Tangentially Speaking with Christopher Ryan

Dr. Tanya Luhrmann is a psychological anthropologist best known for her studies of modern-day witches, charismatic Christians, and psychiatrists. She is Watkins University Professor in the Anthropology Department at Stanford University. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe

My pal, Richard has a talent for noticing where the trends of our society are headed, which makes him a very astute businessman and investor—as well as a fascinating and thoughtful observer of larger civilizational trends. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe

Go on. Google "total assfucker" and see if you don't see an article about this week's guest. If that's not enough to impress you, Mark is a guy who's spent his life in the trenches of American politics and hasn't lost his sense of humor or optimism. Don't ask me how that's even possible, but there you go. As you'll hear, I really enjoyed shooting the shit with Mark and hope to do it again soon. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe

Steve Herman consults with legal professionals to help them think more clearly about an issue that all too often blinds even the most level-headed among us with blind rage: allegations of sexual abuse of children. Precisely because these crimes are so offensive to people in our society, we tend to jump to conclusions, often hurting many innocent people in the process—including children. This isn't an easy thing to talk about, but Steve does it with intelligence, balance, and a deep sense of humanity.  This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe

In which I decide to live in New York City and wander into a solid gold trap. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe

Dan is a cigar-smoking vegan, animal rights activist, atheist, NRA hating, ex-husband, father, stand-up comedian, painter, former host of FOX TV’s “Utopia,” philosophizing cartoonist who makes his living writing and drawing a new cartoon every day, 365 days a year.If you have ever seen Dan Piraro’s critically acclaimed comic Bizarro (and you have: it is published daily in over 360 papers), you know that he doesn’t see the world like the rest of us do. His single panel gems are a unique concoction of surrealistic imagery, social commentary, and witty plays on words. Indeed, if Salvador Dali, Garry Trudeau and Oscar Wilde had an illegitimate child, that child would be Dan Piraro.(Bio from Dan's site.) This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe

Peter Gray is an American psychologist who currently occupies the position of research professor of psychology at Boston College. He is the author of a widely used introductory psychology textbook, Psychology, now in its sixth edition. The book broke new ground when the first edition was published (in 1991) as the first general introductory psychology textbook that brought a Darwinian perspective to the entire field. He is also author of Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life (Basic Books, 2013), and he writes a popular blog for Psychology Today magazine entitled "Freedom to Learn."Gray is a well-known critic of our standard educational system who is frequently invited to speak to groups of parents, educators, and researchers about children’s needs for free play, the psychological damage inflicted on children through our present methods of schooling, and the ways in which children are designed, by natural selection, to control their own education. Along with a group of other concerned citizens, he has created a website, AlternativesToSchool.com, aimed at helping families find alternative, more natural, routes to education. (From the Wikipedia profile of Peter) This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe

PHIL ZUCKERMAN is a professor of sociology and secular studies at Pitzer College in Claremont, California. He is an author and blogs for Psychology Today and the Huffington Post. In 2011 Zuckerman founded an interdisciplinary Department of Secular Studies at Pitzer College, the first in the nation.Get Phil's book on Amazon.  This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe

Jesse has published books about sexuality and the biological underpinnings of religious belief. He's a research psychologist with broad experience, a wide open mind, and finely honed wit. We talk God, chimps, and why the penis is shaped that way.Music: http://sailcassady.bandcamp.com/releases and http://manmadelake.bandcamp.com/ This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe

Dr. John Gowdy is Rittenhouse Teaching Professor of Humanities and Social Sciences in the Department of Economics at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. We discuss the social and economic lives of hunter gatherers, among other things. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe