William C. Ratcliff is a Professor in the School of Biological Sciences at Georgia Institute of Technology and serves as the Director of the Interdisciplinary Ph.D. Program in Quantitative Biosciences (QBioS). He is widely recognized for his research on the evolution of multicellularity, social evolution, and bet hedging, combining experimental and theoretical approaches. His work often explores how single-celled organisms transition to multicellular life forms, with notable studies involving yeast models.
Dr. Ratcliff earned his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in 2011, where he conducted research on microbial ecology and evolution. His groundbreaking work includes the experimental evolution of multicellularity, which has been featured in high-impact journals such as Nature Communications and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. He has also contributed to understanding ecological and evolutionary dynamics in microbial communities.
At Georgia Tech, Dr. Ratcliff leads an active research lab focused on evolutionary biology and biophysics, mentoring students and postdoctoral researchers. His contributions to science include both fundamental insights into multicellular evolution and applications in biotechnology.
Ricard Solé is an ICREA research professor at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra, where he heads the Complex Systems Lab. He holds degrees in Physics and Biology from the University of Barcelona and a PhD in Physics from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia. Prof. Solé is also an External Professor at the Santa Fe Institute and a fellow of the European Center for Living Technology. His research focuses on the evolutionary origins of complex systems, synthetic biology, and unstable evolutionary dynamics. He has published over 250 scientific papers and is a frequent keynote speaker at international conferences. Solé is known for his work on synthetic major transitions and terraforming endangered ecosystems.
Eric Schwitzgebel, an esteemed philosopher at the University of California, Riverside, is renowned for his groundbreaking work at the intersection of empirical psychology and philosophy of mind. With a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley, under the mentorship of Elisabeth A. Lloyd, Alison Gopnik, and John Searle, Schwitzgebel has become a leading voice in contemporary philosophical discourse.
His research focuses on the behavior of philosophers, particularly ethicists, using empirical methods to explore whether ethicists exhibit heightened ethical conduct. Through seminal studies, including a notable 2009 investigation into the prevalence of ethics books in academic libraries, Schwitzgebel challenges assumptions about the ethical behavior of philosophers.
Contrary to prevailing beliefs, his research reveals that ethicists do not demonstrate significantly different ethical behavior compared to other disciplines. Moreover, he illuminates the susceptibility of moral beliefs among professional philosophers to extraneous influences, prompting a critical reevaluation of ethical thought and behavior.
Eric Schwitzgebel's work continues to inspire interdisciplinary dialogue and reshape our understanding of moral philosophy, underscoring the complex interplay between cognition, social context, and ethical decision-making. As a distinguished academic and prolific author, he leaves an indelible mark on the philosophical landscape, urging us to explore the intricacies of human morality with renewed clarity and insight.
Katrin Preller received her PhD in Psychology and Neuroscience from University of Zurich, Switzerland in 2013. Her research interests are centered around the neuropharmacology of emotional and cognitive processes such as social cognition in health and psychiatric illnesses, as well as (pharmacological) neuroimaging analysis methodology. She is particularly interested in substance use disorders as well the role of the serotonin system in emotion and cognition. To elucidate the role of 5-HT2A/1A receptor functions in human cognition she uses pharmacological challenges mainly with psilocybin and LSD.
Russell Foster is Professor of Circadian Neuroscience and the Head of the Department of Ophthalmology. He is also a Nicholas Kurti Senior Fellow at Brasenose College. Prior to this, Russell was at Imperial College where Russell was Chair of Molecular Neuroscience within the Faculty of Medicine. Russell Foster’s research spans basic and applied circadian and photoreceptor biology.
He received his education at the University of Bristol under the supervision of Professor Sir Brian Follett. from 1988–1995 he was a member of the National Science Foundation Center for Biological Rhythms at the University of Virginia and worked closely with Michael Menaker. In 1995 he returned to the UK and established his group at Imperial College. For his discovery of non-rod, non-cone ocular photoreceptors he has been awarded the Honma prize (Japan), Cogan award (USA), and Zoological Society Scientific & Edride-Green Medals (UK). He is the co-author of “Rhythms of Life” a popular science book on circadian rhythms.
Juliana Schroeder is an Associate Professor at Berkeley Haas, holding the Harold Furst Chair in Management Philosophy and Values. She explores how language shapes social perception and interaction. Her research, featured in top journals and media outlets, has earned recognition from the NSF, APS, and APA. Juliana co-founded the Psychology of Technology Institute and teaches Negotiations and Conflict Resolution. She holds degrees from the University of Virginia and the University of Chicago.
Stacey B. Armstrong, PhD is a senior researcher and psychologist at the Center for Psychedelic Drug Research and Education (CPDRE) at The Ohio State University College of Social Work. She earned her Ph.D. at Bowling Green State University after completing a clinical internship at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, MI. Her clinical fellowship at the Traumatic Stress Center in Akron, OH, emphasized the utilization of evidence-based treatments for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among veterans and civilians, including cognitive processing therapy (CPT) and prolonged exposure (PE). She also completed a research fellowship at The Ohio State University evaluating the safety and efficacy of psilocybin, a novel investigational psychedelic drug, in treating treatment-resistant PTSD among US military veterans. In addition to her work with PTSD, Dr. Armstrong is also collaborating on a clinical trial investigating the safety and efficacy of psilocybin in treating depression among lung cancer patients. She is also investigating the patterns of use and acute subjective effects of psychoactive substances in clinical and non-clinical settings, measuring the attitudes and beliefs about psychedelic-assisted therapies among mental health professionals, and helping to develop a global registry for opioid use disorder patients who have sought psychedelic therapy in international locations to obtain real-world evidence on the safety and effectiveness of ibogaine as an addiction treatment. She has a particular interest in the subjective effects of psychedelics and their impact on treatment outcomes, as well as how psychedelic-assisted therapies might benefit populations currently excluded from clinical trials.
William Egginton is a distinguished literary critic and philosopher renowned for his insightful explorations of theatricality, fictionality, literary criticism, psychoanalysis, ethics, religious moderation, and theories of mediation. With a commitment to interdisciplinary inquiry, Egginton's work reflects a nuanced understanding of the complexities of human experience. His contributions extend to the realms of psychoanalysis and ethics, demonstrating a thoughtful engagement with the intricacies of these fields. A prolific writer, Egginton's impact reaches beyond academia, fostering dialogue and understanding in areas often marked by discord, such as religious moderation. His concise yet profound analyses showcase a keen intellect, making him a respected voice in contemporary literary criticism and philosophy.
Abraham "Avi" Loeb a theoretical physicist who works on astrophysics and cosmology. Loeb is the Frank B. Baird Jr. Professor of Science at Harvard University. He had been the longest-serving chair of Harvard's Department of Astronomy (2011–2020), founding director of Harvard's Black Hole Initiative (since 2016) and director of the Institute for Theory and Computation (since 2007) within the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
Loeb is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Physical Society, and the International Academy of Astronautics. In July 2018, he was appointed as chair of the Board on Physics and Astronomy (BPA) of the National Academies, which is the Academies' forum for issues connected with the fields of physics and astronomy, including oversight of their decadal surveys.
In June 2020, Loeb was sworn in as a member of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) at the White House. In December 2012, Time magazine selected Loeb as one of the 25 most influential people in space. In 2015, Loeb was appointed as the science theory director for the Breakthrough Initiatives of the Breakthrough Prize Foundation. In 2018, he attracted media attention for suggesting that alien spacecraft may be in our solar system, using the anomalous behaviour of ʻOumuamua as an example. In 2019, together with his Harvard undergraduate student, Amir Siraj, Loeb reported discovering a meteor that potentially originated outside the Solar System.
Dr Iain McGilchrist a Psychiatrist, neuroscience researcher, philosopher and literary scholar. Iain McGilchrist is a former Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, an associate Fellow of Green Templeton College, Oxford, a Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a Consultant Emeritus of the Bethlem and Maudsley Hospital, London, a former research Fellow in Neuroimaging at Johns Hopkins University Medical School, Baltimore, and a former Fellow of the Institute of Advanced Studies in Stellenbosch. He now lives on the Isle of Skye, off the coast of North West Scotland, where he continues to write, and lectures worldwide.
He is committed to the idea that the mind and brain can be understood only by seeing them in the broadest possible context, that of the whole of our physical and spiritual existence, and of the wider human culture in which they arise – the culture which helps to mould, and in turn is moulded by, our minds and brains.
He was a late entrant to medicine. After a scholarship to Winchester College, he was awarded a scholarship to New College, Oxford, where he read English. He won the Chancellor’s English Essay Prize and the Charles Oldham Shakespeare Prize in 1974 and graduated (with congratulated 1st Class Hons) in 1975 (MA 1979). He was awarded a Prize Fellowship of All Souls College, Oxford in 1975, teaching English literature and pursuing interests in philosophy and psychology, in particular the mind-body relationship, between 1975 and 1982. As a result he went on to train in medicine, and during this period All Souls re-elected him to a further Fellowship (1984-1991), and again in 2002 (to 2004).
He was formerly a Consultant Psychiatrist of the Bethlem Royal and Maudsley NHS Trust in London, where he was Clinical Director of their southern sector Acute Mental Health Services. He trained at the Maudsley Hospital in London, working on specialist units including the Neuropsychiatry and Epilepsy Unit, the Children’s Unit and the Forensic Unit, as well as, at Senior Registrar level, the National Psychosis Referral Unit and the National Eating Disorder Unit. During this period he also worked as a Research Fellow in neuroimaging at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, USA. His clinical experience has been broad-based, and he has run a busy Community Mental Health Team in an ethnically diverse and socially deprived area of south London.
He has published original research on neuroimaging in schizophrenia, the phenomenology of schizophrenia, and other topics, and contributed chapters to books on a wide range of subjects, as well as original articles in papers and journals.
Harvey A. Silverglate, an advocate for civil liberties since the 1960s, is an attorney, writer, and non-profit activist. Currently practicing law with the Boston firm Zalkind Duncan & Bernstein LLP, Silverglate specializes in criminal defense, civil liberties, and academic freedom/student rights cases. In addition to his legal work, Silverglate has led a parallel writing career as newspaper columnist and book author.
Silverglate’s career as legal practitioner, spanning some four decades, has ranged widely and has included drug prosecutions, draft and riot cases in the '60s and '70s, bank and securities fraud, bribery and extortion, espionage, tax evasion, police misconduct, murder and manslaughter, habeas corpus proceedings, money laundering, and desertion (tried at a court martial). In one of his first cases, he served as trial counsel for students charged with taking over University Hall at Harvard during an anti-war demonstration in 1969. He has since done substantial defense against charges of business crime without becoming labeled a “white collar” (much less a “white shoe”) lawyer. He has represented alleged illicit drug dealers without becoming a “drug lawyer.” He has represented several alleged “organized crime figures” without being deemed a “mob lawyer.” Silverglate’s breadth of experience has given him perspective on the methods and techniques employed by police and prosecutors, and especially on the federal level, over the course of decades.
Tom Walters is a distinguished Rehab Scientist specializing in the treatment of musculoskeletal pain and movement disorders. With a solid foundation in kinesiology education, manual therapy, and personalized therapeutic exercise, he is a recognized authority in orthopedic rehabilitation. Based in Santa Barbara, California, Tom is a board-certified orthopedic physical therapist and strength and conditioning specialist. He also manages the influential social media account @rehabscience on Instagram, sharing valuable insights and promoting recovery. Formerly a dedicated kinesiology professor at Westmont College, Tom's extensive academic background includes a Doctor of Physical Therapy (D.P.T.) degree and specialized certifications in orthopedic manual physical therapy (OMPT) and lower quarter functional biomechanics. As a board-certified Orthopedic Clinical Specialist (OCS) and a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS), he has made impactful contributions to the field, fostering better movement and enhanced well-being for individuals seeking his expertise.
Hugo Mercier is a prominent cognitive scientist and researcher known for his groundbreaking work in the fields of psychology and philosophy. Mercier developed a passion for understanding the intricacies of human thought and reasoning from an early age.
Most of his work so far has focused on the function and workings of reasoning. According to the argumentative theory of reasoning, the function of reasoning is argumentative: to find and evaluate arguments so as to convince others and only be convinced when it is appropriate. Accordingly, reasoning works well as an argumentative device, but quite poorly otherwise.
Andrew Gallimore is a computational neurobiologist, pharmacologist, chemist, and writer who has been interested in the neural basis of psychedelic drug action for many years and is the author of a number of articles and research papers on the powerful psychedelic drug, N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) and its effects on the brain and consciousness.
In 2015, he collaborated with DMT pioneer Dr. Rick Strassman, author of DMT: The Spirit Molecule, to develop a pharmacokinetic model of DMT as the basis of a target-controlled intravenous infusion protocol for extended journeys in the bizarre worlds to which DMT gates access.
His current interests focus on DMT and other psychedelic molecules as tool for gating access to otherwise inaccessible subjective worlds, their neuroscientific underpinning, and their possible ontological and metaphysical implications. He currently lives and works in Tokyo.
Anna Lembke is a professor of psychiatry at Stanford University School of Medicine and chief of the Stanford Addiction Medicine Dual Diagnosis Clinic. A clinician scholar, she has published more than a hundred peer-reviewed papers, book chapters, and commentaries. She sits on the board of several state and national addiction-focused organizations, has testified before various committees in the United States House of Representatives and Senate, keeps an active speaking calendar, and maintains a thriving clinical practice.
In 2016, she published Drug Dealer, MD – How Doctors Were Duped, Patients Got Hooked, and Why It’s So Hard to Stop (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2016), which was highlighted in the New York Times as one of the top five books to read to understand the opioid epidemic (Zuger, 2018). Dr. Lembke recently appeared on the Netflix documentary The Social Dilemma, an unvarnished look at the impact of social media on our lives.
This episode is a fascinating debate between two distinguished guests who have dedicated their careers to unravelling the mysteries of the mind, Lee Cronin and Donald Hoffmann. The conversation will delve into the depths of human perception, consciousness, and reality itself. Lee Cronin is a renowned chemist and professor at the University of Glasgow. His groundbreaking work focuses on creating artificial life forms and developing complex chemical systems. He has been recognized for his innovative research in the field of chemical evolution and is a proponent of the hypothesis that life can be artificially created. Professor Cronin's interdisciplinary approach pushes the boundaries of scientific exploration, offering fresh perspectives on the origins and nature of life. Donald Hoffmann is a cognitive scientist and professor at the University of California, Irvine. He is known for his radical theory of perception and consciousness, challenging conventional wisdom in the field. Professor Hoffmann proposes that our perception of reality is not a direct reflection of the external world, but rather a constructed, evolutionary model that allows us to navigate and survive. His work draws upon evolutionary biology and neuroscience, shedding new light on the enigmatic relationship between the mind and the world.
Andrew Strominger is the Gwill E. York Professor of Physics at Harvard University and a founding member of the Black Hole Initiative. He is a renowned theoretical physicist who has made pathbreaking contributions to classical and quantum gravity, quantum field theory and string theory. These include his seminal work on Calabi-Yau compactification of string theory which provides a unified framework for quantum gravity and the theory of elementary particles, the statistical origin of the Bekenstein-Hawking black hole entropy and the conformal symmetry of astrophysical Kerr black holes. Recently Strominger has discovered an exact equivalence unifying three disparate phenomena which have been separately studied for the last half-century: quantum field theory soft theorems, asymptotic symmetries and the memory effect.
In recognition of his accomplishments, Strominger has been awarded numerous prizes and honors, including the prestigious 2017 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics, the 2016 Dannie Heineman Prize from the American Physical Society, the 2014 Oskar Klein Medal from the Swedish Royal Academy, the 2014 Dirac Medal from the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics, the 2014 Physics Frontiers Breakthrough Prize from the Milner Foundation and the 2008 Leonard Eisenbud Prize from the American Mathematical Society.
Founder of the award-winning Kamalaya Koh Samui, Karina Stewart is a renowned authority on holistic health and wellbeing. An acclaimed speaker, and innovator, Karina has more than 40 years of experience in the study and practice of diverse Asian healing and spiritual traditions.
As the creative force behind the legendary Kamalaya, Karina's vision was to create programs and experiences that draw on many of the influences and healing modalities of the East and West. Kamalaya is undoubtedly unique because of how all the various healing elements have been curated and brought together in a truly holistic way. Kamalaya opened in November 2005, and from the very beginning, Karina's wellness concept has been based on the idea of synergy. Karina develops holistic wellness programs that access the healing power within and support harmonious integration of heart, body, mind and spirit.
With her passion for food and healing, Karina has established the philosophy of food for healing, Food as Medicine for Kamalaya. The result is a multi-award-winning cuisine recognized not only for its health impact but also for its exceptional flavours.
Karina has a Master of Traditional Chinese Medicine from Yo San University in California, followed by training across structural therapies including Hellerwork and Cranial-Sacral Manipulation, yoga and Taoist philosophy and practice. She has a B.A. from Princeton University in Cultural Anthropology with a focus on Asian religions.
Dr. Adam Gazzaley is a renowned neuroscientist and innovator in the field of cognitive neuroscience. With a profound passion for understanding the intricate workings of the human brain, Dr. Gazzaley has dedicated his career to exploring the intersection of technology, neuroscience, and medicine.
Born with an insatiable curiosity, Dr. Gazzaley pursued his education at some of the world's most prestigious institutions. He obtained his bachelor's degree in physiology and neuroscience from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and went on to earn his medical degree from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Continuing his pursuit of knowledge, he completed his residency in neurology at the University of Pennsylvania, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship in cognitive neuroscience at the University of California, Berkeley.
Dr. Gazzaley's groundbreaking research focuses on understanding the neural mechanisms underlying attention, memory, and perception. Through cutting-edge technologies such as neuroimaging, electrophysiology, and virtual reality, he strives to unravel the mysteries of the brain and unlock its incredible potential for enhancing human cognition.
Academic neurosurgeon Dr. Eben Alexander III, whose career includes decades as a physician and associate professor at Harvard Medical School and revered teaching hospitals, was once staunchly committed to the materialist world view -- the belief that the physical world is all that exists. His scientific belief system was altered by his 2008 transcendental near-death experience (NDE), an odyssey into another realm during a week-long coma. Despite a bleak medical prognosis, Dr. Alexander awoke to make an inexplicable return to full health. His medical case and recovery were validated in the peer-reviewed Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease. Since his NDE, Dr. Alexander has been reconciling his rich spiritual experience with quantum physics, cosmology and the philosophy of mind. Dr. Alexander speaks around the world to educate about the role that consciousness plays in wellness, healing and recovery. A pioneering scientist and modern thought leader, Dr. Alexander has been featured in more than 400 media interviews including for ABC-TV’s Good Morning America and 20/20, The Dr. Oz Show, Oprah’s Super Soul Sunday, Larry King Now, Fox and Friends, Discovery Channel, Biography Channel and numerous international radio, digital and podcasts. His books are available in more than 40 countries: Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon's Journey into the Afterlife, The Map of Heaven: How Science, Religion, and Ordinary People Are Proving the Afterlife, and Living in a Mindful Universe: A Neurosurgeon’s Journey into the Heart of Consciousness, co-authored with Sacred Acoustics co-founder Karen Newell.
http://ebenalexander.com/