Uploaded May 2025 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Can artificial intelligence transform how we navigate the most challenging dialogues on campus? Join us for a thought-provoking episode featuring philosopher and educator Simon Cullen, as he unveils his pioneering work at the intersection of education, technology, and constructive disagreement.
In conversation with John Tomasi, Simon explores how open inquiry is both advanced and imperiled by disagreement, and describes his academic journey from Australia to Princeton and Carnegie Mellon. Central to the discussion is ‘Sway’ an AI-powered platform developed by Simon and his team to foster rigorous, evidence-based dialogue among students on controversial topics. Sway intelligently pairs students with opposing views and acts as a “guide on the side,” scaffolding reasoning, encouraging intellectual humility, and ensuring that exchanges remain constructive and charitable. Simon shares the empirical findings from thousands of Sway-mediated dialogues, where measurable increases in students’ openness, comfort, and analytical reasoning have been observed—even on divisive subjects like gender, immigration, and the Israel-Palestine conflict.
In This Episode:
💥 The pedagogical importance of constructive disagreement and argument visualization
💥 The design and implementation of Sway: an AI tool for dialogue across differences
💥 Empirical research on autonomy, self-censorship, and openness to opposing viewpoints
💥 Strategies for motivating student engagement in difficult conversations
💥 Scalable, evidence-based methods for promoting viewpoint diversity in higher education
Want to experience Sway for yourself? You can instantly start a conversation—no account, no signup, no hassle. Just generate a link, share it with a friend (or a friendly opponent), and jump straight into a thoughtful dialogue: me.swaybeta.ai
Read more about research findings and reports: swaybeta.ai
Explore Simon’s Argument Mapping Tool: Mindmup.com: mindmup.com/tutorials/argument-visualization.html?orig=
About Simon:
Simon Cullen is a faculty member, Dean's Innovation Scholar, and Artificial Intelligence and Education Fellow at Carnegie Mellon University. He developed the award-winning "Dangerous Ideas in Science and Society" course and serves as founding co-chair of CMU's Heterodox Community.
Simon's innovative research combines philosophy, cognitive science, and educational technology to improve reasoning and communication across moral and political divides. He is the co-developer of "Sway,” a chat platform that uses AI to facilitate constructive dialogue between students with differing viewpoints. His research has been published in Science Advances, Nature Science of Learning, Cognition, and the Review of Philosophy and Psychology. He holds a Ph.D. from Princeton University and specializes in the psychology and pedagogy of reasoning, and evidence-based approaches to promoting open inquiry in higher education. Next year, Simon will be a Faculty Research Fellow at the Segal Center for Academic Pluralism in New York City.
Learn more about Simon: simoncullen.org
hxaspeakers.org/simoncullen
x.com/SwayBeta
x.com/DrSimonCullen
linkedin.com/in/drsimoncullen
youtube.com/@disagreeables
youtube.com/@SwayBeta
Follow Heterodox Academy on:
X/Twitter: bit.ly/3Fax5Dy
Facebook: bit.ly/3PMYxfw
LinkedIn: bit.ly/48IYeuJ
Instagram: bit.ly/46HKfUg
Substack: bit.ly/48IhjNF
Listen to the podcast on:
Apple - apple.co/3PZzplD
Spotify: spoti.fi/3S51uee
Amazon: amzn.to/3ZXQnFL
i-Heart - bit.ly/3M69qYA
Tune-In - bit.ly/3S5oBVR
Pandora - bit.ly/46AaLze
Find out more about Heterodox Academy: https://linktr.ee/heterodoxoutloud
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction to Simon Cullen
01:28 Early Journey into Philosophy
07:02 Teaching Dangerous Ideas at CMU
09:41 Argument Mapping and Visualization
16:18 From Princeton to Large-Scale Teaching
23:53 Fostering Student Autonomy and Motivation
28:02 Birth of Sway: AI for Dialogue
33:01 How Sway Facilitates Constructive Disagreement
39:15 Sway in Action: Classrooms and Pairings
50:38 Measuring Impact and Cultural Change
59:14 The Deeper Value of Disagreement
01:03:33 Future of Sway and Closing Remarks
Can artificial intelligence transform how we navigate the most challenging dialogues on campus? Join us for a thought-provoking episode featuring philosopher and educator Simon Cullen, as he unveils his pioneering work at the intersection of education, technology, and constructive disagreement.
In conversation with John Tomasi, Simon explores how open inquiry is both advanced and imperiled by disagreement, and describes his academic journey from Australia to Princeton and Carnegie Mellon. Central to the discussion is ‘Sway’ an AI-powered platform developed by Simon and his team to foster rigorous, evidence-based dialogue among students on controversial topics. Sway intelligently pairs students with opposing views and acts as a “guide on the side,” scaffolding reasoning, encouraging intellectual humility, and ensuring that exchanges remain constructive and charitable. Simon shares the empirical findings from thousands of Sway-mediated dialogues, where measurable increases in students’ openness, comfort, and analytical reasoning have been observed—even on divisive subjects like gender, immigration, and the Israel-Palestine conflict.
In This Episode:
💥 The pedagogical importance of constructive disagreement and argument visualization
💥 The design and implementation of Sway: an AI tool for dialogue across differences
💥 Empirical research on autonomy, self-censorship, and openness to opposing viewpoints
💥 Strategies for motivating student engagement in difficult conversations
💥 Scalable, evidence-based methods for promoting viewpoint diversity in higher education
Want to experience Sway for yourself? You can instantly start a conversation—no account, no signup, no hassle. Just generate a link, share it with a friend (or a friendly opponent), and jump straight into a thoughtful dialogue: me.swaybeta.ai
Read more about research findings and reports: swaybeta.ai
Explore Simon’s Argument Mapping Tool: Mindmup.com: mindmup.com/tutorials/argument-visualization.html?orig=
About Simon:
Simon Cullen is a faculty member, Dean's Innovation Scholar, and Artificial Intelligence and Education Fellow at Carnegie Mellon University. He developed the award-winning "Dangerous Ideas in Science and Society" course and serves as founding co-chair of CMU's Heterodox Community.
Simon's innovative research combines philosophy, cognitive science, and educational technology to improve reasoning and communication across moral and political divides. He is the co-developer of "Sway,” a chat platform that uses AI to facilitate constructive dialogue between students with differing viewpoints. His research has been published in Science Advances, Nature Science of Learning, Cognition, and the Review of Philosophy and Psychology. He holds a Ph.D. from Princeton University and specializes in the psychology and pedagogy of reasoning, and evidence-based approaches to promoting open inquiry in higher education. Next year, Simon will be a Faculty Research Fellow at the Segal Center for Academic Pluralism in New York City.
Learn more about Simon: simoncullen.org
hxaspeakers.org/simoncullen
x.com/SwayBeta
x.com/DrSimonCullen
linkedin.com/in/drsimoncullen
youtube.com/@disagreeables
youtube.com/@SwayBeta
Follow Heterodox Academy on:
X/Twitter: bit.ly/3Fax5Dy
Facebook: bit.ly/3PMYxfw
LinkedIn: bit.ly/48IYeuJ
Instagram: bit.ly/46HKfUg
Substack: bit.ly/48IhjNF
Listen to the podcast on:
Apple - apple.co/3PZzplD
Spotify: spoti.fi/3S51uee
Amazon: amzn.to/3ZXQnFL
i-Heart - bit.ly/3M69qYA
Tune-In - bit.ly/3S5oBVR
Pandora - bit.ly/46AaLze
Find out more about Heterodox Academy: https://linktr.ee/heterodoxoutloud
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction to Simon Cullen
01:28 Early Journey into Philosophy
07:02 Teaching Dangerous Ideas at CMU
09:41 Argument Mapping and Visualization
16:18 From Princeton to Large-Scale Teaching
23:53 Fostering Student Autonomy and Motivation
28:02 Birth of Sway: AI for Dialogue
33:01 How Sway Facilitates Constructive Disagreement
39:15 Sway in Action: Classrooms and Pairings
50:38 Measuring Impact and Cultural Change
59:14 The Deeper Value of Disagreement
01:03:33 Future of Sway and Closing Remarks
