Cognitive Revolution

Latest Episodes:

#20: Julia Shaw on Who We Are and Why It Matters Apr 01, 2020

Show notes

This is probably the most interesting interview I've done on Cognitive Revolution to date (sorry, Paul Bloom). To call Dr Julia Shaw by her title of psychological scientist at University College London is to severely underestimate the breadth of her mind. She is the kind of scholar who could accurately be described as "complete." It's not that she knows everything. But nothing is outside of the bounds of her interests or capability for engagement. It's a very inspiring thing to see. In this episode, we talk about -- what else? -- the Coronavirus pandemic, but also: lockdown reading lists, how Julia's troubled family history influenced her interest in psychology, overcoming toxic grad school environments, whether it's possible to appreciate great art from terrible people, whether heterosexuality exists, and a host of other far flung topics. You can follow Dr Julia Shaw on Twitter @drjuliashaw and on her website drjuliashaw.com. You can also check out her books: the Memory Illusion, and Making Evil. If you want to keep up with Cognitive Revolution you can subscribe on whichever platform you may be listening through. You can also follow me on Twitter @codykommers and through my newsletter at https://www.codykommers.com/newsletter.

The Christof Koch Consciousness Reading List Mar 30, 2020

Show notes

As a new part of Cognitive Revolution, I'm gathering reading lists from as many of my guests as I can going forward. I'm always fascinated to know which books have most influenced a person. And it's also useful to see what's impacted others, so you can dig into material that has a relatively high probability of impacting your own life. This episode features a section of my conversation with Christof Koch that didn't really fit into the larger episode with him. In it we discuss his favorite books and his recommended reading on consciousness. You can check out the full reading list (including my own recs) here: codykommers.com/post/christof-koch-reading-list.

Lab Lockdown #2: Jeffrey Lees Mar 20, 2020

Show notes

Jeff is a PhD at Harvard Business School. He's been working from home for years. And now that the rest of us are in the same position, he recently shared some of his tips for keeping productive and sane when work life and home life begin to coalesce. You can follow him on Twitter @Leesplez. You can also read my recent piece about self-motivation here: https://www.codykommers.com/post/self-motivate

Lab Lockdown #1: Jaclyn A. Siegel Mar 19, 2020

Show notes

In this crazy times characterized by the chaos of a worldwide pandemic, I've decided to do something a little different on the pod. It's a series I'm calling "Lab Lockdown." The idea is to talk to other grad students about how they're getting through all this while trying to maintain a semblance of sanity and productivity. It's also an opportunity to talk about their current research projects. My first guest in this series is Jaclyn A. Siegel. She's a PhD student at Western Ontario, and she has such a powerful story that connects her personal experiences to her academic interests. We talk about gratitude, using self-isolation as an opportunity for connecting with others, feminism, and adopting cats. You can follow her on Twitter @jaclynasiegel. More info available at codykommers.com/podcast.

#19: Christof Koch on Incandescent Intellectualism Mar 17, 2020

Show notes

Christof Koch is a one man symphony of passion. The only thing he has to offer is an unrelenting, indissoluble, incandescent fascination with the subjects that he's drawn to and develop a profound expertise on their every aspect. And oh my, what a thing it is to behold. The primary objects of his interest are consciousness and the brain -- what is the physical basis of existence and our experience of it? Christof is the director of the Paul Allen Brain Institute -- which, to give you an idea of what that means, billionaire Paul Allen was hanging out in his office one day, and asked himself, "If I could have one neuroscientist in the world run my institute, who would I choose?" Christof was the obvious answer. He was mentored by Francis Crick, co-discoverer of the structure of DNA. I can only imagine what it was like to be in a room with those two, in a swirling discussion of the physical basis of consciousness that would have surely convinced you of the truth of determinism because once it got started there was no stopping it. In this conversation we talk about many things, but probably none of them are as eminently worth mentioning as our discussion of Christof's experience of 5 MeO DMT -- which is a psychedelic compound secreted on the back of a species of toad inhabiting the Colorado Road that, so I hear, makes psilocybin seem like an aspirin. Christof's new book is "The Feeling of Life Itself." Make sure to check it out! More info at codykommers.com/podcast.

#18: Michael Tomasello on Writing for Young People Mar 10, 2020

Show notes

Michael Tomasello is one of the most influential cognitive scientists of the twenty-first century. And yet I would still argue that he is still somehow under-appreciated. He's a truly independent thinker and throughout his career he has pursued ideas that don't fit neatly into any particular intellectual silo but make their presence felt across many of them. In this episode, we talk about the influence of Jerome Bruner, Lev Vygotsky, and Jean Piaget on Mike's thought, where anthropology went after the Cognitive Revolution, how he wrote his first book because he had nothing else going on, writing to shape the minds of young people, the role of outlines in writing, being "problem centered," and the intellectual freedom that comes with being outside of the establishment. More info available at codykommers.com/podcast. If you enjoy the show, please consider subscribing! You can follow me on Twitter @codykommers, and through my newsletter at codykommers.com/newsletter.

Newsletter Excerpt: "On Forcing the Issue" Mar 05, 2020

Show notes

If you listened to Cognitive Revolution before, you've probably heard me talk my Friendship Friday newsletter. I've played around with that format for a couple months now, and I haven't been able to get it to feel quite right. Last week, I tried something a bit different and liked the way it came off. So I figured I would share that with you here. If you like the new direction and want to receive more content like this, you can subscribe on my website: codykommers.com/newsletter.

#17: Sander van der Linden on Intrinsic Motivation Mar 03, 2020

Show notes

If you haven't recently, go look up a picture of actor Paul Rudd. Now, Ben Affleck. My guest for the show this week looks like their love child (go ahead, look it up for yourself). It's uncanny. At any rate, Sander is also a professor of psychology at Cambridge and directs the Social Decision Making lab there. In this episode, we talk about being a night owl in a morning person's world, lucid dreaming, his short-lived career getting umbrellas for bankers, increasing motivation by tying tasks into a larger goal, doing research that's meaningful for society, balancing scientific research and public outreach, "Why not just reach out to people?", perseverance ("Just send them another email"), improving as a mentor, and tackling big research questions. Hope you enjoy! More info available at codykommers.com/podcast.

#16: Heather Berlin on Bringing Science to the Masses Feb 25, 2020

Show notes

Dr Heather Berlin is one of the purest science communicators I've ever come across. Pure in the sense that she is, above all, a scientist; her dedication to the craft is obvious. But she also clearly believes that it's important those results don't stop at a handful of specialists. Because she values in the insights of science so deeply, she can't help but make sure as many people as possible can benefit from them! Her day job is as a professor of psychiatry at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Her other day job is as a TV doctor, in which she cohosts shows like Star Talk with Neil DeGrasse Tyson or the documentary "Bill Nye: Science Guy." In this episode, we talk about writing and performing off-broadway shows with her husband (who is a rapper), her re-specialization into clinical work, choosing a PhD over med school, strategies for putting yourself out there, and increasing representation of women in science communication. More info available at codykommers.com/podcast.

#15: Nicola Clayton on Enthusiastic Serendipity Feb 18, 2020

Show notes

Have you ever wondered what it's like to be a bird? Not just to fly, but to really, truly understand the world from a bird's perspective. I don't think I have. At least not to the extent that Nicky Clayton has. She is a joyous human being full of unique perspective on corvids, animals, humans, babies, magicians, artists, and scientists. Her official title is professor of comparative cognition at Cambridge, and you can find her on twitter @nickyclayton22. In this episode we talk about her work in China, the phenomenology of bird existence, how to make your own luck, combining science and art to explore memory, letting ideas grow organically, how to encourage others to be more sensitive to the world around them, the connection between magic and cognition, and informal fieldwork in everyday life. As always you can find more info at codykommers.com/podcast.

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