Brain in a Vat

Wrestling with God: Religion, Language, and Civilization | Ilan Stavans

Would humans invent God if they had never encountered religion? Is religious belief an inevitable part of human civilization? Ilan Stavans examines the relationship betw

The Function of Consciousness | Alexander Klein

We welcome Alexander Klein to examine the role of consciousness in behavior. Drawing on William James’s evolutionary theory and nineteenth-century experiments on frogs, K

Political Bias in Academia and the Threat to Democracy | Hrishikesh Joshi

Hrishikesh Joshi dissects whether political homogeneity in academia poses a problem for democracy. He ultimately argues that universities wield significant influence ove

Decoding Reactions: Signal and Noise in Personal Interactions | Mark Schroeder

Mark Schroeder discusses When Things Get Personal, his account of how we interpret one another and why those interpretations so often go wrong. Our interactions are fil

The Truth About Honesty, Lies, and Deception | Christian Miller

Christian Miller, author of The Honesty Crisis, joins to explore the nature and ethics of honesty. He examines what it means to be honest, when lying can be morally justi

The Costs of Open Borders | Lionel Shriver

Lionel Shriver returns to discuss her new novel, 'A Better Life,' and the philosophical debate over immigration and open borders. Inspired by a proposed New York City pr

The Man Who Exposed Jason Arday: Cancelled at Cambridge | Nathan Cofnas

Nathan Cofnas, the academic who recently drew widespread attention for exposing plagiarism allegations against Cambridge professor Jason Arday, returns to Brain in a Vat

Free Speech, Schools, and Children | Jimmy Mullen

Former Brain in a Vat producer Jimmy Mullen returns to discuss free speech in schools, exploring how educational institutions should balance student expression with their

Sexual Ethics on Campus: Consent and Power | Colin McGinn

Colin McGinn joins to discuss sexual ethics on campus. Drawing on thought experiments and his own experiences in academia, McGinn argues that universities too often confl

The Philosophy of Pluribus | Spencer Case

Spencer Case returns to discuss Pluribus, one of the most philosophically ambitious science fiction series in recent years. The conversation explores whether individualit

The Time-Meaning Conundrum | Rivka Weinberg

Rivka Weinberg returns to argue that time is both the source of meaning and its greatest threat, making meaningful lives possible while also guaranteeing loss and imperma

Should You Need Permission to Take Medicine? | Jessica Flanigan

Do adults have a right to decide what goes into their own bodies, even when experts believe they're making a mistake? Jessica Flanigan returns to defend a radical idea:

Can Torture Be Justified? | Stephen Kershnar

We welcome back Stephen Kershnar to discuss the ethics of torture. Kershnar argues that some criminals deserve torture because severe wrongdoing can cause a person to for

A World Without Scarcity | Steven Kotler

What happens to human beings in a world without scarcity? If all our needs were met, would we actually be better off? Will technological progress lead to utopia or collap

Living with Adversity | David Benatar

What does it mean to live with adversity? How ought we respond to the suffering of others? How can we adapt to hardship? Adversity is a universal experience. Nearly ever

Risky Storytelling | Kevin Allison

Kevin Allison, creator of the RISK! podcast, recounts a high school prank at an all-boys Jesuit school in 1986. After a crush teased him by repeatedly spitting on him, Ke

Free Speech, Hate Speech, and Mental Health | Chloe Carmichael

Clinical psychologist Chloe Carmichael, author of "Can I Say That?," examines how free expression relates to psychological well-being and social trust. Carmichael argues

The Bias against Conservatism in Higher Education | Amy Wax

Amy Wax joins us to discuss the ideological landscape of higher education. Wax reflects on her conflict with the University of Pennsylvania and argues that universities h

The Nature of the Sexes | Tomás Bogardus (with Stephen Kershnar)

Tomás Bogardus joins to discuss his book "The Nature of the Sexes" and argues for a reproductive-functional account of biological sex. According to Bogardus, males and fe

God Is Not Praiseworthy | Stephen Kershnar and Nathan Bray

Brain in a Vat is back from hiatus with a deep dive into the philosophy of religion. Stephen Kershnar and Nathan Bray join us to ask whether God can be morally responsibl