327 | Cass Sunstein on Liberalism
"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 res...
1 Sep 20251h 10min
326 | Natalie Batalha on What We Know and Will Learn About Exoplanets
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 dis...
25 Aug 20251h 12min
325 | Alvy Ray Smith on Pixar, Pixels, and the Great Digital Convergence
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, stri...
18 Aug 20251h 26min
324 | Elizabeth Mynatt on Universities and the Importance of Basic Research
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 k...
11 Aug 20251h 13min
AMA | August 2025
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 Patr...
4 Aug 20253h 39min
323 | Jacob Barandes on Indivisible Stochastic Quantum Mechanics
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 ...
28 Juli 20252h 58min
322 | Philip Pettit on Language, Agency, Politics, and Freedom
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 co...
21 Juli 20251h 20min
321 | David Tong on Open Questions in Quantum Field Theory
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, whil...
14 Juli 20251h 19min
