Susan Blackmore is a British psychologist who's written books on consciousness, memes and parapsychology. She's also fascinated by what Zen Buddhism can tell us about the mind. In this EXTENDED interview, she says her daily practice of meditation has revealed truths that have eluded the scientific study of consciousness.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
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In her book, "Do Metaphors Dream of Literal Sleep?: A Science-Fictional Theory of Representation," Seo-Young Chu argues that science fiction is a kind of "high-intensity realism." She spoke with Jim Fleming.
Sophy Burnham tells one of the stories from her "Book of Angels." This one's about two "businessmen" who appear just in time to stop a runaway wheelchair.
Journalist Ted Conover tells Steve Paulson that wise guards accept that they rule with the consent of the prisoners, and recalls a few of his most dramatic encounters with inmates.
Youngstown, Ohio is the center of the Rust Belt. During steel's heyday, Youngstown was a city of nearly 200,000. Now, it’s under 70,000. The steel mills closed in the 1980’s, people left, and no one replaced them. Steve Paulson sat down with urban planner Justin Hollander talk about what to do next - what Hollander calls "smart decline."
Russell Simmons has been called the godfather of hip hop. He tells Steve Paulson he got his start selling street drugs as a teenager.
The Interrupters tells the moving and surprising stories of three "violence interrupters" who try to protect their Chicago communities from the violence they once doled out. They believe that violence spreads like an infectious diseases, so the treatment should be similar: stop the infection at its source.
Art critic, novelist and editor Wendy Lesser reads excerpts from her essay "Hitchcock's Vertigo."
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