The Rational View podcast with Dr. Al Scott

Welcome to my Canadian election review podcast. As of the time of this episode Canada is just a couple weeks away and the Rational View is here to provide you with a rundown on the major parties.  In Canada we have two major parties, the Liberals and the Conservatives who are the only parties who have ever won elections, plus a third party, the New Democrats (NDP) who usually manage to capture a smattering of seats. The last two te...

Life is chaotic right now, people are worried, all you hear on social media is conflict and crazy.

Time to step back, relax, and go on a journey with me into philosophy of the mind. Let’s meditate a bit and disconnect from the reset of modern civilization.

Why am I seeing the world only from within Al Scott’s head? Why am I me and not you? 

Why do you wake up in the morning as you and not as someone else? Is it because you are a so...

Miles Spencer is a father and a mentor of tech founders. He says the similarities in those jobs are remarkable. He founded, financed, built and exited three digital media companies. Prior to that, he was a Venture Principal at Capital Express, and hosted MoneyHunt on PBS. In his spare time he is a painter and an adventurer who has hiked through the Saudi desert and lived to write a book about.  A Line in the Sand ended up an Amazon...

Donald Trump has fawned over authoritarians and dictators and strives to emulate them. What do dictators do? They expoit weaker countries and expand their territory. Hitler had the Aunschlus where he annexed Austria, Putin has Ukraine, and Trump wants Canada and Greenland. The international community allowed Putin to take Crimea with little repercussions. Could Trump be interested in doing the same thing to Canada? What is the evid...

In this episode I’m following up on a tip from a listener who suggested that I should speak with David Bernstein. David was on Michael Shermer’s podcast discussing civil liberty, free speech, and constitutional law issues. In the current situation of highly polarized public debate it is critical that we listen to both sides of the argument and don’t fall victim to bias. This is a job for The Rational View!

David E. Bernstein holds ...

In this episode I’m interviewing a thoughtful kindred spirit to the Rational View. Someone who has made it her mission to bridge polarizing gaps in society and work for the greater good. Please excuse my deep bass FM radio voice as I’m getting over a nasty virus.

Juliana Tafur is the director of the Greater Good Science Center’s Bridging Differences program at UC Berkeley. She is now leading a Campaign for Connection to bridge poli...

This episode is providing a rational review of events to the south in the new republican administration. There is a lot of concern on the left over the activities of Musk and Trump. There is a huge pile of propaganda that both sides are producing. What are the facts? Should we be worried?

Appearing in the Oval Office and addressing the nation whilst Trump looks on bored and confused, Musk hoists his young son on his shoulders. Late...

In this episode I’m going to play devil’s advocate and look at the flaws on the left of the political spectrum. I am always trying to challenge my biases and poke holes in my positions by listening to opposing opinions. I have been butting heads with a UK professor over social media on several issues recently as he has been posting what I would consider biased right wing positions and I have been challenging him. We are both in agr...

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 has derailed post-war successes and led to the current situation of inequity and unrest. It puts us in the strange position that robotics and AI are going to make the vast majority of the world poorer and further behind.

Dean Baker is th...

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 vaccine hesitancy and a growing public health emergency.  The WHO highlighted vaccine hesitancy as a major global health risk. Just this morning I heard announcements of Measles outbreaks. Vaccines have saved millions of lives. They’ve...

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 society, have made great progress in addressing inequality, but unscientific biases still abound. Many folks would say that we’ve already equalized opportunities. Many would say great gulfs remain to be bridged. What does the data say?

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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 interventions aimed at leveling the gender gap in the workplace. I hope we can gain some insights into what is good and what does not work to promote fairness in the workplace.

Siri Chilazi is a senior researcher at the Women and Public Policy P...

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 supported by science or is it snake oil? This calls for The Rational View.

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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 with our space probes. I’m eager to learn what he thinks about space exploration.

Dr John Moores is an Associate Professor in the Centre for Research in Earth and Space Science at York University. He is a member of the Royal Society of Ca...

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 under the leadership of Viktor Orbán, the populist prime minister of Hungary since 2010. In 2022, European parliament declared that Hungary could no longer be considered a democracy. MEPs are concerned about several political areas conce...

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-bait memes generating outrage are monetized by social media networks into clicks. Let’s explore how this impacts society and what we can do to counter it.

Richard Thompson Ford is a Professor at Stanford Law School. He has written abou...

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. His most recent paper suggests that it should not be considered an improvement over coal.

Robert Howarth is an Earth systems scientist and ecosystem biologist with a Ph.D. jointly from MIT and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution....

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 corner of the country want to be united behind a common set of ideals: democracy, the rule of law, collective action, and individual rights. A country where you can live as you like, love who you want, and in exchange, you work hard, and...

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 new idea that clashes with classical economics. It can be summarized as the idea that governments whose dollar is not linked to a gold standard don't need to worry about deficits. It encompasses the idea of guaranteed employment for all....