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Sean Carroll's Mindscape: Science, Society, Philosophy, Culture, Arts, and Ideas

Sean Carroll

300 episodes

Ever wanted to know how music affects your brain, what quantum mechanics really is, or how black holes work? Do you wonder why you get emotional each time you see a certain movie, or how on earth video games are designed? Then you've come to the right place. Each week, Sean Carroll will host conversations with some of the most interesting thinkers in the world. From neuroscientists and engineers to authors and television producers, Sean and his guests talk about the biggest ideas in science, philosophy, culture and much more.

Episodes page 3 of 6

  1. 297 | Emily Wilson on Homer, Poetry, and Translation

    · 1 h 15 min · Episode 297

    Not too long ago, Brad Pitt and Eric Bana starred in a (loose) 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…

  2. 296 | Brandon Ogbunu on Fitness Seascapes and the Course of Evolution

    · 1 h 16 min · Episode 296

    Biological 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…

  3. 295 | Solo: Emergence and Layers of Reality

    · 1 h 35 min · Episode 295

    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…

  4. AMA | November 2024

    · 3 h 51 min · Bonus

    Welcome to the November 2024 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…

  5. 294 | Addy Pross on Dynamics, Stability, and Life

    · 1 h 12 min · Episode 294

    Erwin 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…

  6. 293 | Doyne Farmer on Chaos, Crashes, and Economic Complexity

    · 1 h 11 min · Episode 293

    A 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…

  7. 292 | Jonathan Birch on Animal Sentience

    · 1 h 11 min · Episode 292

    It'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…

  8. AMA | October 2024

    · 4 h 30 min · Bonus

    Welcome to the October 2024 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…

  9. 291 | Venki Ramakrishnan on the Biology of Death and Aging

    · 1 h 21 min · Episode 291

    Aging and death happen to the best of us, but there are increasing efforts to do something about it. That effort requires that we have some reasonable understanding of why aging happens, and what processes are…

  10. 290 | Hahrie Han on Making Multicultural Democracy Work

    · 1 h 16 min · Episode 290

    It's a wonder democracy works at all -- a collection of people with potentially different interests have to agree to abide by majority vote even when it goes against their desires. But as we know, it doesn't always…

  11. 289 | Cari Cesarotti on the Next Generation of Particle Experiments

    · 1 h 22 min · Episode 289

    As an experimental facility, the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Geneva has been extraordinarily successful, discovering the Higgs boson and measuring multiple features of particle-physics interactions at…

  12. 288 | Max Richter on the Meaning of Classical Music Today

    · 1 h 06 min · Episode 288

    It wasn't that long ago, historically speaking, that you might put on your tuxedo or floor-length evening gown to go out and hear a live opera or symphony. But today's world is faster, more technologically connected,…

  13. AMA | September 2024

    · 3 h 51 min · Bonus

    Welcome to the September 2024 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…

  14. 287 | Jean-Paul Faguet on Institutions and the Legacy of History

    · 1 h 33 min · Episode 287

    One common feature of complex systems is sensitive dependence on initial conditions: a small change in how systems begin evolving can lead to large differences in their later behavior. In the social sphere, this is a…

  15. 286 | Blaise Agüera y Arcas on the Emergence of Replication and Computation

    · 1 h 21 min · Episode 286 · Explicit

    Understanding 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…

  16. 285 | Nate Silver on Prediction, Risk, and Rationality

    · 1 h 11 min · Episode 285

    Being rational necessarily involves engagement with probability. Given two possible courses of action, it can be rational to prefer the one that could possibly result in a worse outcome, if there's also a substantial…

  17. AMA | August 2024

    · 3 h 37 min · Bonus

    Welcome to the August 2024 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…

  18. 284 | Doris Tsao on How the Brain Turns Vision Into the World

    · 1 h 03 min · Episode 284

    The 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…

  19. 283 | Daron Acemoglu on Technology, Inequality, and Power

    · 1 h 18 min · Episode 283

    Change is scary. But sometimes it can all work out for the best. There's no guarantee of that, however, even when the change in question involves the introduction of a powerful new technology. Today's guest, Daron…

  20. 282 | Joel David Hamkins on Puzzles of Reality and Infinity

    · 1 h 18 min · Episode 282

    The philosophy of mathematics would be so much easier if it weren't for infinity. The concept seems natural, but taking it seriously opens the door to counterintuitive results. As mathematician and philosopher Joel…

  21. Ask Me Anything | July 2024

    · 3 h 22 min · Bonus

    Welcome to the July 2024 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…

  22. 281 | Samir Okasha on the Philosophy of Agency and Evolution

    · 1 h 12 min · Episode 281

    Just like with physics, in biology it is perfectly possible to do most respectable work without thinking much about philosophy, but there are unmistakably foundational questions where philosophy becomes crucial. When…

  23. 280 | François Chollet on Deep Learning and the Meaning of Intelligence

    · 1 h 42 min · Episode 280

    Which is more intelligent, ChatGPT or a 3-year old? Of course this depends on what we mean by "intelligence." A modern LLM is certainly able to answer all sorts of questions that require knowledge far past the capacity…

  24. 279 | Ellen Langer on Mindfulness and the Body

    · 1 h 12 min · Episode 279

    For those of us who are not dualists, the mind arises from our physical bodies -- mostly the brain, but the rest of the body has a role to play. And yet it remains tempting to treat the mind as a thing in itself,…

  25. 278 | Kieran Healy on the Technology of Ranking People

    · 1 h 16 min · Episode 278

    We claim to love all of our children, friends, and students equally. But perhaps deep down you assign a ranking to them, from favorite to not-so-favorite. Ranking and quantifying people is an irresistible human…

  26. AMA | June 2024

    · 3 h 59 min · Bonus

    Welcome to the June 2024 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…

  27. 277 | Cumrun Vafa on the Universe According to String Theory

    · 1 h 22 min · Episode 277

    String theory, the current leading candidate for a theory of quantum gravity as well as other particles and forces, doesn't connect directly to the world we see. It's possible that there is a large landscape of…

  28. 276 | Gavin Schmidt on Measuring, Predicting, and Protecting Our Climate

    · 1 h 20 min · Episode 276

    The Earth's climate keeps changing, largely due to the effects of human activity, and we haven't been doing enough to slow things down. Indeed, over the past year, global temperatures have been higher than ever, and…

  29. 275 | Solo: Quantum Fields, Particles, Forces, and Symmetries

    · 2 h 12 min · Episode 275

    Publication week! Say hello to 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…

  30. AMA | May 2024

    · 3 h 35 min · Bonus

    Welcome to the May 2024 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…

  31. 274 | Gizem Gumuskaya on Building Robots from Human Cells

    · 1 h 10 min · Episode 274

    Modern 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…

  32. 273 | Stefanos Geroulanos on the Invention of Prehistory

    · 1 h 19 min · Episode 273

    Humanity 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…

  33. 272 | Leslie Valiant on Learning and Educability in Computers and People

    · 1 h 08 min · Episode 272

    Science 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…

  34. AMA | April 2024

    · 3 h 14 min · Bonus

    Welcome to the April 2024 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…

  35. 271 | Claudia de Rham on Modifying General Relativity

    · 1 h 22 min · Episode 271

    Einstein'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…

  36. 270 | Solo: The Coming Transition in How Humanity Lives

    · 2 h 09 min · Episode 270

    Technology 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…

  37. 269 | Sahar Heydari Fard on Complexity, Justice, and Social Dynamics

    · 1 h 11 min · Episode 269

    When 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…

  38. AMA | March 2024

    · 3 h 56 min · Bonus

    Welcome to the March 2024 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…

  39. 268 | Matt Strassler on Relativity, Fields, and the Language of Reality

    · 1 h 30 min · Episode 268

    In 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…

  40. 267 | Benjamin Breen on Margaret Mead, Psychedelics, and Utopia

    · 1 h 13 min · Episode 267

    The twentieth century was something, wasn't it? 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 &…

  41. 266 | Christoph Adami on How Information Makes Sense of Biology

    · 1 h 20 min · Episode 266

    Evolution 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…

  42. AMA | February 2024

    · 3 h 25 min · Bonus

    Welcome to the February 2024 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…

  43. 265 | John Skrentny on How the Economy Mistreats STEM Workers

    · 1 h 20 min · Episode 265

    Universities 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…

  44. 264 | Sabine Stanley on What's Inside Planets

    · 1 h 13 min · Episode 264

    The radius of the Earth is over 6,000 kilometers, but 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…

  45. 263 | Chris Quigg on Symmetry and the Birth of the Standard Model

    · 1 h 26 min · Episode 263

    Einstein'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…

  46. 262 | Eric Schwitzgebel on the Weirdness of the World

    · 1 h 20 min · Episode 262

    Scientists 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…

  47. 261 | Sanjana Curtis on the Origins of the Elements

    · 1 h 07 min · Episode 261

    In 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…

  48. 260 | Ricard Solé on the Space of Cognitions

    · 1 h 10 min · Episode 260

    Octopuses, 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…

  49. Holiday Message: Reflections on Immortality

    · 56 min · Bonus

    The final Mindscape podcast of each year is devoted to a short, reflective Holiday Message. This year the theme is Immortality: whether it's an attractive idea, and whether the laws of physics and cosmology would allow…

  50. 259 | Adam Frank on What Aliens Might Be Like

    · 1 h 19 min · Episode 259

    It 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…

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