Can Humanity Ever Get Along???

In this episode, Daniel talks about community, atheism, the enormous universe, and the strange miracle of being alive.

After attending NanaCon (a yearly convention of Atheists, Humanists and like minded people) Daniel finds himself thinking about why humans need community—even people who don't belong to traditional religious communities—and how that same need for belonging can bring people together for beautiful reasons or very destructive ones.

Then comes 10 Things I Find Amazing About Being Alive, including the mind-boggling size of the universe, the fact that we're made of stardust, the mystery of consciousness, how brief a human life really is, the possibility of life elsewhere in the universe, our obsession with certainty, and Daniel's newfound obsession with feeding birds.

He also talks about anger, civility, control, mortality, and the challenge of remaining loving toward people whose beliefs we strongly disagree with.

And this episode features several listener voicemails—including thoughts about near-death experiences, nihilism, community, and finding meaning when we're not sure the universe has any inherent meaning at all.