Best Social Science Matrix Podcasts (2025)

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Capitalism's War Against Animals | Dinesh Wadiwel 57:11

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1h ago57:11

57:11

A global war against animals is driven by capitalist exploitation and profit. Dinesh Wadiwel, author of Animals and Capital and The War Against Animals, shows how capitalism treats animals as commodities, raw materials, and self-reproducing labor. He advocates for an anti-capitalist animal politics that builds alliances with social justice movement…

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The 6 Practices of the Ultimate Morning Routine 48:08

1d ago48:08

48:08

There's been a lot of talk about morning routines in the last few years. But the idea is hardly new; famous men from Thomas Aquinas to Benjamin Franklin structured their mornings to accomplish great deeds and live flourishing lives. A modern advocate of this age-old practice is Hal Elrod, author of The Miracle Morning, first published nearly twenty…

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ReefCloud: Connecting Scientists to Save Coral Reefs – with Dr Manuel Gonzalez-Rivero 37:09

2d ago37:09

37:09

Coral reefs are among the most diverse and valuable ecosystems on Earth – but they’re also among the most vulnerable. Thanks to climate change, pollution, and other human impacts – coral reefs are in crisis. The need for fast, coordinated action has never been greater. One of the biggest challenges is getting accurate, up-to-date data, especially f…

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We Choose Our Responses & They Define Our Lived Experience w/ Yale Director of Emotional Intelligence Marc Brackett 1:16:08

2d ago1:16:08

1:16:08

“Forces beyond your control can take away everything you possess except one thing, your freedom to choose how you will respond to the situation.” This is the quote by Holocaust survivor Viktor E Frankl that headlines a new book titled, Dealing With Feeling: Use Your Emotions to Create the Life You Want. The book comes from my guest in this episode,…

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Don’t Diagnose Me w/ Mental Health Activist Sarah Fay 1:15:09

5d ago1:15:09

1:15:09

We are at an all time high of mental illness diagnoses. Some argue the reason is better diagnostic methods, others because we are just increasing in mental un-health. The discussion in this episode is in regards to the prevalence of mental diagnoses and the impact on individuals. In Brene Brown’s bestselling book, Atlas of the Heart, she outlines 8…

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💪✨ Fitness isn’t just for the young: it’s for living better, longer. 28:52

4h ago28:52

28:52

Send us a text In this episode, Lynn shares her expertise on training older adults — why strength, balance, and mobility matter more than aesthetics, and how simple exercises can make everyday life easier and safer. From preventing falls to building confidence, you’ll hear inspiring stories and evidence-based tips. Whether you’re thinking about you…

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The Classical Code of Manhood 59:51

7d ago59:51

59:51

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How To Actually Speak With Clarity & Intelligence w/ Communication Expert Michael Chad Hoeppner 1:17:24

4d ago1:17:24

1:17:24

By Kevin Miller | YAP Media

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Breaking the Matrix: Money, Power, and Choice with Arunjay 29:07

5d ago29:07

29:07

Send us a text What does it really mean to live outside the system? In this episode, I sit down with Arunjay to explore capitalism, money, and how we’re conditioned to equate success with wealth. From smoking analogies to the Matrix, we unpack how corruption and government capture shape our lives — and what it looks like to make choices on your own…

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What Is True Influence & How Can You Increase Yours w/ Yale Professor Zoe Chance 1:10:44

12d ago1:10:44

1:10:44

Here are three very popular topics that I don't think that many people are really driven by; Sell! Control! Lead! My experience however, is we all desperately want the ability to positively influence other people. We have people we care about. A world we care about. We have ideas and solutions we care about for addressing the pain and suffering in …

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Taylor Swift, Pesto the Penguin, and… Statistics?! - with Heather Lansdowne 34:16

7d ago34:16

34:16

The art of engagement for the Australian Bureau of Statistics How do you make statistics and complex data not just understandable - but engaging? For the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), the answer is simple: meet people where they are - on social media. From pop culture and sports to quirky factoids, the ABS social media team uses fun, relat…

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Humachines, Big Tech, & Our Future | Michael D.B. Harvey 1:29:22

8d ago1:29:22

1:29:22

A dystopian fusion of human and machine is being pushed on us by a big tech elite. Michael D.B. Harvey, author of The Age of Humachines: Big Tech and the Battle for Humanity's Future, warns of the 'humachinator' worldview that weds unrestrained technology and capitalism - and what we might do to reclaim a future rooted in democracy and ecological b…

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Why You Need the Good Stress of Socializing 52:41

15d ago52:41

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You may have heard of hormesis — the idea that intentionally embracing small stressors activates the body’s repair and defense systems, building resilience, improving how the body and even the microbiome function, and ultimately protecting against the harms of chronic stress. We typically think of these hormetic stressors in terms of things like ex…

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Preparing Yourself To Survive The Inevitable Huge Losses of Life w/ Screenwriting Teacher Colin Campbell 1:23:45

16d ago1:23:45

1:23:45

In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes". Said Benjamin Franklin. What are death and taxes? Arguably, losses. What is trauma and tragedy? I submit they are losses. And I feel we generally go about our lives, day in and day out, trying to avoid losses. Hoping "that doesn't happen to me." And yet, it's going to happen.…

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The Psychology Of Connecting To Your Authentic Self w/ American Psychological Association President Dr Thema Bryant 1:00:59

19d ago1:00:59

1:00:59

Who is the authentic you? Some people feel like they remember being an authentic self at some point, and I feel many never experienced it. But I feel we all long to just be comfortable being us. What does that look like? How does it feel? Following is a conversation I had with Dr Thema Bryant. Thema is a clinical psychologist and professor of psych…

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Living Humanism: James on Curiosity, Community, and Everyday Values 29:58

12d ago29:58

29:58

Send us a text What does it mean to live as a humanist day to day? In this episode, James shares his journey: from questioning at school, to rediscovering community during the pandemic, to raising children with compassion and curiosity. We talk about dialogue, tolerance, and the role humanism can play in tackling today’s global challenges. Whether …

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Build Muscle Without the B.S. — A Straightforward Guide to Size and Strength 1:05:40

22d ago1:05:40

1:05:40

Whether you’ve never stepped foot in a weight room or you’ve been lifting for years without seeing significant results, figuring out how to get big, strong, and jacked can feel overwhelming. There are endless programs, conflicting opinions, and a lot of noise about what actually works. Today on the show, Paul Horn offers a grounded, field-tested ta…

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The Force Continuum of Believing In Yourself w/ Texas A&M Prof Wendi Zimmer 1:13:03

23d ago1:13:03

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I feel we are experiencing a schizophrenic time in our culture where we adamantly believe in our opinions and perspectives, but we have very little true belief in ourselves. We are increasingly insecure and fragile and thus offended and threatened by everything. People seem scared of other people and I’m concerned it belies an innate fear of themse…

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How You Act Trumps All - At Least At First w/ Andy Andrews 1:05:45

26d ago1:05:45

1:05:45

As you know I seldom talk about current events on this podcast. But a few years ago I did address one. It was the 2022 Oscars where actor Will Smith slapped comedian Chris Rock. I did not see it and didn’t pay much attention, but then I saw a public statement made by Andy Andrews that caught my attention. I’ve known Andy for some time and had him o…

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From Backyard to Global Movement: Greg Peterson on Growing Food, Healthy Soil, and Urban Farms 29:50

26d ago29:50

29:50

Send us a text What if your yard could feed your family, your neighbors, and your community? Greg Peterson has spent more than 30 years exploring permaculture and urban farming, transforming a third of an acre in Phoenix into a thriving “food forest” with 80 fruit trees, chickens, and abundance everywhere you looked. In this episode, Greg shares hi…

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Radical Alternatives to “Progress” | Shrishtee Bajpai 1:04:18

23d ago1:04:18

1:04:18

Across India and around the world, communities are resisting destruction and reclaiming their right to shape their own futures. Shrishtee Bajpai, researcher and activist with the Global Tapestry of Alternatives, reveals how local struggles for self-determination connect across cultures and what is being done to weave a 'pluriverse' of possibilities…

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The Preparation — An Adventure-Driven, Skill-Building Alternative to College for Young Men 51:50

29d ago51:50

51:50

For generations, the path to adulthood was straightforward: go to college, get a job, build a life. But many young men are beginning to question the college component of that path; tuition keeps rising, A.I. has made the professional landscape more uncertain, and there's just a sense that after four years at college, guys graduate feeling like they…

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Just Breathe - Can We Really Alter Our Physical & Mental States By Doing Breathwork w/ Francesca Sipma 1:10:45

30d ago1:10:45

1:10:45

I breathe just to live. I walk to live. I eat, drink, and sleep to live. Is there a benefit to breathing more or differently than necessary? I walk more than necessary for my health and fitness and go so far as to run quite a bit. I don’t eat and drink more for my health but I eat better and drink better. I definitely sleep more than necessary for …

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The Voice in Our Head, Why It Matters, and How to Harness It w/ Professor Ethan Kross 1:08:51

1M ago1:08:51

1:08:51

We all know we have an inner voice, whether it speaks out loud, you write letters in your head like I do, or it’s just the constant stream of thoughts and feelings running amok at all times. A frequent directive is to shut the voice up or ignore it. One this is impossible, and two, that voice is there for a reason and the opportunity we all have is…

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Wayfinder Wisdom: Healing Harm and Building Accountable Systems 25:36

1M ago25:36

25:36

Send us a text In this episode of Wayfinders, I’m joined by Leah, founder of the Wayfinder Group, who brings her experience as a lawyer, mediator, and systemic thinker to some of the biggest challenges facing our institutions today. We trace Leah’s journey from a childhood of instability to the law courts, and then into conflict resolution and cult…

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Patterns in Chaos: Exploring Complex Systems - with Professor Michael Small 45:22

30d ago45:22

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What does it really mean for something to be complex - and how can mathematics help us make sense of it? In this episode of The Random Sample, our guest is Professor Michael Small, leader of the Complex Systems Group at the University of Western Australia. Michael’s research uses mathematics to uncover hidden patterns in the chaos of the world arou…

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Fawning: Our Appeasing & “Protecting” Others Is Hurting Us All w/ Dr. Ingrid Clayton 1:15:22

1M ago1:15:22

1:15:22

We all have a primary pattern of dealing with relational conflict. There are a scant few, in my experience, who do it with health and peace. The rest tend to fall into what psychologists have labeled, Fight, Flight, or Freeze tendencies. I’m not a fighter, and viewed myself as generally freezing in the moment of conflict, masked by thinking I was j…

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Overdiagnosed — How Our Obsession with Medical Testing and Labels Is Making Us Sicker 59:58

1M ago59:58

59:58

Modern medicine has given us incredible tools to peer inside the body and spot disease earlier than ever before. But with that power comes a problem: the more we look, the more we find — and not everything we find needs fixing. My guest today, neurologist Dr. Suzanne O'Sullivan, argues that our culture of over-diagnosis is leaving many people more …

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Getting What We Expect From Ourselves & How To Expect More w/ Anthony Trucks 1:08:38

1M ago1:08:38

1:08:38

The self-help and personal development world gives primary focus to increasing our performance so we can achieve greater successes in our lives. And it’s true we all are capable of more. Nobody is performing at their max capacity. But we won’t outperform the level of ability we believe about ourselves and all we have to go on is the proof of what w…

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Tiny Forests, Big Impact: Community Action with GoodGym & Earthwatch 38:59

1M ago38:59

38:59

Send us a text In this episode, we explore how community power, volunteering, and nature-based solutions are reshaping urban spaces. I speak with GoodGym volunteers about the joy of combining fitness with local impact, and with Dr. Clare Narraway of Earthwatch, who leads the Tiny Forests initiative. Together, we look at how small patches of urban w…

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Progress: Humanity’s Worst Idea | Samuel Miller McDonald 1:17:15

1M ago1:17:15

1:17:15

For 5,000 years civilizations have told themselves stories of progress. Today, the progress myth has become humanity's most dangerous illusion. Samuel Miller McDonald, geographer and author of Progress: A History of Humanity’s Worst Idea, illuminates the destructive lineage of progress, why these myths endure, how they enable socially and ecologica…

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Good Anger — Harnessing a Misunderstood Emotion 50:23

1M ago50:23

50:23

Most people think of anger as a problem — something to avoid or repress. It’s irrational, immature, and best left behind. But what if anger isn’t bad? What if it can actually be an incredibly positive, productive, energizing life force? My guest argues we’ve misunderstood anger — and that doing so has made us more anxious, depressed, and stuck. His…

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Considering We Are The Matrix & It Is All A Mind Game To Generate A Feeling 40:17

1M ago40:17

40:17

A few nights ago I watched The Matrix with four of my younger kids after one said she didn’t remember ever seeing it. A group of my older kids had gotten together to watch it recently as well. I’m talking the 1999 movie starring Keanu Reeves. It depicts a concept where most humans are inert and simply plugged into a computer program living pretend …

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Rejecting “No Regrets” & Embracing Life Lessons w/ Dan Pink 50:09

2M ago50:09

50:09

“No regrets” is an American slogan along with “No Fear” and “Just Do It.” Yet more often than not we don’t “just do it,” having no fear is psychopathic, and having no regrets means you have no sorrow for ever hurting anyone or making a mistake. Regret is simply recognizing sadness or disappointment about something we did we wish we hadn’t, or we di…

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Running for Good: Community Fitness & Clean Air in Barnet 32:10

1M ago32:10

32:10

Send us a text What if exercise could change not just your health, but your whole community? In this episode of The Science Intersection, we meet Paul, coordinator of GoodGym Barnet, a movement that blends fitness with volunteering — from running errands for older neighbours to planting tiny forests. We also talk to Dave, co-founder of Clean Air Ba…

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#29: Transformers for Recommender Systems with Craig Macdonald and Sasha Petrov 1:37:25

2M ago1:37:25

1:37:25

In episode 29 of Recsperts, I welcome Craig Macdonald, Professor of Information Retrieval at the University of Glasgow, and Aleksandr “Sasha” Petrov, PhD researcher and former applied scientist at Amazon. Together, we dive deep into sequential recommender systems and the growing role of transformer models such as SASRec and BERT4Rec. Our conversati…

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Kim and Steve Review the News 58:50

2M ago58:50

58:50

We take a look at the headline stories in the Washington Post, the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal.By Steve and Kim

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The Code They Killed For — Honor, Manhood, and the American Gunfighter 51:21

2M ago51:21

51:21

When you picture a gunfighter, you probably think of a Hollywood cowboy — spurs jangling, six-shooter on his hip, squaring off at high noon in a dusty frontier town. But gunfighters weren’t just products of Hollywood. They were real men who lived and died by a code: one rooted in a particular sense of honor. My guest today is Bryan Burrough, author…

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Can You Sell Happiness, Peace & Purpose If People Really Do Not Want It 35:18

2M ago35:18

35:18

I’ve spent a lifetime doing. Achieving and building and creating and adding. And now I find that what I most want is peace. I’m 54 and I’m tired. Not physically tired. But emotionally. The past four years have been a time of deconstructing and dismantling and letting go of most everything I held dear. I have encountered the most difficult time of m…