The podcast features a critique of Ayaan Hirsi Ali's identification as a Christian, questioning the alignment of Christianity with being a good human being and emphasizing the importance of evidence for belief.

This episode features me in direct debate with Christian political conservative Wendy Wright. We talk about teaching evolution in schools, the "controversy" it poses for religious conservatives, about the evidence-base, truth and intolerance towards differences.She brings up dogmatism in the scientific community, and I push back about enabled ignorance in her own, while we share a mutual desire for human altruism and empathy.

Father George Coyne, a devout Catholic and lover of science, discusses traditions of faith, dangers of religious literalism, and how he views evolution as part of God's work. They explore Catholic Church's stance on evolution, influence of personal history on religious beliefs, flaws of intelligent design, and the intersection of science and God.

Join me in a new conversation with Alex O'Connor as we discuss a range of topics, including Jordan Peterson, Ayaan Hirsi Ali's journey into Christianity, my bafflement at how Alex could stand three years of studying the non-subject of theology, the fear of death, and other things.

Why won’t ChatGPT dispute the existence of God? What is the evolutionary purpose of wonder and awe in the face of nature? Can a community exist independent of religion? And can we expand the human lifespan? Find out the answers to these and more, as I take on all your questions.  

The human eye and the human brain help us process reality. How accurate is our shared perception of reality? Scientific knowledge helps us clear the rubble from the path and see things for what they are. In the last part of Growing Up In The Universe, I take you through virtual reality models in the human mind and in computers. Through them we examine the questions: How do imagination, language and technology help us discern what is real from what is not? And what does the future of the human mind and perception look like?  

Explore how animals, birds, and insects experience the universe. Learn about the intricate relationship between flowers and pollinators, with a focus on bees. Discover the similarities between computer viruses and DNA viruses. Discuss the possibility of life on other planets through panspermia. Dive into the behavior and structure of insect colonies, and gain a new perspective on bees' wings as 'plant wings'.

Climbing Mount Improbable is a 1996 popular science book by Richard Dawkins. The book is about probability and how it applies to the theory of evolution. It is designed to debunk claims by creationists about the probability of naturalistic mechanisms like natural selection

Michael Shermer, science writer and executive director of The Skeptics Society, discusses religious loyalty, defining a true religion, and polygamy. They also explore excommunication, belief in God, patterns in pi, and the correlation between periodical cicadas and prime numbers. The podcast touches on ayahuasca, induced spiritual experiences, shifting moral values, the fear of eternity, evolution without interspecies reproduction, tribalism, global culture, and the concept of illusion in consciousness.

Exploring the concept of design in the universe, examples of designoid objects, well-designed structures in nature, convergent evolution and designoid objects, the argument from design and its implications, and the Darwinian component in engineering design and art are all discussed in this podcast.