Fascinating!: Deconstructing Conventional Wisdom to See the World with New Clarity
Step into a universe of sharp wit and deep insights with Fascinating!, where your host Rik from Planet Vulcan explores the dominant narratives shaping our world. Through the lens of evolutionary thinking, Fascinating! deconstructs conventional wisdom on economics, social justice, morality, and more. Each episode cuts through the noise of collective illusions—what Rik calls ecnarongi (ignorance backwards)—and exposes the pervasive hangover of pre-Darwinian thought patterns, often seen in the form of intelligent design or deus ex machina thinking. This outdated framework extends far beyond theistic religion, influencing everything from economic systems to societal structures.
Fascinating! offers an intellectually stimulating and often humorous exploration of ideas. If you're ready to see the world through fresh eyes, tune in for conversations that provoke, inform, and enlighten.
Episodes
76 episodes
Cary Gray - Interview
In a first for the Fascinating! series, we present an interview.The interviewee is Cary Gray, an up-and-coming young Earthling friend of mine. Cary is first and foremost a poet, and that is his passion. He has had an adventur...
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Season 5
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Episode 16
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52:54
Frederic Bastiat on Legal Plunder
Frederic Bastiat was an economist and essayist who lived and wrote in France in the early 1800's. He came to prominence at the age of 43 because of his satirical takedown of producers who were arguing for tariffs and other protectionist m...
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Season 5
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Episode 15
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12:15
Marxianity and the Believing Brain
Although Marx's labor theory of value has been thoroughly trashed by Occam's razor and no longer enjoys any intellectual respectability, it still persists in the form of a quasi-religious dogma, kept alive by a disturbingly large number of othe...
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Season 5
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Episode 14
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13:18
Dance Lessons from a Scientist
This essay was inspired by a quote from the eminent scientist Edward O. Wilson, the man who coined the term "sociobiology" and wrote a book with that title. The quote was: "The real problem of humanity is the following: we hav...
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Season 5
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Episode 13
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17:15
Leviathan and Utopia
Leviathan is the title of a book written in 1651 by the Englishman Thomas Hobbes during the English Civil War and the Thirty Years War, in which Hobbes argued that in the absence of a powerful sovereign the life of the average person was "solit...
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Season 5
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Episode 12
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21:35
Richard Feynman and the Philosophy of Science
In this episode, Rik calls attention to a very special Earthling, Richard Feynman. Feynman's contributions to the science of physics by itself were enough to place him in the same category as Albert Einstein and Isaac Newton.
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Season 5
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Episode 11
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26:49
Thomas Huxley, Darwin's Bulldog
Thomas Henry Huxley is known to history as "Darwin's bulldog" for his powerful advocacy of Darwinian thinking while Darwin's ideas were being attacked and even ridiculed by those in the entrenched religious and academic establishments of ...
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Season 5
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Episode 10
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16:08
The Tao of Darwin, Part 2
In this episode, senior contributing editor Prego de Nada continues his queries with the chatbot about the evolution of Chinese civilization as Taoism and Confucianism, two opposing philosophies, each found a role in society. The purpose ...
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Season 5
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Episode 9
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21:49
The Tao of Darwin, Part I
In this episode, the first of a two-part series, senior contributing editor Prego de Nada proposes to demonstrate some interesting parallels between the philosophy stemming from Darwinian evolutionary thinking in modern times and the ancient Ch...
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Season 5
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Episode 8
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15:13
A Living Wage
In this episode, Rik from Planet Vulcan examines the concept of a living wage, something that, incredibly, many otherwise intelligent Earthlings seem to believe is a good idea! Those who advocate living wage legislation are thereby placin...
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Season 5
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Episode 7
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17:45
Slime Mold Revisited
In this episode, Rik from Planet Vulcan reports on the ongoing research into the behavior of Physarum, aka slime mold. The behavior of slime mold is an awe-inspiring and humbling example of the evolved wisdom of nature. This simple ...
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Season 5
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Episode 6
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10:58
Book Review - Equality: What it Means and Why it Matters
In this episode, Rik from Planet Vulcan reviews the collaborative effort of Thomas Piketty and Michael Sandel to pitch their scheme of confiscatory taxation in their new book, in the name of the nebulous concept of equality, for the undefined a...
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Season 5
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Episode 5
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18:04
Does the Fed set interest rates?
The short answer to this question is "no". Listen to this episode for details.The Federal Reserve Bank (the "Fed") stands as an example of the collateral messiness, and the distortions, that inevitably accompany intelligent design ...
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Season 5
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Episode 4
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18:19
Good Things / Bad Things
In this episode, senior contributing editor Prego de Nada proposes that Earthlings would be happier, and life on Earth would be better, if they were to jettison the practice of characterizing their choices as between "good things" and "bad thin...
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Season 5
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Episode 3
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17:42
Alice Finds a Way
In this episode, contributing editor Slainte na Zdorovya considers the tale of Alice meeting Tweedledee and Tweedledum in the Dark Woods. This tale is from the second Alice book, "Through the Looking Glass". Slainte's aim in this es...
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Season 5
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Episode 2
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6:35
Season 5 Intro
Nobody's right if everybody's wrong, in the words of the Buffalo Springfield song. In today's world it is difficult for an Earthling of a scientific bent to choose who or what to support in the political arena, when ecnarongi (i.e, ig...
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Season 5
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Episode 1
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15:05
Season 4 Recap
In this final episode of Season 4, Rik from Planet Vulcan reviews his mission on Planet Earth, which is to advocate for a world view based on the scientific investigation of natural processes; and reviews the essays published during Season 4.
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Season 4
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Episode 18
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29:15
Free Trade, Tariffs and Quotas
In this episode, Rik from Planet Vulcan demonstrates that the notion that international trade amounts to warfare that someone wins and someone loses is another of those pervasive undead ideas on Planet Earth that keep rising from the grave, wan...
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Season 4
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Episode 17
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9:56
The White Man's Burden
In this episode, Rik from Planet Vulcan draws a straight line from the mindset and the actions of white European colonialists in the 19th Century to the mindset and the actions of would-be intelligent designers in our own time, particularly wit...
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Season 4
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Episode 16
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25:03
What is a "Fair Share" of taxes?
Does Warren Buffett truly pay less income tax than his secretary? In this episode of Fascinating!, Rik from Planet Vulcan questions the narrative that high earners do not pay their fair share of the income tax by proposing a different per...
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Season 4
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Episode 15
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7:37
Anarchy
In this episode of Fascinating! Rik from Planet Vulcan discusses the substance and the history of modern anarchist thinking, from its beginnings in the nineteenth century where opposition to the state was combined with opposition to capitalism,...
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Season 4
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Episode 14
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18:39
Taxing Corporate Income: Who Really Pays the Price?
In this episode of Fascinating!, Rik from Planet Vulcan dissects the belief that taxing corporate income is a fair and just way to hold corporations accountable. With wit and sharp analysis, Rik unpacks the misconception that corporati...
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Season 4
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Episode 13
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12:48
John Maynard Keynes: Economic Savior or Medieval Thinker?
In this episode of Fascinating!, Rik from Planet Vulcan takes us on a deep dive into the life and enduring influence of John Maynard Keynes, one of the most significant figures in modern economics. From his privileged upbringing in upper-middle...
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Season 4
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Episode 12
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28:04
The Democracy of Self-Interest: Buchanan’s Case Against Perfect Governance
In this episode of Fascinating!, Rik from Planet Vulcan delves into the brilliant mind of Nobel laureate James M. Buchanan, whose Public Choice theory flips the romanticized view of selfless government on its head. Buchanan argued that politici...
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Season 4
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Episode 11
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17:15
The Marxist Conversion: From Saul to Socialism
In this episode of Fascinating!, Rik from Planet Vulcan examines one of Earth’s most intriguing phenomena—religious conversion—through a lens you didn’t see coming: Marxism. Inspired by tales like Saul’s blinding light on the road to Damascus, ...
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Episode 10
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14:33