Climate change and war have flung millions of people on the move, who often seek safe harbor in the very countries responsible for their displacement. But despite the lofty ideals and supposed simplicity of international refugee law, it turns out borders are not really the fixed lines on a map we imagine them to be.
We live in a time of anger. Yet most of us feel guilty for getting angry, wishing we could stay calm and turn the other cheek. But though anger can never be fully morally pure, we still need it because it alerts us to injustice and catalyzes change.
Many of the earliest time technologies were used to mark sacred time -- time set apart for the divine. But with the Industrial Revolution, efficient time use became its own sacred value. We now live in the age of capitalist time, where time is money and must be spent as productively as possible. As we struggle with a global pandemic, it’s time to rethink what we hold sacred.
We have usually relied on public intellectuals to provide facts, ideas, and cultural leadership--though not all have lived up to the ideal of “speaking truth to power.” Today, however, online networks and social media mean we are all public intellectuals, and we have new responsibilities that come with this role.
The work of Ibram X. Kendi distinguishes between two forms of racism: segregationism and assimilationism. Segregationists argue that some groups are inferior by nature; assimilationists, on the other hand, argue that some groups are inferior by 'nurture,' but can overcome this inferiority if they conform to another group's cultural standards -- in America, always a White cultural standard. Black leaders past and present have challenged these racist assumptions while revealing the liberatory potential of a cultural engagement based on equality and mutual exchange.
EPISODE 25: DISSECTING MORALITY
Linking morality and science can conjure up disturbing histories around social Darwinism, eugenics, and genetically engineered humans. But scientists today are making discoveries that moral agents shouldn’t ignore: how to overcome aggression and tribalism, and how to sustain cooperation in a modern pluralist world.
During the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, vulnerable communities have been hit especially hard by disruptive online attacks. But calling these attacks "violent" could jeopardize the future of disruptive protests designed to protest those same communities.
EPISODE 23: WELCOME TO VALHALLA
Heathenry, a modern movement drawing on pre-christian pagan religions, has become associated with the violent, racialized politics of the alt-right. Less well known is the fight to make heathenry--and the progressive values it can promote--inclusive and open to all.
EPISODE 22: STEALING THE CANONS
Literary canons have come under fire for perpetuating privilege and exclusion. But some artists--including Shakespeare and Hamilton’s Lin-Manuel Miranda--show us how canons can actually build community and democracy.
Human-caused climate change is real and growing in impact. Yet many Americans see climate change as a belief that they can opt out of. Two belief structures are to blame: American Protestantism and postmodernism.
Religious people have played an important role in progressive politics in the US for its entire history. Contemporary leftists should look to build bridges and include religious voices in the pursuit of a more just and sustainable society.
EPISODE 19: THE MYTH OF MODERNITY
Many think modernity is about the rise of science, the spread of democracy and capitalism, or the decline of religion or superstition. But those stories ignore the bigger picture about colonialism and race.
EPISODE 18: SPIRITUAL MACHINES
Ever since early scientists began experimenting with immortality elixirs in the middle ages, religion has been influencing transhumanism. Now, we’re beginning to see transhumanism influencing religion.
We claim to judge people for what they intentionally do, but accidents often influence our judgments. In our justice systems, people can be harshly and unfairly blamed for bad luck—but in our personal lives, taking on blame isn’t always a bad thing.
Between the Buddhist doctrine of ‘emptiness,’ the Jewish idea of Ayin, and the quantum mechanical zero-point energy of a vacuum, it turns out there’s quite a lot to be said about Nothing.
World’s fairs were created to celebrate industry, technology, imperialism, western supremacy, and progress; but they also led to unexpected critiques and movements that challenged those very purposes.
EPISODE 14: APOCALYPTIC POLITICS
Evangelical voters made up a significant portion of Donald Trump’s base in the 2016 presidential election. Their political agenda may not be peace or prosperity, but instead bringing us closer to the end of time.
Cannibalism has been used for centuries to define the lowest form of humanity, but the story isn't as straightforward as it may seem. Turns out, there may be a logic - or even a love - to eating people.
We shouldn’t be dismissive of the popularity of children’s literature among adults, as it is often in these works of fiction that powerful themes such as death, love, and virtue are most deeply and imaginatively explored.
Contemporary diet culture is only the latest manifestation of a long history of religious fervor about food.
EPISODE 10: ENLIGHTENED CYNICISM
Trust in government, media, organized religion, businesses and even democracy is at historic lows. But what if the answer to declining faith in institutions isn’t more hope, but more cynicism?
Total faith in meritocracy leads to the dangerous belief that all social winners and losers are wholly deserving. Instead, we need an economy of grace.
The decline of organized religion in the West has opened up new paths for individuals to pursue what once was once understood to be salvation.
EPISODE 7: 21ST CENTURY CITIZENSHIP
What does it mean to be a citizen in America today?
16th-century glass mirrors and 21st-century camera phones actually share a lot in common; they both are technologies that shaped new forms of the self.
Understanding race in America requires understanding its relationship to class.
Efficiency has moved from a technique for measuring machines to a widely held moral value. But at what cost?
Who gets to define generational cohorts and do they obscure more than illuminate?
What happens when politics becomes comedy and the jester becomes the king?
EPISODE 1: THE SHAPE OF HISTORY
The way we think about history can influence our belief that we can change it.