Ep70 Re Broadcast "Why do our memories drift? Part 1: The War of the Ghosts"
Happy Holidays- New episodes starting Jan. 5th Why did lions look so strange in medieval European art? What does this have to do with Native American folklore, eyewitness memory of a car accident, or ...
22 Dec 202533min
Ep134 "What do brains teach us about morality?" with Joshua Greene
Why will you make different moral decisions in similar circumstances? Why do some people make different choices than you? What happens when ancient moral instincts collide with modern problems such as...
15 Dec 20251h 15min
Ep133 "Why do people hold misbeliefs?" with Dan Ariely
Why do people sometimes buy into ideas that seem obviously false from the outside, as with conspiracy theories? Is this kind of misbelief a universal feature of human brains? Does it offer clarity and...
8 Dec 202546min
Ep132 "What will AI mean for the economy?" with Andrew Mayne
If AI can do everything from writing novels to designing proteins, what remains that only humans can do? What's the human advantage in a world where machines can outperform us at almost any measurable...
1 Dec 202551min
Ep131 "What do brains tell us about politics?" Part 2: Rehumanization
How do societies work their way out of polarization? And what does the answer have to do with broken trucks, the Apollo program, the movie 'Watchmen', Iroquois Native Americans, a new idea for social ...
24 Nov 202549min
Ep130 "What do brains tell us about politics?" Part 1: Polarization
What do propaganda posters have in common across nation and time, and how is that related to the medial prefrontal cortex? What is behind repeating cycles of societal polarization? What does any of th...
17 Nov 202545min
Ep129 "Is utopia possible or do human brains preclude it?" with Paul Bloom
Would a utopia be possible? Or does our innate tribalism and jealousy make perfect societies difficult to achieve? Do we secretly love hierarchies? Why are primate brains such excellent detectors of u...
10 Nov 202543min
Ep128 "Would space aliens see the world as we do?" with Daniel Whiteson
Imagine we eventually meet some alien scientists. If they can see electrons or smell photons, would their science look like ours? Is physics a universal language, or just a local dialect of the human ...
3 Nov 20251h 3min
