Converging Dialogues

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Neil Shubin about polar science in the arctic and Antarctica. They discuss polar science, Arctic and Antarctica, hot ice, blue ice, life under the Antarctic ice, fossil discoveries, meteorites, climate change, and many other topics. Neil Shubin is a Paleontologist and Evolutionary Biologist. He is the Robert Bensley Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago and the Associate Dean for academic strategy of the Biological Sciences Division. His research focuses on the evolution of new organs and he and his team discovered the 375 million-year-old Tiktaalik fossil. He is the author of many books, including the most recent, Ends of the Earth. Lab Website: https://shubinlab.uchicago.edu/ Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with C. Daniel Batson about his work on empathy and altruism. They discuss the empathy-altruism hypothesis, Bloom’s work on empathy, empathic concern, egoistic and altruistic motives, cooperation, future of altruism/empathy research, and many more topics. C. Daniel Batson is a social psychologist and Emeritus Professor at the University of Kansas. He has a PhD in theology and PhD in Psychology both from Princeton University. His research has focused on altruism, empathic concern, the psychology of religion. Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Agnes Callard about Socrates and living a philosophical life. They discuss untimely questions, intellectual intimacy, savage commands, socratic ethics, truth inquiries, living a philosophical life, and many more topics. Agnes Callard is a philosopher and Associate Professor of philosophy and Director of Undergraduate Studies at the University of Chicago. She has her Bachelors from the University of Chicago and her PhD from Berkeley. Her primary research areas are ancient philosophy and ethics. She has written for The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Atlantic, Harper’s and others. She is the author of many books, including her latest book, Open Socrates: The Case For A Philosophical Life. Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Michael Albertus about land power. They define land power, land sovereignty, and discuss land ownership. They talk about the great reshuffle, settler reforms, collective reforms, land-to-tiller reforms, and cooperative reforms. They discuss federal vs. private lands, 1860 Homestead Act, land and race, Native Americans and land, El Salvador and land control, Venezuela’s land revolution, land reconciliation in South Africa, and many more topics. Michael Albertus is a Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago. He studied math, electrical engineering, and political science at the University of Michigan and earned degrees in all three. He has PhD in political science at Stanford University. His books and articles have won numerous awards and shifted conventional understandings of democracy, authoritarianism, and the consequences of how humans occupy and relate to the land. He is the author of the newest book, Land Power: Who Has It, Who Doesn't, and How That Determines the Fate of Societies.Website: https://www.michaelalbertus.com/ Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Sophia Rosenfeld about the modern history of choice. They discuss the concept of choice in different domains of society, choice and freedom in liberalism and neoliberalism, choice in shopping, choice in religion, choosing romantic partners, choice in politics, choice in reproductive rights, and many more topics. Sophia Rosenfeld is Walter H. Annenberg Professor of History and Chair of the Department of History at the University of Pennsylvania, where she teaches European and American intellectual and cultural history with a special emphasis on the Enlightenment, the trans-Atlantic Age of Revolutions, and the legacy of the eighteenth century for modern democracy. She received her B.A. from Princeton University and her Ph.D. from Harvard University. She has held fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the School of Social Science at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Princeton, the Mellon Foundation, both the Remarque Institute and the Center for Ballet and the Arts at NYU, the Institute for Advanced Studies in Paris, and the American Council of Learned Societies, as well as visiting professorships at the University of Virginia School of Law and the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (Paris). She is the author of her newest book, The Age of Choice: A History of Freedom in Modern Life. Website: https://sophiarosenfeld.com/ Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Eugene Finkel about the Ukraine-Russian War. They discuss Russia’s 200 year crusade to end Ukraine, identity, shared histories, and impact of Mongol and Ottoman empires. They talk about the Donbas and Crimea regions, Putin’s version of history, Galicia and Eastern Front in WWI, Ukraine independence, and Stalin’s Russification of Ukraine. They discuss Ukraine post- Soviet Union, 2014 annexation of Crimea and start of the current war, the 2022 invasion, current state of the war, peace, and many other topics. Eugene Finkel is the Kenneth H. Keller Professor of International Affairs at Johns Hopkins University. He received a BA in Political Science and International Relations at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a PhD in Political Science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His research focuses on how institutions and individuals respond to extreme situations: mass violence, state collapse, and rapid change. He is the author of numerous books including the most recent, Intent to Destroy: Russia's Two-Hundred-Year Quest to Dominate Ukraine. Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Christine Rosen about changes in our experiences within today’s society. They talk about the value of human experience, speed of change with technology, becoming users not individuals, embodied experience, and spatiality. They also discuss audience capture, institutional reform, our future experiences, and many more topics. Christine Rosen is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where she focuses on American history, society and culture, technology and culture, and feminism. Concurrently she is a columnist for Commentary magazine and one of the cohosts of The Commentary Magazine Podcast. She is also a fellow at the University of Virginia’s Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture and a senior editor in an advisory position at the New Atlantis. She has a PhD in history, with a major in American intellectual history, from Emory University, and a BA in history from the University of South Florida.Her writing has appeared in the Christian Science Monitor, Commentary, the New York Daily News, Los Angeles Times, National Affairs, National Review, the New Atlantis, the New Republic, the New York Times, MIT Technology Review, Politico, Slate, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Examiner, the Washington Post, and the New England Journal of Medicine, among other outlets. She is the author or coauthor of many books including her most recent book, The Extinction of Experience: Being Human in a Disembodied World. Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Jonathan Rauch about the impact of Christianity on democracy in the United States. They discuss Christianity without dogma, why secular America should care about Christianity, and if a secular religion is possible. They talk about why people are less religious, evangelical Christians aligned with MAGA, liberalism and post-liberalism, mormonism, future of Christianity and democracy, and many more topics. Jonathan Rauch is a Senior Fellow of Governance Studies at Brookings Institute. He is a journalist and author of eight books. He is a contributing writer at The Atlantic and recipient of the 2005 National Magazine Award. He is the author of the latest book, Cross Purposes: Christianity’s Broken Bargain with Democracy. Website: https://www.jonathanrauch.com/ Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Rahul Bhatia about the many recent changes in India. They provide an overview of the recent social changes in India, the Citizenship Act and National Register, Citizenship based on religion, protests against the Citizenship Act, history of the RSS, Infosys, Modi, and many more topics. Rahul Bhatia is a journalist and author of The New India, a book of narrative reportage about the road to authoritarianism in India and its effects on ordinary citizens.His work has been published in the Guardian Long Read, the New Yorker, the New York Times, Reuters Investigates, Quartz, Foreign Policy, Foreign Affairs, the Caravan, and other places. He was awarded a Harvard Radcliffe Institute fellowship in 2022-23, won the True Story Award in 2024, and received a Ramnath Goenka Award and a Mumbai Press Club Red Ink Award in 2015.Website: https://rahulbhatia.com/ Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with James M. Bradley about the life and president of Martin Van Buren. They discuss how Van Buren built the modern political party system, background and upbringing of Van Buren, influence of Aaron Burr, Van Buren’s temperament, his time as New York State Senator, Attorney General, U.S. Senator, and Governor of New York. They talk about Van Buren being campaign manager for Andrew Jackson’s presidential campaign, Secretary of State for Jackson, Van Buren’s own presidency, legacy of Van Buren, and many more topics. James M. Bradley is co-editor of the Martin Van Buren Papers, based at Cumberland University in Lebanon, Tennessee. He is an Adjunct Instructor in the public history program at State University of New York at Albany, and was the Senior Project Editor of Encyclopedia of New York City, published by Yale University Press. He is the author of the most recent book, Martin van Buren: America’s First Politician. Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe