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Sean Carroll's Mindscape

Sean Carroll's Mindscape

Ever wanted to know how music affects your brain, what quantum mechanics really is, or how black holes work? In Mindscape, Sean Carroll, hosts conversations with the world’s most interesting thinkers in the world about the biggest ideas in science, society, philosophy and culture.

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1 hr, 12 min•
23 Jun

319 | Bryan Van Norden on Philosophy From the Rest of the World

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.

319 | Bryan Van Norden on Philosophy From the Rest of the World
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1 hr, 20 min•
16 Jun

318 | Edward Miguel on the Developing Practice of Development Economics

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.

318 | Edward Miguel on the Developing Practice of Development Economics
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1 hr, 14 min•
9 Jun

317 | Nicole Rust on Why Neuroscience Hasn't Solved Brain Disorders

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.

317 | Nicole Rust on Why Neuroscience Hasn't Solved Brain Disorders
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1 hr, 28 min•
26 May

316 | Niayesh Afshordi and Phil Halper

Einstein's general theory of relativity, plus some reasonable assumptions about the universe and what it's made of, has a remarkable implication: that as we trace cosmic evolution into the far past, we ultimately hit a singularity of infinite density and curvature, the Big Bang. Did that really happen? Einstein's theory is classical, after all, and the world is quantum. And whose to say what assumptions are reasonable? Niayesh Afshordi and Phil Halper have written a new book, Battle of the Big Bang: The New Tales of Our Cosmic Origins, that surveys all of the mind-bending possibilities.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/05/26/316-niayesh-afshordi-and-phil-halper-on-the-big-bang-and-before/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Niayesh Afshordi received a Ph.D. in astrophysics from Princeton University. He is currently a professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Waterloo, and associate faculty in the cosmology and gravitation group at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics.Web sitePerimeter web pageWaterloo web pageGoogle scholar publicationsPhil Halper is a science communicator and a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society. His astronomy images have been featured in major media outlets including The Washington Post, the BBC, and The Guardian, and he has published several papers in peer-reviewed journals.YouTube channel (Skydivephil)See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

316 | Niayesh Afshordi and Phil Halper
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1 hr, 28 min•
19 May

315 | Branden Fitelson on the Logic and Use of Probability

Every time you see an apple spontaneously break away from a tree, it falls downward. You therefore claim that there is a law of physics: apples fall downward from trees. But how can you really know? After all, tomorrow you might see an apple that falls upward. How is science possible at all? Philosophers, as you might expect, have thought hard about this. Branden Fitelson explains how a better understanding of probability can help us decide when new evidence is actually confirming our beliefs.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/05/19/315-branden-fitelson-on-the-logic-and-use-of-probability/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Branden Fitelson received a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is currently Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at Northeastern University. He is a co-founder of the Formal Epistemology Workshop, and winner of the 2020 Wolfram Innovator Award.Web siteNortheastern web pagePhilPapers profileGoogle Scholar publicationsWikipediaSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

315 | Branden Fitelson on the Logic and Use of Probability
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1 hr, 9 min•
12 May

314 | Karen Lloyd on the Deep Underground Biosphere

There are living creatures dwelling deep below the surface of the Earth, as deep as we are able to drill. These hearty microorganisms are related to more familiar life forms on land and under water, but the operate and survive in ways that are quite different from what we're familiar with. They live off of nutrients that have penetrated from the surface, or sometimes off of pure electrons. Karen Lloyd is a scientist who has traveled around the world studying these organisms, as she explains in her new book Intraterrestrials: Discovering the Strangest Life on Earth.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/05/12/314-karen-lloyd-on-the-deep-underground-biosphere/Support Mindscape on Patreon.Karen Lloyd received a Ph.D. in marine sciences from the University of North Carolina. She is currently the Wrigley Chair in Environmental Studies and Professor of Earth Sciences at the University of Southern California. Among her awards are a Sloan Fellowship, a Simons Early Career Investigator, and a NASA Early Career Fellowship.Lab web siteUSC web pageGoogle Scholar publicationsBlueskySee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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