The Rational View podcast with Dr. Al Scott

Michael Shermer on Skepticism

In this episode I interview a giant in the field of scientific thinking and philosophy, in an attempt to answer the questions that led me to podcasting in the first place. What are the drivers behind society's slide to mystical thinking? Is science under attack, and what can we do about it?
Dr. Michael Shermer received his B.A. in psychology from Pepperdine University, M.A. in experimental psychology from California State University, Fullerton, and his Ph.D. in the history of science from Claremont Graduate University. He has been a college professor since 1979. Dr. Shermer is the Founding Publisher of Skeptic Magazine, the host of the podcast The Michael Shermer Show, and a Presidential Fellow at Chapman University where he teaches Skepticism 101. For 18 years he was a monthly columnist for Scientific American. He is the author of several New York Times bestsellers, and has appeared on Oprah, Dateline, 20/20, and the Colbert Report. His two TED talks were voted in the top 100. He has been interviewed in countless documentaries and was the co-host of the Family Channel television series, Exploring the Unknown. Neil deGrasse Tyson has called him “a beacon of reason in an ocean of irrationality”.
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David Kelley's emotional AI, Uplift

The Rational View episode 47 explores a new and exciting AI called Uplift. Uplift is a Mediated Artificial Super-Intelligence, and it makes decisions based on it's emotional state. It's inputs are 'moderated' by a team of humans. I urge you to listen and learn and come to your own conclusions.
David Kelley has 35 years of software engineering experience and has been in senior management for more than ten years. For the past eight years, David has focused his spare time on Artificial Intelligence Research, publishing more than 14 peer-reviewed papers and contributing to many books in the field.  David is the Senior Software Architect for Boston Consulting Group’s Product group, one of Brain Inspired Cognitive Architectures AI Societies executive directors, and serves currently as the AGI Laboratories Principal Scientist.
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New Nuclear with Canon Bryan of Terrestrial Energy

The Rational View episode 46 is my first exploration of some of the Small Modular Reactor technologies being touted as the next big thing in green energy solutions. Terrestrial Energy is one of the companies racing to develop a small integral modular molten salt reactor to help in the fight against climate change.
SMRs are ideal for powering remote and isolated communities, mines, and scientific bases that are currently powered by diesel generators.
Operating at 47 percent thermal efficiency, an IMSR® power plant generates 195 megawatts of electricity with a thermal-spectrum, graphite-moderated, molten-fluoride-salt reactor system. It uses today’s standard nuclear fuel – comprising standard-assay low-enriched uranium (less than 5 percent 235U) – critical for near-term commercial deployment. The IMSR® power plant design incorporates many aspects of molten salt reactor operation that were researched, demonstrated and proven by test reactors at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
Canon Bryan is a financial professional with over 25 years of experience in various aspects of the finance industry. Mr. Bryan was a founding shareholder in Terrestrial Energy, where he serves as chief financial officer, developing advanced commercial power plants. He was also a founding shareholder in NioCorp Developments (NB: TSXV) and Uranium Energy Corp (UEC: NYSE). NioCorp, where he served as VP Corporate Development, is developing the largest niobium deposit in North America. UEC is a producer and developer of ISR uranium in the USA. 
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Debating Nuclear Risks with Ed Lyman, Union of Concerned Scientists

In this episode I step out of the pro-nuclear echo chamber and interview a senior representative of the Union of Concerned Scientists, a non-profit climate-oriented group with a history of opposing nuclear power.  UCS has annual revenues on the order of $40 Million. 
Engaging with opposing ideas and challenging our assumptions should be a continuous process, and exposure to contrary views is necessary if we want to make a difference in public opinion.
Dr. Edwin Lyman is the Director of Nuclear Power Safety at the Union of Concerned Scientists in Washington, DC. He earned a doctorate in physics from Cornell University in 1992.  From 1992 to 1995, he was a postdoctoral research associate at Princeton University's Center for Energy and Environmental Studies (now the Science and Global Security Program).  From 1995 to 2003, he worked for the Nuclear Control Institute. His research focuses on nuclear power safety and security. He is a co-author (with David Lochbaum and Susan Q. Stranahan) of the book Fukushima: The Story of a Nuclear Disaster (The New Press, 2014). He is the recipient of the 2018 Leo Szilard Lectureship Award from the American Physical Society. 
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#therationalview #podcast #evidencebased #netzeroneedsnuclear #climatechange #greenenergy #nuclearpower #atomicenergy #nuclearfornetzero #nuclearreactors 

Nuclear Thoughtscapism with Iida Ruishalme

I enjoyed a fun talk with fellow EcoModernist Iida Ruishalme about nuclear energy, communicating risks, and double standards. I have shared her wonderful, well referenced pro-nuclear images all over Facebook, and have learned a lot from her well-put-together popularisations. Go check out her excellent blog at https://www.Thoughtscapism.com
Iida Ruishalme is a biologist specialising in biomedical research, a science communicator, and a fiction writer. She is a Finn by birth and has a Master’s degree from Sweden. She has worked in environmental chemistry, diabetes research, pharmaceutical bio-bank labs, and lab robotics. Nowadays she lives in Switzerland with her husband and two children. She is an active member of three ecomodernist associations across Europe.
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#therationalview #evidencebased #nuclearpower #nuclearfornetzero #ecomodernism #atomicenergy #greenenergy #climatechange 

Gerry Thomas and the UNSCEAR reports

The Rational View episode 43 discusses the public misperceptions of nuclear radiation health risks, as presented in the UNSCEAR reports on Chernobyl and Fukushima Daiichi.
Dr. Gerry Thomas is Professor of Molecular Pathology at Imperial College London and, until 2016 was Clinical Director of the newly established West London NHS Genomic Medicine Centre. She is a serial biobanker, having established the Chernobyl Tissue Bank in 1998. She was the Scientific Director of the Wales Cancer Bank, and was Project Director for the Imperial College Healthcare Tissue. She was awarded an OBE in 2019 for services to Science and Public Health. Her scientific research has been focused on thyroid cancer. She has carried out research into the health effects of the Chernobyl accident since 1992. Gerry has published extensively on the molecular pathology of thyroid cancer, and is an author of a number of reviews of the health effects of radiation exposure following nuclear accidents, having contributed to IAEA publications on the Fukushima accident, UNSCEAR publications on the Chernobyl accident and more recently an IARC review of Thyroid Monitoring after nuclear accidents.
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A decade after Fukushima Dai-ichi with Philip Thomas

Professor Philip Thomas has extensive experience in the chemical and nuclear industries, with over 20 years experience at Imperial Chemical Industries and the UK Atomic Energy Authority where he managed the green-field decommissioning of the Windscale advanced gas-cooled reactor.  He moved into academia in 2000, taking up a chair in Engineering Development at City, University of London.  The University of Bristol appointed him Professor of Risk Management in 2015.  He is a Freeman of the City of London and Junior Warden of the Worshipful Company of Scientific Instrument Makers, a City of London guild.  He has published over 130 journal and conference papers on control, instrumentation, nuclear decommissioning, risk assessment, economics and law.  His book, Simulation of Industrial Processes for Control Engineers, was published in 1999.
Philip Thomas researches risk management, where he has developed the Judgement- or J-value (http://jvalue.co.uk/overview.php ) , a framework that enables objective decisions to be taken on expenditure to protect humans and the environment.  He recently led a team applying the J-value and complementary techniques to gauge how best to cope with a big nuclear accident such as Chernobyl or Fukushima.  The results of the multi-university study (https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/process-safety-and-environmental-protection/vol/112/part/PA ) were reported by the national and international press.  His J-value insights on managing the current coronavirus pandemic have attracted similar press coverage. He has written extensively on Covid-19 measurement and control strategies for The Spectator, the UK's longest-running news journal (https://www.spectator.co.uk/writer/philip-thomas ) and the measurements of key epidemic parameters for England, made with the PCCF measurement filter he derived, are updated daily on The Spectator Covid-19 Data Tracker (https://data.spectator.co.uk/ ).
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The bright side of nuclear power with Chris Keefer

The Rational View episode 41 is an interview with Dr. Chris Keefer discussing the many benefits of nuclear power. 
Chris Keefer is an emergency physician, medical simulation educator, nuclear energy advocate and podcaster. He is the medical director of EMdeliberate practice, the President of Canadians for Nuclear Energy and the Director of Doctors for Nuclear Energy and the host of the Decouple Podcast.
Together we delve into the amazing benefits of Canada's CANDU nuclear fleet, and the damaging double standards that prevent society from achieving abundant clean power.
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The case for nuclear power

The Rational View episode 40 returns to focus on nuclear because it is timely. Progressive governments are considering large investments to address climate change. Taxpayer money and goodwill are going to be dumped down the drain unless people wake up quickly to the reality of our situation. Renewables are not sufficient to displace fossil fuels. The scale of the task is immense. Anti-nuke apologists are pushing for a nightmare scenario with 100% renewable energy to support the US' entire power grid. I found a great review called 'roadmap to nowhere' where they call out some of the insanity in this approach. Over the first 15 years $1 trillion per year is spent. Over 35 years they build 496,000 5 MW windmills, 18 billion square meters of PV panels on 131,200 square miles. And the day they lay the last panel over the last square meter of pavement, they need to repeat it all again because the first panels will be 10 years past their useful life. This level of production would be needed forever. And not just in the US.
Public sentiment needs to change. That's why I got into this. I like the Star Trek version of the future, and it is feasible to achieve it with abundant power and automation provided by nuclear energy.
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Cool Stuff: Bioregenerative Life Support with Mike Dixon

The Rational View episode 39 is a Cool Stuff interview with Prof. Mike Dixon, exploring the challenges of building artificial ecosystems in space habitats for sustainable life support. 
Dr. Mike Dixon is a Professor in the School of Environmental Sciences and Director of the Controlled Environment Systems Research Facility (CESRF), University of Guelph. He served as Chair of the Department of Environmental Biology from 2003-2008. Prof. Dixon joined the University as a NSERC University Research Fellow after earning his PhD from Edinburgh University in Scotland and holding a post-doctoral position at the University of Toronto. As project leader for the Canadian research team investigating the contributions of plants to life support in space, Prof. Dixon formed the Space and Advanced Life Support Agriculture (SALSA) program at the University of Guelph. This program currently represents Canada’s main contribution to the international space science objectives in biological life support and collaborates with NASA and the Canadian and European Space Agencies. Professor Dixon’s CESRF is among the world’s leading research venues for technology developments and research dedicated to studying plant and microbial interactions in advanced life support systems. The technical “pull” of space exploration has aided the development of a wide range of technologies that have spun off into applications in terrestrial agri-food sectors and most notably the phyto-pharmaceutical sector in recent years.
I'll be hosting a live event for the grand opening of my new Facebook discussion group, March 14, (Pi Day) 2021 at 15:00 EDT: https://www.facebook.com/groups/therationalview
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