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.

If you like my program please send money to patron dot podbean dot com slash THERATIONALVIEW

If you don't like my program come to my RationalView Facebook group and give me your best counter argument

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 Canada’s College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists, a recipient of the Canadian Aeronautics and Space Institute’s McCurdy Award and served as the Science Advisor to the President of the Canadian Space Agency from 2022-2024. John holds a BASc in Engineering Science from the University of Toronto and a Ph.D. from the University of Arizona in Planetary Science. An author on over 100 articles in planetary science, John has also been a member of five NASA and ESA-led space mission teams.

Support the podcast at patron dot podbean dot com slash TheRationalView

Come chat on Facebook @TheRationalView

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 concerning democracy and fundamental rights in Hungary. Some of the main areas are the functioning of its constitutional and electoral system, the independence of the judiciary, corruption and conflicts of interest and freedom of expression, including media pluralism. Academic freedom, freedom of religion, freedom of association, the right to equal treatment, including LGBTIQ rights, the rights of minorities, as well as those of migrants, asylum seekers and refugees, are also problematic.

What do these first steps towards authoritarianism look like and what can we do to avoid following the same path? Why do people want to go away from democracy? Are they racist bigots?

Gábor Scheiring is a former member of the Hungarian parliament having served from 2010-2014 and an assistant professor of comparative politics at Georgetown University Qatar. He previously served as a Visiting Fellow at Harvard University's Center for European Studies. His research explores the political economy and lived experiences of contemporary economic transformations through quantitative, qualitative, and comparative methods. He focuses on how economic shocks create precarity, leading to mental and physical suffering, and how these processes impact democratic stability. His book, The Retreat of Liberal Democracy, which won the BASEES 2021 Book Award, examines how working-class dislocation and elite co-optation foster illiberalism in Hungary.

Do you like the podcast? Share the love at patron dot podbean dot com slash TheRationalView

Do you hate the podcast? Join TheRationalView Facebook group and let's talk it out.