Podcast Episodes

Ep85 rebroadcast - "What is a Thought?"

Brains bear thoughts like a peach tree bears peaches. Even for meditators it's almost impossible to stop the firehose of words and images and ideas. But what in the world is a thought, physically? Ho…

Published on 4 months, 2 weeks ago

Ep109 "Are you one mind or many drives?" with Jordan Peterson

Episode 109

Is your brain a one-person show or an ensemble cast of rivaling neural networks? How do we manage the conflict between different drives, and what does this have to do with literature, deities, matura…

Published on 4 months, 3 weeks ago

Ep108 "Can brains increase their happiness?" (with Bruce Hood)

Episode 108

Is it possible to become happier? How much of your happiness has to do with genetics, social connection, comparison to other people, your balance of optimism vs pessimism, and whether it would be use…

Published on 5 months ago

Ep107 "Why do brains love stories?" (with Joshua Landy)

Episode 107

How do brains slip so easily from the real world into made up worlds? What do authors of great literature have in common with stage magicians and comedians? What does any of this have to do with cogn…

Published on 5 months, 1 week ago

Ep106 "What happens when brains watch movies?" (with Jeffrey Zacks)

Episode 106

Why do movies work so well? What does film reveal about the way the brain processes reality? What does any of this have to do with omniscience, simulation, jumping around in time, or why dogs don’t d…

Published on 5 months, 2 weeks ago

Ep105 "What if AI is not actually intelligent?" (with Alison Gopnik)

Episode 105

Is AI an intelligent agent, or is there a different way we should be thinking about it? Is it more like a piece of cultural technology? What in the world is a piece of cultural technology -- and how …

Published on 5 months, 3 weeks ago

Ep104 "What is your internal world really like?" (with Russell Hurlburt)

Episode 104

If you had to give a detailed description of what flits through your mind, how good would you be at it? Might you be surprised at how many of your thoughts don't involve language? Are your thoughts c…

Published on 5 months, 4 weeks ago

Ep103 "Could you ever know what it’s like to be someone else?" (Part 2)

Episode 103

What would it take to get inside someone else's head, and could new brain technologies ever help us get there? Will there be dream celebrities, in which uploads go viral? What does consciousness feel…

Published on 6 months ago

Ep102 "Could you ever know what it’s like to be someone else?" (Part 1)

Episode 102

What does it mean to stand in another’s shoes—and when are the gaps between us too wide to cross? This week, Eagleman explores bats, kicked robots, Helen Keller, empathy, storytelling, and the phrase…

Published on 6 months, 1 week ago

Ep101 "Why do people walk away from bad events with different outcomes?"

Episode 104

What enables some people to keep going when everything falls apart? We all know someone who’s been through hell and comes out standing. This episode is about resilience. Join Eagleman with guest Dr. …

Published on 6 months, 2 weeks ago