Thinking Ahead with Carter Phipps
Society & Culture
What would you do if a whale landed on top of you—and you lived to tell the tale? That’s exactly what happened to wildlife biologist and filmmaker Tom Mustill in 2015, when a breaching humpback whale came crashing down on his kayak in California’s Monterey Bay—an event that was caught on video and quickly went viral. And what Tom did was to embark on a multi-year journey to better understand the inner life of the majestic sea mammal that had come so close to ending his own life. Why do whales breach? Do whales communicate? What is the meaning of their songs? These questions and more led him into the fascinating world of animal communication, enabled by the latest breakthroughs in technology that are enabling us to gather and analyze unprecedented volumes of data. The resulting book, How to Speak Whale: A Voyage Into the Future of Animal Communication, is an extraordinary and engaging read, filled with groundbreaking new research and insights.
As a lifelong lover of animals, I count this book among a handful of seminal works that have, over the past decades, powerfully changed my own understanding and reshaped our collective perception of a particular animal species and also of animal life in general. We still have so much to learn about inner lives, the cultures, and the intelligence of the other sentient beings with whom we share our planet. And as we learn, we must grapple with profound, even existential questions about our own place in the web of life, our impact, and the ways we relate to our fellow creatures. I was thrilled to have the opportunity to explore some of these big questions with Tom Mustill on this episode of Thinking Ahead.
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Avi Tuschman: Can Wikipedia Save Social Media?
Deepak Chopra: Inside the Mind of a Spiritual Pioneer
Bill Plotkin: The Mythopoetic Dreams of a Psychologist Gone Wild
Tisha Schuller: The Role of Oil & Gas in a Carbon-Neutral Future
Jordan Gruber: Exploring the New Psychology of Multiple Selves
Justin Scheck: MBS, Power, and the Future of the Middle East
Jeffrey Kripal: Mystics, Mutants, and the State of Progressive Spirituality
James Piereson: Political Polarization and the Future of a Divided Nation
Craig Hamilton: Countercultures, Conspiracy Theories, and Everything in Between
Brian Muraresku: Psychedelic Sacraments and the Secret History of the Western Mind
Ed Freeman: Stakeholder Capitalism and the Opportunity Gap
Carter's Rants & Reflections, Inauguration Edition: Politics As Process
Jimena Canales: Einstein, Bergson, and the Great Debate about Time
Michael Lind: Populism and the New Class War
Carter's Rants and Reflections: The Social Dilemma
Steve McIntosh Part 2: Toward a Post-Progressive Golden Age
Steve McIntosh Part 1: Cultural Intelligence and the Roots of Polarization
Jeff Booth: Deflation, Cryptocurrency, and the Coming Reset
Dr. Mark Forman: Trauma, Healing, and the Monster's Journey
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