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Inner Cosmos with David Eagleman

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192 episodes

Neuroscientist and author David Eagleman discusses how our brain interprets the world and what that means for us. Through storytelling, research, interviews, and experiments, David Eagleman tackles wild questions that illuminate new facets of our lives and our realities.

Episodes page 2 of 4

  1. Ep130 "What do brains tell us about politics?" Part 1: Polarization

    · 46 min · Episode 130

    What do propaganda posters have in common across nation and time, and how is that related to the medial prefrontal cortex? What is behind repeating cycles of societal polarization? What does any of this have to do with…

  2. Ep129 "Is utopia possible or do human brains preclude it?" with Paul Bloom

    · 44 min · Episode 129

    Would a utopia be possible? Or does our innate tribalism and jealousy make perfect societies difficult to achieve? Do we secretly love hierarchies? Why are primate brains such excellent detectors of unfairness? Why do…

  3. Ep128 "Would space aliens see the world as we do?" with Daniel Whiteson

    · 1 h 03 min · Episode 128

    Imagine we eventually meet some alien scientists. If they can see electrons or smell photons, would their science look like ours? Is physics a universal language, or just a local dialect of the human brain? Would…

  4. EP127 "What happens when we marry brains to machines?" with Sergey Stavisky

    · 1 h 00 min · Episode 127

    What is a brain-computer interface? How can a paralyzed person use her brain to control a robotic arm? How can someone who's lost the gift of speech use brain signals to broadcast his voice again? Can we eventually…

  5. Ep126 "Does science fiction shape reality?" with Bethanie Maples

    · 36 min · Episode 126

    How is sci-fi like a cultural research and development lab? Will we someday have AI agents that live in robot bodies, and will we be liable if they commit murder? What happens when reality is no longer verifiable? How…

  6. Ep125 "Why do brains need friends?" (with Ben Rein)

    · 55 min · Episode 125

    Why do human brains need social interaction? Why might AI chatbots be insufficient to scratch the itch? What do we love so much about real human touch and in-person interaction? Why do so many of us live with dogs?…

  7. Ep124 "Why don't we notice gaps in time?"

    · 42 min · Episode 124

    How is your consciousness like a flame that continually goes out and gets re-lit? Why can you see other people's eyes move, but you can't see your own eyes move in the mirror? And what does any of this have to do with…

  8. Ep123 "Will AI cure loneliness?" with Paul Bloom

    · 41 min · Episode 123

    On the one hand, AI companions are (increasingly) amazing at rectifying isolation. But on the other hand, loneliness is a biological signal that pushes us toward improving ourselves socially. So what's the right…

  9. Ep122 "Why do we so rarely say what we mean?" (with Steven Pinker)

    · 44 min · Episode 122

    Why do people on a date speak in innuendo? Why do dictators squelch protests? Why do humans stand apart from the rest of the animal kingdom by blushing, laughing, and crying? And what does any of this have to do with…

  10. Ep121 "What’s the secret to intelligence (in brains and AI)?" with Ramesh Raskar

    · 42 min · Episode 121

    Is AI going to go the same way as computing: from colossal LLMs owned by a few companies to billions of networked AI agents? How does that parallel one of the great underappreciated secrets of the human brain? Join…

  11. Ep120 "Will AI build us into better humans?"

    · 34 min · Episode 120

    Will AI end up building us into stronger, more talented humans? What might this have to do with linguistics, the movie Arrival, self-driving cars, debate, video games, elections, chess, and the ancient game of Go? Are…

  12. Ep119 "Why do brains believe in the unbelievable?" with Bruce Hood

    · 37 min · Episode 119

    Why are brains superstitious? Would you wear a nice sweater that belonged to a murderer? What does this have to do with lucky socks, ghosts, our interpretation of coincidences, why kids often need their special…

  13. Ep118 "Why has the brain always been our hardest puzzle?" with Matthew Cobb

    · 59 min · Episode 118

    How have humans through the ages tried to crack the mysteries of the brain, and why are our theories always yoked to the most recent technologies? What does the history of brain science have to do with bumps on the…

  14. Ep117 "What does brain science have to do with free speech? (with Greg Lukianoff)" (with Greg Lukianoff)

    · 1 h 00 min · Episode 117

    Most people claim to be in favor of free speech, but they often mean speech from their own side (and not whatever those crazy people on the other side want to say). But from the point of view of the brain, why does…

  15. Ep116 " What is Color? Part 2: Why royals wear purple"

    · 38 min · Episode 116

    Are there new colors you could see? And why are they impossible to imagine before you've seen them? Can you lose your color vision? And what does any of this have to do with linguistic color terms, why the military…

  16. Ep115 "What is color? Part 1: Why hunters wear orange"

    · 38 min · Episode 115

    Why do birds and bees choose different flowers? Why do mammals' eyes seem to be optimized for moving around at night, and what does that have to do with hairless humans getting angry? What does any of this have to do…

  17. Ep114 "Would you eat a self burger?"

    · 36 min · Episode 114

    Would you eat a burger grown from a human muscle cell? Would you rather use your own cell or someone else's? What does the future of lab-grown meat illuminate about neuroscience, our calculations of morality, and…

  18. Ep113 "What's special about inventors?" (with Pablos Holman)

    · 57 min · Episode 113

    Why do some people jump into entirely new categories of possibility? And what does this have to do with self-driving ships, solar panels in space, shooting mosquitoes with lasers, skateboarding tricks, silent drones,…

  19. Ep112 "How is computer code like magic?" (with Sam Arbesman)

    · 43 min · Episode 112

    What is code, and can it be thought of like a magic spell? Are we building a world so complex that we will lose the ability to understand its operations -- and has that already happened? What does any of this have to…

  20. Ep111 "Might we be surrounded with undetected minds?" (with Michael Levin)

    · 52 min · Episode 111

    What is intelligence? If we look hard, can we find it in unexpected places: not just in brains but in all kinds of structures? How should we recognize it? And what does any of this have to do with a bipedal dog born…

  21. Ep110 "Is consciousness related to quantum physics?" (with Roger Penrose and Stuart Hameroff)

    · 48 min · Episode 110

    Can we explain consciousness as emerging from classical neuroscience, or do we require deeper principles? Could quantum physics have something to do with it? Is it possible that consciousness predates biology, and…

  22. Ep85 rebroadcast - "What is a Thought?"

    · 37 min

    Brains bear thoughts like a peach tree bears peaches. Even for meditators it's almost impossible to stop the firehose of words and images and ideas. But what in the world is a thought, physically? How can you hear a…

  23. Ep109 "Are you one mind or many drives?" with Jordan Peterson

    · 43 min · Episode 109

    Is your brain a one-person show or an ensemble cast of rivaling neural networks? How do we manage the conflict between different drives, and what does this have to do with literature, deities, maturation, and what…

  24. Ep108 "Can brains increase their happiness?" (with Bruce Hood)

    · 39 min · Episode 108

    Is it possible to become happier? How much of your happiness has to do with genetics, social connection, comparison to other people, your balance of optimism vs pessimism, and whether it would be useful to keep a…

  25. Ep107 "Why do brains love stories?" (with Joshua Landy)

    · 49 min · Episode 107

    How do brains slip so easily from the real world into made up worlds? What do authors of great literature have in common with stage magicians and comedians? What does any of this have to do with cognitive shortcuts,…

  26. Ep106 "What happens when brains watch movies?" (with Jeffrey Zacks)

    · 48 min · Episode 106

    Why do movies work so well? What does film reveal about the way the brain processes reality? What does any of this have to do with omniscience, simulation, jumping around in time, or why dogs don’t do story? Join…

  27. Ep105 "What if AI is not actually intelligent?" (with Alison Gopnik)

    · 1 h 10 min · Episode 105

    Is AI an intelligent agent, or is there a different way we should be thinking about it? Is it more like a piece of cultural technology? What in the world is a piece of cultural technology -- and how would re-thinking…

  28. Ep104 "What is your internal world really like?" (with Russell Hurlburt)

    · 42 min · Episode 104

    If you had to give a detailed description of what flits through your mind, how good would you be at it? Might you be surprised at how many of your thoughts don't involve language? Are your thoughts changed by paying…

  29. Ep103 "Could you ever know what it’s like to be someone else?" (Part 2)

    · 39 min · Episode 103

    What would it take to get inside someone else's head, and could new brain technologies ever help us get there? Will there be dream celebrities, in which uploads go viral? What does consciousness feel like from the…

  30. Ep102 "Could you ever know what it’s like to be someone else?" (Part 1)

    · 36 min · Episode 102

    What does it mean to stand in another’s shoes—and when are the gaps between us too wide to cross? This week, Eagleman explores bats, kicked robots, Helen Keller, empathy, storytelling, and the phrase “I know exactly…

  31. Ep101 "Why do people walk away from bad events with different outcomes?"

    · 1 h 00 min · Episode 104

    What enables some people to keep going when everything falls apart? We all know someone who’s been through hell and comes out standing. This episode is about resilience. Join Eagleman with guest Dr. Jonathan Downar to…

  32. Ep100 "Why do brains love slow motion video?"

    · 44 min

    What does The Matrix tell us about the brain and time perception? And what does that have to do with champion bicyclists, hidden data, elementary particles, secret murderers, or time machines? Today’s episode is about…

  33. Ep99 "Why do brains sometimes make things up?"

    · 41 min · Episode 99

    Your brain occasionally cooks up falsehoods that you believe entirely, but why does this confabulation happen, and how frequently? What does this tell us about memory, truth-telling, and your life as a story that…

  34. EP98 "What's the future of AI relationships?" (with Bethanie Maples)

    · 49 min · Episode 98

    How many people are having relationships with artificial neural networks? Should we think of AI lovers as traps, mirrors, or sandboxes? Is there a clear line between relationship bots and therapist bots? And what does…

  35. Ep 97 "Can we rewrite the human code?" (with Trevor Martin)

    · 46 min · Episode 97

    You're defined in part by the genome you arrive with -- so what does it mean when you can edit it? What does this have to do with viruses, copy-pasting, and whether we will modify the story of our own species? Join…

  36. Ep96 "What’s the future of education in an AI world?" (Part 2: Sal Khan)

    · 52 min · Episode 96

    Now that we’re careening into our AI future, what are the most important things for our students to learn? Do we keep teaching as we always have, do we drop our heads on the desk, or are there clever ways to steer and…

  37. Ep95 "What's the future of education in an AI world?" (Part 1)

    · 47 min · Episode 95

    How can we rethink schools to meet the future? What does this have to do with the invention of the printing press, the prevalence of desk calculators, or the spread of Google? And how is this connected to the writer…

  38. Ep94 "How does the brain construct reality?"

    · 1 h 08 min · Episode 94

    Do you perceive red the same way I do? What is wrong with the textbook model of vision? Why do brains have so many internal feedback loops? And what does any of this have to do with Plato’s cave, Ernest Hemingway, or…

  39. David Eagleman on Joy A Podcast. Hosted by Craig Ferguson

    · 51 min

    Meet David Eagleman - neuroscientist, author, and more. He is best known for his work on sensory substitution, time perception, brain plasticity, synesthesia, and neurolaw and is currently a neuroscientist at Stanford…

  40. Ep93 "Will AI kill our creativity or enhance it?"

    · 34 min · Episode 93

    How will creative people make a living in a world with AI? Is there a different way to think about the economy of the future -- and how might it involve mystifying and elevating humans? What does the term “data…

  41. Ep92 "Why is it hard to keep a secret?"

    · 43 min

    How are secrets in the brain like Abraham Lincoln’s political cabinet? Will AI in the near future hide things from you? And what does any of this have to do with political hierarchies, the formula for Coca-Cola, or…

  42. Ep91 "What is love?"

    · 49 min

    What are we talking about neurobiologically when we talk about love? What does it have to do with how you were raised, the symmetry of someone's face, or the smell of their underarms? What do we learn from heartbreak,…

  43. Ep90 "What's the future of connecting our tech to our brains?"

    · 56 min · Episode 90

    A brain's 86 billion neurons are always chattering along with tiny electrical and chemical signals. But how can we get inside the brain to study the fine details? Can we eavesdrop on cells using other cells? What is…

  44. Ep89 "Why do you love some flavors and not others?"

    · 36 min · Episode 89

    Why do you like the taste of things that your friend doesn't? Why do kids not like coffee but adults do? What does any of this have to do with smelling people’s armpits, whether women really synchronize their…

  45. Ep88 "Might there exist very different kinds of minds?"

    · 47 min · Episode 88

    Why is it so difficult to define intelligence? What does this have to do with being a fish in water trying to describe water? Might we humans possess one kind of intelligence in a constellation of many other types? And…

  46. Ep 87 "How do we operate in the present when we perceive the past?"

    · 35 min · Episode 87

    Because visual signals take time to process, we live slightly in the past. So how do we ever catch a baseball? And what does this have to do with certain visual illusions, or the view in New York City, or the things…

  47. Ep86 "What are emotions?"

    · 50 min · Episode 86

    Are emotions something that happen to you, or are they bodily signals we interpret? Does everyone show emotions in the same way -- that is, are there particular markers of the face or the body that always mean anger,…

  48. Ep39 rebroadcast "What is the future of AI relationships?"

    · 38 min

    Why are our brains so wired for love? Could you fall head over heels for a bot? Might your romantic partner be more satisfied with a 5% better version of you? How does an AI bot plug right into your deep neural…

  49. Ep10 rebroadcast "Why is it so hard to spot a counterfeit bill?"

    · 36 min

    What do charlatans have to understand about human perception? Why are you so bad at recognizing a real penny among fakes? What did Eagleman have to do with the redesign of the Euro, and why did he campaign to the…

  50. Ep85 "What is a Thought?"

    · 37 min

    Brains bear thoughts like a peach tree bears peaches. Even for meditators it's almost impossible to stop the firehose of words and images and ideas. But what in the world is a thought, physically? How can you hear a…

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