Ovens - The Shape of Dialogue #31 09.09.2024

Jill Ovens is a New Zealand trade unionist, politician, and women's rights advocate. She is the founder, co-leader and National Secretary of the Women's Rights Party. Before founding the Women's Rights Party, Jill Ovens was co-leader of the Alliance Party. In 2006, she resigned from the Alliance party. After being elected the northern secretary of the Service & Food Workers Union, sh...

Why Study The Classics? with Dr James Kierstead - The Shape of Dialogue #30 16.08.2024

Dr James Kierstead is a Research Fellow with the Initiative and his main focus will be on higher education policy, including academic freedom. James holds a BA in Classics from Oxford, an MA in Ancient History from the University of London, an MA in Political Science from Stanford, and a PhD in Classics from Stanford. He is also the co-host (with Michael Johnston) of Free Kiwis!, a podcast dedicat...

Do women have rights? with Sall Grover - The Shape of Dialogue #29 09.07.2024

gigglecrowdfund.com Sall's X handle - @salltweets A male named Roxy Tickle, who identifies as a woman, has brought a human rights claim against Sall Grover for not permitting him to use her female-only networking app, Giggle. He initially filed the complaint last year, but withdrew, due to funding reasons. He has now filed again, way out of time and is claiming that by excluding him, Sall is discr...

The Shape of Liberty with Toby Young - The Shape of Dialogue #28 04.07.2024

A discussion about liberty, free speech and threats to liberal societies with British journalist and founder of the Free Speech Union, Toby Young. http://www.tobyyoung.co.uk https://www.spectator.co.uk/writer/toby-young/ https://x.com/toadmeister https://freespeechunion.org https://dailysceptic.org Doc Edge & The UnRedacted with Alex Lee - The Shape of Dialogue Podcast #18 https://youtu.be/uC0...

A Dialogue On Dialogue with Peter Boghossian - The Shape of Dialogue #27 26.06.2024

https://peterboghossian.com https://linktr.ee/peterboghossian Philosopher Dr. Peter Boghossian's main focus is bringing the tools of professional philosophers to people in a wide variety of contexts. Peter has a teaching pedigree spanning more than 25 years and 30 thousand students - in prisons, hospitals, public and private schools, seminaries, universities, Fortune 100 companies, and small busin...

Free Speech Diversity? with Michael Johnston & Jonathan Ayling - The Shape of Dialogue #26 13.06.2024

Michael Johnston https://www.nzinitiative.org.nz/about-us/our-people/dr-michael-johnston/ Jonathan Ayling https://www.fsu.nz/meet_the_team The role of Universities in supporting freedom of speech The discussion on the role of universities in supporting freedom of speech held at Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington in May 2024. Watch the full event here. https://youtu.be/T3rZQ7PxuUI?...

Can we agree to disagree? Free Speech in 2024 with Jonathan Ayling - The Shape of Dialogue #25 07.06.2024

https://www.fsu.nz Jonathan Ayling is Chief Executive of theFree Speech Union. Jonathan has worked in Wellington, the New Zealand capital, for 8 years across roles as a Beehive staffer, senior political advisor, and in the NGO sector. In addition to leading the work at the Free Speech Union, he and his wife own a vineyard in the Wairarapa.

The Constitution of Knowledge with Jonathan Rauch - The Shape of Dialogue #24 03.06.2024

https://www.jonathanrauch.com Jonathan Rauch was brought to New Zealand by the Free Speech Union for a speaking tour in May 2025. See here for more information about the Free Speech Union - https://www.fsu.nz Jonathan Rauch is a highly acclaimed American journalist and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington. He has written eight books, including the renowned Kindly Inquisitors, w...

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