The Shape of Dialogue – Details, episodes & analysis

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The Shape of Dialogue

Michael Goldwater

Society & Culture

Education

Frequency: 1 episode/44d. Total Eps: 50

The Shape of Dialogue podcast focuses on the foundational principles that make societies function at their best. It initially started with an investigation into free speech, it continues to discuss relevant and interesting topics about our world and how best to navigate through it.

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Latest chart positions across Apple Podcasts and Spotify rankings.

Apple Podcasts

🇨🇦 Canada - philosophy
12/08/2026
#73
🇬🇧 Great Britain - philosophy
10/08/2026
#77
🇬🇧 Great Britain - philosophy
31/07/2026
#67
🇬🇧 Great Britain - philosophy
11/04/2026
#77
🇬🇧 Great Britain - philosophy
06/02/2026
#75
🇬🇧 Great Britain - philosophy
28/12/2025
#84
🇩🇪 Germany - philosophy
26/12/2025
#95
🇩🇪 Germany - philosophy
25/12/2025
#56
🇬🇧 Great Britain - philosophy
05/11/2025
#59
🇨🇦 Canada - philosophy
04/11/2025
#93

Spotify

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Shared links between episodes and podcasts

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https://stevenpinker.com/
4 shares
https://peterboghossian.com
4 shares
https://www.royalsociety.org.nz/news/he-panui-statement/
4 shares

https://www.youtube.com/c/AnthonyMagnabosco210
2 shares
https://www.youtube.com/@Cleisthenes2/videos
2 shares
https://youtu.be/PPVkyzg5x9M?si=o2_DKw5ymqJHih0u
2 shares

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RSS feed quality

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Score global : 53%

Publication history

Monthly episode publishing history over the past years.

Year

Latest published episodes

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Literacy Matters with Dr Melissa Derby - The Shape of Dialogue #32

Episode 34

Wednesday, September 11, 2024 • Duration 59:55

Dr Melissa Derby is a Senior Lecturer teaching early literacy and human development at the University of Waikato's Tauranga campus and online. Melissa completed her PhD at the University of Canterbury, and her study was part of A Better Start National Science Challenge. Her primary area of research is early literacy, and in particular, in exploring the role of whānau in fostering foundational preliteracy skills. More generally, she has an interest in Māori education and success. Melissa's scholarship has been recognised through a range of awards, including a Fulbright-Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga Graduate Award, a SAGE Young Writer's Award, a University of Waikato Early Career Research Award, and two research awards from the Royal Society of New Zealand. She is the Director of the Early Years Research Centre at the University of Waikato, and co-Editor of the New Zealand Association for Research in Education's blog, Ipu Kererū. Melissa is on the Editorial Board for the journal of the International Literacy Association, The Reading Teacher. In New Zealand, she sits on a number of advisory groups for education and literacy, including the cabinet-appointed Ministerial Advisory Group advising the Minister of Education. Melissa is on the Board of Trustees at Matua School in Tauranga, New Zealand and the Board of Directors for Inspired Kindergartens in Tauranga, New Zealand.

https://profiles.waikato.ac.nz/melissa.derby

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TRANS - Biology or Ideology? with Helen Joyce - The Shape of Dialogue #23

Episode 25

Sunday, May 5, 2024 • Duration 01:28:28

Helen Joyce is a journalist and was a staff writer for The Economist between 2005 and 2022. Helen held various leading positions at The Economist, including education editor, Brazil correspondent, International editor, Finance editor and Britain editor.

Helen's first book, "Trans: When Ideology Meets Reality," was published by OneWorld in July 2021. It was reissued in 2023 under the new title "Trans: Gender Identity and the New Battle for Women's Rights."

"Trans" was an immediate bestseller and was named by the Times, Spectator and Observer as one of their books of 2021.

Helen now campaigns for women's rights and works with the start-up human-rights organisation Sex Matters, which campaigns for clarity about the two sexes, male and female, in law and in life.

https://www.thehelenjoyce.com/

https://www.thehelenjoyce.com/trans-news-and-reviews/

https://www.amazon.com.au/TRANS-When-Ideology-Meets-Reality/dp/0861540492

https://sex-matters.org/

Music - Bach Mass in B Minor conducted by John Eliot Gardiner

https://open.spotify.com/album/3HdmIB3Wzcd7bFDdsgaIbp?si=dRMNyRieTLCTHMJfSBZ7mA

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Avoiding Bias With Science with Richard Dawkins - The Shape of Dialogue #22

Episode 24

Friday, April 5, 2024 • Duration 01:06:20

Richard Dawkins - https://richarddawkins.com/

In February 2023, Richard Dawkins asked me to host his New Zealand speaking tour. Today's podcast is the Auckland event, in which Richard discusses the scientific method, his recent book Flights of Fancy, and the debate surrounding the inclusion of non-scientific Māori mythological concepts in the New Zealand school science curriculum.

Richard needs no introduction, but if anyone has been hiding under a rock for the last 50 years, here's a brief description of his contribution to the world.

Richard Dawkins is a world-famous Oxford University evolutionary biologist. He has led an illustrious career as an influential scientist, author, public intellectual and, importantly, an ardent advocate for science. It's no exaggeration to say Richard is one of the greatest minds of our time, and through his many books and public engagement, has positively changed millions of lives.

Richard is a prolific and highly influential author and one of the greatest writers of his generation. He has written 20 books, including The Selfish Gene, The Extended Phenotype, and the magic of reality.

Throughout his career, Richard has been a strong critic of religion and views the existence of God as a falsifiable hypothesis. In The Blind Watchmaker, he debunks creationist claims that life is far too complicated not to have had an omniscient designer.

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Curriculum Update – Nick Matzke - The Shape of Dialogue #21

Episode 23

Wednesday, December 20, 2023 • Duration 01:04:56

About Nick Matzke - https://profiles.auckland.ac.nz/n-matzke

Background

In July 2021, seven University of Auckland professors published a letter to the editor in the New Zealand Listener, titled In Defence of Science.

The professors' were responding to a Government education report (see link below), recommending parity for Mātauranga Māori in the secondary school curriculum, and in particular, in the science classroom.

The report states:

”Our goal is to ensure parity for mātauranga Māori with the other bodies of knowledge credentialed by NCEA (particularly Western/Pākehā epistemologies)."

The report also states:

"Philosophy and History of Science is a unique strand in Pūtaiao [Māori word for Science], with no equivalent in the New Zealand Curriculum. It promotes discussion and analysis of the ways in which science has been used to support the dominance of Eurocentric views (among which, its use as a rationale for colonisation of Māori and the suppression of Māori knowledge); and the notion that science is a Western European invention and itself evidence of European dominance over Māori and other indigenous peoples. Pūtaiao allows opportunities to incorporate Māori perspectives and knowledge about the natural world into the classroom. In this regard, it decentres Western epistemologies and methodologies."

The professors' letter arose from their concern for "the disturbing misunderstandings of science emerging at all levels of education and in science funding", which they state is encourages a mistrust of science. Their concern is in the context of the decline in maths and science achievements in New Zealand schools, particularly by Māori and Pacific Island students.

Save Our Schools – Education – Michael Johnston - The Shape of Dialogue #20

Episode 22

Thursday, August 3, 2023 • Duration 01:14:50

Save Our Schools Report

https://www.nzinitiative.org.nz/reports-and-media/reports/save-our-schools-solutions-for-new-zealands-education-crisis/document/797

Dr Michael Johnston is a Senior Fellow at the New Zealand Initiative. He leads the workstream on education.

Prior to his time at the Initiative, Dr Johnston held academic positions at Victoria University of Wellington from 2011-2022. From 2020 until 2022 he was the Associate Dean (Academic) in the University’s Faculty of Education.

Prior to his time at Victoria, Dr Johnston was the Senior Statistician at the New Zealand Qualifications Authority, a position he held for 6 years. Before that, he was a lecturer in psychology at the University Melbourne and a Research Fellow at Latrobe University.

Dr Johnston holds a PhD in Cognitive Psychology from the University of Melbourne.

https://www.nzinitiative.org.nz/about-us/our-people/dr-michael-johnston/

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China's Genocide - Jewher Ilham - The Shape of Dialogue #19

Episode 21

Thursday, July 13, 2023 • Duration 01:03:25

Jewher Ilham

https://www.allstaticandnoise.com/

Twitter https://twitter.com/jewherilham

Jewher Ilham: A Uyghur's Fight to Free Her Father (Broken Silence)

https://www.amazon.com/Jewher-Ilham-Uyghurs-Father-Silence/dp/1608011054

Ilham Tohti : http://www.ilhamtohti.com/

Uyghur Forced Labor Checker

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/uyghur-forced-labor-check/ejodaepockllkcloibcchpjnfoopincp

Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act

https://www.cbp.gov/trade/forced-labor/UFLPA

China: UN experts deeply concerned by alleged detention, forced labour of Uyghurs

https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2021/03/china-un-experts-deeply-concerned-alleged-detention-forced-labour-uyghurs

China: 83 major brands implicated in report on forced labour

https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/china-83-major-brands-implicated-in-report-on-forced-labour-of-ethnic-minorities-from-xinjiang-assigned-to-factories-across-provinces-includes-company-responses/

All Static & Noise - Genocide in China - The Shape of Dialogue #18

Episode 20

Wednesday, June 21, 2023 • Duration 01:33:35

Director David Novack talks about All Static & Noise, his documentary on the Uyghur genocide in western China.

www.allstaticandnoise.com

www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100088787521406

https://www.instagram.com/allstaticandnoise/

https://twitter.com/allstatic_noise

https://www.odessafilms.com/our-films.html

https://www.odessafilms.com/david-novack.html

https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2021/03/china-un-experts-deeply-concerned-alleged-detention-forced-labour-uyghurs

https://www.cbp.gov/trade/forced-labor/UFLPA

https://www.workersrights.org/

Doc Edge & The UnRedacted with Alex Lee - The Shape of Dialogue #17

Episode 18

Monday, April 10, 2023 • Duration 01:05:24

Alex Lee, co-founder and director of the Doc Edge International Documentary Film Festival, talks about the worldwide banning of Meg Smaker's feature-length documentary, "The Unredacted (Jihad Rehab)". The film follows a group of men trained by al-Qaeda who are transferred from Guantanamo and sent to the world's first rehabilitation centre for "terrorists" in Saudi Arabia. Alex talks about why New Zealand's Doc Edge was the only film festival in the world to show The Unredacted after Sundance Film Festival removed the film from its lineup and apologised for showing it because a small group of activists campaigned against the film.

Tickets for Auckland screening - 26 April 2023, 6.30 PM, Sky City Theatre

https://docedge.nz/festival/films/the-unredacted-2023/

Please help Meg to get her film shown by donating here..........

gofundme.com/f/the-unredacted-jihad-rehab

https://jihadrehab.com/

Sam Harris Podcast - A Tale of Cancellation: A Conversation with Meg Smaker - https://youtu.be/rec9wVWa1IA

Twitter: @Meighon

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Identity, Mitochondrial Gene Transfer & Science with Mike Berridge - The Shape of Dialogue #16

Episode 17

Monday, March 20, 2023 • Duration 02:07:39

Professor Mike Berridge completed a doctoral degree in cell biology at the University of Auckland in 1971 exploring the mechanism of action of plant growth hormones. Following postdoctoral research in developmental molecular biology at Purdue University, USA, and experience as a staff scientist at National Institute for Medical Research, Mill Hill, UK, he returned to Wellington in 1976 as the second Malaghan Research Fellow where he established the Cancer Cell & Molecular Biology Research Group and was a founding scientist of the Wellington Cancer & Medical Research Institute, later renamed the Malaghan Institute of Medical Research in recognition of major personal support by Len and Anne Malaghan.

Prof Berridge received a James Cook Fellowship in the health sciences in 2003 and was awarded the Health Research Council Liley Medal for outstanding research on cellular metabolism in 2016. In the same year he was a semi-finalist in the KiwiBank New Zealander of the Year Awards.

Prof Berridge’s current research interests include cancer cell energy metabolism and mitochondrial gene transfer between cells in human disease. As a science communicator, he recently published “The Edge of Life” (2015), and “Sugar, Rum and Tobacco: Taxes and Public Health in New Zealand” with Lisa Marriott in 2017.

In 2023 Mike received a Doctor of Science from Victoria University of Wellington for his lifetime achievements in science.

https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/news/2022/09/professor-michael-berridge

https://www.malaghan.org.nz/our-expertise/our-people/science-leadership/professor-mike-berridge/

https://www.malaghan.org.nz/news-and-reports/news/professor-mike-berridge-a-journey-through-the-frontiers-of-the-biological-sciences/

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Metaphors with Steven Pinker The Shape of Dialogue #15

Episode 16

Thursday, December 8, 2022 • Duration 55:00

Steven Pinker is an experimental psychologist who conducts research in visual cognition, psycholinguistics, and social relations. He grew up in Montreal and earned his BA from McGill and his PhD from Harvard. Currently Johnstone Professor of Psychology at Harvard, he has also taught at Stanford and MIT. He has won numerous prizes for his research, his teaching, and his books, including The Language Instinct, How the Mind Works, The Blank Slate, The Better Angels of Our Nature, The Sense of Style, and Enlightenment Now. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, a two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist, a Humanist of the Year, a recipient of nine honorary doctorates, and one of Foreign Policy’s “World’s Top 100 Public Intellectuals” and Time’s “100 Most Influential People in the World Today.” He was Chair of the Usage Panel of the American Heritage Dictionary, and writes frequently for the New York Times, the Guardian, and other publications. His twelfth book, published in 2021, is called Rationality: What It Is, Why It Seems Scarce, Why It Matters.

https://stevenpinker.com/

Works mentioned in the podcast

Metaphors we live by - George Lakoff and Mark Johnson

The Shape of Dialogue – Details, episodes & analysis

Podcast details

Recent rankings

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Shared links between episodes and podcasts

RSS feed quality and score

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Latest published episodes

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Apple Podcasts

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Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

The Shape of Dialogue – Details, episodes & analysis

Podcast details

Recent rankings

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Shared links between episodes and podcasts

Other99+

Apple2

Youtube16

RSS feed quality and score

Publication history

Latest published episodes

Similar podcasts and content

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Other99+

Apple2

Youtube16