KERA's Think KERA

If everything happens for a reason, and those reasons are beyond our control, maybe we don’t have free will after all. Robert Sapolsky, professor of biology and neurology at Stanford University, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss his case against free will, which he says is the logical choice if you look at the ways our lives are shaped by forces that start from our very biology. And we’ll hear why, even without this control, we are still bound to be moral and decent humans. His book is “Determined: A Science of Life Without Free Will.”

Putting actors of color into historically white roles might not be as progressive as we’d like to think it is. Writer and filmmaker Kabir Chibber joins host Krys Boyd to discuss why colorblind casting still has roots in Euro-centric thinking, and how it often distracts us from actually confronting racism. His article in The New York Times is “Hollywood’s New Fantasy: A Magical, Colorblind Past.”

One woman’s failed abortion attempts turned into a positive for another woman, illustrating some of the real-life effects of new reproductive laws. Amber Ferguson of The Washington Post joins host Krys Boyd to discuss two women, one who didn’t want to give birth and another who couldn’t, and how the fall of Roe changed their lives. Her article is “After abortion attempts, two women now bound by child.”

Wildfire and hurricane seasons are growing more severe, forcing some Americans to rethink where they live. Abrahm Lustgarten is an investigative reporter writing about climate change at ProPublica and for The New York Times. He joins host Krys Boyd to discuss where people might eventually resettle and the cities that could capitalize on that forced migration. His book is “On the Move: The Overheating Earth and the Uprooting of America.”

We celebrate the birth of a child, but so often the quietness of a death is left as an unceremonious moment. Alua Arthur, founder of Going with Grace, a death doula training and end-of-life planning organization, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss how she’s devoted her career ushering individuals and families through the process of death, why she believes it’s a sacred moment, and how she encourages people to plan for plan for end of life with dignity. Her book is “Briefly Perfectly Human: Making an Authentic Life by Getting Real About the End.”

On a planet with 8 billion people, what’s the argument for an individual doing the right thing if it’s barely a drop in the bucket? Travis Rieder, faculty member at the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics, where he directs the Master of Bioethics degree program. He holds secondary appointments in the departments of Philosophy and Health Policy and Management, as well as the Center for Public Health Advocacy and he joins host Krys Boyd to discuss our everyday challenges and the moral quandaries they put us in, and how to do the decent thing in a global and complex world. His book is “Catastrophe Ethics: How to Choose Well in a World of Tough Choices.”