Ever wanted to know how music affects your brain, what quantum mechanics really is, or how black holes work? Do you wonder why you get emotional each time you see a certain movie, or how on earth video games are designed? Then you've come to the right place. Each week, Sean Carroll will host conversations with some of the most interesting thinkers in the world. From neuroscientists and engineers to authors and television producers, Sean and his guests talk about the biggest ideas in science, philosophy, culture and much more.
412 episodes transcribedThe challenge to a theoretical physicist pushing beyond our best current theories is that there are too many ways to go. What parts of the existing pa...
Democracy posits the radical idea that political power and legitimacy should ultimately be found in all of the people, rather than a small group of ex...
For as much as people talk about food, a good case can be made that we don't give it the attention or respect it actually deserves. Food is central to...
Welcome to the May 2021 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded by Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking...
"A way that math can make the world a better place is by making it a more interesting place to be a conscious being." So says mathematician Emily Rieh...
The world has gone through a tough time with the COVID-19 pandemic. Every catastrophic event is unique, but there are certain commonalities to how suc...
I've been a professional physicist since the 1980's, and not once over the course of my career has a particle-physics experiment produced a completely...
Mom, apple pie, and rationality — all things that are unquestionably good, right? But rationality, as much as we might value it, is easier to aspire t...
Welcome to the April 2021 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded by Patreon supporters (who are also the ones askin...
Telling a story seems like the most natural, human thing in the world. We all do it, all the time. And who amongst us doesn't think we could be a fair...
In a world flooded with information, everybody necessarily makes choices about what we pay attention to. This basic fact can be manipulated in any num...
"Time" and "the brain" are two of those things that are somewhat mysterious, but it would be hard for us to live without. So just imagine how much fun...
Imagine two people with exactly the same innate abilities, but one is born into a wealthy family and the other is born into poverty. Or two people bor...
You might think that human beings, exhausted by competing for resources and rewards in the real world, would take it easy and stick to cooperation in...
Welcome to the March 2021 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These are funded by Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). W...
On a spectrum of philosophical topics, one might be tempted to put mathematics and morality on opposite ends. Math is one of the most pristine and rig...
The internet has made it so much easier for people to talk to each other, in a literal sense. But it hasn't necessarily made it easier to have rewardi...
In our postmodern world, studying the classics of ancient Greece and Rome can seem quaint at best, downright repressive at worst. (We are talking abou...
Welcome to the February 2021 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These are funded by Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions)...
A common argument against free will is that human behavior is not freely chosen, but rather determined by a number of factors. So what are those facto...
