The Podcast For Inquiry

Jan 22 2025 84 ep. 60 mins 44

The Podcast For Inquiry artwork

A podcast for scientific, skeptical, secular, rational and humanistic inquiry. They’ve got answers? We’ve got questions.

Science Society & Culture

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Gaia Vince identifies the four horsemen of the Anthropocene

Jan 22 2025 59 mins

Gaia Vince (@wanderinggaia) is an award-winning science writer and author. She is particularly interested in the interaction between human systems and Earth’s planetary systems. Her research has taken her around the world. Gaia’s latest book is Nomad Century: How Climate Migration Will Reshape Our World. We are already at 1.6 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial temperatures, w

Canada has not reconciled with its Indigenous peoples, say Maureen Bulbrook and Christina Ninham

Jan 08 2025 83 mins

Maureen Bulbrook and Christina Ninham are Indigenous lawyers who know from direct experience that Canada has never stopped discriminating against its First Nations people, from the Doctrine of Discovery at the time of contact to current day (with Prime Minister Harper arguing that residential school records should be destroyed even as he apologized for Canada’s treatment of Indig

Paco Calvo considers the possibility of plant intelligence

Dec 18 2024 62 mins

Paco’s thesis is a provocative one: plants are, in a meaningful sense, intelligent. Paco discusses what intelligence is, and how we might recognize it in other beings. People used to believe that only humans are intelligent. Over time, other mammals were deemed to also think and feel. Today, most people grant that many animals, such as birds and octopi, exhibit intelligent behavi

Heresy: Jesus Christ and the Other Sons of God, with Catherine Nixey

Dec 04 2024 65 mins

Why do scholars now refer to early Christianities instead of early Christianity? How has the meaning of the word “Heresy” changed from its original definition to taking on its current connotations? Why did Christianity grow from a fringe cult with few followers and disdained by the intelligentsia and people in power to becoming the largest religion in the world today? What did

Saving civilization is about more than climate change, says Professor Katherine Richardson

Nov 20 2024 91 mins

All life on earth ultimately depends on energy and how it flows between biological and geochemical systems on the planet. Katherine Richardson and her team identified nine boundaries which need to be respected if our planet is to remain conducive to human thriving. Climate change is just one of them. We are exceeding six boundaries, and in recent years they are all getting worse. K

Melanie Trecek-King defines and discusses critical thinking

Oct 23 2024 62 mins

Many people - especially those in skeptical organizations like CFIC - talk about the importance of critical thinking. But what is it? How can we use it effectively? How do people navigate complex subject areas without developing deep expertise? Melanie Trecek-King, creator of Thinking is Power, discusses how people internalize beliefs, how they can be a part of one’s identity, wh

Does the Bible endorse slavery and genocide? Dr. Joshua Bowen provides receipts.

Oct 09 2024 72 mins

In his first appearance on Podcast for Inquiry, Dr. Josh Bowen compared what we know about history from archaeology and contemporaneous literature with the stories from the Old Testament. In today’s episode, Dr. Bowen reveals what the Bible has to say about slavery and genocide, and goes a bit outside his comfort zone to talk about whether the Old Testament should be considered

Kate Cohen believes atheists should be out and proud

Sep 25 2024 80 mins

Kate Cohen talks about her journey from privately knowing she was a non-believer to writing We of Little Faith: Why I Stopped Pretending to Believe (And Maybe You Should Too). She discusses how being an atheist and a commitment to honesty informed how she raised her children, and how being forthright about her lack of belief in social interactions has simplified her life. We also t

Greg Oliver asks: Why is religious discrimination official provincial educational funding policy?

Sep 11 2024 58 mins

5Greg Oliver, founder and president of the Canadian Secular Alliance, believes that governments should not favour one faith over another, nor believers over non-believers. That three Canadian provinces continue to this day to fully fund a Separate school system for a single faith - Catholicism - is an egregious violation of secular principles that should guide our public policy. Gr

Science Denial: Why It Happens and What To Do About It, with Gale Sinatra

Aug 21 2024 67 mins

Everyone is vulnerable to fallacies that can lead to misunderstanding scientific topics. In her book (written with Barbara Hofer), Science Denial: Why It Happens and What To Do About It, Gale investigates many of these, including: Cognitive biases Emotions Motivated reasoning Identities Gale also explains what all of us can do to increase our scientific literacy. Scie