"The first thing I would say to do, if you’re on a train or a bus, is start a conversation. We underestimate how much we’ll enjoy the conversation. We underestimate how deep people want to go, and how fun it will be."
–NYT’s David Brooks (Season 3 Episode 3)
In our third season of the Templeton Ideas Podcast, we heard from David Brooks, Michael Levin, Talithia Williams, and other thinkers on topics such as regenerative medicine, uncertainty, and democratizing mathematics.
If you’re new to the show, welcome! We explore the most awe-inspiring ideas in our world with the people who investigate them–and we’d love for you to join us! Listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Read on to see everything we covered in Season 3:
Bill Courtney (Football)
Bill Courtney is a football coach and entrepreneur who is widely known for his role in the Oscar-winning documentary Undefeated. In this special episode, we pull back the curtain on Bill’s experience coaching football at Manassas High School in Memphis Tennessee, and reveal what “building character” truly means.
Sara Algoe (Love)
Sara joins the podcast to explain the difference between love and gratitude, describe the features of a loving person, and unpack the impact of technology on the landscape of love.
David Brooks (Human Connection)
David joins the podcast to discuss the social and relational crisis in our society, why it’s better to be an illuminator than a diminisher, and his practical advice on how we can become better people.
Maggie Jackson (Uncertainty)
Maggie joins the podcast to explain why we should rethink our attitudes on uncertainty, how uncertainty and curiosity are related, and the potential applications of uncertainty for artificial intelligence.
Kevin Mitchell (Free Will)
Kevin joins the podcast to discuss how natural selection could have favored the development of agency and free will in humans and other complex organisms, and how consciousness provides major advantages in the natural world.
Bruce Feiler (Meaningful Work)
Bruce joins the podcast to discuss why we should reimagine how we think about work, what makes a meaningful life, and how all of us can be the author of our own story.
Michael Levin (Regenerative Medicine)
Michael joins the podcast to discuss common misconceptions of biology, building biological robots, and the potential of regenerative medicine to revolutionize human health.
Talithia Williams (Democratizing Mathematics)
Talithia joins the podcast to talk about the rebel women of mathematics, the relevance of statistics in everyday life, and her view that God is a mathematician.
