What would a world without national borders look like? There's a good chance it'd look very similar to the one we have today. Parag Khanna is a global strategist who believes borders are becoming irrelevant in an increasingly connected world. More than national boundaries, he believes what matters are the connections between cities.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
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Stephen Hall is the author of critically-acclaimed histories of contemporary science, including “Merchants of Immortality: Chasing the Dream of Human Life Extension.”
Terry Tempest Williams reads from her book, "Red," and talks about the desert with Steve Paulson.
Susan Blackmore is a British psychologist who's written books on consciousness, memes and Zen Buddhism. She says her daily practice of meditation has revealed truths that have eluded the scientific study of consciousness.
You can also listen to the EXTENDED interview, and read the extended transcript.
American Wendy Doniger holds two doctorates in Sanskrit and Indian studies from Harvard and Oxford. She’s the author of numerous books on Hinduism and has translated several Sanskrit texts. She’s widely considered one of the most important scholars on Indian religion in the world. So it might surprise you that there is one country in the world she can’t visit: India.
Doniger’s books have been targeted by Hindu Nationalists and by India’s ruling right-wing BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party). Her latest, “The Hindus: An Alternative History,” was the subject of a major lawsuit in India, and its publisher, Penguin Books India, not only pulled the book from circulation but destroyed all remaining copies. Since then, Doniger has received many death threats inside of India and no longer feels safe visiting there. But as she told Steve Paulson, her writing about Hinduism hasn’t changed in over 40 years. What has changed is India.
You may not know Shepard Fairey but, you probably know his work. In 2008 he created the now-iconic Obama HOPE poster.
For our 2008 hour on plagiarism and intellectual propriety, we remixed our interview on sampling and remixes with DJ Spooky.
Ronald Aronson is the author of “Camus and Sartre: The Story of a Friendship and the Quarrel That Ended It.” Aronson recounts the relationship and the very public dispute between two of the twentieth century’s leading intellectuals.
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