Converging Dialogues

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Jon Lee Anderson about the Taliban in Afghanistan over the past 20 years. They provide an overview of Afghanistan, how the Taliban came to power, makeup of the Taliban, their intentions for an Islamic state, Hamid Karzai, Taliban resurgence in 2012, US withdrawal, Tal

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with John Tolan about the history of Islam. The give an overview of Islam, discuss the Prophet Muhammad, succession and split after his death, Umayyad caliphate, Abbasid Caliphate, and 3 caliphates of 1000 AD. They talk about the Turks and Ottoman empire, Wahhabism, Arab n

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with John Cochrane about the Euro. They talk about the Euro, European Central Bank (ECB), inflation and price stability, and the differences between the US Federal Reserve and the ECB. They talked about the creation of the Euro, joining the EU, debates about “end the Fed,”

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Walter Scheidel about ancient history. They ask what is ancient history, why Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome are heavily emphasized, globalism, and classicism. They discuss some of the evolutionary history of humans, nomadic to stationary, human writing, The West, fut

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Moudhy Al-Rashid about ancient Mesopotamia. They discuss the uniqueness of Mesopotamia and the Fertile Crescent, importance of cuneiform, Sumerian to Akkadian writing, importance of clay for writing, ancient astronomy, and many more topics. Moudhy Al-Rashid is an Assy

In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Laurence Hurst about the imperfection of evolution. They discuss mutation, selection, and adaptation, DNA and waste, larger and smaller populations, sickle cell anemia, embryology, gene editing and CRISPR, and many more topics. Laurence Hurst is Professor of Evolution