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NeoAcademia

by Natasha Mott, Ph.D

Season 2

22. Existential MedLife Crisis

Check out the video episode and the newsletter for notes

21. The Other Side of Conservatism

Today I’m joined by Matt McManus lecturer at University of Michigan and author The Rise of Post-Modern Conservatism: Neoliberalism, Post-Modern Culture, and Reactionary Politics. Matt is an interesting thinker who is know for reading his opposition more carefully than most. I really like this about Matt, and I think we should all be reading works and having conversations with about topics on which we disagree with. For full shownotes and video

20. Who Cares About Free Speech w/ Jacob Mchangama

**December 2024! Lol It's been too long regardless. Check out the video version and the notes.

19. Misinformation, Memes, and Mockery w/Dannagal Young

On this episode of NeoAcademia, Danna Young and Natasha Mott discuss misinformation, censorship, free speech, memes, and more in the context of Danna's book Wrong: How Media, Politics, and Identity Drive our Appetite for Misinformation.. There was a pretty big audio issue which spurred me to start thinking about these episodes differently. This is still under the realm of podcasts, but I may switch exclusively to YouTube in future seasons. I highly recommend watching on YouTube for the full experience with subtitles. You’ll see why.

18. Imperial Empiricism w/ Michael Strevens

On this episode of NeoAcademia Michael and I discussed society’s perception of science and his book The Knowledge Machine. Michael is a professor of philosophy at NYU Micahel keeps pretty busy working on complex systems, probabilities, causation, and the philosophy of science, the sociology of science. Subscribe to the Newsletter for show notes, the Big Nerve link, and more. Video episode available here.

17. Old-School Marxist Academia w/ Freddie deBoer

This week I talked with Freddie DeBoer a writer and self-proclaimed “old-school” Marxist. For more on Freddie and much more check out the newsletter!

16. Spelunking the Mind w/Erik Hoel

I had a blast talking with Erik Hoel about his new book The World Behind the World. Erik writes a popular substack called The Intrinsic Perspective, and he’s also written a novel, but this episode focuses on his first nonfiction book, where he explains his theory of casual emergence and where the field of consciousness is today. Check out the newsletter for more links and notes.

15. Questioning Academia at Scale w/ Geoffrey West

I had the pleasure of hanging out with Geoffrey West talking science, misinformation, laws of scale, Casablanca -- and we had a blast. Geoffrey is a theoretical physicist who is questioning universal laws of Scale (also the title of his book), and he relates these laws to our everyday life which is no small feat for someone studying elementary particles. For show notes, more on Geoffrey, and the Big Nerve challenge question check out the Theory Gang newsletter. The full video is also available on YouTube.

14. Doomer Optimism w/Jason Snyder

This week my guest is Jason Snyder, a cofounder of the Doomer Optimism movement and faculty member in the Department of Sustainable Development at Appalachian State. We talked about the concept of Doomer Optimism the future of practical skills, education, and what that means in local and cosmolocal communities. Jason had a great perspective on the galaxy brain-like tendencies of intellectual ideas, versus small-scale, practical implementations that anyone can take. Subscribe to the newsletter for show notes and a link to the Big Nerve challenge.

13. Certainty and the End of Science w/Heather Heying

This week I invited evolutionary biologist, writer, and co-host of the Dark Horse podcast, Heather Heying, to discuss what it means to do science now, what it meant in the past, and how we educate those who will do it in the future. For more on Heather, show notes, and the Big Nerve challenge question subscribe to the Theory Gang Newsletter.

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