Podcast for Inquiry S01E21: Thomas Westbrook on becoming Holy Koolaid

Thomas Westbrook (@holykoolaid) was brought up as an evangelical Christian. Upon learning that truth should be able to withstand scrutiny, he eagerly looked at the tenets of his faith with a critical lens… and found it wanting. After realizing that science explained the world in a much more coherent manner than religion, he started his enormously popular Holy Koolaid YouTube channel and website. His favourite video series are Nothing Fails Like Bible History and Exposing Psychics. 

Listen to our conversation here:

A video recording is also available:

Podcast for Inquiry Diatribe #1: Covid Vaccine Patents

 On an irregular basis, I will use my platform on Podcast for Inquiry to rail against something that really gets under my skin. In today's episode, I talk about covid vaccine patents. These are wonderful innovations, responsible for saving the lives of tens of millions of people (and preventing hundreds of millions or even billions of people from serious illness). All of them were paid for by public funds, in full or in significant part. So why did governments around the world grant patents - an exclusive right to manufacture these vaccines - to pharmaceutical companies?

Listen to my diatribe here:

A video recording is also available:

Podcast for Inquiry S01E20: Dying for Rights: Putting North Korea’s Human Rights Abuses on the Record with Dr. Sandra Fahy

In this PfI episode, Dr. Fahy describes the human rights abuses perpetrated by the Kim dynasty in North Korea, and why it is important to have them documented. Despite being considered a pariah nation by many, some defend the nation and the regime expends considerable effort to bolster its reputation internationally. Sandra and I discuss the limits of national sovereignty, when it becomes a moral obligation to intervene, and the ramifications of the radically different approach taken to North Korean relations by the former US president, Donald Trump. For those who wish to support the people of North Korea, Dr. Fahy recommends HanVoice or Liberty in North Korea.

Listen to our conversation here:

A video recording is also available:

Podcast for Inquiry BONUS episode: TDSB Trustee Candidate Matt Farrell on Merging Ontario’s Public and Catholic School Boards

Municipal council and school board elections in Ontario will take place on Monday, October 24, 2022. One Toronto District School Board (Toronto-Danforth) Trustee candidate, Matt Farrell (@Matt4TO_Trustee), will do something that no other public school trustee has promised. If he wins, he will initiate a process “culminating in a formal request by the TDSB to recommend a merged system to the Government of Ontario.” Note: CFIC explores news idea in the political realm, but does not endorse candidates.

Listen to our conversation here:

A video recording is also available:

Podcast for Inquiry S01E19: The Christian Destruction of the Classical World with Catherine Nixey

Catherine Nixey is the author of The Darkening Age, which documents how early Christians burned texts, defaced or demolished statues, and became increasingly intolerant of any thought or behaviour that deviated from their interpretation of Scripture. Catherine and I discuss religious pluralism in the Roman Empire and how it changed after the Emperor Constantine’s conversion to Christianity - and why Christianity, despite its similarity to many other cults that arose at that time. It is a rare book that is well-researched, engrossing, on an interesting topic, and superbly written, but The Darkening Age is all of these. 

Listen to our conversation here:

A video recording is also available:

Podcast for Inquiry S01E18: The Declaration of Modern Humanism with Andrew Copson

Andrew Copson (@andrewcopson) is the president of Humanists International, which published its Declaration of Modern Humanism earlier this year. Andrew describes the content of the Declaration and the process by which it was created, and we talk about how it differs from its 1952 and 2002 incarnations. 

Listen to our conversation here:

A video recording is also available:

Podcast for Inquiry S01E17: Will Artificial Intelligence bolster or destroy humanity? Christopher DiCarlo on the future of AI

Christopher DiCarlo is a philosopher of science and the founder of Critical Thinking Solutions. We start by discussing the potential future for Artificial Intelligence (AI); both to help humanity (through DiCarlo’s Onion Skin Theory of Knowledge (OSTOK) project), and how to avoid a robotic apocalypse. But we quickly realize that the most difficult question is: What would we want a perfectly functioning AI to do? This leads to a fascinating conversation about society, philosophy, and politics, before coming back to AI and our ability to integrate new technology into our mindset, outlook, and culture. 

Listen to our conversation here:

A video recording is also available:

Podcast for Inquiry S01E16: Eric Schnurer on what happens when territory no longer defines a government’s authority

Eric Schnurer is the author of the essay Democracy Disrupted: Governance in an Increasingly Virtual and Massively Distributed World. In it, Eric argues that the Internet will revolutionize our society on a scale similar to the agricultural and industrial revolutions, but on a timescale of years instead of decades or centuries. Eric and I discuss how Estonia points to how government services of the future may look, the importance (and eventual impotence) of antitrust enforcement, and how to reconcile the fact that most economic sectors are becoming more concentrated (with fewer competitors) with the unbundling and disaggregation that digitization allows. 

Listen to our conversation here:

A video recording is also available:

Podcast for Inquiry S01E15: Brandon K. Gauthier on his book: Before Evil

Brandon K. Gauthier (@bk_gauthier) wrote Before Evil, about the childhoods of six of the twentieth century’s most notorious dictators, to show that even the most vile among us share a basic humanity. We must remember that if we are to avoid becoming like them. The two of us discuss the impetus for writing the book and Brandon reads a couple of excerpts. The passionate conversation ranges from the importance of democratic norms and structures in avoiding sliding into autocracy (reminiscent of PfI S01E05 with Miriam Mufti) and the importance of free expression while recognizing the difficulty of determining where its limits lie (echoing a discussion in PfI S01E06 with James Turk). Brandon emphasizes that we are all subject to ideologies that view others as less than human, and implores everyone to approach complex subjects with humility.

Listen to our conversation here:

A video recording is also available:

Podcast for Inquiry S01E014: John Gleason, the Godless Engineer, on Jesus mythicism and online activism

John Gleason is known online as the Godless Engineer (@GodlessEngineer Facebook) and has spent the past decade debunking religious apologists and anti-science beliefs. I ask John about his journey to atheism, and whether Jesus was a historical or mythical figure. John describes how he chose the audience he wanted to reach, and how he strives to be both memorable and entertaining. He talks about how his activism has affected his career and relations with his family, and concludes by giving some advice to activists just starting to find their voice. 

Listen to our conversation here: 

A video recording is also available: