Why Survival Isn't Enough: The Deep Human Need to Matter
What if the deepest human drive isn't happiness, survival, or even love, but the need to matter? Philosopher and MacArthur Fellow Rebecca Newberger Goldstein joins Michael Shermer to discuss The Matte...
14 Jan 1h 21min
Shermer Says 4: Venezuela, ICE in Minnesota, UFOs & UAPs, and Social Norms Around Single-Sex Spaces
In this unscripted solo episode, Michael Shermer reflects on a dizzying start to the year and what it reveals about truth, power, and public judgment. From events in Venezuela and the limits of export...
12 Jan 52min
Mental Health: More Diagnoses, Fewer Answers?
What if the way we approach mental health is quietly making things worse? Psychiatrist and psychotherapist Sami Timimi joins Michael Shermer to examine some of the core assumptions behind modern psych...
10 Jan 1h 29min
What Makes You "You" When Everything Is Just Atoms?
What is consciousness, really? Why does it not simply switch on at a single moment? Neuroscientist Niko Kukushkin explains how even single cells can show primitive forms of memory and agency, why the ...
6 Jan 1h 50min
Rethinking the Discovery of DNA
Francis Crick is best known as one of the figures behind the discovery of the double-helix structure of DNA, but the familiar story leaves out as much as it explains. Historian of science Matthew Cobb...
3 Jan 1h 21min
How One Black Man Dismantled the KKK, One Conversation at a Time
What do you do when someone believes you shouldn't exist? Daryl Davis didn't protest. He didn't shout. He sat down, asked questions, and kept showing up. Over decades, that approach has led more than ...
30 Des 20251h 5min
The Collapse of Open Inquiry: Sacred Victims and Forbidden Questions
Open inquiry depends on the ability to ask uncomfortable questions and follow evidence wherever it leads. Eric Kaufmann argues that this norm is now under strain. Drawing on history, survey data, and ...
28 Des 20251h 30min
The Future of Brain Implants: Restoring Speech, Regaining Mobility, Treating Pain
Brain-computer interfaces are moving out of the lab and into real medical use. In this episode of The Michael Shermer Show, Michael Shermer talks with Dr. Matt Angle, founder and CEO of Paradromics, a...
23 Des 20251h
