A podcast for writers by writers who hate writing. From Family Guy writers Alec Sulkin & Julius "Goldy" Sharpe with Family Guy engineer, Janice Cruz Brooks. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @thesulk @juliussharpe @jcunderground Instagram: @atypicaldisgustingdisplay
…
continue reading
Max Pross Podcasts
1
Sean Carroll's Mindscape: Science, Society, Philosophy, Culture, Arts, and Ideas
Sean Carroll | Wondery
3k
385
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, ...
…
continue reading
1
322 | Philip Pettit on Language, Agency, Politics, and Freedom
1:20:47
1:20:47
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
1:20:47
When we think of the capacities that distinguish humans from other species, we generally turn to intelligence and its byproducts, including our technological prowess. But our intelligence is highly connected to our ability to use language, which is in turn closely related to our capacities as social creatures. Philosopher Philip Pettit would encour…
…
continue reading
1
321 | David Tong on Open Questions in Quantum Field Theory
1:19:25
1:19:25
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
1:19:25
Quantum field theory is the basis for our most successful theories of fundamental physics. And yet, there are things we don't understand about it. Some of these puzzles are relatively well-known, while others are less celebrated. David Tong joins us to talk about some of the more interesting and perplexing aspects of quantum field theory. He also d…
…
continue reading
Welcome to the July 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 questio…
…
continue reading
1
320 | Solo: Complexity and the Universe
2:14:44
2:14:44
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
2:14:44
Our universe started out looking very simple: hot, dense, smooth, rapidly expanding. According to our best current model, it will end up looking simple once again: cold, dark, empty. It's in between -- now, roughly speaking -- that things look complex. I have been working to understand the stages by which complexity comes into existence, thrives, a…
…
continue reading
1
319 | Bryan Van Norden on Philosophy From the Rest of the World
1:12:39
1:12:39
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
1:12:39
It is common to refer to philosophy as "a series of footnotes to Plato." But in the original quote, Alfred North Whitehead was more careful: he limited his characterization to "the European philosophical tradition." There are other traditions, both ancient and ongoing: Chinese philosophy, Indian philosophy, Africana philosophy, and various indigeno…
…
continue reading
1
318 | Edward Miguel on the Developing Practice of Development Economics
1:20:39
1:20:39
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
1:20:39
Economics is seeing an upsurge in the importance of controlled, reproducible empirical studies. One area where this has had a great impact is on development economics, which studies the economies of low- and middle-income societies. Edward Miguel has been at the forefront of both the revolution in empirical methods, and in applying those techniques…
…
continue reading
1
317 | Nicole Rust on Why Neuroscience Hasn't Solved Brain Disorders
1:14:50
1:14:50
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
1:14:50
The human brain is extremely complicated, but decades of careful neuroscientific research have revealed quite a bit about how it works, including how certain genes affect particular brain behaviors. Nevertheless, this progress has not led to quite as much improvement in the treatment of brain disorders as we might expect. I talk with neuroscientist…
…
continue reading
Welcome to the June 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 questio…
…
continue reading
1
316 | Niayesh Afshordi and Phil Halper
1:28:50
1:28:50
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
1:28:50
Einstein's general theory of relativity, plus some reasonable assumptions about the universe and what it's made of, has a remarkable implication: that as we trace cosmic evolution into the far past, we ultimately hit a singularity of infinite density and curvature, the Big Bang. Did that really happen? Einstein's theory is classical, after all, and…
…
continue reading
1
315 | Branden Fitelson on the Logic and Use of Probability
1:28:55
1:28:55
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
1:28:55
Every time you see an apple spontaneously break away from a tree, it falls downward. You therefore claim that there is a law of physics: apples fall downward from trees. But how can you really know? After all, tomorrow you might see an apple that falls upward. How is science possible at all? Philosophers, as you might expect, have thought hard abou…
…
continue reading
1
314 | Karen Lloyd on the Deep Underground Biosphere
1:09:18
1:09:18
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
1:09:18
There are living creatures dwelling deep below the surface of the Earth, as deep as we are able to drill. These hearty microorganisms are related to more familiar life forms on land and under water, but the operate and survive in ways that are quite different from what we're familiar with. They live off of nutrients that have penetrated from the su…
…
continue reading
1
313 | Eric Topol on the Changing Face of Medicine and Aging
1:12:03
1:12:03
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
1:12:03
Medical science is advancing at an astonishing rate. Today we talk with leading expert Eric Topol about two aspects of this story. First, the use of artificial intelligence in medicine, especially in diagnostics. This is an area that is a perfect match between an important question and the capabilities of machine learning, to the point where AI can…
…
continue reading
Welcome to the May 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 question…
…
continue reading
1
312 | Thomas Levenson on the Mutual History of Humans and Germs
1:31:28
1:31:28
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
1:31:28
The germ theory of disease is a crowning achievement of science, up there with modern physics, continental drift, and evolution via natural selection. (Even if there will always be cranky skeptics.) But the road to widespread acceptance isn't always an easy one. Why did it take so long between Anton van Leeuwenhoek seeing "animalcules" in a microsc…
…
continue reading
1
311 | Annaka Harris on Whether Consciousness is Fundamental
1:09:58
1:09:58
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
1:09:58
Questions about consciousness range from the precise and empirical -- what neurons fire when I have some particular experience -- to the deeply profound -- does consciousness emerge from matter, or does matter emerge from consciousness? While it might be straightforward to think that consciousness arises from the collective behavior of atoms in the…
…
continue reading
Welcome to the April 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 questi…
…
continue reading
1
310 | Marc Kamionkowski on Dark Energy and Cosmic Anomalies
1:26:14
1:26:14
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
1:26:14
Cosmologists were, let us be honest, pretty stunned in 1998 when observations revealed that the universe is accelerating. There was an obvious plausible explanation, the cosmological constant proposed by Einstein, which is equivalent to a constant vacuum energy pervading space. But the cosmological constant was known to be enormously smaller than i…
…
continue reading
1
309 | Christof Koch on Consciousness and Integrated Information
1:20:46
1:20:46
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
1:20:46
Consciousness is easier to possess than to define. One thing we can do is to look into the brain and see what lights up when conscious awareness is taking place. A complete understanding of this would be known as the "neural correlates of consciousness." Once we have that, we could hopefully make progress on developing a theoretical picture of what…
…
continue reading
1
308 | Alison Gopnik on Children, AI, and Modes of Thinking
1:09:56
1:09:56
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
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 ar…
…
continue reading
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 questi…
…
continue reading
1
307 | Kevin Peterson on the Theory of Cocktails
1:16:36
1:16:36
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
1:16:36
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 scie…
…
continue reading
1
306 | Helen Czerski on Our Energetic Oceans
1:12:19
1:12:19
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
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 u…
…
continue reading
1
305 | Lilliana Mason on Polarization and Political Psychology
1:17:25
1:17:25
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
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 alig…
…
continue reading
1
Bonus | Cuts to Science Funding and Why They Matter
1:10:25
1:10:25
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
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…
…
continue reading
1
304 | James Evans on Innovation, Consolidation, and the Science of Science
1:16:03
1:16:03
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
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, …
…
continue reading
