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

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

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.

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.

 

#411

342 | Rachell Powell on Evolutionary Convergence, Morality, and Mind

Evolution with natural selection involves an intricate mix of the random and the driven. M... more

Yesterday

1 HR 37 MINS

1:37:14

Yesterday


#410

341 | Stewart Brand on Maintenance as an Organizing Principle

"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold," wrote W.B. Yeats. I don't know about the cent... more

19 Jan 2026

1 HR 12 MINS

1:12:40

19 Jan 2026


#409

340 | Rebecca Newberger Goldstein on What Matters and Why It Matters

At any given moment, an uncountable number of events are happening, but only some of them ... more

12 Jan 2026

1 HR 18 MINS

1:18:16

12 Jan 2026


#408

339 | Ned Block on Whether Consciousness Requires Biology

It's become increasingly clear that the Turing Test -- determining whether human interlocu... more

05 Jan 2026

1 HR 11 MINS

1:11:01

05 Jan 2026


#407

Holiday Message 2025 | The Romance of the University

Time for the holiday message! Rounding off the year with a brief and casual reflection on ... more

22 Dec 2025

42 MINS

42:50

22 Dec 2025


#406

AMA | December 2025

Welcome to the December 2025 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursion... more

15 Dec 2025

3 HR 36 MINS

3:36:43

15 Dec 2025


#405

338 | Ryan Patterson on the Physics of Neutrinos

The story goes that Wolfgang Pauli, who first proposed the existence of neutrinos, was emb... more

08 Dec 2025

1 HR 26 MINS

1:26:21

08 Dec 2025


#404

337 | Kevin Zollman on Game Theory, Signals, and Meaning

Game theory is a way of quantitatively describing what happens any time one thing interact... more

01 Dec 2025

1 HR 17 MINS

1:17:37

01 Dec 2025


#403

336 | Anil Ananthaswamy on the Mathematics of Neural Nets and AI

Machine learning using neural networks has led to a remarkable leap forward in artificial ... more

24 Nov 2025

1 HR 14 MINS

1:14:11

24 Nov 2025


#402

AMA | November 2025

Welcome to the November 2025 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursion... more

17 Nov 2025

3 HR 34 MINS

3:34:18

17 Nov 2025


#401

335 | Andrew Jaffe on Models, Probability, and the Universe

Science has an incredibly impressive track record of uncovering nonintuitive ideas about t... more

10 Nov 2025

1 HR 17 MINS

1:17:38

10 Nov 2025