Recent Episodes
Avi Tuschman: Can Wikipedia Save Social Media?
Misinformation. Disinformation. Fake news. Conspiracy theories. These viruses of the information age proliferate with frightening speed on social media channels like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube,...
Deepak Chopra: Inside the Mind of a Spiritual Pioneer
There are few people in the world of writers, musicians, artists, and celebrities who are instantly recognizable by just a single name. Oprah, Sting, Bruce, Beyonce—to name a few. Deepak falls into...
Bill Plotkin: The Mythopoetic Dreams of a Psychologist Gone Wild
There is something about the American Southwest—long home to the Navajo (Diné) and the Utes and many others Native American tribes over the years—that stirs the soul, evoking our deep, mythopoetic...
Tisha Schuller: The Role of Oil & Gas in a Carbon-Neutral Future
Every day, Americans use oil and gas. We heat our homes, we drive our cars, we power our technology and our lives. And yet, due to climate concerns, we know we need to move toward carbon-free...
Jordan Gruber: Exploring the New Psychology of Multiple Selves
Are you one person? One self? A singular personality? Or, as the poet said, do you “contain multitudes”? In the new book Your Symphony of Selves, authors Jordan Gruber and James Fadiman argue that...
Justin Scheck: MBS, Power, and the Future of the Middle East
MBS. Those three letters may not mean much to many Americans, but in the Middle East, they are instantly recognizable. They are the initials of Mohammed bin Salman, Crown Prince of the Royal House...
Jeffrey Kripal: Mystics, Mutants, and the State of Progressive Spirituality
Jeffrey Kripal has carved out a unique place in American culture. He’s a professor of Religious Studies at Rice university, with an unparalleled range of knowledge in mysticism, philosophy, esoteric...
James Piereson: Political Polarization and the Future of a Divided Nation
America is more politically and culturally divided than it has been at any time since the Civil War. At least, that's what many political scientists tell us, and I see no reason to argue....
Craig Hamilton: Countercultures, Conspiracy Theories, and Everything in Between
QAnon. The hidden dangers of 5G. The nefarious secret plans of Bill Gates. The global cabal of pedophiles. Massive election fraud. Jewish space lasers. Conspiracy theories have grown like weeds...
Brian Muraresku: Psychedelic Sacraments and the Secret History of the Western Mind
When you think of psychedelics, what comes to mind? Probably not the ancient Greeks. Most people associate these mind-altering substances with the hippies of the sixties and seventies, or perhaps...
Ed Freeman: Stakeholder Capitalism and the Opportunity Gap
What is the purpose of a corporation? In 2019, the Business Roundtable, which represents almost 200 of America’s leading CEOs, published an answer to this question, committing to lead their...
Jimena Canales: Einstein, Bergson, and the Great Debate about Time
Once upon a time, Henri Bergson had the world at his feet. In the early part of the twentieth century, he was the philosopher du jour—celebrated in popular culture, his advice trusted by powerful...
Michael Lind: Populism and the New Class War
What are the causes of political populism? How and why has it manifested so strongly in America? This country is often considered a society in which class is less important, but is that really true?...
Carter’s Rants & Reflections: The Social Dilemma
Netflix’s popular documentary The Social Dilemma is causing millions of viewers to rethink the influence of big tech on our society and ourselves. But does it go too far? In this inaugural "Rants...
Steve McIntosh: Politics, Polarization, and the Post-Progressive Project (Parts 1 & 2)
Part 1: Cultural Intelligence and the Roots of Polarization Why is America so polarized? Today everyone wants to know. Explanations abound—money in politics, gerrymandering, cronyism in Washington,...
Jeff Booth: Deflation, Cryptocurrency, and the Coming Reset
Deflation, inflation, debt, interest rates, QE, Federal Reserve policy—for many, words and ideas like these that come from the world of economics might as well be a foreign language. And sometimes,...
Dr. Mark Forman: Trauma, Healing, and the Monster’s Journey
Trauma. It’s a term we hear everywhere today, or so it seems. In our psychologically informed age, the idea that many of us—if not all of us—carry around some psychological and even physiological...
Eric Wargo: Time, Precognition, and the Awakening of the Long Self
Have you ever had a dream that seemed to come true? You are not alone. Some of the most famous people in history have reported having precognitive dreams. Are they just imagining it? Or is there...
Marcia Bjornerud: Think Like a Geologist
Have you ever looked at the world through the lens of “deep time”? Carter speaks to Marcia Bjornerud, author of Timefulness: How Thinking Like a Geologist Can Help Save the World. They discuss why...
Robert Bryce: How Electricity Explains the World
Energy and power is fundamental to the information age, and few people bring as much insight and knowledge to the table as Robert Bryce, author of A Question of Power and creator of the new...
Get Carter’s weekly THINKING AHEAD Newsletter
Your world is evolving—find out how with Carter Phipps, co-author of Conscious Leadership. He’s an optimist, a generalist, and an integrative thinker. Now he has an excuse for his insatiable book-buying habit—a show that explores the movements, trends, people, and ideas that are shaping the future. Phipps is also author of Evolutionaries, and cofounder of the Institute for Cultural Evolution. Through in-depth interviews and occasional rants and reflections, the show explores the many subtle (and not-so-subtle) ways that the world is changing and developing across a vast array of domains—from business and politics to science and technology to consciousness and spirituality.