I was pointed to this podcast through another podcast. I’ve learned a lot about communities of practitioners and their approach to contemplative activities. There are many sober, sensible, and insightful discussions. I am often disappointed though by the caliber of the scientific discussions. It’s a common issue with popular science podcasts that in an effort to distill large bodies of research for a wide audience, important caveats and details are glossed over or go unchallenged. There are issues of replication and credibility across scientific disciplines but this series does not seem interested whether scientific findings they discuss are robust and reliable. On several occasions psychological research is cited as true that has failed to replicate. On other occasions they’re overly credulous about fringe scientific pursuits. I’m open to the idea of rigorously studying the effects of meditation and similar practices on the mind and brain as well as health and well being. But Carl Sagan said that before studying how something works, you first gotta show that something exists. Whole research programs can be built on shoddy foundations and I’m afraid this series is on shaky ground.

An excellent topic and an amazing approach to it