A little less livestock, a lot more action - with Mark Lynas
Release Date: 04/30/2025
The building blocks of corporate scandals: Guido Palazzo reveals the Dark Pattern
The Podcast For Inquiry
Corporate scandals are depressingly common, and it’s all too easy to chalk them up to individual bad apples. Unfortunately, this simple explanation is not accurate. Guido’s research led him to write The Dark Pattern: The hidden dynamics of corporate scandals, which details the nine building blocks that lead otherwise good people to do bad things. He explains the importance of context, why psychopaths are wildly overrepresented in corporate boardrooms, and the societal structures that too often lead to egregious behaviour from companies across the globe. Podcast for Inquiry is hosted...
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Andrew Coyne on the Crisis of Canadian Democracy
The Podcast For Inquiry
Andrew Coyne () is a columnist for The Globe and Mail and author of The Crisis of Canadian Democracy. In today’s episode, Andrew makes the case that Canadian democracy is headed for a crisis. He talks about the problems of Canada’s first past the post or “winner takes all” election system. The conversation includes an analysis of a wide range of issues: the diminishing contributions that MPs are allowed to make; how candidates, cabinet members, and even party leaders are selected; and the ever increasing concentration of power within the Prime Minister’s Office. Andrew outlines steps...
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Once Upon a Prime with Sarah Hart
The Podcast For Inquiry
Leslie’s conversation with Sarah starts with the connections between mathematics and literature, including references to Shakespeare, Herman Melville, George Eliot, Lewis Carroll, Douglas Adams, and more. Good writing has structure, and structure can be understood in mathematical terms, and Sarah explains how mathematics can greatly enrich one’s enjoyment of literature. Sarah also describes how mathematics can be used to obfuscate rather than clarify, and how being a female mathematician today is different - and similar! - as in the 19th century. Podcast for Inquiry is hosted by...
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Modern Stoicism for modern life, with modern Stoic Donald Robertson
The Podcast For Inquiry
() is a writer, cognitive-behavioural psychotherapist, and trainer. He is one of the founding members of the nonprofit, and the founder and president of the nonprofit in Athens, Greece. Leslie's conversation with Donald traces the path from ancient Stoicism to the modern day. The word stoicism had come to mean something very different over time, but that has started to change as Stoicism the philosophy has been more popular in recent years. Stoic principles lie at the heart of cognitive behavioural therapy, and we talk about how incorporating Stoic principles into one’s own life can lead...
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Justin Ling on the right wing media ecosystem
The Podcast For Inquiry
(@) is an investigative journalist who writes the newsletter and recently published the book . The conversation begins with the right wing media ecosystem, and its effect particularly on US politics. Justin explains why there isn’t really a counterpart on the left, and what makes Canada different from the United States in this regard. Leslie and Justin move on to democracy and authoritarianism on the international stage, and how to develop healthy media consumption habits in today’s world. Podcast for Inquiry is hosted by Leslie Rosenblood and brought to you by the . !...
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The Examined Run with Sabrina Little
The Podcast For Inquiry
Sabrina Little is a philosopher, ultra-runner, and the author of The Examined Run: Why Good People Make Better Runners. She is a five-time U.S. National Champion in trail and ultrarunning, a former American Record Holder, and World Silver Medalist. In today’s episode, Sabrina answers the question: Why do good people make better runners? What are the performance enhancing virtues, and do they outweigh the performance enhancing vices? She talks about the difference in taking a short vs long term perspective, the importance and challenge of balancing the multiple areas of life that need...
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ENCORE: Gretchen Morgenson on her book These are the Plunderers: How Private Equity Runs -- and Wrecks -- America
The Podcast For Inquiry
What is Private Equity, and how does it work? () is a Pulitzer-winning journalist whose latest book is These are the Plunderers. Gretchen exposes the bad and often illegal activities of Private Equity firms, and tries to explain why they have been allowed to get away with it for so long. She explains how Private Equity firms operate behind the scenes to ensure the loopholes that substantially reduce their tax bills are never closed, and details recent events that might give cause for hope. Podcast for Inquiry is hosted by Leslie Rosenblood and brought to you by the . ! Produced by Zack...
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ENCORE - The Christian Destruction of the Classical World with Catherine Nixey
The Podcast For Inquiry
Catherine Nixey is the author of The Darkening Age, which documents how early Christians burned texts, defaced or demolished statues, and became increasingly intolerant of any thought or behaviour that deviated from their interpretation of Scripture. Catherine and Leslie discuss religious pluralism in the Roman Empire and how it changed after the Emperor Constantine’s conversion to Christianity - and why Christianity, despite its similarity to many other cults that arose at that time. It is a rare book that is well-researched, engrossing, on an interesting topic, and superbly written, but...
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ENCORE: Seth Andrews, host of the Thinking Atheist, on Christians acting in un-Christian ways
The Podcast For Inquiry
() is the host of , a very popular podcast and online resource for nonbelievers. Seth talks about his life as an evangelical Christian and what led him to leave his faith. He and Leslie talk about how many Christians embrace seemingly un-Christian beliefs and policies, and what Humanists need to do to make the world a better place. Podcast for Inquiry is hosted by Leslie Rosenblood and brought to you by the . ! Produced by Zack Dumont, Martin Zielinski, and Leslie Rosenblood. Support Podcast for Inquiry on Patreon: . Send your thoughts and feedback to .
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Leslie’s Diatribes #4: AI: Show Me the Money!
The Podcast For Inquiry
There are many critiques that people have made about the AI industry: privacy, piracy, electricity and water usage, hallucinations, and more. Leslie focuses on one aspect he doesn’t understand at all: Where does the money come from? Each AI datacentre costs tens of billions to build - hundreds of billions have been spent across the industry. And answering each question, or generating each image, sound, or video - is also very expensive. Hardly any consumers, and very few companies, are paying for AI services. If they’re not profitable, and there’s no clear path to become so, why are the...
info_outlineMark Lynas is the author of several environmental books, including Seeds of Science (2018), Our Final Warning (2020), and the forthcoming Six Minutes to Winter. Until 2024 he was research and climate lead with the Alliance for Science at the Boyce Thompson Institute, an affiliate of Cornell University. Mark is now the policy lead with the pro-science environmental campaign network WePlanet, launched in 2021 and now active in 18 countries.
Our conversation starts with a recognition of the dire emergency presented by climate change, and that human food production is a significant contributor to humanity’s greenhouse gas emissions. Three changes can greatly reduce the environment impact of feeding ourselves:
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Reduce or eliminate human consumption of beef and lamb (See https://ourworldindata.org/global-land-for-agriculture)
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Remove legal and regulatory barriers to genetically modified organisms (GMOs)
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Remove legal and regulatory barriers to precision fermentation
Mark believes a brighter future is possible if we allow our policy decisions to be guided by the best scientific knowledge and insight we have available.
Podcast for Inquiry is hosted by Leslie Rosenblood and brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Join today! Produced by Zack Dumont, Martin Zielinski, and Leslie Rosenblood. Support Podcast for Inquiry on Patreon: https://patreon.com/PodcastforInquiry. Send your thoughts and feedback to podcast@centreforinquiry.ca.