Location:
Chesilhurst , NJ
Description:
Learn to connect better with others in every area of your life. Immerse yourself in spirited conversations with people who know how hard it is, and yet how good it feels, to really connect with other people – whether it’s one person, an audience or a whole country. You'll know many of the people in these conversations – they are luminaries in our culture. Some you may not know. But what links them all is their powerful ability to relate and communicate. It's something we need now more than ever.
Twitter:
@alda
Language:
English
Contact:
917-775-0160
Episodes
Edda Fields-Black: The Harriet Tubman you didn’t know
3/31/2026
The remarkable and little-known story of how Harriet Tubman played a critical role in a daring raid that in 1863 freed some 700 slaves from rice plantations along South Carolina’s Combahee River.
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Duration:00:36:34
Gary Marcus: Is AI mostly hype?
3/24/2026
For over 20 years he has been a relentless critic of the extravagant claims made for the current generation of AI based on Large Language Models, or LLMs. But he is even more concerned about what may come next.
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Duration:00:37:17
Shermin Kruse: When empathy becomes a strategy
3/17/2026
Her mother’s skillful use of empathy to defuse a potentially dangerous encounter on the streets of Tehran when she was nine has stayed with her ever since. It led to her developing the concept of stoic empathy as a way to navigate challenges.
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Duration:00:37:58
Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda: Season 33 Trailer
3/9/2026
Alan and Executive Producer Graham Chedd look ahead to the new season with clips from episodes on empathy – both helping defuse a dangerous situation in Tehran and its role in the very different circumstances of a doctor’s office; why chatbots can still be exasperating; Harriet Tubman’s key role in a daring raid freeing 700 slaves; and why accents are so revealing.
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Duration:00:26:34
Carol Burnett: A favorite conversation
3/3/2026
At age 92, Carol Burnett still graces our screens with her presence and humor. Alan revisits a 2019 conversation that explores with her what made The Carol Burnett Show a comedy masterpiece and recalls the time she played his wife in his movie The Four Seasons.
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Duration:00:35:34
Adam Frank: Are there aliens out there? Probably. But UFOs – not so much
2/23/2026
It’s highly likely that life – maybe even intelligent life – has evolved elsewhere in the universe. But that aliens bother to hang out in our skies, or are even able to get here...Really?
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Duration:00:37:31
David Baron: When Martians were real
2/16/2026
…at least according to a bold-face December 1906 headline in the New York Times. This was in the middle of a decades-long fascination with the idea that Martians not only exist but were much smarter than us Earthlings. How Martians came… and went.
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Duration:00:36:25
Rebecca Goldstein: Why it matters to matter
2/10/2026
A philosopher and novelist, she has spent 40 years pondering why we all have a longing to matter. She’s talked with dozens of people about their own need to matter, and tells their stories in her new book, The Mattering Instinct.
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Duration:00:38:46
Steve Ramirez: Forget about it
2/3/2026
Experiments with mice have shown it’s possible to tinker with and even erase a memory. The goal for neuroscience now is to apply the science to help people struggling with PTSD and other mentally crippling memories.
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Duration:00:37:46
Michael Shermer: Want to know the truth?
1/27/2026
These days, despite the internet providing us access to every imaginable source of information, the truth is harder than ever to find. A conversation about how to sort truth from fiction and why, more than ever, truth matters.
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Duration:00:36:45
Loretta Ross: Better than calling out? Calling in
1/19/2026
She has spent over 50 years fighting racism, sexism and sexual violence, often fiercely. Now in her 70’s, her experiences have led her to move past anger toward a more empathic relationship with those she disagrees with.
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Duration:00:37:31
Marc Abrahams: Laugh… then Think
1/13/2026
The Ig Nobel prizes are awarded every year in a ceremony that is as charming as it is ridiculous, awarding research that itself may seem ridiculous at first sight but often turns out to be unexpectedly useful.
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Duration:00:37:47
Elena Hoicka: What makes a baby laugh?
1/6/2026
Babies find things funny long before they understand language – surprising even the author of the most detailed study to date of when and how babies and toddlers develop a sense of humor. And the better they are at getting jokes, the better they are at connecting with others.
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Duration:00:38:11
Marlo Thomas: That Girl who changed Television
12/29/2025
Almost 60 years ago she defied television conventions with her depiction of a young woman succeeding on her own in the big city. And for the last 30 years, along with her own busy career, she's helped keep alive and thriving her father’s dream of a research hospital for children.
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Duration:00:38:35
Morgan McSweeney aka Dr. Noc: Earning trust, delivering truths
12/22/2025
In the almost six years since the beginning of the pandemic he’s developed an on-line personality that’s an exuberant mix of medical expert and next-door neighbor, expressed in engaging videos on TikTok, YouTube and Instagram.
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Duration:00:37:52
Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda: Season 32 Trailer
12/16/2025
Alan and executive producer Graham Chedd look ahead to the new season, which includes episodes on how babies who giggle become socially smarter; prizes for science that makes you both laugh and think; why truth is so elusive; and how Marlo Thomas kick started Alan’s movie career as well as helping her father found the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
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Duration:00:24:24
Alex "Sandy" Pentland: Shared Wisdom
12/9/2025
The computer scientist talks with Alan about the explosive growth of AI, through a lens of computational social science.
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Duration:00:38:37
Jelani Cobb: Journalism at a Crossroads
12/2/2025
The Dean of the Columbia School of Journalism talks about how social media is overtaking traditional newspapers and television as most people’s source of news; what this means for journalism; and how Columbia is preparing tomorrow’s journalists for the new reality.
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Duration:00:36:42
The MASH Gang: How a Television Show Changed Us
11/25/2025
MASH changed Alan’s life as well as the lives of the rest of the MASH cast. In this revisit of a free-wheeling conversation recorded in 2019 Alan, and the gang reminisce about an extraordinary eleven years of connecting and communicating.
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Duration:01:05:38
Michael J Fox: Looking Back with Attitude
11/18/2025
Alan revisits a conversation he had with Michael seven years ago, at a time when Fox had been grappling with Parkinson’s Disease for 27 years and Alan for three. As Alan says in this updated episode, both have been fighting Parkinson’s with attitude – plenty of attitude.
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Duration:00:44:45