

Serious Inquiries Only
seriouspod.com
Join Thomas for some critical thinking on questions of science, philosophy, skepticism and politics. These serious topics are discussed with some serious guests, but in an entertaining and engaging way! This is not your typical interview podcast; it's a friendly dialogue, conducted thoughtfully and with plenty of humor. It's Serious Inquiries Only; but like, not boring or anything.
Episodes
Mentioned books

May 28, 2020 • 57min
SIO242: Jane Roe's Deathbed Confession
Jamie and I are on to discuss the pandemic, the attacks on abortion rights coming from the right, and Jane Roe's deathbed conversion. Jamie's links: http://yellowhammerfund.org, http://bwhi.org, http://prochoice.org, http://lilithfund.org, http://prochoicetexas.org, http://teafund.org, http://westfund.org

May 21, 2020 • 1h 1min
SIO241: A Parasitic Review
I recently watched Parasite and was so blown away by it that I wanted to do a review/discussion of the film, and fortunately, Jamie was game! I loved it and there is so much to analyze and enjoy, so we hope you enjoy it along with us. We recommend you watch it first!

May 14, 2020 • 49min
SIO240: Listener Questions, Continued!
We've got questions on politics, philosophy, and more! As always, they lead to a spirited debate.

May 6, 2020 • 55min
SIO239: Listener Questions!
We've got questions on politics, philosophy, and more! As always, they lead to a spirited debate.

Apr 23, 2020 • 45min
SIO238: Skye Cleary on Existentialism and Love
Today we bring you something not at all COVID (or politics) related. We recorded a wonderful interview with Skye Cleary back over a month ago, just before the pandemic changed all our lives. We thought it would be a much needed change of pace. Skye is a philosopher who teaches at Columbia University, and is the author of Existentialism and Romantic Love (Palgrave Macmillan 2015) and co-editor of How to Live a Good Life (Vintage 2020).

Apr 13, 2020 • 1h 4min
SIO237: Dissecting the Primary, with Jamie
Jamie is back! We set out to discuss what happened in the primary and have a spirited debate as well. Some things I mentioned: 538, Vox, Weeds episode.

Apr 11, 2020 • 1h 3min
SIO236: Honestly Evaluating the Biden Accusation
Joe Biden has been accused of sexual assault by Tara Reade, with the alleged incident taking place in 1993 when she worked for him. In my opinion, there has been a tremendous amount of bad faith in how this has been talked about my many outlets. This story has consumed my brain and I haven't been able to think of anything else for a few days, so I have just felt I had to do my best to lend an objective voice to a very charged topic. I know I'm just another privileged dude opining, but I believe I've shown that I take accusations very seriously and am willing to kill my heroes. With all that in mind, what follows is likely convoluted and circuitous, but that's because my feelings on this have been all over the place. I hope you find it useful. Here are the links I reference: Jezebel; Salon, Current Affairs Robinson Piece; Tara Reade Transcript on Current Affairs; Krassensteins Medium; Reade's Medium post; Lucy Flores's Accusation

Apr 9, 2020 • 51min
SIO235: Cardinal Pell Wins on Appeal
It has been about a year since we talked about the charges against Cardinal Pell for sex crimes against minors, and now he has won on appeal to the highest court in Australia. This sounds like terrible news, but Andrew Torrez and Australian lawyer James Rogers are here to break it down for us! It's an Opening Arguments crossover spectacular!

Mar 21, 2020 • 56min
SIO234: Podcasting the Apocalypse
Jamie and I talk about the pandemic.

Mar 12, 2020 • 54min
SIO233: Welp.... Joe Biden.
It's a solo show! We've got a couple Tuesdays' worth of primary results to discuss, and they aren't good for Bernie Sanders. So why is Bernie doing so much worse than in 2016? According to Amanda Marcotte and others, it's maybe due to sexism. I discuss that and other responses to it. I also talk about some mindset changes I've been having, spurred by how awful Twitter has been in this primary and also by the book Politics is for Power, that really has opened my eyes to how many ways politics is merely a hobby and why that's not good.


