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

Welcome to the May 2026 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! Blog post with AMA questions and full transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/05/04/ama-may-2026/ Henson Shaving is offering 100 blades free with the purchase of a razor — just head to hensonshaving.com/MINDSCAPE and or use code MINDSCAPE at checkout. #sponsored Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code MINDSCAPE at this link and get 60% off an annual plan: https://incogni.com/mindscape #sponsored

The connectome is the wiring diagram of a brain, a big matrix that tells us what neurons talk to what other neurons. Understanding it is an important step to understanding how brains work, but a long way from the final answer. A big next step is understanding how neuronal circuits connect to and guide bodily behavior. Very recent work on mapping the fruit-fly connectome has brought us closer to that goal. I talk with neuroscientist Bing Brunton about the connectome, how we can study it to understand bodily motion in flies and other creatures, and where it's all taking us. Chubbies is here to keep you comfy and looking good year-round. Get 20% off with code MINDSCAPE at chubbiesshorts.com/MINDSCAPE! #chubbiespod Upgrade your denim game with Rag & Bone! Get 20% off sitewide with code MINDSCAPE at www.rag-bone.com. #ragandbonepod Support Mindscape on Patreon. Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/04/27/352-bing-brunton-on-connecting-the-connectome-to-the-body/ Bing Wen Brunton received her Ph.D. in neuroscience from Princeton University.. She is currently a Professor of Biology and the Richard & Joan Komen University Chair at the University of Washington, with affiliations at the eScience Institute for Data Science, the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering, and the Department of Applied Mathematics. Web siteUniversity of Washington web pageGoogle Scholar publicationsYouTube channelBlueskyArtworks (Instagram)

Peter Singer has been an influential philosopher for a number of decades. He was a significant early voice in animal rights, has been a leading thinker of utilitarianism, and helped inspire the effective altruism movement. In this podcast episode, we try our best to talk about all of those things -- working from metaethical questions of consequentialism vs. other approaches, to specific flavors of utilitarianism, the practical demands that ethics places on people, the rights of animals, and the decisions we make at the end of our lives. Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/04/20/351-peter-singer-on-maximizing-good-for-all-sentient-creatures/ Support Mindscape on Patreon. Peter Singer received his B.Phil. in philosophy from the University of Oxford. He retired from Princeton University in 2023, and now lives in Melbourne, Australia. He is the author of a number of influential books, including Animal Liberation (1975). He has been named a Companion of the order of Australia, and is a winner of the Berggruen Prize. He is the founder of the charity The Life You Can Save. He and philosopher Kasia de Lazari Radek are co-hosts of the Lives Well Lived podcast. Web sitePrinceton University Center for Human Values pageGoogle Scholar publicationsAmazon author pageWikipediaBluesky

We are more familiar with ourselves than with anything else in the universe, but we generally don't come very close to really understanding what our "self" is. That's not too surprising, as selves are very complicated and we are burdened by all sorts of biases. Today's guest is J. Eric Oliver, who has been teaching a popular course at the University of Chicago called "The Intelligible Self." His academic specialty is political science, but he brings together ideas from psychology, neuroscience, and a broad swath of the humanities. His view is summarized in his recent book, How to Know Yourself: The Art and Science of Discovering Who You Really Are. Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code MINDSCAPE at this link and get 60% off an annual plan: https://incogni.com/mindscape #sponsored Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/04/13/350-j-eric-oliver-on-the-self-and-how-to-know-it/ Support Mindscape on Patreon. J. Eric Oliver received his Ph.D. in political science from the University of California, Berkeley. He is currently a Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago. His research interests include contemporary American politics, suburban and racial politics, political psychology, and the politics of science. He is the host of the podcast Knowing: With Eric Oliver. Web siteU Chicago web pageGoogle Scholar publications Amazon author page

Welcome to the April 2026 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! Henson Shaving is offering 100 blades free with the purchase of a razor — just head to hensonshaving.com/MINDSCAPE and or use code MINDSCAPE at checkout. Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/04/06/ama-april-2026/ Support Mindscape on Patreon.

There is something special about gravity. After decades of effort, there is still no convergence on the right way to reconcile Einstein's theory of general relativity with the framework of quantum mechanics. But a number of intriguing ideas have arisen along the way, including black hole radiation, the wave function of the universe, the AdS/CFT correspondence, and the role of quantum information theory. Theoretical physicist Daniel Harlow has made significant contributions to our understanding of information loss in black holes; in this conversation we turn those insights onto quantum cosmology, with potentially significant implications for how quantum mechanics itself works. Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/03/30/349-daniel-harlow-on-what-quantum-gravity-teaches-us-about-quantum-mechanics/ Support Mindscape on Patreon. Daniel Harlow received his Ph.D. in physics from Stanford University. He is currently an associate professor of physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Among his awards are a Packard Fellowship and the New Horizons in Physics Prize. Web siteMIT web pageGoogle Scholar publicationsWikipedia

"Lamarkism" is a term often attached to a seemingly discredited idea in evolutionary biology: that one organism could acquire characteristics (e.g., becoming stronger through exercise) that would then be inherited by its descendants. This is a different story than the one ultimately told by the modern synthesis of evolutionary biology, according to which inheritance passes through our genome (which doesn't know that we've been working out). In her book The Power of Life: The Invention of Biology and the Revolutionary Science of Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, historian of science Jessica Riskin argues that this picture is too simple, and that Lamarck made contributions we should still pay attention to: most significantly, the idea that organisms have a creative agency of their own, in addition to the influences of the outside world. Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code MINDSCAPE at this link and get 60% off an annual plan: https://incogni.com/mindscape #sponsored Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/03/23/348-jessica-riskin-on-jean-baptiste-lamarck-and-life-as-creative-agency/ Support Mindscape on Patreon. Jessica Riskin received her Ph.D. in history from the University of California, Berkeley. She is currently the Frances and Charles Field Professor of History at Stanford University. Among her awards are the Patrick Suppes Prize in the History of Science and the J. Russell Major Award for French history. Her books include The Restless Clock and Genesis Redux, and she is a frequent contributor to the New York Review of Books. Web pageNew York Review of Books contributor pageAmazon author pageWikipedia

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Intelligence is a many splendored thing, especially when it comes to comparisons between species. Chimpanzees are better than humans at some numerical tasks, but less good at understanding what numbers actually mean. One window on the ways that species differ is how they play amongst themselves. I talk with anthropologist and cognitive scientist Erica Cartmill about modes of play and other social behaviors among various species, and what they reveal about the ways we all think. Upgrade your denim game with Rag & Bone! Get 20% off sitewide with code MINDSCAPE at www.rag-bone.com. #ragandbonepod Get twenty percent off your first purchase at Fast Growing Trees when using the code MINDSCAPE at checkout. Henson Shaving is offering 100 blades free with the purchase of a razor — just head to hensonshaving.com/MINDSCAPE and or use code MINDSCAPE at checkout. Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/03/09/346-erica-cartmill-on-how-human-and-animal-minds-think-and-play/ Support Mindscape on Patreon. Erica Cartmill received her Ph.D. in psychology and neuroscience from the University of St. Andrews. She is Professor of Cognitive Science, Anthropology, Animal Behavior, Psychology, and Informatics at Indiana University, Bloomington and an External Professor at the Santa Fe Institute. She is the co-chair of the EVOLANG conferences and the co-director of the Diverse Intelligences Summer Institute. She is co-director of the Possible Minds lab at IU, and also manages the Observing Animals project, which asks for public input on how animals interact with each other. Web site Indiana University we pageGoogle Scholar publications

Welcome to the March 2026 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! Get twenty percent off your first purchase at Fast Growing Trees when using the code MINDSCAPE at checkout! #sponsored Blog post with questions and transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/03/02/ama-march-2026/ Support Mindscape on Patreon.

Behaving rationally involves facing up to conditions of uncertainty; we never navigate the world with perfect confidence. Sometimes we are uncertain about the way the world is, but we can also be uncertain about our place within the world. This kind of situation arises in cosmology (where the relevant world can extend very far in space or time), and also in quantum mechanics (where new worlds might be created at any measurement), but also when we are simply unsure about the future history of humanity or whether we live in a computer simulation. I talk with philosopher Adam Elga about how to deal with these unique kinds of uncertainties. Upgrade your denim game with Rag & Bone! Get 20% off sitewide with code MINDSCAPE at www.rag-bone.com #ragandbonepod #sponsored Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/02/23/345-adam-elga-on-being-rational-in-a-very-large-universe/ Support Mindscape on Patreon. Adam Elga received his Ph.D. in philosophy from MIT. He is currently a professor of philosophy at Princeton University. His research involves decision and game theory, epistemology, philosophy of probability, philosophy of mind, and philosophy of science. Web sitePrinceton web pageGoogle Scholar publicationsPhilPeople profile

It's possible to look at the course of history over the past few centuries and discern a movement toward increasing democracy, freedom, and individual rights -- "liberalism," in the political-philosophy sense of the term. But such movement isn't inevitable or irreversible, and in very recent times there have been both intellectual arguments explicitly pushing back against the liberal consensus, and political movements that are more openly nativist and authoritarian. I talk with Adam Gurri, the editor-in-chief of Liberal Currents, a web site that "publishes writers of diverse perspectives who share an unflinching commitment to freedom, pluralism, and democracy, in opposition to authoritarianism at home and around the world." Go to https://surfshark.com/mindscape or use code MINDSCAPE at checkout to get 4 extra months of Surfshark VPN! Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/02/16/344-adam-gurri-on-liberal-democracy-and-how-to-fight-for-it/ Support Mindscape on Patreon. Adam Gurri received an M.A. in Economics from George Mason University. He is the co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of Liberal Currents. Web siteLiberal CurrentsBluesky

For all that human beings spend a lot of their time thinking, it's far from obvious what that process actually entails. Part of it amounts to classical logical reasoning. But an even bigger part involves reasoning with probability and uncertainty. And some of it is governed by unavoidable limitations on time and accuracy. Psychologist and computer scientist Tom Griffiths suggests that we have thought about it enough to feel that we have come to understand some general principles, which he explains in his new book The Laws of Thought: The Quest for a Mathematical Theory of Mind. Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code MINDSCAPE at this link and get 60% off an annual plan: https://incogni.com/mindscape #sponsore Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/02/09/343-tom-griffiths-on-the-laws-of-thought/ Support Mindscape on Patreon. Tom Griffiths received his Ph.D. in psychology from Stanford University. He is currently Professor of Psychology and Computer Science at Princeton University, Director of the Computational Cognitive Science Lab, and Director of the Princeton Laboratory for Artificial Intelligence. He and Brian Christian are co-authors of Algorithms to Live By: The Computer Science of Human Decisions. Web sitePrinceton web pageGoogle Scholar publications Wikipedia

Welcome to the February 2026 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! Blog post with AMA questions and transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/02/02/ama-february-2026/ Note that Mindscape now has a new hosting provider, Libsyn. (Actually a return home, as that was my first host when Mindscape was launched.) Things seem to be going smoothly, but let us know if there are any technical glitches. Support Mindscape on Patreon.

Evolution with natural selection involves an intricate mix of the random and the driven. Mutations are essentially random, while selection pressures work to prefer certain outcomes over others. There is tremendous divergence of species over time, but also repeated convergence to forms and mechanisms that are unmistakably useful. We see this clearly in eyes and fins, but the basic pattern also holds for brains and forms of social organization. I talk with philosopher Rachell Powell about what these ideas mean for humans, other terrestrial species, and also for forms of life we have not yet encountered. Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/01/26/342-rachell-powell-on-evolutionary-convergence-morality-and-mind/ Support Mindscape on Patreon. Rachell Powell received her Ph.D. in philosophy from Duke University. She is currently a Professor of Philosophy at Boston University. She has held fellowships at the National Humanities Center, the American Council of Learned Societies, the Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition Research, the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center, the Berlin School of Mind and Brain at Humboldt University, and the Center for Genetic Engineering and Society at North Carolina State University. Boston University web pagePhilPapers publicationsSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold," wrote W.B. Yeats. I don't know about the centre, but the tendency of things to fall apart is pretty universal, ultimately due to the Second Law of Thermodynamics. Anyone living in a society or involved with technology must therefore be interested in the concept of maintenance -- keeping systems working. In his book Maintenance: Of Everything, Part One, Stewart Brand looks at the challenges and rewards of this concept. Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/01/19/341-stewart-brand-on-maintenance-as-an-organizing-principle/ Support Mindscape on Patreon. Stewart Brand received an undergraduate degree in biology from Stanford University. He was the founder, editor, and publisher of the Whole Earth Catalog, which won a National Book Award. He founded the journal CoEvolution Quarterly and the WELL electronic community, and was a co-founder of the Long Now Foundation. He has been called "the 20th century's top influencer." Web siteAmazon author pageWikipedia See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

At any given moment, an uncountable number of events are happening, but only some of them matter to us. What does it mean for something to matter, and more importantly, what does it mean for us to matter -- to ourselves as well as to others? The need to matter can be motivation to do great things, but it can also be a reason for people to come into conflict. Philosopher/novelist Rebecca Newberger Goldstein explores this issue in her new book The Mattering Instinct: How Our Deepest Longing Drives Us and Divides Us. Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/01/12/340-rebecca-newberger-goldstein-on-what-matters-and-why-it-matters/ Support Mindscape on Patreon. Rebecca Newberger Goldstein received her Ph.D. in philosophy from Princeton University. She is the author of several novels and works of non-fiction. Among her awards are the MacArthur and Guggenheim Fellowships, membership in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the National Humanities Medal. Web siteAmazon author pageWikipedia See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

It's become increasingly clear that the Turing Test -- determining whether human interlocutors can tell whether a conversation is being carried out by a human or a machine -- is not a good way to think about consciousness. Modern LLMs can mimic human conversation with extraordinary verisimilitude, but most people would not judge them to be conscious. What would it take? Is it even possible for a computer program to achieve consciousness, or must consciousness be fundamentally "meat-based"? Philosopher Ned Block has long argued that consciousness involves something more than simply the "functional" aspects of inputs and outputs. Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/01/05/339-ned-block-on-whether-consciousness-requires-biology/ Support Mindscape on Patreon. Ned Block received his Ph.D. in philosophy from Harvard University. He is currently Silver Professor in the Department of Philosophy at New York University, with secondary appointments in Psychology and Neural Science. He is also co-director of the Center for Mind, Brain, and Consciousness. He is Past President of the Society for Philosophy and Psychology and was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. Web siteNYU web pagePhilPeople profileGoogle Scholar publicationsWikipedia See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Time for the holiday message! Rounding off the year with a brief and casual reflection on some issue that doesn't quite rise to the level of a full solo podcast. And hopefully something uplifting. This year, I offer a short apologia for higher education in the liberal arts and sciences, focusing not on the down-to-earth economic/occupational benefits of a college degree, but on the very real ways in which such an education opens up possibilities for personal growth. I think all of us in academia should be loud and unapologetic about the more romantic, idealistic values of the modern university. Happy holidays all! Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/12/22/holiday-message-2025-the-romance-of-the-university/ Support Mindscape on Patreon. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Welcome to the December 2025 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. Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/12/15/ama-december-2025/ In the intro I give a plug for the Pods Fight Poverty effort organized by GiveDirectly. Please consider making a donation to help families in Rwanda! Enjoy! See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.