In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Tricia Rose about systemic racism in the United States. They discuss why and how racism persists, how it looks different from decades past, and how it evolves in institutions. They define metaracism, discuss individuals vs. institutions, understanding systems theory, colorblindness, and many more topics. Tricia Rose is Chancellor’s Professor of Africana Studies, Associate Dean of the Faculty for Special Initiatives, and Director of the...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Robert Merry about the Presidency of James Polk. They give and overview of James Polk, influence of Andrew Jackson, Polk’s personality and trajectory, and the four major issues he tackled as President. They discuss Polk’s expansionism, the Mexican-American War, Polk’s one-term deal, legacy, and many more topics. Robert W. Merry has an extensive background as a reporter, newsroom manager, and publishing CEO. He has both his Bachelor’s and...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Alex Edmans about misinformation and the role of human biases. They discuss how to look at data, confirmation bias, statements not facts, facts not data, and the value and limits of the scientific method. They also discuss data mining and ethics with stats, correlation not being causation, data with social issues, and many more topics. Alex Edmans is Professor of Professor of Finance at London Business School. He has a degree from Oxford...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Stephanie Ternullo about the political shift from liberal to conservative in the American heartland over the 20th century. They discuss how she constructed her study, makeup of the three Midwest cities used in the study, New Deal coalition, place-based partisanship, role of unions, and many more topics. Stephanie Ternullo is Assistant Professor in Government at Harvard University. She has her PhD in Sociology from the University of Chicago....

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Paco Calvo about the intelligence of plants. They discuss plant blindness, plant intelligence, sun tracking and internal representations, predictive processing, and what is it like to be a plant. They discuss domesticated and wild plants, time, individuality of plants, ethics, and many more topics. Paco Calvo is a cognitive scientist and philosopher of biology, known for his groundbreaking research in the field of plant cognition and...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Andrew Boryga about his novel on victimhood. They discuss how he approaches writing novels vs. non-fiction pieces, choosing themes for the novel, personal influence on fictional characters, evolution of characters, and using tragedy and victimhood for clout. They also discuss dealing with social justice themes, shaped by environment, stereotypes, talking about experiences honestly, and many more topics. Andrew Boryga is a writer, editor,...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Cole Bunzel about the Islamic branch of Wahhābism. They talk about the current landscape of Wahhābism, extreme and non-extreme uses of Wahhābism and some of the differences between terrorists groups that use Wahhābism. They discuss Ibn Abd al-Wahhab and how he started a movement, modeling himself after the Prophet Muhammad, being against polytheism and the cult of saints, and why Wahhābism was designed to be aggressive. They discuss the...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with James Marcus about the life and work of Ralph Waldo Emerson. They discuss how the book is formed and how themes are pulled from Emerson’s life, his religious background and relationship with religion over his lifetime, unitarianism, and when do we find our identity. They talk about first and second marriages, self-reliance and individualism, nature, slavery, his legacy, and many more topics. James Marcus is an editor, translator, critic and...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with James Traub about Hubert Humphrey. They define liberalism, background and context of Humphrey and his internal motivations, how he governed as mayor in Minneapolis, and how he was a liberal and a progressive. They talk about his time as a U.S. Senator, a cold war liberal, and his relationship with Lyndon Johnson. They discuss Humphrey’s foreign affairs work, his time as Vice President of the U.S., Senate years post-Vice Presidency, legacy of...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Michèle Lamont about recognition and interpersonal dynamics. They define recognition and worth, the three avenues of building recognition and ordinary universalism, and what blocks change. They talk about inequality, individualism/collectivism, and challenges of the American dream. They also discuss using media, role of institutions, how we can recognize others, and many more topics. Michèle Lamont is Professor of Sociology and of African...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with S. Frederick Starr about the lives and work of Ibn Sina and Biruni. They discuss who were Ibn Sina and Biruni, their time and context, and the correspondence between Ibn Sina and Biruni. They discuss their interactions in the Muslim world, Ibn Sina as vizier, the canon of Ibn Sina and the canon of Biruni. They also discuss work post-canon, how their works were preserved, legacy of both thinkers, and many more topics. S. Frederick Starr is...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Clay Routledge about nostalgia. They define nostalgia, nostalgia being forward thinking, nostalgia with positive and negative memories, and the downsides of nostalgia in pop culture. They discuss nostalgia with self-concept, self-continuity, and self-esteem, nostaglia for understanding existential anxiety and death, best ways to use nostalgia, and many more topics. Clay Routledge is an existential psychologist, writer, and consultant. He is...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Lisa Bortolotti about delusions. They talk about why we should think about delusions, delusions as emotional and rational beliefs, defining delusions, clinical and non-clinical delusions, and why we believe delusions. They talk about when delusions cause harm, can people change their delusional beliefs, and many more topics. Lisa Bortolotti is a philosopher and Professor of Philosophy at the University of Birmingham. She is Editor in Chief...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Ajit Varki about the evolutionary origins of denial and self-deception. They discuss the evolutionary perspective of human origins, self-awareness in humans, theory of mind, and how false beliefs and denial evolved. They also discuss lying, self-deception, religion, positive uses of deception, climate change, future of Mind Over Reality theory, and many more topics. Ajit Varki received training in physiology, medicine, biology, and...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Sima Samar about her life and work for women’s rights. They discuss her reasoning for writing her memoirs, history of modern Afghanistan, impact of Islam, and the rule of the Taliban. They talk about her work in medicine and human rights advocacy, women’s rights in Afghanistan, becoming Vice President and Minister of Women’s Affairs of Afghanistan. They also discuss her work on the human rights commission, being nominated for the Nobel Peace...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Peter Kramer about Prozac. They talk about the 30th anniversary of Listening To Prozac and antidepressants, origins of antidepressants, classes of antidepressants, selfhood, criticisms of SSRIs and the serotonin hypothesis, risk of suicide with Prozac, future of SSRIs, and more more topics. Peter Kramer is a psychiatrist who practiced and taught psychiatry for over 40 years. He is Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at Brown...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Stefanos Geroulanos about the history of prehistory. They talk about why studying history is important and why it is not final, the emphasis on the nature of man, why Rousseau and Hobbes’ ideas still persist, human nature and equality, and the impact of Darwin. They also talk about the impact of Marx, Neanderthals, thin veneer, and the instincts, Freud’s contribution, Nazi party, how we continue to understand history, and many more...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Jorell Meléndez Badillo about the history of Puerto Rico. They talk about the origins of the island of Puerto Rico, Taino peoples, reasons for Columbus coming to Puerto Rico, and indigenous peoples fighting back. They talk about enslaved peoples in the mid 16th century, origins of the term “Puertorriqueños,” impact of race and colorism, and hardship in Puerto Rico in the 19th century. They discuss the Lares revolution, coming to New York,...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Elizabeth Barnes about the ideas surrounding health. They discuss why we care about health and how we define health, social impact of health, and discussing health publicly. They also talk about shame and stigma with health, disability and health differences, ameliorative skepticism, and many more topics. Elizabeth Barnes is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Virginia. Her research interests are divided between metaphysics,...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Christian Madsbjerg about perception in the world. They discuss why perception and observation are important, the work of Merleau-Ponty, perception being reality, and intersubjectivity. They discuss the role of the body in phenomenology, phenomenology of space, the “other,” practical ways of paying attention in the world, and many more topics. Christian Madsbjerg is an author, entrepreneur, and academic who focuses on the practical and...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Helen De Cruz about wonder and awe. They define awe and wonder as distinct emotions, awe in other animals, social and cultural aspects of awe, and philosophy being born in wonder. They discuss the history of awe and wonder from ancient Greece to the Enlightenment, theories of emotions, magic and wonder, religion and wonder, Merleau-Ponty and habits, spiritual naturalism, and many more topics. Helen De Cruz holds the Danforth Chair in the...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Katlyn Carter about the origins of the United States during the revolutionary period. They discuss the concern about secrecy and transparency in government, representative government and representative democracy, pros and cons of democracy, and how democracy is different from 1776. They also talk about shifting from colonies to states, reasons for secrecy in the founding, comparisons with France, Madison’s speed bumps for democracy, how we...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Robin Lane Fox about Homer and his Iliad. They discuss how to best read the Iliad, structure of the poem, and the use of speeches, language, and movement. They talk about the location of Troy, Homer’s authorship, Homer’s description of the Trojan war, Homer’s illiteracy, Iliad’s transcription, genius of Homer, and many more topics. Robin Lane Fox is a historian and Emeritus Fellow of New College, Oxford, and taught Ancient History at Oxford...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla and Michael Callahan have a discussion about their respective podcasts. They discuss why they decided to do this crossover episode, how Converging Dialogues started, how Where We Go Next started, and how they treat guests. They discuss their process for asking questions, motivations for interviews, importance of active listening, their process for each episode, legacy of the podcast, and many more topics. Where We Go Next is a podcast focused on in-depth...

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Tara Palmeri about the 2024 US Presidential election. They discuss why there is rematch of the 2020 US Presidential election between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, Biden’s challengers, Biden’s age, and the Democrats “bench.” They talk about feelings mattering more than policy, immigration, predictions, and many more topics. Tara Palmeri is a Senior political correspondent at Puck and host of the Ringer’s election podcast, “Somebody’s Gotta...