Sean Carroll's Mindscape: Science, Society, Philosophy, Culture, Arts, and Ideas

Latest Episodes:

Aak Me Anything | November 2026 Nov 09, 2026

Show notes

Welcome to the November 2026 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 Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number -- based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the questions themselves are good -- and sometimes group them together if they are about a similar topic. Enjoy!

Blog post with AMA questions and transcript: https://preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/11/09/ama-november-2026/

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373 | Colin Camerer on the Neuroscience of Economic Thinking Nov 02, 2026

Show notes

Economics often starts with an assumption that people are rational maximizers of their own self-interest; but it doesn't stop there. Economists do understand that sometimes people are irrational, altruistic, or just random. So how can we understand how people actually do behave in economic circumstances? Colin Camerer is a pioneer of "neuroeconomics" -- not only understanding how people make economic choices, but relating it to processes in the brain.

Blog post with transcript: https://preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/11/02/373-colin-camerer-on-the-neuroscience-of-economic-thinking/

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Colin Camerer received a Ph.D. in behavioral decision theory from the University of Chicago. He is currently the Robert Kirby Professor of Behavioral Economics, T&C Chen Center for Social and Decision Neuroscience Leadership Chair, and Director, T&C Chen Center for Social and Decision Neuroscience at Caltech. He has been awarded a MacArthur fellowship among other awards. He is the author of Behavioral Game Theory: Experiments in Strategic Interaction.

372 | Erik Winfree on DNA Computers and Robots Oct 26, 2026

Show notes

When we think of computers, we think of machines running on some kind of silicon chips. But the idea is more general: at heart, a computer is any object that takes in input, processes information, and produces output. Taking inspiration from biology, it is interesting to imagine building computers out of DNA -- a molecule that can store and process information, and is even programmable. Erik Winfree is one of the leading scientists who are using DNA to build tiny computers and even robots that can perform a number of tasks, with important implications for future biology and medicine.

Blog post with transcript: https://preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/10/26/372-erik-winfree-on-dna-robots-and-computers/

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Erik Winfree received his Ph.D. in computation and neural science from the California Institute of Technology. He is currently Professor of Computer Science, Computation and Neural Systems, and Bioengineering at Caltech. Among his awards are the Tulip Prize in DNA Computing, the Feynman Prize for nanotechnology, the MacArthur Fellowship, and fellowship in the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

371 | Kyle Harper on How Humans Have Shaped Life on Earth Oct 19, 2026

Show notes

Humanity is merely one species out of millions living on Earth, but we have a disproportionate impact on the rest of the biosphere. Recent transformations have accelerated that impact, but in fact it stretches back to the earliest days in human history. In his new book The Last Animal: Human History and the Fate of Life on Earth from the Ice Age to the Sixth Extinction, historian Kyle Harper traces how humans have impacted the rest of the planet, from extinction events to much more subtle changes.

Blog post with transcript: https://preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/10/19/371-kyle-harper-on-how-humans-have-shaped-life-on-earth/

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Kyle Harper received a Ph.D. in history from Harvard University. He is currently the G.T. and Libby Blankenship Chair in the History of Liberty, Professor of Classics and Letters, Senior Advisor to the President, and Provost Emeritus at the University of Oklahoma, and an external faculty member at the Santa Fe Institute. Among his honors are the Award for Excellence in Historical Studies from the American Academy of Religion and the PROSE winner for best book in the history of science, technology, and medicine.

Ask Me Anything | October 2026 Oct 12, 2026

Show notes

Welcome to the October 2026 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 Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number -- based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the questions themselves are good -- and sometimes group them together if they are about a similar topic. Enjoy!

Blog post with show notes, AMA questions, and transcript: https://preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/10/12/ama-october-2026/

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370 | Daniel Akerib on a Faint Hint of Dark Matter Oct 03, 2026

Show notes

One reason it's been so hard to directly detect the dark matter is that we're not sure what it is. But for a long time, a leading candidate has been "Weakly Interacting Massive Particles" (WIMPs), so an impressive amount of experimental effort has been put into trying to detect them. Recently, a single provocative event appeared in the LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) dark matter experiment. Daniel Akerib, a physicist at LZ, joins us to talk about dark matter and the recent data, which has low statistical significance but is intriguing nevertheless.

Blog post with show notes and transcript: https://preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/10/05/370-daniel-akerib-on-a-faint-hint-of-dark-matter/

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Daniel Akerib received a Ph.D. in physics from Princeton University. He is currently Professor of Particle Physics and Astrophysics at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Professor of Physics, by courtesy, in the physics department at Stanford University. He has been searching for dark matter since the early 1990s, first with the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search and more recently with the LUX and LUX-ZEPLIN projects.

369 | Gregg Caruso on Living Well Without Free Will Sep 28, 2026

Show notes

The worry about debates over free will is that they degenerate into semantics -- what do you mean by "free will," really? But there are important substantive issues that shouldn't be ignored. Do people deserve blame for doing wrong things? Can we make choices that create meaning for our lives? Philosopher Gregg Caruso denies the reality of free will, but is in favor of making good choices, as he discusses in his new book How to Live Well Without Free Will.

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Blog post with transcript: https://preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/09/28/369-gregg-caruso-on-living-well-without-free-will/

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Gregg Caruso received a Ph.D. in Philosophy from the City University of New York. He is currently Professor of Applied Ethics and Management and Director of the Patrick J. Waide Center for Applied Ethics at Fairfield University, and Scientific Advisor, Center for Justice and Mental Well-Being, Nova Institute for Health. Among his awards are the Joseph B. Gittler Award from the American Philosophical Association.

368 | Elizabeth Alexander on Why Democracy Needs Imagination Sep 21, 2026

Show notes

In all sorts of ways, the modern world makes it difficult to nurture our individual humanity and connect with the humanity of others. The disciplines that try to do so are, naturally enough, the humanities. Poet Elizabeth Alexander's new book, Signals Across Vast Distances, grapples with the question of how literature and other humanistic studies can help us build empathy and become better people, and why that task is crucial to a flourishing democratic society.

Blog post with transcript: https://preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/09/21/368-elizabeth-alexander-on-why-democracy-needs-imagination/

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Elizabeth Alexander received a Ph.D. in English from the University of Pennsylvania. In addition to her work as a poet and writer, she is currently the President of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. She composed and read a poem for Barack Obama's inauguration in 2009. Among her honors are a Guggenheim Fellowship, a National Magazine Award, and several Pushcart Prizes for poetry.

Mindscape Ask Me Anything, Sean Carroll | September 2026 Sep 14, 2026

Show notes

Welcome to the September 2026 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 Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number -- based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the questions themselves are good -- and sometimes group them together if they are about a similar topic. Enjoy!

Blog post with show notes and transcript: https://preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/09/14/ama-september-2026/

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367 | Jared Diamond on the Course of History and the Role of leaders Sep 07, 2026

Show notes

The course of history is affected by many things, including the political and social situations of large groups of people, their biological and physical abilities, and their geographical and environmental contexts. Sometimes, it would seem, history -- or corporations, or religions, or sports teams -- can be affected by the actions of just a few influential persons. In his new book, Profits, Prophets, Coaches, and Kings, Jared Diamond asks what effect leaders can have, and what it is that makes them successful (or not).

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Blog post with transcript: https://preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/09/07/367-jared-diamond-on-the-course-of-history-and-the-role-of-leaders/

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Jared Diamond received a Ph.D. in physiology from the University of Cambridge. He is currently a professor of geography at the University of California, Los Angeles. Among his awards are the U.S. National Medal of Science, the MacArthur Fellowship, and the Pulitzer Prize. His international bestseller Guns, Germs, and Steel has sold over seven million copies.

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