Despite decades of inflammatory rhetoric, the real risk of video games lies not in their violent imagery but in the ethical and political sensibilities they normalize. Video games reward speed, efficiency, control, and meritocratic mastery, training players to align with a technolibertarian worldview - one that celebrates individual will, technological power ... Show More
Today
Mark Crinson, "Aviationland: Heathrow and the Making of an Airport Landscape" (Yale UP, 2026)
Aviationland: Heathrow and the Making of an Airport Landscape (Yale University Press, 2026) by Professor Mark Crinson is the first critical study to examine how a major international airport takes shape on the ground, and what that means for the landscape around it. Focused on He ... Show More
1h 16m
Yesterday
Daniel L. Gardner, "Thresholds of Digital Gameplay" (MIT Press, 2025)
Contemporary digital gameplay is only accessible by navigating an ecosystem of interfaces that support its computational nature. Account logins, controllers, and an assortment of menus, settings, and other peripheral-to-gameplay elements support a range of practical and necessary ... Show More
1h 2m
Jul 20
Stefan Höltgen et al., "Commodore 64: Past, Present, and Future of a Home Computer" (Projekt Verlag, 2026)
The Commodore 64 is the most significant computer of its era. From 1982 to 1994, a total of 27 million units were sold—more than any other computer from a single manufacturer afterwards. Due to its widespread use as well as its technical features, the C64 has a huge international ... Show More
27m 49s
Dec 2020
149. The After Time: The Future of Civilization After COVID-19
<p>In this special episode of the Science Salon podcast, the last of 2020, Dr. Michael Shermer offers some reflections on 2020, starting with race and the Black Lives Movement, putting it into perspective from other books he read this year, along with podcast guests who appeared ... Show More
43m 35s
May 2023
The Gentrification of Queer Desire
Writer Huw Lemmey (Chubz, Red Tory, Unknown Language) speaks with Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore about her most recent book The Freezer Door and searching for connection in a world that enforces bland norms of gender, sexuality, and friendship.
Produced by Sam Kelly; Mixed by Samant ... Show More
58m 9s
Oct 2025
How science got here, and where next
As anti-science leaves research reeling, does evidence-based policy in a scientific society have much of a future? Michael Mann, Naomi Oreskes, Angie Rasmussen and Deb Houry discuss some of the sources and motivations that perhaps belie the current state of scientific affairs. Pr ... Show More
31m 30s
Sep 2015
#18 — The Multiverse & You (& You & You & You...)
Sam Harris speaks with MIT cosmologist Max Tegmark about the foundations of science, our current understanding of the universe, and the risks of future breakthroughs in artificial intelligence. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain ac ... Show More
43m 49s
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Sam Harris speaks with Neil deGrasse Tyson about his new book,</span> <a href= "https://amzn.to/3EiUO4F"><em><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Starry Messenger</span></em></a><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">.</span></em> <span style="font-wei ... Show More