---
title: "Best of 2017: interviews and columns"
date: "2017-12-19T14:26:22+00:00"
modified: "2017-12-19T14:26:22+00:00"
url: "https://newhumanist.org.uk/2017/12/19/best-of-2017-interviews-and-columns/"
post_id: 6720
categories: ["Uncategorised"]
---

# Best of 2017: interviews and columns

![dennett](https://newhumanist.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/images/Daniel-Dennett12.jpg)

[‘‘Saying something is a miracle is a failure of imagination’’](/articles/5197/saying-something-is-a-miracle-is-a-failure-of-imagination)

JP O’Malley explores consciousness with philosopher and scientist Daniel Dennett.

[Who’s afraid of diversity in education?](/articles/5252/whos-afraid-of-diversity-in-education)

There appears to be an old-fashioned backlash against any challenge to a lack of diversity in academia, writes Samira Ahmed.

[“Shyness is very difficult to define precisely because it’s so contradictory”](/articles/5147/shyness-is-very-difficult-to-define-precisely-because-its-so-contradictory)

Joe Moran, author of *Shrinking Violets: A Field Guide to Shyness*, on this evolutionary puzzle.

[When our sun was young](/articles/5237/when-our-sun-was-young)

The “faint young Sun paradox” has puzzled scientists for decades. Marcus Chown explains.

[We are familiar with the other but only in negative terms”](/articles/5179/we-are-familiar-with-the-other-but-only-in-negative-terms)

Sociologist Nilüfer Göle on the distorted view of Muslim life frequently seen in the media.

[The truth about brainwashing](/articles/5228/the-truth-about-brainwashing)

The term “brainwashing” is often used as a catch-all explanation when motivations are too difficult to understand, writes Richard Smyth.

[“Secularism isn’t about the absence of religion, it’s about the structure of the state”](/articles/5169/secularism-isnt-about-the-absence-of-religion-its-about-the-structure-of-the-state)

Yasmin Rehman, veteran campaigner recently named Secularist of the Year, discusses her activism.

[“We need critical reflection, individually as well as in the company of others”](/articles/5157/we-need-critical-reflection-individually-as-well-as-in-the-company-of-others)

Nobel Prize winning economist Amartya Sen on poverty and politics.

[Desperately seeking cultural capital](/articles/5184/desperately-seeking-cultural-capital)

In his regular Endgame column, Laurie Taylor describes a visit to the opera.

[Why do we use social media?](/articles/5220/why-do-we-use-social-media)

Marcus Gilroy-Ware discusses his book *Filling the Void*, which asks what our use of social media means for our understanding of culture, politics and capitalism.

[*Read our top 10 long reads*](/articles/5269/best-of-2017-long-reads)

[*Read our top 10 culture pieces*](/articles/5270/best-of-2017-culture)