Converging Dialogues

Épisodes

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  #501 - The Origin of Sex: A Dialogue with Lixing Sun 28.07.2026 1h 9min

  In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Lixing Sun about the origins of sex in many species. They discuss the origins of sex, asexual reproduction, sexual reproduction, and “flip-flopping.” They discuss large and small gametes, varieties of biological sex, Dawkins and the selfish gene, sex chromosomes, changing sex, intersex, mate choice and mate competition, sexual identity, and many more topics. Lixing Sun is a distinguished research professor at Central Washington University and a 2024–2025 Radcliffe fellow at Harvard University. He is author of The Liars of Natureand the Nature of Liars, The Fairness Instinct, and On the Origin of Sex. Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe
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  #500 - Gerontocracy In America: A Dialogue with Samuel Moyn 12.07.2026 1h 13min

  In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Samuel Moyn about gerontocracy in America. They discuss how we live in a gerontocracy, coalitions, older institutions, avoiding ageism, oligarchies, elites and democracy, long term view, abundance, and many more topics. Samuel Moyn is Chancellor Kent Professor of Law and History at Yale University. He has his law degree from Harvard University and his PhD in modern European history from University of California, Berkeley. He is fellow at Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft and has received fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies, the Berggruen Institute, and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. His main interests are in international law, human rights, and 20th century European moral and political theory. He was recently named one of Propsect Magazine’s top thinkers in the world for 2024. He is the author of numerous books including, Liberalism Against Itself: Cold War Intellectuals and the Making of our Times, and the most recent book, Gerontocracy in America: How the old are hoarding power and wealth and what to do about it. Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe
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  #499 - Why Nothing Works: A Dialogue with Marc Dunkelman 05.07.2026 1h 12min

  In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Marc Dunkelman about progressives and policy ideas for growth. They discuss shared interests of collective and individual interests, progressives on big ideas, Hamiltonian and Jeffersonian progressive styles, pragmatic institutionalism, new ideas in the 21st century, elites, visionary leadership, and many more topics. Marc J. Dunkelman is a resident scholar at the Searchlight Institute and a fellow at Brown University’s Watson School for International and Public Affairs. During more than a decade working in politics, he worked for Democratic members of both the Senate and the House of Representatives. The author of The Vanishing Neighbor, Dunkelman’s work has appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Financial Times, The Boston Globe, and Politico. He is the author of the latest book, Why Nothing Works: Who killed progress and how to bring it back. Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe
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  #498 - The Invention of Yesterday: A Dialogue with Tamim Ansary 28.06.2026 1h 24min

  In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Tamim Ansary about a global history of humans through time. They discuss the main theme of interconnectedness, language, symbols, and culture, origins and nomadic peoples, early trading, rise of city states, religion and belief systems, the Crusades, Mongol Empire, Ottoman Empire, colonialism, empires and nation states, and many more topics. Tamim Ansary is the author of many books, including Destiny Disrupted and The Invention of Yesterday. He has published essays and commentary in the San Francisco Chronicle, Salon, the Los Angeles Times, and more. Born in Afghanistan in 1948, he moved to the US in 1964. He lives in San Francisco. Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe
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  #497 - The Sleepless Ape: A Dialogue with David Samson 21.06.2026 1h 45min

  In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Davis Samson on the evolution of sleep. They discuss various sleep misconceptions, why we need sleep, stages of sleep, and the physiological and social aspects of sleep. They also talk about the evolution of circadian rhythms, napping, evolutionary differences, dreams, paleo sleep, and many more topics. David R. Samson is associate professor of evolutionary anthropology at the University of Toronto and the author of Our Tribal Future: How to Channel Our Foundational Human Instincts into a Force for Good. His pioneering research has been featured in National Geographic, Time, and The New York Times and on NPR and the BBC. He is the author of the latest book, The Sleepless Ape: The story of sleep in human evolution. Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe
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  #496 - The Weimar Republic: A Dialogue with Katja Hoyer 18.06.2026 1h 2min

  In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Katja Hoyer about the Weimar Republic. They give an overview of the Weimar Republic, voting and role of economics, major figures, how Hitler won his election, Nazi rule under Weimar Republic, negative views against Jews, Weimar after World War II, and many more topics. Katja Hoyer is a historian and journalist who is visiting research fellow at King’s College London and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. She is also Global Opinions contributing columnist for The Washington Post. Her main research area is the history of modern Germany. She is the author of Blood and Iron: The Rise and Fall of the German Empire 1871-1918 , Beyond the Wall: A History of East Germany , and the most recent book, Weimar: Life on the edge of catastrophe. Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe
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  #495 - Rumination and Rumblings of the Mind: A Dialogue with Donna Jackson Nakazawa 11.06.2026 1h 4min

  In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Donna Jackson Nakazawa about rumination. They define rumination, talk about belonging, the Default Mode Network, MIST framework, therapy, various techniques, and many more topics. Donna Jackson Nakazawa is the author and writer of many books that explore the intersection of neuroscience, immunology, and emotion, including The Angel and the Assassin, named one of the best books of 2020 by Wired magazine, and Childhood Disrupted, which was a finalist for the Books for a Better Life Award. Her work has appeared in Wired, Stat, The Boston Globe, The Washington Post, Health Affairs, Parenting, AARP Magazine, and Glamour, and has been featured on the cover of Parade and in Time; she has appeared on Today, NPR, NBC News, and ABC News. Jackson Nakazawa is also the creator and founder of the narrative writing-to-heal program Your Healing Narrative: Write-to-Heal with Neural Re-Narrating.™ She is a regular speaker at universities, including the Harvard Division of Science Library Series, Johns Hopkins University, and the University of Arizona. Her recent book, Mind Drama: The science of rumination and how to outwit your inner defeatist. Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe
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  #494 - Contested Continent: A Dialogue with Peter C. Mancall 07.06.2026 1h 6min

  In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Peter Mancall about the early years of North America. They discuss what is America, importance of Maize and landscape of pre-Columbian America, Native Peoples in the middle of the 15th century, Norse discoveries, Columbus, French in Canada, Cortes in Mexico, British involvement, religion, slavery, and the legacy of early North American history. Peter C. Mancall is Distinguished Professor; the Andrew W. Mellon Professor of the Humanities; Professor of History, Anthropology, and Economics; and the Linda and Harlan Martens Director of the USC-Huntington Early Modern Studies Institute. He is an elected fellow of the Society of American Historians and the Royal Historical Society and an elected member of the American Antiquarian Society and the Colonial Society of Massachusetts. He was the Harmsworth Professor of American History at Oxford University in the 2019-2020 academic year. He is the author of many books, including the recent book, Contested Continent: The struggle for North America, c. 1000-1680. Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe
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  #493 - Athens & Sparta: A Dialgoue with Adrian Goldsworthy 02.06.2026 1h 33min

  In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Adrian Goldsworthy about the history of Athens and Sparta. They provide an overview of Athens and Sparta, Aegean history, and city-states in Ancient Greece. They talk about why tyranny did not work in these early city-states, Persian War with Greece, Peloponnesian War, Alexander the Great, legacies of Athens and Sparta, and many more topics. Adrian Goldsworthy is a historian and author. He has his DPhil from Oxford University and has conducted research at Cardiff University and taught at King’s College London and University of Notre Dame. He is the author of numerous books on Roman history. Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe
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  #492 - The Life of George Washington: A Dialogue with H.W. Brands 26.05.2026 1h 8min

  In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with H.W. Brands about the life of George Washington. They discuss Washington as an enigma, his social and political statue, his upbringing and temperament, and his relationship with his wife and his relationship with slavery. They also talk about Washington as a general, as president, and the legacy of Washington.H. W. Brands holds the Jack S. Blanton Sr. Chair in History at the University of Texas at Austin. He has written more than a dozen biographies and histories, including The General vs. the President, a New York Times bestseller. Two of his biographies, The First American and Traitor to His Class, were finalists for the Pulitzer Prize. He is the author of the latest book, American Patriarch: The life of George Washington. Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe
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  #491 - Boundaries of Belonging in the Ottoman Empire: A Dialogue with Ayşe Baltacıoğlu-Brammer 18.05.2026 1h 27min

  In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Ayşe Baltacıoğlu-Brammer about belonging among various ethnic and religious groups in the early and middle Ottoman period. They discuss the landscape of religious and sectarian divides in the early Ottoman Empire, Turkic origins of the Safavids and Sufis, the Qizilbash, and various sociocultural variables. They talk about immigration between the Safavids and the Ottomans, the Safavid’s turn from Sufi to Shia, Qizilbash documents and Ottoman surveillance, remnants today, and many more topics. Ayşe Baltacıoğlu-Brammer is Assistant Professor of History and Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies & Steering Committee Chair of the Ottoman Studies Initiative (OTS-NYU) at New York University. She has her PhD from The Ohio State University. She specializes in Middle Eastern history, with a focus on early modern Ottoman and Safavid Empires. She is the author of the book, Boundaries of Belonging: Sectarianism and Statecraft in the Early Modern Ottoman Empire. Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe
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  #490 - A New History of Europe: A dialogue with Roderick Beaton 10.05.2026 1h 45min

  In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Roderick Beaton about the history of Europe. They discuss how Europe is defined, origins of Europe from ancient Greece, the Roman Empire, Turkey, European history as Christian history, Europe during WWI and WWII, the European Union, and the future of Europe. Roderick Beaton is a professor emeritus at King’s College London. He has written several books on Greek and European history, including The Greeks and Greece: Biography of a Modern Nation, which was shortlisted for the Cundill History Prize. He is the four-time winner of the prestigious Runciman Award, and in 2024 was knighted by King Charles III “for services to History.” He is the author of the latest book, Europe: A New History. Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe
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  #489 - Four Billion Years of Life on Earth: A Dialogue with Andrew Knoll 05.05.2026 1h 11min

  In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Andrew Knoll about the four billion years of life on earth. They discuss geobiology, carbon and the carbon cycle, nitrogen and phosphorus, sulfur, and metals in the human body. They also talk about plate tectonics, habitability, minerals, climate change, life on other planets, and the future of life on earth. Andrew Knoll is the Fisher Research Professor of Natural History and Earth and Planetary Sciences, Emeritus, at Harvard University. He is the recipient of the International Prize for Biology and the Crafoord Prize in Geosciences and member of the National Academy of Sciences. His books include A Brief History of Earth: Four Billion Years in Eight Chapters and Life on a Young Planet: The First Three Billion Years of Evolution on Earth, and the most recent, Earth and Life: A four billion year conversation. Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe
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  #488 - A New History of the Ancient Maya: A Dialogue with David Stuart 27.04.2026 1h 21min

  In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with David Stuart about the ancient Maya. They provide an overview of the Maya, Mayan language, beginnings of the Mayan civilization, Mayan creation myth, early collapse of the ancient Maya, dynasties in the classic Mayan period, Teotihuacán, the four heavens, Spanish conquest, and many more topics. David Stuart is the David and Linda Schele Professor of Mesoamerican Art and Writing and director of the Mesoamerica Center at the University of Texas at Austin. His books include Palenque: Eternal City of the Maya, The Order of Days: Unlocking the Secrets of the Ancient Maya, Spearthrower Owl: A Teotihuacan Ruler in Maya History, and the most recent, The Four Heavens: A New History of the Ancient Maya. He is the youngest person ever to be awarded a MacArthur Fellowship. Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe
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  #487 - In Praise of Addiction: A Dialogue with Elizabeth F. S. Roberts 20.04.2026 1h 9min

  In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Elizabeth F. S. Roberts talk about different ways of thinking about addiction. They define addiction, substance and control, considerations on whether dependency is maladaptive, individual decisions, cultural distinctions, loneliness and substances, and many other topics. Elizabeth F. S. Roberts is professor of anthropology at the University of Michigan. Since 2013, she has participated in collaborative environmental health research in Mexico City. She is the author of the latest book, In Praise of Addiction. Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe
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  #486 - Adventures in the Louvre: A Dialogue with Elaine Sciolino 14.04.2026 59min

  In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Elaine Sciolino about the Louvre. They discuss the allure of the Louvre, history of the Louvre, the Mona Lisa, Nike, and stolen artifacts. They discuss Persian art, Pyramid of the Louvre, the Louvre at night, sexism in the Louvre, first time and returning visitors, and many more topics. Elaine Sciolino is a contributing writer and former Paris bureau chief for The New York Times, based in Paris since 2002. Her latest book, Adventures in the Louvre: How to Fall in Love with the World’s Greatest Museum, is now out in paperback. In 2025, it was named an Economist best book of the year, a Smithsonian Magazine best travel book, a New York Observer best art book, and a Library Journal best book of the year. Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe
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  #485 - Augustus: The First Emperor of Rome: A Dialogue with Adrian Goldsworthy 06.04.2026 1h 10min

  In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Adrian Goldsworthy about Augustus. They provide an overview of Augustus, his upbringing, his rise to power, early rule, transition from Republic to Empire, his rule as emperor, his legacy, and many more topics. Adrian Goldsworthy is a historian and author. He has his DPhil from Oxford University and has conducted research at Cardiff University and taught at King’s College London and University of Notre Dame. He is the author of numerous books on Roman history. Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe
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  #484 - Borderlands of Bukovina: A Dialogue with Cristina Florea 22.03.2026 1h 30min

  In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Cristina Florea about Bukovina. they provide an overview of Bukovina, ethnic makeup, Hapsburgs and Austrian-Hungarian Empire. They also talk about Moldova, the Orthodox Church, Jewish population, identity, Romania during World War II, Communism in Romania, Bukovina in present day, and many more topics. Cristina Florea is a historian and assistant professor of history at Cornell University. Her work is on Central and Eastern Europe, with a focus on the interactions between German and Russian power (their competition for territory and influence) across this space, as well as the consequences these interactions have had for the people living in between. Her work explores questions such as the relationship between nationalism and empire, the importance of imperial legacies in modern European history, and the centrality of imperial competition to East European politics and societies. She is the author of the book, Bukovina: The Life and Death of an East European Borderland. Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe
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  #483 - The Paradox of the Organism: A Dialogue with Arvid Ågren & Manus Patten 18.03.2026 1h 8min

  In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Arvid Ågren and Manus Patten about internal conflicts within organisms. They provide an overview of the paradox of the organism, clinical examples of cancer and pregnancy, direct, indirect, and inclusive fitness. They talk about cooperation within an organism, conflict, transmission and trait distorters, price equation, conflict awareness, neo-Darwinian embryology, biology of selfhood, and many more topics. J. Arvid Ågren is Assistant Professor at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University and Affiliated Researcher at the Evolutionary Biology Centre at Uppsala University. He is the author of The Gene’s-Eye View of Evolution.Manus M. Patten is an evolutionary biologist whose research explores the consequences of conflict, both for organisms and for evolutionary theory. He is Teaching Professor in Biology at Georgetown University. They are co-editors of the book, The Paradox of the Organism: Adaptation and Internal Conflict. Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe
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  #482 - Gender/Sex and Sexual Configurations Theory: A Dialogue with Sari van Anders 15.03.2026 1h 8min

  In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Sari van Anders about gender/sex and sexual configurations theory. They talk about the sex binary and understanding a wider landscape, gender/sex, sexual configurations theory, endocrine system and hormones, neural correlates of hormones, mental health challenges, future of gender/sex research, and many more topics. Sari van Anders teaches at Queen’s University as the Canada 150 Research Chair in Social Neuroendocrinology, Sexuality, and Gender/Sex, and Professor of Psychology, Gender Studies, and Neuroscience. Her work and lab has been recognized with over 80 awards, including the Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award from the Society for the Psychology of Sexual Orientation & Gender Diversity, the APS Janet Taylor Spence Award for Transformative Early Career Contributions, as well as election to the Royal Society of Canada. Get full access to Converging Dialogues at convergingdialogues.substack.com/subscribe