Eugenics is seen as a 19th-century idea put into horrific 20th-century practice. But the attraction to breeding “better” humans has a long and persistent history, says Adam Rutherford. The geneticist and science podcaster explains, in conversation with host Nahlah Ayed. *This episode originally aired on January 20, 2023.
May 2024
A Reality Check on Reality TV
Twenty-five years ago, reality TV exploded in popularity, and the media panicked. But could shows like Love Is Blind and their like actually help make us more media literate? IDEAS examines the culture, morality, and philosophy of unscripted television.
54m 8s
Dec 2022
Bad Blood - 1. You’ve Got Good Genes
In this 6-part series, we follow the story of eugenics from its origins in the middle-class salons of Victorian Britain, through the Fitter Family competitions and sterilisation laws of Gilded Age USA, to the full genocidal horrors of Nazi Germany. Episode 1: You’ve Got Good Gene ... Show More
29m 28s
Jan 2023
Bad Blood: You've got good genes
We follow the story of eugenics from its origins in the middle-class salons of Victorian Britain, through the Fitter Family competitions and sterilisation laws of Gilded Age USA, to the full genocidal horrors of Nazi Germany.Eugenics is born in Victorian Britain, christened by th ... Show More
27m 34s
May 2017
#77 — The Moral Complexity of Genetics
Sam Harris speaks with Siddhartha Mukherjee about the human desire to understand and manipulate heredity, the genius of Gregor Mendel, the ethics of altering our genes, the future of genetic medicine, patent issues in genetic research, controversies about race and intelligence, a ... Show More
44m 11s
Jul 2020
Introducing “People I (Mostly) Admire”
Steve Levitt has spent decades as an academic economist, “studying strange phenomena and human behavior in weird circumstances.” Now he’s turning his curiosity to something new: interviewing some of the most interesting, unorthodox people around — from actresses to athletes, auth ... Show More
4m 46s
May 2023
Being human in the age of AI
Will AI change what it means to be human? Sean Illing talks with essayist Meghan O'Gieblyn, author of God, Human, Animal, Machine, a book about how the way we understand human nature has been interwoven with how we understand our own technology. They discuss the power of metaphor ... Show More
53m 10s
May 2020
#204 — A Conversation with Jonathan Haidt
Sam Harris speaks with Jonathan Haidt about the maintenance of a healthy society. They discuss the problem of orthodoxy, the history of political polarization in the US, the breakdown of public conversation, remaining uncertainty about Covid-19, motivated reasoning, the 2020 elec ... Show More
1h 5m