Tag Archives: Agustin Fuentes

Belief & Climate Change

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Why are so many humans religious? Why do we daydream, imagine, and hope? Philosophers, theologians, social scientists, and historians have offered explanations for centuries, but their accounts often ignore or even avoid human evolution. Evolutionary scientists answer with proposals for why ritual, religion, and faith make sense as adaptations to past challenges or as by-products of our hyper-complex cognitive capacities. But what if the focus on religion is too narrow? Renowned anthropologist, Agustín Fuentes argues that the capacity to be religious is actually a small part of a larger and deeper human capacity to believe. Why believe in religion, economies, love? In his new book, Why We Believe – Evolution and the Human Way of Being, Agustín presents a fascinating observation on the most common misconceptions about human nature, his book employs evolutionary, neurobiological, and anthropological evidence to argue that belief—the ability to commit passionately and wholeheartedly to an idea—is central to the human way of being in the world.

Robert Hunziker a regular contributor to Life Elsewhere, writes about climate change, headlines from his articles of the past year suggest he is a forecaster of doom – Permafrost Hits a Grim Threshold; Climate Confusion, Angst, and Sleeplessness; Extinction Rebellion Sweeps the World; Earth 4C Hotter; The Coldest Spot on Earth Melting. Hunziker shrugs off the daunting moniker, ready to launch into a passionate monologue full of facts and alarming details. So, we asked Robert to give an overview of the crucial points on climate change during the past 12 months.

Show #352

The Annual Life Elsewhere Holiday Gift Show

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Which guest selected which books? The Annual Life Elsewhere Holiday Gift Show is next and we asked some of our favorite guests from the past twelve months to select three books and one non-book gift. Our distinguished all-star lineup includes esteemed New York City-based creative director; Robert Newman, famed singer-songwriter, Amy Rigby; scholarly anthropologist and author, Agustin Fuentes; best-selling author and screenwriter, Mark Haskell Smith and astute journalist, Remy Carreiro. Above, are all of the book selections our smart, clever, talented guestshave suggested as gifts. Can you unravel which guest selected which three books? It’s a lot harder than you may think. And, who selected as a non-book gift, a rare 1979 recording from Chief Checker? Make sure you don’t miss this fascinating edition of the best show available on Art, Media and Culture!

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Life Elsewhere Music airs:
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Cornucopia Radio airs Life Elsewhere Music throughout each week
You can hear all the volumes over at Mixcloud
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Show #251      

 


Cool, Imaginative Suggestions

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It’s that time of the year again for the Life Elsewhere Annual Holiday Gift Show. This is when we ask some of our favorite guests from the past twelve months to select three books and one non-book gift. Our distinguished all-star lineup includes esteemed New York City-based creative director, Robert Newman; famed singer-songwriter, Amy Rigby; scholarly anthropologist and author, Agustin Fuentes; best-selling author and screenwriter, Mark Haskell Smith and astute journalist, Remy Carreiro. Be prepared for a cool, imaginative gift suggestions.

Life Elsewhere is now available at NPR One & iTunes

Sundays 12 noon ET at The Source WMNF HD3  
Mondays 5.00pm PT & Wednesdays 2.00pm PT at NWCZ Radio
Thursdays 6.00pm ET at Internet Radio Network
Fridays at 9.00pm GMT on Cornucopia Radio

If you miss any editions of Life Elsewhere, go here then go to the Listen On-Demand panel, choose the date of a show and click play.

Life Elsewhere Music airs:
Mondays at 6.00pm & Wednesdays at 3.00pm Pacific Time on NWCZ Radio
Fridays at 10.00am Eastern Time on IRN
Cornucopia Radio airs Life Elsewhere Music throughout each week
You can hear all the volumes over at Mixcloud
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Power, Corruption & Lies!

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“If men are not naturally sexual predators, why does it happen so often?” Asks author and professor of anthropology, Agustín Fuentes. An article he wrote for Psychology Today, a couple years back, is more than relevant today, what with the tawdry accusations surrounding Harvey Weinstein and Bill O’Reilly plus the unabashed sexual bragging of one Donald J. Trump. Professor Fuentes goes onto to say, “Those three individuals, Weinstein, O’Reilly and Trump, they have a lot in common, I think that is a big part of the discussion about sexual coercion. These are individuals in our society, older, white men who have particular positions in particular economic structures that enable them to commit incredible uses of power of a wide array, not just sexual…and get away with it!” Agustín Fuentes, the author of The Creative Spark: How Imagination Made Humans Exceptional, joins us for the next edition of Life Elsewhere. Also on the program, to cover current topics is a frequent contributor,  Dr. Binoy Kampmark, senior lecturer at RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia. Never one to shy away from offering his well-considered take, Binoy weighs in on Weinstein, O’Reilly, and Trump. Plus, he may cause Hilary devotees to smart a little with a not-so-flattering view of the failed Presidential contender. We’ll also bring you a musical interlude, courtesy of Turnover, a trio from Virginia Beach. “Their new album, Good Nature is well worth your time investigating!” Says Norman B. Life Elsewhere airs at all the outlets and times listed below and the Podcast is now available at NPR One and iTunes.   

Sundays 12 noon ET at The Source WMNF HD3  
Mondays 5.00pm PT & Wednesdays 2.00pm PT at NWCZ Radio
Thursdays 6.00pm ET at Internet Radio Network
Fridays at 9.00pm GMT on Cornucopia Radio

Life Elsewhere is now available at NPR One & iTunes

If you miss any editions of Life Elsewhere, go here then go to the Listen On-Demand panel, choose the date of a show and click play.

Life Elsewhere Music airs:
Mondays at 6.00pm & Wednesdays at 3.00pm Pacific Time on NWCZ Radio
Fridays at 10.00am Eastern Time on IRN
Cornucopia Radio airs Life Elsewhere Music throughout each week
You can hear all the volumes over at Mixcloud
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The Exceptional Species

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Next at Life Elsewhere we take a look at us…the Exceptional Species. First, we’ll go back in time to discover our ancestors. Dr. Lydia Pyne has drawn from archives, museums, and interviews to build a cultural history of seven celebrity fossils, the enterprising result is collated in her new book, Seven Skeletons: The Evolution of the World’s Most Famous Human Fossils. It’s a fascinating and entertaining study that puts the impact of paleoanthropology into a new context and serves as a reminder of how our past as a species continues to affect, in astounding ways, our present culture, and imagination. Then, an investigation into what makes humans so exceptional among all the species on Earth? Agustin Fuentes has studied human creativity, the results are expertly explored in his new book, The Creative Spark: How Imagination Made Humans Exceptional where the renowned anthropologist presents a bold synthesis of paleontology, archaeology, genetics, and anthropology that overturns misconceptions about race, war and peace, and human nature itself. Finally, can we create a life that is both meaningful and fulfilling, regardless of who or where we are? Bill Burnett and Dave Evans explain that everything in our lives was designed by someone. And every design starts with a problem that a designer or team of designers seeks to solve. This is the premise of their wonderfully informative book. Designing Your Life: How To Build A Well-Lived Joyful Life. Don’t miss three intriguing interviews on the next edition of Life Elsewhere about us: the Exceptional Species.

Life Elsewhere airs:
Sundays 12 noon ET at The Source WMNF HD3  
Mondays 5.00pm PT & Wednesdays 2.00pm PT at NWCZ Radio
Thursdays 6.00pm ET at Internet Radio Network

Life Elsewhere Music airs:
Wednesdays at 3.00pm Pacific Time on NWCZ Radio
Fridays at 10.00am Eastern Time on I R N
You can hear all the volumes over at Mixcloud