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The Welcome to another episode of Conversations with Coleman.

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As always, thank you so much for your support. Before I introduce my guest today, I'd like to say a few

words about my last podcast with Neil deGrasse Tyson. Some of you are unhappy with that

podcast. Many felt that I went easy on Neil, but I let him get away with some sloppy claims,

and that therefore the conversation was a missed opportunity. I was also less than totally

satisfied with our conversation. And while I'm prepared to take most

of the blame for it not being as interesting as it could have been, it's also worth understanding

some background facts. I had one hour with Neil. Going into the conversation, I expected him to

give a short summary of the essay he had recently written, and then to spend the

bulk of the hour discussing George Floyd, police brutality, to what extent the police are

systemically racist, and so forth. In the context of meeting a person for the first time on a

podcast, I found that it's difficult to dive into the most controversial questions first.

There's a psychological difference between hearing a question about, say, race and IQ,

the moment after you meet someone, and hearing that same question after an hour of otherwise

good conversation. The answers I elicit out of a guest, especially on controversial

topics, are more likely to be interesting if the conversation is warmed up, so to speak.

So I consider it part of being a good host to warm up the conversation so that I get the best

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