Welcome to the Mindscape Podcast!

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 encourage us to think of those social capacities, as enabled by language, as the primary locus of what makes humans different, as discussed in his new book When Minds Converse: A Social Genealogy of the Human Soul. And that linguistic aptitude helps us understand the nature of agency, responsibility, and freedom.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/07/21/322-philip-pettit-on-language-agency-politics-and-freedom/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Philip Pettit received his Ph.D. in philosophy from University College Belfast. He is currently Laurance S. Rockefeller University Professor of Human Values at Princeton University and Distinguished University Professor of Philosophy at Australian National University. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia, the Australian Academy of the Humanities, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Guggenheim Foundation, among other honors.Princeton web pageGoogle Scholar publicationsWikipediaAmazon author pageSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

21 Heinä 20251h 20min

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 discusses his new project to write a series of textbooks covering (all?) important topics in theoretical physics. To date, these include Classical Mechanics, Quantum Mechanics, Fluid Mechanics, and Electromagnetism.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/07/14/321-david-tong-on-open-questions-in-quantum-field-theory/Support Mindscape on Patreon.David Tong received his Ph.D. in theoretical physics from Swansea University. He is currently a professor of Theoretical Physics in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at the University of Cambridge. He is a winner of the Adams Prize and a Simons Investigator. In addition to his books, he has written many freely-available sets of lecture notes on topics in physics.Cambridge web pageGoogle Scholar publicationsAmazon author pageWikipediaRoyal Institution lecture on quantum field theorySee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

14 Heinä 20251h 19min

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 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/2025/07/07/ama-july-2025/See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

7 Heinä 20254h 3min

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, and eventually disappears. Without going into technical details, in this solo episode I give an overview of the general picture and the clues we are looking at to better understand the process of complexogenesis.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/06/30/320-solo-complexity-and-the-universe/Support Mindscape on Patreon.The Santa Fe Institute has recently published a four-volume set of classic papers on complexity. David Krakauer provided a comprehensive introduction that has been published as a standalone book.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

30 Kesä 20252h 14min

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 indigenous philosophies. For the most part, these do not get nearly as much attention in European and American schools as the European tradition does. Bryan Van Norden argues for expanding philosophy's geographical scope, to the benefit of philosophy in general.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/06/23/319-bryan-van-norden-on-philosophy-from-the-rest-of-the-world/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Bryan Van Norden received his Ph.D. in philosophy from Stanford University. He is currently James Monroe Taylor Chair in Philosophy at Vassar College and Chair Professor in the School of Philosophy at Wuhan University. Among his books are Introduction to Classical Chinese Philosophy and Taking Back Philosophy: A Multicultural Manifesto. He is a recipient of Fulbright, National Endowment for the Humanities, and Mellon fellowships.Web siteVassar web pagePhilPeople profileWikipediaAmazon author pageSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

23 Kesä 20251h 12min

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 to alleviating poverty in sub-Saharan Africa and elsewhere.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/06/16/318-edward-miguel-on-the-developing-practice-of-development-economics/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Edward Miguel received his Ph.D. in economics from Harvard university. He is currently Distinguished Professor of Economics and Oxfam Professor in Environmental and Resource Economics at the University of California, Berkeley. He is also Faculty co-Director of the Center for Effective Global Action and a Faculty Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research. Among his awards are the Frisch Medal of the Econometric Society, the Kenneth Arrow Prize of the International Health Economics Association, and multiple teaching awards.Web siteBerkeley web pageGoogle Scholar publicationsWikipediaSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

16 Kesä 20251h 20min

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 Nicole Rust about why this is and how to improve the situation, as discussed in her new book Elusive Cures.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/06/09/317-nicole-rust-on-why-neuroscience-hasnt-solved-brain-disorders/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Nicole C. Rust received her Ph.D. in neuroscience from New York University. She is currently a professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. She is also a contributing editor at The Transmitter and an editor at BrainFacts.org. Among her awards are the Troland Research Award from the National Academy of Sciences.Web siteUPenn web pageGoogle Scholar publicationsWikipediaBlueskySee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

9 Kesä 20251h 14min

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 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/2025/06/02/ama-june-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.

2 Kesä 20253h 23min