Show for Jan. 22, 2012. They Might Be Giants at 30
The last time I spoke to John Flansburgh of They Might Be Giants, it was about the group’s science album for kids. This time we talked about the whole TMBG phenomenon: their beginnings and surprising success, aesthetic aims, being taken seriously while also having fun, and Sleestaks. TMBG turns 30 this year and is about to launch a national tour (1st stop, Santa Cruz) with some retrospective elements. Seemed like a good time to look back on their singular career.
TMBG’s two Johns: Linnell (L) and Flansburgh (R).
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Show for Jan. 15, 2012. The Theory that Changed the Universe: Anthony Aguirre on General Relativity. Pt 2 of 2.
Cosmologist Anthony Aguirre and I continue our jaunt through General Relativity. Last week we presented some of the basics. This week, we talk about the evidence, the impacts and implications, including the cosmological constant, the expanding universe, gravity waves, time dilation, black holes, and spacetime singularities.
- What would it mean for relativity if those recently-reported faster-than-light neutrino observations were confirmed?
- If mass changes spacetime, and the Higgs field gives rise to mass, what is the relation between the Higgs and spacetime?
- A gedankenexperiment: What would happen if you fell through the earth?
- In black holes, space takes on a time-like directionality. Huh?
Show for Jan. 8, 2012. The Theory that Changed the Universe: Anthony Aguirre on General Relativity. Pt 1 of 2.
It was Einstein’s greatest idea, and one of the boldest leaps of scientific imagination ever. Much of what physicists know (or think they know) about space, time and the cosmos depends on it. But General Relativity is usually brushed over in pop sci accounts, because GR is considered too GD difficult for ordinary brains. Even on this scientifically-minded program, we’ve given it pretty cursory treatment. But not this time. I’m devoting two whole shows to the subject with physicist Anthony Aguirre. He’s taught relativity and applies it in his own cosmological research, and does a yeomanly job here of making some very alien concepts approachable.
Included in Pt 1: From Special to General Relativity, gravity reconsidered, the geometry of spacetime, practical implications of GR, and evidence for the theory.
I’m not sure what those equations are behind Anthony Aguirre, but here’s one version of Einstein’s field equation, which we discussed in the program:
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Show for Jan. 1, 2012: The Real Vocal String Quartet (Rebroadcast)
For our New Year’s day we replayed my interview/live recital with the wonderful Real Vocal String Quartet, originally broadcast in Jan 2011. More info here.
Show for Dec. 18, 2011. Guy Deutscher: The Unfolding of Language (Rebroadcast)
Originally aired in Nov. 2010: Linguist Guy Deutscher on why language refuses to stand still, why the language “declinists” are wrong, and why resistance to linguistic change is futile. More info here.
Show for December 11, 2011. Oh, the Machinery!
Yes, people have been fretting that mechanization would render them redundant ever since the early industrial revolution. And though predictions of deep and persistent “technological unemployment” have failed to come true in the past, MIT researchers Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee say this time it’s for real. In their new book, Race Against the Machine, they argue that the current “jobless recovery” is in large part due to advances in machine intelligence and other technologies. I spoke to Erik Brynjolfsson about the problem and some possible fixes. I also played a bit of my 2010 interview with composer David Cope, who’s trained computers to write classical music in the manner of Bach, Beethoven and others. You can listen to that here.
The idea that machines will take our jobs isn’t new, of course. In fact, it was considered pretty hoary by the time of this 1931 article from Modern Mechanix. Read it here.
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Show for Dec. 4, 2011. Hany Farid: Reality in the Age of Photoshop.
Inspired by my recent back-and-forth with Errol Morris on truth and deception in photography, I explored the subject further this week with digital forensics specialist Hany Farid. Hany is an expert on photo fakery and develops tools for detecting whether and how much pictures have been ginned up by, say, advertisers hawking beauty products. He’s testified about the veracity of photos in court cases, uncovered audacious forgeries, and helped authenticate some iconic images. We had a fascinating conversation about the ways digital retouching has altered our relation to photography, sowed confusion in the legal system, altered our body images, and sparked a race between the technologies of authentication (such as Hany develops) and tools for photo manipulation (such as Photoshop).
Which image is the fake? Honest Abe, Lee Harvey Oswald,
Buzz Aldrin and Hany Farid.
Find out the truth about some other famous photos at Hany Farid’s website.
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Show for Nov. 27, 2011. Brian Greene on Black Holes.
First broadcast in Jan. 2009: physicist and master explainer Brian Greene on the space-, time-, and mind-bending properties of black holes. This originally aired as part 1 of a black hole double-header. You can hear the second installment, with the physicist Leonard Susskind, here.
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Show for Nov. 20, 2011. John Brown Reconsidered.
The Pulitzer-winning writer Tony Horwitz has a new book out about anti-slavery crusader John Brown (Midnight Rising: John Brown and the Raid that Sparked the Civil War), and we consider the challenge that Brown still poses for American history. Was Brown right to spill blood fighting slavery? When is violent resistance to manifest inhumanity justified? I talk history and morality with Tony Horwitz, with my friend and John Brown buff Andrea Monroe, and with ethicist Peter Singer.
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Show for Nov. 13, 2011. Joe Sacco: Wide-Eyed In Gaza
Originally broadcast in Jan, 2010: an interview with the prodigious cartoon journalist Joe Sacco. We talked about his career covering conflicts in places like Bosnia and the Palestinian Territories, and his latest book, Footnotes in Gaza. In it, Sacco documents life in Gaza today and investigates an apparent massacre of Palestinians in 1956, when Israel was at war with Egypt.
You can download the MP3 here (if using a Mac, control-click the link and choose “Save Link As…” If using a PC, right-click and choose Save Target As…”)
Show for Nov. 6, 2011: Peter Singer on Ethics in Theory and Practice
Peter Singer may be the world’s best-known ethicist. He’s regarded as the intellectual father of the animal liberation movement and has staked out prominent positions on euthanasia, abortion, the use of military force and economic inequality. We talked about those and other sticky moral questions, as well as Peter’s brand of utilitarianism, which aims to provide a single logical framework for all ethical decision making. Originally broadcast in 2006.
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Show for Oct. 30, 2011. Cognitive Psychologist Steven Pinker on the Decline of Violence
Steven Pinker, celebrated for his books on language and the workings of the mind, ventures into big history with his latest volume, The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined. He presents a truckload of evidence to argue that humans have been getting more peaceful, more cooperative and less murderous, on scales large and small, for quite some time. Among the reasons: civilization really has made us more civil. That might seem a surprising conclusion for a card-carrying evolutionary psychologist, but Pinker hasn’t gone all liberal artsy on us. Historicity has a role to play, he says, but so do biology and game theory.
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Show for Oct. 23, 2011: Filmmaker Errol Morris on Photography and Truth
Errol Morris’s passion for sleuthing dates back at least to his days as a private detective and runs through his work as a documentary filmmaker in movies like The Thin Blue Line and his most recent, Tabloid. In his new book, Believing is Seeing, he turns his magnifying glass on photography. Through close inspection, Morris shows how much photos can mislead, and how much we tend to misread. He and I discussed (and occasionally debated) the veridical nature of photography, the impact of digital retouching and the truth value of his own films. Then, in the second half of the show, an excerpt from my 2009 interview with documentarist Jonathan Stack on his film Iron Ladies of Liberia. It’s about the presidential administration of Liberia’s Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who shared in this year’s Nobel Peace Prize. The film’s title refers to the gutsy resolve of Sirleaf and her female colleagues, not their governing style, which is more velvet glove than iron fist.
Two versions of photographer Roger Fenton’s “Valley of the Shadow of Death” from the Crimean War. In the more famous image at bottom, cannonballs litter the road. In another shot (top), they don’t. Historians have long disputed which is the earlier, more “authentic” image. Errol Morris offers an ingenious solution in Believing is Seeing.
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Show for Oct. 16, 2011. Remembering Frank Kameny
As mentioned in an earlier post, I was saddened to learn this past week that gay rights pioneer Frank Kameny had died. For today’s show I replayed my 2010 interview with Frank, in which he looked back on his life as an activist. This is a somewhat longer cut of the original 2010 broadcast. In part 2 of the show, more on the subject of political activism and the sacrifices it sometimes calls for: an excerpt from a 2009 interview with former track star John Carlos, who talks about the famous black power salute he and fellow medalist Tommy Smith gave at the 1968 Olympic Games.
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Frank Kameny, 1925 - 2011
I just got the unwelcome news that Frank Kameny died yesterday. Frank was an early leader of the gay rights movement in the US, an extremely effective activist, and certainly one of the most important civil liberties trailblazers that most Americans have never heard of. Aware that he’d been staging Fourth of July demonstrations for gay equality as far back as the mid-1960s, I interviewed him on my July 4, 2010 show. He was 85 at the time we spoke, feisty and funny and trenchant as ever. I had hoped to speak to him again. Regrettably, I never got the chance. But I’m grateful for the one conversation we did have, which you can hear below. The interview with Frank starts around the 32-minute mark.
You can download the MP3 here (if using a Mac, control-click the link and choose “Save Link As…” If using a PC, right-click and choose Save Target As…”)
