The Wright Show

Jay's new book, Enlightenment by Trial and Error ... Why Jay embarked on a path of mysticism ... Ayahuasca, unitive experiences, and bad trips ... Jews who are "religious but not spiritual" ... Finding “real happiness” through meditation ... Varieties of enlightening experience ... What’s distinctive about Jewish mysticism? ... The things Jay still takes from Judaism ...

A new study says empathy can increase political polarization ... How empathy operates in today’s political environment ... Is cognitive empathy a form of intelligence? ... The Machiavellian uses of cognitive empathy ... A counterproductive #Resistance view of Trump supporters ... Paul doesn't understand how anyone can still support Trump ... Why "dehumanization" isn't the real problem ... Paul's core message: "Don't listen to your heart" ...

The many ways that Twitter is mismanaged ... Bob vs. Mickey on impeachment ... Is there any evidence of Biden's guilt? ... Bob accuses Mickey of defending Trump's Iran policy ... Mickey: "I'm not sure I want four more years of this" ... A thought experiment about bribery and sex ... Debating whether to identify the whistleblower ... What are the odds of conviction? ... Which Democrat should Trump most fear? ... Mickey floats the prison gang theory of Epstein's death ...

Michael's new book, Canyon Dreams: A Basketball Season on the Navajo Nation ... Michael: "Rez ball" is defined by speed and fluid movement ... What life is like on the Navajo reservation ... The syncretism of traditional and Christian religion among the Navajo ... The waning of traditional Navajo culture and belief ... Why leaving the reservation can be so difficult ... What the basketball team means to the players and their families ... Has commercialization made sports better? ... The preposterous state of bigtime college sports ...

Jack's discovery that his stepfather Chuckie was illegally surveilled by the feds ... J. Edgar Hoover and the origins of FBI surveillance ... Robert F. Kennedy's war on Jimmy Hoffa ... Jack: Prosecutorial discretion is one of the government's most dangerous powers ... Jack's challenge to Bush's post-9/11 surveillance program ... How Chuckie's experience weighed on Jack's conscience ... Did the Bush administration fan the flames of fear to accomplish its goals? ... Jack offers some praise and criticism for Edward Snowden ...

Why Pope John Paul II did not like Roger's book Jesus Symbol of God ... Roger's new book, Faith and Evolution: Grace-Filled Naturalism ... The intractability of the problem of evil ... Ways to understand God not as a big person in the sky ... Is natural selection an instrument of divine creation? ... Roger's heterodox view of Jesus of Nazareth ... Roger's problem with original sin ... What is a "grace-filled naturalism"? ...

Jack's new book, In Hoffa's Shadow ... Jimmy Hoffa's real accomplishments as a labor leader ... Chuckie O'Brien, Jack's stepfather and Hoffa's right-hand man ... The conventional story: Chuckie delivered Hoffa to his killers ... Jack's early belief in Chuckie's innocence and later estrangement from him ... Why Hoffa was killed ... Reasons to think Chuckie was falsely accused ... Why Chuckie has kept the code of omertà ... The mafia and moral relativism ...

Why many intelligent people think we're living in a simulation ... The philosophical argument that you're probably not real ... How cosmic rays might (and might not) reveal that reality is fake ... Preston's dire warning against trying to determine if we're in a simulation ... Is the simulation hypothesis non-falsifiable? ... Is "the simulation" just religion for atheists? ...

Sarah explains Human Rights Watch's mission ... Is Turkey’s Erdogan engaging in ethnic cleansing? ... Sarah: A "safe zone" along Syria's Turkish border won’t work ... Why armed proxy groups are always unaccountable ... The imminent humanitarian crisis in Idlib, Syria ... Other human rights concerns in the Middle East ... Sarah: The building of Israeli settlements is a war crime ... The failure of the "responsibility to protect" in Libya ...

Nick's new book, Automating the News ... Why Nick is not an alarmist about the automation of journalism ... The types of journalism jobs that algorithms can't replace ... Successful collaborations between human journalists and machines ... The perils of algorithmic fact-checking ... Nick's current research ... Bob hopes for a bot that can assign blame for international law violations ... Can the power of Twitter bots be used for good? ...

What is scientism, and who is doing it? ... Postmodernism and whether science just tells "stories" ... John criticizes the "ideological fervor" of evolutionary psychology ... The hubris of scientists in the '80s and '90s ... Has science reached its fundamental limits in trying to explain consciousness? ... John wins his Nobel Prize "long bet" on string theory ... The various corrupting influences on scientists ... A brief debate on higher purpose ...

Max recounts his recent trip to Syria ... A dangerous myth about authoritarian leaders ... Max: We are the biggest dictator on the planet ... Why saying "Putin won" in Syria is facile ... Is the "responsibility to protect" just imperialism in disguise? ... China, Hong Kong, and the NBA ...

Chris steers The New Republic (back) to the left ... How Chris's Iowa childhood shaped his politics ... "This might be your great-grandfather's New Republic" ... Evaluating the Resistance ... Why Chris wishes Sherrod Brown was running for president ... The Iraq War and TNR's history of hawkish foreign policy ... Running a magazine of ideas in an online world ... Finding the right tone for the new TNR ...

What is the foundation of Buddhist ethics? ... Experiencing not-self ... Buddhism is a synthesis of consequentialism and virtue ethics ... The origins of Buddhism's concern for animal welfare ... Does the Buddha want you to be vegetarian? ... Why isn’t there more anti-militarist activism among Buddhists? ... Trying to comply with the Buddhist ideal of "right speech" ... Mental defilements and their eradication ... Does Buddhism’s emphasis on equanimity discourage activism? ...

Michael: Ukrainegate flows out of Russiagate ... Are Democrats overinterpreting the evidence against Trump? ... Does it matter that the whistleblower is a CIA agent? ... Why this was the breaking point for House Dems ... Bob: Trump has inured us to a baseline level of corruption ... Would any other president have done this? ... Will impeachment wind up helping Trump? ... If Trump is gone, Pence could well win in 2020 ...