Shows
Beats, Brews & BuddiesWilliam Seymour | Beats, Brews & Buddies | S4 EP8William Seymour is a singer-songwriter originally from Snow Hill, NC but currently lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. His sound can be described as a mix of Country, Blues, Soul, and Americana.His influences come from artists such as Jackson Browne, Eric Clapton, Waylon Jennings, and more. William plays bass and tours with the rock n roll band Caitlin Krisko The Broadcast. He has recently released his 3rd solo album, entitled "Ride Along".2025-04-2954 min
Wohlstand für AlleLiteratur #49: William Shakespeare – Timon von AthenWfA-Literatur
Der noch junge Karl Marx zeigt sich in seinen „Ökonomisch-Philosophischen Manuskripten“ aus dem Jahr 1844 begeistert von einem relativ unbekannten Stück William Shakespeares: „Timon von Athen“ („Timon of Athens“), etwa um 1605 entstanden, gehört nicht zum Kanon wie viele andere Dramen des Engländers, was durchaus literarische Gründe hat.
Ökonomisch ist die Tragödie, die im antiken Griechenland spielt, jedoch hochinteressant, da hier das Wesen des Geldes ergründet wird – was nicht zuletzt Marx faszinierte.
Es ist ein Lehrstück beinahe wie bei Bertolt Brecht: Timon ist ein reicher Mann, der nahezu jeden Abend rauschende Feste gibt und viele vermeintliche Fre...2025-01-2519 min
The Here's Waldo Podcast60 Titles in 30+ Years: Secrets to Creating Fun Games with William Schmitt of Proof of PlayIn this episode of the Here's Waldo Podcast, Lizzie Mintus chats with William Schmitt, the Head of Studio at Proof of Play, a company on a mission to shepherd games into Web3's on-chain universe through uncompromisingly fun games. With over 32 years in the gaming industry, William has held key leadership roles at Disney Interactive, Scopely, THQ, Activision, and more. He has launched 60 titles across 23 platforms, including Tetris Worlds, South Park: The Stick of Truth, Spider-Man, and Madden Football. Tune in to explore William's "fail fast" philosophy and how rapid prototyping and player feedback shape his game...2024-10-2942 min
That's So Second MillenniumEp 147 - Daniel Shields on Nature and Nature’s GodPaul felt it was important to put Daniel's book title in the episode title, but Bill's suggested title is too good not to place somewhere:
TSSM: NEW BOOK EXPLORES MEANING IN MOTION
In this new episode of the “That’s So Second Millennium” podcast, your host Paul Giesting, assistant professor of mathematics and sciences at Wyoming Catholic College, interviews his faculty colleague, Dr. Daniel Shields, assistant professor of philosophy. Shields’s book, Nature and Nature’s God: A Philosophical and Scientific Defense of Aquinas’s Unmoved Mover Argument, has just been released by Catholic University of America Pres...2023-06-301h 02That's So Second MillenniumEp 146 - TSSM Takes a BreakThe co-hosts announce that the TSSM podcast, now posting our 146th episode, will begin a hiatus, but all programs and show notes will continue to be archived and accessible.
This episode allows Dr. Paul Giesting and Bill Schmitt to look back on their four-and-a-half years of interviews and discussions seeking a greater synthesis of knowledge: an exploration of science and religion, philosophy and spirituality, neuroscience and quantum physics, policies and principles, history and the future, to better understand ourselves and the values and virtues in our lives. Our curiosity and concerns are grounded in our experiences as cradle Catholics, a...2022-11-2240 minThat's So Second MillenniumEp 141 - Louis Albarran and the Faith of Real PeoplePaul and Bill spoke with Louis Albarran, associate professor of theology at Holy Cross College in Notre Dame, IN. Albarran holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. from the University of Dayton, and he specializes in the connection of religion, culture, and the physicality of devotional practices, with a focus on the Latino Catholic culture.
Albarran spoke of the story of Our Lady of Guadalupe, as told by the Aztec people in their own language. The name of this narrative is Nican Mopohua.
Albarran spoke of the Dayton school of thought regarding the meaning of Catholic devotions for cu...2022-06-3055 minThat's So Second MillenniumEp 140 - Chris Bell – Views from a Pro-Life LifetimeChristopher Bell, president and executive director of Good Counsel Homes, is “on the frontline of the pro-life movement,” as The Catholic World Report wrote in a 2021 profile. Chris and TSSM co-host Bill Schmitt have been friends since their college years, when they were both studying journalism. Co-host Paul Giesting joined the two native Long Islanders for a discussion of Catholic values in the abortion debate shortly after the leak of a draft US Supreme Court decision which pointed toward a Court decision overruling Roe v Wade.
In 1985, Bell co-founded Good Counsel with Father Benedict Groeschel, who was a much-loved voice in C...2022-06-011h 01
What's Left of Philosophy38 | Liberal Democracy in Crisis: Carl Schmitt and the PresentIn this episode, we discuss the infamous Nazi jurist and political philosopher Carl Schmitt, with particular focus on his 1923 book The Crisis of Parliamentary Democracy. We attempt to better understand the right-wing, Schmittian case against both liberal ‘parliamentarianism’ and ‘Marxist socialism’, while trying to discern his positive political vision. Doing so requires assessing his paradoxical claim that democracy and dictatorship are perfectly compatible, and that dictatorship is good, actually. We end by asking what the hell a ‘Left Schmittian’ is, asking what if anything he has to offer for leftist theory and practice today. patreon.com/leftofphilosophy | @leftofphil 2022-05-161h 00That's So Second MillenniumEpisode 130 - Natasha Toghramadjian’s Research into Earth-Shaking ImpactsWelcome to this 130th episode of our podcast. Here’s a lively conversation between two geoscientists—testifying to the opportunities for Society of Catholic Scientists (SCS) members to enjoy discussions which are at once elevated by their personal values and grounded in their diverse, expert explorations of God’s creation.
Paul spoke with Natasha Toghramadjian, a Ph.D. student in geophysics—and seismology in particular—at Harvard University. She performs wide-ranging research on earthquake dynamics and risks in California and around the world. She spent a year in Armenia on a US Fulbright research grant to design a study on future ear...2021-08-1035 minThat's So Second MillenniumEpisode 108 - Masks, Science, Novelty, and Conservatismor Paving Paradise and the Parking Lots
Bill and Paul discuss attitudes toward masks, and then consider why the science wasn't more settled on the subject long before Covid-19. We discuss the obsession of modern society with all things novel and consider how this plays out in science, politics, and our individual lives and families.
1. A discussion of masks as defenses against the pandemic led Paul and Bill to ponder how scientific knowledge about the functionality of these masks for the common good is not always viewed as a fundamental, enduring value. In our media, the...2020-08-2527 minThat's So Second MillenniumEpisode 107 - Dick Garrett on Kids, Schools, and TeachersThis is part 2 of our interview with Richard Garrett, author of The Kids Are Smart Enough, So What’s the Problem?
Find an overview of his distinguished career in this story about Dick’s zeal for researching and promoting education reform. (The story was written for Purdue’s College of Engineering by Bill last year.)
Dick’s book traces his growing concerns about problems in public elementary education. Those concerns led to extensive research from a business executive’s perspective, applying systems analysis skills from his background in engineering. Our interview probed not only the findings fr...2020-08-1027 minThat's So Second MillenniumEpisode 106 - Beyond Heisenberg, the Principal Uncertainty...or as Paul wanted to put it, "Lies, D--d lies, and p-values."
This episode contains a conversation between Paul and Bill in which you’ll learn new things about their experience in particular fields—geology and journalism, respectively—and where their zeal to harvest and connect information bumps up against troublesome uncertainty. You’re accustomed to hearing us as podcast co-hosts, sharing our opinions and our interviews with experts to explore insights at the intersection of science, everyday human experience, and the values of theology and philosophy. We welcome an audience that, like us, hungers to understand the details t...2020-07-2742 minThat's So Second MillenniumEpisode 105 – Dick Garrett: The Kids Are Smart EnoughPaul and Bill welcomed Dick Garrett to our podcast. Find an overview of his distinguished career in this story about Dick’s zeal for researching and promoting education reform. (The story was written for Purdue’s College of Engineering by Bill last year.)
Dick’s book, The Kids Are Smart Enough, So What’s the Problem?, traces his growing concerns about problems in public elementary education. Those concerns led to extensive research from a business executive’s perspective, applying systems analysis skills from his background in engineering. Our interview probed not only the findings from that research, but even more current kn...2020-07-1325 minThat's So Second MillenniumEpisode 104 - Scraping Facts Online: If You Can’t Beat ’Em, DatumAt the time of this taping, Paul was in the middle of the Metis “bootcamp” program learning the capabilities, tools, and insights of data science. This conversation ranged widely in the realm of data analysis and management, examining its relevance to Paul’s field of geology but also exploring the world’s immersion in what Bill would call a data ecology: It seems every datum is connected, or connectable, to every other datum That word is the original singular form of the plural word “data.”
The growing plethora of data has to be tracked and organized, even though today’s computer hardw...2020-06-2232 minThat's So Second MillenniumEpisode 103 - Richard Doerflinger on Covid-19, Commercial Confidence, and Imperfect ScienceBill interviewed a leading Catholic voice in public affairs, especially in bioethics and the culture of life: Richard Doerflinger.
His latest column for Catholic News Service examines the implications of the “Science Wins” maxim publicized by Pfizer Inc. in a recent TV commercial. You can see the commercial here.
Doerflinger mentioned libertarian bioethicist John Harris in connection with the developments and moral controversies surrounding research on embryonic stem cells some years ago. Once concerns about human dignity were successfully eased by the development of pluripotent cells, science and society both did win from a prudential pullback from reliance on e...2020-06-0835 minThat's So Second MillenniumEpisode 102 - Diverse Isolation Stories Could Bring Us TogetherPaul and Bill discussed autism—a subject that arose in Paul’s discussion with Pat Flynn in his own podcast.
John Ratey, popular psychologist, talks about how our sensory apparatus affects how we function in everyday life.
Paul’s comments on the subject of autism connect candidly with recollections from his early life.
Hilaire Belloc, a legendary British author of the early 20th century who wrote on many topics, famously was a friend and Catholic “fellow traveler” with G.K. Chesterton.
“Never waste a good crisis.” Bill says crises in our polity and soc...2020-05-2524 minThat's So Second MillenniumEpisode 101 - Pandemics as a Science Problem; Skepticism in a Diseased WorldPart 2 of a three part conversation between Paul and Bill, where the main themes are skepticism, Catholic education, the mysterious absence of the Spanish Flu from our historical consciousness prior to 2020, and the philosophical conundrums of materialism, transgenderism, and scientism.
Paul and Bill continued their conversation about skepticism toward science and religion. They touched on several examples of science failing to show that it “knows everything” or gets everything right. There must be a constant push for additional inquiry and knowledge. Bill said the teaching of religion in K-12 Catholic schools needs to express the hunger to learn more...2020-05-1128 minThat's So Second MillenniumEpisode 100 - Hemispheres Playing GodIn this episode we begin with an unscheduled excursion into the realm of the neurobiology of the two hemispheres of the brain and the psychology of reparenting (with nods to our past conversations with Darcia Narvaez, and about codependency and Twelve Step work).
We discussed the questions related to whether psychology based on a right-brain/left-brain dichotomy provides meaningful tools to increase self-understanding. Paul described his experience with opposite-hand-writing for self-discovery. One interpretation of this kind of experience—a reference for which this writer can provide no validated recommendation or criticism—was found here as an example of the approach, than...2020-04-2721 minThat's So Second MillenniumEpisode 099 - Secular Franciscans on World’s New Views, Old ValuesIn this episode, Bill presents excerpts from an interview with fellow Secular Franciscan Tim Short, director of formation for the Indiana Region. They discuss, among other things, St. Francis' attitude toward creation and how it relates to the larger picture of the medieval Christian intellectual world and the birth of modern science.
Tim Short, OFS, is a member of the Secular Franciscan Order, whose initials in Latin are OFS. This international, canonically approved Roman Catholic order was founded by Saint Francis of Assisi especially for laypeople. Members belong to local, regional and national fraternities. Tim is the director...2020-04-1317 minThat's So Second MillenniumEpisode 098 - Uncertainty Principles, Principled Uncertainty, and Science in Times of CatastropheIn this episode, Bill and Paul discuss the coronavirus, economics and risk, and the L'Aquila earthquake trial.
Paul and Bill continued a discussion that began in the previous episode. They allowed the sense of gravitas they felt in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic to push them along a path through many uncertainties—where it’s tempting to rely on one’s GPS guidance system and, if possible, an autonomous (self-driving) vehicle. But should human beings relieve themselves of all responsibilities for self-guidance, and if not, how should they accept and address those responsibilities?
Underlying this discussion was the pe...2020-03-3034 minThat's So Second MillenniumEpisode 097 - Social Distancing and Loners in the American PsycheBill and Paul discuss the topic on everyone's mind, the coronavirus and social distancing, through the lens of social polarization and isolation that already so characterized American, Western, and modern society in general.
One should not assume that “social distancing” breaks connections. Paul and Bill got together to talk about the subject and found that it connects to many other things, at least as an intellectual exercise. But also with many emotional, spiritual and sociological implications.
Bill said that, upon first hearing about “social distancing,” he instinctively connected it to a phenomenon he ponders and writes about a lot—the...2020-03-2332 minThat's So Second MillenniumEpisode 096 - How a Strong Nest Can Lift Society Higher, with Darcia NarvaezWe welcome Darcia Narvaez, Ph.D., to the microphone. She is a professor of psychology at the University of Notre Dame, specializing in developmental cognition, the human brain, and behavior.
She has authored or edited numerous books, including Indigenous Sustainable Wisdom: First Nation Know-how for Global Flourishing (2019); Basic needs, wellbeing and morality: Fulfilling human potential (2018); and Developing the virtues: Integrating perspectives (2016).
A cornerstone of her research, Neurobiology and the development of human morality: Evolution, culture and wisdom (2014), received the Expanded Reason Award from University Francisco de Vitoria and the Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI Vatican Foundation. The award recognizes innovation in scie...2020-03-0938 minThat's So Second MillenniumEpisode 095 - Bridges Built by Song, with musician Micki MillerWhere can the search for connections between faith and science (that is, between the deeper sense of meaning in life we all crave and the tangible experiences that our five senses tell us are “real”) take us? Our podcast series today receives inspirational guidance from community-builder and up-and-coming recording artist Micki Miller. She helped us explore one universe of answers where no TSSM episode has gone before. That’s the realm of music.
Micki Miller, born to pastors in South Bend, Indiana, writes, sings, and produces R&B and soul music that touches people’s hearts. You might say her work, wh...2020-02-2414 minThat's So Second MillenniumEpisode 094 - Maureen Condic (rerun, full interview)This week, events have forced another "greatest hits" episode, and so we bring you for your convenience the entire Maureen Condic interview from the June 2019 Society of Catholic Scientists meeting in a one hour and forty-five minute extravaganza. The following are Bill's liner notes from the first run episodes.
University of Utah’s information page for Dr. Maureen Condic. She is an Associate Professor of Neurobiology and Anatomy, with an adjunct appointment in Pediatrics. Her research focuses on the role of stem cells in development and regeneration. She has taught human embryology in the University’s Medical School for...2020-02-101h 47That's So Second MillenniumEpisode 093 - The Great Divorce between Philosophy and ScienceBill and Paul are both losing their minds with stress this week, so we're glad to just get the episode out. It takes in a bit of philosophy and Paul manages to use some illustrative points from the history of geometry and geology if that's your thing.
I didn't get her credited in the outro, but Morgan Burkart produced the audio for this episode. Like her style? Let us know in a review and look her up at Ball State University.
2020-01-2736 minThat's So Second MillenniumEpisode 092 - Scientists and Religion with Dr. Tom RybaDr. Thomas Ryba is a senior lecturer and adjunct professor teaching philosophy and religious studies at the School of Interdisciplinary Studies in Purdue University’s College of Arts. He also holds the title of Notre Dame Theologian-in-Residence for the Aquinas Educational Foundation, offering instruction and guidance on staff at the Saint Thomas Aquinas Catholic Center at Purdue.
Ryba kindly adjusted his schedule to meet with Paul and Bill in December 2019 for an interview about themes central to his 30 years of teaching in service to students and faculty and his enduring interest in the connections between the learning of science and re...2020-01-1333 minThat's So Second MillenniumEpisode 091 - Christian CommunicationBill and I continue our discussion about parish life and communication. We discuss using the tools of sociology (and just awareness of the broader culture) to understand what is going on in parishes without getting carried away and forgetting that Christianity was always meant to change us (avoiding the Andrew Greeley mistake). We talk a bit about where podcasters like us fit into the ecosystem, or the Kingdom of God for that matter, and in that context I mention the great Catholic Feminist podcast. In the end we return to the question of what we should do as parishoners...2019-12-2329 minThat's So Second MillenniumEpisode 090 - Deacons and CommunicationIn this episode, Bill and Paul discuss the role of deacons and others filling the role of "elder" in the Catholic Church, and the need for parishes to work hard at learning how to communicate with each other in this new technologically mediated cultural world. Bill mentions new work by the McGrath Institute to help parishes with this task.
Photo: a deacon wearing a dalmatic, from Test Everything.
2019-12-1612 minThat's So Second MillenniumEpisode 089 - What Could We Do?Paul, still missing his Watson Bill, opens up a discussion about questions of economics and political science, ranging from rural U.S. parishes to the geopolitics of an ideal future.
This podcast's title and logo were inspired by the "What Should I Do?" discernment retreat put on by the Indy Catholic young adult ministry this past weekend.
2019-12-0919 minThat's So Second MillenniumEpisode 088 - The End of the World (As We Know It)For my money, it's harder to believe in the Christian Last Things of life after death, judgment, and the end of the world than it is to believe in the "First Things" of creation and providence. The prophetic and apocalyptic literature of the Bible predict, or seem to predict amid very strange language, some very difficult things to square with our expectations both for the physical universe and for human technology:
- What could this "new heavens and a new earth" possibly be?
- How could Jesus appear in the heavens at the end of time...2019-12-0217 minThat's So Second MillenniumEpisode 087 - Fr. Robert Spitzer and Intellectual Culture (rerun)Unfortunately, this week Paul got deathly ill and that prevented us from recording the promised "end of the world" episode. Here instead is a re-edited version of Bill's interview with Fr. Robert Spitzer from August 2018 (originally run as Episode 20). One of our earliest interviews and still, amid all the great guests who have given time to this little podcast, one of the best.
2019-11-2636 minThat's So Second MillenniumEpisode 086 - Indianapolis Gold MassToday's episode is a rundown of the Indianapolis Gold Mass, followed by a short selection of readings from Scripture and a bit about Albert the Great specifically, with a scrap of meditation on the vocation of a scientist.
Gold Masses for those in the natural sciences were celebrated in a dozen cities on Nov. 15, the feast day of St. Albert the Great, who is the patron saint of natural scientists. One of those Masses, as described by TSSM co-host Dr. Paul Giesting, took place in Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral in the Archdiocese of Indianapolis.
The Society of...2019-11-1825 minThat's So Second MillenniumEpisode 085 - Albert the Great, the Medieval Synthesis, and a Faith That WorksToday's episode is getting recorded in a tight slot on Sunday night. Bill is out of town at a workshop on self-publishing and Paul has spent an awful lot of time over the last three days peering into the engine bay of a 1987 Jeep Wrangler and screwing and unscrewing things.
Robert Barron and Brandon Vogt pulled excerpts from the Joe Rogen - Dawkins interview and spent two weeks rebutting them. That's one point of departure for today's episode. The other, of course, is that the feast of Albert the Great is this coming Friday, meaning Gold Mass season is at...2019-11-1122 minThat's So Second MillenniumEpisode 084 - Gold Masses, Politics As Religion, Jordan PetersonThis week Bill prods Paul along as he recovers from a massive proposal hangover. This week's episode is the end of a much longer conversation that may or may not otherwise remain on the cutting room floor about Jordan Peterson and other topics as far afield as Homestar Runner.
We run down the list of Gold Masses that have been publicly announced to take place this coming month--featuring such highlights as a Mass celebrated by the Bishop of Bismarck, ND and a talk at Benedictine University in Lisle, IL on "The Mystery of Faith: from the Gold Mass to Gravity...2019-11-0424 minThat's So Second MillenniumBonus Episode - SCS and Gold Masses with Jonathan Lunine2019-11-0102 minThat's So Second MillenniumEpisode 083 - Astrobiology and the Search for Life with Jonathan LunineDr. Jonathan Lunine is the David C. Duncan Professor in the Physical Science and chair of the Department of Astronomy at Cornell University. He is also the vice president and a co-founder of the Society of Catholic Scientists.
In this “part 5” of our interview, Dr. Lunine notes that planetary science was not always a distinct field. It drew upon components of astronomy or the geological study of the moon, for example. Astrobiology, with a goal of studying microbial life forms that may be found on exoplanets, is now at the point of relative infancy where planetary science stood about 50 years ago...2019-10-2817 minThat's So Second MillenniumEpisode 082 - Extraterrestrial Life and Biosecurity with Jonathan LunineIn this week's episode, we discuss the possibility of extraterrestrial life in our own solar system. Dr. Lunine talked about extraterrestrial life. It’s very possible that at least microbial life exists on other planets, he said, but the chances of complex, multicellular life are much more difficult to estimate.
We simply don't know what the possibilities are for life beyond the chemistry that it uses here on Earth. A potential tragedy that we would want to avoid at almost any cost would be the introduction of terrestrial microbes into a viable environment elsewhere, where they could bec...2019-10-2112 minThat's So Second MillenniumEpisode 081 - The Exoplanet Revolution with Jonathan LunineDr. Jonathan Lunine is the David C. Duncan Professor in the Physical Science and chair of the Department of Astronomy at Cornell University. He is also the vice president and a co-founder of the Society of Catholic Scientists.
In this “part 3” of our interview, Dr. Lunine talked about exoplanets. The discovery of planets outside our Solar System has revolutionized planetary science.
The Kepler space telescope mission, with its nine-year voyage which ended last year, made possible the detection of thousands of planets. It’s now understood, Lunine said, that planet formation is a common part of star formation.
Lunine noted that C...2019-10-1412 minThat's So Second MillenniumEpisode 080 - The Culture of "Science vs. Religion" with Jonathan LunineDr. Jonathan Lunine is the David C. Duncan Professor in the Physical Science and chair of the Department of Astronomy at Cornell University. He is also the vice president and a co-founder of the Society of Catholic Scientists.
In this “part 2” of our interview, Dr. Lunine cited the book Secularity and Science by Elaine Ecklund (mentioned and linked in episode 79) and co-authors. The perceived conflict between faith and science is largely a Western phenomenon, according to Ecklund’s research, and it’s especially visible in the United States. Elsewhere, cultural education more fully incorporates an education about religion, so these people a...2019-10-0707 minThat's So Second MillenniumEpisode 079 - Conversion and Witness with Jonathan LunineDr. Jonathan Lunine is the David C. Duncan Professor in the Physical Science and chair of the Department of Astronomy at Cornell University. He is also the vice president and a co-founder of the Society of Catholic Scientists.
Here is information about the Vatican Observatory. It was one of the starting points for Lunine’s exploration of the compatibility between science and the Catholic faith.
He met Stephen Barr in 2014, and this led to their discussions about establishing the Society of Catholic Scientists. Here is a talk given by Barr at the University of Chicago.
Here is a talk by Lu...2019-09-3037 minThat's So Second MillenniumEpisode 078 - Fr. John HollowellFather John Hollowell is a priest of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis. He is well-known for his blog, “On This Rock.” His pastoral duties include parish leadership and chaplain roles at DePauw University and the Putnamville Correctional Faciltiy.
Fr. Hollowell spoke with Paul Giesting about the number of priests throughout history who have also been active as scientists. Here is one list of priest-scientists provided by National Catholic Register.
Pope John Paul II created a commission to review the Galileo Affair, and this resulted in documents officially apologizing for the Catholic Church’s historic, and hyperbolized dispute against Galileo’s statements.
Here is...2019-09-2328 minThat's So Second MillenniumEpisode 077Paul here. A short episode this week. We're taking a little time off to celebrate the milestone of releasing our last SCS 2019 conference speaker interview with Megan Levis last week.
The pace of interviews is likely to slow a bit, but we have several that we're looking forward to. Next week we have Fr John Hollowell, an engaging priest, campus minister, prison chaplain, blogger and social media personality here in the Archdiocese of Indianapolis. We will be talking to Jonathan Lunine again soon to further explore his fascinating perspective. Bill is in discussions with John Cavadini, theologian...2019-09-1609 minThat's So Second MillenniumEpisode 076 - Megan Levis, part 2This is the second half of TSSM’s interview with Megan Levis. We talked at greater length about this graduate student’s research and its good fit with values-informed thought, with the Society of Catholic Scientists, and even literature. The Society held its third annual conference at the University of Notre Dame a few months ago.
In Megan’s presentation to the scientists at the SCS annual conference, she posed the question: How do you distinguish and exercise ethical responsibilities when something like brain organoids are “made in the image and likeness of man rather than the image and likeness of God.”...2019-09-0930 minThat's So Second MillenniumEpisode 075 - Megan Levis, part 1Megan Levis is a fifth-year graduate student in bioengineering at the University of Notre Dame. The topic of her talk at the annual conference of the Society of Catholic Scientists was “Created in the Image and Likeness of Man.” She described the University’s bioengineering program.
Growing what can be deemed the beginnings of a human brain, for purposes of research, invites important ethical considerations. Levis has found resources at and through Notre Dame for deeper study of the responsibilities entailed in such research. She has worked with the John J. Reilly Center on science, technology and values. She has also b...2019-09-0223 minThat's So Second MillenniumEpisode 074 - Karin ObergKarin Öberg is Professor of Astronomy and Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Department of Astronomy at Harvard University. Planetary formation—or stars and stellar evolution—is a focus of her research. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the Society of Catholic Scientists. See her CV here.
Öberg spoke of her first academic route to astronomy being via chemistry rather than physics. She discovered the field of astrochemistry while an undergraduate at the California Institute of Technology. She earned her PhD in astrophysics at Leiden University in the Netherlands.
She joined the faculty at the University of Vir...2019-08-2629 minThat's So Second MillenniumEpisode 073 – Jonathan LunineIn this episode we have Jonathan Lunine on the podcast, this time talking to him about his own spiritual journey from Judaism to Catholic Christianity, and from the secular surface of life as a scientist to a deeper life where the beauty of science is one prominent part of a larger whole of human experience. We also get the chance to discuss some of his work in studying the planets during the era when they changed from objects seen through a telescope to worlds we can map and even sample and bring back to our laboratories.
Jonathan Lunine...2019-08-1922 minThat's So Second MillenniumEpisode 072 - Benjamin RybickiDr. Benjamin Rybicki, a member of the Society of Catholic Scientists, is Senior Research Scientist in the Department of Public Health Services at Henry Ford Health System in Detroit. He received his PhD in Epidemiology from the University of Michigan. His research focuses on the epidemiology, demographics and genetics of sarcoidosis, Parkinson’s disease, and prostate cancer.
There is a strong humanistic theme in biology, and it does entail a deep concern about human beings, but Dr. Rybicki said his experience suggests the humanistic impulse is separated from religious faith in many cases. His particular interest in epidemiology grew partly fr...2019-08-1228 minThat's So Second MillenniumEpisode 071 - Sonsoles de LacalleSonsoles de Lacalle, a physician and neuroscientist, has recently taken the position of professor and Chair, Health Science, at California State University Channel Islands. She previously served as associate professor of biomedical sciences at Ohio University and Director of the Office of Advanced Studies in Ohio University’s Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine.
Dr. De Lacalle, a member of the Society of Catholic Scientists, holds both an MD and a PhD from the University of Navarre in Spain.
Her research focuses on the field of aging and dementia and the effects of estrogen on brain cells. She sees her pursuit of...2019-08-0528 minThat's So Second MillenniumEpisode 070 - Nicanor AustriacoIn today's episode we sit down with Fr. Nicanor Austriaco, a Dominican friar, biologist, and bioethicist on the faculty at Providence College. Similarly to our interview with Fr. Lawrence Machia, we discuss the way in which science and a vocation to both the priesthood and life in a specific religious order intertwined in his life, with the additional perspective that his Filipino heritage contributes to his understanding of his vocation and the culture here in America.
Rev. Nicanor Austriaco, O.P., Ph.D., is a Dominican priest and molecular biologist, on the faculty of Providence College. See his...2019-07-2925 minThat's So Second MillenniumEpisode 069 - Fr. Lawrence Machia OSB and Daniel vanden Berk, part IIFor background on Fr. Machia and Dr. Vanden Berk and this interview, see the show notes for Episode 68.
In Episode 69, we mentioned approvingly one of the many books about Galileo, who was central to Fr. Machia’s talk at the conference. The book is Galileo’s Daughter. Contrary to a still-commonplace assumption in popular culture and the average person’s understanding of history, Galileo did not see his life as one centered on conflict with the Catholic Church.
People’s instincts to see a huge conflict between science and religion in our own time deserve to be taken seriously. Co-host Paul poi...2019-07-2216 minThat's So Second MillenniumEpisode 068 - Fr. Lawrence Machia OSB and Daniel vanden Berk, part IFather Lawrence Machia, OSB, is a Benedictine monk at St. Vincent College and Archabbey in Latrobe, PA. The public can view his 2019 Society of Catholic Scientists presentation on You Tube.
Father Machia’s talk made reference to Galileo’s letter to Benedetto Castelli.
Dr. Daniel Vanden Berk is an associate professor of physics at St. Vincent College.
Fr. Machia and Dr. Vanden Berk, both very interested in astronomy, have worked together on designing planetarium shows on the St. Vincent campus. They have always seen the complementarity of science and religion, faith and reason, in contrast to many people’s rejection of rel...2019-07-1530 minThat's So Second MillenniumEpisode 067 - Maureen Condic, part III
The conversation involving Dr. Condic, Dr. Giesting and Schmitt turned to the complexities of the nation’s debate about abortion. That debate engages a mix of biological facts (which may or may not be probed in the full context of updated knowledge), personal experiences, and deeply held principles, positions, and emotions including authentic sympathy for the circumstances in which pregnant women find themselves. Although providing scientific insights is a crucial advancement of the debate because people deserve to have comprehensive information, the laying out of certain biological facts alone will not necessarily change minds, Condic said.
In ma...2019-07-0835 minThat's So Second MillenniumEpisode 066 - Maureen Condic, part IIOur discussion of totipotent, pluripotent, and plenipotent stem cells helped to clarify a complex subject of great importance to many people, such as those who suffer from diseases awaiting therapies capturing the power of these cells. Dr. Maureen Condic, as a pioneer in this field, contributed insights in 2013 by developing the concept of plenipotent cells. See her journal article.
Our discussion also led to a sense of wonderment about the ability of cells to follow such complex paths of development, starting with the organism created when sperm and egg combine. The product and the process can easily be dismissed as...2019-07-0135 minThat's So Second MillenniumEpisode 065 - Maureen Condic, part IUniversity of Utah’s information page for Dr. Maureen Condic. She is an Associate Professor of Neurobiology and Anatomy, with an adjunct appointment in Pediatrics. Her research focuses on the role of stem cells in development and regeneration. She has taught human embryology in the University’s Medical School for 20 years.
See Dr. Condic’s biographical summary in the list of speakers at the Society of Catholic Scientists 2019 conference titled, “What Does It Mean to Be Human?” At the conference, this embryologist and specialist in developmental neurobiology delivered the St. Albert Award Lecture: “Human Beings are Defined by Organization.”
Dr. Condic is the...2019-06-2440 minThat's So Second MillenniumEpisode 064 - SCS 2019 Panel, part IIThis is the second part of our panel discussion with two conference attendees, Merissa Newton, a philosophy instructor at the University of New England and Geoffrey Woollard, a cancer researcher at the University of Toronto.
[This file is vastly improved from the original version; Bill was able to provide a backup from his portable microphone.]
The individual videos of the conference talks are or will be posted soon at https://www.catholicscientists.org/ideas/theme/video-archive
2019-06-1730 minThat's So Second MillenniumEpisode 063 - SCS 2019 Panel, part IAfter laboring through some technical problems, here is our first full post-SCS Conference episode.
We had a panel discussion with two conference attendees, Merissa Newton, a philosophy instructor at the University of New England and Geoffrey Woollard, a cancer researcher at the University of Toronto.
This conference was a heady experience, and as a self-taught amateur podcaster and interviewer, I was absurdly far out of my comfort zone. Things went surprisingly well save for one critical error: I neglected to do much of any testing of my laptop and microphone before I started recording. A w...2019-06-1333 minThat's So Second MillenniumBonus - Quick Hits - SCS 2019Paul and Bill do a quick rundown of the highlights of the SCS Conference. Look for our panel discussion and interviews with conference speakers starting tomorrow!
The audio quality is definitely off on this one. Maybe a hardware issue.
2019-06-1014 minThat's So Second MillenniumEpisode 062 - Jonathan Lunine SCS Conference PreviewWe had more insane audio problems on this episode; Paul's audio from Zencastr was unusable. I had to record a new introduction and first question, then splice in our backup recording from Zoom.
Jonathan Lunine is a prominent planetary scientist. He teaches at Cornell and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences; he has won a Urey award and holds a number of other academic distinctions. He worked with the radar and other instruments on the Cassini mission to Saturn and is co-investigator on the Juno mission now in orbit at Jupiter as well as...2019-06-0318 minThat's So Second MillenniumEpisode 061 – Preview of SCS Conference 2019Bill and Paul discuss the upcoming SCS conference at Notre Dame, June 7-9, on “What Does It Mean To Be Human?”
Themes we discussed:
The question of human origins:
from the natural theology perspective… when did consciousness, qualia, free will appear?
From the perspective of Judeo-Christian revelation… how do the origin stories in Genesis compare to contemporary archeology and anthropology?
The question of evolution and its significance in a universe with divine providence.
The question of human modification through bio- and electronic technology.
2019-05-2726 minThat's So Second MillenniumEpisode 060 – What Does It Mean To Be Human? (SCS 2019)Today we continue our conversation with Stephen Barr about this year’s Society of Catholic Scientists conference, which will feature great speakers discussing the nature of humanity and its bounds in terms of time and technology. You can see a full list of speakers here and the program for the conference here.
2019-05-2029 minThat's So Second MillenniumEpisode 059 – Origin Story: Society of Catholic ScientistsWe welcome Stephen Barr back to the show. We are humbled and delighted to be your podcast hosts for the Society of Catholic Scientists Conference 2019 and hopefully beyond. In that context, today we interview Dr. Barr about his experience as a writer and speaker on the relationship between Catholic faith and science that led up to an eventful conversation between himself and Jonathan Lunine. He discusses the formation of the Society of Catholic Scientists in 2016 and the conferences they immediately began holding in 2017. Credit should be given to First Things for giving him a platform to become known to...2019-05-1329 minThat's So Second MillenniumEpisode 058 – Let’s Act Like We’re on the Winning Side (Since We Are)This ended up being an emergency episode Paul recorded solo, since Zencastr ate all but a few minutes at the beginning of each recording. There seem to be serious problems with Zencastr since Paul’s MacBook died and he had to resurrect his Windows laptop.
The Big Bang; cosmology seems to require a beginning, uncaused cause
Problems of mind; intellect / qualia, possibility of free will.
There is no materialist explanation of human intellect, only assertions of dogma and crude shufflings of the feet.
Ongoing occurrence of miracles, Lour...2019-05-0634 minThat's So Second MillenniumEpisode 057 – The Best Thing Out There Apologies for the sound quality today; Zencastr wasn’t working, so we recorded on Zoom, and even then there were problems with the audio especially in the latter half of the podcast.
The question we take up at the beginning of the Easter season is this: Why has Western society gone to such pains to throw away the best thing going, intellectually and otherwise?
In his ongoing podcast research, Paul has come across the Pat Flynn Show, and listened to some really good interviews with Fr. Robert Spitzer (a TSSM interviewee) and Ed Feser (whose talk...2019-04-2919 minThat's So Second MillenniumEpisode 056 - Darcia Narvaez on the (other) tragedy of the commons and moral/economic disengagement in civilized societyToday we present the second half of the interview with Darcia Narvaez, social scientist at Notre Dame and a specialist in childhood inculturation, attachment, and bonding issues.
We start out this half of the interview with a discussion of what Karl Polyani called the "great transformation" of European society, involving the breakdown of the pre-modern order and its safeguards for a stable population by means of understandings about community use of land, perhaps resulting in the popularity of emigration to the New World by dispirited, dispossessed, and to some extent dangerous people.
Several times Darcia...2019-04-2227 minThat's So Second MillenniumEpisode 055 - Darcia Narvaez on socialization and isolationFind Darcia's writings and resources across the internet:
Faculty website
Author website
Resource Page at Psychology Today
Topics we discussed in this podcast:
The human need for socialization from the very beginning, and ways that goes awry in contemporary society.
Things we can do to learn some of these lessons later in life:
Self-calming via breathing, meditation, prayer. (Does our contemporary culture of outrage stem from a lack of the ability to calm ourselves that we are meant to learn starting in infancy?)
Build a social...2019-04-1529 minThat's So Second MillenniumEpisode 054 - TSSM Season 2In this episode we roll out a new format for Season 2.
We recap Season 1 (April 2018 - March 2019) and the three focus areas of the podcast so far:
Discussion of the fundamentals of the question whether it's reasonable to believe in both science and the Catholic Christian faith, and some exploration of particular topics, like the role of geology in the interpretation of the book of Genesis.
Review and comments on the speakers at the Society of Catholic Scientists Conference 2018.
Interviews with scientists and scholars living out their Christian faith, many of whom are actively trying to...2019-04-0826 minThat's So Second MillenniumEpisode 053 - Chris Baglow & Jay Martin: beyond faith & science... faith & everything0:00 - The question of relativism vs. hyperrationalism
1:00 - God's love is not a "fact" but, say, hominid ancestry is
1:30 - Tapping into the belief in the rationality of science to bring back belief in reality in faith
2:30 - "Kicking in the back door of relativism"
4:00 - Linkages between theology, philosophy, and science: e.g. logical consistency
5:30 - Effects on the rest of schools that participate in the Science & Religion Initiative
6:30 - Encouragment to integrate, say, history, economics with faith as well
7:00 - Congregation for Sacred...2019-03-3123 minThat's So Second MillenniumBonus Episode - Patricia Bellm: Compartmentalization vs. integrationCompartmentalization by students at Notre Dame
Bill: ethics as a checklist
The Science & Religion Initiative (see Baglow & Martin interview)
The need to get the same message in the biology class and in theology class
The change in the teachers after a few days in the workshop: divisions fade out
It's a challenge having an "athletics" teacher in the program (phys ed)...
Yet there are things: doping and respect of the body
Patricia believes "you become what you eat" applies to violent video games as well2019-03-2806 minThat's So Second MillenniumEpisode 052 - Chris Baglow & Jay Martin: the mission to (re)integrate science & faith0:30 - McGrath Institute for Church Life: Science & Religion Initiative outreach to high school teachers to integrate science & faith
2:00 - Gulf Coast Faith Formation Conference (a good time to be away from Notre Dame)
3:00 - Summer seminars: Foundations Notre Dame, Foundations New Orleans, Capstone
4:00 - Foundations ND: lecture based, top scholars in specific disciplines, with workshops
6:00 - Foundations NO: experimental work and discussions
7:00 - Dialogue between science & theology teachers about their own specialties
8:00 - Capstone: topic-based theme & lecturers; special track for administrators; teaching practices
11:00 - Templeton...2019-03-2533 minThat's So Second MillenniumBonus Episode - Patricia Bellm: Bible interpretationThe Bible as an instrument of getting to tell people what to do
Flood geology and cramming one's ideas into a "literal" reading
Adam and the Genome
2019-03-2103 minThat's So Second MillenniumEpisode 051 - Patricia Bellm: Responsibility and control in science and engineeringWhat do we want to do in this podcast?
Goals for the year
Values of experience, e.g. Mexico: solar ovens from recycled materials
Credit consulting, etc., for exploited women in Mexico
The little estate in Mexico
Back to credit cards & exploitation of ignorance
Responsibility of those to whom much is given
Bringing it around to science
Career and sacrifice and little deaths
Chris, the handicapped man at the ND Center for Social Justice
The ethics of "fixing" or...2019-03-1825 minThat's So Second MillenniumBonus Episode - Patricia Bellm: Miguel from MexicoThe blind man who could see more than his neighbors... asking Patricia about German reunification
The industries that used up his sight
2019-03-1602 minThat's So Second MillenniumEpisode 050 - Craig Lent: decoherence, entropy, and faith0:00 - Three issues: entropy, decoherence, Schrodinger vs. Dirac equations
2:30 - Schrodinger uses a non-relativistic Hamiltonian, with a p^2/2m kinetic energy
3:00 - Dirac equation absorbs special relativity by shifting from scalar to spinor field
4:00 - Quantum field theory as a further extension, accommodating fields that include many particles
5:00 - Field Lagrangian and all the particles and interactions in the Standard Model
6:00 - Even "everyday" gravity is in some sense accommodatable in the theory, just not extreme gravity capable of "separating out the vacuum"
8:00 - Decoherence, not to...2019-03-1134 minThat's So Second MillenniumEpisode 049 - Craig Lent: physics and humanity0:00 - Introduction
1:00 - The power of physicalism/reductionism: a tremendously powerful method
2:00 - Course on physicalism and Catholicism; Sean Carroll's least hysterical "poetic naturalism"
3:00 - The lack of evidence for "emergence" in the sense of "downward causation"
3:30 - Soft and hard emergence
10:15 - Materialism vs. physicalism and reductionism: philosophical materialism
13:00 - Are human beings exhausted by this account of reality?
14:00 - The break with the mechanical universe of 19th century physics underappreciated
15:00 - Laplace's demon
16:30 - Thermodynamics
17:30 - Future...2019-03-0438 minThat's So Second MillenniumBonus Episode - Patricia Bellm: Marriage & canon law2019-02-2807 minThat's So Second MillenniumEpisode 048 - Terry Ehrman: God vs. Godzilla, carmen Dei vs. strepitus naturae0:00 - Science is materialist by method, but scientists need not and should not be materialist by philosophy
2:00 - The world must be real and intelligible for science to make sense
3:00 - And faith provides a philosophical basis that allows this to happen
3:30 - Students' testimony on faith and science
4:30 - Removing the faith/science obstacle is only one step on the road toward faith
5:00 - God vs. Godzilla
6:00 - The true God and His use of secondary causes
11:00 - Creation as carmen Dei (song of...2019-02-2533 minThat's So Second MillenniumEpisode 047 - Terry Ehrman: theology and ecology, respecting the grammar of natures0:00 - Introduction
1:00 - Catholic roots
2:00 - Early sense of vocation
4:00 - Lure of biology and ecology, early experiences in the field
9:00 - Swing to doing theology with reference to ecology rather than ecology with reference to theology
11:00 - Intellectual honesty in philosophy, science, theology
13:30 - Science, Creation, Theology course
15:00 - A theology course with a lab component
19:00 - (Fr. Terry loves basswood trees. They were a go-to example of a specific created type of being.)
20:00 - How does this dragonfly relate to Christ?
22:00 - Despair that can color one's...2019-02-1831 minThat's So Second MillenniumEpisode 046 - Daniel Hinshaw and the frontier between medicine and faithI started off this part of the interview by asking Daniel about his own journey through life and faith. His early love was history, despite having a father who was also a doctor and an academic. His interests only turned to medicine after a time in Peru and exposure to brutal poverty, and then like many of us, he drifted into an academic career. Later in life he has been able to return to that original motivation.
Daniel and his wife were brought up in the Seventh Day Adventist faith, and still greatly respects the grounding in...2019-02-1144 minThat's So Second MillenniumEpisode 045 - Daniel Hinshaw and the human microcosmosToday we start a two-part series with Daniel Hinshaw, a professor emeritus of surgery at the University of Michigan, who has come to focus on palliative care for the dying. He sees his work as having deep roots in the Christian tradition, and has written on the subject of "kenosis" (the Scriptural concept of "emptying" or "reduction" or "wasting away" that is key to our understanding of the Incarnation and the Passion of Jesus Christ) as a useful concept for understanding our own mortality, at the scale of our individual cells as well as our whole composite being.
2019-02-0438 minThat's So Second MillenniumEpisode 044 - The Brain and The Pain of Being HumanIn this episode, we expand on our introduction to the brain by discussing some theories - ranging from well-documented to rather speculative - about the specific structures of the brain that are active (or less active) in situations ranging from autism to depression, stress, and trauma.
At the end we spend a few minutes on a preliminary critique of the materialist reductionary attitude ("interpretation" is too grandiose a word for it) toward brain science by many of its practitioners and reporters. Free will, for example, is not an illusion just because the physical part of t...2019-01-2827 minThat's So Second MillenniumEpisode 043 - Introduction to the BrainIn this episode, we lay out the basic groundwork for future discussions of the human brain.
The brain we humans have apparently evolved in three stages. This can't help but be a tremendous simplification, but it's a commonly encountered statement and seems to have considerable explanatory power.
The lowest part of the brain, the brain stem (the medulla, etc.) and the cerebellum, control unconscious processes, most of which we cannot take into conscious control even if we want to. Often this is called the "lizard" or "reptile brain."
A...2019-01-2132 minThat's So Second MillenniumEpisode 042 - TSSM in 2019, part 2What sense can we make of the ancient and medieval idea that "the soul is the form of the body" in the light of contemporary neuroscience and psychology?
Highlight this idea's differences from Platonic and Cartesian dualism.
History of psychology as a discipline. Psychology has not evolved (a) master paradigm(s) that compel the bulk of the field to adhere to them the way that plate tectonics did for geology, Newtonian classical physics and then quantum and relativity did for physics, etc.
Peace of Soul (Fulton Sheen) remark that psychology has been furtively...2019-01-1454 minThat's So Second MillenniumEpisode 041 - TSSM in 2019Themes we'd like to grapple with in the Year of Our Lord, 2019, and beyond:
Last year was largely about the intellectual challenge leveled by many against religion, and we will continue talking about that as the podcast moves forward.
Paul's mission this year to work through Road to Reality
This year we also want to broaden the scope to include places where religion and faith converge, which means we're going to discuss psychology.
Looking forward to the SCS conference topic for this coming year: what it is, and has b...2019-01-0740 minThat's So Second MillenniumEpisode 040 - Kirby Runyon: Christian planetary scientistI had the chance to have an unofficial interview with Kirby Runyon. (Planetary science is a very publicity-heavy field, and planetary scientists often labor under certain constraints regarding their contact with the media. We avoided mentioning his institutional affiliation to emphasize the point that this interview in no way characterizes any official position by his institution. You can find out where he works, and get access to some of his work, via web search if you are curious, and there's a clue around 13:00 as well.)
We opened the interview with a discussion of Kirby's research on surface...2018-12-311h 08That's So Second MillenniumEpisode 039 - Star of BethlehemIn this episode we try to give a little workshop on thinking for yourself about a thorny passage in the Bible, specifically what we are to make of this star that supposedly influenced the Magi (wizards? astrologers?) from "the east" to come to Jerusalem looking for Jesus.
----more----
Skype had some audio problems for the first few minutes, but it corrected itself after that. Sorry for the poor sound quality there at the beginning.
Our first step is to engage in a little exploration of a common English translation of the Bi...2018-12-2452 minThat's So Second MillenniumEpisode 038 - Jill Pasteris: Uncertainty and Faith0:00 Experience as a Christian scientist
1:00 The billion year contact; awe
2:00 Awe and the vast scale of Earth science
3:00 Discoveries never shake faith
4:00 Evolution, randomness, the shortage of provable things
6:00 The bureaucratic mindset: certainty and judgment
7:00 Yucca Mountain, studtite, and uranyl peroxides (Peter Burns, Karrie-Ann Hughes)
8:00 Uranyl chemistry
9:00 Guy Consolmagno's thought experiment on planetary atmospheres
10:00 Uranyl peroxide buckyballs...
11:00 NOT in the initial fate and transport model for Yucca Mountain
12:00 Real life is lack of certainty
13:00 Where...2018-12-1732 minThat's So Second MillenniumEpisode 037 - Jill Pasteris: Christian scientist3:00 Jill's career
5:00 Finding companionship as Christian scientists (not Christian Scientists...that's different...)
7:00 "Spiritual beings having a human experience"
8:00 Bioapatite; clearing up "loose ends" making a 20 year career arc
9:00 Apatite and phosphate: environment
13:00 Flint, Michigan: lead and protective minerals
14:00 Raman spectroscopy
16:00 Raman on the Mars 2020 rover; Alian Wang
17:00 Laser pointers, cat videos [the brave new world we live in]
18:00 The physics of Raman
19:00 Why lasers and Raman went hand in hand
20:00 Rayleigh vs. Raman scattering
21:00 Raman spectra
22:00 Raman: a (usually) nondestructive technique
23:00 The lecture example and...2018-12-1027 minThat's So Second MillenniumBonus Episode - Nicolaus StenoWe talked about Steno quite a bit over the past several months. Briefly, he was a brilliant observational scientist. Brought up in Lutheran Denmark amid the violence of the seventeenth century, he wandered Europe and won fame as possibly the foremost observational scientist of his day, first in anatomy as a tremendously skilled dissectionist and then, via the bridge of biological fossils, as one of the most important precursor figures of what would become geology in the following two centuries. He laid down, if one can forgive the pun, the laws of geological chronology or stratigraphy (superposition, original horizontality, and...2018-12-0504 minThat's So Second MillenniumEpisode 036 - Anne Hofmeister on Galactic Rotation, Math, and GlassThe times below are continuations from the last episode. My opening is about 1:30, and then we start with galaxy motions at "26:00".
26:00 Galaxy motions
27:00 Galaxy rotation curves: do not match Keplerian orbits
28:00 Galaxies spin more like records (laggy soft records); mass distribution is nothing like the Solar System
29:00 Hurricanes as a better analogy for galaxies
30:00 Stars in a galaxy move in local organization
32:00 Nebulas
34:00 The opposite extreme: rigid body rotation
35:00 Gravitational attraction between stars creating coherence
36:00 Curiosity that gravity and electrical forces...2018-12-0324 minThat's So Second MillenniumEpisode 035 - Anne Hofmeister Shakes Up Earth ScienceTSSM goes heavy: hard-hitting journalism from one of science's great controversialists, Anne Hofmeister. Intrigued? Disagree? Write me an email (giesting@alumni.nd.edu) or look her up at Washington University in St. Louis' EPS department website.
The times below are keyed to the start of the interview and ignore my opening (just over 2 min).
0:00 Introduction
1:00 Anne's background (sorry, this part Anne was talking so quietly that I can't seem to fix it with Audacity, but bear with us; we moved the microphone and figured some things out and it gets better)
2:00...2018-11-2628 minThat's So Second MillenniumEpisode 034 - Stephen Barr on Why to Be a Religious (and Catholic) Scientist~0:00 Question: advice for students
1:00 Don't be afraid to be a religious scientist
2:00 Particular issues
3:00 Keep awake to the wonder of the world
4:00 Bill: ignorance of the common man about both science and religion
5:00 Modern Physics and Ancient Faith
6:00 Christopher Baglow: science and faith textbook
7:00 Church beginning (at long last?) to address the need to catechize & educate about this
Phone ringing can't be excised without gutting Bill's question!
8:00 Media's portrayal of religion as boring and science as exciting
9:00 Science explores the world as it is, but there must be issues...2018-11-1920 minThat's So Second MillenniumEpisode 033 - Stephen Barr on Lemaitre-Hubble Law and the Society of Catholic ScientistsMinute Comment
0:00 Paul introduces
1:00 Bill: Lemaitre announcement
2:00 Lemaitre: faith & science not opposed
3:00 Barr: Lemaitre announcement
4:00 Ignorance of Lemaitre
5:00 Ignorance of the Christian, Catholic origin of science & famous Catholic scientists
6:00 Barr: late 19th century critical period for the forging of the myth of Church as anti-science
7:00 Science only professionalized in the late 19th century, looking for influence
8:00 More famous Catholic scientists
9:00 Mission of the Society of Catholic Scientists; religious people looking askance at scientists, 10:00 Scientists timid about showing their faith...2018-11-1224 minThat's So Second MillenniumEpisode 032 - Science and SaintsIntro: Nobel Prize announcements
Donna Strickland
Nadia Murad
Segue: Lemaitre press release
Transition: the early 20th century golden age from Chesterton to Fulton Sheen
Theme: All Saints Day
Augustine
Isidore
Albert the Great
Roger Bacon
Nicolaus Steno
Gregor Mendel
Georges Lemaitre
Please leave us feedback here by hitting the "Email Paul" link or using the "Facebook" link and commenting or messaging us there.
Image: Braulio of Saragossa and Isidore of Seville...2018-11-0539 minThat's So Second MillenniumRequest for FeedbackWe hope you've enjoyed the podcast so far, and in particular our last two episodes with Guy Consolmagno.
TSSM has been running for over six months now, and we would love to get your feedback on how to make it better:
What topics or approaches have you liked and want more of?
Whom should we seek out for interviews? We definitely are cooking up our own lists, but you can influence us!
What should we do less of?
What about the audio works or bothers you?
Volume (too low, too high, not consistent enough?)
Quality (noise...2018-10-2901 minThat's So Second MillenniumEpisode 031 - Br. Guy Consolmagno: Teaching Science and Human NaturePaul moves from popular books to Br. Guy's 1990s planetary science textbook, Worlds Apart which Paul switched to in 2015, despite its age, precisely because of Br. Guy's explicit acknowledgment that "students want to learn about THE PLANETS." The chapters of the book therefore start with a saga of some planet, and then focus in on some process that is well exemplified on that planet. Other textbooks try to focus on processes and lose ME, let alone my students, most of whom were headed toward high school teaching.
Br. Guy goes on from the subject of his books...2018-10-2929 minThat's So Second MillenniumEpisode 026 - The Rejection of Young Earth Creationism in the 19th Century- Decay and refutation of the Genesis minimalist paradigm for interpreting geology.
- What do contemporary young Earth creationists think happened during this epoch of human history (c. 1700-1830)?
- Do they think about it at all?
- Do they think that it was a conspiracy or open rebellion, a force of will to reject the Bible?
- Late 18th / early 19th century debate over the age of the Earth
- Change in status of fossils of extinct species from a doubted claim to a means of dating strata
- In Steno's time, the fact that...2018-09-2435 minThat's So Second MillenniumEpisode 020 - Bill and Father Spitzer Talk Intellectual Culture and EducationToday was just one of those days where I needed a script to get through a three minute intro. I summarize the interview afterward.
Paul: "Welcome to Episode 20 of That's So Second Millennium.
"I'm Paul Giesting, a geologist, researcher, consultant, writer, and your co-host on this journey through the beautiful frontier country between science, philosophy, and religion as they stand here at the beginning of the third millennium. My opposite number is Bill Schmitt, a journalist, radio personality, and dab hand with the accordion.
"This week Bill managed to snag an interview with...2018-08-1338 min
Find Best-Selling Full Audiobooks in Mystery, Thriller & Horror, HorrorThe Chamber of Doom by William J. WintlePlease visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/255822 to listen full audiobooks. Title: The Chamber of Doom Author: William J. Wintle Narrator: Cathy Dobson Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 0 hours 23 minutes Release date: January 30, 2016 Genres: Horror Publisher's Summary: William James Wintle (1861-1920) was already a recognised writer before he became an Oblate for the Abbey of Caldey Island in Wales. It was there that he wrote a series of horror stories for the entertainment of eight boys who attended the abbey. In the foreword of this collection, Wintle explains that the stories were originally told on Sunday nights while "crouching over a...2016-01-3003 min
Find Best-Selling Full Audiobooks in Mystery, Thriller & Horror, HorrorThe Exorcist by William Peter BlattyPlease visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/244974 to listen full audiobooks. Title: The Exorcist Author: William Peter Blatty Narrator: Alexandra Mathie, Full Cast, Robert Glenister Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 1 hour 55 minutes Release date: October 1, 2015 Ratings: Ratings of Book: 5 of Total 5 Ratings of Narrator: 4.5 of Total 4 Genres: Horror Publisher's Summary: Robert Glenister and Ian McDiarmid star in a gripping BBC Radio 4 dramatisation of William Peter Blatty’s classic horror novel ‘When a radio play is this good, the devil really is in the details’ Radio Times Summoned to a case of apparent possession, Father Karras is at first sceptical, then horrified. The vi...2015-10-0105 min
Find Best-Selling Full Audiobooks in Mystery, Thriller & Horror, HorrorThe Exorcist: Quite possibly the most terrifying novel ever written . . . by William Peter BlattyPlease visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/241351 to listen full audiobooks. Title: The Exorcist: Quite possibly the most terrifying novel ever written . . . Author: William Peter Blatty Narrator: William Peter Blatty Format: Unabridged Audiobook Length: 12 hours 52 minutes Release date: October 30, 2014 Ratings: Ratings of Book: 4.6 of Total 10 Ratings of Narrator: 4.2 of Total 5 Genres: Horror Publisher's Summary: Brought to you by Penguin. THE MOST TERRIFYING NOVEL EVER WRITTEN. THE SCARIEST MOVIE EVER MADE. Father Damien Karras: 'Where is Regan?' Regan MacNeil: 'In here. With us.' The terror begins unobtrusively. Noises in the attic. In the child's room, an odd smell, the...2014-10-3005 min