Orna Donath is a professor at Tel Aviv University and is the author of the landmark book "Regretting Motherhood." During our conversation, Orna talks about the lessons from her research, her own "silent knowing" that she didn't want to be a mom, the importance of knowing oneself, and her new research of elderly, childless women in Israel. Orna also…

Roy Baumeister is a professor and a prolific author of many books, including "Willpower" and "Is There Anything Good About Men?" During our conversation, Roy talks about men as nature's "play things," his thinking on how homosexuality persevered through evolution, the truth about men in society, lessons from the book "Self-Made Man" by Norah Vincen…

Ian Marcus Corbin is an essayist and a philosopher at Harvard Medical School who works on loneliness in society. During our conversation, Ian defines loneliness, discusses Robert Putnam's book Bowling Alone, the importance of close social relationships, the decline in civic participation in America, the risk of isolation to human beings and society…

Joe Henrich is a professor and the author of multiple best-selling books, including The Secret of Our Success and The WEIRDest People in the World. During our conversation, Joe talks about the interplay of genes and culture in human evolution, the importance of our "collective brains," what we misunderstand about human nature, what he's learned fro…

David Blankenhorn is an author, an activist, a community organizer, and the co-founder and President of Braver Angels. During our conversation, David talks about polarization in the United States, the workshops that Braver Angels puts together to bring together politically opposed Americans for conversation and common ground, the threat of division…

Robert Glover is a therapist, a speaker, and the author of multiple books, including his best-seller, No More Mr. Nice Guy. During our conversation, Robert talks about choosing a woman who chooses you, the importance of male tribe for men, being open-hearted, and his newest venture: integration nation. ------------ Book a meeting with Dan ---------…

Shawn T. Smith is a clinical psychologist and the author of various books, including his best-seller, The Tactical Guide to Woman. During our conversation, Shawn talks about green flags in women, depression as a symptom rather than an illness, advice for men who are depressed, shame and love, the importance of tribe and purpose in a man's life, and…

James Fadiman is a researcher, an author, and one of the world's leading experts on microdosing psychedelics. During our conversation, Jim talks about finding one's microdosing "sweet spot," the potential benefits of microdosing, how a healthy society might approach psychedelics, the future of psychedelics in America, and his own spiritual and reli…

Dr. William Davis is the author of many best-selling books, including Wheat Belly and Super Gut. During his second appearance on this podcast, Bill talks about the potential benefits of adding probiotics like lactobacillus reuteri to one's microbiome, the benefits of fermented foods, the many negative side effects of wheat, how modern diets seem to…

Bill Wasik is the editorial director for the New York Times Magazine and the author of a variety of books, including his newest - co-written with his wife Monica Murphy - Our Kindred Creatures: How Americans Came to Feel the Way They Do About Animals. During our conversation, Bill talks about the dawn of the animal rights movement in post-Civil War…

Oliver Burkeman is a journalist and an author of multiple books, including his bestseller, Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals. During our conversation, Oliver talks about being an insecure overachiever, his historic obsession with productivity, learning to say no to things you want to do, the 80/20 principle, and how modern life rewar…

Derek Sivers is an author, a TED speaker, a businessman, a musician, and one of my favorite thinkers on the planet. During our conversation, Derek talks about pursuing mastery, having enough, what success means to him, how he thinks about money, having and raising a kid, and more. Derek's book Hell Yeah or No is one of my all-time favorites, and hi…

Hemant Mehta is an author, a YouTuber, and an atheist activist. During our conversation, Hemant talks about his journey to atheism, the threat of Christian nationalism to secular society, and the atheist and secular movements. He also addresses the loss of community felt by those who leave religion, and the life and legacy of Daniel Dennett, includ…

D.J. Taylor is a novelist, a literary critic, and the author of two biographies of George Orwell: Orwell: The Life, and Orwell: The New Life. During our conversation, D.J. talks about Orwell's life, why Orwell's books, particularly his two on totalitarianism, Animal Farm and 1984, have endured so many years after his death, and the relevance of his…

Camilla Kring is an author, a global speaker, and is the founder of B-Society, an organization fighting for "chronotype equality." During our conversation, Camilla talks about night owls and morning birds, why humans have a wide spectrum of sleep cycles, our cultural bias towards early birds, the damage done to night owls who are asked to fit into …

Sarah Everts is a science journalist, an associate professor at Carleton University, and the author of "The Joy of Sweat: The Strange Science of Perspiration." During our conversation, Sarah talks about how sweating was an evolutionary superpower for humans, what sweat is, why some people sweat more than others, the history of the antiperspirant in…

Sherry Ning is an author and an essayist, whose Substack, "Pluripotent," has some of the best writing I've come across on human nature, purpose, and how to live. During our conversation, Shelly talks about creating one's own path, success, open-mindedness, beauty, nostalgia, spirituality, and religion. ------------ Keep Talking Substack Rate on Spo…

Stuart Whatley is a writer, a Senior Editor at Project Syndicate, and the author of "Toward a Leisure Ethic," my favorite essay that I've read of the past few months. During our conversation, Stuart talks about the historic purpose of leisure and work, our culture's obsession with busyness and praise of toil, and the reason for striving towards a l…

Matt Johnson is the Susan Hill Ward Professor of Psychedelics and Consciousness and a professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Johns Hopkins University. As stated on the Hopkins' website, Matt "is one of the world’s most published scientists on the human effects of psychedelics, and has conducted seminal research in the behavioral economi…

Rob Henderson is an Air Force Veteran, an alumnus of Yale and Cambridge, an essayist, and the author of "Troubled: A Memoir of Foster Care, Family, and Social Class." During our conversation, Rob talks about his early life, his experience in the American foster care system, and his unlikely journey out of the unstable and chaotic environment of his…

Jon Dean is a postdoc research fellow at UCSD and received his PhD in molecular and integrative physiology at the University of Michigan, where he published a landmark 2019 study on DMT. During our conversation, we talk about how and why Jon became interested in DMT, the details of his 2019 study, Rick Strassman's 2001 book "DMT: The Spirit Molecul…

Robin Dunbar is a professor, an evolutionary psychologist, and the author of many books, including "Friends: Understanding the Power of Our Most Important Relationships." During our conversation, Robin talks about how and why he became interested in evolutionary psychology, what evolutionary psychology is, and its explanatory power. He also talks a…

James Hollis is a Jungian psychoanalyst and the author of many books, including his latest: "A Life of Meaning," which is the primary subject of our conversation. During our conversation, Jim talks about some of the major themes in his work and his book: the shadow, the numinous, psychopathology, lethargy, and fear. Jim is one of my favorite writer…

Paul Conti is a psychiatrist, a trauma expert, the former Chief Resident at Harvard, and the author of "Trauma: The Invisible Epidemic." During our conversation, Paul talks about the precise definition of trauma: something that overwhelms one's coping mechanisms and changes the brain, his own personal experience with trauma, the state of mental hea…

Eric Jorgenson is an investor, the CEO of Scribe Media, and the author of "The Anthology of Balaji: A Guide to Technology, Truth, and Building the Future." During our conversation, Eric talks about what drew him to Balaji Srinivasan as a subject, the overlap between Balaji and the subject of Eric's first book, Naval Ravikant, and the major themes o…

Peter Levine is a lecturer, a psychotherapist, and the author of various best-selling books including "Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma." During our conversation, Peter talks about how our culture deals with and talks about trauma, the oneness of the mind and the body, and viewing trauma from a naturalistic perspective. Peter has been revolutionary…

Barry Schwartz is a TED speaker, a professor, a social scientist, and the author of "The Paradox of Choice." During our conversation, Barry talks about decision paralysis, the downsides of having too many options, and the difference between what calls a "maximizer" and a "satisficier." He also talks about his view that modern depression is in part …

Jon Kostas (hello@apollopact.org) is an activist, a former alcoholic, and the first study participant in the NYU psilocybin clinical trials. During our conversation, Jon talks about his years of alcohol abuse, his attempts to rid himself of the addiction, his doctor's belief that, in his mid-20's, his quantity of alcohol consumption would likely ki…

Leidy Klotz is a professor at the University of Virginia and is the author of "Subtract: The Untapped Science of Less." During our conversation, Leidy talks about why humans are so wired to add to, rather than subtract from, their life, how addition is a signal of competence that we are hard-wired to display, and the downsides of this natural tende…

Shawn T. Smith is a clinical psychologist and an author of many books, including his best-seller, The "Tactical Guide to Women." During our conversation, Shawn talks about modern dating, the relationship issues with which his male and female clients are struggling, dating apps, how evolutionary psychology has influenced him, and the "red pill" comm…

Brent W. Roberts is a professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and specializes in human personality. During our conversation, Brent talks The Big Five personality traits, what personality is, the differences between the Big Five and the Myers-Briggs personality test, diversity in human personality, the role of genes and sex differen…

Warren Farrell is a political scientist, a former board member of the National Organization for Women (NOW), and the author of many books, including "The Boy Crisis," the focus of this conversation. During our conversation, Warren talks about his time at NOW, second wave and modern feminism, the gender pay gap, what he learned when he stopped lectu…

Ed Hagen is a professor of anthropology at Washington State University Vancouver. During our conversation, Ed talks about the evolutionary reasons for two of humanity's most common mental illnesses: anxiety and depression. He also talks about psychic pain, the correlation between grip strength and depression, hypervigilance and anxiety, differences…

William Irvine was a professor at Wright State University and is the author of seven books, including his best-seller, "A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy." During our conversation, Bill talks about the history of the Stoics, an ancient school of philosophy that began in Athens in 300 B.C. He also talks about the psychological t…

Marc Schulz is a professor of psychology at Bryn Mawr college, is the Associate Director of the Harvard Study of Human Development, and is the co-author of the book "The Good Life: Lessons from the World's Longest Scientific Study of Happiness." During our conversation, Marc talks about the key insight from the longest study ever done on human flou…

Roy Baumeister is a social psychologist, a professor at Florida State University, and the author of many books, including "Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength." During our conversation, Roy speaks at length on a variety of fascinating topics: how and why male homosexuality may have survived through evolution, differences in male an…

Orna Donath is an Israeli sociologist, a teacher at Tel Aviv University, and the author of the landmark book, "Regretting Motherhood." During our conversation, Orna talks about the women she profiled in her book, the difference between regretting motherhood and having ambivalence towards it, and why and how women end up in a life where they regret …

Joyce Benenson is an author, a scientist, and a lecturer in the department of Human Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University. During our conversation, Joyce talks about her field of expertise and research: sex differences in competition and cooperation. She also discusses human hierarchies, common misconceptions about men and boys, how she would,…

Tania Reynolds is a scientist, a researcher, and an assistant professor of evolution and development at the University of New Mexico. During our conversation, Tania explains the field of evolutionary psychology, the evolutionary history and culture of hunter-gatherer societies, what we know about how women compete for men, the role and purpose of g…

Kevin Kelly is a photographer, a futurist, an editor, and the author of multiple books, including his newest, "Excellent Advice for Living: Wisdom I Wish I'd Known Earlier." On his 68th birthday, Kevin wrote "68 Bits of Unsolicited Advice" for his children - an essay that went viral. He wrote two more birthday advice essays for years 69, and 70. No…

Pico Iyer is an essayist, a travel writer, and the author of many books, including one of my all-time favorites: "A Beginner's Guide to Japan: Observations and Provocations." During our conversation, Pico talks about his journey to living in Japan, his observations from and insights into this very-foreign culture, and he speaks at length about the …

Jeremi Suri is a historian, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin, and the author of multiple books, including his most recent, "Civil War by Other Means: America’s Long and Unfinished Fight for Democracy." During our conversation, Jeremi talks about the circumstances leading up to the American Civil War, the key players in the war, incl…

Christopher Ryan is a writer, a podcaster, and the author of the bestselling books "Sex at Dawn" and "Civilized to Death." During our conversation, Chris talks about his interest in human nature, Native American culture, humanity's origins as hunter-gatherers, and what we can learn from the environment and general culture that shaped our psychology…

Thomas Moore is a spiritual teacher, a psychotherapist, and the author of many books, including his bestseller, "Care of the Soul." During our conversation, Thomas talks about his many years as a Catholic monk, his time in academia, and his work as a therapist. He also talks about the ideas and life of Carl Jung and James Hillman, archetypes of the…

Nicholas Christakis is a sociologist, a physician, and is the Sterling Professor of Social and Natural Science at Yale University. He is also the author of a variety of books including "Apollo's Arrow" and "Blueprint." During our conversation, Nicholas talks about his experiences as a hospice doctor and what he has learned from working with the dyi…

Chip Conley is an entrepreneur, the author of many books including "Wisdom at Work," and is the co-founder of the Modern Elder Academy. During our conversation, Chip talks about founding, running, and eventually selling Joie de Vivre Hospitality, mentoring both California Governor Gavin Newsom and Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky, and the role of elders in …

Greg Lukianoff is a journalist, an attorney, the co-author of "The Coddling of the American Mind," and the President of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE). During our conversation, Greg talks about freedom of speech in America, how social media has affected our propensity to speak openly, and the threats to free expression o…

Richard Reeves is a writer, a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution and the author of "Of Boys and Men." During our conversation Richard presents data detailing how boys and men are falling behind in education and employment, that men represent three out every four "deaths of despair," and the confusion over what is good about being a man and …

Pano Kanelos is an educator, a Shakespeare scholar, and is the founding President of the University of Austin. During our conversation, Pano talks about the problems within modern universities, the principles that have and will guide the creation of the University of Austin, why Austin, Texas was chosen as the location of this new university, the t…

Jeff Rediger is an assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard University and a medical director at McLean SouthEast Adult Psychiatric Programs, who holds a Master of Divinity degree from Princeton Theological Seminary. Jeff is the author of the book "Cured," which details and explores examples of spontaneous remission, and discusses various aspec…