Maiden Mother Matriarch with Louise Perry

This interview was actually recorded before Suella Braverman's most recent Question Time appearance, which sparked a public row over the question of English identity and ethnicity. As it happens, that was one of the topics we covered in our conversation, which is themed around Suella's new memoir, an account of her family's experiences of the British Empire, and her vision for modern Britain. Suella Braverman is a politician, barrister, and former Attorney General and Home Secretary. Earlier this year, she defected from the Conservative Party to Reform UK, and now serves as their spokesperson for education, skills, and equality. Suella's new book is titled 'Patriot: Empire, Betrayal, and Hope.' Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 2019, Rusty Reno – editor of First Things magazine – published ‘Return of the Strong Gods’, a book that argued that the postwar ideological order of tolerance and openness had overreached, and that we were set to see the reemergence of “strong gods” in politics—that is, the powerful loyalties that bind people to their homelands and to one another.Today, Rusty and I return to this thesis seven years on. Populism is certainly ascendent, and not only in the United States. Should we be worried about the pendulum swinging too far in the other direction? Or should the “strong gods” be welcomed? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Just in the last few weeks, the issue of AI safety has suddenly broken into the political mainstream. What was once a fairly niche debate within the worlds of tech and philosophy is now on the front pages. And the question of AI is, predictably enough, quickly turning into a partisan issue, with the President opposing heavy federal guardrails, and the Democrats calling for aggressive regulation. Today's episode is about the subculture from which the AI safety movement emerged. Rationalism – which is tightly entwined with Effective Altruism – is an intellectual movement popular among millennials working in tech. My guest today is the writer and tech worker Jacob Falkovich, who describes himself as a post-rationalist. As you'll hear, it's pretty hard to find someone who actually calls themselves a 'rationalist' (that's the nature of the subculture), but Jacob is willing to make an earnest defence of rationalism, and of Effective Altruism, and of the AI safety movement. These are interesting and – I think – very influential subcultures. If we want to understand the AI safety movement, then we need to understand rationalism.MMM is sponsored by 321 - a new online introduction to Christianity, presented by former MMM guest Glen Scrivener. Check it out for free at 321course.com/MMM. Just enter your email, choose a password and you’re in — there’s no spam and no fees. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A life without pain sounds wonderful. It would also be fatal. Pain feels bad because it has a job: measuring damage to your body and motivating you to protect it. Every other feeling has a job too, built by natural selection. Hunger measures your need for calories and motivates you to eat. Envy measures others’ success and motivates you to close the gap. Frustration measures the futility of your current approach and motivates you to try a new one.In 'All the Feels', evolutionary psychologist Robert Kurzban explains the evolved function of our emotions and sensations, from anger to the urge to yawn. In today's episode we speak in particular about negative and unpleasant emotions, particularly anxiety and depression. Are they doing something useful for us? Or is evolutionary mismatch causing us to feel worse than we need to? Rob Kurzban is an evolutionary psychologist who was a professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania for over a decade. His new book is titled 'All the Feels: The Evolved Function of Every Human Emotion and Sensation.' Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Aboriginal people have lived in Australia for at least 65,000 years, surviving as hunter gatherers. 250 years ago, the British arrived, bringing with them industrial modernity, as well as disease and – sometimes – violence. During most of this modern period, British settlers and their descendants adopted what has been called "the great Australian silence", paying little attention to the Aboriginal people they had displaced. Since the 1960s there has been a transformation in how non-indigenous Australians think about indigenous culture and history. One of the key voices in this transformation has been that of the anthropologist and linguist Peter Sutton, who has a particular expertise in Aboriginal languages and has lived and worked with Aboriginal people all over Australia for more than half a century. In 2011, Peter published a book titled 'The Politics of Suffering', in which he argued that decades of liberal policy in outback communities had worsened the suffering of Aboriginal people. Today we discuss what Australians get wrong about indigenous affairs. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Humans love stories. Long before writing was developed, stories helped people to preserve knowledge, transmit moral ideas, warn against danger, and psychologically prepare for future ordeals. The most enduring stories are those that organise experience into meaningful patterns, communicating through symbolism that often operates on a subconscious level. My guest today argues that these old stories do something important to us, particularly as children.Today we discussed fairytales and the Bible. We also discussed a lot of modern stories: Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, American Psycho, The Wizard of Oz, Christopher Nolan’s new adaptation of The Odyssey, and many more stories that play with symbolism. These cultural products have moral messages that we ought to pay attention to, particularly in an era when the subversion of old stories has become a part of the progressive political project.Jonathan Pageau is a Christian artist. You can find his podcast, writing, and teaching courses by going to thesymbolicworld.com, where you can also buy Jonathan’s illustrated editions of classic fairytales. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Feminists have been arguing about the politics of homemaking for a long time. In her 1963 feminist classic, The Feminine Mystique, Betty Friedan famously compared the suburban American home to a “comfortable concentration camp”, arguing that homemaking was not just a waste of a woman’s talents, but a form of degradation.Maternal feminists reject this characterisation. But they also highlight the ways in which stay-at-home parents – mostly, but by no means exclusively, mothers – are made vulnerable, particularly financially. My guest today is focused on how public policy can best reduce this vulnerability.Ivana Greco is a homemaker and homeschooling mother of four. She has a degree from Harvard Law School and practiced law for ten years. She now writes about issues impacting homemakers, women, children and families. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.