heretics.

Jon Ronson talks to me about cancel culture, public shaming and Louis Theroux. Jon is also known for writing The Psychopath Test and So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed, a book about the way we publicly humiliate others for minor transgressions. There’s a lot of discourse about that today, but Jon was ahead of the curve when that book came out in 2015. In his work, he often documents his time with extreme figures, including Alex Jones, David Icke and Islamic militant leader Omar Bakri Muhammed. Today, he's talking about his new podcast, Things Fell Apart, about the beginnings of all our different culture wars. Jon Ronson links: http://www.jonronson.com https://twitter.com/jonronson https://www.instagram.com/jonronson Things Fell Apart podcast on BBC Sounds: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/series/m0011cpr Things Fell Apart on Apple (worldwide release 25th Jan): https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/things-fell-apart-by-jon-ronson/id1592984136 Andrew Gold links: http://youtube.com/andrewgold1 http://instagram.com/andrewgold_ok http://twitter.com/andrewgold_ok http://andrewgoldpodcast.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Richard Dawkins is one of the biggest names in science. His The God Delusion, which contends that a supernatural deity does not exist, flipped the world upside down in 2006 when it came out, bringing both science and atheism into the mainstream. I interview him today alongside former ecstasy mob boss Shaun Attwood, before a free bonus section with Professor Paul Bloom of Yale and Toronto. Sign up on Apple Podcasts or http://patreon.com/andrewgold for the bonus bits. Richard Dawkins links: Flights of Fancy: Defying Gravity by Design and Evolution - https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08QBGS4VQ/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1 Books Do Furnish A Life: An Electrifying Celebration of Science Writing - https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08KXNF4ZF/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1 Richard's Website: https://richarddawkins.net Twitter: https://twitter.com/RichardDawkins Prof Paul Bloom links: The Sweet Spot: The Pleasures of Suffering and the Search for Meaning - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sweet-Spot-Pleasures-Suffering-Meaning/dp/0062910566 Twitter: https://twitter.com/paulbloomatyale Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Bloom_(psychologist) Official Website: https://paulbloom.net Shaun Attwood Links: YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/derickatt Twitter: https://twitter.com/shaunattwood Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shaunattwood Andrew Gold links: http://youtube.com/andrewgold1 http://instagram.com/andrewgold_ok http://twitter.com/andrewgold_ok http://andrewgoldpodcast.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Award-winning science writer David Robson's work has appeared in the Guardian, the Atlantic, Aeon and many many others. He was features editor at New Scientist for five years, before working as a senior journalist at BBC Future. His book, The Expectation Effect, is a vivid trip into the fallacies and complexities of the human psyche. Our expectations  can have very real effects on outcomes, whether it be life spans, illnesses or anything else. So try to think positively. Sign up on Apple Podcasts or http://patreon.com/andrewgold for the bonus bits. David Robson Links: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-robson-5761791b twitter.com/d_a_robson Buy The Expectation Effect https://davidrobson.me/ Andrew Gold links: http://youtube.com/andrewgold1 http://instagram.com/andrewgold_ok http://twitter.com/andrewgold_ok http://andrewgoldpodcast.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I've been spending a lot of time on my own recently, while my girlfriend has been away and I've been working on the podcast. Don't worry, I'm perfectly happy, and I'm off to Argentina soon for a holiday.  But it made me wonder about the folk out there - listeners of this show - who might be feeling a little lonesome right now (especially amid all the showing off on Instagram). So I just turned the mic on and started talking about this year's podcast.  Let's keep each other company in these cold, dark times! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Popular science writer, journalist and Yale University Professor of molecular biophysics and biochemistry Carl Zimmer is joining me to finally answer the late Beatle George Harrison's question: what is life.  Sign up on Apple Podcasts or http://patreon.com/andrewgold for the bonus bits. Prof. Carl Zimmer links: http://carlzimmer.com https://twitter.com/carlzimmer Life's Edge book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08QJM2CJY/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1 Andrew Gold links: http://youtube.com/andrewgold1 http://instagram.com/andrewgold_ok http://twitter.com/andrewgold_ok http://andrewgoldpodcast.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Have you ever wondered if your furry friend might be partial to a beer or two? Did you know that koalas smoked pipes and dolphins get high on pufferfish? Here to tell us all about the weird and wonderful world of intoxicated animals and humans too is Oné Pagan, a university professor and researcher with a PHD in Pharmacology with an emphasis on Neurobiology from Cornell University. Sign up on Apple Podcasts or http://patreon.com/andrewgold for the half-hour bonus chat. Like how the episode sounded? Get an MV7 just like mine here: https://shu.re/ontheedge-mv7. Receive 20% off anything from their website with the code ONTHEEDGE20. Oné Pagán links: https://twitter.com/Baldscientist http://baldscientist.com/ (official website) https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg25233610-500-what-intoxicated-animals-can-teach-us-about-our-vices/ (New Scientist Article) https://www.amazon.com/Drunk-Flies-Stoned-Dolphins-Intoxication/dp/1950665372 (Drunk Flies and Stoned Dolphins book!) Andrew Gold links: http://youtube.com/andrewgold1 http://instagram.com/andrewgold_ok http://twitter.com/andrewgold_ok http://andrewgoldpodcast.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

William Costello is a writer and an academic in the field of Evolutionary Psychology who has specialised in incel culture and things like beauty and attraction. He's also a lovely, charming man, a great laugh and really informative. Sign up on Apple Podcasts or http://patreon.com/andrewgold for the half-hour bonus chat. Like how the episode sounded? Get an MV7 just like mine here: https://shu.re/ontheedge-mv7. Receive 20% off anything from their website with the code ONTHEEDGE20. William Costello links: https://twitter.com/CostelloWilliam https://william05227.wixsite.com/website (official website) https://twitter.com/costellowilliam/status/1463139125935198215? (do his survey on how to be attractive!) Andrew Gold links: http://youtube.com/andrewgold1 http://instagram.com/andrewgold_ok http://twitter.com/andrewgold_ok http://andrewgoldpodcast.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nafees Hamid talks about what makes people into terrorists and other forms of extremists…and how we might be able to persuade them or talk them down. He is a research fellow at ARTIS International, an associate fellow at the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism – The Hague, and a Frederick Bonnart-Braunthal Trust scholar in the University College London's Department of Security and Crime Science. Watch my follow-up interview later that night as host of the Shaun Attwood show: https://youtu.be/LqFj9ig657Q. Nafees Hamid Socials: Twitter: @NafeesHamid Instagram: nafees_hamid_ Videos: NYT: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/02/opinion/domestic-terrorism-jihadists.html Netflix (S2E6): https://www.netflix.com/title/81098586 Articles: The Conversation: https://theconversation.com/the-neuroscience-of-terrorism-how-we-convinced-a-group-of-radicals-to-let-us-scan-their-brains-114855 NYRB: https://www.nybooks.com/contributors/nafees-hamid/ Andrew Gold links: http://youtube.com/andrewgold1 http://instagram.com/andrewgold_ok http://twitter.com/andrewgold_ok http://andrewgoldpodcast.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kelly Thiel was once a member of the notorious NXIVM cult. For those of you who – like me – don’t or didn’t know much about this sect, you’re in for a bit of a shock – not least in how that bunch of capital letters are supposed to be pronounced. But I’ll let Kelly explain that part. The cult was on the surface a multi-level marketing group that had various levels of memberships. Its members would learn a lot about self-help stuff, such as how to find purpose and be happy. Its methods were said to have been somewhere between those of Tony Robbins and the cult of Scientology, and there was even some stuff about going back to your childhood or past lives. Sign up on Apple VIP or http://patreon.com/andrewgold for the half-hour bonus chat. Kelly Thiel links: https://www.instagram.com/thekellythiel/ https://kellythiel.com  Andrew Gold links: http://youtube.com/andrewgold1 http://instagram.com/andrewgold_ok http://twitter.com/andrewgold_ok http://andrewgoldpodcast.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s guest is Hassan al-Kontar, an absolute gem of a person who found himself in one of the most unique and unusual positions imaginable: living in an airport for seven months. As a Syrian refugee, Hassan had been working in the United Arab Emirates, when civil war broke out in Syria. Refusing to return there to join the Syrian military (knowing he might be arrested upon arrival), he stayed abroad, and Hassan’s passport renewal was later denied, leaving him stranded in Kuala Lumpar International Airport in Malaysia. Sign up on Apple VIP or http://patreon.com/andrewgold for the half-hour bonus chat. Hassan Al Kontar links: https://www.instagram.com/kontar_81 https://twitter.com/Kontar81 https://www.amazon.co.uk/Man-Airport-Social-Life-One-Syrians-ebook/dp/B094YLT5FF Andrew Gold links: http://youtube.com/andrewgold1 http://instagram.com/andrewgold_ok http://twitter.com/andrewgold_ok http://andrewgoldpodcast.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices