Episode 25: David Chalmers on Consciousness, the Hard Problem, and Living in a Simulation Sean Carroll 2024-10-22 | Episode 25: David Chalmers on Consciousness, the Hard Problem, and Living in a Simulation
Mindscape 246 | David Stuart on Time and Science in Maya Civilization Sean Carroll 2023-08-14 | Patreon: patreon.com/seanmcarrollBlog post with audio player, show notes, and transcript: preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/08/14/246-david-stuart-on-time-and-science-in-maya-civilizationYou 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, and for that matter they had no way of doing so. But there is very interesting archeology behind our understanding of how the Maya developed their calendar, as well as other aspects of their language and scientific understanding. Mayanist David Stuart takes us on a tour of what we know and what we're still discovering.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.Mindscape Podcast playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrxfgDEc2NxY_fRExpDXr87tzRbPCaA5xSean Carroll channel: youtube.com/c/seancarroll#podcast #ideas #science #philosophy #culture
Mindscape Ask Me Anything, Sean Carroll | August 2023 Sean Carroll 2023-08-07 | Patreon: patreon.com/seanmcarrollBlog post with audio player, show notes, and transcript: preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/08/07/ama-august-2023Welcome to the August 2023 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded by 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!Mindscape Podcast playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrxfgDEc2NxY_fRExpDXr87tzRbPCaA5xSean Carroll channel: youtube.com/c/seancarroll#podcast #ideas #science #philosophy #culture
Mindscape 245 | Solo: The Crisis in Physics Sean Carroll 2023-07-31 | Patreon: patreon.com/seanmcarrollBlog post with audio player, show notes, and transcript: preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/07/31/245-solo-the-crisis-in-physicsPhysics is in crisis, what else is new? That's what we hear in certain corners, anyway, usually pointed at "fundamental" physics of particles and fields. (Condensed matter and biophysics etc. are just fine.) In this solo podcast I ruminate on the unusual situation fundamental physics finds itself in, where we have a theoretical understanding that fits almost all the data, but which nobody believes to be the final answer. I talk about how we got here, and argue that it's not really a "crisis" in any real sense. But there are ways I think the academic community could handle the problem better, especially by making more space for respectable but minority approaches to deep puzzles.Mindscape Podcast playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrxfgDEc2NxY_fRExpDXr87tzRbPCaA5xSean Carroll channel: youtube.com/c/seancarroll#podcast #ideas #science #philosophy #culture
Mindscape 244 | Katie Elliott on Metaphysics, Chance, and Explanation Sean Carroll 2023-07-24 | Patreon: patreon.com/seanmcarrollBlog post with audio player, show notes, and transcript: preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/07/24/244-katie-elliott-on-metaphysics-chance-and-timeIs metaphysics like physics, but cooler? Or is it a relic of an outdated, pre-empirical way of thinking about the world? Closer to the former than the latter. Rather than building specific quantitative theories about the world, metaphysics aims to get a handle on the basic logical structures that help us think about it. I talk with philosopher Katie Elliott on how metaphysics helps us think about questions like counterfactuals, possible worlds, time travel, mathematical equivalence, and whether everything happens for a reason.Katrina (Katie) Elliott received her Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. After being an assistant professor of philosophy at UCLA, she is now on the faculty at Brandeis. Her research covers topics in metaphysics and the philosophy of science, including explanation, chances, and the logic of time travel.Mindscape Podcast playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrxfgDEc2NxY_fRExpDXr87tzRbPCaA5xSean Carroll channel: youtube.com/c/seancarroll#podcast #ideas #science #philosophy #culture
Mindscape Reflections Preview: Episode 241, Tim Maudlin Sean Carroll 2023-07-20 | Patreon supporters of the Mindscape podcast get a few benefits, such as ad-free episodes and the right to ask AMA questions. Here is another small benefit: "reflections" after each episode. Just a few minutes in which I talk about why I invited this guest, or what was interesting to me about the conversation. A tiny thank-you to those who support the podcast.Patreon: patreon.com/seanmcarrollMindscape home: preposterousuniverse.com/podcastMindscape Podcast playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrxfgDEc2NxY_fRExpDXr87tzRbPCaA5xSean Carroll channel: youtube.com/c/seancarroll#podcast #ideas #science #philosophy #culture
Mindscape 243 | Joseph Silk on Science on the Moon Sean Carroll 2023-07-17 | Patreon: patreon.com/seanmcarrollBlog post with audio player, show notes, and transcript: preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/07/17/243-joseph-silk-on-science-on-the-moonThe 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 certain things, like walking around. The Moon, fortunately, provides gravity and a solid surface without any complications of a thick atmosphere -- perfect for astronomical instruments. Building telescopes and other kinds of scientific instruments on the Moon is an expensive and risky endeavor, but the time may have finally arrived. I talk with astrophysicist Joseph Silk about the case for doing astronomy from the Moon, and what special challenges and opportunities are involved.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.Mindscape Podcast playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrxfgDEc2NxY_fRExpDXr87tzRbPCaA5xSean Carroll channel: youtube.com/c/seancarroll#podcast #ideas #science #philosophy #culture
Mindscape 242 | David Krakauer on Complexity, Agency, and Information Sean Carroll 2023-07-10 | Patreon: patreon.com/seanmcarrollBlog post with audio player, show notes, and transcript: preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/07/10/242-david-krakauer-on-complexity-agency-and-informationComplexity scientists have been able to make an impressive amount of progress despite the fact that there is not universal agreement about what "complexity" actually is. We know it when we see it, perhaps, but there are a number of aspects to the phenomenon, and different researchers will naturally focus on their favorites. Today's guest, David Krakauer, is president of the Santa 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.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."Mindscape Podcast playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrxfgDEc2NxY_fRExpDXr87tzRbPCaA5xSean Carroll channel: youtube.com/c/seancarroll#podcast #ideas #science #philosophy #culture
Mindscape Ask Me Anything, Sean Carroll | July 2023 Sean Carroll 2023-07-03 | Patreon: patreon.com/seanmcarrollBlog post with audio player, show notes, and transcript: preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/07/03/ama-july-2023Welcome to the July 2023 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded by 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.We're experimenting with a new benefit for Patreon supporters: short video (or audio-only) reflections by me on the podcast that just happened. If you've been wondering whether to join up, this could be the time.Mindscape Podcast playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrxfgDEc2NxY_fRExpDXr87tzRbPCaA5xSean Carroll channel: youtube.com/c/seancarroll#podcast #ideas #science #philosophy #culture
Mindscape 241 | Tim Maudlin on Locality, Hidden Variables, and Quantum Foundations Sean Carroll 2023-06-26 | Patreon: patreon.com/seanmcarrollBlog post with audio player, show notes, and transcript: preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/06/26/241-tim-maudlin-on-locality-hidden-variables-and-quantum-foundationsLast year's Nobel Prize for experimental tests of Bell's Theorem was the first Nobel in the foundations of quantum mechanics since Max Born in 1954. Quantum foundations is enjoying a bit of a resurgence, inspired in part by improving quantum technology but also by a realization that understanding quantum mechanics might help with other problems in physics (and be important in its own right). Tim Maudlin is a leading philosopher of physics and also a skeptic of the Everett interpretation. We discuss the logic behind hidden-variable approaches such as Bohmian mechanics, and also the broader question of the importance of the foundations of physics.Tim Maudlin received his Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Pittsburgh. He is currently a professor of philosophy at New York University. He is a member of the Academie Internationale de Philosophie des Sciences and the Foundational Questions Institute (FQXi). He has been a Guggenheim Fellow. He is the founder and director of the John Bell Institute for the Foundations of Physics in Croatia: johnbellinstitute.orgMindscape Podcast playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrxfgDEc2NxY_fRExpDXr87tzRbPCaA5xSean Carroll channel: youtube.com/c/seancarroll#podcast #ideas #science #philosophy #culture
Mindscape 240 | Andrew Pontzen on Simulations and the Universe Sean Carroll 2023-06-19 | Patreon: patreon.com/seanmcarrollBlog post with audio player, show notes, and transcript: preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/06/19/240-andrew-pontzen-on-simulations-and-the-universeIt's somewhat amazing that cosmology, the study of the universe as a whole, can make any progress at all. But it has, especially so in recent decades. Partly that's because nature has been kind to us in some ways: the universe is quite a simple place on large scales and at early times. Another reason is a leap forward in the data we have collected, and in the growing use of a powerful tool: computer simulations. I talk with cosmologist Andrew Pontzen on what we know about the universe, and how simulations have helped us figure it out. We also touch on hot topics in cosmology (early galaxies discovered by JWST) as well as philosophical issues (are simulations data or theory?).Andrew Pontzen received his Ph.D. in astronomy from the University of Cambridge. He is currently Professor of Cosmology at University College London. In addition to his research in cosmology, he frequently writes popular articles and appears in science documentaries. His new book is The Universe in a Box: Simulations and the Quest to Code the Cosmos.Mindscape Podcast playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrxfgDEc2NxY_fRExpDXr87tzRbPCaA5xSean Carroll channel: youtube.com/c/seancarroll#podcast #ideas #science #philosophy #culture
Mindscape 239 | Brian Lowery on the Social Self Sean Carroll 2023-06-12 | Patreon: patreon.com/seanmcarrollBlog post with audio player, show notes, and transcript: preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/06/12/239-brian-lowery-on-the-social-selfThere 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 we think of as our "self" is shaped by our environment and our genes, and most of all by our interactions with other people. Psychologist Brian Lowery argues for a strong version of this thesis, positing that our sense of self is largely a social construct. We talk about the implications of this idea, and what it means for shifting notions of personal identity.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."Mindscape Podcast playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrxfgDEc2NxY_fRExpDXr87tzRbPCaA5xSean Carroll channel: youtube.com/c/seancarroll#podcast #ideas #science #philosophy #culture
Mindscape Ask Me Anything, Sean Carroll | June 2023 Sean Carroll 2023-06-05 | Patreon: patreon.com/seanmcarrollBlog post with audio player, show notes, and transcript: preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/06/05/ama-june-2023Welcome to the June 2023 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded by 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!Mindscape Podcast playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrxfgDEc2NxY_fRExpDXr87tzRbPCaA5xSean Carroll channel: youtube.com/c/seancarroll#podcast #ideas #science #philosophy #culture
Mindscape 238 | Scott Shapiro on the Philosophy and Technology of Hacking Sean Carroll 2023-05-29 | Patreon: patreon.com/seanmcarrollBlog post with audio player, show notes, and transcript: preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/05/29/238-scott-shapiro-on-the-technology-and-philosophy-of-hackingModern 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 greater. Why don't we just build unhackable computers? Scott Shapiro, who is a law professor and philosopher, explains why that's essentially impossible. On a philosophical level, computers rely on an essential equivalence between "data" and "code," which is vulnerable to exploitation. And on a psychological level, human beings will always be the weakest link in the chain of security.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.Mindscape Podcast playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrxfgDEc2NxY_fRExpDXr87tzRbPCaA5xSean Carroll channel: youtube.com/c/seancarroll#podcast #ideas #science #philosophy #culture
Mindscape 237 | Brooke Harrington on Offshore Wealth as a Complex System Sean Carroll 2023-05-22 | Patreon: patreon.com/seanmcarrollBlog post with audio player, show notes, and transcript: preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/05/22/237-brooke-harrington-on-offshore-wealth-as-a-complex-systemThe 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 can use both legitimately (to invest and plan their money) and less legitimately (to avoid taxation or hide questionable practices generally). Brooke Harrington is a sociologist who has studied offshore wealth management, including by training to be one. In 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.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.Mindscape Podcast playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrxfgDEc2NxY_fRExpDXr87tzRbPCaA5xSean Carroll channel: youtube.com/c/seancarroll#podcast #ideas #science #philosophy #culture
Mindscape 236 | Thomas Hertog on Quantum Cosmology and Hawkings Final Theory Sean Carroll 2023-05-15 | Patreon: patreon.com/seanmcarrollBlog post with audio player, show notes, and transcript: preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/05/15/236-thomas-hertog-on-quantum-cosmology-and-hawkings-final-theoryIs 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 observers. There is a longstanding puzzle about how, in such a scenario, we should calculate what we, as presumably intelligent observers ourselves, should expect to see. Today's guest, Thomas Hertog, is a physicist and longstanding collaborator of Stephen Hawking. They worked together (often with James Hartle) to address these questions, and the work is still ongoing.Thomas Hertog received his Ph.D. in physics from Cambridge University. 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.Mindscape Podcast playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrxfgDEc2NxY_fRExpDXr87tzRbPCaA5xSean Carroll channel: youtube.com/c/seancarroll#podcast #ideas #science #philosophy #culture
Mindscape Ask Me Anything, Sean Carroll | May 2023 Sean Carroll 2023-05-08 | Patreon: patreon.com/seanmcarrollBlog post with audio player, show notes, and transcript: preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/05/08/ama-may-2023Welcome to the May 2023 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded by 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!Mindscape Podcast playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrxfgDEc2NxY_fRExpDXr87tzRbPCaA5xSean Carroll channel: youtube.com/c/seancarroll#podcast #ideas #science #philosophy #culture
Mindscape 235 | Andy Clark on the Extended and Predictive Mind Sean Carroll 2023-05-01 | Patreon: patreon.com/seanmcarrollBlog post with audio player, show notes, and transcript: preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/04/27/235-andy-clark-on-the-extended-and-predictive-mindWhat is the mind, and what does it try to do? An overly simplified materialist view might be that the mind emerges from physical processes in the brain. But you can be a materialist and still recognize that there is more to the mind than just the brain: the rest of our bodies play a role, and arguably we should count physical artifacts that contribute to our memory and cognition as part of "the mind." Or so argues todays guest, philosopher/cognitive scientist Andy Clark. As to what the mind does, it tries to predict what happens next. This simple idea provides a powerful lens through which to interpret all the different things our minds do, including the idea that "perception is controlled hallucination."Andy Clark received his Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Sussex. He is currently Professor of Cognitive Philosophy at Sussex. He was Director of the Philosophy/Neuroscience/Psychology Program at Washington University in St Louis, and Director of the Cogntive Science Program at Indiana University. His new book is The Experience Machine: How Our Minds Predict and Shape Reality.Mindscape Podcast playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrxfgDEc2NxY_fRExpDXr87tzRbPCaA5xSean Carroll channel: youtube.com/c/seancarroll#podcast #ideas #science #philosophy #culture
Mindscape 234 | Tobias Warnecke on Cellular Structure and Evolution Sean Carroll 2023-04-24 | Patreon: patreon.com/seanmcarrollBlog post with audio player, show notes, and transcript: preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/04/24/234-tobias-warnecke-on-cellular-structure-and-evolutionEukaryotic cells manage to pull off a number of remarkable feats. One is packing quite a long DNA molecule, with potentially billions of base pairs, into a tiny central nucleus. A key role is played by histones, proteins that provide scaffolding for DNA to wrap around. Histones also appear in archaea (one of the other domains of life), but until recently there wasn't evidence for them in bacteria (the final of the three domains). Todays guest, Tobias Warnecke, is an author on a recent paper that claims to provide such evidence. We discuss this new result, as well as background questions of how cells evolved and what their current structure can teach us about their histories.Tobias Warnecke received his Ph.D. in biology from the University of Bath. He is currently a Programme Leader and MRC Investigator at the London Institute of Medical Sciences. He is a co-author on A. Hochner et al. (2023), "Histone-Organized Chromatin in Bacteria."Mindscape Podcast playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrxfgDEc2NxY_fRExpDXr87tzRbPCaA5xSean Carroll channel: youtube.com/c/seancarroll#podcast #ideas #science #philosophy #culture
Mindscape 233 | Hugo Mercier on Reasoning and Skepticism Sean Carroll 2023-04-17 | Patreon: patreon.com/seanmcarrollBlog post with audio player, show notes, and transcript: preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/04/17/233-hugo-mercier-on-reasoning-and-skepticismHere at the Mindscape Podcast, we are firmly pro-reason. But what does that mean, fundamentally and in practice? How did humanity come into the idea of not just doing things, but doing things for reasons? In this episode we talk with cognitive scientist Hugo Mercier about these issues. He is the co-author (with Dan Sperber) of The Enigma of Reason, about how the notion of reason came to be, and more recently author of Not Born Yesterday, about who we trust and what we believe. He argues that our main shortcoming is not being insufficiently skeptical of radical claims, but of being too skeptical of claims that don't fit our views.Hugo Mercier received a Ph.D. in cognitive sciences from the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales. He is currently a Permanent CNRS Research Scientist at the Institut Jean Nicod, Paris. Among his awards are the Prime d’excellence from the CNRS.Mindscape Podcast playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrxfgDEc2NxY_fRExpDXr87tzRbPCaA5xSean Carroll channel: youtube.com/c/seancarroll#podcast #ideas #science #philosophy #culture
Mindscape 232 | Amy Finkelstein on Adverse Selection and Hidden Information Sean Carroll 2023-04-10 | Patreon: patreon.com/seanmcarrollBlog post with audio player, show notes, and transcript: preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/04/10/232-amy-finkelstein-on-adverse-selection-and-hidden-informationIf you knew exactly when every person was going to die, or require medical care, you could make a killing buying and selling insurance. Nobody knows these things, of course -- the future is hard to predict -- but some people know something about the future that other people don't. This sets up adverse selection: the ability of one party to leverage information another party doesn't have, in order to gain an economic advantage. Economist Amy Finkelstein is an expert in this phenomenon, as well as the usefulness of empirical studies in economic research.Amy Finkelstein received her Ph.D. in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is currently John & Jennie S. MacDonald Professor of Economics at MIT. She is the co-director and research associate of the Public Economics Program at the National Bureau of Economic Research, and the co-Scientific Director of J-PAL North America. Among her awards are a MacArthur Fellowship and the John Bates Clark Medal. Her recent book, with co-authors Liran Einav and Ray Fisman, is Risky Business: Why Insurance Markets Fail and What to Do About It.Mindscape Podcast playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrxfgDEc2NxY_fRExpDXr87tzRbPCaA5xSean Carroll channel: youtube.com/c/seancarroll#podcast #ideas #science #philosophy #culture
Mindscape Ask Me Anything, Sean Carroll | April 2023 Sean Carroll 2023-04-03 | Patreon: patreon.com/seanmcarrollBlog post with audio player, show notes, and transcript: preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/04/03/ama-april-2023Welcome to the April 2023 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded by 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!Mindscape Podcast playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrxfgDEc2NxY_fRExpDXr87tzRbPCaA5xSean Carroll channel: youtube.com/c/seancarroll#podcast #ideas #science #philosophy #culture
Mindscape 231 | Sarah Bakewell on the History of Humanism Sean Carroll 2023-03-27 | Patreon: patreon.com/seanmcarrollBlog post with audio player, show notes, and transcript: preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/03/27/232-sarah-bakewell-on-the-history-of-humanismHuman beings are small compared to the universe, but we're very important to ourselves. Humanism can be thought of as the idea that human beings are themselves the source of meaningfulness and mattering in our lives, rather than those being granted to us by some higher power. In today's episode, Sarah Bakewell discusses the origin and evolution of this dramatic idea. Humanism turns out to be a complex thing; there are religious humanists and atheistic anti-humanists. Her new book is Humanly Possible: 700 Years of Humanist Freethinking, Inquiry, and Hope.Sarah Bakewell did postgraduate work in philosophy and artificial intelligence before becoming a full-time author. Among her previous books are How to Live: a life of Montaigne, and At the Existentialist Cafe. She has been awarded the National Book Critics Circle award in biography, as well as the Windham-Campbell Prize in non-fiction.Mindscape Podcast playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrxfgDEc2NxY_fRExpDXr87tzRbPCaA5xSean Carroll channel: youtube.com/c/seancarroll#podcast #ideas #science #philosophy #culture
Mindscape 230 | Raphaël Millière on How Artificial Intelligence Thinks Sean Carroll 2023-03-20 | Patreon: patreon.com/seanmcarrollBlog post with audio player, show notes, and transcript: preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/03/20/230-raphael-milliere-on-how-artificial-intelligence-thinksWelcome to another episode of Sean Carroll's Mindscape. Today, we're joined by Raphaël Millière, a philosopher and cognitive scientist at Columbia University. We'll be exploring the fascinating topic of how artificial intelligence thinks and processes information. As AI becomes increasingly prevalent in our daily lives, it's important to understand the mechanisms behind its decision-making processes. What are the algorithms and models that underpin AI, and how do they differ from human thought processes? How do machines learn from data, and what are the limitations of this learning? These are just some of the questions we'll be exploring in this episode. Raphaël will be sharing insights from his work in cognitive science, and discussing the latest developments in this rapidly evolving field. So join us as we dive into the mind of artificial intelligence and explore how it thinks.[The above introduction was artificially generated by ChatGPT.]Raphaël Millière received a DPhil in philosophy from the University of Oxford. He is currently a Presidential Scholar in Society and Neuroscience at the Center for Science and Society, and a Lecturer in the Philosophy Department at Columbia University. He also writes and organizes events aimed at a broader audience, including a recent workshop on The Challenge of Compositionality for Artificial Intelligence.Mindscape Podcast playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrxfgDEc2NxY_fRExpDXr87tzRbPCaA5xSean Carroll channel: youtube.com/c/seancarroll#podcast #ideas #science #philosophy #culture
Mindscape 229 | Nita Farahany on Ethics, Law, and Neurotechnology Sean Carroll 2023-03-13 | Patreon: patreon.com/seanmcarrollBlog post with audio player, show notes, and transcript: preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/03/13/229-nita-farahany-on-ethics-law-and-neurotechnologyEvery time our brain does some thinking, there are associated physical processes. In particular, electric currents and charged particles jump between neurons, creating associated electromagnetic fields. These fields can in principle be detected with proper technology, opening the possibility for reading your mind. That technology is currently primitive, but rapidly advancing, and it's not too early to start thinking about legal and ethical consequences when governments and corporations have access to your thoughts. Nita Farahany is a law professor and bioethicist who discusses these issues in her new book, The Battle for Your Brain: Defending the Right to Think Freely in the Age of Neurotechnology.Nita Farahany received a J.D. and a Ph.D. in philosophy from Duke University. She is currently the Robinson O. Everett Distinguished Professor of Law & Philosophy at Duke, as well as Founding Director of the Duke Initiative for Science & Society. She has served on a number of government commissions, including the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues. She is a Fellow of the American Law Institute and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and was awarded the Duke Law School Distinguished Teaching Award.Mindscape Podcast playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrxfgDEc2NxY_fRExpDXr87tzRbPCaA5xSean Carroll channel: youtube.com/c/seancarroll#podcast #ideas #science #philosophy #culture
Mindscape Ask Me Anything, Sean Carroll | March 2023 Sean Carroll 2023-03-06 | Patreon: patreon.com/seanmcarrollBlog post with audio player, show notes, and transcript: preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/03/06/ama-march-2023Welcome to the March 2023 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded by 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!Also -- thanks to Patreon supporter Siddhartha, we now have a Google Doc that includes all of the AMA questions ever asked, and their answers. It will remain linked at the bottom of the right-hand sidebar of the podcast website. So now you can search for past questions and answers!Mindscape Podcast playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrxfgDEc2NxY_fRExpDXr87tzRbPCaA5xSean Carroll channel: youtube.com/c/seancarroll#podcast #ideas #science #philosophy #culture
Mindscape 228 | Skye Cleary on Existentialism and Authenticity Sean Carroll 2023-02-27 | Patreon: patreon.com/seanmcarrollBlog post with audio player, show notes, and transcript: preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/02/27/228-skye-cleary-on-existentialism-and-authenticityGod is dead, as Nietzsche’s madman memorably reminded us. So what are we going to do about it? If there is no powerful force out there to guide us and give meaning to our lives, how are we supposed to live? Do we have to come up with meaning and purpose ourselves? Apparently so, and how to pull it off was a major question addressed by the existentialist movement. Skye Cleary turns to Simone de Beauvoir, in particular, for thoughts on how to construct an authentic life. Her recent book is How to Be Authentic: Simone de Beauvoir and the Quest for Fulfillment.Skye Cleary received a Ph.D. and an MBA from Macquarie University. She is an author and philosopher and also teaches at Columbia University and the City College of New York. Her writing has appeared in The Paris Review, Aeon, The Times Literary Supplement, TED-Ed, and The Los Angeles Review of Books, among other outlets. She won the 2017 New Philosopher Writers’ Award and was a 2021 MacDowell Fellow. Mindscape Podcast playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrxfgDEc2NxY_fRExpDXr87tzRbPCaA5xSean Carroll channel: youtube.com/c/seancarroll#podcast #ideas #science #philosophy #culture
Mindscape 227 | Molly Crockett on the Psychology of Morality Sean Carroll 2023-02-20 | Patreon: patreon.com/seanmcarrollBlog post with audio player, show notes, and transcript: preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/02/20/227-molly-crockett-on-the-psychology-of-moralityMost of us strive to be good, moral people. When we are doing that striving, what is happening in our brains? Some of our moral inclinations seem pretty automatic and subconscious. Other times we have to sit down and deploy our full cognitive faculties to reason through a tricky moral dilemma. I talk with psychologist Molly Crockett about where our moral intuitions come from, how they can sometimes serve as cover for bad behaviors, and how morality shapes our self-image.Molly J. Crockett received her Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology from the University of Cambridge. She is currently Associate Professor of Psychology and University Center for Human Values at Princeton University. She is a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science and the Society for Experimental Social Psychology.Mindscape Podcast playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrxfgDEc2NxY_fRExpDXr87tzRbPCaA5xSean Carroll channel: youtube.com/c/seancarroll#podcast #ideas #science #philosophy #culture
Mindscape 226 | Johanna Hoffman on Speculative Futures of Cities Sean Carroll 2023-02-13 | Patreon: patreon.com/seanmcarrollBlog post with audio player, show notes, and transcript: preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/02/13/226-johanna-hoffman-on-speculative-futures-of-citiesCities are incredibly important to modern life, and their importance is only growing. As Geoffrey West points out, the world is adding urban areas equivalent to the population of San Francisco once every four days. How those areas get designed and structured is a complicated interplay between top-down planning and the collective choices of millions of inhabitants. As the world is changing and urbanization increases, it will be crucial to imagine how cities might serve our needs even better. Johanna Hoffman is an urbanist who harnesses imagination to make cities more sustainable and equitable.Johanna Hoffman received an MLA in landscape architecture and environmental planning from UC Berkeley. She is the co-founder and Director of Planning at urban futures firm Design for Adaptation. She has won fellowships from the European Futures Observatory and the Berggruen Institute, and served as Artist in Residence at the Buckminster Fuller Institute. Her new book is Speculative Futures: Design Approaches to Navigate Change, Foster Resilience, and Co-Create the Cities We Need.Mindscape Podcast playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrxfgDEc2NxY_fRExpDXr87tzRbPCaA5xSean Carroll channel: youtube.com/c/seancarroll#podcast #ideas #science #philosophy #culture
Mindscape Ask Me Anything, Sean Carroll | February 2023 Sean Carroll 2023-02-06 | Patreon: patreon.com/seanmcarrollBlog post with audio player, show notes, and transcript: preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/02/06/ama-february-2023Welcome to the February 2023 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded by 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!The big news this month is the successful awarding of the first ever Mindscape Big Picture Scholarship. Congratulations to Lyat Melese and Rehman Hassan! We continue to collection donations for next year’s scholarship contest.Mindscape Podcast playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrxfgDEc2NxY_fRExpDXr87tzRbPCaA5xSean Carroll channel: youtube.com/c/seancarroll#podcast #ideas #science #philosophy #culture
Mindscape 225 | Michael Tomasello on The Social Origins of Cognition and Agency Sean Carroll 2023-01-30 | Patreon: patreon.com/seanmcarrollBlog post with audio player, show notes, and transcript: preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/01/30/225-michael-tomasello-on-the-social-origins-of-cognition-and-agencyHuman beings have developed wondrous capacities to take in information about the world, mull it over, think about a suite of future implications, and decide on a course of action based on those deliberations. These abilities developed over evolutionary history for a variety of reasons and under a number of different pressures. But one crucially important aspect of their development is their social function. According to Michael Tomasello, we developed agency and cognition and even morality in order to better communicate and cooperate with our fellow humans. 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.Mindscape Podcast playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrxfgDEc2NxY_fRExpDXr87tzRbPCaA5xSean Carroll channel: youtube.com/c/seancarroll#podcast #ideas #science #philosophy #culture
Mindscape 224 | Edward Tufte on Data, Design, and Truth Sean Carroll 2023-01-23 | Patreon: patreon.com/seanmcarrollBlog post with audio player, show notes, and transcript: preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/01/23/224-edward-tufte-on-design-data-and-truthSo 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 enormous amount to change that. Beginning with 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.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.Mindscape Podcast playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrxfgDEc2NxY_fRExpDXr87tzRbPCaA5xSean Carroll channel: youtube.com/c/seancarroll#podcast #ideas #science #philosophy #culture
Mindscape 223 | Tania Lombrozo on What Explanations Are Sean Carroll 2023-01-16 | Patreon: patreon.com/seanmcarrollBlog post with audio player, show notes, and transcript: preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/01/16/223-tania-lombrozo-on-what-explanations-areThere 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 questions here: What is an explanation? Do explanations bottom out, or go forever? But there are also psychology questions: What precisely is it that we seek when we demand an explanation? What makes us satisfied with one? Tania Lombrozo is a psychologist who is also conversant with the philosophical side of things. She offers some pretty convincing explanations for why we value explanation so highly.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.Mindscape Podcast playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrxfgDEc2NxY_fRExpDXr87tzRbPCaA5xSean Carroll channel: youtube.com/c/seancarroll#podcast #ideas #science #philosophy #culture
Mindscape 222 | Andrew Strominger on Quantum Gravity and the Real World Sean Carroll 2023-01-09 | Patreon: patreon.com/seanmcarrollBlog post with audio player, show notes, and transcript: preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/01/09/222-andrew-strominger-on-quantum-gravity-and-the-real-worldQuantum gravity research is inspired by experiment — all of the experimental data that supports quantum mechanics, and supports general relativity — but it’s only inspiration, not detailed guidance. So it’s easy to “do research on quantum gravity” and get lost in a world of toy models and mathematical abstraction. Today’s guest, Andrew Strominger, is a leading researcher in string theory and quantum gravity, and one who has always kept his eyes on the prize: connecting to the real world. We talk about the development of string theory, the puzzle of a positive cosmological constant, and how black holes and string theory can teach us about each other. Andrew Strominger received his Ph.D. in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is currently the Gwill E. York Professor of Physics at Harvard University. Among his awards are the Dirac Medal, the Klein Medal, the Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics, and a Guggenheim Fellowship.Mindscape Podcast playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrxfgDEc2NxY_fRExpDXr87tzRbPCaA5xSean Carroll channel: youtube.com/c/seancarroll#podcast #ideas #science #philosophy #culture
Mindscape 221 | Adam Bulley on How Mental Time Travel Makes Us Human Sean Carroll 2023-01-02 | Patreon: patreon.com/seanmcarrollBlog post with audio player, show notes, and transcript: preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/01/02/221-adam-bulley-on-how-mental-time-travel-makes-us-humanOne 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 our capability to organize socially and make contracts with other people. Today’s guest, psychologist Adam Bulley, argues that it’s the primary feature that makes us recognizably human, as he argues in the new book The Invention of Tomorrow: A Natural History of Foresight (with Thomas Suddendorf and Jonathan Redshaw).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.Mindscape Podcast playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrxfgDEc2NxY_fRExpDXr87tzRbPCaA5xSean Carroll channel: youtube.com/c/seancarroll#podcast #ideas #science #philosophy #culture
Mindscape Holiday Message 2022 | Thinking Really Slowly Sean Carroll 2022-12-19 | Patreon: patreon.com/seanmcarrollBlog post with audio player, show notes, and transcript: preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2022/12/19/holiday-message-2022-thinking-really-slowlyWelcome 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 things out really well! Illustrated by two things that have been on my mind: a couple of internet/tech kerfuffles (Elon Musk buying Twitter, Sam Bankman-Fried and the collapse of FTX), and the distinction between foundations of physics and “regular” physics. See if you can dimly perceive the thread that ties them together.Mindscape Podcast playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrxfgDEc2NxY_fRExpDXr87tzRbPCaA5xSean Carroll channel: youtube.com/c/seancarroll#podcast #ideas #science #philosophy #culture
Mindscape 220 | Lara Buchak on Risk and Rationality Sean Carroll 2022-12-12 | Patreon: patreon.com/seanmcarrollBlog post with audio player, show notes, and transcript: preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2022/12/12/220-lara-buchak-on-risk-and-rationalityLife is rich with moments of uncertainty, where we’re not exactly sure what’s going to happen next. We often find ourselves in situations where we have to choose between different kinds of uncertainty; maybe one option is very likely to have a “pretty good” outcome, while another has some probability for “great” and some for “truly awful.” In such circumstances, what’s the rational way to choose? Is it rational to go to great lengths to avoid choices where the worst outcome is very bad? Lara Buchak argues that it is, thereby expanding and generalizing the usual rules of rational choice in conditions of risk.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.Mindscape Podcast playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrxfgDEc2NxY_fRExpDXr87tzRbPCaA5xSean Carroll channel: youtube.com/c/seancarroll#podcast #ideas #science #philosophy #culture
Mindscape Ask Me Anything, Sean Carroll | December 2022 Sean Carroll 2022-12-05 | Patreon: patreon.com/seanmcarrollBlog post with audio player, show notes, and transcript: preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2022/12/05/ama-december-2022Welcome to the December 2022 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded by 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!Remember that I take a holiday break at the end of the year, so the next AMA will be at the beginning of February.Mindscape Podcast playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrxfgDEc2NxY_fRExpDXr87tzRbPCaA5xSean Carroll channel: youtube.com/c/seancarroll#podcast #ideas #science #philosophy #culture
Mindscape 219 | Dani Bassett and Perry Zurn on the Neuroscience and Philosophy of Curiosity Sean Carroll 2022-11-28 | Patreon: patreon.com/seanmcarrollBlog post with audio player, show notes, and transcript: preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2022/11/28/219-dani-bassett-and-perry-zurn-on-the-neuroscience-and-philosophy-of-curiosityIt’s easy enough to proclaim that we are curious creatures, but what does that really mean? What kinds of curiosity are there? And how does curiosity arise in our brains? Perry Zurn and Dani Bassett are a philosopher and neuroscientist, respectively (as well as twins), whose new book Curious Minds: The Power of Connection explores these questions through an interdisciplinary lens. We break down the different ways that curiosity can manifest — collecting and creating loose knowledge networks, digging deeply to create a tight knowledge network, and creatively leaping to make unexpected connections. Perry Zurn received a Ph.D. in philosophy from DePaul University. He is currently an Associate Professor and Director of Undergraduate Studies in Philosophy in the Department of Philosophy and Religion at American University. He is the co-founder of the Trans Philosophy Project and the associated Thinking Trans // Trans Thinking Conference. Among his previous works is Curiosity and Power: The Politics of Inquiry.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.Mindscape Podcast playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrxfgDEc2NxY_fRExpDXr87tzRbPCaA5xSean Carroll channel: youtube.com/c/seancarroll#podcast #ideas #science #philosophy #culture
Mindscape 218 | Raphael Bousso on Black Holes and the Holographic Universe Sean Carroll 2022-11-21 | Patreon: patreon.com/seanmcarrollBlog post with audio player, show notes, and transcript: preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2022/11/21/218-raphael-bousso-on-black-holes-and-the-holographic-universeStephen Hawking’s discoveries of black hole radiation, entropy, and the information-loss problem have both taught us an enormous amount about the relationship between quantum mechanics and gravity, and also left us with some knotty puzzles. One major insight is the holographic principle: the information describing a black hole can be thought of as living on the event horizon (the two-dimensional boundary of the hole), rather than distributed throughout its volume, as normal physics would lead us to expect. Raphael Bousso has made important contributions to our understanding of holography and its implications. We talk about the modern point of view of how gravity relates to quantum mechanics.Raphael Bousso received his Ph.D. in physics from Cambridge University, where his advisor was Stephen Hawking. He is currently a professor of physics at UC Berkeley. He has made pioneering contributions to our understanding of black hole information, the holographic principle, the string theory landscape, and multiverse cosmology.Mindscape Podcast playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrxfgDEc2NxY_fRExpDXr87tzRbPCaA5xSean Carroll channel: youtube.com/c/seancarroll#podcast #ideas #science #philosophy #culture
Mindscape 217 | Margaret Levi on Moral Political Economy Sean Carroll 2022-11-14 | Patreon: patreon.com/seanmcarrollBlog post with audio player, show notes, and transcript: preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2022/11/14/217-margaret-levi-on-moral-political-economyWhy do people voluntarily hand over authority to a government? Under what conditions should they do so? These questions are both timeless and extremely timely, as modern democratic governments struggle with stability and legitimacy. They also bring questions from moral and political philosophy into conversations with empirically-minded social science. Margaret Levi is a leading political scientist who has focused on political economy and the nature of trust in government and other institutions. We talk about what democracy means, its current state, and how we can make it better.Margaret Levi received her Ph.D. in political science from Harvard University. She is currently Professor of Political Science and Senior Fellow at the Center for Democracy, Development and Rule of Law at the Freeman Spogli Institute at Stanford University. She is also co-director of the Stanford Ethics, Society and Technology Hub, and the Jere L. Bacharach Professor Emerita of International Studies at the University of Washington. She is the winner of the 2019 Johan Skytte Prize and the 2020 Falling Walls Breakthrough. She is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the British Academy, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the American Association of Political and Social Sciences. She served as president of the American Political Science Association from 2004 to 2005. In 2014 she received the William H. Riker Prize in Political Science, in 2017 gave the Elinor Ostrom Memorial Lecture, and in 2018 received an honorary doctorate from Universidad Carlos III de Madrid.Mindscape Podcast playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrxfgDEc2NxY_fRExpDXr87tzRbPCaA5xSean Carroll channel: youtube.com/c/seancarroll#podcast #ideas #science #philosophy #culture
Mindscape AMA, Sean Carroll | November 2022 Sean Carroll 2022-11-07 | Patreon: patreon.com/seanmcarrollBlog post with audio player, show notes, and transcript: preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2022/11/07/ama-november-2022Welcome to the November 2022 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded by 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!Mindscape Podcast playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrxfgDEc2NxY_fRExpDXr87tzRbPCaA5xSean Carroll channel: youtube.com/c/seancarroll#podcast #ideas #science #philosophy #culture
Mindscape 216 | John Allen Paulos on Numbers, Narratives, and Numeracy Sean Carroll 2022-10-31 | Patreon: patreon.com/seanmcarrollBlog post with audio player, show notes, and transcript: preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2022/10/31/216-john-allen-paulos-on-numbers-narratives-and-numeracyPeople have a complicated relationship to mathematics. We all use it in our everyday lives, from calculating a tip at a restaurant to estimating the probability of some future event. But many people find the subject intimidating, if not off-putting. John Allen Paulos has long been working to make mathematics more approachable and encourage people to become more numerate. We talk about how people think about math, what kinds of math they should know, and the role of stories and narrative to make math come alive. John Allen Paulos received his Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He is currently a professor of mathematics at Temple University. He s a bestselling author, and frequent contributor to publications such as ABCNews.com, the Guardian, and Scientific American. Among his awards are the Science Communication award from the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Mathematics Communication Award from the Joint Policy Board of Mathematics. His new book is Who’s Counting? Uniting Numbers and Narratives with Stories from Pop Culture, Puzzles, Politics, and More.Mindscape Podcast playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrxfgDEc2NxY_fRExpDXr87tzRbPCaA5xSean Carroll channel: youtube.com/c/seancarroll#podcast #ideas #science #philosophy #culture
Mindscape 215 | Barry Loewer on Physics, Counterfactuals, and the Macroworld Sean Carroll 2022-10-24 | Patreon: patreon.com/seanmcarrollBlog post with audio player, show notes, and transcript: preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2022/10/24/215-barry-loewer-on-connecting-physics-to-the-world-of-experienceThe 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 important than they realized: the emergence of patterns characterizing our macroscopic world relies crucially on the increase of entropy over time. Barry Loewer has (in collaboration with David Albert) been developing a theory of the Mentaculus — the probability map of the world — that connects microscopic physics to time, causation, and other familiar features of our experience.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.Mindscape Podcast playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrxfgDEc2NxY_fRExpDXr87tzRbPCaA5xSean Carroll channel: youtube.com/c/seancarroll#podcast #ideas #science #philosophy #culture
Mindscape 214 | Antonio Padilla on Large Numbers and the Scope of the Universe Sean Carroll 2022-10-17 | Patreon: patreon.com/seanmcarrollBlog post with audio player, show notes, and transcript: preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2022/10/17/214-antonio-padilla-on-large-numbers-and-the-scope-of-the-universeIt’s a big universe we live in, so it comes as no surprise that big numbers are needed to describe it. There are roughly 1022 stars in the observable universe, and about 1088 particles altogether. But these numbers are nothing compared to some of the truly ginormous quantities that mathematicians have found to talk about, with inscrutable names like Graham’s Number and TREE(3). Could such 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.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.Mindscape Podcast playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrxfgDEc2NxY_fRExpDXr87tzRbPCaA5xSean Carroll channel: youtube.com/c/seancarroll#podcast #ideas #science #philosophy #culture
Mindscape AMA, Sean Carroll | October 2022 Sean Carroll 2022-10-10 | Patreon: patreon.com/seanmcarrollBlog post with audio player, show notes, and transcript:Welcome to the October 2022 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded by 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!Mindscape Podcast playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrxfgDEc2NxY_fRExpDXr87tzRbPCaA5xSean Carroll channel: youtube.com/c/seancarroll#podcast #ideas #science #philosophy #culture
Mindscape 213 | Timiebi Aganaba on Law and Governance in Space Sean Carroll 2022-10-03 | Patreon: patreon.com/seanmcarrollBlog post with audio player, show notes, and transcript: preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2022/10/03/213-timiebi-aganaba-on-law-and-governance-in-spaceWith communication satellites, weather satellites, GPS, and much more, what happens in space is already important to our lives here on Earth. And the importance of space is only going to grow as we increase the presence of humans, whether in Earth orbit or beyond. So the questions of what laws govern activity in space, and how nations and institutions should practice good governance more generally, are becoming increasingly urgent. Timiebi Aganaba is an academic and space lawyer who has experience experience in a wide variety of context and countries. We talk about the current status of space law and how to guarantee good governance going forward.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.Mindscape Podcast playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrxfgDEc2NxY_fRExpDXr87tzRbPCaA5xSean Carroll channel: youtube.com/c/seancarroll#podcast #ideas #science #philosophy #culture
Mindscape 212 | Chiara Mingarelli on Searching for Black Holes with Pulsars Sean Carroll 2022-09-26 | Patreon: patreon.com/seanmcarrollBlog post with audio player, show notes, and transcript: preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2022/09/26/212-chiara-mingarelli-on-searching-for-black-holes-with-pulsarsThe detection of gravitational waves from inspiraling black holes by the LIGO and Virgo collaborations was rightly celebrated as a landmark achievement in physics and astronomy. But ultra-precise ground-based observatories aren’t the only way to detect gravitational waves; we can also search for their imprints on the timing of signals from pulsars scattered throughout our galaxy. Chiara Mingarelli is a member of the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves (NANOGrav) collaboration, which uses pulsar timing to study the universe using gravitational waves.Chiara Mingarelli received her Ph.D. in physics from the University of Birmingham. She is currently an assistant professor of physics at the University of Connecticut and a research scientist at the Flatiron Institute Center for Computational Astrophysics. Her Ph.D. thesis was selected by Springer Nature as an Outstanding PhD thesis, and she was selected as a “Voice of the Future” by the Royal Astronomical Society. She regularly contributes to science communication, including Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls and the Science Channel’s “How the Universe Works."Mindscape Podcast playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrxfgDEc2NxY_fRExpDXr87tzRbPCaA5xSean Carroll channel: youtube.com/c/seancarroll#podcast #ideas #science #philosophy #culture
Mindscape 211 | Solo: Secrets of Einsteins Equation Sean Carroll 2022-09-19 | New book! The Biggest Ideas in the Universe: Space, Time, and Motion. preposterousuniverse.com/biggestideasPatreon: patreon.com/seanmcarrollBlog post with audio player, show notes, and transcript: preposterousuniverse.com/211-solo-secrets-of-einsteins-equationMy little pandemic-lockdown contribution to the world was a series of videos called The Biggest Ideas in the Universe. The idea was to explain physics in a pedagogical way, concentrating on established ideas rather than speculations, with the twist that I tried to include and explain any equations that seemed useful, even though no prior mathematical knowledge was presumed. I’m in the process of writing a series of three books inspired by those videos, and the first one is coming out now: The Biggest Ideas In The Universe: Space, Time, and Motion. For this solo episode I go through one of the highlights from the book: explaining the mathematical and physical basis of Einstein’s equation of general relativity, relating mass and energy to the curvature of spacetime. Hope it works!Mindscape Podcast playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrxfgDEc2NxY_fRExpDXr87tzRbPCaA5xSean Carroll channel: youtube.com/c/seancarroll#podcast #ideas #science #philosophy #culture
Mindscape 210 | Randall Munroe on Imagining What If...? Sean Carroll 2022-09-12 | Patreon: patreon.com/seanmcarrollBlog post with audio player, show notes, and transcript: preposterousuniverse.com/210-randall-munroe-on-imagining-what-ifWhat’s the fastest way to get a human being around a racetrack, if we ignore all the rules of racing? How many pages would you have to read to absorb all of the government laws that apply to you? It’s hard to imagine a better person to tackle these kinds of slightly-askew questions than Randall Munroe, creator of the xkcd webcomic. He collected some answers in his book What If?, and has released a sequel, What If? 2. We dive into how one goes about choosing the right questions and answering them, and how to make it funny along the way.Randall Munroe received a degree in physics from Christopher Newport University, before working for a while at NASA’s Langley Research Center. He is now the creator of xkcd and the author of several books. What If? and What If? 2 are based on a regular feature in which he tackles questions asked by readers.Mindscape Podcast playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrxfgDEc2NxY_fRExpDXr87tzRbPCaA5xSean Carroll channel: youtube.com/c/seancarroll#podcast #ideas #science #philosophy #culture
Mindscape 209 | Brad DeLong on Why the 20th Century Fell Short of Utopia Sean Carroll 2022-09-05 | Patreon: patreon.com/seanmcarrollBlog post with audio player, show notes, and transcript: preposterousuniverse.com/209-brad-delong-on-why-the-20th-century-fell-short-of-utopiaPeople throughout history have imagined ideal societies of various sorts. As the twentieth century dawned, advances in manufacturing and communication arguably brought the idea of utopia within our practical reach, at least as far as economic necessities are concerned. But we failed to achieve it, to say the least. Brad DeLong’s new book, Slouching Towards Utopia: An Economic History of the Twentieth Century, investigates why. He compares the competing political and economic systems that dominated the “long 20th century” from 1870 to 2010, and how we managed to create such enormous wealth and still be left with such intractable problems.J. Bradford DeLong received his Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University. He is currently a professor of economics at the University of California, Berkeley. and chief economist at the Blum Center for Developing Economies. He previously served as deputy assistant secretary of the U.S. Treasury for Economic Policy from 1993 to 1995. He has been a long-running blogger, now moved to Substack. He is a co-editor of The Economists’ Voice.Mindscape Podcast playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrxfgDEc2NxY_fRExpDXr87tzRbPCaA5xSean Carroll channel: youtube.com/c/seancarroll#podcast #ideas #science #philosophy #culture
