57: Optimism, Uncertainty, and Doubt. A conversation with John Horgan.

As a science writer with The Scientific American, a primary concern for John Horgan is how science both supports the evolution of human understanding, and he is also very interested in exploring the shortcomings of science as a methodology and the limitations of the scientists whose conclusions have a direct impact on the world. In this conversation, we discuss the current pandemic and how crisis and trauma shift innovation and the scientific ideas that inform the zeitgeist. One of John’s primary interests is the limitations of science, with emphasis on how much time and energy we need to be investing in discovering what might be, unanswerable questions about reality and the universe. He proposes that we would be better served to solve the problems of war, diseases, and inequality – to name a few. Balancing optimism and realism, how humanity may approach the aftermath of the current COVID crisis, the nature of positivity and pessimism, we explore a few political and social outcomes from this crisis, the importance of addressing climate change and the overwhelming expenses designated to national defense and military spending, terror management theory, crisis and the spiritual attitude, times when people are more attracted to authoritarian leadership, the ways in which the awareness of death influences an individual’s core philosophies, spirituality and nihilism, mysticism, consumerism, and social control, politics and society, the value of paradox in our psychology, the value of measured skepticism and doubt to transcend fundamentalism. Bio: John Horgan is a science journalist and Director of the Center for Science Writings at Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, New Jersey. A former senior writer at Scientific American (1986-1997), he has also written for The New York Times, National Geographic, Time, Newsweek, The Washington Post, Slate and other publications. He writes the "Cross-check" blog for Scientific American and produces "Mind-Body Problems" for the online talk show Bloggingheads.tv. He tweets as @horganism. Horgan's most recent book, Mind-Body Problems: Science, Subjectivity and Who We Really Are, takes a radical new approach to the deepest and oldest of all mysteries, the mind-body problem. Published in September 2018, it is available for free online at mindbodyproblems.com, for $5 as an Amazon e-book and for $15 as a paperback. Horgan's first book was The End of Science: Facing the Limits of Science in the Twilight of the Scientific Age, which was republished with a new preface in 2015 by Basic Books. Originally published in 1996, it became a U.S. bestseller and was translated into 13 languages. Horgan's publications have received international coverage. He has been interviewed hundreds of times for print, radio, and television media, including The Lehrer News Hour, Charlie Rose, and National Public Radio's Science Friday. He has lectured at dozens of institutions in North America and Europe, including MIT, Caltech, Princeton, Dartmouth, McGill, the University of Amsterdam, and England's National Physical Laboratory. http://www.johnhorgan.org Band of the Week: Quaker City Nighthawks https://quakercitynighthawks.com Music Page: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/quaker-city-night-hawks/536022674 Theme music provided by: http://www.modernnationsmusic.com Brought to you by: https://www.thecenterforhas.com Website for The Sacred Speaks: http://www.thesacredspeaks.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesacredspeaks/ @thesacredspeaks Twitter: https://twitter.com/thesacredspeaks Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thesacredspeaks/