Posted on

Show 384: Darwin Day Special!

Darwin Day Special!

Audio here!

It’s that time again to raise funds for Listener-Sponsored Radio, WBAI-NY! This time, we’ll do it with Darwin and the theory of evolution with Reverend Michael Dowd, a stanch advocate for evolution (against Creationism), and author of Thank God for Evolution!

Dowd has been on ETFF before, and is an interesting guest for us because of his interest in uniting religion with science (and evolution, in particular).  The ‘New Atheists’ probably don’t like him much, and secular humanists may scratch their head, but if there is a man who can bridge the huge gap between Evangelical and/or Fundamentalist Christians and Naturalists – which is a big step towards a more progressive humanistic society – Dowd may be him.

We also offered a great DVD called Race: The Power of an Illusion!

Posted on

Show 383: Too Many People?

Too Many People?: Has the “Population Bomb” Exploded Yet?

Audio here!

In 1968, biologist Paul Ehrlich published the book – The Population Bomb – which became a wake-up call to the world that there were just too many people on the planet; and if something wasn’t done about it soon, there would be grave consequences.  Indeed, almost 45 years later, the world is enduring perhaps the most serious ecological breakdown in human history.  Famine, climate change, poverty, starvation, ever-increasing pollution… and species are going extinct at 1,000 times their natural pace due to human activity, with 35 to 40 species vanishing each day.

Was Ehrlich right then?

In the April/May 2009 issue of Free Inquiry – a flagship magazine of the humanist/skeptic/science advocacy think tank, The Center for Inquiry – the editors published a new essay by Erlich along with three others on the topic of overpopulation.  Only one of the four articles disagreed with Erlich’s opinion that we are at the brink of disaster.

Indeed, it seems counterintuitive to argue that 7 billion humans in every corner of the planet isn’t a serious problem, but is overpopulation the actual cause for our ecological crises?  Is disease, poverty, water and food shortages, pollution, and climate change ultimately a result of what some cynics call a cancer on the face of the Earth… Us?  Or is something else going on here?

We will address these questions and concerns with special guest Ian Angus as we ask, are there too many people? Angus is editor of Climate and Capitalism, an online journal focusing on capitalism, climate change, and the ecosocialist alternative. His previous books include The Global Fight for Climate Justice, and his new book is Too Many People?: Population, Immigration, and the Environmental Crises.

Posted on

Show 382: Merchants of Doubt: When Scientists Lie

Merchants of Doubt:  When Scientists Lie w/ Naomi Oreskes and Joel Kovel

Audio here!

Science is most likely our best way of knowing and navigating our universe. It is a self-correcting method by which bias is filtered through research, experimentation, and via objective means so that we can get as close to “truth” as any human endeavor might. But science is also a human construct, so it can’t help being influenced by not only our own human brains, but by the cultures our species develop in which science operates. And while science is our best method of separating human bias from fact, there can often seem to be a very thin line between each of these.

Today we want to focus on a relatively new book called Merchants of Doubt by Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway.  Merchants of Doubt focuses on how some scientists have, and still do, misuse and misrepresent science itself – for either ideological or economical reasons – in such grave areas such as concerning the effects of tobacco smoke on human health, the Star Wars missile defense program President Reagan championed, and the current concerns around global warming.

Also joining us today will be Joel Kovel, an American politician, academic, writer, and eco-socialist.  Kovel feels the rapid economic growth encouraged by globalization has caused our current, acute ecological crises. He argues that capitalism’s expansion “exposes ecosystems” to pollutants, habitat destruction, and resource depletion. He is the author of the environmentally focused book, The Enemy of Nature: The End of Capitalism or the End of the World.

Posted on

Show 381: Santa Claus, Myth, Magic and Poetry w/ Arnell Dowret

Santa Claus, Myth, Magic and Poetry w/ Arnell Dowret

Audio here!

No small factor in making naturalism as effective as it is, has to do with the very specific and detailed way that information and ideas are expressed. Clearly it’s more useful to distinguish between a person who may be experiencing clinical depression, and one who is sad about a recent loss of a family member, as opposed to using far more nebulous terms like “melancholy” to describe them both. At the same time however, might it be possible that communicating in primarily literal and specific terms has considerable limitations?

Is there something about the symbolism common to poetry and myth that is essential to convey aspects of reality that are missed by more specific and prosaic expression? And if so, what might a mythical naturalistic character look like?

Case in point: on this past Christmas Day Equal Time for Freethought played part of its most recent interview with mythical icon, Santa Claus. For the beginning half hour of this program we will play, for the first time ever, the new Santa interview in its entirety. During the second half hour we will take your calls to get your ideas on the question of finding the right balance between poetry and prose, and myth and reality.

For ambiance, this week’s program will be broadcast from a transparent laboratory cloud, encircled by a clinically schizophrenic and completely delusional rainbow.

Posted on

Show 380: “The Willpower Instinct” w/ Kelly McGonigal, Ph.D

The Willpower Instinct w/ Kelly McGonigal, Ph.D.

Audio here!

It was an honor to have on Kelly McGonigal, PhD, a health psychologist and lecturer at Stanford University, and a leading expert on the mind-body relationship. She teaches for the School of Medicine’s Health Improvement Program and is a senior teacher/consultant for the Stanford Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education.

Kelly is a friend of the show, we interviewed her in 2010 for her book Yoga For Pain Relief, which we featured as a premium in one of our fund drive episodes.

Her new book, The Willpower Instinct: How Self-Control Works, Why It Matters, and What You Can Do to Get More of It, is just out and explores cutting-edge research on motivation, temptation, and addiction, as well as what it takes to make a successful change.

It’s always a thrill to get to poke around the intellect of someone so smart, who is writing and teaching about how we can live better and more humanely. Enjoy!

Posted on

Show 379: The “Abortion Wars” Now Include Birth Control!

The “Abortion Wars” Now Include Birth Control!

Audio here!

Thirty-nine years after women won the right to abortion, this fundamental right is hanging by a thread. 2011 saw the greatest number of restrictions passed on womens access to abortion ever – and now, more than 90% of counties don’t have abortion providers, millions of women face unnecessary and humiliating legal restrictions to access, doctors who provide this service are hunted and terrorized and women who get abortions are stigmatized and shamed.

But that is not all.

Now, even birth control is under siege. Pharmacists refuse to fill prescriptions. “Personhood” amendments seek to criminalize miscarriages and ban all contraception. And President Obama openly upheld Kathleen Sebelius’s unprecedented decision to overrule the FDA to ban the over-the-counter distribution of Plan B (emergency contraception).

This Saturday,  join Sunsara Taylor as she convenes a round-table of experts and commentators to look back at the past year in the battle over women’s right to birth control and abortion… and, to look ahead to the battles to come.

Guests will include:

Irin Carmon, staff writer for Salon, whose recent titles include, “Why women have second trimester abortions,” and, “The next front in the abortion wars: Birth control.”

Amanda Marcotte, author of “2011: The War on Contraception,” and, “Restricting Plan B Is Bad Politics,” for rhrealitycheck.org.

Erin Gloria Ryan, writer for Jezebel whose pieces include, “The Year In Your Uterus.”

Posted on

Show 378: A Naturalistic Christmas

A  Naturalistic Christmas – 2-Hour Special!

Audio here!

Our program will feature a completely new, exclusive interview with old St. Nick himself who, after years of eluding us, has finally agreed to another interview.  Apparently, Santa’s status as a mythical holiday icon could not insulate him from suffering the same reversal of fortune that has afflicted almost everyone.  Yet despite his considerable setbacks, Santa somehow manages to remain an inspiration.

We’ll also feature our much enjoyed Christmas Day Guided Meditation.

And this year, we will be trying, for the first time, a special Christmas Call-In Experiment: “Real Time Giving and Receiving”

It’s the kind of Christmas that only WBAI can deliver — completely naturalistic and filled with fun, love, and hope.

Posted on

Show 377: Jesus: Man or Myth

Jesus: Man or Myth w/ Robert Price

Audio here!

Tonight is Christmas Eve. Christians around the planet will understand this evening as the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, a prophet and son-of-God. Biblical scholarship outside of Christian Apologetics have long held that the Jesus of the Gospels – the Jesus born of a virgin, master miracle worker, and the god who rose from the dead and founded a religion – never existed… That this Jesus was a mythology designed to offer metaphysical bases for a very human religion.

But did a man named Jesus ever exist, historically speaking? If not, who was it Christianity was based on? And if there never existed the Jesus of the Gospels NOR a historical Jesus, what are Christians to do?

Today we will speak with biblical scholar Robert Price on this – the core of an entire religion may much different than most Christians even suspect.

Posted on

Show 376: Personal Responsibility, the Social Contract, and the Future of Naturalism in the Age of “Occupy”

Audio here!

Is there a relationship between a naturalized view of human behavior and rejecting a system which lavishes extreme rewards on some, and doles out harsh privation and punishments to others?

The strongest argument against our becoming an egalitarian, socially just society is the commonly held idea that if things in someone’s life are going badly, they have no one to blame but themselves. But does understanding that human behavior is ultimately caused by factors that are not freely chosen make it more likely that someone would support a more compassionate social agenda?

It’s not surprising that most people in our society subscribe to the belief that people have free will. And that, regardless of the determining factors, they can always choose to behave in a manner that runs contrary to cause and emanates from them alone. Nor should it be surprising that those with this view believe that people who behave in ways we like deserve reward and those who behave in ways we dislike deserve hardship.

What is surprising, however, is that, of the relative few who accept that our behaviors are determined by factors we do not choose and that our actions at any given moment are always the only actions to which the prior determinants could have led, most seem to feel that keeping our system of applying reward and punishment to motivate desirable behavior is justified, albeit with some moderate amelioration.

Does this make logical sense? Does it make moral sense? Is it the most effective approach to protecting our society and maximizing people’s greatest potential to contribute? If not, is there a more effective approach to protecting society and supporting desirable behaviors than retaining the fiction that it is justified to hold people (in the traditional sense) responsible?

Continue reading “Show 376: Personal Responsibility, the Social Contract, and the Future of Naturalism in the Age of “Occupy””