The Shape of Dialogue
The Shape of Dialogue

The Shape of Dialogue

Michael Goldwater

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Episodes

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The Shape of Dialogue podcast focuses on the foundational principles that make societies function at their best. It initially started with an investigation into free speech, it continues to discuss relevant and interesting topics about our world and how best to navigate through it.

Recent Episodes

Postmodernism, Liberal Values & How To Make A Proper British Cup Of Tea with Helen Pluckrose - The Shape of Dialogue #42
SEP 25, 2025
Postmodernism, Liberal Values & How To Make A Proper British Cup Of Tea with Helen Pluckrose - The Shape of Dialogue #42
https://www.hpluckrose.com/Helen Pluckrose is a British liberal humanist writer and social commentator. She is the co-author with James Lindsay of Cynical Theories, Social (In)justice, as well as her own book, The Counterweight Handbook, about Principled Strategies for Surviving and Defeating Critical Social Justice at Work, in Schools, and Beyond. At university, Helen studied late medieval women's religious writing. Her work now focuses on critiques of postmodernist philosophies, Critical Social Justice scholarship and activism and their negative effects on the humanities and the political left. With James Lindsay and Peter Boghossian, Helen was instrumental in the now famous "Grievance Studies Affair" which exposed the dubious scholarship in academic fields captured by Postmodernism, critical theory and identity politics. They succeeded in publishing a number of fake, hoax papers in academic journals. The project was inspired by Alan Sokal's 1996 hoax paper he published in the academic journal, Social Text.From 2018 to 2021, Helen was the editor-in-chief of Areo, an online magazine focusing on politics, culture, science and art. You can read her current writings on her Substack called The Overflowings of a Liberal Brain - https://substack.com/@helenpluckroseHelen's books - https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B08GSPKP4MHelen's Quillette articles - https://quillette.com/author/helen-pluckrose/Music: Bach B Minor Mass Performed byThe Monteverdi ChoirThe English Baroque SoloistsJohn Eliot Gardiner https://music.apple.com/nz/album/j-s-bach-mass-in-b-minor-bwv-232/1053521016
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81 MIN
What is the best pathway to knowledge? with David Deutsch - The Shape of Dialogue #41
SEP 12, 2025
What is the best pathway to knowledge? with David Deutsch - The Shape of Dialogue #41
https://www.daviddeutsch.org.uk/David Deutsch is a renowned University of Oxford physicist, philosopher, and the "father" of quantum computation. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society, and his work includes fundamental issues in physics, particularly the quantum theory of computation and information, and the new field of constructor theory. In 1985, he proposed a universal quantum computer and went on to make some of the most significant advances in the field, including the discovery of the first quantum algorithms.He is renowned for his theoretical advances, including the theory of quantum logic gates and quantum computational networks, as well as several fundamental quantum universality results. His work set the agenda for subsequent international research efforts in quantum computation.David was awarded the Paul Dirac Prize and Medal by the Institute of Physics in 1998 and he won the Edge of Computation Science Prize in 2005. His books are highly influential. The Fabric of Reality explores the synthesis of ideas uniting Quantum Theory, and the theories of Computation, Knowledge and Evolution. The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World argues that explanations have a fundamental place in the universe and that improving them is the basic regulating principle of all successful human endeavour. He has published many articles and research papers and has presented three TED talks.The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the Worldhttps://www.amazon.com.au/dp/0143121359?ref_=mr_referred_us_au_auThe Fabric of Reality: Towards a Theory of Everythinghttps://www.amazon.com.au/Fabric-Reality-Towards-Everything-Penguin-ebook/dp/B004YB9HVY?ref_=ast_author_dpMusic: Bach B Minor Mass Performed byThe Monteverdi ChoirThe English Baroque SoloistsJohn Eliot Gardiner https://music.apple.com/nz/album/j-s-bach-mass-in-b-minor-bwv-232/1053521016
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83 MIN
Should universities seek truth? with Doug Elliffe - The Shape of Dialogue #40
SEP 6, 2025
Should universities seek truth? with Doug Elliffe - The Shape of Dialogue #40
Douglas Mark Elliffe is a New Zealand academic and Professor of Psychology at the University of Auckland, where he has been affiliated since 1979 as a student and later as faculty. He completed his PhD in Psychology at the university, with a thesis titled "Multiple-schedule performance in closed economies," and joined the academic staff in 1992 to help establish the Psychology programme at the Tāmaki campus. Elliffe's research specialises in the experimental analysis of behaviour, focusing on learning and choice in animals and humans, with a particular interest in reconceptualising reinforcement as a signal guiding future behaviour rather than merely strengthening past actions. He has authored over 84 publications, garnering more than 2,000 citations. Throughout his career, he has held key leadership roles, including Head of the School of Psychology from 2010 to 2013 and Deputy Dean of Science since 2016. In 2021, Elliffe co-authored the now-famous Listener Letter, "In Defence of Science", which argued that Māori indigenous knowledge, while valuable, is not equivalent to science. Professor Elliffe decided to resign from the acting dean position amid the backlash within his department to the "In Defence of Science" letter.Climbing Mount Improbable by Richard Dawkinshttps://www.richarddawkins.com/books/book/climbing-mount-improbable-https://the-shape-of-dialogue.captivate.fmThanks to Guy Quartermain for the videography - https://www.keyframe.co.nz/Music: Bach B Minor Mass Performed byThe Monteverdi ChoirThe English Baroque SoloistsJohn Eliot Gardiner https://music.apple.com/nz/album/j-s-bach-mass-in-b-minor-bwv-232/1053521016
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66 MIN