The Messiness of Meaning | Satyan Devadoss & Stuart Firestein

The Messiness of Meaning | Satyan Devadoss & Stuart Firestein

From The Veritas Forum by The Veritas Forum

March 19, 2026 · 36 min · Season 15

About this episode

This episode explores the complexities of meaning through a conversation between mathematician Satyan Devadoss and biologist Stuart Firestein.

Meaning can be straightforward — a red octagon means “Stop!”, a hand wave with a smile means “Hello,” or adding two and two equals four. But meaning is often more complicated — a friend saying they’ll eat  “whatever” for dinner or a significant other texting, “We need to talk.” In this episode, our speakers invite you into the messiness of meaning — and discuss how best we can search for it. You’ll hear a conversation between mathematician Satyan Devadoss (U San Diego) and biologist Stuart Firestein (Columbia). Satyan and Stuart bring their scientific backgrounds and religious perspectives as they explore the role of reason in the search for meaning, what can and can’t be taken at face value, and what strategies can help us find truth — from the scientific method to literary analysis to religious tradition. This Forum was held at Columbia University in 2014. Thanks to the forums planning team at Columbia for making this event possible.  Find additional resources and quotes on the podcast episode page here .

People in this episode

Guests: Satyan Devadoss, Stuart Firestein

Topics covered

  • meaning
  • science
  • religion
  • truth
  • communication
  • literary analysis

Keywords

  • meaning
  • science
  • religion
  • truth
  • communication
  • literary analysis
  • Columbia University
  • 2014

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: U San Diego, Columbia

Places: Columbia University

More episodes of The Veritas Forum

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the The Veritas Forum podcast page.