We lost perhaps our nation’s most influential Buddhist with the death of ROBERT THURMAN June 16th at the age of 84. A former monk, ordained and partly trained by the Dalai Lama, left the monastery, earned a Harvard doctorate, taught at Amherst & Columbia, and wrote, edited and translated more than 20 books on Buddhism, both scholarly and for the general public. He was a founder of the American Institute of Buddhist Studies at Columbia as well as Tibet House US in New York City, where he served for decades as president. In the first half of this episode you’ll hear our conversation recorded in 2011.

In the second half you’ll hear my 2004 conversation with the late JONATHAN SCHELL about his book, A HOLE IN THE WORLD: An Unfolding Story of War, Protest, and the New American Order – his reflections on the experience of 9/11 and its aftermath. Schell passed away in 2014. Both wise men dedicated to working for a better world. This is the first time the Schell conversation has been available as podcast.

I learned a lot in this conversation with CORY DOCTOROW and in his new book, THE REVERSE CENTAUR’S GUIDE TO LIFE AFTER AI. Rather than fear AI, Doctorow uses it daily, but he is also skeptical. He reminds us that nothing about the way things are unfolding with AI, technology, or society is inevitable, though that is the contention of those who profit from it. He warns that, if – in protesting AI’s threat – we buy into worst-case scenarios of its power, we promote its value.. More than what AI does, we need to pay attention to who AI does it to, and who AI does it for. Timely and useful. His website is craphound.com and he maintains a daily blog at Pluralistic.net. (Photo: digital trends.com)

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Here’s my 2008 conversation with ROBERT COLES, child psychiatrist, Harvard Professor, and author of 75 books, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning six volume Children of Crisis. He died June 4 at the age of 97. He spent a lifetime listening to people – often those ignored by others – and told their stories. Coles was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship in 1981, the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1998, and the National Humanities Medal in 2001. 

I speak with ANNIE LEONARD & ANDRE CAROTHERS. She created the video documentary, The Story of Stuff, and led Greenpeace US for a decade. He worked for Greenpeace for 13 years and co-founded the Rockwood Institute. The new book they’ve written together, PROTEST: Respect it. Defend it. Use it includes brief essays on 42 protests from the 1700s to the present. It offers history and how-to, challenge and inspiration. Protest works. Protest is necessary. And as we celebrate our nation’s 250th anniversary, the right to protest is under attack. The website theprotestbook.com offers resources and links to help you to act. 

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When many believe HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. – lacking in scientific, medical or public health training – is giving alternative medicine a bad name, here’s my 2003 conversation with Andrew Weil MD. We trace the evolution of Dr. Weil’s work and thinking from his earliest understandings of health and healing to his ongoing commitment to train a new generation of physicians. Weil’s definition of integrative medicine: rooted in the connection of medicine with nature and the natural healing potential of the organism, it utilizes the magic of the doctor/patient relationship to treat the whole person. On this episode, Weil, Spontaneous HealingHyla Cass MD joins the conversation.

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