Free Forum with Terrence McNally

Episode 736: 1) CRAIG VENTER-Genome decoder died last week 2) STUART KAUFFMAN-REINVENTING THE SACRED-Two conversations from 2008

1) History-making entrepreneurial scientist CRAIG VENTER, died last week at the age of 79. The New York Times obituary leads with these words, “A risk-taking outsider, he brought speed, competition, and controversy to one of science’s biggest races.” In 2000, his team published the first sequence of the human genome – earlier and for far less money than the government-sponsored Human Genome Project. Here’s our 2008 conversation, on the release of his memoir, A LIFE DECODED: MY GENOME: MY LIFE. Learn more at jcvi.org [http://jcvi.org/] 2) In the second half, my 2008 conversation with MacArthur Award winning evolutionary biologist STUART KAUFFMAN about his book, REINVENTING THE SACRED: A NEW VIEW OF SCIENCE, REASON, AND RELIGION. The two of us get excited as we work our way toward his notion that the ceaseless creativity of the universe may be the best way yet to think about God. Learn more at stuartkauffman.com [http://stuartkauffman.com/] FF_Kaufmann_Transcript [http://aworldthatjustmightwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Kayuffman-polished-transcript.pdf]

Episode 735: SCIENCE UNDER SIEGE-MICHAEL MANN (Climate) & PETER HOTEZ (Pandemics, Vaccines)

Climate scientist MICHAEL MANN (The New Climate War) has been a target of threatening abuse ever since he led the team that produced the “hockey stick graph” making clear the extreme rise in temperatures since the Industrial Revolution. PETER HOTEZ (Vaccines Did Not Cause Rachel's Autism) has likewise been targeted since his highly visible role in vaccine development and public heath communication during the Covid 19 pandemic. Together they’ve written SCIENCE UNDER SIEGE: How to Fight the Five Most Powerful Forces That Threaten Our World, in which they name those forces - plutocrats, professionals, petro-states, propagandists, and the press; and offer a path to repel their attacks so that we may effectively confront critical challenges. Learn more at michaelmann.net [https://michaelmann.net/] & peterhotez.org [https://peterhotez.org/]

Episode 734: Psychedelics - Research and Exploration - 1) CHARLES GROB MD(2012) 2) JAMES FADIMAN (2012)

In “even-a-broken-clock …” news this week, Donald Trump did something I applaud. He signed an executive order to accelerate research and access to psychedelic drugs for medical use, particularly to treat serious mental illness. Psychedelic substances have been used for ceremony and as medicine for millennia. Such properties were being cultivated and studied in the US in the 1960s and early ‘70s till widespread and careless use of psychedelics - think Timothy Leary -  and sensational media reports produced a backlash. Here’s my 2012 episode in which I talk first with CHARLES GROB MD about the scientific research, including his own ground-breaking studies. And then with JAMES FADIMAN about the ideas, the vision, and the advice in his book, PSYCHEDELIC EXPLORERS: Safe, Therapeutic, and Sacred Journeys.

Episode 733: AI, Billionaires, Authoritarians, Artists-JONATHAN TAPLIN-MOVE FAST & BREAK THINGS

When tech billionaires make nice with authoritarians and AI challenges are everywhere, I check in with JONATHAN TAPLIN, Director Emeritus of the USC Annenberg Innovation Lab, a former tour manager for Bob Dylan & The Band, a producer of films including Martin Scorsese’s MEAN STREETS, and the author of MOVE FAST AND BREAK THINGS: How Google, Facebook and Amazon Cornered Culture and Undermined Democracy and THE END OF REALITY: How 4 Billionaires Are Selling a Fantasy Future of the Metaverse, Mars and Crypto. We talk about the relationships of AI, democracy, authoritarianism, inequality, billionaires, the arts, and the military. You can learn more at jontaplin.com [https://jontaplin.com/]

Episode 732: Tech visionary JARON LANIER(2013)-WHO OWNS THE FUTURE?-You should be paid for your data.

When tech billionaires seem okay with authoritarianism and AI may be today’s existential challenge, here’s my 2013 conversation with Jaron Lanier about his book, WHO OWNS THE FUTURE? Lanier envisions a radical solution to surveillance capitalism that he believes could restore the American middle class: we all get paid for our data - which is, after all, the source of the value of networks like Facebook, Yelp, YouTube, etc. We talk about a lot more than that and it’s wild to realize this took place 13 years ago.