ON WISDOM podcast goes live May 2018
From rumblings started in Chicago last summer, Charles Cassidy from Evidence-Based Wisdom and Igor Grossmann from the University of Waterloo have joined forces to launch a brand new podcast on the science of wisdom: The On Wisdom Podcast.
Please find full details below:
The On Wisdom podcast features a social scientist in Toronto and an educator in London discussing the latest empirical science regarding the nature of wisdom.
Igor Grossmann runs the Wisdom & Culture Lab at the University of Waterloo in Canada. Charles Cassidy runs the Evidence-Based Wisdom project in London, UK.
The podcast thrives on a diet of freewheeling conversation on wisdom and decision-making, and includes regular guests spots with leading behavioural scientists from the field of wisdom research and beyond.
Welcome to The On Wisdom Podcast.
Click here to visit the On Wisdom Podcast site.
Click here to get to the podcast through iTunes.
Click here to subscribe to the podcast through your chosen app.
The first three episodes are now available here:
Episode 1: Wisdom vs Intelligence
What’s the difference between someone who’s smart and someone who’s wise? If you can you be intelligent without being wise, can you be wise without also being intelligent? If wisdom’s so essential for taking good decisions, what’s driving our exclusive obsession with intelligence? And which is really more helpful in our daily lives? Igor describes some surprising fighter-plane-based scenarios when wisdom is as useless as intelligence and Charles explains how open-ended questioning in the classroom comes with its own unique set of risks. Welcome to Episode 1 of the On Wisdom podcast.
Episode 2: The Paradox of Ageing
Does wisdom really come with age? Or is this an outdated myth from a bygone era? How might wisdom develop in a brain that’s ageing? Or perhaps by ‘age’, are we really talking about ‘experience’? If so, do all experiences lead to wisdom, or only bad ones? If old people can be foolish, can young people ever be wise? And how on earth do you even gather reliable evidence across generations? Igor brings sad news of declining brain function to anyone over 25 and cautions against seeking out traumatic experiences as a strategy for developing wisdom, whilst Charles is forced to rethink his whole position on Jude Law. Welcome to Episode 2.
Episode 3: On Death (with Laura Blackie)
Why do we avoid thinking about our own death? How does contemplating our own mortality change our day-to-day behaviour? Why do drivers, when reminded of the fact that they will die, actually drive even faster? Whilst society typically hides death from us, might certain death reflection scenarios actually lead to the development of wisdom? Laura Blackie has considered these and many related questions, and joins Igor and Charles to discuss Terror Management Theory, Death Reflection, and the potential upsides of contemplating our own demise. Igor dismisses a death clock which tells him he won’t live as long as Charles, Laura outlines the possible prosocial benefits of imagining a painful and horrible death, and Charles admits to spending too much time thinking about whether his funeral will be well attended. Welcome to Episode 3.
If you have any thoughts about the On Wisdom podcast, please get in touch.
You can contact me at charles@evidencebasedwisdom.com, via the about page or find me on twitter @EBasedwisdom. You can also contact me through the On Wisdom site here.
Charles
evidence-based wisdom 