What's wrong with Australian men? What expectations do single, middle-aged women face? What happened to the Left? Sarah Wilson is a global phenomenon -- an activist, journalist, speaker, writer, podcaster and host. She joins Josh on this special crossover episode to wrestle with the biggest questions in our lives. NotesSarah mentions the following study during the show. Details here: A 2019 Harvard University study that looked at global economies and innovation found that Australia, paradoxically, was both one of the richest nations and the least innovative . . . and that the former led to the latter. Follow the links for more details. https://atlas.cid.harvard.eduhttps://www.afr.com/policy/economy/australia-is-rich-dumb-and-getting-dumber-20191007-p52y8i Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What is a man? What is a woman? What is transgenderism? What is drag? When are we acting out gender stereotypes, and when are we just being ourselves? Shane is the man behind Australia’s most popular drag queen, Courtney Act. Josh and Shane debate gender, sex, and the imminent death of heterosexuality (maybe).  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

During the pandemic, did the Australian prime minister subvert democracy? One of Australia’s leading political commentators takes Josh deep into the bizarro world of Morrison’s multiple ministries. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As Salman Rushdie recuperates, Josh debates Islamophobia, blasphemy and cancel culture with the Pakistani-Australian writer and comic Sami Shah. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Michael Slepian is an Author and Associate Professor of leadership and ethics at Columbia University. His new book is called The Secret Life Of Secrets - How Our Inner Worlds Shape Well-being, Relationships, and Who We Are. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Pandit Dasa was a monk for more than 15 years. Now he's ditched the robes and helps people ease their way into more thoughtful, generous, fulfilling mental states. Josh wants to know whether that's an invaluable contribution to modern life... or a spiritual cop out. Pandit's book is Closing The Apps: How to be Mindful at Work and at Home. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Antoinette Lattouf is a journalist, author and diversity advocate. She co-founded Media Diversity Australia. Her new book is How To Lose Friends and Influence White People. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Stephen Marche is a Canadian author and political commentator. He writes for The New York Times, The Atlantic and Esquire among others. His new book The Next Civil War is a bracing look at what Stephen believes is a likely culmination of US division. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tyler Cowen is a celebrated American economist, blogger, author and podcaster. He currently sits as the Holbert L. Harris Chair of Economics at George Mason University. He's also an optimist about how the division we face today might end. His new book is Talent: How to Identify Energizers, Winners, and Creatives Around the World. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

David Plotz was the editor of Slate magazine during its glory days. In fact, he was Josh's first guest after the election of Donald Trump in 2016. The two reconnect about how to have difficult conversations in the 21st century. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Douglas is a gay English conservative, columnist, and the best-selling author of the new book The War on the West. He and Josh debate the collapse of faith in western liberal democracy, and the threat posed by Trump and illiberal leaders like Viktor Orbán, and woke culture in general. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From Nike supporting Colin Kaepernick to Qantas supporting same-sex marriage, corporations are going woke. Carl Rhodes is the Dean of the Business School at the University of Technology, Sydney... and, perhaps surprisingly, a leftist. He decries "woke capitalism" so much that he's written a book about it. He and Josh wrestle with the threat of wokeness and ask: Should companies keep their noses out of cultural questions, or is a corporate social conscience better than none?  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As part of Acast's audio pride parade, Josh shares his thoughts on growing up gay in Sydney, and what pride means to him. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How should we communicate science to the public? Celebrated scientist and popular Irish science communicator Professor Luke O’Neill joins Josh to plead for better scientific understanding in the general population.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Peter founded the animal liberation movement in the 1970s and is a driver behind the Effective Altruism movement around the world. This is a recording of "An Evening with Peter Singer", a live Q&A which Josh moderated at Sydney's Enmore Theatre on March 27th, 2022. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

An argument between Josh and veteran progressive muckraker Ana Marie Cox about whether wokeness is a real problem or a phantom of the right. Ana Marie founded Wonkette, was the senior political correspondent for MTV News and wrote for the New York Times magazine, among much, much else. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dr Drew is a physician, addiction medicine specialist and media personality. Since 1984 he has been beloved by American audiences for his candid communication of issues like AIDS, addiction & recovery, sexual health and harm reduction. His new book, co-authored with his daughter Paulina is It Doesn't Have To Be Awkward. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Cecile was a US diplomat in Japan, Pakistan, Thailand, Scotland and Israel, and a political advisor to the US Marine Corps in the Pacific. As the Ukraine War drags on, she and Josh debate the limits of American power... and whether allies like Australia can depend, any longer, on a broken superpower. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Kurt Fearnley, AO, is one of Australia's most successful paralympians. He began life crawling the dusty streets of Carcoar in central New South Wales and is now a disability rights advocate, humanitarian and media personality. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A leaked opinion from the US Supreme Court suggests that women's right to an abortion may be overturned in America. Who gets to decide hot-button cultural issues? What would this bombshell tell us about democracy? In 2017, Josh and Joe Rogan argued about exactly this. Today, Josh reflects on that exchange.   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How do taboo words develop, and why do we seem to be getting worse and worse at understanding each other? N. J. Enfield is a professor and the chair of linguistics at the University of Sydney, and a research associate in the Language and Cognition Group at the Max Planck Institute. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jonathan Haidt is considered one of the world's most influential living psychologists. He's just penned a piece for The Atlantic titled Why The Past Ten Years Of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid that looks at how social media erodes trust, shared narrative and social capital. He joins Josh on this new instalment of Permission To Think - a collaboration with The University of Technology Sydney School of Social Sciences. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Eric Fiegl-Ding is a Harvard epidemiologist and health economist. In January of 2020 he became one of the first prominent scientists to raise the alarm about the potential of a Covid catastrophe through his viral HOLY MOTHER OF GOD tweet. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Nathalie Tocci is a political scientist, Honorary Professor at the University of Tübingen, and international relations expert specialising in the EU's role in peacekeeping. She also directs the Istituto Affari Internazionali - a non-profit think tank which aims to contribute to the advancement of European integration and multilateral cooperation. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lee Jussim is an American social psychologist and distinguished professor leading the Social Perception Laboratory at Rutgers University. He joins Josh for this fifth instalment of Permission To Think, in collaboration with the University of Technology Sydney Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Michael Kimmage held the Russia/Ukraine portfolio in President Obama's State Department. He's an expert on international affairs, U.S.-Russian relations and American diplomatic history. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Scott is the founder of the Center for the Science of Human Potential and the host of the #1 psychology podcast in the world. His latest book is Transcend: The New Science of Self-Actualization.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Toomas Hendrik Ilves was the president of Estonia from 2006 to 2016. He led the country through Russia's invasions of Georgia and Crimea. Previously, as foreign minister, he had successfully lobbied for Estonia to join NATO. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Should all drugs be legal? Dr. Carl Hart - neuroscientist and Professor of psychology at Columbia University is an advocate for drug legalisation and responsible recreational drug use. His new book is Drug Use For Grown Ups: Chasing Liberty In The Land Of Fear. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Eliot A. Cohen is a military expert, foreign policy academic and former advisor to Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mike Pesca is an award winning journalist and host of the wildly successful daily podcast, The Gist. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Justin Amash was the first Republican member of congress to call for Donald Trump’s impeachment. He was subsequently described by Trump as “one of the dumbest & most disloyal men in Congress”. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Cathy Young is a former Boston Globe columnist and contributing editor at Reason. She writes a weekly column on politics, social issues and culture at Arc Digital. Why have so many independent thinkers careened off into knee-jerk contrarianism and conspiratorial thinking during the pandemic? Feminist, journalist and contrarian herself, Cathy Young, has a theory.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Peter made millions in crypto, lost millions in crypto, and bought an English soccer club with crypto. He now hosts the world's biggest podcast about bitcoin. How the hell did he do it? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

David Frum is the former George W Bush speechwriter who invented the phrase “an axis of evil”. He is now a senior editor at The Atlantic.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's been a hell of a week. Josh is back from America and jumps in solo to discuss the post-Rogan Twitter fallout, Myocarditis fact checking, what public health means, so-called "concentration camps" and some of the more stupid takes on the whole thing. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What’s sex? What's sexuality? What’s gender? Are trans women “real” women? Are woke activists expanding womanhood, or deranging it? Alice Dreger is one of the world’s foremost academic experts on sex, sexuality and intersexuality. Her recent Quillette article is “Can We Have Sex Back?” Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For the last show of 2021, its about time we heard from you. Your questions, for Josh, answered. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Did the pandemic turn Australia into a nation of paranoid, boot-licking dobbers? Brigid Delaney is a Guardian Australia columnist whose upcoming book is about Stoicism.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The latest in of Permission To Think, a collaboration with the University of Technology Sydney - Josh speaks with social psychologist and the host of the podcast Unmasking The Abuser, Dr. Dina Mcmillan. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jamie Woodhouse is the founder of Sentientism, a movement for granting evidence, reason and compassion to all sentient beings. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Clementine Ford is Australia's most controversial, firebrand feminist. Her latest book is "How We Love".  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Why are you here? Are we alone in the universe? Will we extinguish ourselves? Why do you procrastinate? And what does social media reveal about your chimpanzee mind? Tens of millions of viewers watch philosopher-blogger king Tim Urban wrestle with these questions in TED Talks and on his comic blog, 'Wait But Why'. Spark up a reefer and join Josh on a cosmic journey into a genius mind. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When a Muslim girl wears a burqini to the beach, is that religious freedom, or sexist oppression? Dr. Elham Manea is a Yemeni professor who lives in Switzerland. In this second instalment of 'Permission to Think', our collaboration with the University of Technology, Sydney, she makes a passionate case for the universality of human rights. This is one helluva chat.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali is one of the world's most prominent activists for the rights of women in Islam. She and Josh discuss coronavirus, immigration, fatherless families, Justin Trudeau... and Dave Chappelle. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You mightn't expect the founder of a billion-dollar asset management company to be a crypto nerd. But Mark Carnegie is one of the few big-time venture capitalists who actually understands Bitcoin. Most of what you hear about cryptocurrencies comes from evangelists who've drunk the kool-aid, or traditionalists who Just Don't Get It. Mark is neither. Enjoy this deep discussion of how -- and whether -- cryptocurrencies will revolutionise the world.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Before Ali G and Borat, John Safran blew up Australian TV as a troublemaker extraordinaire. His new book "Puff Piece: How Philip Morris set vaping alight (and burned down the English language)" is a gonzo glimpse into the bizarre future that tobacco companies are trying to build. He and Josh reflect on performative social justice, the gullibility of the modern left in falling for corporate moralising, and why the Mississippi lynchings were originally pitched as "woke". Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

One of Australia's greatest novelists opens up about the pandemic, Twitter, and finding your voice amid the cacophony. Her new book is The Luminous Solution: Creativity, Resilience and the Inner Life. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.