Converging Dialogues

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Douglas Kenrick and David Lundberg-Kenrick about the evolutionary adaptations of the human body and brain. They discuss their pyramid of needs being rooted in evolution and juxtaposing it with Maslow's hierarchy of needs. They talk about evolution mismatches and tradeoffs and the values of behaviorism for adaptive change. They discuss tribalism,...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Ed Hagen about evolution, mental disorders such as depression,  and suicidality. They begin talking about the power of evolution, providing a defense of evolutionary psychology and the evolutionary history of humans. They discuss the evolutionary model for mental health disorders, the clinical taxonomy of the DSM-5, and defining depression. They...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Thomas R. Verny about his work on the embodied mind. They discuss Thomas' background and motivation for writing his most recent book and how the embodied mind is an extended mind. They discuss the importance of the gut microbiome and the enteric nervous system. They talk about the vagus nerve, epigenetics, and stem cells and CRISPR. They also pro...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Nicholas Christakis about cooperation, social networks, and tribalism. They discuss how humans are more cooperative and have a propensity for good than many people emphasize. They talk about the social suite and examples of unintentional, intentional, and artificial communities. They discuss positive and negative aspects of cooperation, punishmen...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Lori Marino about the ethics of eating animals and whether they have conscious states. They define intelligence in non-human animals and discuss the brains of whales and how they communicate. They discuss consciousness in animals and how humans can ethically cohabitate with animals. They talk about how domesticated animals, including farmed anima...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Skye Cleary on authenticity and the feminism of Simone de Beauvoir. They define authenticity, discuss existence before essence, and dialogue on the "other" and subjectivity. They talk about de Beauvoir's mystifications and how to define what is a woman? They discuss roles, progress for women, and women's health. They also discuss de Beauvoir on f...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla moderates a dialogue between Patrick Lockwood and Colin Wright on gender and sexuality. They begin by defining biological sex and defining gender. They spend some time discussing the various complexities around gender dysphoria and they discuss the idea of being born in the wrong body. They end the dialogue by emphasizing how to have honest and compassionate convers...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Gregory Forth about the search for a hidden human species. They discuss his background working in Indonesia, an overview of different species of humans, and where the "ape-men" fit into the broader picture. They talk about the environment on Flores, Indonesia and the characteristics of the Lio people who are the primary eyewitnesses. They give a...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Will Beischel about the most recent research on gender. They discuss their background for studying sex and gender and then provide an exhaustive analysis of the sex configuration theory. This theory includes understanding sexual orientation and its broader horizon along with three aspects including gender, sex, and gender/sex. They talk about how...

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,...