The Michael Shermer Show
Today: #122 in Science on our combined chart.
Today: #116 in Science, United Kingdom on our combined chart.
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Today: #154 in Science, Australia on our combined chart.
Today: #88 in Science, Mexico on our combined chart.
Today: #99 in Science, New Zealand on our combined chart.
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Latest episodes
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Why Consciousness Needs a Body
October 17, 2026 · 1 hr 20 minWhy does being alive feel like something? Neuroscientist Antonio Damasio argues that the answer begins with the body's need to stay alive. Hunger, thirst, pain, and pleasure tell us how we're doing and push us to act. These basic feelings…
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Racism and White Guilt: Has America Changed More Than We Admit? | Shelby Steele & Eli Steele
October 10, 2026 · 42 minCan fighting racism end up reinforcing it? Shelby Steele grew up under segregation and became a Black militant in the 1960s. Today, he argues that White guilt has created a different racial problem: treating Black Americans as…
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Would You Want to Know If You Were Wrong?
September 28, 2026 · 1 hr 38 minWhat do you make of an experience you can't explain? A strange light in the sky, a book flying off a desk, a coincidence that feels too improbable to be chance? Social psychologist Barry Markovsky joins Michael Shermer to discuss his new…
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Does Consciousness Break the Laws of Physics?
September 22, 2026 · 46 minIf we could explain everything happening in your brain, would there still be something left to explain about you? Physicist Avshalom Elitzur thinks so—and argues that accounting for consciousness may require changing the laws of physics…
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Jared Diamond: How Much Can One Person Change History?
September 15, 2026 · 1 hr 29 minWould World War II have happened without Hitler? Would someone else have built Apple without Steve Jobs? Jared Diamond joins Michael Shermer to ask how much history depends on particular people. From Darwin's discoveries to the rise of…
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Why America Failed to Stop 9/11 | Gerald Posner & Michael Shermer
September 11, 2026 · 43 minHow did 19 hijackers evade the world's most advanced intelligence apparatus despite years of warnings? Twenty-five years after 9/11, journalist Gerald Posner joins Michael Shermer to explain the security failures that left America…
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Why Be Honest When Cheating Pays?
September 9, 2026 · 1 hr 45 minMost of us think of ourselves as honest. But would we still tell the truth if lying got us what we wanted—and nobody would ever find out? Philosopher Christian Miller joins Michael Shermer to discuss his new book The Honesty Crisis and the…
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Is the Future Unknowable? Uncertainty, Free Will, and the Limits of Science
September 1, 2026 · 1 hr 24 minWhat if uncertainty isn't a temporary problem science will eventually solve, but a fundamental feature of reality? Neuroscientist Stuart Firestein joins Michael Shermer to make the case that the universe may be far less deterministic—and…
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Why We Want to Believe in Aliens and Why We Still Haven't Found Them
August 25, 2026 · 1 hr 14 minUFOs were once the stuff of tabloids and conspiracy theories. Today they're the subject of congressional hearings, Pentagon investigations, mainstream news coverage, and a new wave of claims about government cover-ups and alien technology…
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Is There a Second Arrow of Time? A New Law of Evolution, Information, and Complexity
August 18, 2026 · 1 hr 18 minWhy does the universe produce ever more elaborate forms, from atoms and minerals to cells, organisms, brains, technology, and civilization? The familiar laws of physics can explain much of what happens in nature, but Robert Hazen and…
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Why Good People Disagree About Right and Wrong
August 11, 2026 · 1 hr 57 minWhy do reasonable people disagree so strongly about right and wrong? And why are we so quick to assume that people on the other side of a moral or political issue are irrational, selfish, ignorant, or simply bad? Michael Shermer speaks…
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Are We Building a God? AI, Superintelligence, and the Coming Singularity
August 5, 2026 · 1 hr 23 minRobert Wright joins Michael Shermer to discuss his new book, The God Test: Artificial Intelligence and Our Coming Cosmic Reckoning, and why he thinks the AI revolution may be moving much faster than most people realize. Wright argues that…

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