126 | David Stasavage on the Origin and History of Democracy
Those of us living in democracies tend to take the idea for granted. We forget what an audacious, radical idea it is to put government power into the hands of literally all of the citizens of a countr...
7 Dec 20201h 25min
125 | David Haig on the Evolution of Meaning from Darwin to Derrida
Aristotle conceived of the world in terms of teleological "final causes"; Darwin, or so the story goes, erased purpose and meaning from the world, replacing them with a bloodless scientific algorithm....
30 Nov 20201h 15min
124 | Solo: How Time Travel Could and Should Work
Time! It doesn't stop, psychological effects of being under lockdown notwithstanding. How we experience time depends on our situation, but time itself just marches forward. Unless, of course, it's pos...
23 Nov 20202h 41min
AMA | November 2020
As you have likely heard me mention before, I have an account on Patreon, where people can sign up to donate a dollar or two per episode of Mindscape. In return they get two tangible (if minor) benefi...
20 Nov 20203h 12min
123 | Lisa Feldman Barrett on Emotions, Actions, and the Brain
Emotions are at the same time utterly central to who we are — where would we be without them? — and also seemingly peripheral to the "real" work our brains do, understanding the world and acting withi...
16 Nov 20201h 17min
122 | David Eagleman on Tapping Into the Livewired Brain
Imagine you were locked in a sealed room, with no way to access the outside world but a few screens showing a view of what's outside. Seems scary and limited, but that's essentially the situation that...
9 Nov 20201h 17min
121 | Cornel West on What Democracy Is and Should Be
This episode is published on November 2, 2020, the day before an historic election in the United States. An election that comes amidst growing worries about the future of democratic governance, as wel...
2 Nov 20201h 21min
120 | Jeremy England on Biology, Thermodynamics, and the Bible
Erwin Schrödinger's famous book What Is Life? highlighted the connections between physics, and thermodynamics in particular, and the nature of living beings. But the exact connections between living o...
26 Okt 20201h 28min
