Sean Carroll's Mindscapehttps://www.spreaker.com/podcast/sean-carroll-s-mindscape--6734937
Sean Carroll is Homewood Professor of Natural Philosophy at Johns Hopkins University, and author of numerous books. Every week he talks to a guest who is a world expert in some fascinating subject, and they talk about it in a way that is both informal and deeply informative.

Learn about the complex dynamics of social systems, the mystery of quantum superposition, the origin of life and the search for it on other planets, and more.]]>enPhysicsCopyright Sean Carrollhttps://d3wo5wojvuv7l.cloudfront.net/t_rss_itunes_square_1400/images.spreaker.com/original/6d95decbf04b01f96e9f227471fb498a.jpgSean Carroll's Mindscapehttps://www.spreaker.com/podcast/sean-carroll-s-mindscape--6734937Mon, 13 Jul 2026 12:34:31 +0000Sean CarrollSean Carrollpodcast@preposterousuniverse.comMindscape provides a bridge to the biggest ideas in the universe, as shared by the most creative and intelligent thinkers. Sean Carroll is Homewood Professor of Natural Philosophy at Johns Hopkins University, and author of numerous books. Every week...
Sean Carroll is Homewood Professor of Natural Philosophy at Johns Hopkins University, and author of numerous books. Every week he talks to a guest who is a world expert in some fascinating subject, and they talk about it in a way that is both informal and deeply informative.

Learn about the complex dynamics of social systems, the mystery of quantum superposition, the origin of life and the search for it on other planets, and more.]]>trueepisodicMindscape Ask Me Anything, Sean Carroll | July 2026https://www.spreaker.com/episode/mindscape-ask-me-anything-sean-carroll-july-2026--72949347Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number -- based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the questions themselves are good -- and sometimes group them together if they are about a similar topic. Enjoy! Blog post with transcript: https://preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/07/13/ama-july-2026/ Support Mindscape on Patreon.]]>f7f1751f-7118-4712-9e84-54cd1cd518d0Mon, 13 Jul 2026 11:34:00 +0000Sean CarrollWelcome to the July 2026 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded by https://www.patreon.com/seanmcarroll (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more...Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number -- based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the questions themselves are good -- and sometimes group them together if they are about a similar topic. Enjoy! Blog post with transcript: https://preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/07/13/ama-july-2026/ Support Mindscape on Patreon.]]>14783falsefull360 | Marc Berman on the Science of Touching Grasshttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/360-marc-berman-on-the-science-of-touching-grass--72838464Nature and the Mind: The Science of How Nature Improves Cognitive, Physical, and Social Well-Being, he presents evidence that spending time in nature not only puts us in a better mood, it makes us better thinkers. Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/07/06/360-marc-berman-on-the-science-of-touching-grass/ Support Mindscape on Patreon. Marc Berman received his Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Michigan. He is currently Professor of Psychology and Faculty Co-Director of the Chicago Center for Computational Social Science at the University of Chicago. Among his awards is the American Psychological Association Distinguished Scientific Award for Early Career Contributions. ]]>4d0234e3-ac87-493e-9edb-c80af84c382eMon, 06 Jul 2026 11:35:00 +0000Sean CarrollModern life has, in many ways, removed us from the environments in which our ancestors lived and adapted. Not only do we spend time looking at screens, but we spend time indoors, or outdoors but in urban spaces. How does this affect how we think and...Nature and the Mind: The Science of How Nature Improves Cognitive, Physical, and Social Well-Being, he presents evidence that spending time in nature not only puts us in a better mood, it makes us better thinkers. Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/07/06/360-marc-berman-on-the-science-of-touching-grass/ Support Mindscape on Patreon. Marc Berman received his Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Michigan. He is currently Professor of Psychology and Faculty Co-Director of the Chicago Center for Computational Social Science at the University of Chicago. Among his awards is the American Psychological Association Distinguished Scientific Award for Early Career Contributions. ]]>5422false360full359 | Solo: Theories of Dark Energyhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/359-solo-theories-of-dark-energy--72738576dark energy, This includes considerations from particle physics, possible experimental tests, and the option that we should modify gravity rather than adding a new source of energy to the equations. Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/06/29/359-solo-theories-of-dark-energy/ Support Mindscape on Patreon.]]>82b04902-62ad-4b21-94f5-4ceaffb88402Mon, 29 Jun 2026 11:05:00 +0000Sean CarrollThe cosmological constant, as discussed last episode, provides a perfectly good (thus far) explanation for why we observe the universe to be accelerating. But it might not be the right explanation, and demonstrating that would be yet another...dark energy, This includes considerations from particle physics, possible experimental tests, and the option that we should modify gravity rather than adding a new source of energy to the equations. Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/06/29/359-solo-theories-of-dark-energy/ Support Mindscape on Patreon.]]>7043false359full358 | Solo: Vacuum Energy and the Cosmological Constanthttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/358-solo-vacuum-energy-and-the-cosmological-constant--72627236acceleration of the universe, announced in 1998. The most straightforward explanation for these observations is a positive cosmological constant, or vacuum energy. I talk about the origin of the idea with Einstein, how quantum physicists started to think about it and understand the "cosmological constant problem," as well as how its discovery also raised the "coincidence problem." This is the first of two connected solo episodes; the next will be on theories of dark energy that are not the cosmological constant. Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/06/22/358-solo-vacuum-energy-and-the-cosmological-constant/ Support Mindscape on Patreon.]]>2c7564d1-f450-4229-ba4e-55cbfa0ba61cMon, 22 Jun 2026 06:48:00 +0000Sean CarrollThe most surprising discovery in fundamental physics during my career as a scientist was undoubtedly the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accelerating_expansion_of_the_universe, announced in 1998. The most straightforward explanation for these...acceleration of the universe, announced in 1998. The most straightforward explanation for these observations is a positive cosmological constant, or vacuum energy. I talk about the origin of the idea with Einstein, how quantum physicists started to think about it and understand the "cosmological constant problem," as well as how its discovery also raised the "coincidence problem." This is the first of two connected solo episodes; the next will be on theories of dark energy that are not the cosmological constant. Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/06/22/358-solo-vacuum-energy-and-the-cosmological-constant/ Support Mindscape on Patreon.]]>7364false358full357 | Jeff Coller on mRNA, Vaccines, and Bespoke Therapeuticshttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/357-jeff-coller-on-mrna-vaccines-and-bespoke-therapeutics--72533370 https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/06/15/357-jeff-coller-on-mrna-vaccines-and-bespoke-therapeutics/ Support Mindscape on Patreon. Jeff Coller received his Ph.D. in cell and molecular biology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is currently Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Director of the RNA Innovation Center at Johns Hopkins University. He is co-founder of Tevard Biosciences and the Alliance for mRNA Medicines, and leads the REPAIRx consortium. He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. ]]>12d203e2-8036-4882-9702-12b7044f4b6dMon, 15 Jun 2026 11:15:00 +0000Sean CarrollMessenger RNA (mRNA) plays a literally central role in the functioning of life as we know it, shuttling information back and forth between the DNA where it is stored to the ribosome where it is used to produce proteins. RNA may even have been the... https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/06/15/357-jeff-coller-on-mrna-vaccines-and-bespoke-therapeutics/ Support Mindscape on Patreon. Jeff Coller received his Ph.D. in cell and molecular biology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is currently Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Director of the RNA Innovation Center at Johns Hopkins University. He is co-founder of Tevard Biosciences and the Alliance for mRNA Medicines, and leads the REPAIRx consortium. He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. ]]>4863false357full356 | Andrea Wulf on Enlightenment, Nature, Romanticism, and Modernityhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/356-andrea-wulf-on-enlightenment-nature-romanticism-and-modernity--72413212The Invention of Nature, about Alexander von Humboldt and environmentalism; Magnificent Rebels, about the Jena circle of Romantics including Goethe, Schiller, Schlegel, and others; and most recently The Traveller, about George Forster, an early naturalist, ethnographer, and champion of human equality. Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/06/08/356-andrea-wulf-on-enlightenment-nature-romanticism-and-modernity/   Support Mindscape on Patreon. Andrea Wulf was born in India, raised in Germany, and studied design history at the Royal College of Art, London. She is the author of seven books. She is a Miller Scholar at the Santa Fe Institute and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. The Invention of Nature won multiple prizes, including the Royal Society science book prize and the LA Times book prize. ]]>65b08b96-e88b-4e81-835e-545a6bec495cMon, 08 Jun 2026 06:52:00 +0000Sean CarrollAll ideas have a history, no matter how inevitable and well-entrenched they may seem to us today. The later Enlightenment was a heady time when people were exploring new conceptions of nature, humanity, and the self. Andrea Wulf is a writer of...The Invention of Nature, about Alexander von Humboldt and environmentalism; Magnificent Rebels, about the Jena circle of Romantics including Goethe, Schiller, Schlegel, and others; and most recently The Traveller, about George Forster, an early naturalist, ethnographer, and champion of human equality. Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/06/08/356-andrea-wulf-on-enlightenment-nature-romanticism-and-modernity/   Support Mindscape on Patreon. Andrea Wulf was born in India, raised in Germany, and studied design history at the Royal College of Art, London. She is the author of seven books. She is a Miller Scholar at the Santa Fe Institute and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. The Invention of Nature won multiple prizes, including the Royal Society science book prize and the LA Times book prize. ]]>4674false356fullAMA | June 2026https://www.spreaker.com/episode/ama-june-2026--72275808Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number -- based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the questions themselves are good -- and sometimes group them together if they are about a similar topic. Enjoy! Blog post with AMA questions and transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/06/01/ama-june-2026/ New paper I talk about in the beginning of the episode: ]]>ac42e591-b344-4464-96b6-248e072d37abMon, 01 Jun 2026 11:09:00 +0000Sean CarrollWelcome to the June 2026 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded by https://www.patreon.com/seanmcarroll (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more...Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number -- based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the questions themselves are good -- and sometimes group them together if they are about a similar topic. Enjoy! Blog post with AMA questions and transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/06/01/ama-june-2026/ New paper I talk about in the beginning of the episode: ]]>14321falsebonus355 | Solo: Looking Quantum Mechanics in the Eyeballhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/355-solo-looking-quantum-mechanics-in-the-eyeball--72153858 https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/05/25/355-solo-looking-quantum-mechanics-in-the-eyeball/ Support Mindscape on Patreon. Here is the survey on physicists' opinions about unsettled big-picture questions: And here is a short technical overview on the ideas described in this episode: If you want further papers, look at the papers cited in this one.]]>0021b522-f377-4731-a1f6-186a5b115df6Sun, 24 May 2026 13:56:00 +0000Sean CarrollOne of the major obstacles to understanding quantum mechanics is the difficulty we have in simply accepting what the theory itself is telling us. The problem is that we know what the everyday world looks like -- stuff, arranged in space, evolving... https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/05/25/355-solo-looking-quantum-mechanics-in-the-eyeball/ Support Mindscape on Patreon. Here is the survey on physicists' opinions about unsettled big-picture questions: And here is a short technical overview on the ideas described in this episode: If you want further papers, look at the papers cited in this one.]]>6338false355full354 | Christian List on Free Will and Levels of Realityhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/354-christian-list-on-free-will-and-levels-of-reality--72055016https://incogni.com/mindscape #sponsored Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/05/18/354-christian-list-on-free-will-and-levels-of-reality/ Support Mindscape on Patreon. Christian List received his D.Phil in Politics from Oxford University. He is currently Professor of Philosophy and Decision Theory and Co-Director of the Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy at LMU Munich. He is a Fellow of the British Academy and a member of Academia Europaea the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities. Among his honors are the Joseph Gittler Award from the American Philosophical Association. He is the author of Why Free Will Is Real and (with Philip Pettit) Group Agency. ]]>3f2cc5d6-bd31-4e97-a9cc-02841be9cd49Mon, 18 May 2026 12:04:00 +0000Sean CarrollDid I have any freedom in choosing this particular podcast guest? At the level of particles, fields, and the fundamental laws of physics; no. At the level of human agents navigating the world, yes. Today's guest, Christian List, is a philosopher and...https://incogni.com/mindscape #sponsored Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/05/18/354-christian-list-on-free-will-and-levels-of-reality/ Support Mindscape on Patreon. Christian List received his D.Phil in Politics from Oxford University. He is currently Professor of Philosophy and Decision Theory and Co-Director of the Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy at LMU Munich. He is a Fellow of the British Academy and a member of Academia Europaea the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities. Among his honors are the Joseph Gittler Award from the American Philosophical Association. He is the author of Why Free Will Is Real and (with Philip Pettit) Group Agency. ]]>5318false354full353 | Alvin Roth on the Economics of Morally Contested Marketshttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/353-alvin-roth-on-the-economics-of-morally-contested-markets--71956218Moral Economics, economist Alvin Roth investigates how we should reason through such tricky cases, and what we can learn from them. Get twenty percent off your first purchase at Fast Growing Trees when using the code MINDSCAPE at checkout. Mindscape listeners get free shipping and 365-day returns on clothing from Quince. Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/05/11/353-alvin-roth-on-the-economics-of-morally-contested-markets/ Support Mindscape on Patreon. Alvin Roth received his Ph.D. in operations research from Stanford University. He is currently the Craig and Susan McCaw Professor of Economics at Stanford University and the Gund Professor of Economics and Business Administration Emeritus at Harvard. He was President of the American Economic Association in 2017. He and Lloyd Shapley shared the 2012 Nobel Prize in Economics for "the theory of stable allocations and the practice of market design." ]]>0dc8549f-2c2c-49ef-b263-c8e7ab248de6Mon, 11 May 2026 10:00:00 +0000Sean CarrollEconomic markets are efficient ways of deciding fair prices, at least in ideal circumstances of perfect competition, information, and choice. But there is more to life than fair prices. Two people might decide on a fair price to carry out a contract...Moral Economics, economist Alvin Roth investigates how we should reason through such tricky cases, and what we can learn from them. Get twenty percent off your first purchase at Fast Growing Trees when using the code MINDSCAPE at checkout. Mindscape listeners get free shipping and 365-day returns on clothing from Quince. Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/05/11/353-alvin-roth-on-the-economics-of-morally-contested-markets/ Support Mindscape on Patreon. Alvin Roth received his Ph.D. in operations research from Stanford University. He is currently the Craig and Susan McCaw Professor of Economics at Stanford University and the Gund Professor of Economics and Business Administration Emeritus at Harvard. He was President of the American Economic Association in 2017. He and Lloyd Shapley shared the 2012 Nobel Prize in Economics for "the theory of stable allocations and the practice of market design." ]]>4550false353fullAMA | May 2026https://www.spreaker.com/episode/ama-may-2026--71854055Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number -- based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the questions themselves are good -- and sometimes group them together if they are about a similar topic. Enjoy! Blog post with AMA questions and full transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/05/04/ama-may-2026/ Henson Shaving is offering 100 blades free with the purchase of a razor — just head to hensonshaving.com/MINDSCAPE and or use code MINDSCAPE at checkout. #sponsored Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code MINDSCAPE at this link and get 60% off an annual plan: https://incogni.com/mindscape #sponsored]]>baaa8537-1399-4071-ad76-d1fbebc281b4Mon, 04 May 2026 11:56:00 +0000Sean CarrollWelcome to the May 2026 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded by https://www.patreon.com/seanmcarroll (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more...Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number -- based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the questions themselves are good -- and sometimes group them together if they are about a similar topic. Enjoy! Blog post with AMA questions and full transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/05/04/ama-may-2026/ Henson Shaving is offering 100 blades free with the purchase of a razor — just head to hensonshaving.com/MINDSCAPE and or use code MINDSCAPE at checkout. #sponsored Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code MINDSCAPE at this link and get 60% off an annual plan: https://incogni.com/mindscape #sponsored]]>15010falsebonus352 | Bing Brunton on Connecting the Connectome to the Bodyhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/352-bing-brunton-on-connecting-the-connectome-to-the-body--71670477chubbiesshorts.com/MINDSCAPE! #chubbiespod Upgrade your denim game with Rag & Bone! Get 20% off sitewide with code MINDSCAPE at www.rag-bone.com. #ragandbonepod Support Mindscape on Patreon. Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/04/27/352-bing-brunton-on-connecting-the-connectome-to-the-body/ Bing Wen Brunton received her Ph.D. in neuroscience from Princeton University.. She is currently a Professor of Biology and the Richard & Joan Komen University Chair at the University of Washington, with affiliations at the eScience Institute for Data Science, the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering, and the Department of Applied Mathematics. ]]>655fa67c-305e-47b8-99db-e15b92ed2b7dMon, 27 Apr 2026 10:00:00 +0000Sean CarrollThe connectome is the wiring diagram of a brain, a big matrix that tells us what neurons talk to what other neurons. Understanding it is an important step to understanding how brains work, but a long way from the final answer. A big next step is...chubbiesshorts.com/MINDSCAPE! #chubbiespod Upgrade your denim game with Rag & Bone! Get 20% off sitewide with code MINDSCAPE at www.rag-bone.com. #ragandbonepod Support Mindscape on Patreon. Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/04/27/352-bing-brunton-on-connecting-the-connectome-to-the-body/ Bing Wen Brunton received her Ph.D. in neuroscience from Princeton University.. She is currently a Professor of Biology and the Richard & Joan Komen University Chair at the University of Washington, with affiliations at the eScience Institute for Data Science, the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering, and the Department of Applied Mathematics. ]]>4645false352full351 | Peter Singer on Maximizing Good for All Sentient Creatureshttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/351-peter-singer-on-maximizing-good-for-all-sentient-creatures--71490605 https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/04/20/351-peter-singer-on-maximizing-good-for-all-sentient-creatures/ Support Mindscape on Patreon. Peter Singer received his B.Phil. in philosophy from the University of Oxford. He retired from Princeton University in 2023, and now lives in Melbourne, Australia. He is the author of a number of influential books, including Animal Liberation (1975). He has been named a Companion of the order of Australia, and is a winner of the Berggruen Prize. He is the founder of the charity The Life You Can Save. He and philosopher Kasia de Lazari Radek are co-hosts of the Lives Well Lived podcast. ]]>739be7e6-e177-4f42-a025-06ee81684affMon, 20 Apr 2026 11:43:00 +0000Sean CarrollPeter Singer has been an influential philosopher for a number of decades. He was a significant early voice in animal rights, has been a leading thinker of utilitarianism, and helped inspire the effective altruism movement. In this podcast episode, we... https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/04/20/351-peter-singer-on-maximizing-good-for-all-sentient-creatures/ Support Mindscape on Patreon. Peter Singer received his B.Phil. in philosophy from the University of Oxford. He retired from Princeton University in 2023, and now lives in Melbourne, Australia. He is the author of a number of influential books, including Animal Liberation (1975). He has been named a Companion of the order of Australia, and is a winner of the Berggruen Prize. He is the founder of the charity The Life You Can Save. He and philosopher Kasia de Lazari Radek are co-hosts of the Lives Well Lived podcast. ]]>4578false351full350 | J. Eric Oliver on the Self and How to Know Ithttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/350-j-eric-oliver-on-the-self-and-how-to-know-it--71291622The Intelligible Self." His academic specialty is political science, but he brings together ideas from psychology, neuroscience, and a broad swath of the humanities. His view is summarized in his recent book, How to Know Yourself: The Art and Science of Discovering Who You Really Are. Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code MINDSCAPE at this link and get 60% off an annual plan: https://incogni.com/mindscape #sponsored Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/04/13/350-j-eric-oliver-on-the-self-and-how-to-know-it/ Support Mindscape on Patreon. J. Eric Oliver received his Ph.D. in political science from the University of California, Berkeley. He is currently a Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago. His research interests include contemporary American politics, suburban and racial politics, political psychology, and the politics of science. He is the host of the podcast Knowing: With Eric Oliver. ]]>dfc595e5-ccab-48ae-813a-555bfc7e3dc6Mon, 13 Apr 2026 12:28:00 +0000Sean CarrollWe are more familiar with ourselves than with anything else in the universe, but we generally don't come very close to really understanding what our "self" is. That's not too surprising, as selves are very complicated and we are burdened by all sorts...The Intelligible Self." His academic specialty is political science, but he brings together ideas from psychology, neuroscience, and a broad swath of the humanities. His view is summarized in his recent book, How to Know Yourself: The Art and Science of Discovering Who You Really Are. Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code MINDSCAPE at this link and get 60% off an annual plan: https://incogni.com/mindscape #sponsored Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/04/13/350-j-eric-oliver-on-the-self-and-how-to-know-it/ Support Mindscape on Patreon. J. Eric Oliver received his Ph.D. in political science from the University of California, Berkeley. He is currently a Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago. His research interests include contemporary American politics, suburban and racial politics, political psychology, and the politics of science. He is the host of the podcast Knowing: With Eric Oliver. ]]>5174false350fullAMA | April 2026https://www.spreaker.com/episode/ama-april-2026--71132427Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number -- based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the questions themselves are good -- and sometimes group them together if they are about a similar topic. Enjoy! Henson Shaving is offering 100 blades free with the purchase of a razor — just head to hensonshaving.com/MINDSCAPE and or use code MINDSCAPE at checkout. Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/04/06/ama-april-2026/ Support Mindscape on Patreon.]]>57e790fe-6af2-4995-ac4f-0774514d63e6Sun, 05 Apr 2026 13:37:00 +0000Sean CarrollWelcome to the April 2026 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded by https://www.patreon.com/seanmcarroll (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more...Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number -- based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the questions themselves are good -- and sometimes group them together if they are about a similar topic. Enjoy! Henson Shaving is offering 100 blades free with the purchase of a razor — just head to hensonshaving.com/MINDSCAPE and or use code MINDSCAPE at checkout. Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/04/06/ama-april-2026/ Support Mindscape on Patreon.]]>13694falsebonus349 | Daniel Harlow on What Quantum Gravity Teaches Us About Quantum Mechanicshttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/349-daniel-harlow-on-what-quantum-gravity-teaches-us-about-quantum-mechanics--70998561 https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/03/30/349-daniel-harlow-on-what-quantum-gravity-teaches-us-about-quantum-mechanics/   Support Mindscape on Patreon. Daniel Harlow received his Ph.D. in physics from Stanford University. He is currently an associate professor of physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Among his awards are a Packard Fellowship and the New Horizons in Physics Prize. ]]>0f55b5db-05f4-4c06-8e31-5da8ca48f27cMon, 30 Mar 2026 13:36:00 +0000Sean CarrollThere is something special about gravity. After decades of effort, there is still no convergence on the right way to reconcile Einstein's theory of general relativity with the framework of quantum mechanics. But a number of intriguing ideas have... https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/03/30/349-daniel-harlow-on-what-quantum-gravity-teaches-us-about-quantum-mechanics/   Support Mindscape on Patreon. Daniel Harlow received his Ph.D. in physics from Stanford University. He is currently an associate professor of physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Among his awards are a Packard Fellowship and the New Horizons in Physics Prize. ]]>5389false349full348 | Jessica Riskin on Jean-Baptiste Lamarck and Life as Creative Agencyhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/348-jessica-riskin-on-jean-baptiste-lamarck-and-life-as-creative-agency--70828433The Power of Life: The Invention of Biology and the Revolutionary Science of Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, historian of science Jessica Riskin argues that this picture is too simple, and that Lamarck made contributions we should still pay attention to: most significantly, the idea that organisms have a creative agency of their own, in addition to the influences of the outside world. Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code MINDSCAPE at this link and get 60% off an annual plan: https://incogni.com/mindscape #sponsored   Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/03/23/348-jessica-riskin-on-jean-baptiste-lamarck-and-life-as-creative-agency/ Support Mindscape on Patreon. Jessica Riskin received her Ph.D. in history from the University of California, Berkeley. She is currently the Frances and Charles Field Professor of History at Stanford University. Among her awards are the Patrick Suppes Prize in the History of Science and the J. Russell Major Award for French history. Her books include The Restless Clock and Genesis Redux, and she is a frequent contributor to the New York Review of Books. ]]>5d1d8d98-590c-4dc3-962e-ec72cc3c7a53Mon, 23 Mar 2026 11:42:00 +0000Sean Carroll"Lamarkism" is a term often attached to a seemingly discredited idea in evolutionary biology: that one organism could acquire characteristics (e.g., becoming stronger through exercise) that would then be inherited by its descendants. This is a...The Power of Life: The Invention of Biology and the Revolutionary Science of Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, historian of science Jessica Riskin argues that this picture is too simple, and that Lamarck made contributions we should still pay attention to: most significantly, the idea that organisms have a creative agency of their own, in addition to the influences of the outside world. Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code MINDSCAPE at this link and get 60% off an annual plan: https://incogni.com/mindscape #sponsored   Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/03/23/348-jessica-riskin-on-jean-baptiste-lamarck-and-life-as-creative-agency/ Support Mindscape on Patreon. Jessica Riskin received her Ph.D. in history from the University of California, Berkeley. She is currently the Frances and Charles Field Professor of History at Stanford University. Among her awards are the Patrick Suppes Prize in the History of Science and the J. Russell Major Award for French history. Her books include The Restless Clock and Genesis Redux, and she is a frequent contributor to the New York Review of Books. ]]>4611false348full347 | Andrew Guthrie Ferguson on How Your Data Will Be Used Against Youhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/347-andrew-guthrie-ferguson-on-how-your-data-will-be-used-against-you--706382110c90b861-cf07-4717-8ae2-2c6ab80099efSat, 14 Mar 2026 20:03:00 +0000Sean Carrolllorem4289false347full346 | Erica Cartmill on How Human and Animal Minds Think and Playhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/346-erica-cartmill-on-how-human-and-animal-minds-think-and-play--70547944www.rag-bone.com. #ragandbonepod Get twenty percent off your first purchase at Fast Growing Trees when using the code MINDSCAPE at checkout. Henson Shaving is offering 100 blades free with the purchase of a razor — just head to hensonshaving.com/MINDSCAPE and or use code MINDSCAPE at checkout. Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/03/09/346-erica-cartmill-on-how-human-and-animal-minds-think-and-play/ Support Mindscape on Patreon. Erica Cartmill received her Ph.D. in psychology and neuroscience from the University of St. Andrews. She is Professor of Cognitive Science, Anthropology, Animal Behavior, Psychology, and Informatics at Indiana University, Bloomington and an External Professor at the Santa Fe Institute. She is the co-chair of the EVOLANG conferences and the co-director of the Diverse Intelligences Summer Institute. She is co-director of the Possible Minds lab at IU, and also manages the Observing Animals project, which asks for public input on how animals interact with each other. ]]>0fa097d2-8b9e-44f3-8d13-3531be719163Mon, 09 Mar 2026 12:27:00 +0000Sean CarrollIntelligence is a many splendored thing, especially when it comes to comparisons between species. Chimpanzees are better than humans at some numerical tasks, but less good at understanding what numbers actually mean. One window on the ways that...www.rag-bone.com. #ragandbonepod Get twenty percent off your first purchase at Fast Growing Trees when using the code MINDSCAPE at checkout. Henson Shaving is offering 100 blades free with the purchase of a razor — just head to hensonshaving.com/MINDSCAPE and or use code MINDSCAPE at checkout. Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/03/09/346-erica-cartmill-on-how-human-and-animal-minds-think-and-play/ Support Mindscape on Patreon. Erica Cartmill received her Ph.D. in psychology and neuroscience from the University of St. Andrews. She is Professor of Cognitive Science, Anthropology, Animal Behavior, Psychology, and Informatics at Indiana University, Bloomington and an External Professor at the Santa Fe Institute. She is the co-chair of the EVOLANG conferences and the co-director of the Diverse Intelligences Summer Institute. She is co-director of the Possible Minds lab at IU, and also manages the Observing Animals project, which asks for public input on how animals interact with each other. ]]>5729false346fullAMA | March 2026https://www.spreaker.com/episode/ama-march-2026--70387875Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number -- based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the questions themselves are good -- and sometimes group them together if they are about a similar topic. Enjoy! Get twenty percent off your first purchase at Fast Growing Trees when using the code MINDSCAPE at checkout! #sponsored Blog post with questions and transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/03/02/ama-march-2026/ Support Mindscape on Patreon.]]>d8fc37e1-a3b5-4acc-be88-7868127c607cMon, 02 Mar 2026 13:09:00 +0000Sean CarrollWelcome to the March 2026 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded by https://www.patreon.com/seanmcarroll (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more...Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number -- based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the questions themselves are good -- and sometimes group them together if they are about a similar topic. Enjoy! Get twenty percent off your first purchase at Fast Growing Trees when using the code MINDSCAPE at checkout! #sponsored Blog post with questions and transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/03/02/ama-march-2026/ Support Mindscape on Patreon.]]>14160falsebonus345 | Adam Elga on Being Rational in a Very Large Universehttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/345-adam-elga-on-being-rational-in-a-very-large-universe--70227077www.rag-bone.com #ragandbonepod #sponsored Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/02/23/345-adam-elga-on-being-rational-in-a-very-large-universe/ Support Mindscape on Patreon. Adam Elga received his Ph.D. in philosophy from MIT. He is currently a professor of philosophy at Princeton University. His research involves decision and game theory, epistemology, philosophy of probability, philosophy of mind, and philosophy of science. ]]>b1a36a1a-b9aa-4fca-8be2-c25056bc39d8Mon, 23 Feb 2026 15:21:00 +0000Sean CarrollBehaving rationally involves facing up to conditions of uncertainty; we never navigate the world with perfect confidence. Sometimes we are uncertain about the way the world is, but we can also be uncertain about our place within the world. This kind...www.rag-bone.com #ragandbonepod #sponsored Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/02/23/345-adam-elga-on-being-rational-in-a-very-large-universe/ Support Mindscape on Patreon. Adam Elga received his Ph.D. in philosophy from MIT. He is currently a professor of philosophy at Princeton University. His research involves decision and game theory, epistemology, philosophy of probability, philosophy of mind, and philosophy of science. ]]>5776false345full344 | Adam Gurri on Liberal Democracy and How to Fight For Ithttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/344-adam-gurri-on-liberal-democracy-and-how-to-fight-for-it--70081719Liberal Currents, a web site that "publishes writers of diverse perspectives who share an unflinching commitment to freedom, pluralism, and democracy, in opposition to authoritarianism at home and around the world." Go to https://surfshark.com/mindscape or use code MINDSCAPE at checkout to get 4 extra months of Surfshark VPN! Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/02/16/344-adam-gurri-on-liberal-democracy-and-how-to-fight-for-it/ Support Mindscape on Patreon. Adam Gurri received an M.A. in Economics from George Mason University. He is the co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of Liberal Currents. ]]>99278326-60c5-463f-a9ca-b463bffadd0bMon, 16 Feb 2026 13:37:00 +0000Sean CarrollIt's possible to look at the course of history over the past few centuries and discern a movement toward increasing democracy, freedom, and individual rights -- "liberalism," in the political-philosophy sense of the term. But such movement isn't...Liberal Currents, a web site that "publishes writers of diverse perspectives who share an unflinching commitment to freedom, pluralism, and democracy, in opposition to authoritarianism at home and around the world." Go to https://surfshark.com/mindscape or use code MINDSCAPE at checkout to get 4 extra months of Surfshark VPN! Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/02/16/344-adam-gurri-on-liberal-democracy-and-how-to-fight-for-it/ Support Mindscape on Patreon. Adam Gurri received an M.A. in Economics from George Mason University. He is the co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of Liberal Currents. ]]>5027false344full343 | Tom Griffiths on The Laws of Thoughthttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/343-tom-griffiths-on-the-laws-of-thought--69971333The Laws of Thought: The Quest for a Mathematical Theory of Mind. Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code MINDSCAPE at this link and get 60% off an annual plan: https://incogni.com/mindscape #sponsore Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/02/09/343-tom-griffiths-on-the-laws-of-thought/ Support Mindscape on Patreon. Tom Griffiths received his Ph.D. in psychology from Stanford University. He is currently Professor of Psychology and Computer Science at Princeton University, Director of the Computational Cognitive Science Lab, and Director of the Princeton Laboratory for Artificial Intelligence. He is the co-author of Algorithms to Live By: The Computer Science of Human Decisions, as well as the upcoming The Rational Use of Cognitive Resources. ]]>b330d81f-122d-4baf-9d90-152e70fc06f6Mon, 09 Feb 2026 13:08:00 +0000Sean CarrollFor all that human beings spend a lot of their time thinking, it's far from obvious what that process actually entails. Part of it amounts to classical logical reasoning. But an even bigger part involves reasoning with probability and uncertainty. And...The Laws of Thought: The Quest for a Mathematical Theory of Mind. Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code MINDSCAPE at this link and get 60% off an annual plan: https://incogni.com/mindscape #sponsore Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/02/09/343-tom-griffiths-on-the-laws-of-thought/ Support Mindscape on Patreon. Tom Griffiths received his Ph.D. in psychology from Stanford University. He is currently Professor of Psychology and Computer Science at Princeton University, Director of the Computational Cognitive Science Lab, and Director of the Princeton Laboratory for Artificial Intelligence. He is the co-author of Algorithms to Live By: The Computer Science of Human Decisions, as well as the upcoming The Rational Use of Cognitive Resources. ]]>4925false343fullAMA | Feb 2026https://www.spreaker.com/episode/ama-feb-2026--69971320Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number -- based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the questions themselves are good -- and sometimes group them together if they are about a similar topic. Enjoy! Blog post with AMA questions and transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/02/02/ama-february-2026/ Note that Mindscape now has a new hosting provider, Libsyn. (Actually a return home, as that was my first host when Mindscape was launched.) Things seem to be going smoothly, but let us know if there are any technical glitches. Support Mindscape on Patreon.]]>0cb99e46-afcd-4c7c-b0de-5fa054447d15Mon, 02 Feb 2026 13:18:00 +0000Sean CarrollWelcome to the February 2026 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded by https://www.patreon.com/seanmcarroll (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a...Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number -- based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the questions themselves are good -- and sometimes group them together if they are about a similar topic. Enjoy! Blog post with AMA questions and transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/02/02/ama-february-2026/ Note that Mindscape now has a new hosting provider, Libsyn. (Actually a return home, as that was my first host when Mindscape was launched.) Things seem to be going smoothly, but let us know if there are any technical glitches. Support Mindscape on Patreon.]]>11462falsebonus342 | Rachell Powell on Evolutionary Convergence, Morality, and Mindhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/342-rachell-powell-on-evolutionary-convergence-morality-and-mind--69590873https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/01/26/342-rachell-powell-on-evolutionary-convergence-morality-and-mind/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Rachell Powell received her Ph.D. in philosophy from Duke University. She is currently a Professor of Philosophy at Boston University. She has held fellowships at the National Humanities Center, the American Council of Learned Societies, the Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition Research, the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center, the Berlin School of Mind and Brain at Humboldt University, and the Center for Genetic Engineering and Society at North Carolina State University.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/Dy-ZqKfW4xbqum1VnNXMtelwnoF0GZI-aNp5RjGo3HoMon, 26 Jan 2026 13:00:00 +0000Sean CarrollEvolution with natural selection involves an intricate mix of the random and the driven. Mutations are essentially random, while selection pressures work to prefer certain outcomes over others. There is tremendous divergence of species over time, but...https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/01/26/342-rachell-powell-on-evolutionary-convergence-morality-and-mind/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Rachell Powell received her Ph.D. in philosophy from Duke University. She is currently a Professor of Philosophy at Boston University. She has held fellowships at the National Humanities Center, the American Council of Learned Societies, the Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition Research, the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center, the Berlin School of Mind and Brain at Humboldt University, and the Center for Genetic Engineering and Society at North Carolina State University.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>5835evolution,ideas,morality,philosophy,physics,science,societyfalse342full341 | Stewart Brand on Maintenance as an Organizing Principlehttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/341-stewart-brand-on-maintenance-as-an-organizing-principle--69506392Maintenance: Of Everything, Part One, Stewart Brand looks at the challenges and rewards of this concept.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/01/19/341-stewart-brand-on-maintenance-as-an-organizing-principle/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Stewart Brand received an undergraduate degree in biology from Stanford University. He was the founder, editor, and publisher of the Whole Earth Catalog, which won a National Book Award. He founded the journal CoEvolution Quarterly and the WELL electronic community, and was a co-founder of the Long Now Foundation. He has been called "the 20th century's top influencer."
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/oT6Oy-a66lwSy341p0SyLr3QDdVhqAEDJQC_7X8aJ8EMon, 19 Jan 2026 13:00:00 +0000Sean Carroll"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold," wrote W.B. Yeats. I don't know about the centre, but the tendency of things to fall apart is pretty universal, ultimately due to the Second Law of Thermodynamics. Anyone living in a society or involved with...Maintenance: Of Everything, Part One, Stewart Brand looks at the challenges and rewards of this concept.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/01/19/341-stewart-brand-on-maintenance-as-an-organizing-principle/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Stewart Brand received an undergraduate degree in biology from Stanford University. He was the founder, editor, and publisher of the Whole Earth Catalog, which won a National Book Award. He founded the journal CoEvolution Quarterly and the WELL electronic community, and was a co-founder of the Long Now Foundation. He has been called "the 20th century's top influencer."
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>4361ideas,maintenance,philosophy,physics,science,society,technologyfalse341full340 | Rebecca Newberger Goldstein on What Matters and Why It Mattershttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/340-rebecca-newberger-goldstein-on-what-matters-and-why-it-matters--69402287The Mattering Instinct: How Our Deepest Longing Drives Us and Divides Us.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/01/12/340-rebecca-newberger-goldstein-on-what-matters-and-why-it-matters/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Rebecca Newberger Goldstein received her Ph.D. in philosophy from Princeton University. She is the author of several novels and works of non-fiction. Among her awards are the MacArthur and Guggenheim Fellowships, membership in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the National Humanities Medal.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/m5gvnBf3Lev2s9xoXuuBciCkO6WwUBhJ3skjVwZlE6UMon, 12 Jan 2026 14:30:00 +0000Sean CarrollAt any given moment, an uncountable number of events are happening, but only some of them matter to us. What does it mean for something to matter, and more importantly, what does it mean for us to matter -- to ourselves as well as to others? The need...The Mattering Instinct: How Our Deepest Longing Drives Us and Divides Us.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/01/12/340-rebecca-newberger-goldstein-on-what-matters-and-why-it-matters/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Rebecca Newberger Goldstein received her Ph.D. in philosophy from Princeton University. She is the author of several novels and works of non-fiction. Among her awards are the MacArthur and Guggenheim Fellowships, membership in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the National Humanities Medal.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>4697ideas,mattering,meaning,philosophy,physics,psychology,purpose,science,societyfalse340full339 | Ned Block on Whether Consciousness Requires Biologyhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/339-ned-block-on-whether-consciousness-requires-biology--69306269https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/01/05/339-ned-block-on-whether-consciousness-requires-biology/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Ned Block received his Ph.D. in philosophy from Harvard University. He is currently Silver Professor in the Department of Philosophy at New York University, with secondary appointments in Psychology and Neural Science. He is also co-director of the Center for Mind, Brain, and Consciousness. He is Past President of the Society for Philosophy and Psychology and was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/83JtL6Ewihcx4YOw0pkziAf7pcOPlKXcCdSKOPTjLl8Mon, 05 Jan 2026 14:00:00 +0000Sean CarrollIt's become increasingly clear that the Turing Test -- determining whether human interlocutors can tell whether a conversation is being carried out by a human or a machine -- is not a good way to think about consciousness. Modern LLMs can mimic human...https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/01/05/339-ned-block-on-whether-consciousness-requires-biology/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Ned Block received his Ph.D. in philosophy from Harvard University. He is currently Silver Professor in the Department of Philosophy at New York University, with secondary appointments in Psychology and Neural Science. He is also co-director of the Center for Mind, Brain, and Consciousness. He is Past President of the Society for Philosophy and Psychology and was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>4262ai,consciousness,ideas,philosophy,science,societyfalse339fullHoliday Message 2025 | The Romance of the Universityhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/holiday-message-2025-the-romance-of-the-university--69167404https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/12/22/holiday-message-2025-the-romance-of-the-university/Support Mindscape on Patreon.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/imTGVjZuvZSyFZyXwCpZXHcZZ2YYiG8xSfSMHuQSe6UMon, 22 Dec 2025 14:00:00 +0000Sean CarrollTime for the holiday message! Rounding off the year with a brief and casual reflection on some issue that doesn't quite rise to the level of a full solo podcast. And hopefully something uplifting.This year, I offer a short apologia for higher...https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/12/22/holiday-message-2025-the-romance-of-the-university/Support Mindscape on Patreon.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>2571academia,education,ideas,philosophy,physics,science,society,universityfalsebonusAMA | December 2025https://www.spreaker.com/episode/ama-december-2025--69055987Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number -- based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the questions themselves are good -- and sometimes group them together if they are about a similar topic.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/12/15/ama-december-2025/In the intro I give a plug for the Pods Fight Poverty effort organized by GiveDirectly. Please consider making a donation to help families in Rwanda!Enjoy!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/n96kr6UGjGgctcbGL0-zyGk6WOpmlgPx-06Xzhsuk10Mon, 15 Dec 2025 13:00:00 +0000Sean CarrollWelcome to the December 2025 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded by https://www.patreon.com/seanmcarroll (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a...Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number -- based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the questions themselves are good -- and sometimes group them together if they are about a similar topic.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/12/15/ama-december-2025/In the intro I give a plug for the Pods Fight Poverty effort organized by GiveDirectly. Please consider making a donation to help families in Rwanda!Enjoy!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>13004ideas,philosophy,physics,science,societyfalsebonus338 | Ryan Patterson on the Physics of Neutrinoshttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/338-ryan-patterson-on-the-physics-of-neutrinos--68943116https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/12/08/228-ryan-patterson-on-the-physics-of-neutrinos/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Ryan Patterson received his Ph.D. in physics from Princeton University. He is currently Professor of Physics at Caltech. His research involves a number of aspects of experimental neutrino physics, including involvement in the NOvA and DUNE experiments.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/lmyOVbuVj2YinA8IMCEA3y-j5x9YCtmjc40czFpngckMon, 08 Dec 2025 13:00:00 +0000Sean CarrollThe story goes that Wolfgang Pauli, who first proposed the existence of neutrinos, was embarrassed to have done so, as it was considered uncouth to hypothesize new particles that could not be detected. Modern physicists have no such scruples, of...https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/12/08/228-ryan-patterson-on-the-physics-of-neutrinos/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Ryan Patterson received his Ph.D. in physics from Princeton University. He is currently Professor of Physics at Caltech. His research involves a number of aspects of experimental neutrino physics, including involvement in the NOvA and DUNE experiments.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>5182ideas,neutrinos,particle physics,physics,sciencefalse338full337 | Kevin Zollman on Game Theory, Signals, and Meaninghttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/337-kevin-zollman-on-game-theory-signals-and-meaning--68817575https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/12/01/337-kevin-zollman-on-game-theory-signals-and-meaning/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Kevin Zollman received his Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of California, Irvine. He is currently the Herbert A. Simon Professor of Philosophy and Social and Decision Sciences in the Department of Philosophy at Carnegie Mellon University. He is also an associate fellow at the Center for Philosophy of Science at the University of Pittsburgh, and a visiting professor at the Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy. He serves as the Director of the Institute for Complex Social Dynamics at CMU. He is the co-author, with Paul Raeburn, of The Game Theorist's Guide to Parenting.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/q3XJmvA-GL3VKzGwAQxP8-ekAIIEkvOlteIoXDyo6DAMon, 01 Dec 2025 12:30:00 +0000Sean CarrollGame theory is a way of quantitatively describing what happens any time one thing interacts with another thing, when both things have goals and potential rewards. That's a pretty broad class of interesting events, so it is unsurprising that game...https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/12/01/337-kevin-zollman-on-game-theory-signals-and-meaning/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Kevin Zollman received his Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of California, Irvine. He is currently the Herbert A. Simon Professor of Philosophy and Social and Decision Sciences in the Department of Philosophy at Carnegie Mellon University. He is also an associate fellow at the Center for Philosophy of Science at the University of Pittsburgh, and a visiting professor at the Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy. He serves as the Director of the Institute for Complex Social Dynamics at CMU. He is the co-author, with Paul Raeburn, of The Game Theorist's Guide to Parenting.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>4658game theory,ideas,philosophy,science,societyfalse337full336 | Anil Ananthaswamy on the Mathematics of Neural Nets and AIhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/336-anil-ananthaswamy-on-the-mathematics-of-neural-nets-and-ai--68721907Why Machines Learn: The Elegant Math Behind Modern AI. In this conversation we give a brief overview of some of the basic ideas, including the curse of dimensionality, backpropagation, transformer architectures, and more.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/11/24/336-anil-ananthaswamy-on-the-mathematics-of-neural-nets-and-ai/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Anil Ananthaswamy received a Masters degree in electrical engineering from the University of Washington, Seattle. He is currently a freelance science writer and feature editor for PNAS Front Matter. He was formerly the deputy news editor for New Scientist, a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT, and journalist-in-residence at the Simon Institute for the Theory of Computing, University of California, Berkeley. He organizes an annual science journalism workshop at the National Centre for Biological Sciences at Bengaluru, India.
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See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>4462ideas,philosophy,physics,science,societyfalse334full333 | Gordon Pennycook on Unthinkingness, Conspiracies, and What to Do About Themhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/333-gordon-pennycook-on-unthinkingness-conspiracies-and-what-to-do-about-them--68296377https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/10/27/333-gordon-pennycook-on-unthinkingness-conspiracies-and-what-to-do-about-them/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Gordon Pennycook received his Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Waterloo. He is currently an associate professor of psychology and Dorothy and Ariz Mehta Faculty Leadership Fellow at Cornell University as well as an Adjunct Professor at University of Regina’s Hill/Levene Schools of Business. He is a member of the Royal Society of Canada's College of New Scholars, Artists, and Scientists, and a 2016 winner of the IgNobel Prize for Peace.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/Pd6dTZxo5D-QUbladw-2JphVLXYQdaQgMEq4YHYR9RkMon, 27 Oct 2025 11:30:00 +0000Sean CarrollWhy are people wrong all the time, anyway? Is it because we human beings are too good at being irrational, using our biases and motivated reasoning to convince ourselves of something that isn't quite accurate? Or is it something different --...https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/10/27/333-gordon-pennycook-on-unthinkingness-conspiracies-and-what-to-do-about-them/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Gordon Pennycook received his Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Waterloo. He is currently an associate professor of psychology and Dorothy and Ariz Mehta Faculty Leadership Fellow at Cornell University as well as an Adjunct Professor at University of Regina’s Hill/Levene Schools of Business. He is a member of the Royal Society of Canada's College of New Scholars, Artists, and Scientists, and a 2016 winner of the IgNobel Prize for Peace.
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See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/qvxe5oibLKNBobeLn33xY0OWqYA1yzlIV-CCfJtU_XoMon, 20 Oct 2025 11:30:00 +0000Sean CarrollMusic is math that you can dance to. The fact that certain notes sound good when played together, or in succession, is related to the mathematical properties of the frequencies to which they correspond, an idea that goes back as far as Pythagoras...https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/10/20/332-dmitri-tymoczko-on-the-mathematics-behind-music/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Dmitri Tymoczko received a Ph.D. in music composition from the University of California, Berkeley. He is currently a professor of music at Princeton University as well as a composer and performer. He has been the recipient of Rhodes and Guggenheim fellowships. As a composer, his works have been performed by multiple groups, and recorded on several albums.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>4872ideas,mathematics,music,sciencefalse332fullAMA | October 2025https://www.spreaker.com/episode/ama-october-2025--68117557Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number -- based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the questions themselves are good -- and sometimes group them together if they are about a similar topic. Enjoy!Blog post with AMA questions and transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/10/13/ama-october-2025/Support Mindscape on Patreon.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/pQ_3aHnqIgvRjfh3UhWs6eO7ZbFVmzo0gyvN2cgmGbcMon, 13 Oct 2025 11:30:00 +0000Sean CarrollWelcome to the October 2025 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded by https://www.patreon.com/seanmcarroll (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a...Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number -- based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the questions themselves are good -- and sometimes group them together if they are about a similar topic. Enjoy!Blog post with AMA questions and transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/10/13/ama-october-2025/Support Mindscape on Patreon.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>13039ideas,philosophy,physics,science,societyfalsebonus331 | Solo: Fine-Tuning, God, and the Multiversehttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/331-solo-fine-tuning-god-and-the-multiverse--68030134https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/10/06/331-solo-fine-tuning-god-and-the-multiverse/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Some readings of relevance:
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See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/p0iGhnEVypMp3sYTKr4xC-XxeN2cHJT7vqvEOBFoZ-YMon, 22 Sep 2025 11:00:00 +0000Sean CarrollGetting along in society requires that we mostly adhere to certainly shared norms and customs. Often it's not enough that we all know what the rules are, but also that everyone else knows the rules, and that they know that we know the rules, and so...common knowledge. In Steven Pinker's new book, When Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows..., he explores how common knowledge (or its absence) explains money, power, and a wide variety of subtextual human interactions.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/09/22/329-steven-pinker-on-rationality-and-common-knowledge/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Steven Pinker received his Ph.D. in psychology from Harvard University. He is currently the Johnstone Family Professor of Psychology at Harvard University. He is the author of several best-selling books and recipient of several honorary doctoral degrees. Among his awards are Humanist of the Year (two different organizations) and the William James Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association for Psychological Science.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>4594common knowledge,convention,ideas,philosophy,rationality,science,societyfalse329full328 | Mary Roach on Replacing Parts of Our Bodieshttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/328-mary-roach-on-replacing-parts-of-our-bodies--67764737Replaceable You: Adventures in Human Anatomy.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/09/15/328-mary-roach-on-replacing-parts-of-our-bodies/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Mary Roach received a bachelor's degree in psychology from Wesleyan University. Her books include multiple New York Times bestsellers and have appeared on numerous best-of lists. She was a guest editor in the Best American Science and Nature Writing series, and received the Rushdie Award from the Harvard Secular Society.
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See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>4041anatomy,ideas,medicine,science,societyfalse328fullAMA | September 2025https://www.spreaker.com/episode/ama-september-2025--67709343Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number -- based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the questions themselves are good -- and sometimes group them together if they are about a similar topic. Enjoy!Blog post with AMA questions and transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/09/08/ama-september-2025/Support Mindscape on Patreon.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/0J6AyY9E_aGszUmRevOiUkJ4QketqOsKHB3LPJL7GRYMon, 08 Sep 2025 04:00:00 +0000Sean CarrollWelcome to the September 2025 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded by https://www.patreon.com/seanmcarroll (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a...Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number -- based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the questions themselves are good -- and sometimes group them together if they are about a similar topic. Enjoy!Blog post with AMA questions and transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/09/08/ama-september-2025/Support Mindscape on Patreon.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>12605ideas,philosophy,physics,science,societyfalsebonus327 | Cass Sunstein on Liberalismhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/327-cass-sunstein-on-liberalism--67709348On Liberalism: In Defense of Freedom.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/09/01/327-cass-sunstein-on-liberalism/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Cass Sunstein received a J.D. from Harvard Law School, and worked as a clerk for Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. He is currently Robert Walmsley University Professor at Harvard. He served in several government roles during the Obama administration. He is recognized as "by far the most cited legal scholar in the United States and probably the world."
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/nbWen2dB6Gcn061sYiNlOJJGZhAeP2I39tcbFBRU7_AMon, 01 Sep 2025 13:00:00 +0000Sean Carroll"Liberalism," divorced from its particular connotations in this or that modern political context, refers broadly to a philosophy of individual rights, liberties, and responsibilities, coupled with respect for institutions and rule of law over...On Liberalism: In Defense of Freedom.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/09/01/327-cass-sunstein-on-liberalism/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Cass Sunstein received a J.D. from Harvard Law School, and worked as a clerk for Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. He is currently Robert Walmsley University Professor at Harvard. He served in several government roles during the Obama administration. He is recognized as "by far the most cited legal scholar in the United States and probably the world."
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>4217ideas,liberalism,philosophy,political theory,politics,societyfalse327full326 | Natalie Batalha on What We Know and Will Learn About Exoplanetshttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/326-natalie-batalha-on-what-we-know-and-will-learn-about-exoplanets--67709353https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/08/25/326-natalie-batalha-on-what-we-know-and-will-learn-about-exoplanets/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Natalie Batalha received a Ph.D. in astrophysics from the University of California, Santa Cruz. She is currently a professor of astronomy and astrophysics at UCSC. She has served as Science Team Leader, Mission Scientist, and Project Scientist for NASA's Kepler satellite observatory. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and was listed as one of Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2017.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/BLjh34RA2RaMvbQxYm5hR-IuyspCYwD8UPYTJ7YCyv0Mon, 25 Aug 2025 10:30:00 +0000Sean CarrollIn a relatively short period of time, exoplanets (planets around stars other than our Sun) have gone from an intriguing conjecture to an active field of scientific study, with over 5,000 confirmed discoveries. The task now is to move beyond merely...https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/08/25/326-natalie-batalha-on-what-we-know-and-will-learn-about-exoplanets/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Natalie Batalha received a Ph.D. in astrophysics from the University of California, Santa Cruz. She is currently a professor of astronomy and astrophysics at UCSC. She has served as Science Team Leader, Mission Scientist, and Project Scientist for NASA's Kepler satellite observatory. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and was listed as one of Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2017.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>4333astrobiology,astronomy,exoplanets,ideas,physics,sciencefalse326full325 | Alvy Ray Smith on Pixar, Pixels, and the Great Digital Convergencehttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/325-alvy-ray-smith-on-pixar-pixels-and-the-great-digital-convergence--67709361A Biography of the Pixel. We go through the journey of how he helped make computer animation a reality, and the implications of what he calls the "Great Digital Convergence."Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/08/18/325-alvy-ray-smith-on-pixar-pixels-and-the-great-digital-convergence/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Alvy Ray Smith received a Ph.D. in computer science from Stanford University. He has been a professor of electrical engineering and computer science at New York University, a member of the Computer Graphics Lab at the NY Institute of Technology, director of computer graphics at Lucasfilm, and cofounder of Pixar and Altamira. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a Fellow of the America Association for the Advancement of Science as well as the American Society of Genealogists. He is the winner of two technical Academy Awards.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/fgoxj18JoE9yZPvCF9UahUcvITqqYb53yidboqf1tN0Mon, 18 Aug 2025 12:00:00 +0000Sean CarrollThe world is becoming pixelated. As computers and other digital devices become ubiquitous, human knowledge and communication and information is gradually being converted into, and manipulated as, strings of bits. What does that really mean, and what...A Biography of the Pixel. We go through the journey of how he helped make computer animation a reality, and the implications of what he calls the "Great Digital Convergence."Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/08/18/325-alvy-ray-smith-on-pixar-pixels-and-the-great-digital-convergence/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Alvy Ray Smith received a Ph.D. in computer science from Stanford University. He has been a professor of electrical engineering and computer science at New York University, a member of the Computer Graphics Lab at the NY Institute of Technology, director of computer graphics at Lucasfilm, and cofounder of Pixar and Altamira. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a Fellow of the America Association for the Advancement of Science as well as the American Society of Genealogists. He is the winner of two technical Academy Awards.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>5202computer science,ideas,philosophy,physics,science,societyfalse325full324 | Elizabeth Mynatt on Universities and the Importance of Basic Researchhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/324-elizabeth-mynatt-on-universities-and-the-importance-of-basic-research--67709373https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/08/11/324-elizabeth-mynatt-on-universities-and-the-importance-of-basic-research/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Elizabeth Mynatt received a Ph.D. in computer science from the Georgia Institute of Technology. She is currently Dean of the Khoury College of Computer Sciences at Northeastern University. She is a senior investigator with Emory’s Cognitive Empowerment Program and co-PI for the NSF AI-CARING Institute. She is a fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She was lead author on the National Academies report, "Information Technology Innovation: Resurgence, Confluence, and Continuing Impact."
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/F51_9YVKb69Z3AriunieDTX7tyzmwtKHHBJGwrLKtLwMon, 11 Aug 2025 12:00:00 +0000Sean CarrollIt is not manifestly obvious that universities should be where most scholarly research is performed. One could imagine systems that separated out the tasks of "teaching students" and "generating new knowledge." But it turns out that combining them...https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/08/11/324-elizabeth-mynatt-on-universities-and-the-importance-of-basic-research/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Elizabeth Mynatt received a Ph.D. in computer science from the Georgia Institute of Technology. She is currently Dean of the Khoury College of Computer Sciences at Northeastern University. She is a senior investigator with Emory’s Cognitive Empowerment Program and co-PI for the NSF AI-CARING Institute. She is a fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She was lead author on the National Academies report, "Information Technology Innovation: Resurgence, Confluence, and Continuing Impact."
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>4413academia,ideas,research,science,society,universitiesfalse324fullAMA | August 2025https://www.spreaker.com/episode/ama-august-2025--67709376Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number -- based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the questions themselves are good -- and sometimes group them together if they are about a similar topic. Enjoy!Blog post with questions and transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/08/04/ama-august-2025/Support Mindscape on Patreon.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/uFTdUod94xBJzGBpEvSit91gVN9l28okXeLNfbOaregMon, 04 Aug 2025 04:00:00 +0000Sean CarrollWelcome to the August 2025 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded by https://www.patreon.com/seanmcarroll (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more...Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number -- based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the questions themselves are good -- and sometimes group them together if they are about a similar topic. Enjoy!Blog post with questions and transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/08/04/ama-august-2025/Support Mindscape on Patreon.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>13199ideas,philosophy,physics,science,societyfalsebonus323 | Jacob Barandes on Indivisible Stochastic Quantum Mechanicshttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/323-jacob-barandes-on-indivisible-stochastic-quantum-mechanics--67709344a new formulation of quantum theory in which there is no wave function, only real degrees of freedom with fundamentally stochastic dynamics. We talk about this new theory and the challenges facing it.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/07/28/323-jacob-barandes-on-indivisible-stochastic-quantum-mechanics/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Jacob Barandes received his Ph.D. in physics from Harvard University. He is currently Senior Preceptor in Physics and Associated Faculty in Philosophy at Harvard. He teaches both physics and philosophy courses at Harvard, where he has been the recipient of several teaching awards.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/1J7mCcJFB8kMS3QjCI040upYVppb0sC39fldnLQkmZgMon, 28 Jul 2025 12:00:00 +0000Sean CarrollThe search for a foundational theory of quantum mechanics that all physicists can agree on remains active. Over the last century a number of contenders have emerged, including Many-Worlds, pilot-wave theories, and others, but all of them have aspects...a new formulation of quantum theory in which there is no wave function, only real degrees of freedom with fundamentally stochastic dynamics. We talk about this new theory and the challenges facing it.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/07/28/323-jacob-barandes-on-indivisible-stochastic-quantum-mechanics/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Jacob Barandes received his Ph.D. in physics from Harvard University. He is currently Senior Preceptor in Physics and Associated Faculty in Philosophy at Harvard. He teaches both physics and philosophy courses at Harvard, where he has been the recipient of several teaching awards.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>10703ideas,philosophy,physics,quantum mechanics,sciencefalse323full322 | Philip Pettit on Language, Agency, Politics, and Freedomhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/322-philip-pettit-on-language-agency-politics-and-freedom--67709378When Minds Converse: A Social Genealogy of the Human Soul. And that linguistic aptitude helps us understand the nature of agency, responsibility, and freedom.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/07/21/322-philip-pettit-on-language-agency-politics-and-freedom/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Philip Pettit received his Ph.D. in philosophy from University College Belfast. He is currently Laurance S. Rockefeller University Professor of Human Values at Princeton University and Distinguished University Professor of Philosophy at Australian National University. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia, the Australian Academy of the Humanities, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Guggenheim Foundation, among other honors.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/JskD0uqK0cHmXLWTKU3lpE7ZgduLPD1ReM1ho0e5ogkMon, 21 Jul 2025 11:00:00 +0000Sean CarrollWhen we think of the capacities that distinguish humans from other species, we generally turn to intelligence and its byproducts, including our technological prowess. But our intelligence is highly connected to our ability to use language, which is in...When Minds Converse: A Social Genealogy of the Human Soul. And that linguistic aptitude helps us understand the nature of agency, responsibility, and freedom.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/07/21/322-philip-pettit-on-language-agency-politics-and-freedom/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Philip Pettit received his Ph.D. in philosophy from University College Belfast. He is currently Laurance S. Rockefeller University Professor of Human Values at Princeton University and Distinguished University Professor of Philosophy at Australian National University. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia, the Australian Academy of the Humanities, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Guggenheim Foundation, among other honors.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>4849freedom,ideas,language,philosophy,political philosophy,science,societyfalse322full321 | David Tong on Open Questions in Quantum Field Theoryhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/321-david-tong-on-open-questions-in-quantum-field-theory--67709354Classical Mechanics, Quantum Mechanics, Fluid Mechanics, and Electromagnetism.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/07/14/321-david-tong-on-open-questions-in-quantum-field-theory/Support Mindscape on Patreon.David Tong received his Ph.D. in theoretical physics from Swansea University. He is currently a professor of Theoretical Physics in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at the University of Cambridge. He is a winner of the Adams Prize and a Simons Investigator. In addition to his books, he has written many freely-available sets of lecture notes on topics in physics.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/brjR_5M5gowuC2RlT0dpXgB-E2VU9W_hjLg_ZQG2ZsUMon, 14 Jul 2025 04:00:00 +0000Sean CarrollQuantum field theory is the basis for our most successful theories of fundamental physics. And yet, there are things we don't understand about it. Some of these puzzles are relatively well-known, while others are less celebrated. David Tong joins us...Classical Mechanics, Quantum Mechanics, Fluid Mechanics, and Electromagnetism.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/07/14/321-david-tong-on-open-questions-in-quantum-field-theory/Support Mindscape on Patreon.David Tong received his Ph.D. in theoretical physics from Swansea University. He is currently a professor of Theoretical Physics in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at the University of Cambridge. He is a winner of the Adams Prize and a Simons Investigator. In addition to his books, he has written many freely-available sets of lecture notes on topics in physics.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>4767ideas,physics,quantum field theory,science,textbooksfalse321fullAMA | July 2025https://www.spreaker.com/episode/ama-july-2025--67709384Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number -- based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the questions themselves are good -- and sometimes group them together if they are about a similar topic. Enjoy!Blog post with questions and transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/07/07/ama-july-2025/See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/dAhOW1RB_A-nO60jEGBI2LJ1mh5JCofrsmdjOpGbXEMMon, 07 Jul 2025 12:23:50 +0000Sean CarrollWelcome to the July 2025 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded by https://www.patreon.com/seanmcarroll (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more...Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number -- based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the questions themselves are good -- and sometimes group them together if they are about a similar topic. Enjoy!Blog post with questions and transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/07/07/ama-july-2025/See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>14607ideas,philosophy,physics,science,societyfalsebonus320 | Solo: Complexity and the Universehttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/320-solo-complexity-and-the-universe--67709368https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/06/30/320-solo-complexity-and-the-universe/Support Mindscape on Patreon.The Santa Fe Institute has recently published a four-volume set of classic papers on complexity. David Krakauer provided a comprehensive introduction that has been published as a standalone book.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/ho-GSnvsl8k0UBsnwZX5JQYL-vp_CuZCYOOu5dPXSKAMon, 30 Jun 2025 12:57:18 +0000Sean CarrollOur universe started out looking very simple: hot, dense, smooth, rapidly expanding. According to our best current model, it will end up looking simple once again: cold, dark, empty. It's in between -- now, roughly speaking -- that things look...https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/06/30/320-solo-complexity-and-the-universe/Support Mindscape on Patreon.The Santa Fe Institute has recently published a four-volume set of classic papers on complexity. David Krakauer provided a comprehensive introduction that has been published as a standalone book.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>8086complexity,cosmology,ideas,philosophy,physics,sciencefalse320full319 | Bryan Van Norden on Philosophy From the Rest of the Worldhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/319-bryan-van-norden-on-philosophy-from-the-rest-of-the-world--67709346https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/06/23/319-bryan-van-norden-on-philosophy-from-the-rest-of-the-world/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Bryan Van Norden received his Ph.D. in philosophy from Stanford University. He is currently James Monroe Taylor Chair in Philosophy at Vassar College and Chair Professor in the School of Philosophy at Wuhan University. Among his books are Introduction to Classical Chinese Philosophy and Taking Back Philosophy: A Multicultural Manifesto. He is a recipient of Fulbright, National Endowment for the Humanities, and Mellon fellowships.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/BLDuxwV1ul1x6CP_P7XEvbmU3HVi3nukRITo6XOcPY4Mon, 23 Jun 2025 13:40:34 +0000Sean CarrollIt is common to refer to philosophy as "a series of footnotes to Plato." But in the original quote, Alfred North Whitehead was more careful: he limited his characterization to "the European philosophical tradition." There are other traditions, both...https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/06/23/319-bryan-van-norden-on-philosophy-from-the-rest-of-the-world/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Bryan Van Norden received his Ph.D. in philosophy from Stanford University. He is currently James Monroe Taylor Chair in Philosophy at Vassar College and Chair Professor in the School of Philosophy at Wuhan University. Among his books are Introduction to Classical Chinese Philosophy and Taking Back Philosophy: A Multicultural Manifesto. He is a recipient of Fulbright, National Endowment for the Humanities, and Mellon fellowships.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>4361chinese philosophy,ideas,philosophy,societyfalse319full318 | Edward Miguel on the Developing Practice of Development Economicshttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/318-edward-miguel-on-the-developing-practice-of-development-economics--67709388https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/06/16/318-edward-miguel-on-the-developing-practice-of-development-economics/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Edward Miguel received his Ph.D. in economics from Harvard university. He is currently Distinguished Professor of Economics and Oxfam Professor in Environmental and Resource Economics at the University of California, Berkeley. He is also Faculty co-Director of the Center for Effective Global Action and a Faculty Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research. Among his awards are the Frisch Medal of the Econometric Society, the Kenneth Arrow Prize of the International Health Economics Association, and multiple teaching awards.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/DJ1Q5c79E5bQhDm8Jjl5A0tExDk-dpdFeeZStZ0tCogMon, 16 Jun 2025 12:06:33 +0000Sean CarrollEconomics is seeing an upsurge in the importance of controlled, reproducible empirical studies. One area where this has had a great impact is on development economics, which studies the economies of low- and middle-income societies. Edward Miguel has...https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/06/16/318-edward-miguel-on-the-developing-practice-of-development-economics/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Edward Miguel received his Ph.D. in economics from Harvard university. He is currently Distinguished Professor of Economics and Oxfam Professor in Environmental and Resource Economics at the University of California, Berkeley. He is also Faculty co-Director of the Center for Effective Global Action and a Faculty Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research. Among his awards are the Frisch Medal of the Econometric Society, the Kenneth Arrow Prize of the International Health Economics Association, and multiple teaching awards.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>4840development,economics,ideas,science,societyfalse318full317 | Nicole Rust on Why Neuroscience Hasn't Solved Brain Disordershttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/317-nicole-rust-on-why-neuroscience-hasn-t-solved-brain-disorders--67709383Elusive Cures.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/06/09/317-nicole-rust-on-why-neuroscience-hasnt-solved-brain-disorders/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Nicole C. Rust received her Ph.D. in neuroscience from New York University. She is currently a professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. She is also a contributing editor at The Transmitter and an editor at BrainFacts.org. Among her awards are the Troland Research Award from the National Academy of Sciences.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/_Zf8FvLNzWi2xr9KpV4qM6r_p2VMA6V00vWfd1tUjk0Mon, 09 Jun 2025 13:19:47 +0000Sean CarrollThe human brain is extremely complicated, but decades of careful neuroscientific research have revealed quite a bit about how it works, including how certain genes affect particular brain behaviors. Nevertheless, this progress has not led to quite as...Elusive Cures.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/06/09/317-nicole-rust-on-why-neuroscience-hasnt-solved-brain-disorders/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Nicole C. Rust received her Ph.D. in neuroscience from New York University. She is currently a professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. She is also a contributing editor at The Transmitter and an editor at BrainFacts.org. Among her awards are the Troland Research Award from the National Academy of Sciences.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>4491ideas,mental illness,neuroscience,philosophy,science,societyfalse317fullAMA | June 2025https://www.spreaker.com/episode/ama-june-2025--67709350Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number -- based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the questions themselves are good -- and sometimes group them together if they are about a similar topic. Enjoy!Blog post with AMA questions and transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/06/02/ama-june-2025/Support Mindscape on Patreon.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/lcytCDKtnZSgozYSlPa9CkHKOOTic72A-5zpx6QNVEcMon, 02 Jun 2025 11:32:20 +0000Sean CarrollWelcome to the June 2025 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded by https://www.patreon.com/seanmcarroll (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more...Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number -- based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the questions themselves are good -- and sometimes group them together if they are about a similar topic. Enjoy!Blog post with AMA questions and transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/06/02/ama-june-2025/Support Mindscape on Patreon.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>12188ideas,philosophy,physics,science,societyfalsebonus316 | Niayesh Afshordi and Phil Halperhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/316-niayesh-afshordi-and-phil-halper--67709374Battle of the Big Bang: The New Tales of Our Cosmic Origins, that surveys all of the mind-bending possibilities.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/05/26/316-niayesh-afshordi-and-phil-halper-on-the-big-bang-and-before/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Niayesh Afshordi received a Ph.D. in astrophysics from Princeton University. He is currently a professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Waterloo, and associate faculty in the cosmology and gravitation group at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics.
Phil Halper is a science communicator and a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society. His astronomy images have been featured in major media outlets including The Washington Post, the BBC, and The Guardian, and he has published several papers in peer-reviewed journals.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/5ikhso4we6lWNXffDjn91g7xJVujba-r_bkLG8NuAFAMon, 26 May 2025 11:59:59 +0000Sean CarrollEinstein's general theory of relativity, plus some reasonable assumptions about the universe and what it's made of, has a remarkable implication: that as we trace cosmic evolution into the far past, we ultimately hit a singularity of infinite density...Battle of the Big Bang: The New Tales of Our Cosmic Origins, that surveys all of the mind-bending possibilities.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/05/26/316-niayesh-afshordi-and-phil-halper-on-the-big-bang-and-before/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Niayesh Afshordi received a Ph.D. in astrophysics from Princeton University. He is currently a professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Waterloo, and associate faculty in the cosmology and gravitation group at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics.
Phil Halper is a science communicator and a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society. His astronomy images have been featured in major media outlets including The Washington Post, the BBC, and The Guardian, and he has published several papers in peer-reviewed journals.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>5332big bang,cosmology,ideas,philosophy,physics,sciencefalse316full315 | Branden Fitelson on the Logic and Use of Probabilityhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/315-branden-fitelson-on-the-logic-and-use-of-probability--67709394https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/05/19/315-branden-fitelson-on-the-logic-and-use-of-probability/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Branden Fitelson received a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is currently Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at Northeastern University. He is a co-founder of the Formal Epistemology Workshop, and winner of the 2020 Wolfram Innovator Award.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/6NdTsKRRJYdy-azN2PsKGkkghpb51HM8fHDcWpHklw4Mon, 19 May 2025 12:18:19 +0000Sean CarrollEvery time you see an apple spontaneously break away from a tree, it falls downward. You therefore claim that there is a law of physics: apples fall downward from trees. But how can you really know? After all, tomorrow you might see an apple that...https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/05/19/315-branden-fitelson-on-the-logic-and-use-of-probability/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Branden Fitelson received a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is currently Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at Northeastern University. He is a co-founder of the Formal Epistemology Workshop, and winner of the 2020 Wolfram Innovator Award.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>5337ideas,induction,philosophy,physics,probability,sciencefalse315full314 | Karen Lloyd on the Deep Underground Biospherehttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/314-karen-lloyd-on-the-deep-underground-biosphere--67709347Intraterrestrials: Discovering the Strangest Life on Earth.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/05/12/314-karen-lloyd-on-the-deep-underground-biosphere/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Karen Lloyd received a Ph.D. in marine sciences from the University of North Carolina. She is currently the Wrigley Chair in Environmental Studies and Professor of Earth Sciences at the University of Southern California. Among her awards are a Sloan Fellowship, a Simons Early Career Investigator, and a NASA Early Career Fellowship.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/F-S_PscYIkNFXL0lIEYu2K-KmpMeCsF1thQOu63PBGQMon, 12 May 2025 12:03:21 +0000Sean CarrollThere are living creatures dwelling deep below the surface of the Earth, as deep as we are able to drill. These hearty microorganisms are related to more familiar life forms on land and under water, but the operate and survive in ways that are quite...Intraterrestrials: Discovering the Strangest Life on Earth.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/05/12/314-karen-lloyd-on-the-deep-underground-biosphere/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Karen Lloyd received a Ph.D. in marine sciences from the University of North Carolina. She is currently the Wrigley Chair in Environmental Studies and Professor of Earth Sciences at the University of Southern California. Among her awards are a Sloan Fellowship, a Simons Early Career Investigator, and a NASA Early Career Fellowship.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>4159biosphere,ideas,life,microbes,sciencefalse314full313 | Eric Topol on the Changing Face of Medicine and Aginghttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/313-eric-topol-on-the-changing-face-of-medicine-and-aging--67709349https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/05/05/episode-313-eric-topol-on-the-changing-face-of-medicine-and-aging/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Eric Topol received and M.D. from the University of Rochester. He is currently the Gary and Mary West Chair of Innovative Medicine in the Department of Translational Medicine at Scripps Research. He is also the Founder, Scripps Research Translational Institute, and Senior Consultant, Scripps Clinic, Division of Cardiovascular Diseases. Among his awards are the Hutchinson Medal from the University of Rochester and membership in the National Academy of Sciences. His books include Deep Medicine: How Artificial Intelligence Can Make Healthcare Human Again, and Super Agers: An Evidence-Based Approach to Longevity.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/5S66P6UPUcE5y43syOa1YHDJ1Gdqp1EzvypWDaKRN4wMon, 05 May 2025 11:38:34 +0000Sean CarrollMedical science is advancing at an astonishing rate. Today we talk with leading expert Eric Topol about two aspects of this story. First, the use of artificial intelligence in medicine, especially in diagnostics. This is an area that is a perfect...https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/05/05/episode-313-eric-topol-on-the-changing-face-of-medicine-and-aging/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Eric Topol received and M.D. from the University of Rochester. He is currently the Gary and Mary West Chair of Innovative Medicine in the Department of Translational Medicine at Scripps Research. He is also the Founder, Scripps Research Translational Institute, and Senior Consultant, Scripps Clinic, Division of Cardiovascular Diseases. Among his awards are the Hutchinson Medal from the University of Rochester and membership in the National Academy of Sciences. His books include Deep Medicine: How Artificial Intelligence Can Make Healthcare Human Again, and Super Agers: An Evidence-Based Approach to Longevity.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>4324aging,ai,ideas,medicine,science,societyfalse313fullAMA | May 2025https://www.spreaker.com/episode/ama-may-2025--67709372Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number -- based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the questions themselves are good -- and sometimes group them together if they are about a similar topic. Enjoy!Blog post with AMA questions and transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/04/28/ama-may-2025/Support Mindscape on Patreon.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/_W2DChdurkUCjR2qJngCGBN706gQFLrbdLGPk9VVrDkMon, 28 Apr 2025 11:57:41 +0000Sean CarrollWelcome to the May 2025 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded by https://www.patreon.com/seanmcarroll (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more...Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number -- based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the questions themselves are good -- and sometimes group them together if they are about a similar topic. Enjoy!Blog post with AMA questions and transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/04/28/ama-may-2025/Support Mindscape on Patreon.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>13088ideas,philosophy,physics,science,societyfalsebonus312 | Thomas Levenson on the Mutual History of Humans and Germshttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/312-thomas-levenson-on-the-mutual-history-of-humans-and-germs--67709355cranky skeptics.) But the road to widespread acceptance isn't always an easy one. Why did it take so long between Anton van Leeuwenhoek seeing "animalcules" in a microscope (1670s) to Louis Pasteur's work on pasteurization and vaccination (1860's)? Thomas Levenson is the author of a new book exploring this fascinating history: So Very Small: How Humans Discovered the Microcosmos, Defeated Germs--and May Still Lose the War Against Infectious Disease.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/04/21/episode-312-thomas-levenson-on-the-mutual-history-of-humans-and-germs/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Thomas Levenson received a B.A. in East Asian Studies from Harvard University. He is currently Professor of Science Writing and director of the graduate program in science writing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is the author of numerous books and has written and produced a number of science documentaries for television.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/5pJenM9gZ9URIC0yCsqtDhIEDxtA2ABd6MxwvqHVRKYMon, 21 Apr 2025 12:15:10 +0000Sean CarrollThe germ theory of disease is a crowning achievement of science, up there with modern physics, continental drift, and evolution via natural selection. (Even if there will always be https://www.youcanknowthings.com/germ-theory-2/.) But the road to...cranky skeptics.) But the road to widespread acceptance isn't always an easy one. Why did it take so long between Anton van Leeuwenhoek seeing "animalcules" in a microscope (1670s) to Louis Pasteur's work on pasteurization and vaccination (1860's)? Thomas Levenson is the author of a new book exploring this fascinating history: So Very Small: How Humans Discovered the Microcosmos, Defeated Germs--and May Still Lose the War Against Infectious Disease.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/04/21/episode-312-thomas-levenson-on-the-mutual-history-of-humans-and-germs/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Thomas Levenson received a B.A. in East Asian Studies from Harvard University. He is currently Professor of Science Writing and director of the graduate program in science writing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is the author of numerous books and has written and produced a number of science documentaries for television.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>5490germs,history,ideas,medicine,science,societyfalse312full311 | Annaka Harris on Whether Consciousness is Fundamentalhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/311-annaka-harris-on-whether-consciousness-is-fundamental--67709352Lights On: How Understanding Consciousness Helps Us Understand the Universe.Blog post with show notes and transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/04/14/311-annaka-harris-on-whether-consciousness-is-fundamental/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Annaka Harris received a BFA from New York University. She is the author of Consciousness: A Brief Guide to the Fundamental Mystery of the Mind. She is a co-founder of Project Reason.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/CYSWmU8QX5EI7WgEcSJNifxXu63wpPfTngfNdcRrKZEMon, 14 Apr 2025 12:45:28 +0000Sean CarrollQuestions about consciousness range from the precise and empirical -- what neurons fire when I have some particular experience -- to the deeply profound -- does consciousness emerge from matter, or does matter emerge from consciousness? While it might...Lights On: How Understanding Consciousness Helps Us Understand the Universe.Blog post with show notes and transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/04/14/311-annaka-harris-on-whether-consciousness-is-fundamental/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Annaka Harris received a BFA from New York University. She is the author of Consciousness: A Brief Guide to the Fundamental Mystery of the Mind. She is a co-founder of Project Reason.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>4200consciousness,ideas,mind,panpsychism,philosophy,sciencefalse311fullAMA | April 2025https://www.spreaker.com/episode/ama-april-2025--67709400Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number -- based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the questions themselves are good -- and sometimes group them together if they are about a similar topic. Enjoy!Blog post with questions and transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/04/07/ama-april-2025/Support Mindscape on Patreon.A couple of links relevant to the intro:
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/dt-x57aNYIrRmg0hGUQznDaoe7yJAqF-6078AdkMOzQMon, 07 Apr 2025 12:02:39 +0000Sean CarrollWelcome to the April 2025 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded by https://www.patreon.com/seanmcarroll (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more...Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number -- based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the questions themselves are good -- and sometimes group them together if they are about a similar topic. Enjoy!Blog post with questions and transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/04/07/ama-april-2025/Support Mindscape on Patreon.A couple of links relevant to the intro:
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>12623ideas,philosophy,physics,science,societyfalsebonus310 | Marc Kamionkowski on Dark Energy and Cosmic Anomalieshttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/310-marc-kamionkowski-on-dark-energy-and-cosmic-anomalies--67709421the universe is accelerating. There was an obvious plausible explanation, the cosmological constant proposed by Einstein, which is equivalent to a constant vacuum energy pervading space. But the cosmological constant was known to be enormously smaller than its "natural" value, and it seems fine-tuned for it to be so small but not yet zero. Once burned, twice shy, and since then we have been looking for evidence that the dark energy might not be strictly constant, even though that's even more fine-tuned. We talk to cosmologist Marc Kamionkowski about recent evidence that dark energy might be changing with time, and what this might have to do with the Hubble tension and other cosmic anomalies.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/03/31/310-marc-kamionkowski-on-dark-energy-and-cosmic-anomalies/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Marc Kamionkowski received his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Chicago. He is currently the William R. Kenan Jr. Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Johns Hopkins University. Among his prizes are the Gruber Cosmology Prize, the Dannie Heineman Prize for Astrophysics, membership in the National Academy of Science, and a Guggenheim Fellowship.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/4ypqe9jfrVaZ5x4HjQi-Q_X4-6y0xwLUbvbn5b9K_hIMon, 31 Mar 2025 12:01:42 +0000Sean CarrollCosmologists were, let us be honest, pretty stunned in 1998 when observations revealed that https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accelerating_expansion_of_the_universe. There was an obvious plausible explanation,...the universe is accelerating. There was an obvious plausible explanation, the cosmological constant proposed by Einstein, which is equivalent to a constant vacuum energy pervading space. But the cosmological constant was known to be enormously smaller than its "natural" value, and it seems fine-tuned for it to be so small but not yet zero. Once burned, twice shy, and since then we have been looking for evidence that the dark energy might not be strictly constant, even though that's even more fine-tuned. We talk to cosmologist Marc Kamionkowski about recent evidence that dark energy might be changing with time, and what this might have to do with the Hubble tension and other cosmic anomalies.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/03/31/310-marc-kamionkowski-on-dark-energy-and-cosmic-anomalies/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Marc Kamionkowski received his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Chicago. He is currently the William R. Kenan Jr. Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Johns Hopkins University. Among his prizes are the Gruber Cosmology Prize, the Dannie Heineman Prize for Astrophysics, membership in the National Academy of Science, and a Guggenheim Fellowship.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>5176cosmology,dark energy,ideas,philosophy,physics,science,societyfalse310full309 | Christof Koch on Consciousness and Integrated Informationhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/309-christof-koch-on-consciousness-and-integrated-information--67709359Integrated Information Theory.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/03/24/309-christof-koch-on-consciousness-and-integrated-information/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Christof Koch was awarded a Ph.D. from the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics. He is currently a Meritorious Investigator at the Allen Institute for Brain Science, where he was formerly president and chief scientist, and Chief Scientist at the Tiny Blue Dot Foundation. He is the author of several books, most recently Then I Am Myself the World - What Consciousness Is and How to Expand It.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/_mhRxAi_cxlpvgafd3PkqUkREBEGIUQsgtAml8UOpr8Mon, 24 Mar 2025 12:12:58 +0000Sean CarrollConsciousness is easier to possess than to define. One thing we can do is to look into the brain and see what lights up when conscious awareness is taking place. A complete understanding of this would be known as the "neural correlates of...Integrated Information Theory.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/03/24/309-christof-koch-on-consciousness-and-integrated-information/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Christof Koch was awarded a Ph.D. from the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics. He is currently a Meritorious Investigator at the Allen Institute for Brain Science, where he was formerly president and chief scientist, and Chief Scientist at the Tiny Blue Dot Foundation. He is the author of several books, most recently Then I Am Myself the World - What Consciousness Is and How to Expand It.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>4848consciousness,ideas,information,neuroscience,philosophy,science,societyfalse309full308 | Alison Gopnik on Children, AI, and Modes of Thinkinghttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/308-alison-gopnik-on-children-ai-and-modes-of-thinking--67709357https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/03/17/308-alison-gopnik-on-children-ai-and-modes-of-thinking/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Alison Gopnik received her D.Phil in experimental psychology from Oxford University. She is currently a professor of psychology and affiliate professor of philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley. Among her awards are the Association for Psychological Science Lifetime Achievement Award, the Rumelhart Prize for Theoretical Foundations of Cognitive Science, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. She is a past President of the Association for Psychological Science. She is the author of The Scientist in the Crib, The Philosophical Baby, and The Gardener and the Carpenter, among other works.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/n2_0XMaPiXx-1RBiADB644_DZ6vGp91SB_AFOuPpuLQMon, 17 Mar 2025 14:36:08 +0000Sean CarrollWe often study cognition in other species, in part to learn about modes of thinking that are different from our own. Today's guest, psychologist/philosopher Alison Gopnik, argues that we needn't look that far: human children aren't simply undeveloped...https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/03/17/308-alison-gopnik-on-children-ai-and-modes-of-thinking/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Alison Gopnik received her D.Phil in experimental psychology from Oxford University. She is currently a professor of psychology and affiliate professor of philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley. Among her awards are the Association for Psychological Science Lifetime Achievement Award, the Rumelhart Prize for Theoretical Foundations of Cognitive Science, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. She is a past President of the Association for Psychological Science. She is the author of The Scientist in the Crib, The Philosophical Baby, and The Gardener and the Carpenter, among other works.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>4197ai,ideas,philosophy,science,society,thinkingfalse308fullAMA | March 2025https://www.spreaker.com/episode/ama-march-2025--67709422Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number -- based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the questions themselves are good -- and sometimes group them together if they are about a similar topic. Enjoy!Link to the 2012 Moving Naturalism Forward workshop, mentioned in the episode.Blog post with questions and full transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/03/10/ama-march-2025/Support Mindscape on Patreon.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/u1OPZxTNe7VXXLbtiOYOde6ceFOmXe9WHxJgXqf7KicMon, 10 Mar 2025 13:14:13 +0000Sean CarrollWelcome to the March 2025 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded by https://www.patreon.com/seanmcarroll (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more...Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number -- based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the questions themselves are good -- and sometimes group them together if they are about a similar topic. Enjoy!Link to the 2012 Moving Naturalism Forward workshop, mentioned in the episode.Blog post with questions and full transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/03/10/ama-march-2025/Support Mindscape on Patreon.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>10682ideas,philosophy,physics,science,societyfalsebonus307 | Kevin Peterson on the Theory of Cocktailshttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/307-kevin-peterson-on-the-theory-of-cocktails--67709408https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/03/03/307-kevin-peterson-on-the-theory-of-cocktails/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Kevin Peterson received a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan. He is currently co-owner of both Castalia (an experimental craft cocktail bar) and Sfumato Fragrances in Detroit, Michigan. He is the author of Cocktail Theory: A Sensory Approach to Transcendent Cocktails.Mindscape Petrichor Negroni (from the episode)Stir over an ice cube, express with orange peel (not shown).See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/hyDFqab2EYQ19EY6RH5HWODUK70-FKUZ97ngaze_mtsMon, 03 Mar 2025 12:08:20 +0000Sean CarrollA lot of science goes into crafting the perfect cocktail. Balancing sweet and bitter notes, providing the right amount of aeration and dilution, getting it to just the right temperature and keeping it that way. And even if you have no interest in...https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/03/03/307-kevin-peterson-on-the-theory-of-cocktails/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Kevin Peterson received a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan. He is currently co-owner of both Castalia (an experimental craft cocktail bar) and Sfumato Fragrances in Detroit, Michigan. He is the author of Cocktail Theory: A Sensory Approach to Transcendent Cocktails.Mindscape Petrichor Negroni (from the episode)Stir over an ice cube, express with orange peel (not shown).See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>4597cocktails,ideas,mixology,physics,science,societyfalse307full306 | Helen Czerski on Our Energetic Oceanshttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/306-helen-czerski-on-our-energetic-oceans--67709364https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/02/24/306-helen-czerski-on-our-energetic-oceans/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Helen Czerski received her Ph.D. in physics from the University of Cambridge. She is currently an Associate Professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering at University College London. She is the author of several books, most recently The Blue Machine: How the Ocean Works. She is a frequent television presenter for the BBC and elsewhere.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/kRt8y45_dEBDy6Kp4cakbZBln9-Br61Kv2K0NWaQaYUMon, 24 Feb 2025 13:51:58 +0000Sean CarrollIt is commonplace to refer to the Earth's oceans as vast and largely unexplored. But we do understand some aspects, and improving that understanding is crucial to ensuring the continued viability and success of life on this planet. The oceans are a...https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/02/24/306-helen-czerski-on-our-energetic-oceans/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Helen Czerski received her Ph.D. in physics from the University of Cambridge. She is currently an Associate Professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering at University College London. She is the author of several books, most recently The Blue Machine: How the Ocean Works. She is a frequent television presenter for the BBC and elsewhere.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>4340climate,environment,ideas,oceanography,oceans,physics,science,societyfalse306full305 | Lilliana Mason on Polarization and Political Psychologyhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/305-lilliana-mason-on-polarization-and-political-psychology--67709415https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/02/17/305-lilliana-mason-on-polarization-and-political-psychology/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Lilliana Hall Mason received her Ph.D. in political psychology from Stony Brook University. She is currently an SNF Agora Institute Associate Professor of Political Science at Johns Hopkins University. She is the author of Uncivil Agreement: How Politics Became Our Identity and co-author (with Nathan Kalmoe) of Radical American Partisanship: Mapping Violent Hostility, Its Causes, and the Consequences for Democracy.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/_K-ZwXnRxrWmyF7azjJ3GKiBc5SZ3O91TbIfrbnILKMMon, 17 Feb 2025 13:02:45 +0000Sean CarrollPolitical outcomes would be relatively simple to predict and understand if only people were well-informed, entirely rational, and perfectly self-interested. Alas, real human beings are messy, emotional, imperfect creatures, so a successful theory of...https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/02/17/305-lilliana-mason-on-polarization-and-political-psychology/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Lilliana Hall Mason received her Ph.D. in political psychology from Stony Brook University. She is currently an SNF Agora Institute Associate Professor of Political Science at Johns Hopkins University. She is the author of Uncivil Agreement: How Politics Became Our Identity and co-author (with Nathan Kalmoe) of Radical American Partisanship: Mapping Violent Hostility, Its Causes, and the Consequences for Democracy.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>4647ideas,philosophy,polarization,political science,politics,science,societyfalse305fullBonus | Cuts to Science Funding and Why They Matterhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/bonus-cuts-to-science-funding-and-why-they-matter--67709413sweeping cuts to spending on science research here in the US, in particular at the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. I explain a little about what is being cut and why these funds are important to scientific progress. I try, for what it's worth, to provide these explanations in a way that would be informative to those who generally favor cutting government waste in dramatic fashion.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/02/12/bonus-cuts-to-science-funding-and-why-they-matter/Support Mindscape on Patreon.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/R-x1dfPMCC1T9ohE5fsJanSgvtkXfS50X7uRXZHpQpIWed, 12 Feb 2025 20:35:36 +0000Sean CarrollThe Trump administration, led by Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency, has proposed https://www.npr.org/2025/02/10/nx-s1-5292161/trump-administration-makes-deep-cuts-to-science-funding to spending on science research here in the US,...sweeping cuts to spending on science research here in the US, in particular at the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. I explain a little about what is being cut and why these funds are important to scientific progress. I try, for what it's worth, to provide these explanations in a way that would be informative to those who generally favor cutting government waste in dramatic fashion.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/02/12/bonus-cuts-to-science-funding-and-why-they-matter/Support Mindscape on Patreon.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>4226government,grants,politics,science,science funding,societyfalsebonus304 | James Evans on Innovation, Consolidation, and the Science of Sciencehttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/304-james-evans-on-innovation-consolidation-and-the-science-of-science--67709379https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/02/10/304-james-evans-on-innovation-consolidation-and-the-science-of-science/Support Mindscape on Patreon.James Evans received his Ph.D. in Sociology from Stanford University. He is currently the Max Palevsky Professor of History and Civilizations, Director of Knowledge Lab, and Faculty Director of Computational Social Science at the University of Chicago; External Professor at the Santa Fe Institute; External Faculty at the Complexity Science Hub, Vienna; and Visiting Faculty Researcher at Google.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/tXNB2u2X2md4LkiaaJqaOzAOv0d8k3hs6vOAZheA2BEMon, 10 Feb 2025 14:00:32 +0000Sean CarrollIt is a feature of many human activities - sports, cooking, music, interpersonal relations - that being able to do them well doesn't necessarily mean you can accurately describe how to do them well. Science is no different. Many successful scientists...https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/02/10/304-james-evans-on-innovation-consolidation-and-the-science-of-science/Support Mindscape on Patreon.James Evans received his Ph.D. in Sociology from Stanford University. He is currently the Max Palevsky Professor of History and Civilizations, Director of Knowledge Lab, and Faculty Director of Computational Social Science at the University of Chicago; External Professor at the Santa Fe Institute; External Faculty at the Complexity Science Hub, Vienna; and Visiting Faculty Researcher at Google.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>4565ideas,philosophy,science,society,sociologyfalse304full303 | AMA | February 2025https://www.spreaker.com/episode/303-ama-february-2025--67709435Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number -- based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the questions themselves are good -- and sometimes group them together if they are about a similar topic. Enjoy!Blog post with questions and transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/02/03/ama-february-2025/Support Mindscape on Patreon.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/iDENUjo9ilI52U2my28PUZY8cTTrrWBgcs05B_zjRKEMon, 03 Feb 2025 13:03:49 +0000Sean CarrollWelcome to the February 2025 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded by https://www.patreon.com/seanmcarroll (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a...Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number -- based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the questions themselves are good -- and sometimes group them together if they are about a similar topic. Enjoy!Blog post with questions and transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/02/03/ama-february-2025/Support Mindscape on Patreon.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>13454ideas,philosophy,physics,science,societyfalse303bonus303 | James P. Allison on Fighting Cancer with the Immune Systemhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/303-james-p-allison-on-fighting-cancer-with-the-immune-system--67709358Patreon.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/01/27/303-james-p-allison-on-fighting-cancer-with-the-immune-system/James P. Allison received his Ph.D. in biology from the University of Texas at Austin. He is currently Regental Professor and Chair of the Department of Immunology, the Olga Keith Wiess Distinguished University Chair for Cancer Research, Director of the Parker Institute for Cancer Research, and Director of the James P. Allison Institute at MD Anderson Cancer Center. He is the subject of the documentary film Jim Allison: Breakthrough. Among his numerous awards are the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences and the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/DDg1T3XbvSu4BBhW0rfGGuvWI95h8KRsqR68EpPIGqIMon, 27 Jan 2025 13:30:52 +0000Sean CarrollA typical human lifespan is approximately three billion heartbeats in duration. Lasting that long requires not only intrinsic stability, but an impressive capacity for self-repair. Nevertheless, things do occasionally break down, and cancer is one of...Patreon.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/01/27/303-james-p-allison-on-fighting-cancer-with-the-immune-system/James P. Allison received his Ph.D. in biology from the University of Texas at Austin. He is currently Regental Professor and Chair of the Department of Immunology, the Olga Keith Wiess Distinguished University Chair for Cancer Research, Director of the Parker Institute for Cancer Research, and Director of the James P. Allison Institute at MD Anderson Cancer Center. He is the subject of the documentary film Jim Allison: Breakthrough. Among his numerous awards are the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences and the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>4060cancer,ideas,immunology,medicine,oncology,science,societyfalse303full302 | Chris Kempes on the Biophysics of Evolutionhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/302-chris-kempes-on-the-biophysics-of-evolution--67709377my evil twin will tell you). But random doesn't mean arbitrary. Biological organisms are physical objects, after all, and subject to the same laws of physics as non-biological matter is. Those laws place constraints on how organisms can fulfill their basic functions of metabolism, reproduction, motility, and so on. Easy to say, but how can we turn this into quantitative understanding of actual organisms? Today I talk with physical biologist Chris Kempes about how physics can help us understand the size of organisms, their metabolisms, and features of major transitions in evolution.Support Mindscape on Patreon.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/01/20/302-chris-kempes-on-the-biophysics-of-evolution/Chris Kempes received his Ph.D. in physical biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is currently Professor and a member of the Science Steering Committee at the Santa Fe Institute. His research involves the origin of life and the constraints placed by physics on biological function and evolution.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/XwYWFkCySm9bbREqcGaCqUhmHrWAZfXup_JzUXfBjtMMon, 20 Jan 2025 13:08:36 +0000Sean CarrollRandomness plays an important role in the evolution of life (as https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2020/10/05/117-sean-b-carroll-on-randomness-and-the-course-of-evolution/ will tell you). But random doesn't mean arbitrary. Biological...my evil twin will tell you). But random doesn't mean arbitrary. Biological organisms are physical objects, after all, and subject to the same laws of physics as non-biological matter is. Those laws place constraints on how organisms can fulfill their basic functions of metabolism, reproduction, motility, and so on. Easy to say, but how can we turn this into quantitative understanding of actual organisms? Today I talk with physical biologist Chris Kempes about how physics can help us understand the size of organisms, their metabolisms, and features of major transitions in evolution.Support Mindscape on Patreon.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/01/20/302-chris-kempes-on-the-biophysics-of-evolution/Chris Kempes received his Ph.D. in physical biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is currently Professor and a member of the Science Steering Committee at the Santa Fe Institute. His research involves the origin of life and the constraints placed by physics on biological function and evolution.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>5455biology,evolution,ideas,origin of life,philosophy,physics,sciencefalse302full301 | Tina Eliassi-Rad on Al, Networks, and Epistemic Instabilityhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/301-tina-eliassi-rad-on-al-networks-and-epistemic-instability--67709385Patreon.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/01/13/301-tina-eliassi-rad-on-al-networks-and-epistemic-instability/Tina Eliassi-Rad received her Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is currently Joseph E. Aoun Chair of Computer Sciences and Core Faculty of the Network Science Institute at Northeastern University, External Faculty at the Santa Fe Institute, and External Faculty at the Vermont Complex Systems Center. She is a fellow of the Network Science Society, recipient of the Lagrange Prize, and was named one of the 100 Brilliant Women in AI Ethics.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/q8gr8qFhCFbYA36bdHuogezLd-nGqFBJ_-pDN2p7kCEMon, 13 Jan 2025 12:55:53 +0000Sean CarrollBig data is ruling, or at least deeply infiltrating, all of modern existence. Unprecedented capacity for collecting and analyzing large amounts of data have given us a new generation of artificial intelligence models, but also everything from medical...Patreon.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/01/13/301-tina-eliassi-rad-on-al-networks-and-epistemic-instability/Tina Eliassi-Rad received her Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is currently Joseph E. Aoun Chair of Computer Sciences and Core Faculty of the Network Science Institute at Northeastern University, External Faculty at the Santa Fe Institute, and External Faculty at the Vermont Complex Systems Center. She is a fellow of the Network Science Society, recipient of the Lagrange Prize, and was named one of the 100 Brilliant Women in AI Ethics.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>4162ai,artificial intelligence,ideas,networks,philosophy,physics,science,societyfalse301full300 | Solo: Does Time Exist?https://www.spreaker.com/episode/300-solo-does-time-exist--67709375Patreon.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/01/06/300-solo-does-time-exist/Some of the papers discussed herein:
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/h-ouJCAA-Bcwk4yPEIKcZpaMCR_lZov0lTuoFihdjk0Mon, 06 Jan 2025 13:17:34 +0000Sean CarrollA new year, and a new centennial -- 300 (regularly-numbered) episodes of Mindscape! Our tradition is to have a solo episode, and what better topic than the nature of time? Physicists and philosophers have so frequently suggested that time is some kind...Patreon.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/01/06/300-solo-does-time-exist/Some of the papers discussed herein:
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>7896ideas,philosophy,physics,science,timefalse300fullHoliday Message | Hits and Misseshttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/holiday-message-hits-and-misses--67709382Patreon.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2024/12/23/holiday-message-hits-and-misses/Here are links to the papers I discuss in the episode.
  • S.M. Carroll, G.B. Field and R. Jackiw, 1990, "Limits on A Lorentz and Parity-Violating Modification of Electrodynamics,'' Phys. Rev. D 41, 1231. [pdf file; inSPIRE]
  • S.M. Carroll, E. Farhi and A.H. Guth, 1992, "An Obstacle to Building a Time Machine,'' Phys. Rev. Lett. 68, 263; Erratum: 68, 3368. [pdf file; inSPIRE]
  • S.M. Carroll, E. Farhi, A.H. Guth and K.D. Olum, 1994, "Energy-Momentum Restrictions on the Creation of Gott Time Machines,'' Phys. Rev. D 50, 6190; gr-qc/9404065. [arXiv; pdf; inSPIRE]
  • S.M. Carroll, 1998, "Quintessence and the Rest of the World,'' Phys. Rev. Lett. 81, 3067; astro-ph/9806099. [arXiv; pdf; inSPIRE]
  • S.M. Carroll, V. Duvvuri, M. Trodden, and M.S. Turner, 2003, "Is Cosmic Speed-Up Due to New Gravitational Physics?'' astro-ph/0306438. [arXiv; pdf; inSPIRE]
  • S.M. Carroll and J. Chen, 2004, "Spontaneous Inflation and the Origin of the Arrow of Time'', hep-th/0410270. [arXiv, inSPIRE]
  • L. Ackerman, M.R. Buckley, S.M. Carroll, and M. Kamionkowski, 2008, "Dark Matter and Dark Radiation," arxiv:0807.5126. [arXiv; pdf; inSPIRE]
  • S.M. Carroll, M.C. Johnson, and L. Randall, 2009, "Dynamical Compactification," arxiv:0904.3115. [arXiv; pdf; inSPIRE]
  • C. Cao, S.M. Carroll, and S. Michalakis, 2016, "Space from Hilbert Space: Recovering Geometry from Bulk Entanglement," arxiv:1606.08444. [arXiv, inSPIRE]
  • C. Cao and S.M. Carroll, 2018, "Bulk Entanglement Gravity without a Boundary: Towards Finding Einstein's Equation in Hilbert Space," arxiv:1712.02803. [arXiv, inSPIRE]
  • N. Bao, S.M. Carroll, A. Chatwin-Davies, J. Pollack, and G. Remmen, 2017, “Branches of the Black Hole Wave Function Need Not Contain Firewalls," arxiv:1712.04955. [arXiv, inSPIRE]

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/FG6a1djBAgsJmDm2kjVQx670L8vHKPm2gnKy1HQtL1AMon, 23 Dec 2024 13:10:55 +0000Sean CarrollIt's the end of the year, and time for our annual holiday break here at Mindscape. But as usual, we wrap up with a Holiday Message. This year, inspired by Joni Mitchell's "Hits" and "Misses" albums, I go through my scientific papers and talk about...Patreon.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2024/12/23/holiday-message-hits-and-misses/Here are links to the papers I discuss in the episode.
  • S.M. Carroll, G.B. Field and R. Jackiw, 1990, "Limits on A Lorentz and Parity-Violating Modification of Electrodynamics,'' Phys. Rev. D 41, 1231. [pdf file; inSPIRE]
  • S.M. Carroll, E. Farhi and A.H. Guth, 1992, "An Obstacle to Building a Time Machine,'' Phys. Rev. Lett. 68, 263; Erratum: 68, 3368. [pdf file; inSPIRE]
  • S.M. Carroll, E. Farhi, A.H. Guth and K.D. Olum, 1994, "Energy-Momentum Restrictions on the Creation of Gott Time Machines,'' Phys. Rev. D 50, 6190; gr-qc/9404065. [arXiv; pdf; inSPIRE]
  • S.M. Carroll, 1998, "Quintessence and the Rest of the World,'' Phys. Rev. Lett. 81, 3067; astro-ph/9806099. [arXiv; pdf; inSPIRE]
  • S.M. Carroll, V. Duvvuri, M. Trodden, and M.S. Turner, 2003, "Is Cosmic Speed-Up Due to New Gravitational Physics?'' astro-ph/0306438. [arXiv; pdf; inSPIRE]
  • S.M. Carroll and J. Chen, 2004, "Spontaneous Inflation and the Origin of the Arrow of Time'', hep-th/0410270. [arXiv, inSPIRE]
  • L. Ackerman, M.R. Buckley, S.M. Carroll, and M. Kamionkowski, 2008, "Dark Matter and Dark Radiation," arxiv:0807.5126. [arXiv; pdf; inSPIRE]
  • S.M. Carroll, M.C. Johnson, and L. Randall, 2009, "Dynamical Compactification," arxiv:0904.3115. [bonus299 | Michael Wong on Information, Function, and the Origin of Lifehttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/299-michael-wong-on-information-function-and-the-origin-of-life--67709419Patreon.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2024/12/16/299-michael-wong-on-information-function-and-the-origin-of-life/Michael Wong received his Ph.D. in planetary science from Caltech. He is currently a Sagan Postdoctoral Fellow at the Carnegie Institution for Scienceʼs Earth & Planets Laboratory. He is in the process of co-authoring two books: A Missing Law: Evolution, Information, and the Inevitability of Cosmic Complexity with Robert M. Hazen, and a revised edition of Astrobiology: A Multidisciplinary Approach with Jonathan Lunine.
    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/TA8X-zArjgY-RkcNDENiSU0j-Vehi9Tdvt9_-BBwpnIMon, 16 Dec 2024 13:36:21 +0000Sean CarrollLiving organisms seem exquisitely organized and complex, with features clearly adapted to serving certain functions needed to survive and procreate. Natural selection provides a compelling explanation for why that is so. But is there a bigger picture,...Patreon.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2024/12/16/299-michael-wong-on-information-function-and-the-origin-of-life/Michael Wong received his Ph.D. in planetary science from Caltech. He is currently a Sagan Postdoctoral Fellow at the Carnegie Institution for Scienceʼs Earth & Planets Laboratory. He is in the process of co-authoring two books: A Missing Law: Evolution, Information, and the Inevitability of Cosmic Complexity with Robert M. Hazen, and a revised edition of Astrobiology: A Multidisciplinary Approach with Jonathan Lunine.
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Knowles Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology and Santiago Ramón y Cajal Professor of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University. He is co-inventor of the Brainbow system for imaging neurons. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/S0qOZjGOuZH27Pn6Jnhn9DkMD9UeeAuU-USNJTMavEMMon, 09 Dec 2024 12:53:04 +0000Sean CarrollThe number of neurons in the human brain is comparable to the number of stars in the Milky Way galaxy. Unlike the stars, however, in the case of neurons the real action is in how they are directly connected to each other: receiving signals over...connectome: the complete map of those connections. For a human brain that's an intimidatingly complex challenge, but important advances have been made on tinier brains. We talk with Jeff Lichtman, a leader in brain mapping, to gauge the current state of progress and what it implies.Support Mindscape on Patreon.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2024/12/09/298-jeff-lichtman-on-the-wiring-diagram-of-the-brain/Jeff Lichtman received an MD/PhD from Washington University in St. Louis. He is currently the Jeremy R. Knowles Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology and Santiago Ramón y Cajal Professor of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University. He is co-inventor of the Brainbow system for imaging neurons. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>4150brain,connectome,ideas,neuroscience,philosophy,sciencefalse298fullAMA | December 2024https://www.spreaker.com/episode/ama-december-2024--67709392Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number -- based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the questions themselves are good -- and sometimes group them together if they are about a similar topic. Enjoy!Blog post with AMA questions and transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2024/12/02/ama-december-2024/Support Mindscape on Patreon.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/OLbf4Dq20t2e4mi5D9Wj_fK_jLVdsXrJwYVynDMzZewMon, 02 Dec 2024 12:56:05 +0000Sean CarrollWelcome to the December 2024 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded by https://www.patreon.com/seanmcarroll (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a...Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number -- based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the questions themselves are good -- and sometimes group them together if they are about a similar topic. Enjoy!Blog post with AMA questions and transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2024/12/02/ama-december-2024/Support Mindscape on Patreon.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>14132ideas,philosophy,physics,science,societyfalsebonus297 | Emily Wilson on Homer, Poetry, and Translationhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/297-emily-wilson-on-homer-poetry-and-translation--67709391adaptation of Homer's epic poem The Iliad; next month, Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche will headline a film based on The Odyssey. Given that the originals were written (or at least written down) in the 8th century BCE, that is some impressive staying power. But they were also written in a very different time than ours, with different cultural context and narrative expectations. We talk about the issues of translation in general, and these Greek classics in particular, with Emily Wilson, whose recent translations of The Iliad and The Odyssey have garnered worldwide acclaim.Support Mindscape on Patreon.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2024/11/25/297-emily-wilson-on-homer-poetry-and-translation/Emily Wilson received her Ph.D. in classical and comparative literature from Yale. She is currently Professor of Classical Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. Among her awards are the Charles Berheimer Prize from the American Comparative Literature Association, a Rome Prize fellowship from the American Academy in Rome, and Guggenheim and MacArthur fellowships.
    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>    gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/HfDUR3C_gA5t_39nJ6-R5VdU1EKVQzVPpa5xn6brzSoMon, 25 Nov 2024 14:20:29 +0000Sean CarrollNot too long ago, Brad Pitt and Eric Bana starred in a (loose) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troy_(film) of Homer's epic poem The Iliad; next month, Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche will https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Return_(2024_film) based...adaptation of Homer's epic poem The Iliad; next month, Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche will headline a film based on The Odyssey. Given that the originals were written (or at least written down) in the 8th century BCE, that is some impressive staying power. But they were also written in a very different time than ours, with different cultural context and narrative expectations. We talk about the issues of translation in general, and these Greek classics in particular, with Emily Wilson, whose recent translations of The Iliad and The Odyssey have garnered worldwide acclaim.Support Mindscape on Patreon.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2024/11/25/297-emily-wilson-on-homer-poetry-and-translation/Emily Wilson received her Ph.D. in classical and comparative literature from Yale. She is currently Professor of Classical Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. Among her awards are the Charles Berheimer Prize from the American Comparative Literature Association, a Rome Prize fellowship from the American Academy in Rome, and Guggenheim and MacArthur fellowships.
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    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>    gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/F6YH6pEe7MY48c3qL77znkyNUrRxtCHcJh1XPDhszgoMon, 18 Nov 2024 12:24:19 +0000Sean CarrollBiological evolution via natural selection is a simple idea that becomes enormously complicated in its realization. Populations of organisms are driven toward increased "fitness," a measure of how successfully we reproduce our genetic information. But...Patreon.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2024/11/18/296-brandon-ogbunu-on-fitness-seascapes-and-the-course-of-evolution/Brandon Ogbunu received his Ph.D. in Genetics and Microbiology from Yale University. He is currently Assistant Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Yale, and External Faculty at the Santa Fe Institute. He has been awarded a Fullbright Fellowship and was the Martin Luther King Jr. Visiting Professor at MIT. He has contributed to a number of publications, including Wired, Undark, and Quanta.
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In this solo podcast I discuss the way we suggest to think about emergence, with examples from physics and elsewhere.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2024/11/11/295-solo-emergence-and-layers-of-reality/Support Mindscape on Patreon.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/rjIucKlc8IVj0tXKPv5vrTwW7FQRLYXH5fuN6bqRKFEMon, 11 Nov 2024 11:58:19 +0000Sean Carrollhttps://plato.stanford.edu/entries/properties-emergent/ is a centrally important concept in science and philosophy. Indeed, the existence of higher-level emergent properties helps render the world intelligible to us -- we can sensibly understand the...Emergence is a centrally important concept in science and philosophy. Indeed, the existence of higher-level emergent properties helps render the world intelligible to us -- we can sensibly understand the macroscopic world around us without a complete microscopic picture. But there are various different ways in which emergence might happen, and a tendency for definitions of emergence to rely on vague or subjective criteria. Recently Achyuth Parola and I wrote a paper trying to clear up some of these issues: What Emergence Can Possibly Mean. In this solo podcast I discuss the way we suggest to think about emergence, with examples from physics and elsewhere.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2024/11/11/295-solo-emergence-and-layers-of-reality/Support Mindscape on Patreon.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>5700ideas,philosophy,physics,science,societyfalse295fullAMA | November 2024https://www.spreaker.com/episode/ama-november-2024--67709446Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number -- based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the questions themselves are good -- and sometimes group them together if they are about a similar topic. Enjoy!Support Mindscape on Patreon.Blog post with AMA questions and transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2024/11/04/ama-november-2024/See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/CpbVbVj_EzyDqvnVPvktUiH3VvjPJXdszfKUpYhwaKIMon, 04 Nov 2024 12:49:08 +0000Sean CarrollWelcome to the November 2024 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded by https://www.patreon.com/seanmcarroll (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a...Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number -- based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the questions themselves are good -- and sometimes group them together if they are about a similar topic. Enjoy!Support Mindscape on Patreon.Blog post with AMA questions and transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2024/11/04/ama-november-2024/See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>13831ideas,philosophy,physics,science,societyfalsebonus294 | Addy Pross on Dynamics, Stability, and Lifehttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/294-addy-pross-on-dynamics-stability-and-life--67709390Patreon.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2024/10/28/294-addy-pross-on-dynamics-stability-and-life/Addy Pross received his Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Sydney. He is currently Professor Emeritus of Chemistry at Ben-Gurion University. He has held visiting positions in the University of Lund, Stanford University, Rutgers University, University of California at Irvine, University of Padova, the Australian National University Canberra, and the University of Sydney. He is the author of What Is Life? How Chemistry Becomes Biology.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/hJ5RECvjFJnAm1h41YO5CC0e9bWm3E6LKJ9YgZm71J0Mon, 28 Oct 2024 11:49:15 +0000Sean CarrollErwin Schrödinger said that the important characteristic of life is that it "goes on doing something... for a much longer period than we would expect an inanimate piece of matter to keep going under similar circumstances." Living organisms are in...Patreon.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2024/10/28/294-addy-pross-on-dynamics-stability-and-life/Addy Pross received his Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Sydney. He is currently Professor Emeritus of Chemistry at Ben-Gurion University. He has held visiting positions in the University of Lund, Stanford University, Rutgers University, University of California at Irvine, University of Padova, the Australian National University Canberra, and the University of Sydney. He is the author of What Is Life? How Chemistry Becomes Biology.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>4295biology,chemistry,ideas,origin of life,philosophy,physics,sciencefalse294full293 | Doyne Farmer on Chaos, Crashes, and Economic Complexityhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/293-doyne-farmer-on-chaos-crashes-and-economic-complexity--67709423Making Sense of Chaos: A Better Economics for a Better World.Support Mindscape on Patreon.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2024/10/21/293-doyne-farmer-on-chaos-crashes-and-economic-complexity/J. Doyne Farmer received his Ph.D. in physics from the University of California, Santa Cruz. He is currently Director of the Complexity Economics program and Baillie Gifford Professor of Complex Systems Science at the University of Oxford, External Professor at the Santa Fe Institute, and Chief Scientist at Macrocosm. He was the founder of the Complex Systems Group in the Theoretical Division at Los Alamos National Laboratory, and co-founder of The Prediction Company.
    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>    gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/Jrf_hbLNORNiiEm6o9HB8vD98vmwT5i2a-6yaNfpD3sMon, 21 Oct 2024 11:54:55 +0000Sean CarrollA large economy is one of the best examples we have of complex dynamics. There are multiple components arranged in complicated overlapping hierarchies, out-of-equilibrium dynamics, nonlinear coupling and feedback between different levels, and...Making Sense of Chaos: A Better Economics for a Better World.Support Mindscape on Patreon.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2024/10/21/293-doyne-farmer-on-chaos-crashes-and-economic-complexity/J. Doyne Farmer received his Ph.D. in physics from the University of California, Santa Cruz. He is currently Director of the Complexity Economics program and Baillie Gifford Professor of Complex Systems Science at the University of Oxford, External Professor at the Santa Fe Institute, and Chief Scientist at Macrocosm. He was the founder of the Complex Systems Group in the Theoretical Division at Los Alamos National Laboratory, and co-founder of The Prediction Company.
    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>    4278complexity,economics,ideas,philosophy,physics,science,societyfalse293full    292 | Jonathan Birch on Animal Sentiencehttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/292-jonathan-birch-on-animal-sentience--67709381The Edge of Sentience. This is an example of a question at the boundary of philosophy and biology with potentially important implications for real-world policies.Support Mindscape on Patreon.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2024/10/14/292-jonathan-birch-on-animal-sentience/Jonathan Birch received his Ph.D. in the philosophy of science from the University of Cambridge. He is currently a Professor in the Department of Philosophy Logic and Scientific Method at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). He is one of the authors of the New York Declaration on Animal Consciousness, and has advised the British government on matters of animal cruelty and sentience.
    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>    gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/_7aTmU0UB58w822DWB_ZkYxD9xp3LZ2sM6iJdlXTTiMMon, 14 Oct 2024 11:36:23 +0000Sean CarrollIt's not immoral to kick a rock; it is immoral to kick a baby. At what point do we start saying that it is wrong to cause pain to something? This question has less to do with "consciousness" and more to do with "sentience" -- the ability to perceive...The Edge of Sentience. This is an example of a question at the boundary of philosophy and biology with potentially important implications for real-world policies.Support Mindscape on Patreon.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2024/10/14/292-jonathan-birch-on-animal-sentience/Jonathan Birch received his Ph.D. in the philosophy of science from the University of Cambridge. He is currently a Professor in the Department of Philosophy Logic and Scientific Method at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). He is one of the authors of the New York Declaration on Animal Consciousness, and has advised the British government on matters of animal cruelty and sentience.
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    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>    gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/q22yW9bKdPeQhaeV0mtzCHFgPBp9LoqCWtr8c9EUCB8Mon, 19 Aug 2024 11:24:49 +0000Sean CarrollUnderstanding how life began on Earth involves questions of chemistry, geology, planetary science, physics, and more. But the question of how random processes lead to organized, self-replicating, information-bearing systems is a more general one. That...A new paper by Blaise Agüera y Arcas and collaborators suggests that the answer is yes. This raises interesting questions about whether computation is an attractor in the space of relevant dynamical processes, with implications for the origin and ubiquity of life.Support Mindscape on Patreon.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2024/08/19/286-blaise-aguera-y-arcas-on-the-emergence-of-replication-and-computation/Blaise Agüera y Arcas received a B.A. in physics from Princeton University. He is currently a vice-president of engineering at Google, leader of the Cerebra team, and a member of the Paradigms of Intelligence team. He is the author of the books Ubi Sunt and Who Are We Now?, and the upcoming What Is Intelligence?
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Enjoy!Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2024/08/05/ama-august-2024/Support Mindscape on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/seanmcarrollSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/oOWRH4KY8v07PGuanHbMtHGzG5OjXa086ziZwy4iabAMon, 05 Aug 2024 13:07:12 +0000Sean CarrollWelcome to the August 2024 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded by https://www.patreon.com/seanmcarroll (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more...Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number -- based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the questions themselves are good -- and sometimes group them together if they are about a similar topic. Enjoy!Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2024/08/05/ama-august-2024/Support Mindscape on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/seanmcarrollSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>13042ideas,philosophy,physics,science,societyfalsebonus284 | Doris Tsao on How the Brain Turns Vision Into the Worldhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/284-doris-tsao-on-how-the-brain-turns-vision-into-the-world--67709402Patreon.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2024/07/29/284-doris-tsao-on-how-the-brain-turns-vision-into-the-world/Doris Tsao received her Ph.D. in neurobiology from Harvard University. She is currently a professor of molecular and cell biology, and a member of the Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, at the University of California, Berkeley. Among her awards are a MacArthur Fellowship, membership in the National Academy of Sciences, the Eppendorf and Science International Prize in Neurobiology, the National Institutes of Health Director’s Pioneer Award, the Golden Brain Award from the Minerva Foundation, the Perl-UNC Neuroscience Prize, and the Kavli Prize in Neuroscience.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/2vCVzAAguJ5SsD2_AEkraSR8BTSH948e_2h-LoQ4rv0Mon, 29 Jul 2024 11:28:23 +0000Sean CarrollThe human brain does a pretty amazing job of taking in a huge amount of data from multiple sensory modalities -- vision, hearing, smell, etc. -- and constructing a coherent picture of the world, constantly being updated in real time. (Although perhaps...Patreon.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2024/07/29/284-doris-tsao-on-how-the-brain-turns-vision-into-the-world/Doris Tsao received her Ph.D. in neurobiology from Harvard University. She is currently a professor of molecular and cell biology, and a member of the Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, at the University of California, Berkeley. Among her awards are a MacArthur Fellowship, membership in the National Academy of Sciences, the Eppendorf and Science International Prize in Neurobiology, the National Institutes of Health Director’s Pioneer Award, the Golden Brain Award from the Minerva Foundation, the Perl-UNC Neuroscience Prize, and the Kavli Prize in Neuroscience.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>3773ideas,neuroscience,philosophy,science,society,visionfalse284full283 | Daron Acemoglu on Technology, Inequality, and Powerhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/283-daron-acemoglu-on-technology-inequality-and-power--67709404Power and Progress: Our Thousand-Year Struggle Over Technology and Prosperity, he looks at how technological innovations affect the economic lives of ordinary people. We talk about how such effects are often for the worse, at least to start out, until better institutions are able to eventually spread the benefits more broadly.Support Mindscape on Patreon.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2024/07/22/283-daron-acemoglu-on-technology-inequality-and-power/Daron Acemoglu received a Ph.D. in economics from the London School of Economics. He is currently Institute Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is a fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Econometric Society. Among his awards are the John Bates Clark Medal and the Nemmers Prize in Economics. In 2015, he was named the most cited economist of the past 10 years.
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To celebrate, this solo podcast talks about some of the big ideas that make QFT so compelling: how quantized fields produce particles, how gauge symmetries lead to forces of nature, and how those forces can manifest in different phases, including Higgs and confinement.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2024/05/13/275-solo-quantum-fields-particles-forces-and-symmetries/Support Mindscape on Patreon.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/gjB_D4C9esV3jlRb5BVqh9CatUySfcJn42XesMY4MyMMon, 13 May 2024 10:10:57 +0000Sean CarrollPublication week! Say hello to https://www.amazon.com/Quanta-Fields-Biggest-Ideas-Universe/dp/0593186605/, the second volume of the planned three-volume series https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/biggestideas/. This volume covers quantum physics...Quanta and Fields, the second volume of the planned three-volume series The Biggest Ideas in the Universe. This volume covers quantum physics generally, but focuses especially on the wonders of quantum field theory. To celebrate, this solo podcast talks about some of the big ideas that make QFT so compelling: how quantized fields produce particles, how gauge symmetries lead to forces of nature, and how those forces can manifest in different phases, including Higgs and confinement.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2024/05/13/275-solo-quantum-fields-particles-forces-and-symmetries/Support Mindscape on Patreon.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>7948ideas,philosophy,physics,sciencefalse275fullAMA | May 2024https://www.spreaker.com/episode/ama-may-2024--67709488Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number -- based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the questions themselves are good -- and sometimes group them together if they are about a similar topic. Enjoy!Blog post with questions and transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2024/05/06/ama-may-2024/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Here is the memorial to Dan Dennett at Ars Technica.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/FDJL0SNWV1gP8jF2ivOV5b11xpZ929Ye2QyzovGgqswMon, 06 May 2024 11:50:25 +0000Sean CarrollWelcome to the May 2024 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded by https://www.patreon.com/seanmcarroll (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more...Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number -- based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the questions themselves are good -- and sometimes group them together if they are about a similar topic. Enjoy!Blog post with questions and transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2024/05/06/ama-may-2024/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Here is the memorial to Dan Dennett at Ars Technica.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>12909ideas,philosophy,physics,science,societyfalsebonus274 | Gizem Gumuskaya on Building Robots from Human Cellshttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/274-gizem-gumuskaya-on-building-robots-from-human-cells--67709447Michael Levin, has created anthrobots, a new kind of structure made from living human cells. We talk about how that works, what they can do, and what future developments might bring.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2024/04/29/274-gizem-gumuskaya-on-building-robots-from-human-cells/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Gizem Gumuskaya received her Ph.D. from Tufts University and the Harvard Wyss Institute for Biologically-Inspired Engineering. She is currently a postdoctoral researcher at Tufts University. She previously received a dual master's degree in Architecture and Synthetic Biology from MIT.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/YxeV4F9zkRPN8fQzD-Inxjke7ZFrf16TX6JuUIwBvGkMon, 29 Apr 2024 10:37:42 +0000Sean CarrollModern biology is advancing by leaps and bounds, not only in understanding how organisms work, but in learning how to modify them in interesting ways. One exciting frontier is the study of tiny "robots" created from living molecules and cells, rather...Michael Levin, has created anthrobots, a new kind of structure made from living human cells. We talk about how that works, what they can do, and what future developments might bring.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2024/04/29/274-gizem-gumuskaya-on-building-robots-from-human-cells/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Gizem Gumuskaya received her Ph.D. from Tufts University and the Harvard Wyss Institute for Biologically-Inspired Engineering. She is currently a postdoctoral researcher at Tufts University. She previously received a dual master's degree in Architecture and Synthetic Biology from MIT.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>4210biology,ideas,philosophy,science,technologyfalse274full273 | Stefanos Geroulanos on the Invention of Prehistoryhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/273-stefanos-geroulanos-on-the-invention-of-prehistory--67709442The Invention of Prehistory, Stefanos Geroulanos looks at the ways that we have used -- and continue to use -- supposedly-scientific tales of prehistoric humanity to bolster whatever cultural, social, and political purposes we have at the moment.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2024/04/22/273-stefanos-geroulanos-on-the-invention-of-prehistory/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Stefanos Geroulanos received his Ph.D. in humanities from Johns Hopkins. He is currently director of the Remarque Institute and a professor of history at New York University. He is the author and editor of a number of books on European intellectual history. He serves as a Co-Executive Editor of the Journal of the History of Ideas.
    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>    gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/dznCoiSmZYx5p9HEILfAy2P1ToTcGl9PrYBvE2bmxsYMon, 22 Apr 2024 11:45:51 +0000Sean CarrollHumanity itself might be the hardest thing for scientists to study fairly and accurately. Not only do we come to the subject with certain inevitable preconceptions, but it's hard to resist the temptation to find scientific justifications for the...The Invention of Prehistory, Stefanos Geroulanos looks at the ways that we have used -- and continue to use -- supposedly-scientific tales of prehistoric humanity to bolster whatever cultural, social, and political purposes we have at the moment.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2024/04/22/273-stefanos-geroulanos-on-the-invention-of-prehistory/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Stefanos Geroulanos received his Ph.D. in humanities from Johns Hopkins. He is currently director of the Remarque Institute and a professor of history at New York University. He is the author and editor of a number of books on European intellectual history. He serves as a Co-Executive Editor of the Journal of the History of Ideas.
    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>    4765history,humanity,ideas,philosophy,science,societyfalse273full    272 | Leslie Valiant on Learning and Educability in Computers and Peoplehttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/272-leslie-valiant-on-learning-and-educability-in-computers-and-people--67709437The Importance of Being Educable, he pinpoints this ability to learn new things as the crucial feature that distinguishes us as human beings. We talk about where that capability came from and what its role is as artificial intelligence becomes ever more prevalent.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2024/04/15/272-leslie-valiant-on-learning-and-educability-in-computers-and-people/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Leslie Valiant received his Ph.D. in computer science from Warwick University. He is currently the T. Jefferson Coolidge Professor of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics at Harvard University. He has been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Knuth Prize, and the Turing Award, and he is a member of the National Academy of Sciences as well as a Fellow of the Royal Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is the pioneer of "Probably Approximately Correct" learning, which he wrote about in a book of the same name.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/QMH3g-Z6j95JWRWGI7alPP3in5UnIqafp1FoFnPPyVgMon, 15 Apr 2024 13:50:12 +0000Sean CarrollScience is enabled by the fact that the natural world exhibits predictability and regularity, at least to some extent. Scientists collect data about what happens in the world, then try to suggest "laws" that capture many phenomena in simple rules. A...The Importance of Being Educable, he pinpoints this ability to learn new things as the crucial feature that distinguishes us as human beings. We talk about where that capability came from and what its role is as artificial intelligence becomes ever more prevalent.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2024/04/15/272-leslie-valiant-on-learning-and-educability-in-computers-and-people/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Leslie Valiant received his Ph.D. in computer science from Warwick University. He is currently the T. Jefferson Coolidge Professor of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics at Harvard University. He has been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Knuth Prize, and the Turing Award, and he is a member of the National Academy of Sciences as well as a Fellow of the Royal Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is the pioneer of "Probably Approximately Correct" learning, which he wrote about in a book of the same name.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>4098computer science,educability,ideas,philosophy,physics,science,societyfalse272fullAMA | April 2024https://www.spreaker.com/episode/ama-april-2024--67709475Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number -- based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the questions themselves are good -- and sometimes group them together if they are about a similar topic. Enjoy!Blog post with questions and transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2024/04/08/ama-april-2024/See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/JwfaBbacp0Czgv6-L18oqnaMKhww-4jg8KtaFIEugeAMon, 08 Apr 2024 11:53:35 +0000Sean CarrollWelcome to the April 2024 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded by https://www.patreon.com/seanmcarroll (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more...Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number -- based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the questions themselves are good -- and sometimes group them together if they are about a similar topic. Enjoy!Blog post with questions and transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2024/04/08/ama-april-2024/See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>11641ideas,philosophy,physics,science,societyfalsebonus271 | Claudia de Rham on Modifying General Relativityhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/271-claudia-de-rham-on-modifying-general-relativity--67709414https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2024/04/01/271-claudia-de-rham-on-modifying-general-relativity/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Claudia de Rham received her Ph.D. in physics from the University of Cambridge. She is currently a professor of physics and deputy department head at Imperial College, London. She is a Simons Foundation Investigator, winner of the Blavatnik Award, and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Her new book is The Beauty of Falling: A Life in Pursuit of Gravity.
    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>    gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/obXJLFzvcyY2GonItQ4tmKY2s_9lSGWvHJr-HB3IfL0Mon, 01 Apr 2024 13:16:12 +0000Sean CarrollEinstein's theory of general relativity has been our best understanding of gravity for over a century, withstanding a variety of experimental challenges of ever-increasing precision. But we have to be open to the possibility that general relativity --...https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2024/04/01/271-claudia-de-rham-on-modifying-general-relativity/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Claudia de Rham received her Ph.D. in physics from the University of Cambridge. She is currently a professor of physics and deputy department head at Imperial College, London. She is a Simons Foundation Investigator, winner of the Blavatnik Award, and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Her new book is The Beauty of Falling: A Life in Pursuit of Gravity.
    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>    4904ideas,physics,sciencefalse271full    270 | Solo: The Coming Transition in How Humanity Liveshttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/270-solo-the-coming-transition-in-how-humanity-lives--67709429https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2024/03/25/270-solo-the-coming-transition-in-how-humanity-lives/Support Mindscape on Patreon.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/22uf5aRd-NNR8SxRu5k1Ifb99UjV5aiFEFd3Xx3q9N8Mon, 25 Mar 2024 13:56:07 +0000Sean CarrollTechnology is changing the world, in good and bad ways. Artificial intelligence, internet connectivity, biological engineering, and climate change are dramatically altering the parameters of human life. What can we say about how this will extend into...https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2024/03/25/270-solo-the-coming-transition-in-how-humanity-lives/Support Mindscape on Patreon.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>7763futurism,ideas,philosophy,physics,science,singularity,society,technologyfalse270full269 | Sahar Heydari Fard on Complexity, Justice, and Social Dynamicshttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/269-sahar-heydari-fard-on-complexity-justice-and-social-dynamics--67709449https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2024/03/18/269-sahar-heydari-fard-on-complexity-justice-and-social-dynamics/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Sahar Heydari Fard received a Masters in applied economics and a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Cincinnati. She is currently an assistant professor in philosophy at the Ohio State University. Her research lies at the intersection of social and behavioral sciences, social and political philosophy, and ethics, using tools from complex systems theory.
    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>    gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/rnLGd-rnRERd8HOIvQC7jQ6701B5_WESRYsSsoGiCAkMon, 18 Mar 2024 12:43:21 +0000Sean CarrollWhen it comes to social change, two questions immediately present themselves: What kind of change do we want to see happen? And, how do we bring it about? These questions are distinct but related; there's not much point in spending all of our time...https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2024/03/18/269-sahar-heydari-fard-on-complexity-justice-and-social-dynamics/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Sahar Heydari Fard received a Masters in applied economics and a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Cincinnati. She is currently an assistant professor in philosophy at the Ohio State University. Her research lies at the intersection of social and behavioral sciences, social and political philosophy, and ethics, using tools from complex systems theory.
    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>    4263complexity,ideas,philosophy,politics,science,societyfalse269full    AMA | March 2024https://www.spreaker.com/episode/ama-march-2024--67709434Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number -- based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the questions themselves are good -- and sometimes group them together if they are about a similar topic.Big congrats this month to Ryan Funakoshi, winner of this year's Mindscape Big Picture Scholarship! And enormous, heartfelt thanks to everyone who contributed. We're going to keep doing this in years to come.Blog post with questions and transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2024/03/11/ama-march-2024/See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/xcK5xnLSk_L9juOFW6JpsmfrH7TFGvbMbDtpXGEJJasMon, 11 Mar 2024 13:06:36 +0000Sean CarrollWelcome to the March 2024 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded by https://www.patreon.com/seanmcarroll (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more...Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number -- based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the questions themselves are good -- and sometimes group them together if they are about a similar topic.Big congrats this month to Ryan Funakoshi, winner of this year's Mindscape Big Picture Scholarship! And enormous, heartfelt thanks to everyone who contributed. We're going to keep doing this in years to come.Blog post with questions and transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2024/03/11/ama-march-2024/See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>14144ideas,philosophy,physics,science,societyfalsebonus268 | Matt Strassler on Relativity, Fields, and the Language of Realityhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/268-matt-strassler-on-relativity-fields-and-the-language-of-reality--67709424https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2024/03/04/267-matt-strassler-on-relativity-fields-and-the-language-of-reality/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Matt Strassler received his Ph.D. in physics from Stanford University. He is currently a writer and a visiting researcher in physics at Harvard University. His research has ranged over a number of topics in theoretical high-energy physics, from the phenomenology of dark matter and the Higgs boson to dualities in gauge theory and string theory. He blogs at Of Particular Significance, and his new book is Waves in an Impossible Sea: How Everyday Life Emerges from the Cosmic Ocean.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/FFiRzjt-HIDHEi0WhRmM75i1Gj0G0jUcVDTnH8G6GNoMon, 04 Mar 2024 12:53:47 +0000Sean CarrollIn the 1860s, James Clerk Maxwell argued that light was a wave of electric and magnetic fields. But it took over four decades for physicists to put together the theory of special relativity, which correctly describes the symmetries underlying...https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2024/03/04/267-matt-strassler-on-relativity-fields-and-the-language-of-reality/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Matt Strassler received his Ph.D. in physics from Stanford University. He is currently a writer and a visiting researcher in physics at Harvard University. His research has ranged over a number of topics in theoretical high-energy physics, from the phenomenology of dark matter and the Higgs boson to dualities in gauge theory and string theory. He blogs at Of Particular Significance, and his new book is Waves in an Impossible Sea: How Everyday Life Emerges from the Cosmic Ocean.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>5421ideas,physics,sciencefalse268full267 | Benjamin Breen on Margaret Mead, Psychedelics, and Utopiahttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/267-benjamin-breen-on-margaret-mead-psychedelics-and-utopia--67709459Margaret Mead, as well as her onetime-husband Gregory Bateson, managed to play roles in several of its key developments: social anthropology and its impact on sex & gender mores, psychedelic drugs and their potential use for therapeutic purposes, and the origin of cybernetics, to name a few. Benjamin Breen discusses this impactful trajectory in his new book, Tripping on Utopia: Margaret Mead, the Cold War, and the Troubled Birth of Psychedelic Science. We talk about Mead and Bateson, the early development of psychedelic drugs, and how the possibility of a realistic utopia didn't always seem so far away.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2024/02/26/267-benjamin-breen-on-margaret-mead-psychedelics-and-utopia/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Benjamin Breen received his Ph.D. in history from the University of Texas at Austin. He is currently an associate professor of history at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Among his awards are the National Endowment for the Humanities Award for Faculty and the William H. Welch Medal of the American Association for the History of Medicine. He writes on Substack at Res Obscura.
    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>    gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/do0QJtrYgJyOmez47zWumn8XX2MPQr3IkVvU3TrhJwEMon, 26 Feb 2024 12:39:37 +0000Sean CarrollThe twentieth century was something, wasn't it? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Mead, as well as her onetime-husband https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregory_Bateson, managed to play roles in several of its key developments: social anthropology...Margaret Mead, as well as her onetime-husband Gregory Bateson, managed to play roles in several of its key developments: social anthropology and its impact on sex & gender mores, psychedelic drugs and their potential use for therapeutic purposes, and the origin of cybernetics, to name a few. Benjamin Breen discusses this impactful trajectory in his new book, Tripping on Utopia: Margaret Mead, the Cold War, and the Troubled Birth of Psychedelic Science. We talk about Mead and Bateson, the early development of psychedelic drugs, and how the possibility of a realistic utopia didn't always seem so far away.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2024/02/26/267-benjamin-breen-on-margaret-mead-psychedelics-and-utopia/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Benjamin Breen received his Ph.D. in history from the University of Texas at Austin. He is currently an associate professor of history at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Among his awards are the National Endowment for the Humanities Award for Faculty and the William H. Welch Medal of the American Association for the History of Medicine. He writes on Substack at Res Obscura.
    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>    4392anthropology,ideas,psychedelics,science,societyfalse267full    266 | Christoph Adami on How Information Makes Sense of Biologyhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/266-christoph-adami-on-how-information-makes-sense-of-biology--67709426https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2024/02/19/266-christoph-adami-on-how-information-makes-sense-of-biology/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Christoph Adami received his Ph.D. in physics from Stony Brook University. He is currently professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics as well as Physics and Astronomy at Michigan State University. Among his awards are the NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Society for Artificial Life. His new book is The Evolution of Biological Information: How Evolution Creates Complexity, from Viruses to Brains.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/4XmJ6ggaY0QITB9x9f11ayNmzdkW5HLCDhdB0v1VKZ8Mon, 19 Feb 2024 13:10:30 +0000Sean CarrollEvolution is sometimes described -- not precisely, but with some justification -- as being about the "survival of the fittest." But that idea doesn't work unless there is some way for one generation to pass down information about how best to survive....https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2024/02/19/266-christoph-adami-on-how-information-makes-sense-of-biology/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Christoph Adami received his Ph.D. in physics from Stony Brook University. He is currently professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics as well as Physics and Astronomy at Michigan State University. Among his awards are the NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Society for Artificial Life. His new book is The Evolution of Biological Information: How Evolution Creates Complexity, from Viruses to Brains.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>4822biology,evolution,ideas,information theory,philosophy,physics,sciencefalse266fullAMA | February 2024https://www.spreaker.com/episode/ama-february-2024--67709403Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number -- based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the questions themselves are good -- and sometimes group them together if they are about a similar topic. Enjoy!Blog post with questions and transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2024/02/12/ama-february-2024/Support Mindscape on Patreon.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/wQLKYssKbEsx0tCi8S6LywH6RsnxuyvFc8NJJwXAkCkMon, 12 Feb 2024 14:31:50 +0000Sean CarrollWelcome to the February 2024 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded by https://www.patreon.com/seanmcarroll (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a...Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number -- based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the questions themselves are good -- and sometimes group them together if they are about a similar topic. Enjoy!Blog post with questions and transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2024/02/12/ama-february-2024/Support Mindscape on Patreon.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>12278ideas,philosophy,physics,science,societyfalsebonus265 | John Skrentny on How the Economy Mistreats STEM Workershttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/265-john-skrentny-on-how-the-economy-mistreats-stem-workers--67709462Wasted Education, sociologist John Skrentny points out that the post-graduation trajectories of STEM graduates are more likely to involve being chewed up and spit out by the tech economy than to end up with stable long-term careers. We talk about why that's the case and what might be done about it.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2024/02/05/265-john-skrentny-on-how-the-economy-mistreats-stem-workers/Support Mindscape on Patreon.John Skrentny received his Ph.D. in sociology from Harvard University. He is currently Professor of Sociology at UC San Diego, and has previously served as the Co-Director of the Center for Comparative Immigration Studies and Director of the Yankelovich Center for Social Science Research.
    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>    gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/QbC7-MdxOOGN9LtYis5O5Xs3wWqfzsBlykuWWixlmjoMon, 05 Feb 2024 13:15:42 +0000Sean CarrollUniversities and their students are constantly being encouraged to produce more graduates majoring in STEM fields -- science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. That's the kind of training that will get you a rewarding job, students are told,...Wasted Education, sociologist John Skrentny points out that the post-graduation trajectories of STEM graduates are more likely to involve being chewed up and spit out by the tech economy than to end up with stable long-term careers. We talk about why that's the case and what might be done about it.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2024/02/05/265-john-skrentny-on-how-the-economy-mistreats-stem-workers/Support Mindscape on Patreon.John Skrentny received his Ph.D. in sociology from Harvard University. He is currently Professor of Sociology at UC San Diego, and has previously served as the Co-Director of the Center for Comparative Immigration Studies and Director of the Yankelovich Center for Social Science Research.
    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>    4816ideas,philosophy,physics,science,societyfalse265full    264 | Sabine Stanley on What's Inside Planetshttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/264-sabine-stanley-on-what-s-inside-planets--67709396the deepest we've ever dug below the surface is only about 12 km. Yet we have a quite reliable idea of the structure of the Earth's interior -- inner core, outer core, mantle, crust -- not to mention pretty good pictures of what's going on inside some other planets. How do we know those things, and what new things are we learning in the exoplanet era? I talk with astrophysicist and planetary scientist Sabine Stanley about how we use gravitation, seismology, magnetic fields, and other tools to learn what's happening inside planets.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2024/01/29/264-sabine-stanley-on-whats-inside-planets/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Sabine Stanley received a Ph.D. in geophysics from Harvard University. She is currently a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor at Johns Hopkins University. She has been awarded the William Gilbert Award from the American Geophysical Union. Her recent book is What's Hidden Inside Planets?
    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>    gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/T_900-8rQTB9dFruMK4Txu2wFaOD2tCHsbnUa98anhQMon, 29 Jan 2024 12:46:39 +0000Sean CarrollThe radius of the Earth is over 6,000 kilometers, but https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kola_Superdeep_Borehole we've ever dug below the surface is only about 12 km. Yet we have a quite reliable idea of the structure of the Earth's interior -- inner core,...the deepest we've ever dug below the surface is only about 12 km. Yet we have a quite reliable idea of the structure of the Earth's interior -- inner core, outer core, mantle, crust -- not to mention pretty good pictures of what's going on inside some other planets. How do we know those things, and what new things are we learning in the exoplanet era? I talk with astrophysicist and planetary scientist Sabine Stanley about how we use gravitation, seismology, magnetic fields, and other tools to learn what's happening inside planets.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2024/01/29/264-sabine-stanley-on-whats-inside-planets/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Sabine Stanley received a Ph.D. in geophysics from Harvard University. She is currently a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor at Johns Hopkins University. She has been awarded the William Gilbert Award from the American Geophysical Union. Her recent book is What's Hidden Inside Planets?
    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>    4350astronomy,ideas,philosophy,physics,planets,sciencefalse264full    263 | Chris Quigg on Symmetry and the Birth of the Standard Modelhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/263-chris-quigg-on-symmetry-and-the-birth-of-the-standard-model--67709409Robert Cahn has written a new book on the development of the Standard Model: Grace in All Simplicity.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2024/01/22/263-chris-quigg-on-symmetry-and-the-birth-of-the-standard-model/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Chris Quigg received his Ph.D. in physics from the University of California, Berkeley. He is currently Distinguished Scientist Emeritus at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. Among his awards is the J.J. Sakurai Prize in theoretical particle physics from the American Physical Society. He is also the author of Gauge Theories of the Strong, Weak, and Electromagnetic Interactions.
    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>    gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/qK-b342p-4_CAHvuuoG0Y1GjsrdYUVr3iaTudLxNlbMMon, 22 Jan 2024 13:28:24 +0000Sean CarrollEinstein's theory of general relativity is distinguished by its singular simplicity and beauty. The Standard Model of Particle Physics, by contrast, is a bit of a mess. So many particles and interactions, each acting somewhat differently, with a bunch...Robert Cahn has written a new book on the development of the Standard Model: Grace in All Simplicity.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2024/01/22/263-chris-quigg-on-symmetry-and-the-birth-of-the-standard-model/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Chris Quigg received his Ph.D. in physics from the University of California, Berkeley. He is currently Distinguished Scientist Emeritus at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. Among his awards is the J.J. Sakurai Prize in theoretical particle physics from the American Physical Society. He is also the author of Gauge Theories of the Strong, Weak, and Electromagnetic Interactions.
    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>    5170ideas,physics,sciencefalse263full    262 | Eric Schwitzgebel on the Weirdness of the Worldhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/262-eric-schwitzgebel-on-the-weirdness-of-the-world--67709425https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2024/01/15/262-eric-schwitzgebel-on-the-weirdness-of-the-world/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Eric Schwitzgebel received his Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of California, Berkeley. He is currently a professor of philosophy at the University of California, Riverside. He is the author of several books, including the new The Weirdness of the World.
    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>    gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/KbRdF6_a2M9wsKbnUB-y0hEw5X0iJbnR-tpTMe6bi_8Mon, 15 Jan 2024 13:25:14 +0000Sean CarrollScientists and philosophers sometimes advocate pretty outrageous-sounding ideas about the fundamental nature of reality. (Arguably I have been guilty of this.) It shouldn't be surprising that reality, in regimes far away from our everyday experience,...https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2024/01/15/262-eric-schwitzgebel-on-the-weirdness-of-the-world/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Eric Schwitzgebel received his Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of California, Berkeley. He is currently a professor of philosophy at the University of California, Riverside. He is the author of several books, including the new The Weirdness of the World.
    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>    4811ideas,philosophy,physics,sciencefalse262full    261 | Sanjana Curtis on the Origins of the Elementshttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/261-sanjana-curtis-on-the-origins-of-the-elements--67709467https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2024/01/08/261-sanjana-curtis-on-the-origins-of-the-elements/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Sanjana Curtis received her Ph.D. in physics from North Carolina State University. She is currently a National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, Berkeley. Her research involves nuclear astrophysics, especially the production of heavier elements in supernova explosions and neutron-star/black-hole collisions. She is also active in science communication, including at her TikTok channel.
    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>    gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/ywMLt132VtHMygPNMOQBSYUHpTNP_H1tt3cqoETrHywMon, 08 Jan 2024 13:07:49 +0000Sean CarrollIn mid-20th-century cosmology, there was a debate over the origin of the chemical elements. Some thought that they could be produced in the Big Bang, while others argued that they were made inside stars. The truth turns out to be a combination of...https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2024/01/08/261-sanjana-curtis-on-the-origins-of-the-elements/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Sanjana Curtis received her Ph.D. in physics from North Carolina State University. She is currently a National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, Berkeley. Her research involves nuclear astrophysics, especially the production of heavier elements in supernova explosions and neutron-star/black-hole collisions. She is also active in science communication, including at her TikTok channel.
    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>    4049astronomy,cosmology,ideas,physics,sciencefalse261full    260 | Ricard Solé on the Space of Cognitionshttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/260-ricard-sole-on-the-space-of-cognitions--67709432https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2024/01/01/260-ricard-sole-on-the-space-of-cognitions/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Ricard Solé received his Ph.D. in physics from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia. He is currently ICREA research professor at the Catalan Institute for research and Advanced Studies, currently working at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra, where he is head of the Complex Systems Lab. He is also an External Professor of the Santa Fe Institute, Fellow of the European centre for Living Technology, external faculty at the Center for Evolution and Cancer at UCSF, and a member of the Vienna Complex Systems Hub. He is the author of several technical books.
    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>    gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/42dn_2t3j4cSNjlhSufwC6-Wt5xP6147oTRMrUNE8u0Mon, 01 Jan 2024 14:15:38 +0000Sean CarrollOctopuses, artificial intelligence, and advanced alien civilizations: for many reasons, it's interesting to contemplate ways of thinking other than whatever it is we humans do. How should we think about the space of all possible cognitions? One aspect...https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2024/01/01/260-ricard-sole-on-the-space-of-cognitions/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Ricard Solé received his Ph.D. in physics from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia. He is currently ICREA research professor at the Catalan Institute for research and Advanced Studies, currently working at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra, where he is head of the Complex Systems Lab. He is also an External Professor of the Santa Fe Institute, Fellow of the European centre for Living Technology, external faculty at the Center for Evolution and Cancer at UCSF, and a member of the Vienna Complex Systems Hub. He is the author of several technical books.
    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>    4202cognition,complexity,ideas,philosophy,sciencefalse260full    Holiday Message: Reflections on Immortalityhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/holiday-message-reflections-on-immortality--67709439https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/12/18/holiday-message-2023-reflections-on-immortality/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Here are some of the stories and papers mentioned in the episode:
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His new book is The Little Book of Aliens.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/KJCBssIOoVaIeM8ivtapu8_uZnw-Rk2kPhZlTliaNXsMon, 11 Dec 2023 13:50:28 +0000Sean CarrollIt wasn't that long ago that topics like the nature of consciousness, or the foundations of quantum mechanics, or prospects for extraterrestrial life were considered fringey and disreputable by much of the scientific community. In all these cases, the...https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/12/11/259-adam-frank-on-what-aliens-might-be-like/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Adam Frank received a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Washington. He is currently the Helen F. and Fred H. Gowen Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy and Distinguished Scientist at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics at the University of Rochester. Among his awards are the National Honors Society Best Book in Science award, and the Carl Sagan Medal from the American Astronomical Society. His new book is The Little Book of Aliens.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>4711aliens,astronomy,exoplanets,ideas,philosophy,physics,sciencefalse259fullAMA | December 2023https://www.spreaker.com/episode/ama-december-2023--67709441Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number -- based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the questions themselves are good -- and sometimes group them together if they are about a similar topic. Enjoy!Blog post with questions and transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/12/04/ama-december-2023/Link to the article referenced about time travel in movies: Ars Technica.There will be no AMA in January due to holiday break.Mindscape Big Picture Scholarship.Support Mindscape on Patreon.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/34CrZT2Ael9_Uk-wX-MEDHVwNIbMVjZqotjcBylZGH4Mon, 04 Dec 2023 12:44:13 +0000Sean CarrollWelcome to the December 2023 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded by https://www.patreon.com/seanmcarroll (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a...Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number -- based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the questions themselves are good -- and sometimes group them together if they are about a similar topic. Enjoy!Blog post with questions and transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/12/04/ama-december-2023/Link to the article referenced about time travel in movies: Ars Technica.There will be no AMA in January due to holiday break.Mindscape Big Picture Scholarship.Support Mindscape on Patreon.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>12988ideas,philosophy,physics,science,societyfalsebonus258 | Solo: AI Thinks Differenthttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/258-solo-ai-thinks-different--67709418Artificial General Intelligence. I don't think so. Or at least, while what is being achieved is legitimately impressive, it's not anything like the kind of thinking that is done by human beings. LLMs do not model the world in the same way we do, nor are they driven by the same kinds of feelings and motivations. It is therefore extremely misleading to throw around words like "intelligence" and "values" without thinking carefully about what is meant in this new context.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/11/27/258-solo-ai-thinks-different/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Some relevant references:
    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>    gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/zxQs9eu9giG1nBN95_ZWHpkw24TkISsGuu6UFjzv4GQMon, 27 Nov 2023 12:21:44 +0000Sean CarrollThe Artificial Intelligence landscape is changing with remarkable speed these days, and the capability of Large Language Models in particular has led to speculation (and hope, and fear) that we could be on the verge of...Artificial General Intelligence. I don't think so. Or at least, while what is being achieved is legitimately impressive, it's not anything like the kind of thinking that is done by human beings. LLMs do not model the world in the same way we do, nor are they driven by the same kinds of feelings and motivations. It is therefore extremely misleading to throw around words like "intelligence" and "values" without thinking carefully about what is meant in this new context.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/11/27/258-solo-ai-thinks-different/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Some relevant references:
    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>    4848ai,ideas,llm,philosophy,science,society,thinkingfalse258full    257 | Derek Guy on the Theory and Practice of Dressing Wellhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/257-derek-guy-on-the-theory-and-practice-of-dressing-well--67709431become well-known as the menswear guy on Twitter. He has put a lot of thought into both the practicalities of clothing (how to find a suit that fits) and its wider social impact (how fashion acts as a cultural language). We talk about both sides of the coin.(Picture on right is not Derek, but rather former US Attorney General Elliot Richardson, whose dapper image Derek uses as his avatar.)Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/11/20/257-derek-guy-on-the-theory-and-practice-of-dressing-well/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Derek Guy is a fashion writer living in San Francisco. He blogs at Die, Workwear!, and contributes to a number of publications.
    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>    gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/0z544MK0BKTGM5UGlrVieCvov1CzBALwVftMG39ZNm8Mon, 20 Nov 2023 14:27:13 +0000Sean CarrollPutting on clothes is one of the most universal human experiences. Inevitably, this involves choices; maybe you just grab the cheapest and most convenient clothing available, or maybe you want to fit seamlessly into your local environment, whatever...become well-known as the menswear guy on Twitter. He has put a lot of thought into both the practicalities of clothing (how to find a suit that fits) and its wider social impact (how fashion acts as a cultural language). We talk about both sides of the coin.(Picture on right is not Derek, but rather former US Attorney General Elliot Richardson, whose dapper image Derek uses as his avatar.)Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/11/20/257-derek-guy-on-the-theory-and-practice-of-dressing-well/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Derek Guy is a fashion writer living in San Francisco. He blogs at Die, Workwear!, and contributes to a number of publications.
    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>    4847clothing,fashion,ideas,philosophy,societyfalse257full    256 | Kelly and Zach Weinersmith on Building Cities on the Moon and Marshttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/256-kelly-and-zach-weinersmith-on-building-cities-on-the-moon-and-mars--67709452A City on Mars: Can We Settle Space, Should We Settle Space, and Have We Really Thought This Through? It provides an exceptionally clear-eyed view of the challenges and opportunities ahead.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/11/13/256-kelly-and-zach-weinersmith-on-building-cities-on-the-moon-and-mars/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Kelly Weinersmith received a Ph.D. in ecology from the University of California, Davis. She is currently an adjunct professor in the department of biosciences at Rice University. Zack Weinersmith received a B.S. in English from Pfizer College. He is the creator of the popular webcomic Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal, as well as the author and co-author of several books, including Bea Wolf, a retelling of Beowulf as a children's story, with illustrations by Boulet. Kelly and Zach are also co-authors of Soonish: Ten Emerging Technologies That'll Improve and/or Ruin Everything.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/XXB5Pq9kXv0vBT2fLUNtXRJb-v5njtgzj2tpSS-bPW8Mon, 13 Nov 2023 12:33:35 +0000Sean CarrollThere is an undeniable romance in the idea of traveling to, and even living in, outer space. In recent years, a pragmatic justification has become increasingly popular: the Earth is vulnerable to threats both natural and human-made, and it seems only...A City on Mars: Can We Settle Space, Should We Settle Space, and Have We Really Thought This Through? It provides an exceptionally clear-eyed view of the challenges and opportunities ahead.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/11/13/256-kelly-and-zach-weinersmith-on-building-cities-on-the-moon-and-mars/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Kelly Weinersmith received a Ph.D. in ecology from the University of California, Davis. She is currently an adjunct professor in the department of biosciences at Rice University. Zack Weinersmith received a B.S. in English from Pfizer College. He is the creator of the popular webcomic Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal, as well as the author and co-author of several books, including Bea Wolf, a retelling of Beowulf as a children's story, with illustrations by Boulet. Kelly and Zach are also co-authors of Soonish: Ten Emerging Technologies That'll Improve and/or Ruin Everything.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>5058ideas,science,society,spacefalse256fullAMA | November 2023https://www.spreaker.com/episode/ama-november-2023--67709458Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number -- based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the questions themselves are good -- and sometimes group them together if they are about a similar topic. Enjoy!Blog post with questions and transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/11/06/ama-november-2023/See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/sypEeNWA_mtCu7Nw1kcr-PeSsLwz0qTekC0ZNhQR3wkMon, 06 Nov 2023 12:36:12 +0000Sean CarrollWelcome to the November 2023 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded by https://www.patreon.com/seanmcarroll (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a...Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number -- based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the questions themselves are good -- and sometimes group them together if they are about a similar topic. Enjoy!Blog post with questions and transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/11/06/ama-november-2023/See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>15613ideas,philosophy,physics,science,societyfalsebonus255 | Michael Muthukrishna on Developing a Theory of Everyonehttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/255-michael-muthukrishna-on-developing-a-theory-of-everyone--67709443https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/10/30/255-michael-muthukrishna-on-developing-a-theory-of-everyone/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Michael Muthukrishna received his Ph.D. in psychology from the University of British Columbia. He is currently Associate Professor of Economic Psychology at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Among his awards are an Emerging Scholar Award from the Society for Personality and Social Psychology and a Dissertation Excellence Award from the Canadian Psychological Association. His new book is A Theory of Everyone: The New Science of Who We Are, How We Got Here, and Where We're Going.
    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>    gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/ABftwvr4ArjQl2LHkVy0Yf4SfcCfjEpdCLPUISmoG80Mon, 30 Oct 2023 11:53:32 +0000Sean CarrollA "Theory of Everything" is physicists' somewhat tongue-in-cheek phrase for a hypothetical model of all the fundamental physical interactions. Of course, even if we had such a theory, it would tell us nothing new about higher-level emergent phenomena,...https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/10/30/255-michael-muthukrishna-on-developing-a-theory-of-everyone/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Michael Muthukrishna received his Ph.D. in psychology from the University of British Columbia. He is currently Associate Professor of Economic Psychology at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Among his awards are an Emerging Scholar Award from the Society for Personality and Social Psychology and a Dissertation Excellence Award from the Canadian Psychological Association. His new book is A Theory of Everyone: The New Science of Who We Are, How We Got Here, and Where We're Going.
    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>    4642economics,ideas,philosophy,psychology,science,societyfalse255full    254 | William Egginton on Kant, Heisenberg, and Borgeshttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/254-william-egginton-on-kant-heisenberg-and-borges--67709438https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/10/23/254-william-egginton-on-kant-heisenberg-and-borges/Support Mindscape on Patreon.William Egginton received his Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from Stanford University. He is currently the Decker Professor in the Humanities and Director of the Alexander Grass Humanities Institute at Johns Hopkins. He is the author of numerous books on literature, literary theory, and philosophy. In addition to The Rigor of Angels, he has an upcoming book on the work of Chilean film director Alejandro Jodorowsky.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/1lmshCpSGhFNYp3j5PPB1vV2qX_YIdFpHiic1RaA3qMMon, 23 Oct 2023 11:21:23 +0000Sean CarrollIt can be tempting, when first introduced to a deep concept of physics like Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, to draw grand philosophical conclusions about the impossibility of knowing anything precisely. That is generally a temptation to be...https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/10/23/254-william-egginton-on-kant-heisenberg-and-borges/Support Mindscape on Patreon.William Egginton received his Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from Stanford University. He is currently the Decker Professor in the Humanities and Director of the Alexander Grass Humanities Institute at Johns Hopkins. He is the author of numerous books on literature, literary theory, and philosophy. In addition to The Rigor of Angels, he has an upcoming book on the work of Chilean film director Alejandro Jodorowsky.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>4018epistemology,ideas,literature,philosophy,physics,science,societyfalse254full253 | David Deutsch on Science, Complexity, and Explanationhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/253-david-deutsch-on-science-complexity-and-explanation--67709464constructor theory, a new way of conceptualizing physics and science more broadly. But he also has a strong interest in philosophy and epistemology, championing a Popperian explanation-based approach over a rival Bayesian epistemology. We talk about all of these things and more, including his recent work on the Popper-Miller theorem, which specifies limitations on inductive approaches to knowledge and probability.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/10/16/253-david-deutsch-on-science-complexity-and-explanation/Support Mindscape on Patreon.David Deutsch received his Ph.D. in theoretical physics from the University of Oxford. He is currently a visiting professor in the Department of Atomic and Laser Physics at Oxford. He is a pioneer in quantum computation as well as initiating constructor theory. His books include The Fabric of Reality and The Beginning of Infinity. Among his awards including the Dirac Prize, the Dirac Medal, the Edge of Computation Science Prize, the Isaac Newton Medal, the Breakthrough Physics Prize, and a Royal Society Fellowship.
    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>    gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/HcWG7wEx_TbGZdpHtdkonRcEybQNVPT0NrvIDEcmXrsMon, 16 Oct 2023 11:48:06 +0000Sean CarrollDavid Deutsch is one of the most creative scientific thinkers working today, who has as a goal to understand and explain the natural world as best we can. He was a pioneer in quantum computing, and has long been an advocate of the Everett...constructor theory, a new way of conceptualizing physics and science more broadly. But he also has a strong interest in philosophy and epistemology, championing a Popperian explanation-based approach over a rival Bayesian epistemology. We talk about all of these things and more, including his recent work on the Popper-Miller theorem, which specifies limitations on inductive approaches to knowledge and probability.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/10/16/253-david-deutsch-on-science-complexity-and-explanation/Support Mindscape on Patreon.David Deutsch received his Ph.D. in theoretical physics from the University of Oxford. He is currently a visiting professor in the Department of Atomic and Laser Physics at Oxford. He is a pioneer in quantum computation as well as initiating constructor theory. His books include The Fabric of Reality and The Beginning of Infinity. Among his awards including the Dirac Prize, the Dirac Medal, the Edge of Computation Science Prize, the Isaac Newton Medal, the Breakthrough Physics Prize, and a Royal Society Fellowship.
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    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>    4536climate change,environment,ideas,science,societyfalse252full    251 | Rosemary Braun on Uncovering Patterns in Biological Complexityhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/251-rosemary-braun-on-uncovering-patterns-in-biological-complexity--67709453Patreon.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/09/25/251-rosemary-braun-on-uncovering-patterns-in-biological-complexity/Rosemary Braun received her Ph.D. in physics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and an M.P.H. in biostatistics from Johns Hopkins. She is currently an associate professor of molecular biosciences, applied math, and physics at Northwestern University and external faculty at the Santa Fe Institute.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/ZsOmZHR_zQfhLWItaF5sCwJOKmkL1yhPSSIY_zcNPSoMon, 25 Sep 2023 11:38:57 +0000Sean CarrollBiological organisms are paradigmatic emergent systems. That atoms of which they are made mindlessly obey the local laws of physics; even cells and organs do their individual jobs without explicitly understanding the larger whole of which they are a...Patreon.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/09/25/251-rosemary-braun-on-uncovering-patterns-in-biological-complexity/Rosemary Braun received her Ph.D. in physics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and an M.P.H. in biostatistics from Johns Hopkins. She is currently an associate professor of molecular biosciences, applied math, and physics at Northwestern University and external faculty at the Santa Fe Institute.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>4280biology,cells,complexity,ideas,sciencefalse251full250 | Brendan Nyhan on Navigating the Information Ecosystemhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/250-brendan-nyhan-on-navigating-the-information-ecosystem--67709444https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/09/18/250-brendan-nyhan-on-navigating-the-information-ecosystem/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Brendan Nyhan received his Ph.D. in political science from Duke University. He is currently James O. Freedman professor of government at Dartmouth College. Among his awards are an Emerging Scholar award from the American Political Science Association, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>    gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/tOqG2EIabUc9c5wGqld2oWPj9Zc9iiOa3-CxQkPTDgoMon, 18 Sep 2023 11:52:30 +0000Sean CarrollThe modern world inundates us with both information and misinformation. What are the forces that conspire to make misinformation so prevalent? Can we combat the flow of misinformation, perhaps by legal restrictions? Would that even be a good idea? How...https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/09/18/250-brendan-nyhan-on-navigating-the-information-ecosystem/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Brendan Nyhan received his Ph.D. in political science from Duke University. He is currently James O. Freedman professor of government at Dartmouth College. Among his awards are an Emerging Scholar award from the American Political Science Association, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
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Among his books are Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness and Metazoa: Animal Life and the Birth of the Mind.Here are some of the papers mentioned in this episode:See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/f-KP0lFuLPeBXdXcU9XlcUsT3Fq6GGnYuK_dGj_bZGMMon, 11 Sep 2023 11:23:41 +0000Sean CarrollThe study of cognition and sentience would be greatly abetted by the discovery of intelligent alien beings, who presumably developed independently of life here on Earth. But we do have more than one data point to consider: certain vertebrates...https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/09/11/249-peter-godfrey-smith-on-sentience-and-octopus-minds/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Peter Godfrey-Smith received his Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of California, San Diego. He is currently professor in the School of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Sydney. Among his books are Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness and Metazoa: Animal Life and the Birth of the Mind.Here are some of the papers mentioned in this episode:See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>5287consciousness,ideas,octopus,philosophy,science,sentience,societyfalse249fullAMA | September 2023https://www.spreaker.com/episode/ama-september-2023--67709491Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number -- based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the questions themselves are good -- and sometimes group them together if they are about a similar topic. Enjoy!Blog post with questions and transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/09/04/ama-september-2023/And you can now pre-order The Biggest Ideas in the Universe Vol. 2: Quanta and Fields!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/ddMp4hkRG_4nHQT9dLlblEvKkHaGS6OqrfGUsEDFP9IMon, 04 Sep 2023 12:37:32 +0000Sean CarrollWelcome to the September 2023 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded by https://www.patreon.com/seanmcarroll (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a...Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number -- based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the questions themselves are good -- and sometimes group them together if they are about a similar topic. Enjoy!Blog post with questions and transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/09/04/ama-september-2023/And you can now pre-order The Biggest Ideas in the Universe Vol. 2: Quanta and Fields!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>14598ideas,philosophy,physics,science,societyfalsebonus248 | Yejin Choi on AI and Common Sensehttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/248-yejin-choi-on-ai-and-common-sense--67709448ChatGPT have demonstrated a remarkable ability to carry on human-like conversations in a variety of different concepts. But the way these LLMs "learn" is very different from how human beings learn, and the same can be said for how they "reason." It's reasonable to ask, do these AI programs really understand the world they are talking about? Do they possess a common-sense picture of reality, or can they just string together words in convincing ways without any underlying understanding? Computer scientist Yejin Choi is a leader in trying to understand the sense in which AIs are actually intelligent, and why in some ways they're still shockingly stupid.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/08/28/248-yejin-choi-on-ai-and-common-sense/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Yejin Choi received a Ph.D. in computer science from Cornell University. She is currently the Wissner-Slivka Professor at the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering at the University of Washington and also a senior research director at AI2 overseeing the project Mosaic. Among her awards are a MacArthur fellowship and a fellow of the Association for Computational Linguistics.
    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>    gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/qEftYmGWQQIx-hk2I1Y8X80r37IyAOsFTZopL9wHNswMon, 28 Aug 2023 11:14:45 +0000Sean CarrollOver the last year, AI large-language models (LLMs) like https://chat.openai.com/ have demonstrated a remarkable ability to carry on human-like conversations in a variety of different concepts. But the way these LLMs "learn" is very different from how...ChatGPT have demonstrated a remarkable ability to carry on human-like conversations in a variety of different concepts. But the way these LLMs "learn" is very different from how human beings learn, and the same can be said for how they "reason." It's reasonable to ask, do these AI programs really understand the world they are talking about? Do they possess a common-sense picture of reality, or can they just string together words in convincing ways without any underlying understanding? Computer scientist Yejin Choi is a leader in trying to understand the sense in which AIs are actually intelligent, and why in some ways they're still shockingly stupid.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/08/28/248-yejin-choi-on-ai-and-common-sense/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Yejin Choi received a Ph.D. in computer science from Cornell University. She is currently the Wissner-Slivka Professor at the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering at the University of Washington and also a senior research director at AI2 overseeing the project Mosaic. Among her awards are a MacArthur fellowship and a fellow of the Association for Computational Linguistics.
    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>    4360artificial intelligence,ideas,philosophy,science,societyfalse248full    247 | Samuel Bowles on Economics, Cooperation, and Inequalityhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/247-samuel-bowles-on-economics-cooperation-and-inequality--67709454https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/08/21/247-samuel-bowles-on-economics-cooperation-and-inequality/Economics, much like thermodynamics, is a story of collective behavior arising from the interactions of many individual constituents. The big difference is that in economics, the constituents are themselves complicated human beings with their own goals and limitations. We can still make progress by positing some simple but plausible axioms governing human behavior, and proving theorems about what those axioms imply, such as the famous supply-and-demand curves. The trick is picking the right axioms that actually do apply to any given situation. Samuel Bowles is a highly regarded economist who has helped understand the emergence of political hierarchy and economic inequality, often drawing on wide-ranging ideas from game theory and evolutionary biology. We talk about how people evolved to cooperate, and why nevertheless inequality seems to be ubiquitous.Support Mindscape on Patreon.Samuel Bowles received a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University. He has taught at Harvard University, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and the University of Siena, and he is currently Director of the Behavioral Sciences Program at the Santa Fe Institute. He has been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship and the Leontief Prize, and is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is one of the developers of the CORE Econ project.
    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>    gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/bQ4WG0AWfYmVgzb4fmV0TeLwOf1EIjeUIFVfJ98IedoMon, 21 Aug 2023 11:30:19 +0000Sean CarrollBlog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/08/21/247-samuel-bowles-on-economics-cooperation-and-inequality/Economics, much like thermodynamics, is a story of collective behavior arising from the interactions of many...https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/08/21/247-samuel-bowles-on-economics-cooperation-and-inequality/Economics, much like thermodynamics, is a story of collective behavior arising from the interactions of many individual constituents. The big difference is that in economics, the constituents are themselves complicated human beings with their own goals and limitations. We can still make progress by positing some simple but plausible axioms governing human behavior, and proving theorems about what those axioms imply, such as the famous supply-and-demand curves. The trick is picking the right axioms that actually do apply to any given situation. Samuel Bowles is a highly regarded economist who has helped understand the emergence of political hierarchy and economic inequality, often drawing on wide-ranging ideas from game theory and evolutionary biology. We talk about how people evolved to cooperate, and why nevertheless inequality seems to be ubiquitous.Support Mindscape on Patreon.Samuel Bowles received a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University. He has taught at Harvard University, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and the University of Siena, and he is currently Director of the Behavioral Sciences Program at the Santa Fe Institute. He has been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship and the Leontief Prize, and is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is one of the developers of the CORE Econ project.
    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>    4828economics,ideas,inequality,philosophy,science,societyfalse247full    246 | David Stuart on Time and Science in Maya Civilizationhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/246-david-stuart-on-time-and-science-in-maya-civilization--67709451https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/08/14/246-david-stuart-on-time-and-science-in-maya-civilization/Support Mindscape on Patreon.David Stuart received his Ph.D. in anthropology from Vanderbilt University. He is currently professor of Art History and Director of the Mesoamerica Center at the University of Texas, Austin. He is the youngest-ever recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship. Among his books is The Order of Days: Unlocking the Secrets of the Ancient Maya.
    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>    gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/SC0xqABhgEwH_CRQHAA9vtfS-8aBxWhMd3QxCqhPtzoMon, 14 Aug 2023 09:13:45 +0000Sean CarrollYou might remember the somewhat bizarre worries that swept through certain circles back in 2012, based on the end of the world being predicted by the Maya calendar. The world didn't end, which is unsurprising because the Maya hadn't predicted that,...https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/08/14/246-david-stuart-on-time-and-science-in-maya-civilization/Support Mindscape on Patreon.David Stuart received his Ph.D. in anthropology from Vanderbilt University. He is currently professor of Art History and Director of the Mesoamerica Center at the University of Texas, Austin. He is the youngest-ever recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship. Among his books is The Order of Days: Unlocking the Secrets of the Ancient Maya.
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    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>    5806ideas,philosophy,physics,sciencefalse244full    243 | Joseph Silk on Science on the Moonhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/243-joseph-silk-on-science-on-the-moon--67709440https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/07/17/243-joseph-silk-on-science-on-the-moon/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Joseph Silk received his Ph.D. in Astronomy from Harvard University. After serving on the faculty at UC Berkeley and Oxford, he is currently Professor of Physics at the Institut d'astrophysique de Paris, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, and Homewood Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Johns Hopkins University. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society, the National Academy of Sciences, the American Astronomical Society, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Among his awards are the Balzan Prize, the Henry Norris Russell Lectureship, and the Gruber Prize in cosmology. His new book is Back to the Moon: The Next Giant Leap for Humankind.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/IrNUuacpFPjLsDSX1aZV__JLv2iyxC6IuZlPs6BrOXIMon, 17 Jul 2023 13:19:35 +0000Sean CarrollThe Earth's atmosphere is good for some things, like providing something to breathe. But it does get in the way of astronomers, who have been successful at launching orbiting telescopes into space. But gravity and the ground are also useful for...https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/07/17/243-joseph-silk-on-science-on-the-moon/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Joseph Silk received his Ph.D. in Astronomy from Harvard University. After serving on the faculty at UC Berkeley and Oxford, he is currently Professor of Physics at the Institut d'astrophysique de Paris, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, and Homewood Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Johns Hopkins University. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society, the National Academy of Sciences, the American Astronomical Society, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Among his awards are the Balzan Prize, the Henry Norris Russell Lectureship, and the Gruber Prize in cosmology. His new book is Back to the Moon: The Next Giant Leap for Humankind.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>4278astronomy,ideas,moon,physics,sciencefalse243full242 | David Krakauer on Complexity, Agency, and Informationhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/242-david-krakauer-on-complexity-agency-and-information--67709479Santa Fe Institute and a longtime researcher in complexity. He points the finger at the concept of agency. A ball rolling down a hill just mindlessly obeys equations of motion, but a complex system gathers information and uses it to adapt. We talk about what that means and how to think about the current state of complexity science.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/07/10/242-david-krakauer-on-complexity-agency-and-information/Support Mindscape on Patreon.David Krakauer received his D.Phil. in evolutionary biology from Oxford University. He is currently President and William H. Miller Professor of Complex Systems at the Santa Fe Institute. Previously he was at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where he was the founding director of the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery and the Co-director of the Center for Complexity and Collective Computation. He was included in Wired magazine's list of "50 People Who Will Change the World."
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    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>    5169cosmology,ideas,philosophy,physics,science,societyfalse240full    239 | Brian Lowery on the Social Selfhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/239-brian-lowery-on-the-social-self--67709455https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/06/12/239-brian-lowery-on-the-social-self/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Brian Lowery received his Ph.D. in psychology from the University of California Los Angeles. He is currently Walter Kenneth Kilpatrick Professor of Organizational Behavior at Stanford University Graduate School of Business. His new book is Selfless: The Social Creation of "You."
    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>    gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/1ceZpjiHb_E3xCol7m-lu7VL9UpC1OqCpjtFlbyPa-oMon, 12 Jun 2023 12:59:21 +0000Sean CarrollThere is an image, especially in Western cultures, of the rugged, authentic, self-made individual choosing how to navigate the intricacies of the social world. But there is no mystical soul within us, manifesting as the immutable essence of self. What...https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/06/12/239-brian-lowery-on-the-social-self/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Brian Lowery received his Ph.D. in psychology from the University of California Los Angeles. He is currently Walter Kenneth Kilpatrick Professor of Organizational Behavior at Stanford University Graduate School of Business. His new book is Selfless: The Social Creation of "You."
    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>    4257ideas,philosophy,psychology,societyfalse239full    AMA | June 2023https://www.spreaker.com/episode/ama-june-2023--67709525Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number -- based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the questions themselves are good -- and sometimes group them together if they are about a similar topic. Enjoy!Post with questions and full transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/06/05/ama-june-2023/Support Mindscape on Patreon.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/Czdak3A2ZZWeb7Wwa9mQetojTyuc12lDdFGIl4uOvecMon, 05 Jun 2023 12:07:58 +0000Sean CarrollWelcome to the June 2023 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded by https://www.patreon.com/seanmcarroll (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more...Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number -- based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the questions themselves are good -- and sometimes group them together if they are about a similar topic. Enjoy!Post with questions and full transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/06/05/ama-june-2023/Support Mindscape on Patreon.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>10691ideas,philosophy,physics,science,societyfalsebonus238 | Scott Shapiro on the Technology and Philosophy of Hackinghttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/238-scott-shapiro-on-the-technology-and-philosophy-of-hacking--67709460https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/05/29/238-scott-shapiro-on-the-technology-and-philosophy-of-hacking/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Scott Shapiro received a J.D. from Yale Law School and a Ph.D. in philosophy from Columbia. He is currently the Charles F Southmayd Prof of Law and Philosophy at Yale University. He is the Director of the Yale Center for Law and Philosophy and also Director of the Yale Cybersecurity Lab. He is the Co-Editor of Legal Theory, and Co-Editor for philosophy of Law at the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. His new book is Fancy Bear Goes Phishing: The Dark History of the Information Age, in Five Extraordinary Hacks.
    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>    gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/LfLZko7IUyxbhGmCTq4J1DO3cNaIMOKa05UabH4z1zoMon, 29 May 2023 13:41:49 +0000Sean CarrollModern computers are somewhat more secure against being hacked - either by an inanimate virus or a human interloper - than they used to be. But as our lives are increasingly intertwined with computers, the dangers that hacking poses are enormously...https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/05/29/238-scott-shapiro-on-the-technology-and-philosophy-of-hacking/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Scott Shapiro received a J.D. from Yale Law School and a Ph.D. in philosophy from Columbia. He is currently the Charles F Southmayd Prof of Law and Philosophy at Yale University. He is the Director of the Yale Center for Law and Philosophy and also Director of the Yale Cybersecurity Lab. He is the Co-Editor of Legal Theory, and Co-Editor for philosophy of Law at the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. His new book is Fancy Bear Goes Phishing: The Dark History of the Information Age, in Five Extraordinary Hacks.
    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>    5273computers,hacking,ideas,philosophy,science,society,technologyfalse238full    237 | Brooke Harrington on Offshore Wealth as a Complex Systemhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/237-brooke-harrington-on-offshore-wealth-as-a-complex-system--67709505a recent paper, she and colleagues analyze networks of offshore wealth managers as a complex system, uncovering power-law behavior and interesting nation-dependent network structures.Web site with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/05/22/237-brooke-harrington-on-offshore-wealth-as-a-complex-system/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Brooke Harrington received her Ph.D. in sociology from Harvard University. She is currently a professor of sociology at Dartmouth College. Among her awards are the IPM Outstanding Book Award from the American Sociological Association. She is the author of Capital Without Borders: Wealth Management and the One Percent.
    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>    gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/oXYaEzuvCveFwzy8v-VjLRwN3aBT_Cv1GbncYiTkpeEMon, 22 May 2023 12:06:18 +0000Sean CarrollThe modern world is large and interconnected, and there are a lot of systems that might be important to how it functions but about which most people are barely aware. One of these is the offshore wealth management network, which wealthy individuals...a recent paper, she and colleagues analyze networks of offshore wealth managers as a complex system, uncovering power-law behavior and interesting nation-dependent network structures.Web site with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/05/22/237-brooke-harrington-on-offshore-wealth-as-a-complex-system/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Brooke Harrington received her Ph.D. in sociology from Harvard University. She is currently a professor of sociology at Dartmouth College. Among her awards are the IPM Outstanding Book Award from the American Sociological Association. She is the author of Capital Without Borders: Wealth Management and the One Percent.
    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>    4680ideas,philosophy,physics,science,societyfalse237full    236 | Thomas Hertog on Quantum Cosmology and Hawking's Final Theoryhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/236-thomas-hertog-on-quantum-cosmology-and-hawking-s-final-theory--67709461Patreon.Thomas Hertog received his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Cambridge. He is currently a professor of theoretical physics at KU Leuven. His new book is On the Origin of Time: Stephen Hawking's Final Theory.
    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>    gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/WPUSbmXxfnMvSq5FeuwPvLddmzEZVwePaTonHFp-RZAMon, 15 May 2023 12:39:34 +0000Sean CarrollIs there a multiverse, and if so, how should we think of ourselves within it? In many modern cosmological models, the universe includes more than one realm, with possibly different laws of physics, and these realms may or may not include intelligent...Patreon.Thomas Hertog received his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Cambridge. He is currently a professor of theoretical physics at KU Leuven. His new book is On the Origin of Time: Stephen Hawking's Final Theory.
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    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>    11256ideas,philosophy,physics,science,societyfalsebonus    225 | Michael Tomasello on The Social Origins of Cognition and Agencyhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/225-michael-tomasello-on-the-social-origins-of-cognition-and-agency--67709490Patreon.Michael Tomasello received a Ph.D. in experimental psychology from the University of Georgia. He is currently the James Bonk Professor of Psychology & Neuroscience and Director of the Developmental Psychology Program at Duke University. He is a fellow of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Among his awards are the Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award from the American Psychological Association, the Wiley Prize in Psychology, and the Heineken Prize for Cognitive Science. His newest book is The Evolution of Agency: Behavioral Organization from Lizards to Humans.
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    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>    gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/297Kthc3JR8cA24t5l4kYiH3jowTiAXkz5RcBFGD80MMon, 23 Jan 2023 12:26:11 +0000Sean CarrollSo you have some information — how are you going to share it with and present it to the rest of the world? There has been a long history of organizing and displaying information without putting too much thought into it, but Edward Tufte has done an...The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, and continuing to his new book Seeing With Fresh Eyes: Meaning, Space, Data, Truth, Tufte’s works have shaped how we think about charts, graphs, and other forms of presenting data. We talk about information, design, and how thinking about data reflects how we think about the world.Support Mindscape on Patreon.Edward Tufte received his Ph.D. in political science from Yale University. He has been a professor of public affairs at Princeton and of political science, statistics, and computer science at Yale, where he is currently emeritus professor. He is the founder and owner of Graphics Press, and his books have sold nearly 2 million copies worldwide. He is an active artist and sculptor, as well as a touring lecturer.
    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>    4580data,design,ideas,information,science,societyfalse224full    223 | Tania Lombrozo on What Explanations Arehttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/223-tania-lombrozo-on-what-explanations-are--67709519Patreon.Tania Lombrozo received her Ph.D. in psychology from Harvard University. She is currently a professor of psychology at Princeton. Among her awards are the Gittier Award from the American Psychological Foundation, an Early Investigator Award from the Society of Experimental Psychologists, and the Stanton Prize from the Society for Philosophy and Psychology.
    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>    gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/kI706SmvGI3TJXTRNmsVfBx8itZt7gRMCQgnTkpG1j0Mon, 16 Jan 2023 13:41:52 +0000Sean CarrollThere are few human impulses more primal than the desire for explanations. We have expectations concerning what happens, and when what we experience differs from those expectations, we want to know the reason why. There are obvious philosophy...Patreon.Tania Lombrozo received her Ph.D. in psychology from Harvard University. She is currently a professor of psychology at Princeton. Among her awards are the Gittier Award from the American Psychological Foundation, an Early Investigator Award from the Society of Experimental Psychologists, and the Stanton Prize from the Society for Philosophy and Psychology.
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    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>    gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/zANx4nyHXJ0LFd6zRQh2Gechp6FvzbtQrnjVRicxwe4Mon, 02 Jan 2023 14:38:00 +0000Sean CarrollOne of the most powerful of all human capacities is the ability to imagine ourselves in hypothetical situations at different times. We can remember the past, but also conjure up possible futures that haven’t yet happened. This simple ability underlies...The Invention of Tomorrow: A Natural History of Foresight (with Thomas Suddendorf and Jonathan Redshaw).Support Mindscape on Patreon.Adam Bulley received his Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Queensland. He is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the Brain and Mind Centre and School of Psychology, The University of Sydney, and the Department of Psychology at Harvard University.
    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>    4844ideas,philosophy,psychology,science,societyfalse221full    Holiday Message 2022: Thinking Really Slowlyhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/holiday-message-2022-thinking-really-slowly--67709493https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/E53bjAZT5UDcjvt_0_IzEoVYiQHNCdyfBzP_gD6a890Mon, 19 Dec 2022 14:42:56 +0000Sean CarrollWelcome to that beloved Mindscape annual tradition, the Holiday Message. An opportunity for a quicker and less-well-thought-out solo episode to round off another year. Ironically, this year the theme is the importance of slowing down and thinking...https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>2872ideas,philosophy,physics,science,societyfalsebonus220 | Lara Buchak on Risk and Rationalityhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/220-lara-buchak-on-risk-and-rationality--67709484Patreon.Lara Buchak received a Ph.D. in philosophy from Princeton University. She is currently a professor of philosophy at Princeton. Her research interests include decision theory, social choice theory, epistemology, ethics, and the philosophy of religion. She was the inaugural winner of the Alvin Plantinga Prize of the American Philosophical Association. Her book Risk and Rationality proposes a new way of dealing with risk in rational-choice theory.
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    Dani Bassett received a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Cambridge. They are currently the J. Peter Skirkanich Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, with appointments in the Departments of Bioengineering, Electrical & Systems Engineering, Physics & Astronomy, Neurology, and Psychiatry, as well as an external professor of the Santa Fe Institute. Among their awards are the Macarthur Fellowship, the Lagrange Prize in Complex Systems Science (2017), and the Erdos-Renyi Prize in Network Science.
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    Dani Bassett received a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Cambridge. They are currently the J. Peter Skirkanich Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, with appointments in the Departments of Bioengineering, Electrical & Systems Engineering, Physics & Astronomy, Neurology, and Psychiatry, as well as an external professor of the Santa Fe Institute. Among their awards are the Macarthur Fellowship, the Lagrange Prize in Complex Systems Science (2017), and the Erdos-Renyi Prize in Network Science.
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    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>    gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/aMuy7Lvulev_WCqhkWjsb1QGED-gitYryaoVG4wn-aEMon, 24 Oct 2022 11:40:54 +0000Sean CarrollThe founders of statistical mechanics in the 19th century faced an uphill battle to convince their fellow physicists that the laws of thermodynamics could be derived from the random motions of microscopic atoms. This insight turns out to be even more...Mentaculus — the probability map of the world — that connects microscopic physics to time, causation, and other familiar features of our experience.Support Mindscape on Patreon.Barry Loewer received his Ph.D. in philosophy from Stanford University. He is currently distinguished professor of philosophy at Rutgers University. His research focuses on the foundations of physics and the metaphysics of laws and chance.
    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>    5670ideas,philosophy,physics,science,societyfalse215full    214 | Antonio Padilla on Large Numbers and the Scope of the Universehttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/214-antonio-padilla-on-large-numbers-and-the-scope-of-the-universe--67709538immense numbers have any meaningful relationship with the physical world? In his recent book Fantastic Numbers and Where to Find Them, theoretical physicist Antonio Padilla explores both our actual universe and the abstract world of immense numbers, and finds surprising connections between them.Support Mindscape on Patreon.Antonio (Tony) Padilla received his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Durham. He is currently a Royal Society Research Fellow in the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Nottingham. He is a frequent contributor to the YouTube series Sixty Symbols and Numberphile.
    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>    gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/_n9UEVga7Xefw2SipHS1NnYmdDPFSBGiOTuFy0ZeN9MMon, 17 Oct 2022 12:12:53 +0000Sean CarrollIt’s a big universe we live in, so it comes as no surprise that big numbers are needed to describe it. There are roughly 10^22 stars in the observable universe, and about 10^88 particles altogether. But these numbers are nothing compared to some of...immense numbers have any meaningful relationship with the physical world? In his recent book Fantastic Numbers and Where to Find Them, theoretical physicist Antonio Padilla explores both our actual universe and the abstract world of immense numbers, and finds surprising connections between them.Support Mindscape on Patreon.Antonio (Tony) Padilla received his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Durham. He is currently a Royal Society Research Fellow in the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Nottingham. He is a frequent contributor to the YouTube series Sixty Symbols and Numberphile.
    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>    4551ideas,philosophy,physics,science,societyfalse214full    AMA | October 2022https://www.spreaker.com/episode/ama-october-2022--67709524Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number — based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the questions themselves are good — and sometimes group them together if they are about a similar topic. Enjoy!Support Mindscape on Patreon.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/kqVpQDy-4PNsHdYyqTyugKBQ9pIklftk7aa4yot26EoMon, 10 Oct 2022 12:27:54 +0000Sean CarrollWelcome to the October 2022 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded by https://www.patreon.com/seanmcarroll (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a...Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number — based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the questions themselves are good — and sometimes group them together if they are about a similar topic. Enjoy!Support Mindscape on Patreon.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>10877ideas,philosophy,physics,science,societyfalsebonus213 | Timiebi Aganaba on Law and Governance in Spacehttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/213-timiebi-aganaba-on-law-and-governance-in-space--67709506Patreon.Timiebi Aganaba received Ph.D. and LL.M. degrees from the Institute of Air and Space Law at McGill University. She is currently an assistant professor in the School for the Future of Innovation in Society at Arizona State University, with a courtesy appointment at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law. She is also an affiliate faculty with the Interplanetary Initiative and a senior global futures scientist with the Global Futures Lab at ASU. She served as Executive Director of the World Space Week Association, and currently serves on advisory boards for the UN Space Generation Advisory Council, the Board of World View Enterprises, and the SETI Institute. She was the recipient of a Space Leaders Award from the International Astronautical Federation and her doctorate received the George and Ann Robinson Award for advanced research capabilities.
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    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>    gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/U_rFS2vH-cJTz-JfOKS3EpzPSTbTDsdtZqpiOlEwEdoMon, 13 Jun 2022 14:21:47 +0000Sean CarrollWelcome to the June 2022 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! We are inaugurating a slightly different publication schedule, in which these monthly AMA will take the place of one of the regular Monday episodes, rather than being in addition to all of...Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). I take the large number of questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable size — based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the questions themselves are good — and sometimes group them together if they are about a similar topic. Enjoy!
    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>    11086arts,culture,ideas,philosophy,physics,science,societyfalsebonus    200 | Solo: The Philosophy of the Multiversehttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/200-solo-the-philosophy-of-the-multiverse--67709501Patreon.References:
    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>    gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/f_9RfCc6FbvWb7yotWQX9uTGcRog5eHtcVkXNhKyQ0IMon, 06 Jun 2022 14:47:39 +0000Sean CarrollThe 200th episode of Mindscape! Thanks to everyone for sticking around for this long. To celebrate, a solo episode discussing a set of issues naturally arising at the intersection of philosophy and physics: how to think about probabilities and...Patreon.References:
    • Guth, “Inflation and Eternal Inflation“
    • Weinberg, “Living In the Multiverse“
    • Susskind, “The Anthropic Landscape of String Theory“
    • Carroll, Johnson, and Randall, “Dynamical Compactification from De Sitter Space“
    • Sebens and Carroll, “Self-Locating Uncertainty and the Origin of Probability in Everettian Quantum Mechanics“
    • Wald, “Asymptotic behavior of homogeneous cosmological models in the presence of a positive cosmological constant“
    • Gibbons and Hawking, “Cosmological Event Horizons, Thermodynamics, and Particle Creation“
    • Carroll and Chatwin-Davies, “Cosmic Equilibration: A Holographic No-Hair Theorem from the Generalized Second Law“
    • Dyson, Kleban, and Susskind, “Disturbing Implications of a Cosmological Constant“
    • Albrecht and Sorbo, “Can the Universe Afford Inflation?“
    • Boddy, Carroll, and Pollack, “De Sitter Space Without Dynamical Quantum Fluctuations“
    • Carroll, “Why Boltzmann Brains Are Bad“
    • Aguirre, Carroll, and Johnson, “Out of Equilibrium: Understanding Cosmological Evolution to Lower-Entropy States“
    • Carroll, “Beyond Falsifiabiliy: Normal Science in a Multiverse“
    • Carter and McCrea, “The Anthropic Principle and its Implications for Biological Evolution“
    • Leslie, “Doomsday Revisited“
    • Gott, “Implications of the Copernican Principle for Our Future Prospects“
    • Bostrom, Anthropic Bias
    • Vilenkin, “The Principle of Mediocrity“
    • Olum, “Conflict Between Anthropic Reasoning and Observation“
    • Elga, “8077culture,ideas,philosophy,physics,sciencefalse200full199 | Elizabeth Cohen on Time and Other Political Valueshttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/199-elizabeth-cohen-on-time-and-other-political-values--67709494Patreon.Elizabeth Cohen received her Ph.D. in political science from Yale University. She is currently a professor of political science at Syracuse, and in March 2023 will move to Boston University to become the Maxwell Professor of United States Citizenship in the Department of Political Science. Among her awards are the Moynihan Award for Outstanding Research and Teaching at Syracuse and the Best Book award from the American Political Science section on Migration and Citizenship, for The Political Value of Time.
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      See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>      4376culture,ideas,philosophy,politics,society,timefalse199full      198 | Nick Lane on Powering Biologyhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/198-nick-lane-on-powering-biology--67709472Patreon.Nick Lane received his PhD from the Royal Free Hospital Medical School. He is currently a professor of Evolutionary Biochemistry at University College London. He was a founding member of the UCL Consortium for Mitochondrial Research, and is Co-Director of the UCL Centre for Life’s Origin and Evolution. He was awarded the 2009 UCL Provost’s Venture Research Prize, the 2011 BMC Research Award for Genetics, Genomics, Bioinformatics and Evolution, the 2015 Biochemical Society Award, and the 2016 Royal Society Michael Faraday Prize and Lecture. His new book is Transformer: The Deep Chemistry of Life and Death.
      See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>      gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/yNOsb3CkGSrVGV7LZcGdYgNeusiniX4fFru4kHTQ4k4Mon, 23 May 2022 13:58:15 +0000Sean CarrollThe origin of life here on Earth was an important and fascinating event, but it was also a long time ago and hasn’t left many pieces of direct evidence concerning what actually happened. One set of clues we have comes from processes in current living...Patreon.Nick Lane received his PhD from the Royal Free Hospital Medical School. He is currently a professor of Evolutionary Biochemistry at University College London. He was a founding member of the UCL Consortium for Mitochondrial Research, and is Co-Director of the UCL Centre for Life’s Origin and Evolution. He was awarded the 2009 UCL Provost’s Venture Research Prize, the 2011 BMC Research Award for Genetics, Genomics, Bioinformatics and Evolution, the 2015 Biochemical Society Award, and the 2016 Royal Society Michael Faraday Prize and Lecture. His new book is Transformer: The Deep Chemistry of Life and Death.
      See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>      5130biology,chemistry,ideas,origin of life,sciencefalse198full      197 | Catherine Brinkley on the Science of Citieshttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/197-catherine-brinkley-on-the-science-of-cities--67709512Patreon.Catherine Brinkley received a Ph.D. in City and Regional Planning as well as a degree in Veterinary Medicine from the University of Pennsylvania. She is currently Associate Professor of Human Ecology and Faculty Director at the Center for Regional Change at the University of California, Davis. She has been awarded fellowships from the Fulbright Foundation, the National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity, and the Santa Fe Institute.
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      See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>      gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/itHIP_5MRusrpT8S_vtPZj1CuNqHPyTp34_gPO2pKCUMon, 09 May 2022 15:15:16 +0000Sean CarrollTo say that event A causes event B is to not only make a claim about our actual world, but about other possible worlds — in worlds where A didn’t happen but everything else was the same, B would not have happened. This leads to an obvious difficulty...Patreon.Judea Pearl received a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn. He is currently a professor of computer science and statistics and director of the Cognitive Systems Laboratory at UCLA. He is a founding editor of the Journal of Causal Inference. Among his awards are the Lakatos Award in the philosophy of science, The Allen Newell Award from the Association for Computing Machinery, the Benjamin Franklin Medal, the Rumelhart Prize from the Cognitive Science Society, the ACM Turing Award, and the Grenander Prize from the American Mathematical Society. He is the co-author (with Dana MacKenzie) of The Book of Why: The New Science of Cause and Effect.
      See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>      4611causality,culture,ideas,philosophy,science,societyfalse196full      195 | Richard Dawkins on Flight and Other Evolutionary Achievementshttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/195-richard-dawkins-on-flight-and-other-evolutionary-achievements--67709543Flights of Fancy: Defying Gravity by Design and Evolution. We take the opportunity to talk about other central issues in evolution: levels of selection, the extended phenotype, the role of adaptation, and how genes relate to organisms.Support Mindscape on Patreon.Richard Dawkins received his Ph.D. in zoology from the University of Oxford. He is an emeritus fellow of New College, Oxford, where he was previously the Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science. He is an internationally best-selling author, whose books include The Selfish Gene, The Blind Watchmaker, and The God Delusion. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society and the Royal Society of Literature.
      See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>      gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/CxXekTnXMXmd78aJhdyvkJJCuK-NTL6WwkbzVYz2HAUMon, 02 May 2022 14:59:37 +0000Sean CarrollEvolution has equipped species with a variety of ways to travel through the air — flapping, gliding, floating, not to mention jumping really high. But it hasn’t invented jet engines. What are the different ways that heavier-than-air objects might be...Flights of Fancy: Defying Gravity by Design and Evolution. We take the opportunity to talk about other central issues in evolution: levels of selection, the extended phenotype, the role of adaptation, and how genes relate to organisms.Support Mindscape on Patreon.Richard Dawkins received his Ph.D. in zoology from the University of Oxford. He is an emeritus fellow of New College, Oxford, where he was previously the Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science. He is an internationally best-selling author, whose books include The Selfish Gene, The Blind Watchmaker, and The God Delusion. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society and the Royal Society of Literature.
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      Support Mindscape on Patreon.Frans de Waal received his Ph.D. in biology from Utrecht University. He is currently Charles Howard Candler Professor of Primate Behavior in the Department of Psychology at Emory University and director of the Living Links Center at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society. Among his awards are the Knight of the order of the Netherlands Lion, the Galileo Prize, ASP Distinguished Primatologist, and the PEN/EO Wilson Literary Science Writing Award, not to mention an Ig Nobel Prize.
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      Support Mindscape on Patreon.Frans de Waal received his Ph.D. in biology from Utrecht University. He is currently Charles Howard Candler Professor of Primate Behavior in the Department of Psychology at Emory University and director of the Living Links Center at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society. Among his awards are the Knight of the order of the Netherlands Lion, the Galileo Prize, ASP Distinguished Primatologist, and the PEN/EO Wilson Literary Science Writing Award, not to mention an Ig Nobel Prize.
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      See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>      gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/gbuuQaIbjJ7GguUWR5St2G3b3H6JRe2swaFyw9ooXtkMon, 18 Apr 2022 15:06:28 +0000Sean CarrollEvery time we make an important decision, it’s hard not to wonder how things would have turned out had we chosen differently. The set of all those hypothetical lives is a kind of “multiverse” — not one predicted by quantum mechanics or cosmology, but...Everything Everywhere All At Once, Daniels (the collective moniker for writer/directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert) use this idea to tell the story of Evelyn (Michelle Yeoh), who is the “worst” of all her avatars in the multiverse. We talk about philosophy, filmmaking, and how we should all strive to be kind amidst the chaos.Support Mindscape on Patreon.Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert are writers and directors collectively known as Daniels. They met and formed a collaboration while in film school at Emerson College. They have directed a number of music videos for artists such as DJ Snake and Tenacious D. Their first feature film was Swiss Army Man, starring Daniel Radcliffe.
      See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>      4134arts,culture,film,ideas,philosophy,sciencefalse193full      AMA | April 2022https://www.spreaker.com/episode/ama-april-2022--67709557Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). I take the large number of questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable size — based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the questions themselves are good — and sometimes group them together if they are about a similar topic. Enjoy!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/ByYBTFzhYaCFtPCPn-2oWURkN4VFEIXZsqEUKBtvCHkThu, 14 Apr 2022 17:15:52 +0000Sean CarrollWelcome to the April 2022 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded by https://www.patreon.com/seanmcarroll (who are also the ones asking the questions). I take the large number of questions asked by Patreons, whittle...Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). I take the large number of questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable size — based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the questions themselves are good — and sometimes group them together if they are about a similar topic. Enjoy!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>12447arts,culture,ideas,philosophy,physics,science,societyfalsebonus192 | Nicole Yunger Halpern on Quantum Steampunk Thermodynamicshttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/192-nicole-yunger-halpern-on-quantum-steampunk-thermodynamics--67709500Patreon.Nicole Yunger Halpern received her Ph.D. in physics from Caltech. She is currently a NIST physicist and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Physics and IPST at the University of Maryland. Her Ph.D. thesis won the international Ilya Prigogine Prize for a thermodynamics dissertation. As a postdoc she received the International Quantum Technology Emerging Researcher Award. Her new book is Quantum Steampunk: The Physics of Yesterday’s Tomorrow.
      See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>      gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/glnxs4fJ_072izIqCelO_7xwXxdy7pUujp5sJUvgC6sMon, 11 Apr 2022 15:14:15 +0000Sean CarrollRandomness and probability are central to modern physics. In statistical mechanics this is because we don’t know everything about the distribution of atoms and molecules in a fluid, so we consider a probability distribution over what they might be; in...Patreon.Nicole Yunger Halpern received her Ph.D. in physics from Caltech. She is currently a NIST physicist and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Physics and IPST at the University of Maryland. Her Ph.D. thesis won the international Ilya Prigogine Prize for a thermodynamics dissertation. As a postdoc she received the International Quantum Technology Emerging Researcher Award. Her new book is Quantum Steampunk: The Physics of Yesterday’s Tomorrow.
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      See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>      gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/5yJl8NmTEXZXXZESK4vWnKvdTv6a--ej5Fk-8bnQ1MoMon, 04 Apr 2022 14:32:01 +0000Sean CarrollThe future grows out of the present, but it manages to consistently surprise us. How can we get better at anticipating and preparing for what the future can be like? Jane McGonigal started out as a game designer, working on the kinds of games that...Patreon.Jane McGonigal received her Ph.D. in performance studies from the University of California, Berkeley. She is currently a writer and Director of Games Research and Development at the Institute for the Future. She teaches a course at Stanford on How to Think Like a Futurist. She has developed several games, including SuperBetter, a game she designed to improve health and resilience after suffering from a concussion. Her recent book is Imaginable: How to See the Future Coming and Feel Ready for Anything–Even Things That Seem Impossible Today.
      See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>      4916arts,culture,ideas,societyfalse191full      190 | Lea Goentoro on Regrowing Limbshttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/190-lea-goentoro-on-regrowing-limbs--67709492Planaria can be cut into pieces, and each piece will regrow into an entire organism; but for most advanced animals, loss of a limb becomes a permanent condition. But why should that necessarily be so, if an organism’s genome knows what it’s supposed to look like? Lea Goentoro’s lab has recently produced surprising results that indicate that it’s easier than you might think to coax animals into regenerating limbs.Support Mindscape on Patreon.Lea Goentoro received her Ph.D. in chemical engineering from Princeton University. She is currently Professor of Biology at Caltech. Her research involves how biological systems function and develop across a variety of scales, including perception, organization, and self-repair.
      See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>      gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/MwRzEwCWvV8U921tv1KCXVf36jA-3c-uRYMvsLzM0XsMon, 28 Mar 2022 14:05:54 +0000Sean CarrollBiological organisms are pretty good at healing themselves, but their abilities fall short in crucial ways. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planarian#Regeneration can be cut into pieces, and each piece will regrow into an entire organism; but for most...Planaria can be cut into pieces, and each piece will regrow into an entire organism; but for most advanced animals, loss of a limb becomes a permanent condition. But why should that necessarily be so, if an organism’s genome knows what it’s supposed to look like? Lea Goentoro’s lab has recently produced surprising results that indicate that it’s easier than you might think to coax animals into regenerating limbs.Support Mindscape on Patreon.Lea Goentoro received her Ph.D. in chemical engineering from Princeton University. She is currently Professor of Biology at Caltech. Her research involves how biological systems function and develop across a variety of scales, including perception, organization, and self-repair.
      See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>      3837biology,ideas,sciencefalse190full      189 | Brian Klaas on Power and the Temptation of Corruptionhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/189-brian-klaas-on-power-and-the-temptation-of-corruption--67709546Patreon.Brian Klaas received his D.Phil. in Politics from the University of Oxford. He is currently Associate Professor in Global Politics at University College London and a columnist for The Washington Post. His new book is Corruptible: Who Gets Power and How it Changes Us. He is host of the Power Corrupts podcast.
      See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>      gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/6YuklkYlIyCxhM5b0lJDl6xB5Z_87A01vsZagNgWjCQMon, 21 Mar 2022 13:15:19 +0000Sean CarrollAll societies grant more power to some citizens, and there is always a temptation to use that power for the benefit of themselves rather than for the greater good. Power corrupts, we are told — but to what extent is that true? Would any of us, upon...Patreon.Brian Klaas received his D.Phil. in Politics from the University of Oxford. He is currently Associate Professor in Global Politics at University College London and a columnist for The Washington Post. His new book is Corruptible: Who Gets Power and How it Changes Us. He is host of the Power Corrupts podcast.
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      See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>      gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/0n1QVuDs3JM34OP93UV0dz3xu-C92DOQOWt0L5esv-MMon, 14 Mar 2022 14:35:09 +0000Sean CarrollIf extraterrestrial life is out there — not just microbial slime, but big, complex, macroscopic organisms — what will they be like? Movies have trained us to think that they won’t be that different at all; they’ll even drink and play music at the same...Patreon.Arik Kershenbaum received his Ph.D. in Evolutionary Biology and Ecology from the University of Haifa. He is currently College Lecturer and Director of Studies at Girton College, University of Cambridge. He is the author of The Zoologist’s Guide to the Galaxy: What Animals on Earth Reveal About Aliens — and Ourselves.
      See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>      4875aliens,biology,exobiology,ideas,sciencefalse188full      187 | Andrew Leigh on the Politics of Looming Disastershttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/187-andrew-leigh-on-the-politics-of-looming-disasters--67709547Patreon.Andrew Leigh received his Ph.D. in Public Policy from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He is a member of the Australian House of Representatives representing Fenner. He was previously a professor of economics at Australian National University, and has served as Shadow Assistant Minister for Treasury and Charities. His recent book is What’s the Worst That Could Happen? Existential Risk and Extreme Politics.
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      See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>      4299culture,empathy,ideas,psychology,science,society,technologyfalse186full      185 | Arvid Ågren on the Gene’s-Eye View of Evolutionhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/185-arvid-agren-on-the-gene-s-eye-view-of-evolution--67709496Patreon.Arvid Ågren received his Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Toronto. He is currently a Wenner-Gren Fellow at the Evolutionary Biology Centre at Uppsala University. Previously he worked at Cornell and Harvard. His recent book is The Gene’s-Eye View of Evolution.
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      See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>      gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/25auTI2ivZzD2Af--QL0XKf9YtsiAXBhoBmOl3UBCM0Mon, 07 Feb 2022 15:40:45 +0000Sean CarrollModern particle physics is a victim of its own success. We have extremely good theories — so good that it’s hard to know exactly how to move beyond them, since they agree with all the experiments. Yet, there are strong indications from theoretical...Patreon.Michael Dine received his Ph.D. in physics from Yale University. He is Distinguished Professor of Physics at the Santa Cruz Institute for Particle Physics, University of California, Santa Cruz. Among his awards are fellowships from the Sloan Foundation, Guggenheim Foundation, American Physical Society, and American Academy of Arts and Sciences, as well as the Sakurai Prize for theoretical particle physics. His new book is This Way to the Universe: A Theoretical Physicist’s Journey to the Edge of Reality.
      See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>      5984ideas,physics,sciencefalse183full      182 | Sally Haslanger on Social Construction and Critical Theoryhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/182-sally-haslanger-on-social-construction-and-critical-theory--67709548Patreon.Sally Haslanger received her Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of California, Berkeley. She is currently the Ford Professor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Among her awards are the Carus Lectureship, the Distinguished Woman Philosopher award, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. She is the author of several books, including Resisting Reality: Social Construction and Social Critique.
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      See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>      gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/XxXLOztSy91T_CfnrUfyzcWYgKqRRxDhRV61unEh11kMon, 24 Jan 2022 16:19:52 +0000Sean CarrollA good story takes you on an emotional journey, with ups and downs along the way. Thanks to science, we can quantify that. Peter Dodds works on understanding the structure of stories and other strings of words (including Twitter) by analyzing the...Patreon.Peter Dodds received his Ph.D. in mathematics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is currently a professor of computer science at the University of Vermont and Director of the Vermont Complex Systems Center. He has won multiple teaching awards, and was elected a Fellow of the Network Science Society.
      See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>      4608culture,ideas,philosophy,sciencefalse181full      180 | Camilla Pang on Instructions for Being Humanhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/180-camilla-pang-on-instructions-for-being-human--67709540Patreon.Camilla Pang received her Ph.D. in computational biology from University College London. She is currently a postdoctoral researcher in pharmaceuticals and a volunteer cancer researcher at the Francis Crick Institute. She was awarded the Royal Society Prize for Science Books in 2020 for her book Explaining Humans: What Science Can Teach Us about Life, Love, and Relationships (US title: An Outsider’s Guide to Humans: What Science Taught Me about What We Do and Who We Are).
      See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>      gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/m4B2UCLhRPA6F-U3csJ7wNV608qIhvB1A1lEkx89t3UMon, 17 Jan 2022 15:21:32 +0000Sean CarrollBeing a human is tricky. There are any number of unwritten rules and social cues that we have to learn as we go, but that we ultimately learn to take for granted. Camilla Pang, who was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder at age eight, had a harder...Patreon.Camilla Pang received her Ph.D. in computational biology from University College London. She is currently a postdoctoral researcher in pharmaceuticals and a volunteer cancer researcher at the Francis Crick Institute. She was awarded the Royal Society Prize for Science Books in 2020 for her book Explaining Humans: What Science Can Teach Us about Life, Love, and Relationships (US title: An Outsider’s Guide to Humans: What Science Taught Me about What We Do and Who We Are).
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      See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>      gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/BeRP5IhEtZMmOFY-H7p_20_JhrRBefn5orxm_c6g_HoMon, 03 Jan 2022 15:31:48 +0000Sean CarrollAre numbers real? What does that even mean? You can’t kick a number. But you can talk about numbers in useful ways, and we use numbers to talk about the real world. There’s surely a kind of reality there. On the other hand, Luke Skywalker isn’t a real...nominalism, the view that abstract objects are not “things,” they are merely labels we use in talking about things. A deeply philosophical issue, but one that has implications for how we think about physics and the laws of nature.Support Mindscape on Patreon.Jody Azzouni received his Ph.D. in philosophy from the City University of New York. He is currently a professor of philosophy at Tufts University. In addition to his philosophical work, he is an active writer of fiction and poetry.
      See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>      4472ideas,mathematics,philosophy,sciencefalse178full      Holiday Message 2021 | On Disciplines & Cocktailshttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/holiday-message-2021-on-disciplines-cocktails--67709530Patreon.Mindscape will be dark on Monday December 27, and will resume regular programming on Monday January 3. Here are the two books I mentioned in the podcast, and the one essay:
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      See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>      4245ideas,physics,sciencefalse177full      176 | Joshua Greene on Morality, Psychology, and Trolley Problemshttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/176-joshua-greene-on-morality-psychology-and-trolley-problems--67709508https://givingmultiplier.org/mindscape.Support Mindscape on Patreon.Joshua Greene received his Ph.D. in philosophy from Princeton University. He is currently Professor of Psychology and a member of the Center for Brain Science faculty at Harvard University. His an originator of the dual-process model of moral reasoning. Among his awards are the the Stanton Prize from the Society for Philosophy and Psychology and Harvard’s Roslyn Abramson Award for teaching. He is the author of Moral Tribes: Emotion, Reason, and the Gap Between Us and Them.
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      See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>      5715ideas,philosophy,physics,sciencefalse167full      166 | Betül Kaçar on Paleogenomics and Ancient Lifehttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/166-betul-kacar-on-paleogenomics-and-ancient-life--67710056Patreon.Betül Kaçar received her PhD in biomolecular chemistry from Emory University. She is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Bacteriology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is also principal investigator of Project MUSE, a NASA-funded astrobiology research initiative and an associate professor (adjunct) at Earth-Life Science Institute of Tokyo Institute of Technology. Among her awards are a NASA Early Career Faculty Fellow in 2019, and a Scialog Fellow for the search for life in the universe.
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      See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>      gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/UdNLibyKO7t_67JlQN_dP1m88PVncJzRFjgu-gLeO7AMon, 20 Sep 2021 12:40:09 +0000Sean CarrollIt's pretty clear that our genes affect, though they don't completely determine, who we grow up to be; children’s physical and mental characteristics are not completely unrelated to those of their parents. But this relationship has been widely abused...Patreon.Kathryn Paige Harden received her Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Virginia. She is currently a professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin. She is the leader of the Developmental Behavior Genetics Lab and co-director of the Texas Twin Project. She was the recipient of the Award for Distinguished Scientific Early Career Contributions to Psychology from the American Psychological Association. Her new book is The Genetic Lottery: Why DNA Matters for Social Equality.
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      See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>      gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/u5jYbL03zNBPr1Z-v9Vu1ILoVXujFpDarGusPQ3kFlEMon, 06 Sep 2021 12:08:44 +0000Sean CarrollPhysics is extremely good at describing simple systems with relatively few moving parts. Sadly, the world is not like that; many phenomena of interest are complex, with multiple interacting parts and interesting things happening at multiple scales of...Patreon.Nigel Goldenfeld received his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Cambridge. He currently holds the Chancellor's Distinguished Professorship in Physics at UC San Diego. Until recently he was a Swanlund Endowed Chair and Center for Advanced Study Professor in Physics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Among his awards are the Xerox Award for research, the A. Nordsieck award for excellence in graduate teaching, and the American Physical Society’s Leo P. Kadanoff Prize. He is the co-founder of NumeriX, a company that specializes in high-performance software for the derivatives marketplace.
      See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>      5496ideas,physics,sciencefalse163full      162 | Leidy Klotz on Our Resistance to Subtractive Changehttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/162-leidy-klotz-on-our-resistance-to-subtractive-change--67710141Patreon.Leidy Klotz received his Ph.D. in Architectural Engineering from Penn State University. He is currently Copenhaver Associate Professor of Engineering Systems and Environment and Architecture at the University of Virginia. Before becoming a professor, he worked as a school designer, and before that was a professional soccer player for the Pittsburgh Riverhounds. His new book is Subtract: The Untapped Science of Less.
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      See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>      gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/wzHTeFr7WG9zWXlj9vBICzHB1E2lxSqX07BjpyKKuOgMon, 16 Aug 2021 14:27:47 +0000Sean CarrollPlato and Aristotle founded much of what we think of as Western philosophy during the fourth and fifth centuries BCE. Interestingly, that historical period also witnessed the foundation of some of the major schools of Chinese philosophy, especially...wu wei, or “effortless action” — the way that true mastery consists of doing things without too much conscious control. Today we would call it “flow” or “being in the zone,” but the idea stretches back quite a ways.Support Mindscape on Patreon.Edward Slingerland received his Ph.D. in religious studies from Stanford. He is currently Distinguished University Scholar, Professor of Philosophy, and Associate Member of the departments of Asian Studies and Psychology at the University of British Columbia. He is Director of the Database of Religious History, and co-director of the Center for the Study of Human Evolution, Cognition, and Culture. Among his books are Trying Not to Try: Ancient China, Modern Science, and the Power of Spontaneity, and a translation of Confucius’s Analects. His new book is Drunk: How We Sipped, Danced, and Stumbled Our Way to Civilization.
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      See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>      6585culture,ideas,philosophy,societytrue159full      158 | David Wallace on the Arrow of Timehttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/158-david-wallace-on-the-arrow-of-time--67710157Patreon.David Wallace received a D.Phil. in Physics and a D.Phil. in Philosophy from Oxford University. He is currently W.A. Mellon Professor of Philosophy of Science, with joint appointments in the Philosophy Department and the Department of History and Philosophy of Science, at the University of Pittsburgh. He is the author of The Emergent Multiverse: Quantum Theory According to the Everett Interpretation. Among his honors are the Lakatos Award for outstanding contribution to the philosophy of science. His most recent book is Philosophy of Physics: A Very Short Introduction.
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      See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>      6479ideas,philosophy,physics,sciencefalse158full      157 | Elizabeth Strychalski on Synthetic Cells and the Rules of Biologyhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/157-elizabeth-strychalski-on-synthetic-cells-and-the-rules-of-biology--67710079recently announced the construction of a synthetic microbial organism that self-reproduces just like a normal unicellular creature. This work will help us understand the roles of genes in reproduction, one step on the road to making DNA molecules and artificial cells that will perform a variety of medical and biological tasks.Support Mindscape on Patreon.Elizabeth Strychalski received her Ph.D. in physics from Cornell University. She is the founder and current leader of the Cellular Engineering Group at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. She serves on the steering group for the Build-A-Cell collaboration.
      See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>      gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/ltuPno00dSWoyHg1o5vaoY4QmR49ybmwOfBhsyJaljEMon, 26 Jul 2021 14:31:18 +0000Sean CarrollNatural selection has done a pretty good job at creating a wide variety of living species, but we humans can’t help but wonder whether we could do better. Using existing genomes as a starting point, biologists are getting increasingly skilled at...recently announced the construction of a synthetic microbial organism that self-reproduces just like a normal unicellular creature. This work will help us understand the roles of genes in reproduction, one step on the road to making DNA molecules and artificial cells that will perform a variety of medical and biological tasks.Support Mindscape on Patreon.Elizabeth Strychalski received her Ph.D. in physics from Cornell University. She is the founder and current leader of the Cellular Engineering Group at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. She serves on the steering group for the Build-A-Cell collaboration.
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      See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>      gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/Oc_pG-DBwrBX4Fd5yEBoNo7U-ud5fV41KS_K_yxMyvgMon, 05 Jul 2021 15:04:20 +0000Sean CarrollReligion is an important part of the lives of billions of people around the world, but what religious belief actually amounts to can vary considerably from person to person. Some believe in an anthropomorphic, judgmental God; others conceive of God as...Patreon.Reza Aslan received his Ph.D. in sociology from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is currently a professor of creative writing at the University of California, Riverside. He is the author of numerous books, including No God but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam; Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth; and God: A Human History. He has also worked in television, producing and writing documentaries, and serving as a consulting producer for the drama series The Leftovers. He recently started a podcast, Metaphysical Milkshake, with actor Rainn Wilson.
      See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>      5148culture,god,ideas,philosophy,religiontrue154full      153 | John Preskill on Quantum Computers and What They’re Good Forhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/153-john-preskill-on-quantum-computers-and-what-they-re-good-for--67710072IBM Quantum Experience.)Support Mindscape on Patreon.John Preskill received his Ph.D. in physics from Harvard University. He is currently the Richard P. Feynman Professor of Theoretical Physics at Caltech and the Davis Leadership Chair at the Institute for Quantum Information and Matter, as well as an Amazon Scholar at Amazon Web Services. Before moving into quantum information, he was a leading researcher in quantum field theory and black holes. He is the winner of multiple bets with Stephen Hawking.
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      See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>      5573ideas,physics,science,societyfalse153full      152 | Charis Kubrin on Criminology, Incarceration, and Hip-Hophttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/152-charis-kubrin-on-criminology-incarceration-and-hip-hop--67710055Patreon.Charis Kubrin received her Ph.D. from the University of Washington. She is currently a professor of Criminology and Law and Society at the University of California, Irvine. She is co-author of the textbook Introduction to Criminal Justice: a Sociological Perspective. Among her awards are the Ruth Shonie Cavan Award and the Coramae Richey Mann Award from the American Society of Criminology, and the W.E.B. DuBois Award and the Paul Tappan Award from the Western Society of Criminology.
      See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>      gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/NJnbWcnu9N8YkZBHqf8KqIEqoRVgeBPtmM6xOifCTWUMon, 21 Jun 2021 14:49:49 +0000Sean CarrollIt’s all well and good to talk abstractly about morality and justice, but at some point you have to sit down and figure out what to do about people who break the rules. In our modern legal system, mostly that involves incarceration, especially for...Patreon.Charis Kubrin received her Ph.D. from the University of Washington. She is currently a professor of Criminology and Law and Society at the University of California, Irvine. She is co-author of the textbook Introduction to Criminal Justice: a Sociological Perspective. Among her awards are the Ruth Shonie Cavan Award and the Coramae Richey Mann Award from the American Society of Criminology, and the W.E.B. DuBois Award and the Paul Tappan Award from the Western Society of Criminology.
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      See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>      5567ideas,philosophy,sciencefalse150full      149 | Lee Smolin on Time, Philosophy, and the Nature of Realityhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/149-lee-smolin-on-time-philosophy-and-the-nature-of-reality--67710067Patreon.Lee Smolin received his Ph.D. in physics from Harvard University. He is currently on the faculty of the Perimeter Institute in Waterloo, Canada, where he was a founding member. Among his awards are the Majorana Prize, the Klopsteg Memorial Award, and the Buchalter Cosmology Prize. He is the author of several books, most recently Einstein’s Unfinished Revolution: The Search for What Lies Beyond the Quantum.
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      See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>      4611ideas,mathematics,science,topologyfalse146full      145 | Niall Ferguson on Histories, Networks, and Catastropheshttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/145-niall-ferguson-on-histories-networks-and-catastrophes--67710082The Square and the Tower, that considered how an interplay between networks and hierarchies has shaped the history of the world. This analysis is directly relevant to how we deal with large-scale catastrophes, which is the subject of his new book, Doom: The Politics of Catastrophe. We talk about global culture as a complex system, and what it means for our ability to respond to crisis.Support Mindscape on Patreon.Niall Ferguson received his D.Phil. degree from the University of Oxford. He is currently the Milbank Family Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, a senior faculty fellow of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard, and a visiting professor at Tsinghua University, Beijing. He is the author of numerous book, several of which have been adapted into television documentaries, and has helped found several different companies. He won an international Emmy for his PBS series The Ascent of Money, and has previously been named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine.
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      See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>      gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/m1JfVhBatSpWtZIW47XkWCdGd-uY-K8B4MPyhGxzUpQMon, 12 Apr 2021 14:23:13 +0000Sean CarrollTelling a story seems like the most natural, human thing in the world. We all do it, all the time. And who amongst us doesn’t think we could be a fairly competent novelist, if we just bothered to take the time? But storytelling is a craft like any...Patreon.Charlie Jane Anders studied English and Asian literature at Cambridge University. She is the author of over 100 published works of short fiction and several novels, including the new Young Adult book Victories Greater Than Death. She was co-founder of the website io9, a blog about science and science fiction. She is a frequent event organizer, including the monthly Writers With Drinks. Among her accolades are Hugo, Nebula, Locus, Sturgeon, and Crawford awards. She is the co-host, with Annalee Newitz, of the Our Opinions Are Correct podcast. Later this year she will publish Never Say You Can’t Survive: How to Get Through Hard Times by Making Up Stories.
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      See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>      gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/EYakxFPe4xF-5mx1edUrxL-2fsK2-0XQIUhT0bU7LsYMon, 01 Feb 2021 15:46:09 +0000Sean CarrollAs a semi-outsider, it’s fun for me to watch as a new era dawns in biology: one that adds ideas from physics, big data, computer science, and information theory to the usual biological toolkit. One of the big areas of study in this burgeoning field is...Patreon.Michael Levin received his Ph.D. in genetics from Harvard University. He is currently Distinguished Professor and Vannevar Bush Chair in the Biology department at Tufts University, and serves as director of the Tufts Center for Regenerative and Developmental Biology. His work on left-right asymmetric body structures is on Nature’s list of 100 Milestones of Developmental Biology of the Century.
      See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>      4894ideas,philosophy,science,societyfalse132full      131 | Avi Loeb on Taking Aliens Seriouslyhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/131-avi-loeb-on-taking-aliens-seriously--67710069`Oumuamua might be a spaceship built by aliens. That got him in a lot of trouble. We talk about the trouble, about `Oumuamua, and the attitude scientists should take toward provocative ideas.Support Mindscape on Patreon.Abraham (Avi) Loeb received his Ph.D. in plasma physics from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is currently the Frank B. Baird Jr. professor of science at Harvard University. He served as the Chair of Harvard’s Astronomy department from 2011-2020. He is Director of the Institute for Theory and Computation of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, and Founding Director of Harvard’s Black Hole Initiative. He is chair of the Advisory Committee for the Breakthrough Starshot Initiative. His new book is Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth.
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      See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>      6034aliens,astronomy,culture,ideas,physics,science,spacefalse131full      130 | Frank Wilczek on the Present and Future of Fundamental Physicshttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/130-frank-wilczek-on-the-present-and-future-of-fundamental-physics--67710077time crystals. We talk about what we currently know about fundamental physics, but also the directions in which it is heading, for better and for worse.Support Mindscape on Patreon.Frank Wilczek received his Ph.D. in physics from Princeton University. He is currently the Herman Feshbach professor of physics at the MIT; Founding Director of the T. D. Lee Institute and Chief Scientist at Wilczek Quantum Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University; Distinguished Professor at Arizona State University; and Professor at Stockholm University. Among his numerous awards are the MacArthur Fellowship, the Nobel Prize in Physics (2004, for asymptotic freedom), membership in the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is the author of numerous books, most recently Fundamentals: Ten Keys to Reality.
      See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>      gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/lHSRdB93Tq_1tmANF7rML0fytnCA0n5uN5z4LR6RJ8UMon, 18 Jan 2021 15:46:04 +0000Sean CarrollWhat is the world made of? How does it behave? These questions, aimed at the most basic level of reality, are the subject of fundamental physics. What counts as fundamental is somewhat contestable, but it includes our best understanding of matter and...time crystals. We talk about what we currently know about fundamental physics, but also the directions in which it is heading, for better and for worse.Support Mindscape on Patreon.Frank Wilczek received his Ph.D. in physics from Princeton University. He is currently the Herman Feshbach professor of physics at the MIT; Founding Director of the T. D. Lee Institute and Chief Scientist at Wilczek Quantum Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University; Distinguished Professor at Arizona State University; and Professor at Stockholm University. Among his numerous awards are the MacArthur Fellowship, the Nobel Prize in Physics (2004, for asymptotic freedom), membership in the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is the author of numerous books, most recently Fundamentals: Ten Keys to Reality.
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The visuals are trippy, colorful, and inspired by (without trying to directly illustrate) what I talk about in the episode. You can check out a brief write-up at the Pioneer Works site, or view the video directly below.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHy1j4LiyGQSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/rMQoz-XB8gbeoCicnutvBZcWeAi8a1UpkfigoebEndUMon, 23 Nov 2020 15:20:12 +0000Sean CarrollTime! It doesn’t stop, psychological effects of being under lockdown notwithstanding. How we experience time depends on our situation, but time itself just marches forward. Unless, of course, it’s possible to travel to the past, as countless...Patreon.But wait, there’s more! I was contacted by Janna Levin, who we fondly remember from Episode 27. Janna moonlights as Chair and Director of Sciences at Pioneer Works, an institution dedicated to bringing together creative people in art and science. Like the rest of us, they’ve been looking for ways to offer more online content in these pandemic times, so we thought about ways to collaborate. Here’s what they came up with: artist Azikiwe Mohammed has created an animated video backdrop to this podcast episode. The visuals are trippy, colorful, and inspired by (without trying to directly illustrate) what I talk about in the episode. You can check out a brief write-up at the Pioneer Works site, or view the video directly below.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHy1j4LiyGQSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>9711arts,culture,ideas,philosophy,physics,science,societyfalse124fullAMA | November 2020https://www.spreaker.com/episode/ama-november-2020--67710112an account on Patreon, where people can sign up to donate a dollar or two per episode of Mindscape. In return they get two tangible (if minor) benefits. First, they get to listen to the podcast without any ads. Second, once per month I do an Ask Me Anything episode, where patrons are allowed to ask any question they like, and I do my best to answer as many as I can.Patreon supporters have kindly agreed to let these monthly AMA episodes be released to the general public (though they maintain the right actually ask the questions). I announced that I’d be doing this a while back, but with the cost structure I had with my podcast host it turned out to be prohibitively expensive for me. But now we’ve got that all figured out! So now, and hopefully going forward, these AMAs will be part of the regular podcast feed. They will be released sometime in the middle of each month, not as part of the usual Monday weekly series, so they won’t get numbers of their own.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/YWlWI5JVmfijUf3CHDcM_vU5Wh6QfyPYav2M7PHpBcUFri, 20 Nov 2020 21:35:16 +0000Sean CarrollAs you have likely heard me mention before, I have https://www.patreon.com/seanmcarroll, where people can sign up to donate a dollar or two per episode of Mindscape. In return they get two tangible (if minor) benefits. First, they get to listen to the...an account on Patreon, where people can sign up to donate a dollar or two per episode of Mindscape. In return they get two tangible (if minor) benefits. First, they get to listen to the podcast without any ads. Second, once per month I do an Ask Me Anything episode, where patrons are allowed to ask any question they like, and I do my best to answer as many as I can.Patreon supporters have kindly agreed to let these monthly AMA episodes be released to the general public (though they maintain the right actually ask the questions). I announced that I’d be doing this a while back, but with the cost structure I had with my podcast host it turned out to be prohibitively expensive for me. But now we’ve got that all figured out! So now, and hopefully going forward, these AMAs will be part of the regular podcast feed. They will be released sometime in the middle of each month, not as part of the usual Monday weekly series, so they won’t get numbers of their own.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>11543arts,culture,ideas,philosophy,physics,science,societyfalsebonus123 | Lisa Feldman Barrett on Emotions, Actions, and the Brainhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/123-lisa-feldman-barrett-on-emotions-actions-and-the-brain--67710131Patreon.Lisa Feldman Barrett received her Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Waterloo. She is currently the University Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Director of the Interdisciplinary Affective Science Laboratory at Northeastern University. She also holds research appointments at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH)/Harvard Medical School in the Psychiatric Neuroimaging Program and at the Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging in the Department of Radiology. Among her many honors are the Award for Distinguished Service in Psychological Science from the American Psychological Association, the Mentor Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Association for Psychological Science, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. She is the author of How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain, and her latest book is Seven and a Half Lessons About the Brain.
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      See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>      gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/vN6WJ_-_CHkvp9_mUFMqZM9KR4lZ5J4ZMz7ibp6oHP0Mon, 09 Nov 2020 15:46:46 +0000Sean CarrollImagine you were locked in a sealed room, with no way to access the outside world but a few screens showing a view of what’s outside. Seems scary and limited, but that’s essentially the situation that our brains find themselves in — locked in our...Patreon.David Eagleman received his Ph.D. in neuroscience from the Baylor College of Medicine. He is currently the CEO of Neosensory, a company that builds sensory-augmentation devices, as well as an adjunct professor at Stanford. His research has involved time perception, synesthesia, and sensory substitution. He is the founder and director of the Center for Science and Law. He is a bestselling author of both fiction and nonfiction. He was the writer and host of the TV show The Brain with David Eagleman, and writer of the Netflix documentary The Creative Brain. His most recent book is Livewired: The Inside Story of the Ever-Changing Brain.
      See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>      4635brain,ideas,neuroscience,philosophy,sciencefalse122full      121 | Cornel West on What Democracy Is and Should Behttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/121-cornel-west-on-what-democracy-is-and-should-be--67710132Patreon.Cornel West received his Ph.D. in philosophy from Princeton University. He is currently Professor of the Practice of Public Philosophy at Harvard University as well as Professor Emeritus at Princeton. He is the author of numerous books, including Race Matters and Democracy Matters. He is a frequent guest on the Bill Maher Show, CNN, C-Span, and Democracy Now, appeared in the Matrix trilogy, and has produced three spoken-word albums. He is the co-host, with Tricia Rose, of the Tight Rope podcast.
      See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>      gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/jayDcwuEr8jfz_19NnxBi7INFSi6yk0W-KZnruVRYFkMon, 02 Nov 2020 15:53:00 +0000Sean CarrollThis episode is published on November 2, 2020, the day before an historic election in the United States. An election that comes amidst growing worries about the future of democratic governance, as well as explicit claims that democracy is...Patreon.Cornel West received his Ph.D. in philosophy from Princeton University. He is currently Professor of the Practice of Public Philosophy at Harvard University as well as Professor Emeritus at Princeton. He is the author of numerous books, including Race Matters and Democracy Matters. He is a frequent guest on the Bill Maher Show, CNN, C-Span, and Democracy Now, appeared in the Matrix trilogy, and has produced three spoken-word albums. He is the co-host, with Tricia Rose, of the Tight Rope podcast.
      See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>      4912culture,democracy,ideas,philosophy,politics,societyfalse121full      120 | Jeremy England on Biology, Thermodynamics, and the Biblehttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/120-jeremy-england-on-biology-thermodynamics-and-the-bible--67710110Patreon.Jeremy England received his Ph.D. in physics from Stanford University. He is currently Senior Director in the Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning group at GlaxoSmithKline. He has been a Rhodes scholar, a Hertz fellow, and was named one of Forbes‘s “30 Under 30 Rising Stars of Science.” His new book is Every Life is on Fire: How Thermodynamics Explains the Origins of Living Things.
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      Today’s episode is sponsored by LinkedIn Jobs (http://linkedIn.com/mindscape) and The Great Courses Plus (http://thegreatcoursesplus.com/mindscape). Follow these links for exclusive offers.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>      gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/14i-VDXBytnNjMrE5GOaZ0riMwhiyzi8KKekWyk_YD4Mon, 21 Sep 2020 14:43:23 +0000Sean CarrollStephen Hawking made a number of memorable contributions to physics, but https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/15/opinion/stephen-hawking-quantum-gravity.html: what happens to information that falls into a black hole? The question sits squarely at the...perhaps his greatest was a puzzle: what happens to information that falls into a black hole? The question sits squarely at the overlap of quantum mechanics and gravitation, an area in which direct experimental input is hard to come by, so a great number of leading theoretical physicists have been thinking about it for decades. Now there is a possibility that physicists might have made some progress, by showing how subtle effects relate the radiation leaving a black hole to what’s going on inside. Netta Engelhardt is one of the contributors to these recent advances, and together we go through the black hole information puzzle, why wormholes might be important to the story, and what it all might teach us about quantum gravity.Support Mindscape on Patreon.Netta Engelhardt received her Ph.D. in physics from the University of California, Santa Barbara. She is currently on the faculty in the physics department at MIT. She recently shared the New Horizons in Physics Prize with Ahmed Almheiri, Henry Maxfield, and Geoff Penington, “for calculating the quantum information content of a black hole and its radiation.”
      Today’s episode is sponsored by LinkedIn Jobs (http://linkedIn.com/mindscape) and The Great Courses Plus (http://thegreatcoursesplus.com/mindscape). Follow these links for exclusive offers.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>      5220ideas,physics,sciencefalse115full      114 | Angela Chen on Asexuality in a Sex-Preoccupied Worldhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/114-angela-chen-on-asexuality-in-a-sex-preoccupied-world--67710134Patreon.Angela Chen received a B.A. in comparative literature from UC San Diego. She is a contributing editor at Catapult magazine, and her writings have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Vox Media, The Atlantic, MIT Technology Review, and elsewhere. Her new book is Ace: What Asexuality Reveals about Desire, Society, and the Meaning of Sex.
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      See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>      gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/nVuCJrskJWrj5fZRKU-ir4rlcRF9hLA4DSX9iMOV7f8Mon, 20 Jul 2020 14:41:16 +0000Sean CarrollSomeday, most likely, we will encounter life that is not as we know it. We might find it elsewhere in the universe, we might find it right here on Earth, or we might make it ourselves in a lab. Will we know it when we see it? “Life” isn’t a simple...Michael Wong) has proposed a new way of thinking about life based on four pillars: dissipation, autocatalysis, homeostasis, and learning. Their framework may or may not become the standard picture, but it provides a useful way of thinking about what we expect life to be.Support Mindscape on Patreon.Stuart Bartlett received his Ph.D. in complex systems from the University of Southampton. He is currently a postdoctoral researcher in the Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences at Caltech, and was formerly a postdoc at the Earth Life Science Institute at the Tokyo Institute of Technology.
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      See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>      gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/fKCGgbtTp5qkcWLFIQIy0AcCr9Eywrwhv9yCamyyD4UMon, 13 Jul 2020 15:00:21 +0000Sean CarrollWe gather empirical evidence about the nature of the world through our senses, and use that evidence to construct an image of the world in our minds. But not all senses are created equal; in practice, we tend to privilege vision, with hearing perhaps...Patreon.Ann-Sophie Barwich received her Ph.D. in Philosophy at the Centre for the Study of the Life Sciences, University of Exeter. She is currently Assistant Professor in the Department of History and Philosophy of Science and Cognitive Science Program at Indiana University Bloomington. She has previously been a Presidential Scholar in Society and Neuroscience at The Center for Science & Society, Columbia University, and held a Research Fellowship at the Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition Research, Vienna. Her new book is Smellosophy: What the Nose Tells the Mind.
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      See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>      gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/usyjKNZcLkMXOFrWuU9_auFp6-92IHk43UAWHlfqUuQMon, 18 May 2020 14:40:05 +0000Sean CarrollHumans build machines, in part, to relieve themselves from the burden of work on difficult, repetitive tasks. And yet, despite the fact that machines are everywhere, most of us are still working pretty hard. But maybe that’s about to change. Futurists...Patreon.John Danaher received an LLM degree from Trinity College Dublin and a Ph.D. from University College, Cork. He is currently Senior Lecturer in the School of Law at the National University of Ireland, Galway. His research is situated at the overlap of legal studies and philosophy, and frequently involves questions of technology, automation, and the future. He is the coeditor of Robot Sex: Social and Ethical Implications, and author of the recent book Automation and Utopia: Human Flourishing in a World Without Work. He writes frequently for publications such as The Atlantic, The Guardian, and The Irish Times, and is the host of his own podcast, Philosophical Disquisitions.
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      See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>      gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/784-RiqB7TWC9EJTQEbAdeS3e99O5Mg8UjZaosAosl4Mon, 04 May 2020 15:04:41 +0000Sean CarrollEverybody talks about the truth, but nobody does anything about it. And to be honest, how we talk about truth — what it is, and how to get there — can be a little sloppy at times. Philosophy to the rescue! I had a very ambitious conversation with Liam...Patreon.Liam Kofi Bright received his Ph.D. in Logic, Computation and Methodology from Carnegie Mellon University. He is currently on the faculty of the London School of Economics in the Department of Philosophy, Logic, and the Scientific Method. He has worked on questions concerning peer review and fraud in scientific communities, intersectionality, logical empiricism, and Africana philosophy. He is well-known on Twitter as the Last Positivist.
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      See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>      gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/8pzNnYssTdXGqAAumcqw_lIE_UMp1QaQHhj6xiq79HgMon, 27 Apr 2020 14:58:44 +0000Sean CarrollArtificial intelligence has made great strides of late, in areas as diverse as playing Go and recognizing pictures of dogs. We still seem to be a ways away from AI that is “intelligent” in the human sense, but it might not be too long before we have...Patreon.Stuart Russell received his Ph.D. in computer science from Stanford University. He is currently a Professor of Computer Science and the Smith-Zadeh Professor in Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, as well as an Honorary Fellow of Wadham College, Oxford. He is a co-founder of the Center for Human-Compatible Artificial Intelligence at UC Berkeley. He is the author of several books, including (with Peter Norvig) the classic text Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach. Among his numerous awards are the IJCAI Computers and Thought Award, the Blaise Pascal Chair in Paris, and the World Technology Award. His new book is Human Compatible: Artificial Intelligence and the Problem of Control.
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He is the author of a number of books that are simultaneously scholarly and popular, including Consciousness Explained, Darwin’s Dangerous Idea, and most recently Bacteria to Bach and Back.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/azTgCYeDXYlWnWJRTN8jMpL4p8zLFrBYkNPrL2-JQa4Mon, 06 Jan 2020 15:57:56 +0000Sean CarrollWilfrid Sellars described the task of philosophy as explaining how things, in the broadest sense of term, hang together, in the broadest sense of the term. (Substitute “exploring” for “explaining” and you’d have a good mission statement for the...Patreon.Daniel Dennett received his D.Phil. in philosophy from Oxford University. He is currently Austin B. Fletcher Professor of Philosophy and co-director of the Center for Cognitive Studies at Tufts University. He is known for a number of philosophical concepts and coinages, including the intentional stance, the Cartesian theater, and the multiple-drafts model of consciousness. Among his honors are the Erasmus Prize, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and the American Humanist Association’s Humanist of the Year award. He is the author of a number of books that are simultaneously scholarly and popular, including Consciousness Explained, Darwin’s Dangerous Idea, and most recently Bacteria to Bach and Back.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>7297arts,atheism,consciousness,evolution,ideas,philosophy,sciencefalse78fullHoliday Message 2019: On Publishing Bookshttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/holiday-message-2019-on-publishing-books--67710121 Something Deeply Hidden, I thought it would be fun to talk about the process of writing and selling a popular book. Might be of interest to some of you out there!Mindscape takes off for the holidays, so the next regular episode will be published on Monday January 6. It’s a good one — maybe my favorite episode thus far.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/SMjqFaxbpyMBj9ny9K0yl6mEkqW0p6uqFP5Tn7pUJdoSun, 22 Dec 2019 19:26:31 +0000Sean CarrollWelcome to the second annual Mindscape Holiday Message! No substantive content or deep ideas, just me talking a bit about the state of the podcast and what’s on my mind. Since the big event for me in 2019 was the publication... Something Deeply Hidden, I thought it would be fun to talk about the process of writing and selling a popular book. Might be of interest to some of you out there!Mindscape takes off for the holidays, so the next regular episode will be published on Monday January 6. It’s a good one — maybe my favorite episode thus far.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>3969books,ideas,publishingfalsebonus77 | Azra Raza on The Way We Should Fight Cancerhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/77-azra-raza-on-the-way-we-should-fight-cancer--67710173more than one in five deaths is caused by cancer. The medical community has put enormous resources into fighting this disease, yet its causes and best treatments continue to be a puzzle. Azra Raza has been on both sides of the patient’s bed, as she puts it — both as an oncologist and expert in the treatment of Myelodisplastic Syndrome (MDS), and as a wife who lost her husband to cancer. In her new book, The First Cell, she argues that we have placed too much emphasis on treating cancer once it has already developed, and not nearly enough on catching it as soon as possible. We talk about what cancer is and why it’s such a difficult disease to understand, as well as discussing how patients and their loved ones should face up to the challenges of dealing with cancer.Support Mindscape on Patreon.Azra Raza received her M.D. from Dow Medical College in Karachi, Pakistan. She is currently Chan Soon-Shiong Professor of Medicine and Director of the MDS Center at Columbia University in New York. Previously she was the Chief of Hematology-Oncology and the Gladys Smith Martin Professor of Oncology at the University of Massachusetts. Her Tissue Repository contains over 60,000 samples of samples from MDS and acute leukemia patients. She is the co-editor of the celebrated blog site 3 Quarks Daily.
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    Melanie Mitchell received her Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Michigan. She is currently a professor of computer science at Portland State University and an external professor at the Santa Fe Institute. Her research focuses on genetic algorithms, cellular automata, and analogical reasoning. She is the author of An Introduction to Genetic Algorithms, Complexity: A Guided Tour, and most recently Artificial Intelligence: A Guide for Thinking Humans. She originated the Santa Fe Institute’s Complexity Explorer project, on online learning resource for complex systems.
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    Melanie Mitchell received her Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Michigan. She is currently a professor of computer science at Portland State University and an external professor at the Santa Fe Institute. Her research focuses on genetic algorithms, cellular automata, and analogical reasoning. She is the author of An Introduction to Genetic Algorithms, Complexity: A Guided Tour, and most recently Artificial Intelligence: A Guide for Thinking Humans. She originated the Santa Fe Institute’s Complexity Explorer project, on online learning resource for complex systems.
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    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>    gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/_pPE6fd770ViXbdfmYZ4r1dQusdoBv79Vd_Y3w4hUeEMon, 07 Oct 2019 14:32:35 +0000Sean CarrollOur observable universe started out in a highly non-generic state, one of very low entropy, and disorderliness has been growing ever since. How, then, can we account for the appearance of complex systems such as organisms and biospheres? The answer is...Patreon.Kate Jeffery received her Ph.D. in behavioural neuroscience from the University of Edinburgh. She is currently a professor in the Department of Behavioural Neuroscience at University College, London. She is the founder and Director of the Institute of Behavioural Neuroscience at UCL.
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    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>    gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/4XXEPgu3r7DmMXW16mMemJwr-sQHrArahz3gkrAFalUMon, 23 Sep 2019 14:45:03 +0000Sean CarrollWe had our fun last week, exploring how progress in renewable energy and electric vehicles may help us combat encroaching climate change. This week we’re being a bit more hard-nosed, taking a look at what’s currently happening to our climate. Michael...Patreon.Michael Mann received his Ph.D. in Geology and Geophysics from Yale University. He is currently Distinguished Professor of Atmospheric Science at Pennsylvania State University, with joint appointments in the Departments of Geosciences and the Earth and Environmental Systems Institute. He is the director of Penn State’s Earth System Science Center. He is the author of over 200 scientific publications and four books. His most recent book is The Tantrum that Saved the World, a “carbon-neutral kids’ book.”
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He is chair of Energy and Environmental Systems at Singularity University.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/nIl6zV2Hdi06neslu0RVGAvWwRaYmZm4HWftOkpVHUUMon, 16 Sep 2019 14:13:41 +0000Sean CarrollThe Earth is heating up, and it’s our fault. But human beings are not always complete idiots (occasional contrary evidence notwithstanding), and sometimes we can even be downright clever. Dare we imagine that we can bring our self-inflicted climate...Patreon.Ramez Naam worked for 13 years at Microsoft, helping to develop early versions of Outlook, Explorer, and Bing. He founded Apex Technologies, which develops software for use in molecular design. He holds 19 patents. His science-fiction trilogy Nexus was awarded several prizes. He is chair of Energy and Environmental Systems at Singularity University.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>4609climate,electric vehicle,energy,ideas,renewable energy,science,society,solar powerfalse64full63 | Solo -- Finding Gravity Within Quantum Mechanicshttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/63-solo-finding-gravity-within-quantum-mechanics--67710221Something Deeply Hidden: Quantum Worlds and the Emergence of Spacetime. As I release this episode on Monday 9 September 2019, the book will officially be released tomorrow, in print, e-book, and audio versions. To get in the mood, we’ve had several podcast episodes on quantum mechanics, but the “emergence of spacetime” aspect has been neglected. So today we have a solo podcast in which I explain a bit about the challenges of quantum gravity, how Many-Worlds provides the best framework for thinking about quantum gravity, and how entanglement could be the key to showing how a curved spacetime could emerge from a quantum wave function. All of this stuff is extremely speculative, but I’m excited about the central theme that we shouldn’t be trying to “quantize gravity,” but instead looking for gravity within quantum mechanics. The ideas here go pretty far, but hopefully they should be accessible to everyone.Support Mindscape on Patreon.The end of this episode includes a bonus, a short snippet from the audio book, read by yours truly. Audio excerpted courtesy Penguin Random House Audio. And here are links to some of the technical papers mentioned in the podcast.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/qOMdZumscav7XCKmA4ZsNozzTVjoTWFpM7bCLKRk6N4Mon, 09 Sep 2019 13:00:19 +0000Sean CarrollI suspect most loyal Mindscape listeners have been exposed to the fact that I’ve written a new book, https://www.amazon.com/Something-Deeply-Hidden-Emergence-Spacetime/dp/1524743011/smcarroll-20/. As I release this episode on Monday 9 September 2019,...Something Deeply Hidden: Quantum Worlds and the Emergence of Spacetime. As I release this episode on Monday 9 September 2019, the book will officially be released tomorrow, in print, e-book, and audio versions. To get in the mood, we’ve had several podcast episodes on quantum mechanics, but the “emergence of spacetime” aspect has been neglected. So today we have a solo podcast in which I explain a bit about the challenges of quantum gravity, how Many-Worlds provides the best framework for thinking about quantum gravity, and how entanglement could be the key to showing how a curved spacetime could emerge from a quantum wave function. All of this stuff is extremely speculative, but I’m excited about the central theme that we shouldn’t be trying to “quantize gravity,” but instead looking for gravity within quantum mechanics. The ideas here go pretty far, but hopefully they should be accessible to everyone.Support Mindscape on Patreon.The end of this episode includes a bonus, a short snippet from the audio book, read by yours truly. Audio excerpted courtesy Penguin Random House Audio. And here are links to some of the technical papers mentioned in the podcast.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>6627gravity,ideas,philosophy,physics,quantum,quantum mechanics,science,spacetimefalse63full62 | Michele Gelfand on Tight and Loose Societies and Peoplehttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/62-michele-gelfand-on-tight-and-loose-societies-and-people--67710188Patreon.Michele Gelfand received her Ph.D. in social psychology from the University of Illinois. She is currently Distinguished University Professor of Psychology and affiliate of the RH Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland, College Park. She is a past president of the International Association for Conflict Management. Among her numerous awards are the Carol and Ed Diener Award in Social Psychology, the Annaliese Research Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, and the Outstanding International Psychologist Award from the American Psychological Association.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/owjG9HUQk96qX6So0yZRLPSk1g7PLAwLMTMj0Iync1UMon, 02 Sep 2019 14:51:01 +0000Sean CarrollPhysicists study systems that are sufficiently simple that it’s possible to find deep unifying principles applicable to all situations. In psychology or sociology that’s a lot harder. But as I say at the end of this episode, Mindscape is a safe space...Patreon.Michele Gelfand received her Ph.D. in social psychology from the University of Illinois. She is currently Distinguished University Professor of Psychology and affiliate of the RH Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland, College Park. She is a past president of the International Association for Conflict Management. Among her numerous awards are the Carol and Ed Diener Award in Social Psychology, the Annaliese Research Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, and the Outstanding International Psychologist Award from the American Psychological Association.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>4337culture,ideas,psychology,society,sociologyfalse62full61 | Quassim Cassam on Intellectual Vices and What to Do About Themhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/61-quassim-cassam-on-intellectual-vices-and-what-to-do-about-them--67710178Vices of the Mind: From the Intellectual to the Political. We talk about the nature of intellectual vices, how they manifest in people and in organizations, and what we can possibly do to correct them in ourselves.Support Mindscape on Patreon.Quassim Cassam received his Ph.D. in philosophy from Oxford University. He is currently Professor of Philosophy at the University of Warwick. He previously held faculty positions at Cambridge University and University College London. He has served as the president of the Aristotelian Society, and was awarded a Leadership Fellowship by the Arts and Humanities Research Council in the UK.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/WWAZ09AJCXfUhdV5-WMfwRaY7tHlaAvln1tiM_-WODIMon, 26 Aug 2019 14:30:55 +0000Sean CarrollAll of us have been wrong about things from time to time. But sometimes it was a simple, forgivable mistake, while other times we really should have been correct. Properties that systematically prevent us from being correct, and for which we can...Vices of the Mind: From the Intellectual to the Political. We talk about the nature of intellectual vices, how they manifest in people and in organizations, and what we can possibly do to correct them in ourselves.Support Mindscape on Patreon.Quassim Cassam received his Ph.D. in philosophy from Oxford University. He is currently Professor of Philosophy at the University of Warwick. He previously held faculty positions at Cambridge University and University College London. He has served as the president of the Aristotelian Society, and was awarded a Leadership Fellowship by the Arts and Humanities Research Council in the UK.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>4213bias,culture,ideas,intellectual,philosophy,society,thinking,vicefalse61full60 | Lynne Kelly on Memory Palaces, Ancient and Modernhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/60-lynne-kelly-on-memory-palaces-ancient-and-modern--67710218Patreon.Lynne Kelly received her Ph.D. in English from La Trobe University. Originally trained as a computer scientist, she has worked as an educator before transitioning into science writing and memory research. She is an Honorary Research Associate at La Trobe University. She is the author of a number of books, including The Skeptic’s Guide to the Paranormal. Her work on memory methods and ancient societies was published as an academic book, Knowledge and Power in Prehistoric Societies: Orality, Memory, and the Transmission of Culture, as well as in trade form as The Memory Code: The Traditional Aboriginal Memory Technique That Unlocks the Secrets of Stonehenge, Easter Island and Ancient Monuments the World Over. Her most recent book is Memory Craft: Improve Your Memory Using the Most Powerful Methods From Around the World.
    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>    gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/bsuF612nvbTOrZhnkubHnsPp8Ir62KYiSWpJQ91eEWcMon, 19 Aug 2019 14:44:55 +0000Sean CarrollMemory takes different forms. Memories can be encoded in the strength of neural connections in our brains, but there’s a sense in which photographs and written records are memories as well. What did people do before such forms of memory even existed?...Patreon.Lynne Kelly received her Ph.D. in English from La Trobe University. Originally trained as a computer scientist, she has worked as an educator before transitioning into science writing and memory research. She is an Honorary Research Associate at La Trobe University. She is the author of a number of books, including The Skeptic’s Guide to the Paranormal. Her work on memory methods and ancient societies was published as an academic book, Knowledge and Power in Prehistoric Societies: Orality, Memory, and the Transmission of Culture, as well as in trade form as The Memory Code: The Traditional Aboriginal Memory Technique That Unlocks the Secrets of Stonehenge, Easter Island and Ancient Monuments the World Over. Her most recent book is Memory Craft: Improve Your Memory Using the Most Powerful Methods From Around the World.
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    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>    gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/sAJC1XlVLEtyrY-kX5IFQB1tvop0ezPojzYksfhva5UMon, 12 Aug 2019 14:08:29 +0000Sean CarrollThere are many mysteries surrounding quantum mechanics. To me, the biggest mysteries are why physicists haven’t yet agreed on a complete understanding of the theory, and even more why they mostly seem content not to try. This puzzling attitude has...Patreon.Adam Becker received his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Michigan. He is currently a science writer and a Visiting Scholar at the Center for Science, Technology, Medicine & Society at UC Berkeley. His book What Is Real? The Unfinished Quest for the Meaning of Quantum Physics comes out in paperback on Sept. 3, 2019.
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    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>    gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/4R2OguXbGlS3yqN2gTBcWtW5fua6pu8E4-C9h8UcqjcMon, 05 Aug 2019 14:22:14 +0000Sean CarrollFiction shines a light on the human condition by putting people into imaginary situations and envisioning what might happen. Science fiction expands this technique by considering situations in the future, with advanced technology, or with utterly...Patreon.Seth MacFarlane is a screenwriter, director, actor, producer, and singer. He is the creator of the animated TV shows Family Guy, American Dad!, and The Cleveland Show. He wrote, directed, and starred in the films Ted, Ted 2, and A Million Ways to Die in the West. He created and stars in the live-action episodic TV show The Orville (which will be moving from Fox to Hulu for its third season). He has recorded several albums as a jazz singer, and was the host of the Academy Awards in 2013. He is an executive producer for the reboot of Cosmos. His honors include several Primetime Emmy Awards, an Annie Award, a Webby Award, a Saturn Award, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>    4335arts,culture,ideas,science fiction,seth macfarlane,television,the orville,tvtrue58full    57 | Astra Taylor on the Promise and Challenge of Democracyhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/57-astra-taylor-on-the-promise-and-challenge-of-democracy--67710189new book. We all know how democracy falls short, in practice, of its lofty ideals; but we can also appreciate how democratic values are crucial in the fight for a more just society. In this conversation, we dig into the nature of democracy, from its origins to the present day. We talk about who gets to participate, how economic inequality affects political inequality, and how democratic ideals manifest themselves in any number of real-world situations.Support Mindscape on Patreon or Paypal.Astra Taylor is a filmmaker, author, and activist. Her documentary films include Zizek!, The Examined Life, and most recently What Is Democracy? Her books include The People’s Platform: Taking Back Power and Culture in the Digital age and the new Democracy May Not Exist, But We’ll Miss It When It’s Gone. She has taught sociology at the university level, and written for publications from n+1 to The London Review of Books. She was active in the Occupy movement, and is a co-founder of the Debt Collective.
    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>    gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/zhezlsEp3z3sMwct_caGxLGm5NljVEVnMnPzpDPFqUcMon, 29 Jul 2019 13:20:00 +0000Sean Carroll“Democracy may not exist, but we’ll miss it when it’s gone” — or so suggests the title of Astra Taylor’s https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/125017984X/smcarroll-20. We all know how democracy falls short, in practice, of its lofty ideals; but we can...new book. We all know how democracy falls short, in practice, of its lofty ideals; but we can also appreciate how democratic values are crucial in the fight for a more just society. In this conversation, we dig into the nature of democracy, from its origins to the present day. We talk about who gets to participate, how economic inequality affects political inequality, and how democratic ideals manifest themselves in any number of real-world situations.Support Mindscape on Patreon or Paypal.Astra Taylor is a filmmaker, author, and activist. Her documentary films include Zizek!, The Examined Life, and most recently What Is Democracy? Her books include The People’s Platform: Taking Back Power and Culture in the Digital age and the new Democracy May Not Exist, But We’ll Miss It When It’s Gone. She has taught sociology at the university level, and written for publications from n+1 to The London Review of Books. She was active in the Occupy movement, and is a co-founder of the Debt Collective.
    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>    5034culture,democracy,ideas,politics,societyfalse57full    56 | Kate Adamala on Creating Synthetic Lifehttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/56-kate-adamala-on-creating-synthetic-life--67710273Patreon or Paypal.Katarzyna (Kate) Adamala received her Ph.D. working with Pier Luigi Luisi at the University of Rome and Jack Szostak at Harvard. She is currently an assistant professor of Genetics, Cell Biology, and Development at the University of Minnesota. She is a member of the Build-A-Cell international collaboration, which brings together multiple groups to work on constructing artificial life.
    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>    gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/gfBgspGJYllbs37Z_vEkLLtahGXkF84gZBI_Y8SHA_cMon, 22 Jul 2019 14:00:13 +0000Sean CarrollScientists can’t quite agree on how to define “life,” but that hasn’t stopped them from studying it, looking for it elsewhere, or even trying to create it. Kate Adamala is one of a number of scientists engaged in the ambitious project of trying to...Patreon or Paypal.Katarzyna (Kate) Adamala received her Ph.D. working with Pier Luigi Luisi at the University of Rome and Jack Szostak at Harvard. She is currently an assistant professor of Genetics, Cell Biology, and Development at the University of Minnesota. She is a member of the Build-A-Cell international collaboration, which brings together multiple groups to work on constructing artificial life.
    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>    4323artificial life,biology,ideas,life,science,synthetic biologyfalse56full    55 | A Conversation with Rob Reid on Quantum Mechanics and Many Worldshttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/55-a-conversation-with-rob-reid-on-quantum-mechanics-and-many-worlds--67710284Something Deeply Hidden: Quantum Worlds and the Emergence of Spacetime. To celebrate, we're going to have more than the usual number of podcasts about quantum mechanics over the next couple of months. Today is an experimental flipped podcast, in which I'm being interviewed by Rob Reid. Rob is the host of the After On podcast, of which this is also an episode. We talk about quantum mechanics generally and my favorite Many-Worlds approach in particular, homing in on the motivation for believing in all those worlds and the potential puzzles that this perspective raises.Support Mindscape on Patreon.Rob Reid received his MBA from Harvard. He currently works as an author, entrepreneur, and podcaster. He was the founder of Listen.com, which was acquired in 2003 by RealNetworks. He has written nonfiction books about Harvard Business School and about the early days of the Web, as well as two novels. His most recent book is the science-fiction novel After On, which is also the name of his podcast.
    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>    gid://art19-episode-locator/V0/zNVHxutV8aECZqHtPpVd8Z0skiengUPRJD6gsLMD_30Mon, 15 Jul 2019 14:23:16 +0000Sean CarrollAs you may have heard, I have a new book coming out in September, https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/somethingdeeplyhidden/. To celebrate, we're going to have more than the usual number of podcasts about quantum mechanics over the next couple of...Something Deeply Hidden: Quantum Worlds and the Emergence of Spacetime. To celebrate, we're going to have more than the usual number of podcasts about quantum mechanics over the next couple of months. Today is an experimental flipped podcast, in which I'm being interviewed by Rob Reid. Rob is the host of the After On podcast, of which this is also an episode. We talk about quantum mechanics generally and my favorite Many-Worlds approach in particular, homing in on the motivation for believing in all those worlds and the potential puzzles that this perspective raises.Support Mindscape on Patreon.Rob Reid received his MBA from Harvard. He currently works as an author, entrepreneur, and podcaster. He was the founder of Listen.com, which was acquired in 2003 by RealNetworks. He has written nonfiction books about Harvard Business School and about the early days of the Web, as well as two novels. His most recent book is the science-fiction novel After On, which is also the name of his podcast.
    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.]]>    5178arts,culture,ideas,philosophy,physics,science,societyfalse55full    54 | Indre Viskontas on Music and the Brainhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/54-indre-viskontas-on-music-and-the-brain--67710225f41be2889f634152bcdf77b08e4f781aMon, 08 Jul 2019 14:38:22 +0000Sean CarrollIt doesn’t mean much to say music affects your brain — everything that happens to you affects your brain. But music affects your brain in certain specific ways, from changing our mood to helping us learn. As both a neuroscientist and an opera singer,...4512arts,brain,culture,ideas,music,neuroscience,philosophy,physics,science,societyfalse54full53 | Solo -- On Morality and Rationalityhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/53-solo-on-morality-and-rationality--6771024886389e00cc1943d6af5ed1b928ca0084Mon, 01 Jul 2019 14:10:37 +0000Sean CarrollWhat does it mean to be a good person? To act ethically and morally in the world? In the old days we might appeal to the instructions we get from God, but a modern naturalist has to look elsewhere. Today I do a rare solo podcast, where I talk both...7520arts,culture,ethics,ideas,justice,morality,philosophy,physics,rationality,science,society,vegetarianismfalse53full52 | Frank Lantz on the Logic and Emotion of Gameshttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/52-frank-lantz-on-the-logic-and-emotion-of-games--6771019792df94fe00034b9ba58fd62dd33d9b16Mon, 24 Jun 2019 14:10:43 +0000Sean CarrollGames play an important, and arguably increasing, role in human life. We play games on our computers and our phones, watch other people compete in games, and occasionally break out the cards or the Monopoly set. What is the origin of this human...3880arts,culture,design,games,go,ideas,philosophy,physics,poker,science,societyfalse52full51 | Anthony Aguirre on Cosmology, Zen, Entropy, and Informationhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/51-anthony-aguirre-on-cosmology-zen-entropy-and-information--67710208a44016ec66b549348615f41cdb0ea30bMon, 17 Jun 2019 14:19:35 +0000Sean CarrollCosmologists have a standard set of puzzles they think about: the nature of dark matter and dark energy, whether there was a period of inflation, the evolution of structure, and so on. But there are also even deeper questions, having to do with why...5514arts,cosmology,culture,entropy,ideas,information,philosophy,physics,science,society,zenfalse51full50 | Patricia Churchland on Conscience, Morality, and the Brainhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/50-patricia-churchland-on-conscience-morality-and-the-brain--677102447a1525439136461d8bd3fc047cfc15b5Mon, 10 Jun 2019 14:24:03 +0000Sean CarrollIt’s fun to spend time thinking about how other people should behave, but fortunately we also have an inner voice that keeps offering opinions about how we should behave ourselves: our conscience. Where did that come from? Today’s guest, Patricia...4329arts,brain,conscience,culture,ideas,morality,neuroscience,philosophy,physics,science,societyfalse50full49 | Nicholas Christakis on Humanity, Biology, and What Makes Us Goodhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/49-nicholas-christakis-on-humanity-biology-and-what-makes-us-good--6771025429d97a25c19b4ccf9cd94948049bd1f1Mon, 03 Jun 2019 13:45:24 +0000Sean CarrollIt’s easy to be cynical about humanity’s present state and future prospects. But we have made it this far, and in some ways we’re doing better than we used to be. Today’s guest, Nicholas Christakis, is an interdisciplinary researcher who studies human...6870arts,culture,genetics,humanity,ideas,philosophy,physics,science,society,sociologyfalse49full48 | Marq de Villiers on Hell and Damnationhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/48-marq-de-villiers-on-hell-and-damnation--677101935e0a12ca925842e3a284bfa85ff901b9Mon, 27 May 2019 14:16:15 +0000Sean CarrollIf you’re bad, we are taught, you go to Hell. Who in the world came up with that idea? Some will answer God, but for the purpose of today’s podcast discussion we’ll put that possibility aside and look into the human origins and history of the idea of...4265afterlife,arts,culture,devil,heaven,hell,ideas,philosophy,physics,religion,science,societyfalse48full47 | Adam Rutherford on Humans, Animals, and Life in Generalhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/47-adam-rutherford-on-humans-animals-and-life-in-general--677102992b9167c2d8434e8e9b22ae48c34043bdMon, 20 May 2019 14:24:25 +0000Sean CarrollMost people in the modern world — and the vast majority of Mindscape listeners, I would imagine — agree that humans are part of the animal kingdom, and that all living animals evolved from a common ancestor. Nevertheless, there are ways in which we...5897arts,culture,evolution,genetics,humanity,ideas,philosophy,physics,science,societyfalse47full46 | Kate Darling on Our Connections with Robotshttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/46-kate-darling-on-our-connections-with-robots--6771019206d7077dedc94cbeb3de9a52694e3e86Mon, 13 May 2019 14:52:01 +0000Sean CarrollMost of us have no trouble telling the difference between a robot and a living, feeling organism. Nevertheless, our brains often treat robots as if they were alive. We give them names, imagine that they have emotions and inner mental states, get mad...4005arts,culture,ideas,philosophy,physics,robots,science,societyfalse46full45 | Leonard Susskind on Quantum Information, Quantum Gravity, and Holographyhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/45-leonard-susskind-on-quantum-information-quantum-gravity-and-holography--67710219faa6a652bf0a450a9097b015c500c3b6Mon, 06 May 2019 14:14:08 +0000Sean CarrollFor decades now physicists have been struggling to reconcile two great ideas from a century ago: general relativity and quantum mechanics. We don’t yet know the final answer, but the journey has taken us to some amazing places. A leader in this quest...4417arts,blackholes,culture,gravity,holography,ideas,information,philosophy,physics,quantum,science,societyfalse45full44 | Antonio Damasio on Feelings, Thoughts, and the Evolution of Humanityhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/44-antonio-damasio-on-feelings-thoughts-and-the-evolution-of-humanity--677102076ae7bdd45d684ec58c9bb4b2c0d58cd9Mon, 29 Apr 2019 14:47:45 +0000Sean Carroll  When we talk about the mind, we are constantly talking about consciousness and cognition. Antonio Damasio wants us to talk about our feelings. But it’s not in an effort to be more touchy-feely; Damasio, one of the world’s leading neuroscientists,...4347arts,consciousness,culture,feelings,homeostasis,ideas,mind,philosophy,physics,science,society,thinkingfalse44full43 | Matthew Luczy on the Pleasures of Winehttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/43-matthew-luczy-on-the-pleasures-of-wine--67710210fb6f1ce47c554048a7ab83ae2843d885Mon, 22 Apr 2019 14:07:07 +0000Sean CarrollSome people never drink wine; for others, it’s an indispensable part of an enjoyable meal. Whatever your personal feelings might be, wine seems to exhibit a degree of complexity and nuance that can be intimidating to the non-expert. Where does that...6381arts,culture,ideas,philosophy,physics,science,society,winefalse43full42 | Natalya Bailey on Navigating Earth Orbit and Beyondhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/42-natalya-bailey-on-navigating-earth-orbit-and-beyond--67710133c03c67fb5f3a4ad6bc23e163fddde655Mon, 15 Apr 2019 14:03:23 +0000Sean CarrollThe space age officially began in 1957 with the launch of the Sputnik 1 satellite. But recent years have seen the beginning of a boom in the number of objects orbiting Earth, as satellite tracking and communications have assumed enormous importance in...3578arts,culture,ideas,philosophy,physics,propulsion,rockets,satellites,science,society,space,travelfalse42full41 | Steven Strogatz on Synchronization, Networks, and the Emergence of Complex Behaviorhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/41-steven-strogatz-on-synchronization-networks-and-the-emergence-of-complex-behavior--67710215b0da10d953a8452eacce0be4ed948c3aMon, 08 Apr 2019 14:29:52 +0000Sean CarrollOne of the most important insights in the history of science is the fact that complex behavior can arise from the undirected movements of small, simple systems. Despite the fact that we know this, we’re still working to truly understand it — to...4476arts,complexity,culture,ideas,mathematics,networks,philosophy,physics,science,society,synchronizationfalse41full40 | Adrienne Mayor on Gods and Robots in Ancient Mythologyhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/40-adrienne-mayor-on-gods-and-robots-in-ancient-mythology--67710258475c4d5d6c8d4e88bc634e345fca308eMon, 01 Apr 2019 14:18:42 +0000Sean CarrollThe modern world is full of technology, and also with anxiety about technology. We worry about robot uprisings and artificial intelligence taking over, and we contemplate what it would mean for a computer to be conscious or truly human. It should...3800androids,artificial,arts,culture,folklore,ideas,intelligence,mythology,philosophy,physics,robots,science,societyfalse40full39 | Malcolm MacIver on Sensing, Consciousness, and Imaginationhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/39-malcolm-maciver-on-sensing-consciousness-and-imagination--67710288c1c2327a444641a6908dc197e670d5ebMon, 25 Mar 2019 14:09:46 +0000Sean CarrollConsciousness has many aspects, from experience to wakefulness to self-awareness. One aspect is imagination: our minds can conjure up multiple hypothetical futures to help us decide which choices we should make. Where did that ability come from?...4775arts,consciousness,culture,ideas,imagination,philosophy,physics,planning,science,sensing,societyfalse39full38 | Alan Lightman on Transcendence, Science, and a Naturalist’s Sense of Meaninghttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/38-alan-lightman-on-transcendence-science-and-a-naturalist-s-sense-of-meaning--677103008285dc8a30ba45f1a4267b0c784b0987Mon, 18 Mar 2019 02:38:03 +0000Sean CarrollLet’s say, for sake of argument, that you don’t believe in God or the supernatural. Is there still a place for talking about transcendence, the sacred, and meaning in life? Some of the above, but not all? Today’s guest, Alan Lightman, brings a unique...4596arts,atheism,culture,humanism,ideas,meaning,naturalism,philosophy,physics,sacred,science,society,transcencencefalse38full37 | Edward Watts on the End of the Roman Republic and Lessons for Democracyhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/37-edward-watts-on-the-end-of-the-roman-republic-and-lessons-for-democracy--677102267aa0c1ca27654c69a5070ca447e7d0dcMon, 11 Mar 2019 10:38:48 +0000Sean CarrollWhen many of us think “Ancient Rome,” we think of the Empire and the Caesars. But the Empire was preceded by the Roman Republic, which flourished for a full five centuries. Why, after such a long and prosperous run, would an essentially democratic...5489arts,culture,democracy,history,ideas,philosophy,physics,republic,rome,science,societyfalse37full36 | David Albert on Quantum Measurement and the Problems with Many-Worldshttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/36-david-albert-on-quantum-measurement-and-the-problems-with-many-worlds--677101950be041b63aec45b794db10ecb335ad95Mon, 04 Mar 2019 15:42:29 +0000Sean CarrollQuantum mechanics is our best theory of how reality works at a fundamental level, yet physicists still can’t agree on what the theory actually says. At the heart of the puzzle is the “measurement problem”: what actually happens when we observe a...6153arts,culture,ideas,manyworlds,philosophy,physics,quantum,science,societyfalse36full35 | Jessica Yellin on The Changing Ways We Get Our Newshttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/35-jessica-yellin-on-the-changing-ways-we-get-our-news--67710261851528dd8e3c47ebb5d20f298cc2f830Mon, 25 Feb 2019 15:17:45 +0000Sean CarrollEverything we think about the world outside our immediate senses is shaped by information brought to us by other sources. In the case of what’s currently happening to the human race, we call that information “the news.” There is no such thing as...4133arts,culture,ideas,philosophy,physics,science,societyfalse35full34 | Paul Bloom on Empathy, Rationality, Morality, and Crueltyhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/34-paul-bloom-on-empathy-rationality-morality-and-cruelty--6771026021d63404daf84a61990f64a1cf6e6490Mon, 18 Feb 2019 02:36:04 +0000Sean CarrollWithin every person’s mind there is on ongoing battle between reason and emotion. It’s not always a battle, of course; very often the two can work together. But at other times, our emotions push us toward actions that our reason would counsel against....4245arts,cruelty,culture,emotions,empathy,ideas,morality,philosophy,physics,psychology,rationality,reason,science,societyfalse34full33 | James Ladyman on Reality, Metaphysics, and Complexityhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/33-james-ladyman-on-reality-metaphysics-and-complexity--6771030263f2d779bbee4bde841705adeb9861ccMon, 11 Feb 2019 02:41:22 +0000Sean CarrollReality is a tricky thing. Is love real? What about the number 5? This is clearly a job for a philosopher, and James Ladyman is one of the world’s acknowledged experts. He and his collaborators have been championing a view known as “structural...4024arts,complexity,culture,ideas,materialism,metaphysics,naturalism,philosophy,physicalism,physics,reality,science,societyfalse33full32 | Naomi Oreskes on Climate Change and the Distortion of Scientific Factshttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/32-naomi-oreskes-on-climate-change-and-the-distortion-of-scientific-facts--67710301de7e2529840945a7870a5ca6402e7c06Mon, 04 Feb 2019 02:19:48 +0000Sean CarrollOur climate is in the midst of dramatic changes, driven largely by human activity, with potentially enormous consequences for humanity and other species. That’s why science tells us, anyway. But there is an influential contingent, especially in the...4225arts,cimate,culture,denialism,environment,ideas,philosophy,physics,science,societyfalse32full31 | Brian Greene on the Multiverse, Inflation, and the String Theory Landscapehttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/31-brian-greene-on-the-multiverse-inflation-and-the-string-theory-landscape--6771025988f5bd9ab36c41988f9697deb00c9bf9Mon, 28 Jan 2019 15:03:41 +0000Sean CarrollString theory was originally proposed as a relatively modest attempt to explain some features of strongly-interacting particles, but before too long developed into an ambitious attempt to unite all the forces of nature into a single theory. The great...4300anthropicprinciple,arts,cosmology,culture,ideas,landscape,multiverse,philosophy,physics,science,society,stringtheoryfalse31full30 | Derek Leben on Ethics for Robots and Artificial Intelligenceshttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/30-derek-leben-on-ethics-for-robots-and-artificial-intelligences--67710247c58352df83294f8ca8d1ae66c12c1559Mon, 21 Jan 2019 16:13:10 +0000Sean CarrollIt’s hardly news that computers are exerting ever more influence over our lives. And we’re beginning to see the first glimmers of some kind of artificial intelligence: computer programs have become much better than humans at well-defined jobs like...5313artificial,arts,cars,culture,ethics,ideas,intelligence,philosophy,physics,robots,science,selfdriving,societyfalse30full29 | Raychelle Burks on the Chemistry of Murderhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/29-raychelle-burks-on-the-chemistry-of-murder--67710246402c4adecaf84f02b2d4b76157f8b6bbMon, 14 Jan 2019 15:12:49 +0000Sean CarrollSometimes science is asking esoteric questions about the fundamental nature of reality. Other times, it just wants to solve a murder. Today’s guest, Raychelle Burks, is an analytical chemist at St. Edward’s University in Texas. Before becoming a...4527arts,chemistry,crime,culture,forensics,ideas,murder,philosophy,physics,science,societyfalse29full28 | Roger Penrose on Spacetime, Consciousness, and the Universehttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/28-roger-penrose-on-spacetime-consciousness-and-the-universe--677101379af0c90786004bd382a6beae1fd8f976Mon, 07 Jan 2019 15:31:53 +0000Sean CarrollSir Roger Penrose has had a remarkable life. He has contributed an enormous amount to our understanding of general relativity, perhaps more than anyone since Einstein himself -- Penrose diagrams, singularity theorems, the Penrose process, cosmic...5713arts,black,consciousness,cosmology,culture,holes,ideas,penrose,philosophy,physics,quantum,relativity,science,society,spacetimefalse28fullHoliday Message 2018https://www.spreaker.com/episode/holiday-message-2018--67710293e00f450b14ec4d8b844a5df21e2f8820Mon, 24 Dec 2018 15:36:14 +0000Sean CarrollThere won't be any regular episodes of Mindscape this week or next, as we take a holiday break. Regular service will resume on Monday January 7, 2019. In the meantime, here is a special Holiday Message. Most likely it will be of interest to very few...2689arts,culture,ideas,mindscape,philosophy,physics,podcast,science,societyfalsebonus27 | Janna Levin on Black Holes, Chaos, and the Narrative of Sciencehttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/27-janna-levin-on-black-holes-chaos-and-the-narrative-of-science--677101402311002c32024bf3894ac88489bfe011Mon, 17 Dec 2018 15:40:01 +0000Sean CarrollIt's a big universe out there, full of an astonishing variety of questions and puzzles. Today's guest, Janna Levin, is a physicist who has delved into some of the trippiest aspects of cosmology and gravitation: the topology of the universe, extra...4111arts,black,chaos,cosmology,culture,gravitational,holes,ideas,philosophy,physics,science,society,waves,writingfalse27full26 | Ge Wang on Artful Design, Computers, and Musichttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/26-ge-wang-on-artful-design-computers-and-music--677102679970122cf52f41cdb23b7b56a901c291Mon, 10 Dec 2018 15:26:06 +0000Sean CarrollEverywhere around us are things that serve functions. We live in houses, sit on chairs, drive in cars. But these things don't only serve functions, they also come in particular forms, which may be emotionally or aesthetically pleasing as well as...4253arts,comics,computer,culture,design,electronic,ideas,music,philosophy,physics,science,societyfalse26full25 | David Chalmers on Consciousness, the Hard Problem, and Living in a Simulationhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/25-david-chalmers-on-consciousness-the-hard-problem-and-living-in-a-simulation--677101486e3d4700558c4c73b13abdadcc7e4b6cMon, 03 Dec 2018 16:15:26 +0000Sean CarrollThe "Easy Problems" of consciousness have to do with how the brain takes in information, thinks about it, and turns it into action. The "Hard Problem," on the other hand, is the task of explaining our individual, subjective, first-person experiences...4940arts,consciousness,culture,ideas,mind,panpsychism,philosophy,physics,science,simulation,society,zombiesfalse25full24 | Kip Thorne on Gravitational Waves, Time Travel, and Interstellarhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/24-kip-thorne-on-gravitational-waves-time-travel-and-interstellar--677102017100f2de58f1458f8afe5da393d4eff1Mon, 26 Nov 2018 16:07:36 +0000Sean CarrollI remember vividly hosting a colloquium speaker, about fifteen years ago, who talked about the LIGO gravitational-wave observatory, which had just started taking data. Comparing where they were to where they needed to get to in terms of sensitivity,...4796arts,culture,gravitational,ideas,interstellar,ligo,nobel,philosophy,physics,prize,science,society,time,travel,waves,wormholesfalse24full23 | Lisa Aziz-Zadeh on Embodied Cognition, Mirror Neurons, and Empathyhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/23-lisa-aziz-zadeh-on-embodied-cognition-mirror-neurons-and-empathy--677102511b029a9c95714f52b8dea9475ce6cbf7Mon, 19 Nov 2018 15:07:18 +0000Sean CarrollBrains are important things; they're where thinking happens. Or are they? The theory of "embodied cognition" posits that it's better to think of thinking as something that takes place in the body as a whole, not just in the cells of the brain. In some...4020arts,brain,cognition,culture,embodied,ideas,mirror,neurons,philosophy,physics,science,society,thinkingfalse23full22 | Joe Walston on Conservation, Urbanization, and the Way We Live on Earthhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/22-joe-walston-on-conservation-urbanization-and-the-way-we-live-on-earth--67710262a4066ed8fd334539a04e6fd420443591Mon, 12 Nov 2018 15:11:07 +0000Sean CarrollThere's no question that human activity is causing enormous changes on our planet's environment, from deforestation to mass extinction to climate change. But perhaps there is a tiny cause for optimism -- or at least, the prospect of a new equilibrium,...5289arts,biodiversity,cities,culture,environment,ideas,philosophy,physics,population,science,society,urbanizationfalse22full21 | Alex Rosenberg on Naturalism, History, and Theory of Mindhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/21-alex-rosenberg-on-naturalism-history-and-theory-of-mind--6771020032f1a7a724204791a32694c13669197fMon, 05 Nov 2018 15:31:28 +0000Sean CarrollWe humans love to tell ourselves stories about why things happened the way they did; if the stories are sufficiently serious, we label this activity "history." Part of getting history right is simply an accurate recounting of the facts, but part of it...4841arts,culture,history,ideas,mind,naturalism,philosophy,physics,science,society,storiesfalse21full20 | Scott Derrickson on Cinema, Blockbusters, Horror, and Mysteryhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/20-scott-derrickson-on-cinema-blockbusters-horror-and-mystery--67710220a90091eec62442008879fc39772a5e20Mon, 29 Oct 2018 14:39:54 +0000Sean CarrollSpecial Halloween edition? Scott Derrickson is a film-lover first and a director second, but he's been quite successful at the latter -- you may know him as the director and co-writer of Marvel's Doctor Strange. (When I was younger, Doctor Strange was...5005arts,cinema,culture,doctor,film,horror,ideas,marvel,movies,philosophy,physics,science,society,strangefalse20full19 | Tyler Cowen on Maximizing Growth and Thinking for the Futurehttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/19-tyler-cowen-on-maximizing-growth-and-thinking-for-the-future--6771027785acd744710b4878a7229df061e84281Mon, 22 Oct 2018 13:50:54 +0000Sean CarrollEconomics, like other sciences (social and otherwise), is about what the world does; but it's natural for economists to occasionally wander out into the question of what we should do as we live in the world. A very good example of this is a new book...3578arts,culture,economics,growth,ideas,philosophy,physics,science,society,utilitarianismfalse19full18 | Clifford Johnson on What's So Great About Superstring Theoryhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/18-clifford-johnson-on-what-s-so-great-about-superstring-theory--6771027400f9dd25e78a4fc6b55e73f587e8c4f1Mon, 15 Oct 2018 14:53:03 +0000Sean CarrollString theory is a speculative and highly technical proposal for uniting the known forces of nature, including gravity, under a single quantum-mechanical framework. This doesn't seem like a recipe for creating a lightning rod of controversy, but...4335arts,culture,gravity,ideas,philosophy,physics,quantum,science,society,string,theoryfalse18full17 | Annalee Newitz on Science, Fiction, Economics, and Neurosishttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/17-annalee-newitz-on-science-fiction-economics-and-neurosis--67710217b6ccab2b086b47b0a1b0a5de5c8af7bcMon, 08 Oct 2018 17:59:36 +0000Sean CarrollThe job of science fiction isn't to predict the future; it's to tell interesting stories in an imaginative setting, exploring the implications of different ways the world could be different from our actual one. Annalee Newitz has carved out a unique...4307ai,arts,culture,fiction,ideas,philosophy,physics,robotics,science,society,technology,workfalse17full16 | Coleen Murphy on Aging, Biology, and the Futurehttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/16-coleen-murphy-on-aging-biology-and-the-future--67710205ae17f36c258847f9a402996fff5683bcMon, 01 Oct 2018 13:28:33 +0000Sean CarrollAging -- everybody does it, very few people actually do something about it. Coleen Murphy is an exception. In her laboratory at Princeton, she and her team study aging in the famous C. Elegans roundworm, with an eye to extending its lifespan as well...3851aging,arts,biology,culture,ideas,philosophy,physics,science,societyfalse16full15 | David Poeppel on Thought, Language, and How to Understand the Brainhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/15-david-poeppel-on-thought-language-and-how-to-understand-the-brain--67710263934399fbab6d4060b3a25634d07e30e8Sat, 08 Sep 2018 01:41:38 +0000Sean CarrollLanguage comes naturally to us, but is also deeply mysterious. On the one hand, it manifests as a collection of sounds or marks on paper. On the other hand, it also conveys meaning – words and sentences refer to states of affairs in the outside world,...5041arts,brain,culture,ideas,language,neuroscience,philosophy,physics,science,society,thoughtfalse15full14 | Alta Charo on Bioethics and the Lawhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/14-alta-charo-on-bioethics-and-the-law--67710304ddb78f6816094a9ca250a23856fb2700Sat, 08 Sep 2018 01:17:32 +0000Sean CarrollTo paraphrase Ian Malcolm in Jurassic Park, scientists tend to focus on whether they can do something, not whether they should. Questions of what we should do tend to wander away from the pristine beauty of science into the messy worlds of ethics and...4123abortion,arts,bioethics,cloning,contraception,culture,geneediting,ideas,philosophy,physics,science,society,stemcellsfalse14full13 | Neha Narula on Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, and the Future of the Internethttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/13-neha-narula-on-blockchain-cryptocurrency-and-the-future-of-the-internet--6771023797627ccaeaa949afb4d845e1ac20a538Sat, 08 Sep 2018 00:50:31 +0000Sean CarrollFor something of such obvious importance, money is kind of mysterious. It can, as Homer Simpson once memorably noted, be exchanged for goods and services. But who decides exactly how many goods/services a given unit of money can buy? And what...4005arts,bitcoin,blockchain,cryptocurrency,culture,ideas,internet,money,philosophy,physics,science,societyfalse13full12 | Wynton Marsalis on Jazz, Time, and Americahttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/12-wynton-marsalis-on-jazz-time-and-america--677102792a5210cb5b114ec492de5d30fce91d4aTue, 04 Sep 2018 16:28:22 +0000Sean CarrollJazz occupies a special place in the American cultural landscape. It's played in elegant concert halls and run-down bars, and can feature esoteric harmonic experimentation or good old-fashioned foot-stomping swing. Nobody embodies the scope of modern...3705america,arts,culture,ideas,jazz,music,philosophy,physics,science,societyfalse12full11 | Mike Brown on Killing Pluto and Replacing It with Planet 9https://www.spreaker.com/episode/11-mike-brown-on-killing-pluto-and-replacing-it-with-planet-9--677102877067b1adcbf94565bbbbfa548d61e62aMon, 27 Aug 2018 14:23:01 +0000Sean CarrollFew events in recent astronomical history have had the worldwide emotional resonance as the 2006 announcement that Pluto was no longer considered a planet, at least as far as the International Astronomical Union was concerned. The decision was a long...4667arts,astronomy,culture,ideas,philosophy,physics,planets,pluto,science,societyfalse11full10 | Megan Rosenbloom on the Death Positive Movementhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/10-megan-rosenbloom-on-the-death-positive-movement--67710241229a181401f248729fe433a650b5cc52Mon, 20 Aug 2018 13:33:26 +0000Sean CarrollWe're all going to die. But while we are alive, it's up to us how we understand and deal with that fact. In the United States especially, there is a tendency to not face up to the reality of death, and to assume that our goal should be to struggle at...4176arts,culture,death,deathpositivity,ideas,philosophy,physics,science,societyfalse10full9 | Solo -- Why Is There Something Rather than Nothing?https://www.spreaker.com/episode/9-solo-why-is-there-something-rather-than-nothing--677101589bcd98ef6d32493b829b63f750740edcMon, 13 Aug 2018 14:08:46 +0000Sean CarrollIt's fun to be in the exciting, chaotic, youthful days of the podcast, when anything goes and experimentation is the order of the day. So today's show is something different: a solo effort, featuring just me talking without any guests to cramp my...4891arts,cosmology,culture,existence,ideas,philosophy,physics,reality,science,societyfalse9full8 | Carl Zimmer on Heredity, DNA, and Editing Geneshttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/8-carl-zimmer-on-heredity-dna-and-editing-genes--67710283be6857c16f824ce58aaf34b6b90782a5Mon, 06 Aug 2018 14:18:22 +0000Sean CarrollOur understanding of heredity and genetics is improving at blinding speed. It was only in the year 2000 that scientists obtained the first rough map of the human genome: 3 billion base pairs of DNA with about 20,000 functional genes. Today, you can...5477arts,crispr,culture,dna,genes,heredity,ideas,philosophy,physics,science,societyfalse8full7 | Yascha Mounk on Threats to Liberal Democracyhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/7-yascha-mounk-on-threats-to-liberal-democracy--67710289ca91cb76ea3b4fc79a8e6a3833a36917Mon, 30 Jul 2018 17:52:28 +0000Sean Carroll Both words in the phrase "liberal democracy" carry meaning, and both concepts are under attack around the world. "Democracy" means that they people rule, while "liberal" (in this sense) means that the rights of individuals are protected, even if...3921arts,authoritarianism,culture,democracy,ideas,philosophy,physics,politics,populism,science,societyfalse7full6 | Liv Boeree on Poker, Aliens, and Thinking in Probabilitieshttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/6-liv-boeree-on-poker-aliens-and-thinking-in-probabilities--67710281f098b2d7fe3246e39759bae5883be067Mon, 23 Jul 2018 18:15:24 +0000Sean CarrollPoker, like life, is a game of incomplete information. To do well in such a game, we have to think in terms of probabilities, unpredictable strategies, and Bayesian inference. These are ideas that play a central role in physics and rationality as well...4209aliens,altruism,arts,culture,ideas,philosophy,physics,poker,probability,rationality,science,societyfalse6full5 | Geoffrey West on Networks, Scaling, and the Pace of Lifehttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/5-geoffrey-west-on-networks-scaling-and-the-pace-of-life--6771029861602023814049e0934d8f01a71a0b25Mon, 16 Jul 2018 18:17:39 +0000Sean CarrollIf you scale up an animal to twice its height, keeping everything else proportionate, its volume and weight become eight times as much. Such a scaling relation was used by J.B.S. Haldane in his famous essay, "On Being the Right Size," to help explain...5027arts,complexsystems,culture,ideas,networks,philosophy,physics,scaling,science,societyfalse5full4 | Anthony Pinn on Humanism, Theology, and the Black Communityhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/4-anthony-pinn-on-humanism-theology-and-the-black-community--67710303f1837fec536d4a74a38991cf3a8e6ab4Thu, 12 Jul 2018 13:42:33 +0000Sean CarrollAccording to atheism, God does not exist. But religions have traditionally done much more than simply proclaim God's existence: they have provided communities, promoted the arts, handed down moral guidance, and so on. Can atheism, or perhaps humanism,...3650africanamericancommunity,arts,atheism,blacktheology,culture,humanism,ideas,philosophy,physics,science,societyfalse4full3 | Alice Dreger on Sexuality, Truth, and Justicehttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/3-alice-dreger-on-sexuality-truth-and-justice--6771016139b2900e98ef43269bb92db6bd294916Wed, 11 Jul 2018 15:14:06 +0000Sean CarrollThe human mind loves nothing more than to build mental boxes -- categories -- and put things into them, then refuse to accept it when something doesn't fit. Nowhere is this more clear than in the idea that there are men, and there are women, and...4841academia,activism,arts,culture,ideas,intersex,philosophy,physics,science,sexuality,societyfalse3full2 | Carlo Rovelli on Quantum Mechanics, Spacetime, and Realityhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/2-carlo-rovelli-on-quantum-mechanics-spacetime-and-reality--6771020273d472e8628a49af816a9958b81f9090Tue, 10 Jul 2018 14:15:39 +0000Sean CarrollQuantum mechanics and general relativity are the two great triumphs of twentieth-century theoretical physics. Unfortunately, they don't play well together -- despite years of effort, we currently lack a completely successful quantum theory of gravity,...4337arts,culture,ideas,loopquantumgravity,philosophy,physics,quantumgravity,science,society,spacetimefalse2full1 | Carol Tavris on Mistakes, Justification, and Cognitive Dissonancehttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/1-carol-tavris-on-mistakes-justification-and-cognitive-dissonance--67710245bff2cb4fbc944fcdb9547a6021712f8fWed, 04 Jul 2018 18:00:12 +0000Sean CarrollFor the first full episode of Mindscape, it's an honor to welcome social psychologist Carol Tavris. Her book with co-author Eliot Aronson, Mistakes Were Made (But Not By Me), explores the effect that cognitive dissonance has on how we think. We talk...4278arts,cognitivedissonance,culture,ideas,philosophy,physics,psychology,science,societyfalse1fullWelcome to the Mindscape Podcast!https://www.spreaker.com/episode/welcome-to-the-mindscape-podcast--6771029736c9e4a4360349ad88ca7de2ead4c9f5Sun, 01 Jul 2018 17:48:00 +0000Sean CarrollI've decided to officially take the plunge into the world of podcasting. The new show will be called Mindscape, and will mostly consist of me talking to smart people about interesting ideas. (Occasionally it will be me talking by myself about ideas of...966arts,culture,ideas,mindscape,philosophy,physics,podcast,science,seancarroll,societyfalsefull