Converging Dialogues

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Kai Bird about Jimmy Carter. They discuss the context and environment of rural Georgia in the 1920s in which Carter was born. They talk about the impact of racism in his upbringing, importance of his Christian faith, and steady bond with his wife Rosalynn. They discuss his presidency and inflation and unemployment, Panama Canal, Camp David accord...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Douglas Futuyma about the evolution of birds. They discuss how evolutionary biology can be a very helpful lens to understand birds. They talk about the importance of the phylogenetic tree for birds, their genetics, and why variation in birds is so important. They explain the three important questions for evolution, speciation, developmental life...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Jon Alexander about a citizens story for humanity. They begin by talking about the consumer's story, how reciprocity and interdependence work in a citizens story, and how one sees the subject, consumer, and citizen story in a our present society. They talk about Taiwan as a case study of the citizen model and where populism fits into the citizen...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Christia Spears Brown about the various aspects of bias. They give a definition and overview of bias in our current society. They question whether bias can be positive and some of the human differences in the reception of bias. They talk about implicit vs. explicit bias and provide a history of institutional bias. They discuss how bias shows up i...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Riley Black about the last days of the dinosaurs. They discuss what life on earth was like with dinosaurs being very prominent and so successful in diversifying. They mention the importance of fossils for understanding dinosaurs. They discuss the asteroid and its impact on the earth. They talk about the animals that survived after the asteroid an...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Nancy Foner about immigration and some of the current data on immigration in the 21st century. They provide and overview of current immigration data, discuss the more recent waves of immigration and why the 1965 immigration bill was very important. They discuss the current racial composition of the United States, culture change, and immigrants po...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Steven Nadler about the philosophy of Spinoza. They discuss Spinoza's definition of god and the connection with nature. They talk about how humans are included within nature and the role of free will. They discuss Spinoza's moral philosophy, humans move towards preservation, and how Spinoza defines the free person. They also talk about how Spinoz...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Jessica Pierce and Marc Bekoff about a canine future without humans. They talk about how dogs could potentially survive and evolve in a post-human world. They mention the difference between breeds vs. individualized dogs, generations of dogs post-human, and how dogs have evolved with humans thus far. They also talk about features of dogs in a pos...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Andrew Knoll about the geological history of the earth. They discuss how light, gravity, dark energy, and dark matter explain the early origins of the universe and earth. They also talk about the various layers of the earth, zircons, tectonic plates, and how one defines life. They also talk about how geology can assist in telling the time of eart...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Jenara Nerenberg about the complexities of neurodiversity. They begin by defining neurodiversity and highly sensitive people. They also talk about Jenara's critiques of psychiatry and psychology, specifically the diagnostic process. They discuss the curious evolution of diagnoses and the grey areas where people have challenges but not a full diag...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Marcelo Sanchez-Villagra about animal domestication. They define domestication and how it is a process. They talk about niche construction and the three pathways of domestication. They mention the impact of agriculture, wild and semi-domestication, hybridization and adaptive radiation, as well as the impact of globalization and urbanization. They...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with David McPherson about the virtues of limits. They discuss the six limiting virtues and 4 limits. They discuss the origins of virtues and the two stances of these virtues. They talk about the difference between virtues and values and the importance of worldviews. They also discuss various opinions about Nietzsche's ideas on values and engage about...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a discussion with Karl Friston about the Free Energy Principle, Bayesian Brain, and many neurobiological principles. They give an overview of the history of the models of the brain and discuss the evolutionary components of the brain. They also mention how important executive functioning and abstraction are for various organisms. They give an overview of the Bay...

In this special episode, Xavier Bonilla has an extended and wide ranging discussion about emotions, current state of psychology, and sexuality. They discuss emotions and their function, expression of emotions, fear as a spectrum and instinctual vs. learned fear. They discuss the history of substance abuse and challenges with the American Psychological Association (APA) such as their reduction in s...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Mel Cosentino about whales, their behavior and their communication. They give an overview of the taxonomy of whales, interactions between porpoises and orcas, and how whales communicate. They talk about memory and executive functioning in whales, how humans can understand how they communicate, and the environment in which they reside. They also t...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with William Dalrymple about the origins of the East India Company (EIC). They start by discussing his quartet of books on the EIC and his motivations for writing this history. They talk about the origins of the EIC, what was traded, and the large influence the company had in India. They discuss how the EIC went from trading to overthrowing the Mughal...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Ashley Ward about cooperation and the social lives of various animals. They talk about the importance of krill and how they cooperate, locusts and their exchange of serotonin, and the social lives of roaches. They also talk about inclusive fitness with bees, ant colonies, social connection of birds, and the adaptive flexibility of rats. They also...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Fredrik Logevall about the early life of the 35th President of the United States, John F. Kennedy. They discuss why JFK's story is important for telling America's story. They mention the Irish immigrants that came to the United States and how his family gravitated to politics shortly after their immigration from Ireland. They provide the familial...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Meghan Daum about various aspects of culture and society. They discuss how the focus in society is about many cultural challenges. They talk about generational and technological shifts and the impact of fear and loneliness. They mention the new thought leaders, the ethics of podcasting, and much more.  Meghan Daum is an author and podcaster who h...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Monica Guzman on the power of curiosity. They discuss the main theses of her book on seeing the humanity of others by using curiosity. They talk about the three challenges of human nature (sorting, othering, & siloing). They mention the challenge of scaling individual interactions to the group level, us vs. them, and whether people change their o...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Neil Shubin about the building blocks of life over billions of years. They discuss why the fossil record is so essential for understanding the history of the earth and for understanding the history of past and present organisms. They talk about the importance of the discovery of Tiktaalik. They also talk about the four arches that make up all hea...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Daniel Sznycer about the theoretical and empirical data on anger and shame. They discuss the recalibration theory of anger and the place of social valuation of anger. They also mention some of the recent cross-cultural finding of anger. They discuss the global self in how shame is defined. They talk about the other-dependent aspects of shame and...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Daniel Lieberman about the evolutionary history of exercise. They discuss why evolution and adaptation are important to understand the human body, use of energy, myths of sitting, and how much sleep do we really need. They talk about why speed and endurance are important for humans, aggression, walking and running, the active grandparent hypothes...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Jonathan Losos about convergent evolution. They begin by defining convergent evolution and what the role of the environment is for convergent evolution. They discuss the importance of phenotypes and behaviors, speciation, and adaptive radiation. They mention how evolution can work fast using examples from nature. They also talk about evolution in...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Jennifer Raff about the genetic history of the Americas. They discuss why respect and care for the histories and cultures of indigenous groups should be respected when doing research. They talk about the Clovis peoples, diversification of early people groups, and coastal migration. They outline the earliest evidence of humans in the Americas, Ind...