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

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28:24

In our second installment of the Small Business Starter Kit series - we’re tackling a topic that’s sometimes tricky, sometimes confusing, but ever-present: taxes. Hosts Austin and Jannese have an insightful conversation with entrepreneur Isabella Rosal who started 7th Sky Ventures , an exporter and distributor of craft spirits, beer, and wine. Having lived and worked in two different countries and started a company in a heavily-regulated field, Isabella is no stranger to navigating the paperwork-laden and jargon-infused maze of properly understanding taxes for a newly formed small business. Join us as she shares her story and provides valuable insight into how to tackle your business’ taxes - so they don’t tackle you. Learn more about how QuickBooks can help you grow your business: QuickBooks.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.…

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

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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.

380 episodios

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

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380 episodios

#Science #Physics #Ideas #Sean Carroll | Wondery #Philosophy #Society #Sean Carrolls

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

1
308 | Alison Gopnik on Children, AI, and Modes of Thinking 1:09:56

hace 20 hours1:09:56

1:09:56

We often study cognition in other species, in part to learn about modes of thinking that are different from our own. Today's guest, psychologist/philosopher Alison Gopnik, argues that we needn't look that far: human children aren't simply undeveloped adults, they have a way of thinking that is importantly distinct from that of grownups. Children are explorers with ever-expanding neural connections; adults are exploiters who (they think) know how the world works. These studies have important implications for the training and use of artificial intelligence. Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/03/17/308-alison-gopnik-on-children-ai-and-modes-of-thinking/ S upport Mindscape on Patreon . Alison Gopnik received her D.Phil in experimental psychology from Oxford University. She is currently a professor of psychology and affiliate professor of philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley. Among her awards are the Association for Psychological Science Lifetime Achievement Award, the Rumelhart Prize for Theoretical Foundations of Cognitive Science, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. She is a past President of the Association for Psychological Science. She is the author of The Scientist in the Crib , The Philosophical Baby , and The Gardener and the Carpenter, among other works. Web site Lab web site Berkeley web page Google Scholar publications Amazon author page Wikipedia See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .…

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

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AMA | March 2025 2:58:00

hace 8 días2:58:00

2:58:00

Welcome to the March 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! Link to the 2012 Moving Naturalism Forward workshop, mentioned in the episode. Blog post with questions and full transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/03/10/ama-march-2025/ 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 .…

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

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307 | Kevin Peterson on the Theory of Cocktails 1:16:36

hace 15 días1:16:36

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A lot of science goes into crafting the perfect cocktail. Balancing sweet and bitter notes, providing the right amount of aeration and dilution, getting it to just the right temperature and keeping it that way. And even if you have no interest in cocktails as such, the general principles extend to other activities in art and in life. I talk to scientist-turned-mixologist Kevin Peterson about how to think about the simple magic of a perfect drink. Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/03/03/307-kevin-peterson-on-the-theory-of-cocktails/ S upport Mindscape on Patreon . Kevin Peterson received a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan. He is currently co-owner of both Castalia (an experimental craft cocktail bar) and Sfumato Fragrances in Detroit, Michigan. He is the author of Cocktail Theory: A Sensory Approach to Transcendent Cocktails . Mindscape Petrichor Negroni (from the episode) 1 part gin distilled from vetiver (alternative: herbaceous gin such as Moletto ) 1 part St. George Bruto Americano 1 part Antica Formula vermouth Stir over an ice cube, express with orange peel (not shown). See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .…

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

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306 | Helen Czerski on Our Energetic Oceans 1:12:19

hace 22 días1:12:19

1:12:19

It is commonplace to refer to the Earth's oceans as vast and largely unexplored. But we do understand some aspects, and improving that understanding is crucial to ensuring the continued viability and success of life on this planet. The oceans are a paradigmatic complex system: there are many components, distinct but mutually interacting, that add up to a nuanced whole. We talk with ocean physicist Helen Czerski about what the ocean is and how it's changing. Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/02/24/306-helen-czerski-on-our-energetic-oceans/ S upport Mindscape on Patreon . Helen Czerski received her Ph.D. in physics from the University of Cambridge. She is currently an Associate Professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering at University College London. She is the author of several books, most recently The Blue Machine: How the Ocean Works . She is a frequent television presenter for the BBC and elsewhere. Web site UCL web page Google Scholar publications Wikipedia Amazon author page Bluesky See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .…

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

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305 | Lilliana Mason on Polarization and Political Psychology 1:17:25

hace 29 días1:17:25

1:17:25

Political outcomes would be relatively simple to predict and understand if only people were well-informed, entirely rational, and perfectly self-interested. Alas, real human beings are messy, emotional, imperfect creatures, so a successful theory of politics has to account for these features. One phenomenon that has grown in recent years is an alignment of cultural differences with political ones, so that polarization becomes more entrenched and even violent. I talk with political scientist Lilliana Mason about how this has come to pass, and how democracy can deal with it. Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/02/17/305-lilliana-mason-on-polarization-and-political-psychology/ Support Mindscape on Patreon . Lilliana Hall Mason received her Ph.D. in political psychology from Stony Brook University. She is currently an SNF Agora Institute Associate Professor of Political Science at Johns Hopkins University. She is the author of Uncivil Agreement: How Politics Became Our Identity and co-author (with Nathan Kalmoe) of Radical American Partisanship: Mapping Violent Hostility, Its Causes, and the Consequences for Democracy . Web Site Hopkins web page Google Scholar publications Bluesky See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .…

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

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Bonus | Cuts to Science Funding and Why They Matter 1:10:25

hace 5 weeks1:10:25

1:10:25

The Trump administration, led by Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency, has proposed sweeping cuts to spending on science research here in the US, in particular at the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. I explain a little about what is being cut and why these funds are important to scientific progress. I try, for what it's worth, to provide these explanations in a way that would be informative to those who generally favor cutting government waste in dramatic fashion. Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/02/12/bonus-cuts-to-science-funding-and-why-they-matter/ S upport Mindscape on Patreon . Indirect costs primer Cuts to NIH indirect costs Appropriated funds are mandated by statute Proposed NSF cuts Elon Musk doesn't understand indirect costs Shrimp treadmill story Bribing foreign officials Deleting NSA web pages Executive Orders are not laws History of impoundments See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .…

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

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304 | James Evans on Innovation, Consolidation, and the Science of Science 1:16:03

hace 5 weeks1:16:03

1:16:03

It is a feature of many human activities - sports, cooking, music, interpersonal relations - that being able to do them well doesn't necessarily mean you can accurately describe how to do them well. Science is no different. Many successful scientists are not very good at explaining what goes into successful scientific practice. To understand that, it's necessary to study science in a scientific fashion. What kinds of scientists, in what kinds of collaborations, using what kinds of techniques, do well? I talk with James Evans, an expert on collective intelligence and the construction of knowledge, about how science really works. Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/02/10/304-james-evans-on-innovation-consolidation-and-the-science-of-science/ S upport Mindscape on Patreon . James Evans received his Ph.D. in Sociology from Stanford University. He is currently the Max Palevsky Professor of History and Civilizations, Director of Knowledge Lab, and Faculty Director of Computational Social Science at the University of Chicago; External Professor at the Santa Fe Institute; External Faculty at the Complexity Science Hub, Vienna; and Visiting Faculty Researcher at Google. Knowledge Lab web site University of Chicago web page Google scholar publications See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .…

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

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303 | AMA | February 2025 3:44:12

hace 6 weeks3:44:12

3:44:12

Welcome to the February 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/2025/02/03/ama-february-2025/ S upport 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 .…

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

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303 | James P. Allison on Fighting Cancer with the Immune System 1:07:38

hace 7 weeks1:07:38

1:07:38

A typical human lifespan is approximately three billion heartbeats in duration. Lasting that long requires not only intrinsic stability, but an impressive capacity for self-repair. Nevertheless, things do occasionally break down, and cancer is one of the most dramatic examples of such breakdown. Given that the body is generally so good at protecting itself, can we harness our internal security patrol - the immune system - to fight cancer? This is the hope of Nobel Laureate James Allison, who works on studying the structure and behavior of immune cells, and ways to coax them into fighting cancer. This approach offers hope of a way to combat cancer effectively, lastingly, and in a relatively gentle way. Support Mindscape on Patreon . Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/01/27/303-james-p-allison-on-fighting-cancer-with-the-immune-system/ James P. Allison received his Ph.D. in biology from the University of Texas at Austin. He is currently Regental Professor and Chair of the Department of Immunology, the Olga Keith Wiess Distinguished University Chair for Cancer Research, Director of the Parker Institute for Cancer Research, and Director of the James P. Allison Institute at MD Anderson Cancer Center. He is the subject of the documentary film Jim Allison: Breakthrough . Among his numerous awards are the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences and the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Web page Nobel Prize citation Google Scholar publications Wikipedia See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .…

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

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302 | Chris Kempes on the Biophysics of Evolution 1:30:54

hace 8 weeks1:30:54

1:30:54

Randomness plays an important role in the evolution of life (as my evil twin will tell you). But random doesn't mean arbitrary. Biological organisms are physical objects, after all, and subject to the same laws of physics as non-biological matter is. Those laws place constraints on how organisms can fulfill their basic functions of metabolism, reproduction, motility, and so on. Easy to say, but how can we turn this into quantitative understanding of actual organisms? Today I talk with physical biologist Chris Kempes about how physics can help us understand the size of organisms, their metabolisms, and features of major transitions in evolution. S upport Mindscape on Patreon . Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/01/20/302-chris-kempes-on-the-biophysics-of-evolution/ Chris Kempes received his Ph.D. in physical biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is currently Professor and a member of the Science Steering Committee at the Santa Fe Institute. His research involves the origin of life and the constraints placed by physics on biological function and evolution. Web site Santa Fe Institute web page Google Scholar publications Origins of Life online course See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .…

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

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301 | Tina Eliassi-Rad on Al, Networks, and Epistemic Instability 1:09:21

hace 9 weeks1:09:21

1:09:21

Big data is ruling, or at least deeply infiltrating, all of modern existence. Unprecedented capacity for collecting and analyzing large amounts of data have given us a new generation of artificial intelligence models, but also everything from medical procedures to recommendation systems that guide our purchases and romantic lives. I talk with computer scientist Tina Elassi-Rad about how we can sift through all this data, make sure it is deployed in ways that align with our values, and how to deal with the political and social dangers associated with systems that are not always guided by the truth. S upport Mindscape on Patreon . Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/01/13/301-tina-eliassi-rad-on-al-networks-and-epistemic-instability/ Tina Eliassi-Rad received her Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is currently Joseph E. Aoun Chair of Computer Sciences and Core Faculty of the Network Science Institute at Northeastern University, External Faculty at the Santa Fe Institute, and External Faculty at the Vermont Complex Systems Center. She is a fellow of the Network Science Society, recipient of the Lagrange Prize, and was named one of the 100 Brilliant Women in AI Ethics. Web site Northeastern web page Google Scholar publications Wikipedia See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .…

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

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300 | Solo: Does Time Exist? 2:11:35

hace 10 weeks2:11:35

2:11:35

A new year, and a new centennial -- 300 (regularly-numbered) episodes of Mindscape! Our tradition is to have a solo episode, and what better topic than the nature of time? Physicists and philosophers have so frequently suggested that time is some kind of illusion that it's become almost passé to believe that it might be fundamental. This is an issue where, despite the form of the question, physics has important things to say that most philosophers haven't yet caught up to. I will talk about ideas from quantum mechanics and quantum gravity that bear on the question of whether time is emergent or fundamental, and the implications of each possibility. S upport Mindscape on Patreon . Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/01/06/300-solo-does-time-exist/ Some of the papers discussed herein: Carroll (2008), " What If Time Really Exists? " Dyson, Kleban, and Susskind (2002), " Disturbing Implications of a Cosmological Constant ." Albrecht and Sorbo (2004), " Can the Universe Afford Inflation? " Boddy, Carroll, and Pollack (2014), " De Sitter Space Without Dynamical Quantum Fluctuations ." Lloyd (2016), " Decoherent Histories Approach to the Cosmological Measure Problem ." Page and Wootters (1983), " Evolution Without Evolution: Dynamics Described by Stationary Observables ." Albrecht (1994), " The Theory of Everything vs the Theory of Anything ." Albrecht and Iglesias (2007), " The Clock Ambiguity and the Emergence of Physical Laws ." See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .…

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

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Holiday Message | Hits and Misses 2:01:23

hace 12 weeks2:01:23

2:01:23

It's the end of the year, and time for our annual holiday break here at Mindscape. But as usual, we wrap up with a Holiday Message. This year, inspired by Joni Mitchell's "Hits" and "Misses" albums, I go through my scientific papers and talk about some of my favorites -- some of which were hits, in terms of making an impact on subsequent research, and some of which were misses by that standard. But I love them all! It's an excuse to talk about process -- how papers come to be, from the initial informal idea to sitting down and doing the work. S upport Mindscape on Patreon . Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2024/12/23/holiday-message-hits-and-misses/ Here are links to the papers I discuss in the episode. S.M. Carroll, G.B. Field and R. Jackiw, 1990, "Limits on A Lorentz and Parity-Violating Modification of Electrodynamics,'' Phys. Rev. D 41 , 1231. [ pdf file ; inSPIRE ] S.M. Carroll, E. Farhi and A.H. Guth, 1992, "An Obstacle to Building a Time Machine,'' Phys. Rev. Lett. 68 , 263; Erratum: 68 , 3368. [ pdf file ; inSPIRE ] S.M. Carroll, E. Farhi, A.H. Guth and K.D. Olum, 1994, "Energy-Momentum Restrictions on the Creation of Gott Time Machines,'' Phys. Rev. D 50 , 6190; gr-qc/9404065. [ arXiv ; pdf ; inSPIRE ] S.M. Carroll, 1998, "Quintessence and the Rest of the World,'' Phys. Rev. Lett. 81 , 3067; astro-ph/9806099. [ arXiv ; pdf ; inSPIRE ] S.M. Carroll, V. Duvvuri, M. Trodden, and M.S. Turner, 2003, "Is Cosmic Speed-Up Due to New Gravitational Physics?'' astro-ph/0306438. [ arXiv ; pdf ; inSPIRE ] S.M. Carroll and J. Chen, 2004, "Spontaneous Inflation and the Origin of the Arrow of Time'', hep-th/0410270. [ arXiv , inSPIRE ] L. Ackerman, M.R. Buckley, S.M. Carroll, and M. Kamionkowski, 2008, "Dark Matter and Dark Radiation," arxiv:0807.5126. [ arXiv ; pdf ; inSPIRE ] S.M. Carroll, M.C. Johnson, and L. Randall, 2009, "Dynamical Compactification," arxiv:0904.3115. [ arXiv ; pdf ; inSPIRE ] C. Cao, S.M. Carroll, and S. Michalakis, 2016, "Space from Hilbert Space: Recovering Geometry from Bulk Entanglement," arxiv:1606.08444. [ arXiv , inSPIRE ] C. Cao and S.M. Carroll, 2018, "Bulk Entanglement Gravity without a Boundary: Towards Finding Einstein's Equation in Hilbert Space," arxiv:1712.02803. [ arXiv , inSPIRE ] N. Bao, S.M. Carroll, A. Chatwin-Davies, J. Pollack, and G. Remmen, 2017, “Branches of the Black Hole Wave Function Need Not Contain Firewalls," arxiv:1712.04955. [ arXiv , inSPIRE ] See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .…

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

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299 | Michael Wong on Information, Function, and the Origin of Life 1:13:00

hace 13 weeks1:13:00

1:13:00

Living organisms seem exquisitely organized and complex, with features clearly adapted to serving certain functions needed to survive and procreate. Natural selection provides a compelling explanation for why that is so. But is there a bigger picture, a more general framework that explains the origin and evolution of functions and complexity in a world governed by uncaring laws of physics? I talk with planetary scientist and astrobiologist Michael Wong about how we can define what "functions" are and the role they play in the evolution of the universe. S upport Mindscape on Patreon . Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2024/12/16/299-michael-wong-on-information-function-and-the-origin-of-life/ Michael Wong received his Ph.D. in planetary science from Caltech. He is currently a Sagan Postdoctoral Fellow at the Carnegie Institution for Scienceʼs Earth & Planets Laboratory. He is in the process of co-authoring two books: A Missing Law: Evolution, Information, and the Inevitability of Cosmic Complexity with Robert M. Hazen, and a revised edition of Astrobiology: A Multidisciplinary Approach with Jonathan Lunine. Web site Carnegie web page Strange New Worlds podcast Wong et al. (2023), " On the Roles of Function and Selection in Evolving Systems ." Wong and Prabhu (2023), " Cells as the First Data Scientists ." See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .…

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

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298 | Jeff Lichtman on the Wiring Diagram of the Brain 1:09:09

hace 14 weeks1:09:09