The Podcast For Inquiry

Dr. Darragh McGee (Instagram) is an academic at the University of Bath and the author of Imitation Games. He details the deceptive practices gambling companies employ to entice new customers, and how they are encouraged to place bets habitually. In-play betting is very different from simply wagering on the outcome of a match - which leads to a discussion about the nature of addiction and its relationship with problem gambling. Like many firms, gambling companies prioritize profit above people, and Darragh compares gambling firms with Big Tobacco. Darragh describes how gambling firms make it trivially easy to sign up, and deliberately challenging to leave. Podcast for Inquiry is hosted by Leslie Rosenblood and brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Join today! Produced by Zack Dumont, Martin Zielinski, and Leslie Rosenblood. Support Podcast for Inquiry on Patreon: https://patreon.com/PodcastforInquiry. Send your thoughts and feedback to [email protected].  

Yasmine Mohammed is a human rights activist and author of Unveiled: How the West Empowers Radical Muslims. Yasmine is one of the most prominent and vocal figures supporting persecuted freethinkers across the globe, from elevating the voices of marginalized freethinkers on her podcast, to creating a global network of allies across religious and political divides through the CLARITy Coalition. Yasmine shares how her childhood was dramatically changed when her mother became an unofficial "second wife" to a devout Muslim man, and how Canada failed to protect her due to the bigotry of low expectations. She describes her journey from non-practicing Muslim to becoming an open atheist, and how the trauma of her childhood continued to haunt her as an adult. We also discuss how countries suffer under Islamic rule, the particular hatred of Jews that is a core element of Islam, and the origin of and problems with the term Islamophobia.  Learn more about Yasmine and support her efforts:  Free Hearts Free Minds Yasmine Mohammed Podcast Unveiled: How the West Empowers Radical Muslims Clarity Coalition Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, BlueSky    Podcast for Inquiry is hosted by Leslie Rosenblood and brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Join today! Produced by Zack Dumont, Martin Zielinski, and Leslie Rosenblood. Support Podcast for Inquiry on Patreon: https://patreon.com/PodcastforInquiry. Send your thoughts and feedback to [email protected].  

Even as a young teenager, Dr. Steven Pinker (@sapinker) prized rationality as a virtue, and considered himself an anarchist. He changed that belief, however, when evidence indicated that anarchy was not a path to human flourishing. In this special episode, a co-production with the New Enlightenment Project, previous Podcast for Inquiry guest Lloyd Hawkeye Robertson returns as a co-host. Together, Lloyd and Leslie explore with Dr. Pinker whether universities are betraying their mission, how the human brain spectacularly fails while also working wonders, the loose connections between science and technology with social and moral progress, and what humanity needs to do to continue to thrive for the next 50-100 years.  Podcast for Inquiry is hosted by Leslie Rosenblood and brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Join today! Produced by Zack Dumont, Martin Zielinski, and Leslie Rosenblood. Support Podcast for Inquiry on Patreon: https://patreon.com/PodcastforInquiry. Send your thoughts and feedback to [email protected].  

Dr. Kelly Weinersmith (@FuSchmu) is the co-author (with her husband Zach) of Soonish and A City on Mars. Kelly maintains that while having humans living off Earth would be awesome, we're simply not ready for it yet. She answers many of Leslie's questions: Why can't we go to Mars if we have the will? Why can't we all just get along? Why should we expand? Why is building a habitable space station harder than settling on Mars or the moon? What laws would apply in any off-Earth settlement? Where should we focus our space research efforts?  Kelly also goes on a rant about Helium 3.    There are two great conferences taking place in Ontario in August 2026:  World Humanist Congress August 7-9 in Ottawa https://www.worldhumanistcongress.org/  BAHACON August 21-23 in Sarnia https://bahacon.com/  Podcast for Inquiry is hosted by Leslie Rosenblood and brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Join today! Produced by Zack Dumont, Martin Zielinski, and Leslie Rosenblood. Support Podcast for Inquiry on Patreon: https://patreon.com/PodcastforInquiry. Send your thoughts and feedback to [email protected].

After years of research, David Fitzgerald has come to a surprising conclusion: that all the main characters in the world's major religions are entirely the product of human imagination. While many have long doubted the supernatural feats that religious figures are purported to have done, the assumption that these are grounded in at least a kernel of historical fact is widely held. David explains how the stories we are familiar with today accreted over time, and the utter lack of evidence that any of the major figures of Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Jainism, or Buddhism ever actually existed. There are two great conferences taking place in Ontario in August 2026:  World Humanist Congress August 7-9 in Ottawa https://www.worldhumanistcongress.org/  BAHACON August 21-23 in Sarnia https://bahacon.com/  Podcast for Inquiry is brought to you by the Centre for Inquiry Canada. Join today! Produced by CFIC volunteers. Support Podcast for Inquiry on Patreon: https://patreon.com/PodcastforInquiry. Send your thoughts and feedback to [email protected].