Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda
Alan Alda
Learn to connect better with others in every area of your life. Immerse yourself in spirited conversations with people who know how hard it is, and yet how good it feels, to really connect with other people – whether it’s one person, an audience or a whole country. You'll know many of the people in these conversations – they are luminaries in our culture. Some you may not know. But what links them all is their powerful ability to relate and communicate. It's something we need now more than ever.
Episodes
Mentioned books
May 12, 2026 • 37min
Julia Minson: Disagreeing agreeably
Julia Minson, a social psychologist at Harvard who studies disagreement and wrote How to Disagree Better, explores how disputes can become constructive. She explains why stories often open minds before facts. She shares concrete habits like acknowledgement, reframing, hedging and curiosity to keep conversations going. Her ballroom dancing spats sparked the research.
5 snips
May 5, 2026 • 36min
Ina Garten: Cooking to connect
Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa famed for approachable entertaining and cookbooks. She treats recipes like experiments, tests dishes until they work, and cooks to create connection. They talk seating and pacing for better conversation, designing one shared meal despite dietary needs, and how food sparks memory and celebration.
Apr 28, 2026 • 36min
Jon LaPook: Empathic medicine
Jon LaPook, CBS News chief medical correspondent and founder of NYU Langone’s Empathy Project, discusses making empathy teachable through films and training. He explores tone and communication limits in text, using AI to analyze patient interactions, and scaling empathy across health systems. Short, vivid stories and practical programs highlight how small acts reshape care and support clinicians.
12 snips
Apr 21, 2026 • 38min
Valerie Fridland: Yes, you have an accent
Valerie Fridland, a linguistics professor and author who studies accents and language, explores how pronunciation reveals hometown, group, social status and ethnicity. She discusses infants tuning to local speech, historical and modern uses of accents for identity, regional accents fading among younger Americans, and how people adopt features to fit in.
Apr 14, 2026 • 37min
David Haskell: When the world burst into bloom
David Haskell, a biologist and author who studies ecology and how flowers shaped life, joins to explore flowering plants' rise and influence. He describes how flowers communicate with sight, scent and electricity. He highlights fruits, grasses, orchids and their roles in ecosystems. He also reflects on close observation, interconnectedness, and how floral life reshaped human evolution.
16 snips
Apr 7, 2026 • 37min
Michael Pollan: The mystery and marvel of consciousness
Michael Pollan, author known for books on food and consciousness, reflects on the nature and value of subjective experience. He surveys theories from neural emergence to panpsychism. Conversations range from plant intelligence and brain organoid ethics to how tech and AI threaten attention. He closes with ways to protect and cultivate inner life.
Mar 31, 2026 • 37min
Edda Fields-Black: The Harriet Tubman you didn’t know
Edda Fields-Black, historian of the U.S. low country and author of a Pulitzer-winning book on Harriet Tubman, tells the little-known story of Tubman’s role in the 1863 Combahee River raid. She recounts planning, the chaotic dawn escapes, how language and Gullah culture shaped communication, the fate of the 756 freed people, and using pension files to restore names and stories.
4 snips
Mar 24, 2026 • 37min
Gary Marcus: Is AI mostly hype?
Gary Marcus, cognitive scientist and author who critiqued modern AI, offers a skeptical take on large language models. He discusses where LLMs fall short, the need for neurosymbolic approaches and durable world models, economic and security risks of unchecked AI access, and concerns about funding and long-term research. Short, pointed reflections on AI’s future and pitfalls.
Mar 17, 2026 • 38min
Shermin Kruse: When empathy becomes a strategy
Shermin Kruse, a law professor and author with roots in neuropsychology and philosophy, shares stories shaped by growing up in Iran. She explores stoic empathy, distinguishing cognitive and emotional empathy. She reveals tactics like silence, affect labeling, accusation positioning, and practices to build calm under threat. The conversation mixes personal anecdotes with practical exercises.
Mar 10, 2026 • 27min
Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda: Season 33 Trailer
Gary Marcus, cognitive scientist warning that current chatbots lack true understanding. Valerie Fridland, linguist who studies accents as social signals. Etta Fields Black, historian recounting Harriet Tubman’s role in the Combahee River Raid. John LePook, physician teaching empathy to clinicians. Sherman Cruz, author sharing stoic empathy techniques from Tehran. They preview conversations on AI limits, accents, rescue history, and empathy in tense moments.
