#419 - Resisting Groupthink, Embracing Nuance: A Dialogue with Jenara Nerenberg

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Daniel Mendelsohn on his new English translation of Homer’s The Odyssey. They discuss the massive impact of The Odyssey, major themes in the Odyssey, authorship, and translation for our time. They talk about the lines and meter of the Odyssey in English, oral to written form, adapting the Odyssey, relevance for the 21st century, and many more topics. Daniel Mendelsohn is an internationally bestselling author, critic, essayist, and translator. He is a professor of literature at Bard College. He has degrees in Classics from the University of Virginia and Princeton. He has been a prolific contributor of essays, reviews, and articles in many publications, most frequently The New Yorker and The New York Review of Books. He has also been a contributing editor at Travel + Leisure and a columnist for The New York Times Book Review, Harper’s, and New York magazine, where he was the weekly book critic. In February 2019, he was named Editor-at-Large of the New York Review of Books and the Director of the Robert B. Silvers Foundation, a charitable trust that supports writers of nonfiction, essay, and criticism.He has received many honors including the American Academy of Arts and Letters Harry Vursell Prize for Prose Style, a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Barnes and Noble Discover Prize, the NBCC Citation for Excellence in Book Reviewing, the George Jean Nathan Prize for Drama Criticism, and Princeton University’s James Madison Medal. In 2022, he was made a Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters by the Republic of France, and received the Premio Malaparte, Italy’s highest honor for foreign writers. He is a member of both the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Association. He is also the author of many books including the new translation of, Homer’s The Odyssey. Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Jenara Nerenberg about the importance of nuance thinking and healthy dialogue with others. They discuss self-censoring, groupthink, rise of gurus, podcasters, and influencer culture. They also talk about heterodox thinking, ethics of speaking to a larger audience, healthy dialogue with others, and many other topics. Jenara Nerenberg is a journalist, author, and founder of The Neurodiversity Project. She has interdisciplinary training from Harvard in public health, business, and government. She is the author of the latest book, Trust Your Mind: Embracing Nuance in a World of Self-silencing. Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Agustín Fuentes about biological sex. They talk about the history of sex evolution, the importance of gametes, intersex individuals, and history of sex binary. They talk about gonads and hormones, sex variation in the animal kingdom, spectrum question, gender, gender and sports, gender and bathrooms, and many other topics. Agustín Fuentes is an anthropologist and professor of anthropology at Princeton University. His research focuses on the entanglement of biological systems with the social and cultural lives of humans, our ancestors, and a few of the other animals with whom humanity shares close relations. He has his BA/BS in Anthropology and Zoology and his MA and PhD in Anthropology from UC Berkeley. He has conducted research across four continents, multiple species, and two-million years of human history. His current projects include exploring cooperation, creativity, and belief in human evolution, multispecies anthropologies, evolutionary theory and processes, and engaging race and racism. Fuentes is an active public scientist, a well-known blogger, lecturer, tweeter, and an explorer for National Geographic. Fuentes was recently awarded the Inaugural Communication & Outreach Award from the American Association of Physical Anthropologists, the President’s Award from the American Anthropological Association, and elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is the author of numerous books including the most recent, Sex Is A Spectrum: The Biological Limits of the Binary. Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with William Dalrymple about India and the Golden Road. They define the Golden Road of ancient India, discuss evidence other cultures interacted with India, and discuss the spread of Buddhism out of India. They talk about similarities and differences with the Silk Road, Kushans and Scythians, Hinduism, Islam, the Golden Road’s impact on modern India, and many more topics. William Dalrymple is a Historian, Journalist, and Broadcaster. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, the Royal Asiatic Society and the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and has held visiting fellowships at Princeton, Brown and Oxford. In 2018, he was the recipient of the prestigious President’s Medal by the British Academy for his outstanding literary achievement. He is the author of numerous award-winning books including, The Anarchy: The East India Company, Corporate Violence, and the Pillage of an Empire and his latest book, The Golden Road: How Ancient India Transformed the World. Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Greg Grandin about a new history of the Americas. They discuss the term “American,” landscape of the Americas in pre-colonial years, Spanish colonialism, British colonialism, and the American and French Revolutions. They talk about Bolívar and Gran Colombia, the Monroe Doctrine, FDR’s new deal in Latin America, the future of America, and many other topics. Greg Grandin is a historian and professor of history at Yale University. He has his Bachelors from Brooklyn College and PhD from Yale University. He has been a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences since 2010. He is an expert on Latin American politics, the Cold War, and U.S. Foreign Policy. He is the author of numerous books including the Pulitzer prize winning, The End of the Myth, and his latest book, America, América. Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Gina Rippon about autism in females. They discuss the increase in autism cases, defining autism, and origins of autism. They also talk about the history of the autism diagnosis, identity, current diagnostic criteria, specific presentations in females, neurological features, eating disorders, future of autism research, and many more topics. Gina Rippon is Professor Emeritus of Cognitive NeuroImaging at Aston University in the UK. Her research involves the use of state-of-the-art brain imaging techniques to investigate developmental disorders such as autism, profiling different patterns of brain activity in autistic children and adults. Her current research explores the under-recognition of autism in women and girls, especially in neuroscience research. She is the author of the latest book, Off the Spectrum. Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Robert Garland about death in the ancient world. They talk about how ancient cultures considered death, beginnings of understanding death, process of dying, funerals, different cultural beliefs about the afterlife, caring for the bodies of the deceased, afterlife for non-believers, and many more topics. Robert Garland is Emeritus Professor at Colgate University. He has his PhD from University College, London. His main interests have been in ancient histories and classics. He is the author of numerous books including the most recent book, What To Expect When You’re Dead: An Ancient Tour of Death and the Afterlife. Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Nicholas Wolfinger and Matthew McKeever about single motherhood since 1980. They discuss major causes of single motherhood, income, workforce change, teenage mothers, and low fertility rates. They also talk about the differences between divorced vs. non-married mothers, income and family size, race, 1979 longitudinal cohort, single motherhood in the 21st century, and many other topics. Nicholas Wolfinger is professor of family and consumer studies and sociology at the University of Utah. He has a Ph.D. in Sociology from UCLA. He is widely published and cited within academia and has written for The Atlantic, National Review, Huffington Post, and other outlets. He is the author of numerous books on marriage, family, and divorce, including the most recent book (co-authored with Matthew McKeever), Thanks For Nothing: The Economics of Single Motherhood Since 1980. Matthew McKeever is Professor of Sociology and Department Chair of sociology at Haverford College. He has also taught at Rice University, University of Houston, University of Kentucky, and Yale University. He received his Ph.D. from UCLA, and his B.A. from Haverford. His research focuses on the structure of social inequality within a variety of institutional, cultural, and regional contexts, from the U.S. and Europe to South Africa and Asia. Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Emily Falk about the neuroscience of choice and change. They discuss studying values, strengths and limits of fMRIs, value system in the brain, reward system, making choices, the self, making future choices, values with others, and many more topics. Emily Falk is professor of Communication, Psychology, Marketing, and OID (Operations, Information, and Decisions) at the University of Pennsylvania. She is also the director of the Communication Neuroscience Lab, the vice dean of the Annenberg School for Communication, and the director of the Climate Communication Division of the Annenberg Public Policy Center. She has a bachelors in Neuroscience from Brown University and PhD in Psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles. Her research uses tools from psychology, neuroscience, and communication to examine what makes messages persuasive, why and how ideas spread, and what helps people get on the same page when communicating. Her research has been recognized by numerous awards, including early career awards from the International Communication Association, the Society for Personality and Social Psychology Attitudes Division, a Fulbright grant, Social and Affective Neuroscience Society, a DARPA Young Faculty Award, and the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award. She was named a Rising Star by the Association for Psychological Science. She is the author of the latest book, What We Value: The Neuroscience of Choice and Change. Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Helen King about the history of the female body. The give an overview of the four parts (breasts, clitoris, hymen, womb) of the female body and discuss how medicine shaped positive and negative ideas about the female body. They talk about breasts, clitoris, female genital mutilation, hymen, womb, and many more topics. Helen King is Professor Emerita of Classical Studies at The Open University. She is an elected member of the General Synod of the Church of England, where she is vice chair of Together, which campaigns on a range of discrimination issues including discrimination on the grounds of gender or sexuality. She is the author of the latest book, Immaculate Forms: A History of the Female Body in Four Parts. Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe