Soapbox Redemption

This episode is another very personal one. My son eight year old son William was diagnosed with medulloblastoma nearly a year ago. He’s since on embarked on an incredible journey of brain surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy – and recently rang the bell completing his treatment right before Thanksgiving.His response to this adversity has been nothing short of amazing and awe-inspiring. His smile and laughter has never ceased, his poise and strength are well-beyond his years, and I’ve chronicled his story on LinkedIn – where you’ll see his incredible strength and optimism on display. Along the way, I’ve met some incredible people and world changers. One of those world changers is Dr. Jim Olson from Seattle Children’s. James M. Olson, MD, PhD, is program director for the Invent at Seattle Children's Postdoctoral Scholars Program, a principal investigator in the Ben Towne Center for Childhood Cancer and Blood Disorders Research, and a professor at the University of Washington School of Medicine. He co-founded three biotechnology companies and has mentored more than 30 graduate students and postdoctoral research fellows. He chaired a national phase III clinical trial for high-risk medulloblastoma patients that led to a 20% improvement in five-year survival for Group 3 patients. Dr. Olson is the principal investigator on multiple projects that focus on developing effective new therapies for pediatric brain tumors; methods that allow surgeons to better visualize the border of brain cancer and normal brain, and the discovery of immunotherapeutics for several cancers. Dr. Olson’s game changing research in immunotherapy could potentially revolutionize the standard of care as we know it – and has the potential to replace radiation and chemotherapy. In lab trials, this treatment completely eliminated cancer in 90% of brain tumors that are otherwise universally fatal in children. Mice that received the treatment were alive and disease-free, while the untreated mice died within 18 days.In this podcast, we discuss his research, next steps for funding and clinical trials – and what this could mean for families moving forward. Please enjoy this conversation and donate to Dr. Olson's groundbreaking immunotherapy trial here.

This episode is a deeply personal one. The Soapbox Redemption podcast has always been aimed at the big questions- and of course, served with swagger. Since my last podcast, I’ve come across the biggest question yet in my life with my seven year old son William’s brain and spine cancer diagnosis called medulloblastoma.Words fail to relay the horror that this reality is for a family. Everything immediately looks different and the life you knew before (and expected ahead) is forever changed. This episode features a conversation with Fernando Goldsztein who has also felt the horror of a medulloblastoma diagnosis. Fernando is married and has two children and is a businessman from Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil with an MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management. After Fernando’s son Federico was diagnosed with medulloblastoma which then relapsed after treatment, Fernando founded the Medulloblastoma Initiative in 2021 to accelerate the development of a cure. the Medulloblastoma Initiative serves as a beacon of hope for families like Fernando who have been told "there is nothing further we can do."The Medulloblastoma Initiative is an entirely unique model. It's an open source innovation model with physicians with 14 of the world’s most prestigious labs and hospitals from across North America, Europe, and Brazil all working together - no bureaucracy or red tape - just full transparency - and 100% of private donated funds going towards actualizing cutting edge clinical trial therapies NOW - and two such trials have been initiated with three more in the pipeline. This model is extremely timely given the cut-backs to recent pediatric cancer research - and has far reaching implications beyond medulloblastoma. On his recent MSNBC interview, Fernando has assertively stated "giving up on my son was not an option" and "finding a cure is not an if, but a when."Like in one of my favorite Bruce Hornsby songs "That's Just the Way It Is", Fernando and the Medulloblastoma Initiative have stated in their actions - and in no uncertain terms - "ah, but don't you believe them." Please enjoy this conversation and donate to the Medulloblastoma Initiative here.

This episode features a conversation with Daniele Bolelli. Daniele is a writer, martial artist, university professor, and podcaster. He was born in Italy and currently lives in Los Angeles. After graduating from UCLA with a B.A. in Anthropology and earning graduate degrees in American Indian Studies and History at UCLA and Cal State Long Beach, he began teaching at several colleges in Southern California. He’s lectured on a wide range of subjects including American Indian history and philosophy, history of the United States, world religions, history of ancient Rome, history and philosophy of martial arts, the ethnic experience in the United States, world history, plus several courses on the relationship between cinema and history. He’s written several books, including On the Warrior’s Path and Not Afraid – both of which I’ve read and were outstanding. He was featured in I Am Bruce Lee which broke Spike TV’s rating record for documentaries. He’s also appeared as a guest on popular podcasts such as Duncan Trussell’s, Adam Carolla’s and Joe Rogan. He also hosts two popular podcasts, The Drunken Taoist and History on Fire. In this podcast, Danielle and I discuss a wide range of topics including the evolution of martial arts, the idea of epistemological humility and anarchism, Eastern philosophy, the bushido spirit of the samurai – and how martial arts and philosophy has helped carry him through some of the most challenging times in his life including losing his wife and having to raise his baby daughter as a single parent. In these experiences and in the octagon and as a mixed martial artist, Danielle has exemplified the bushido spirit and way of the warrior – having faced his deepest fears with honor and courage – and coming out stronger… So please… Enjoy the conversation between yours truly and Daniele Bolelli…

This episode features a conversation with Jonathan Zimmerman, Professor of History of Education at the University of Pennsylvania.  A former Peace Corps volunteer and high school social studies teacher, he holds a Ph.D. in history from the Johns Hopkins University. His scholarship has focused broadly on the ways that different peoples have imagined and debated education across time and space. He has authored books about sex and alcohol education, history and religion in the curriculum, Americans who taught overseas, and historical memory in public schooling. His most recent work examines campus politics in the United States, the teaching of controversial issues in public schools, and the history of college teaching. He has written for the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Chronicle of Higher Education, The New York Review of Books, and The Atlantic. I came across Jon’s book after hearing him on the Joe Rogan podcast and binge read his book Free Speech and Why Should Give a Damn which was both outstanding and timely - and recently reviewed with these sentiments on the blog. In this podcast, we discussed his book, the importance of free speech, the climate of censorship and tribalism in our culture and academia, the role of Big Tech, and the ultimate problem of untested ideas. Jon is incredibly intelligent and threads the needle nicely reminding us of the freedoms we enjoy, while calling attention the problem of censorship that is alive and well at the present time. So please, enjoy the conversation between yours truly and Johnathan Zimmerman… Note: In this podcast, I mentioned Brett Weinstein had a dialogue on critical race theory on the Bill Maher Show. It was actually Ben Shapiro.

This episode features a conversation with Dr. Hanni Stoklosa. Hanni is the Executive Director of HEAL Trafficking, an emergency physician at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) with appointments at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative. Dr. Stoklosa is an internationally-recognized expert, advocate, researcher, and speaker on the wellbeing of trafficking survivors in the U.S. and internationally through a public health lens. She has advised the United Nations, International Organization for Migration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, U.S. Department of Labor, U.S. Department of State, and the National Academy of Medicine on issues of human trafficking and testified as an expert witness multiple times before the U.S. Congress. Moreover, she has conducted research on trafficking and persons facing the most significant social, economic, and health challenges in several countries throughout the world. Among other accolades, Dr. Stoklosa has been honored with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Women's Health Emerging Leader award, the Harvard Medical School Dean's Faculty Community Service award, has been named as an Aspen Health Innovator and National Academy of Medicine Emerging Leader. Her anti-trafficking work has been featured by the New York Times, National Public Radio, Fortune, Glamour, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, STAT News, and Marketplace. Dr. Stoklosa published the first textbook addressing the public health response to trafficking entitled Human Trafficking Is a Public Health Issue, A Paradigm Expansion in the United States. In this podcast, Hanni and I discuss her background, the epidemic of human trafficking, and some counterintuitive ideas on what the optimal response is for healthcare worker who might suspect that their patient is a victim. Hanni is an amazing world changer and leader in this movement. I’m confident you’ll be impressed with her passion, outlook, and experience. So please, enjoy the conversation between yours truly and Hanni Stoklosa...

This episode features a conversation with Vance Morgan.  Vance is a Professor of Philosophy at Providence College in Providence, Rhode Island, where he has taught for the past twenty-seven years. He is an award-winning teacher and the author of five books, most recently Freelance Christianity: Philosophy, Faith, and the Real World (Cascade Books, 2017) and Prayer for People Who Don't Believe in God (Wood Lake Press, 2019). He blogs at Freelance Christianity at Patheos.  In this podcast, Vance and I discuss his writing and what it means to be a Freelance Christian… We talked about the “philosopher’s gene” that we both share, the importance of non-conformity, and how our perspectives have definitely ruffled feathers, but religiously and politically.  We dove into some of the big questions like whether or not the idea of God is even reasonable and how a philosophically inclined Christian moves from the idea of the God of the philosophers to the Triune God of Christianity. We also talked about how a philosophically inclined Christian may interpret the Bible and went into some deep topics like Old Testament ethics, hell, consciousness, and the soul.  Vance is very intelligent, but also very personal and served up some complex topics in a very warm and accessible way. I’m confident you’ll be impressed by his epistemological humility and depth, just as I was.  So please, enjoy the conversation between yours truly and Vance Morgan…

This episode features a conversation with Massimo Pigliucci and may very well be my favorite podcast to date. Besides Massimo being a prominent philosopher and writer on many of the big questions, his writing and speaking on Stoicism has had a profound influence on me personally. With that, he was also gracious enough to moderate a discussion between myself and my co-author Adam Lee. Outside all his accomplishments as a scientist, philosopher, author, educator, and communicator, he's incredibly down to earth.  Massimo holds a PhD in Evolutionary Biology from the University of Connecticut and a PhD in Philosophy from the University of Tennessee. He currently is the K.D. Irani Professor of Philosophy at the City College of New York. His research interests include the philosophy of science, the relationship between science and philosophy, the nature of pseudoscience, and the practical philosophy of Stoicism. He has published in national and international outlets such as the New York Times, Washington Post, and the Wall Street Journal, among others. He is a Fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry and a Contributing Editor to Skeptical Inquirer. He blogs on practical philosophy at Patreon and Medium. Massimo has published over 165 technical papers in science and philosophy and is author or editor of 13 books including the best selling How to Be A Stoic: Using Ancient Philosophy to Live a Modern Life. In this podcast, Massimo and I discuss his background and academic interests, and spent most of our time discussing Stoicism, but we definitely wandered into some of my favorite big questions, and how Stoicism may offer a fresh vantage point. So please, enjoy the conversation between yours truly and Massimo Pigliucci.

This episode features a conversation with James Franklin.  Dr. James Franklin is a Professor of Mathematics at the University of New South Wales in Australia and founder of the “Sydney School” in the philosophy of mathematics. He completed his PhD in 1981 at the University of Warwick, on algebraic groups. Since 1981 he has taught in the School of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of New South Wales. His research areas include the philosophy of mathematics and the formal sciences, the history of probability, Australian Catholic history, the parallel between ethics and mathematics (work for which he received the 2005 Eureka Prize for Research in Ethics), restraint, the quantification of rights in applied ethics, and the analysis of extreme risk. He’s authored several books including topics from one we talked about extensively on the podcast entitled An Aristotelian Realist Philosophy of Mathematics: Mathematics as the Science and Quantity of Structure, which was published in 2014. In my study of philosophy, I remember coming across the topic of mathematical objects. What are they? Are they just useful fictions or do they reveal something deeper about reality? How and why is the language of mathematics so incredibly precise and sometimes even predictive of empirical discovery, what Eugene Wigner called the "unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics"? In this podcast, Jim and I discuss his background and academic interests, and jump right into the incredible accuracy and even predictiveness of mathematics, and how Aristotle’s view of mathematics differs from the nominalist and Platonic views of mathematics.  Is mathematics invented or discovered? If invented, and just useful fictions, how is this language so incredibly precise and perhaps prophetic? If discovered, how do we have access to these timeless and prophetic truths – how do they relate to reality, and what does that say about reality? In this podcast, Jim and I discussed these topics, but also how they relate to morality and metaphysics in general – and the problems that a traditional materialist and skeptic faces vs. a Platonist – and how Aristotle’s metaphysics may thread the needle on a “just right” realism.  So please, enjoy the conversation between yours truly and James Franklin. 

This episode features a conversation with William Jaworski. Dr. William Jaworski is an author, consultant, and Associate Professor of Philosophy at Fordham University in New York. His research focuses mainly on consciousness and its relation to the brain, as well as artificial intelligence and its implications for human well-being. He’s authored a number of books on philosophy of mind from the vantage point of Aristotelian metaphysics which made up the bulk of our discussion. Bill and I got acquainted through my book Meta which I co-wrote with Adam Lee. Bill was nice enough to write the foreword and tee up my and Adam’s dialogue on the big questions. In this podcast, Bill and I discuss his background and academic interests and some of the big questions like God’s existence, morality, consciousness, free-will, and the nature of abstract objects. Bill nicely laid out the hylomorphic worldview in contrast to materialism and dualism – and how each of these metaphysical worldviews tackles the big questions. I really appreciated his perspectives, specifically with consciousness, which is his major area of research, but also on Aristotelian metaphysics in general and how that worldview tackles the big questions. So please, enjoy the conversation between yours truly and William Jaworski.

This episode features a conversation with Randal Rauser.  Randal is a systematic and analytic theologian, Associate Professor of Historical Theology at Taylor Seminary in Edmonton, and author of several books including An Atheist and a Christian Walk into a Bar , which was definitely source of inspiration for my and Adam’s book Meta. Besides giving our book a nice blurb, Randal hosted Adam and I on his podcast and at his home in Edmonton. We also had a fantastic pub dialogue with a small group the evening prior where we dove into all sorts of fun philosophical and theological debate.  In this podcast, Randal and I discuss his background and academic interests, and got into some of the big questions like “why is there something rather than nothing”, morality, consciousness, free-will, and the nature of abstract objects. We also talked about the importance of epistemological humility as we wrestle with these issues.  Beyond the theist and atheist divide, we then dove into some controversial topics within Christianity such as divine simplicity, and the nature of hell. Randal is incredibly intelligent, all the while humble, and did a very nice job serving up some of the complex topics in an accessible way. Though the conversation goes deep and far out at times, I thought Randal gave an excellent tour of philosophical theology. So please, enjoy the conversation between yours truly and Randal Rauser…