Common knowledge is necessary for coordination, for making arbitrary but complementary choices like driving on the right, using paper currency, and coalescing behind a political leader or movement. It’s also necessary for social coordination. Humans have a sixth sense for common knowledge, and we create it with signals

Get my My new book, Focus Like a Nobel Prize Winner -- https://a.co/d/hi50U9U It's just 99¢ on Kindle for launch week ONLY. It’s the perfect companion to this conversation—lessons in thinking clearly, staying curious, and pushing past conventional wisdom from my conversations with 22 Nobel Prize winners! Brian Keating

What can a lifetime of scientific discovery teach us about the universe—and ourselves? In this wide-ranging conversation, Michael Shermer sits down with Lord Martin Rees, renowned cosmologist, astrophysicist, and former Astronomer Royal, to reflect on the forces that shape scientific success, from personal luck to cult

Michael Shermer in conversation with Debra Soh at FreedomFest 2025 in Palm Springs, CA. Video courtesy of FreedomFest. Additional FreedomFest videos can be viewed on CiVL.

Drawing from intensive on-the-ground reporting in Israel, Gaza, and Lebanon, Douglas Murray places the latest violence in its proper historical context. He takes listeners on a harrowing journey through the aftermath of the October 7 massacre, piecing together the exclusive accounts from victims, survivors, and even th

It’s tempting to see ourselves as damaged or powerless—defined by past traumas, overwhelming emotions, and daily struggles. But is that really the most helpful way to understand ourselves? Does seeing ourselves as victims lead to growth? Psychologist and author Scott Barry Kaufman joins us to examine how popular narrat