Uploaded February 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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David P. Silverman, author of Fighting God: An Atheist Manifesto for a Religious World, joins us to discuss his new science fiction novella Darkshiner.

0:00 - Intro
1:18 - David's childhood
3:48 - Star Trek and Trekkies
9:37 - Science fiction conventions
12:16 - Douglas Adams
15:32 - Atheism among sci-fi fans
16:40 - Persuasion vs. coercion
19:28 - The idea behind Darkshiner
22:36 - Fiction like Darkshiner
24:26 - AI collaboration
28:52 - Human editors
30:24 - Scientific accuracy
33:35 - Character names
34:50 - Cover blurbs
38:00 - Babylon 5
41:10 - The current state of sci-fi TV
44:40 - Church tax breaks
47:13 - Atheists for Liberty
52:00 - Dungeons & Dragons
53:28 - Setting aside differences
57:43 - Wrapup