Physicist Geoffrey West is trying to uncover the fundamental, physical principles that shape cities. In this UNCUT interview with Steve Paulson, he talks about how cities are - and are not - like organisms.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Audio
Harry Boyte is co-founder of the Center for Democracy and Citizenship at the University of Minnesota. He tells Steve Paulson about his work teaching children the tools of social activism.
George Vaillant is a Harvard psychiatrist on a mission to reclaim spirituality and ground it in hard science.
Henry Jenkins tells Jim Fleming that "The Matrix" is a good example of what we can expect from a convergence culture – a story that is told in more than one medium.
Sleep may be an utterly common activity, but neuroscientist Giulio Tononi believes it's the greatest experiment in consciousness.
You can also listen to the EXTENDED interview, and read the extended transcript.
Literary critic Geoff Dyer goes to Algeria on a Camus pilgrimage, looking for traces of the great writer and some insight into his own life.
Hardeep Dhaliwal has an interesting take on “The Wizard of Oz.” She thinks it’s riddled with Yogic symbolism.
Charles Duhigg, a reporter for the New York Times, has been researching the scientific and social history of habits for his new book, The Power of Habit. In it, he discusses the unique ways that habits shape our lives, both neurologically and practically. He learned that habits are powerfully hardwired into your brain — and stored separately from your memories — making them rather easy to develop and very difficult to change.
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