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Sean Carroll | Wondery


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.


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

A characteristic of complex systems is that individual components combine to exhibit large-scale emergent behavior even when the components were not specifically designed for any particular purpose within the collective. Sometimes those individual components are us -- people interacting within societies or online communities. Studying the dynamics of such interactions is interesting both to better understand what is happening, and hopefully to designing better communities. I talk with Petter Törnberg about flows of information, how polarization develops, and how artificial agents can help steer things in better directions.

Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/09/29/330-petter-tornberg-on-the-dynamics-of-misinformation/

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Petter Törnberg received a Ph.D. in complex systems from Chalmers University of Technology. He is now an Assistant Professor at the Institute for Language, Logic and Computation at the University of Amsterdam, Associate Professor in Complex Systems at Chalmers University of Technology, NWO VENI laurate, and senior researcher at the University of Neuchâtel.

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330 | Petter Törnberg on the Dynamics of (Mis)Information

Getting along in society requires that we mostly adhere to certainly shared norms and customs. Often it's not enough that we all know what the rules are, but also that everyone else knows the rules, and that they know that we know the rules, and so on. Philosophers and game theorists refer to this as common knowledge. In Steven Pinker's new book, When Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows..., he explores how common knowledge (or its absence) explains money, power, and a wide variety of subtextual human interactions.

Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/09/22/329-steven-pinker-on-rationality-and-common-knowledge/

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Steven Pinker received his Ph.D. in psychology from Harvard University. He is currently the Johnstone Family Professor of Psychology at Harvard University. He is the author of several best-selling books and recipient of several honorary doctoral degrees. Among his awards are Humanist of the Year (two different organizations) and the William James Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association for Psychological Science.

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329 | Steven Pinker on Rationality and Common Knowledge

Like any machine, bodies occasionally break down, and it's natural to go in search of a replacement part. Ancient societies featured simple prosthetics for teeth, noses, and limbs, while modern medicine pursues more advanced ways of replacing internal organs and microbiomes. But what is striking is not just the impressive ingenuity of our attempts to replicate human anatomy, but the surprising level of difficulty involved in doing it well. I talk with author Mary Roach about the many ways in which humans have chosen to replace bits of themselves, as told in her recent book Replaceable You: Adventures in Human Anatomy.

Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/09/15/328-mary-roach-on-replacing-parts-of-our-bodies/

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Mary Roach received a bachelor's degree in psychology from Wesleyan University. Her books include multiple New York Times bestsellers and have appeared on numerous best-of lists. She was a guest editor in the Best American Science and Nature Writing series, and received the Rushdie Award from the Harvard Secular Society.

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328 | Mary Roach on Replacing Parts of Our Bodies

Welcome to the September 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. Enjoy!

Blog post with AMA questions and transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/09/08/ama-september-2025/

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AMA | September 2025

"Liberalism," divorced from its particular connotations in this or that modern political context, refers broadly to a philosophy of individual rights, liberties, and responsibilities, coupled with respect for institutions and rule of law over personalized power. As Cass Sunstein construes the term, liberalism encompasses a broad tent, from Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher to Martin Luther King and Franklin Roosevelt. But liberalism is being challenged both from the right and from the left, by those who think that individual liberties can go too far. We talk about the philosophical case for liberalism as well as the challenges to it in modern politics, as discussed in his new book On Liberalism: In Defense of Freedom.

Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/09/01/327-cass-sunstein-on-liberalism/

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Cass Sunstein received a J.D. from Harvard Law School, and worked as a clerk for Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. He is currently Robert Walmsley University Professor at Harvard. He served in several government roles during the Obama administration. He is recognized as "by far the most cited legal scholar in the United States and probably the world."

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327 | Cass Sunstein on Liberalism

In a relatively short period of time, exoplanets (planets around stars other than our Sun) have gone from an intriguing conjecture to an active field of scientific study, with over 5,000 confirmed discoveries. The task now is to move beyond merely accumulating new examples, and embarking on systematic studies of their properties. What fraction of stars have planets, how are they distributed in size and distance, what kinds of atmospheres do they have, are any promising homes for life? I talk with Natalie Batalha about what we've learned so far, and prospects for future discoveries.

Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/08/25/326-natalie-batalha-on-what-we-know-and-will-learn-about-exoplanets/

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Natalie Batalha received a Ph.D. in astrophysics from the University of California, Santa Cruz. She is currently a professor of astronomy and astrophysics at UCSC. She has served as Science Team Leader, Mission Scientist, and Project Scientist for NASA's Kepler satellite observatory. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and was listed as one of Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2017.

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326 | Natalie Batalha on What We Know and Will Learn About Exoplanets

The world is becoming pixelated. As computers and other digital devices become ubiquitous, human knowledge and communication and information is gradually being converted into, and manipulated as, strings of bits. What does that really mean, and what are the ramifications going forward? Alvy Ray Smith is a computer scientist, co-founder of Pixar, and author of A Biography of the Pixel. We go through the journey of how he helped make computer animation a reality, and the implications of what he calls the "Great Digital Convergence."

Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/08/18/325-alvy-ray-smith-on-pixar-pixels-and-the-great-digital-convergence/

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Alvy Ray Smith received a Ph.D. in computer science from Stanford University. He has been a professor of electrical engineering and computer science at New York University, a member of the Computer Graphics Lab at the NY Institute of Technology, director of computer graphics at Lucasfilm, and cofounder of Pixar and Altamira. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a Fellow of the America Association for the Advancement of Science as well as the American Society of Genealogists. He is the winner of two technical Academy Awards.

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325 | Alvy Ray Smith on Pixar, Pixels, and the Great Digital Convergence

It is not manifestly obvious that universities should be where most scholarly research is performed. One could imagine systems that separated out the tasks of "teaching students" and "generating new knowledge." But it turns out that combining them yields spectacular synergies, both from letting students experience cutting-edge research and from keeping researchers inspired by interacting with bright young minds. Today we talk to Elizabeth Mynatt, Dean of Computer Sciences at Northeastern, both about her own research in "human-centered computing," and about the bigger-picture issues of why basic research is important, and why universities are such good places to do it.

Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/08/11/324-elizabeth-mynatt-on-universities-and-the-importance-of-basic-research/

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Elizabeth Mynatt received a Ph.D. in computer science from the Georgia Institute of Technology. She is currently Dean of the Khoury College of Computer Sciences at Northeastern University. She is a senior investigator with Emory’s Cognitive Empowerment Program and co-PI for the NSF AI-CARING Institute. She is a fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She was lead author on the National Academies report, "Information Technology Innovation: Resurgence, Confluence, and Continuing Impact."

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324 | Elizabeth Mynatt on Universities and the Importance of Basic Research

Welcome to the August 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. Enjoy!

Blog post with questions and transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/08/04/ama-august-2025/

Support Mindscape on Patreon.

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AMA | August 2025

The search for a foundational theory of quantum mechanics that all physicists can agree on remains active. Over the last century a number of contenders have emerged, including Many-Worlds, pilot-wave theories, and others, but all of them have aspects that many people object to. Jacob Barandes has taken up the challenge, proposing a new formulation of quantum theory in which there is no wave function, only real degrees of freedom with fundamentally stochastic dynamics. We talk about this new theory and the challenges facing it.

Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/07/28/323-jacob-barandes-on-indivisible-stochastic-quantum-mechanics/

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Jacob Barandes received his Ph.D. in physics from Harvard University. He is currently Senior Preceptor in Physics and Associated Faculty in Philosophy at Harvard. He teaches both physics and philosophy courses at Harvard, where he has been the recipient of several teaching awards.

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323 | Jacob Barandes on Indivisible Stochastic Quantum Mechanics

Our observable universe started out in a highly non-generic state, one of very low entropy, and disorderliness has been growing ever since. How, then, can we account for the appearance of complex systems such as organisms and biospheres? The answer is that very low-entropy states typically appear simple, and high-entropy states also appear simple, and complexity can emerge along the road in between. Today’s podcast is more of a discussion than an interview, in which behavioral neuroscientist Kate Jeffery and I discuss how complexity emerges through cosmological and biological evolution. As someone on the biological side of things, Kate is especially interested in how complexity can build up and then catastrophically disappear, as in mass extinction events.

There were some audio-quality issues with the remote recording of this episode, but loyal listeners David Gennaro and Ben Cordell were able to help repair it. I think it sounds pretty good!

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Kate Jeffery received her Ph.D. in behavioural neuroscience from the University of Edinburgh. She is currently a professor in the Department of Behavioural Neuroscience at University College, London. She is the founder and Director of the Institute of Behavioural Neuroscience at UCL.

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67 | Kate Jeffery on Entropy, Complexity, and Evolution

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