The Rational View podcast with Dr. Al Scott

In this episode I am exploring the divergence between productivity and wages in western economies since 1970.  This was covered in one of my first podcasts and is a striking failure of society that h…

In this episode I’m reviewing the scientific evidence on the safety of new mRNA vaccines. There has been a flurry of misunderstandings and misinformation posted online with the result being spreading…

In this episode I am continuing to cast a lens into the presence of inequity in society. The Rational View is about using evidence-based practices to promote justice for all. Over the years we, as a …

In this episode I’m interviewing a researcher who studies equality in the workplace.  Her work stands out as being heavily influenced by quantitative studies on the effectiveness of various intervent…

Happy New Year. Welcome to 2025! You made it! I’m glad to be able to share this with you.

Today I want to talk about a health fad called Earthing, or Grounding. You’ve probably heard of it. Is it sup…

In this episode I’m interviewing a scientist turned science fiction author who has written a book that takes the reader on a journey around the solar system to the many remote places we’ve visited wi…

In this episode I’m interviewing someone with firsthand knowledge of the replacement of democracy with an authoritarian populist regime.  What does this mean? Take, for example, the case of Hungary u…

In this episode, I’m exploring the topic of the Outrage Industry. Who else is growing inured to over-the-top tirades of outrage and offense? This seems to be a relatively new phenomenon whereby click…

In this episode I’m interviewing a researcher who has been studying the impacts of methane on the greenhouse effect, and trying to assess whether burning natural gas is helping or hurting the climate…

In this episode I’m interviewing the leader of a new Canadian political party, the Canadian Future Party. Their website has the following statement that I liked, “The CFP believes people from every c…

In this episode I'm dipping my toes into a new topic a little bit outside my range, but we can still use the tools of science and evidence to assess. The economy and Modern Monetary Theory. It is a n…

In this episode I am interviewing a neuroscientist and a writer who has done a lot of work on synesthesia, or the melding of sense perceptions. His most recent book delves into how we can take back c…

In this episode I’m returning to the mysterious and challenging topic of consciousness and awareness, the elusive theory of mind that philosophers have chased for centuries, and is now coming to heel…

In this episode we’re going to chat with someone who understands the value of a good civics education. This comes at a time when observers are rating the US as a flawed democracy, and a current presi…

In this episode we’ll be discussing polarization and the idea of moral narcissism. My guest has published an article in a substack newsletter discussing this idea that people today are taking on abso…

In this episode I’m going to be sharing with you an earlier interview with Dr. Micheal Levin that I found to be really mind bending. In it I wanted to explore the cellular basis of consciousness, and…

In this episode I’m continuing to look at consciousness and cognition and the working memory that sets humans apart from all other animals. Human working memory can be roughly quantified to hold abou…

In this episode I’m going back to look at consciousness and cognition, and specifically one aspect of our mental capacity that sets us apart from other animals.  It’s our ability to recall items in a…

This episode is a rant about why people don’t have time to become better informed about the issues. It is about why people are rushed. It is about why people feel mistreated by the system. The Ration…

This episode is one of my favorite interviews. A great chat that was part of my series on consciousness—are we biological robots? I’m getting into some real science talking to a biophysicist who brin…