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The Wright Show

Latest episodes

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May 5, 2021 • 60min

Despite Our Best Intentions (Robert Wright & Paul Bloom)

The value of defying your tribe ... Egocentric bias and attribution error ... The thin line between between courage and acting like an asshole ... Why do we punish people for unintentional transgressions? ... To understand all is to forgive all … ... … but forgiveness won’t get you retweets ... Are people’s politics as irrational as they seem? ... William James’ preternatural insight into human psychology ... Should the Philip Roth biography have been pulled? ... Reliving the worst day of your life ...
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Apr 27, 2021 • 60min

Circling the Elephant (Robert Wright & John Thatamanil)

John’s new book, Circling the Elephant: A Comparative Theology of Religious Diversity ... John’s early religious sensibility ... The Advaita Vedanta tradition in Hinduism ... Grappling with the human predicament ... Approaches to ultimate reality ... John’s brush with non-dualistic experience ... Why John doesn’t consider himself a perennialist ... Touching the infinite elephant ...
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Mar 23, 2021 • 60min

The Dharma of Bob 4: Averting the Apocalypse (Robert Wright & Josh Summers)

Who you callin' bodhisattva? ... Outlining the Apocalypse Aversion Project ... How meditation can make us better global citizens ... Why we need “cognitive crampons” ... Transcend and include ... The varieties of meditative experience ... Achieving micro-enlightenment ... The benefits of confronting your dark side ... Building a cognitively empathetic grassroots movement ...
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Mar 2, 2021 • 60min

Kant’s Transcendental Philosophy (Robert Wright & David Ottlinger)

Distinguishing between the numinous and the noumenal ... Kant’s religious vision ... The Copernican revolution in philosophy ... What, if anything, does the Buddhist idea of emptiness have to do with Kant? ... The transcendental status of space and time ... Can the Matrix help us understand Kant? ... Distinguishing between the noumenal and the phenomenal ... Can we transcend our phenomenal experience of the world? ...
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Feb 23, 2021 • 60min

Ten Keys to Reality (Robert Wright & Frank Wilczek)

What got Frank his Nobel Prize ... Frank's new book, Fundamentals: Ten Keys to Reality ... Solving the mystery of dark matter ... Can quantum physics make sense? ... Frank: Mind emerges from matter, not the other way around ... Can you love an automaton? ... Complementarity as scientific concept and everyday attitude ... How Frank's Catholic upbringing influenced his scientific thinking ... Is reality an algorithm? ... The limits of human intelligence ...
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Jan 26, 2021 • 60min

The Dharma of Bob 3: Cognitive Biases (Robert Wright & Josh Summers)

Josh Summers, a yoga teacher and meditation practitioner known for his insights on mindfulness, joins Robert Wright to discuss cognitive biases. They explore how these evolutionarily developed mental shortcuts affect our views on issues like the Capitol riot and tribalism. The conversation highlights the importance of mindfulness in recognizing biases and promoting interdependence in a divided world. They also examine the role of fear and hope in political discourse, emphasizing the need for courage to engage with differing perspectives.
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Dec 8, 2020 • 60min

Evolution and Purpose (Robert Wright & Massimo Pigliucci)

Could evolution have a higher purpose? ... The value of (some) untestable hypotheses ... What zombies can (and can’t) teach us about consciousness ... Evolutionary teleology vs. evolutionary teleonomy ... Why does evolution produce increasingly complex forms of life? ... Distinguishing between physical laws and natural processes ... Could the hypothesis that evolution is serving a larger purpose be tested? ...
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Dec 1, 2020 • 60min

The Dharma of Bob 2: Nonzero (Robert Wright & Josh Summers)

Continuing the exploration of "the Dharma of Bob" ... Bob: There is no good alternative to global community ... Defining non-zero-sumness ... How genetic "selfishness" led to altruism ... The psychology of tribalism ... Can we bridge the polarization divide? ... Sadly, self-transcendence isn't genetically inheritable ... Does Bob see cause for optimism? ...
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Nov 3, 2020 • 60min

The Dharma of Bob: The Logos (Robert Wright & Josh Summers)

Philo of Alexandria, seminal Logos theorist ... Bob: Teleology is perfectly compatible with a scientific worldview ... A logic shaping the unfolding of life ... How Jordan Peterson understands the Logos ... Does order flow from consciousness? ... Moral progress and human interdependence ... Teleology without theology ... The Logos and the "simulation hypothesis" ...
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Oct 14, 2020 • 60min

Just Faith (Robert Wright & Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons)

Guthrie's new book, Just Faith: Reclaiming Progressive Christianity ... Guthrie's personal faith journey ... The tradition of liberal Protestantism ... Human sexuality and evangelicalism ... Guthrie sees a liberatory counternarrative in Scripture ... What drives militant atheism? ... What happened to Christian antiwar activism? ... Do young progressives privilege identity over class? ... Why Guthrie prays for President Trump ...

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