What compels someone to commit acts of terror? Anthropologist Scott Atran has spent a decade talking with jailed suicide bombers and jihadist leaders. He says they're motivated by core human values: brotherhood, loyalty and the dream of a better world.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
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Frank Schaeffer grew up in a Swiss Evangelical commune, the son of a fundamentalist theologian. He and his father helped found the Religious Right and were part of its power structure for many years, Then Schaeffer recanted. Today he's a liberal democrat who describes himself as "an atheist who believes in God." He outlines his disenchantment with Evangelical politics.
Susan Burch teaches at Gallaudet University and is the author of “Signs of Resistance: American Deaf Cultural History, 1900 - 1942.” She talks about the “oralist” movement which required the deaf to learn sign language and lip reading.
The idea of a universal basic income is getting serious consideration these days from governments -- in Switzerland, Finland, even Kenya. Could it get traction in the U.S.? Absolutely, says journalist Rutger Bregman.
Two experts talk about Vastu, a Hindu philosophy for designing buildings in harmony with the universe.
The question of how and why we come to believe lies fascinates filmmaker Errol Morris.
City planner and urban historian Tom Martinson tells Steve Paulson why the suburbs are a great place to live.
Sarah Flannery is an Irish mathematician and former child prodigy. She won the EU Young Scientist of the Year award when she was 16 for her work on the Cayley-Purser algorithm. She challenges us to the Russian Postal System puzzle.
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