Podcast Episodes
Back to SearchThe Original Alien Craze: When People Believed in Martians
Episode 571
At the turn of the 20th century, millions of Americans, including elite scientists, major newspapers, and cultural icons, were convinced that Mars wa…
8 months, 1 week ago
How AI Sees Science Differently Than We Do
Episode 570
What if the great discoveries of science came in the "wrong" order? The Laws of Thermodynamics were discovered well after the creation of algebra, cl…
8 months, 2 weeks ago
Can You Spot a Killer? The Dangerous Fantasy of Criminal Profiling
Episode 569
Criminal profiling promises certainty in the face of horror: this is what a killer looks like, this is how they think, this is how we stop them. But …
8 months, 2 weeks ago
Why Wars Last Longer Than Experts Predict
Episode 568
For nearly two centuries, international relations have been premised on the idea of the "Great Powers." As the thinking went, these mighty states—the…
8 months, 3 weeks ago
The Emergent Mind: From Ant Colonies to Human Thought to Artificial Intelligence
Episode 567
In this episode of The Michael Shermer Show, Michael sits down with two giants of mind and machine science: Jay McClelland, one of the founders of mo…
8 months, 3 weeks ago
Are We Meant to Leave Earth? Why Humanity May Have No Choice but to Go to Space
Episode 566
Astrobiologist Caleb Scharf joins Michael Shermer for a wide-ranging conversation about the past, present, and future of our relationship with space.…
9 months ago
Cosmology, Creation, and the Evidence for God
Episode 565
In this episode, Michel-Yves Bolloré lays out his case for why modern cosmology, fine-tuning, and the limits of materialism point toward a creator. D…
9 months ago
Why Eastbound Flights Are Faster, and Other Strange Things About Wind (Simon Winchester)
Episode 564
Have you ever thought about the science and history of … wind?
In this episode, Simon Winchester explains why eastbound flights are usually faster th…
9 months, 1 week ago
Logic, Creativity, and the Limits of AI: How Humans Think in Ways Machines Never Will
Episode 563
In this episode, Angus Fletcher explains why the human brain doesn't work like a computer and why our deepest strengths come not from logic or data p…
9 months, 2 weeks ago
The Psychology of War: Could YOU Make a Moral Choice in Wartime?
Episode 562
War begins in the human mind long before it unfolds on the battlefield.
In this episode, Michael Shermer sits down with Nicholas Wright, a neurologis…
9 months, 2 weeks ago