Science writer David Robson talks about his book, The Intelligence Trap. It’s a brilliantly written and researched book about how the cleverest people in the world…are often the ones who make the biggest mistakes. Which is why I never make any errors!Join me on at 8pm GMT Thursday 18th March 2021 in a free chat room (no sign up etc needed!): https://discord.gg/RWH7fs6ygbDavid Robson Links:https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-robson-5761791btwitter.com/d_a_robsonBuy The Intelligence Trap https://davidrobson.me/ Andrew Gold Links:http://twitter.com/andrewgold_okhttp://instagram.com/andrewgold_okhttp://patreon.com/andrewgoldhttp://andrewgold.meI really learned a lot from the book. It seems that the more intelligent among us – if we define intelligence by IQ and proficiency in certain subjects – are so smart that they’re able to create convincing arguments as to why their beliefs must be correct. It's why some clever people are proponents of flat earth theory, astrology or just basic religious beliefs. David tells some fascinating stories about Einstein and Sherlock writer Arthur Conan Doyle, and talks about how we can focus more on things like wisdom and curiosity to prevent the intelligence trap.We speak about how to argue with someone who has opposing views to us without getting heated or emotional. We look at examining our own cognitive biases, chat about the grisly end to the life of Socrates and think about the pictures of fairies with drawing pins in their navels that Arthur Conan Doyle mistook – using his famed powers of deduction – for belly buttons – showing fairies are born and give birth.David studied maths at Cambridge University, and has written for the BBC, New Scientist, The Atlantic and many other top publications. His book has been acclaimed, and when I mentioned it on Twitter the other day, one of my favourite writers, Will Storr, tweeted his own admiration for it.
Today, I’m speaking with Sadia Hameed, a spokesperson for the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain. Having grown up in England, Sadia was tricked in her teens into moving to Pakistan, where she was abused, starved and tortured, while her family out there tried to work out whether she had slept with a white man.
Come to my old-fashioned chatroom on Thursday at 8pm GMT (noon in California): https://discord.gg/RWH7fs6ygb. It's free and no need to sign up! Hello, and welcome to another episode of On the Edge with Andrew Gold. Today, I’m talking – well actually I spoke to him a couple of weeks ago – to comedian Andrew Doyle, who has just released his new book Free Speech. It’s a modern manifesto on why free speech is so important, and how even extremely offensive speech should be protected. Andrew Doyle Links:https://twitter.com/andrewdoyle_comhttps://twitter.com/TitaniaMcGrathhttps://www.amazon.co.uk/Free-Speech-Why-Matters/dp/034913538XAndrew Gold Links:http://patreon.com/andrewgoldhttp://twitter.com/andrewgold_ok http://instagram.com/andrewgold_ok It’s a really beautifully written essay, which draws on the history of free speech and how it is being eroded from all sides bit by bit. We’re all aware that history seems to go in cycles and you never know when you’re next going to be under some sort of authoritarian regime. According to Andrew, it rarely comes from the place you expect it, and he believes we’re very much at risk right now from the censors on the Left, although he is politically Left himself. In his book and on the podcast, Andrew speaks of former essays, such as John Stuart Mill’s On Liberty in 1859, and John Milton’s 1644 Areopagitica. Andrew was also a teacher and writers about all sorts of things, but you may know him as both the creator of fictional angry news reporter Jonathan Pie – although he is not the actor who plays him – and fictional twitter profile Titania McGrath. Titania is a fake creation who tweets to parody the beliefs and actions of critical race theorists or virtue signallers. Her Twitter bio reads: Activist. Healer. Radical intersectionalist poet. Nonwhite. Ecosexual. Pronouns: variable. Selfless and brave. Buy my books.Today, we are going to talk mostly about Andrew and his book. On the day I spoke to him, he had just come under a barrage of abuse from his critics, because he had blocked some of them in anticipation of the book. They believed it was ironic for an author a book on free speech to block those who opposed the book – and Andrew countered that, if they believed that, they had a poor understanding of free speech. Part of free speech is not having to listen to someone.We speak about the pressure of getting all that flack all the time on Twitter – people accusing him of absolutely every form of bigotry. I ask him what it’s like to be a gay man being accused so often of homophobia. And we talk freely about free speech.
Josh talks getting blown up by ISIS and investigating a woman who took her family to live with them in Syria.
Justin Brooks is the co-founder of the California Innocence Project, which is a non-profit that is part of the California Western School of Law in San Diego.Catch me (plus maybe Justin) on Discord on Thursday 11th Feb at 8pm GMT (Noon in California). Here's the link:https://discord.gg/RWH7fs6ygb Justin Links:http://twitter.com/justinobrookshttp://instagram.com/justinobrookshttps://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Public-Figure/Justin-Brooks-160642841283018/http://californiainnocenceproject.orgAndrew Links:http://twitter.com/andrewgold_okhttp://instagram.com/andrewgold_okhttp://andrewgoldpodcast.comhttp://facebook.com/ontheedgewithandrewgoldhttp://youtube.com/andrewgold1http://patreon.com/andrewgold- for bonus content!They do the most remarkable work, which is to provide pro-bono legal services to exonerate wrongly convicted inmates. I can’t think of much worse than being put in prison for decades, no hope of parole, when you didn’t even commit the crime for which you’re there. It...
Nikole Mitchell recently made headlines around the world, when she went from being a Baptist pastor to an OnlyFans stripper, often posing nude for her paying subscribers for photos and also helping them with life coaching. Today, she talks to me about what it was like growing up in a religious Southern Baptist community, how she spent many frustrated years celibate, before taking the plunge and waking up as a new convert to the religion of sexy photos.Come chat to us on Discord on Thursday 11th Feb at 8pm GMT (Noon CA, 3pm NY, 9pm Germany and ... very early in Australia - sorry!). Free to use, so pop by and just say hi, it'll be my first time on it. Here's the link:https://discord.gg/ztymPF4S5GNikole Links:https://nikolemitchell.com/OnlyFans.com/nikolemitchellhttps://www.facebook.com/nikole.s.mitchell/https://twitter.com/MitchellNikolehttps://www.instagram.com/mitchellnikoleAndrew Links:http://twitter.com/andrewgold_okhttp://instagram.com/andrewgold_okhttp://andrewgoldpodcast.comhtt...
Nimko Ali is on the show today to talk about Female Genital Mutilation or FGM. I planned this episode to appear now, as I saw it’s International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation on February 6th, and it’s something I wanted learn about. I’d often heard about FGM but didn’t actually know all that much about it. Was it a religious custom or a cultural tradition, or simply a barbaric act carried out on girls by some patriarchal groups. It appears to be the latter.Nimko Links:Book - What we're told not to talk about: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rude-There-Such-Thing-Over-Sharing/dp/024129262XFive Foundation: https://www.thefivefoundation.org/Twitter: https://twitter.com/NimkoAliInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/nimkoali/Andrew Links:Patreon.com/andrewgoldtwitter.com/andrewgold_okinstagram.com/andrewgold_okfacebook.com/ontheedgewithandrewgoldIn any case, Nimko is of Somali heritage and was herself cut as a child. She is the co-founder of the Five Foundation, so make...
Today’s guest is quite possibly the most bad-ass, to borrow an American expression and pronunciation, person I’ve had on the podcast. Professor Sue Black is a distinguished forensic anthropologist and dame from Inverness, Scotland. She’ll explain exactly what that is, but she is the President of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, and a leading professor at Lancaster University. As an expert in human anatomy, she took two tours of Iraq, worked on the Thai Tsunami Victim Identification of bodies operation, and speaks of how she waded through piles of melted dead corpses in Kosovo. Anecdote after anecdote, she had me absolutely floored, and appreciative that there are people like her doing the work they do, because I sure as hell couldn’t, and we couldn’t function as a society with them.Sue Links:Twitter:https://twitter.com/profsueblackWritten in Bone book:https://www.amazon.co.uk/Written-Bone-hidden-stories-behind-ebook/dp/B084KJBPZBAndrew Links:Twi...
Hello, and welcome to an episode of On the Edge with Andrew Gold with today’s guest, award-winning science author and TV presenter Dr. Stuart Farrimond, who’ll be talking about how to live the perfect day, from your sleep and your coffee in the morning, to your work habits and commutes, and your exercise and evening routine.Stuart LinksBuy the Science of Living Book (UK): https://amzn.to/2XjVmRuBuy the Live Your Best Life Book (N America): https://amzn.to/3boCHMuSurviving Terminal Cancer by Ben Williams: https://www.survivingterminalcancer.com/Twitter: https://twitter.com/RealDoctorStuInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/realdoctorstu/?hl=en Andrew LinksSupport the show on patreon.com/andrewgoldFollow me on Twitter.com/andrewgold_okFollow me on Instagram.com/andrewgold_okSee podcast video clips on Youtube.com/andrewgold1Stuart is talking about the themes of his book, The Science of Living: 219 reasons to rethink your daily routine. In the US and probably Canada, it’s known as Liv...
I’m delighted to welcome onto the show the pre-eminent human rights activist and ex-MuslimYasmine Mohammed. She’s the creator of the #FreeFromHijab hashtag and the founder of the Free Hearts Free Minds organisation that helps ex-Muslims transition out of Islam, a little like what Episode 3’s guest Emily Green does for Orthodox Jews. Links to her website, as well as her bookUnveiled: How Western Liberals Empower Radical Islamand her social media pages, in the show notes.Yasmine Links:Free Hearts Free Minds Organisation:www.freeheartsfreeminds.comYas on Twitter:https://twitter.com/YasMohammedxxUnveiled: How Western Liberals Empower Radical Islam:https://www.waterstones.com/book/unveiled/yasmine-mohammed/9781999240530Andrew Links:Twitter:http://twitter.com/andrewgold_okPatreon:http://patreon.com/andrewgoldInsta:http://instagram.com/andrewgold_okWebsite:http://andrewgoldpodcast.comAs you’ll hear, I mention Hasidic Judaism and Catholicism a few times in the discussion, partly as a re...