Ep122 "Why do we so rarely say what we mean?" (with Steven Pinker)
Why do people on a date speak in innuendo? Why do dictators squelch protests? Why do humans stand apart from the rest of the animal kingdom by blushing, laughing, and crying? And what does any of this...
22 Sep 202544min
Ep121 "What’s the secret to intelligence (in brains and AI)?" with Ramesh Raskar
Is AI going to go the same way as computing: from colossal LLMs owned by a few companies to billions of networked AI agents? How does that parallel one of the great underappreciated secrets of the hum...
15 Sep 202541min
Ep120 "Will AI build us into better humans?"
Will AI end up building us into stronger, more talented humans? What might this have to do with linguistics, the movie Arrival, self-driving cars, debate, video games, elections, chess, and the ancien...
8 Sep 202533min
Ep119 "Why do brains believe in the unbelievable?" with Bruce Hood
Why are brains superstitious? Would you wear a nice sweater that belonged to a murderer? What does this have to do with lucky socks, ghosts, our interpretation of coincidences, why kids often need the...
1 Sep 202536min
Ep118 "Why has the brain always been our hardest puzzle?" with Matthew Cobb
How have humans through the ages tried to crack the mysteries of the brain, and why are our theories always yoked to the most recent technologies? What does the history of brain science have to do wit...
25 Aug 202559min
Ep117 "What does brain science have to do with free speech? (with Greg Lukianoff)" (with Greg Lukianoff)
Most people claim to be in favor of free speech, but they often mean speech from their own side (and not whatever those crazy people on the other side want to say). But from the point of view of the b...
18 Aug 20251h
Ep116 " What is Color? Part 2: Why royals wear purple"
Are there new colors you could see? And why are they impossible to imagine before you've seen them? Can you lose your color vision? And what does any of this have to do with linguistic color terms, wh...
11 Aug 202537min
Ep115 "What is color? Part 1: Why hunters wear orange"
Why do birds and bees choose different flowers? Why do mammals' eyes seem to be optimized for moving around at night, and what does that have to do with hairless humans getting angry? What does any of...
4 Aug 202537min
