Hi, this is Against Everyone with Connor Habebeb.

Friends, this is the fourth episode in a series of episodes on science and how science intersects with our lives in surprising ways.

Across these episodes, we'll be considering the healing and connective powers of the void of space,

terrifying encounters with predators, the development of the

concept of nature, reflections on our own animalistic violence, the truth and complications

of the scientific method itself, and the ways in which we connect at the tiniest layers of existence.

These episodes are not scientific episodes, per se, but they aren't scientific either.

Each one is an exploration of what science can bring into our lives. The series started with

episode 260, on which I talked with Marjolaine von Heimstra about connecting with the expansiveness

of space to understand the challenges we face today. And then on episode 261, I talked with Bear Biologist and co-host of the Tooth and Claw

podcast, which is one of my very favorite podcasts, Wes Larson, about our fascination with

animal attacks on humans. Last episode, episode 262, I talked with the culture and nature philosopher Erica Berry about what wolves can teach us about being human.

Okay, now this one's totally different.

On this episode, which is one from the archives, sort of, you'll see what I mean.

I focus on the scientist, outsider political theorist,

psychoanalysts, and criminal, Wilhelm Reich. Reich was banished from both psychoanalytic and

Marxist circles, even though he made huge contributions to both. He was a scientist who was considered

unscientific, yet threatening enough to have his papers seized by the U.S. government

and then be imprisoned in a strange, collaborative effort between Stalinists and capitalists.

He was a true scientific rebel and quite dangerous in his way for being a rebel.

This episode combines a conversation I had with Dr. James Strick on

episode 59, and also an informal episode I did as a part of a series I used to do called Against

...