Best Sean Carroll Wondery Podcasts (2024)

1
280 | François Chollet on Deep Learning and the Meaning of Intelligence 1:41:49

1h ago1:41:49

1:41:49

Which is more intelligent, ChatGPT or a 3-year old? Of course this depends on what we mean by "intelligence." A modern LLM is certainly able to answer all sorts of questions that require knowledge far past the capacity of a 3-year old, and even to perform synthetic tasks that seem remarkable to many human grown-ups. But is that really intelligence?…

1
279 | Ellen Langer on Mindfulness and the Body 1:11:51

7d ago1:11:51

1:11:51

For those of us who are not dualists, the mind arises from our physical bodies -- mostly the brain, but the rest of the body has a role to play. And yet it remains tempting to treat the mind as a thing in itself, disconnected from how the body is doing. Ellen Langer is a psychologist who is one of the foremost researchers on the idea of mindfulness…

1
Listen Now: Wow in the World's Summer of Wow! 6:15

13d ago6:15

6:15

Wow in the World is the #1 science podcast for kids and their grown-ups. Hosts Mindy Thomas and Guy Raz share stories about the latest news in science, technology, and innovation. Stories that give kids hope, agency and make us all say "WOW"! New episodes come out every Monday. Listen to Wow in the World: http://wondery.fm/wowintheworld. See Privac…

1
278 | Kieran Healy on the Technology of Ranking People 1:15:56

14d ago1:15:56

1:15:56

We claim to love all of our children, friends, and students equally. But perhaps deep down you assign a ranking to them, from favorite to not-so-favorite. Ranking and quantifying people is an irresistible human tendency, and modern technology has made it ubiquitous. In this episode I talk with sociologist Kieran Healy, who has co-authored (with Mar…

1
AMA | June 2024 3:58:45

17d ago3:58:45

3:58:45

Welcome to the June 2024 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 questio…

1
277 | Cumrun Vafa on the Universe According to String Theory 1:22:25

28d ago1:22:25

1:22:25

String theory, the current leading candidate for a theory of quantum gravity as well as other particles and forces, doesn't connect directly to the world we see. It's possible that there is a large landscape of possible states of theory, with the hope that one of them represents our universe. The existence of a landscape implies the existence of a …

1
276 | Gavin Schmidt on Measuring, Predicting, and Protecting Our Climate 1:19:48

1M ago1:19:48

1:19:48

The Earth's climate keeps changing, largely due to the effects of human activity, and we haven't been doing enough to slow things down. Indeed, over the past year, global temperatures have been higher than ever, and higher than most climate models have predicted. Many of you have probably seen plots like this. Today's guest, Gavin Schmidt, has been…

1
275 | Solo: Quantum Fields, Particles, Forces, and Symmetries 2:12:27

1M ago2:12:27

2:12:27

Publication week! Say hello to Quanta and Fields, the second volume of the planned three-volume series The Biggest Ideas in the Universe. This volume covers quantum physics generally, but focuses especially on the wonders of quantum field theory. To celebrate, this solo podcast talks about some of the big ideas that make QFT so compelling: how quan…

1
AMA | May 2024 3:35:08

2M ago3:35:08

3:35:08

Welcome to the May 2024 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 question…

1
274 | Gizem Gumuskaya on Building Robots from Human Cells 1:10:09

2M ago1:10:09

1:10:09

Modern biology is advancing by leaps and bounds, not only in understanding how organisms work, but in learning how to modify them in interesting ways. One exciting frontier is the study of tiny "robots" created from living molecules and cells, rather than metal and plastic. Gizem Gumuskaya, who works with previous guest Michael Levin, has created a…

1
273 | Stefanos Geroulanos on the Invention of Prehistory 1:19:24

2M ago1:19:24

1:19:24

Humanity itself might be the hardest thing for scientists to study fairly and accurately. Not only do we come to the subject with certain inevitable preconceptions, but it's hard to resist the temptation to find scientific justifications for the stories we'd like to tell about ourselves. In his new book, The Invention of Prehistory, Stefanos Geroul…

1
272 | Leslie Valiant on Learning and Educability in Computers and People 1:08:17

2M ago1:08:17

1:08:17

Science is enabled by the fact that the natural world exhibits predictability and regularity, at least to some extent. Scientists collect data about what happens in the world, then try to suggest "laws" that capture many phenomena in simple rules. A small irony is that, while we are looking for nice compact rules, there aren't really nice compact r…

1
AMA | April 2024 3:14:00

3M ago3:14:00

3:14:00

Welcome to the April 2024 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 questi…

Podcasts Worth a Listen

Sean Carroll Wondery Podcasts

Podcasts Worth a Listen

1
Sean Carroll's Mindscape: Science, Society, Philosophy, Culture, Arts, and Ideas

Sean Carroll | Wondery

1
280 | François Chollet on Deep Learning and the Meaning of Intelligence 1:41:49

1
279 | Ellen Langer on Mindfulness and the Body 1:11:51

1
Listen Now: Wow in the World's Summer of Wow! 6:15

1
278 | Kieran Healy on the Technology of Ranking People 1:15:56

1
AMA | June 2024 3:58:45

1
277 | Cumrun Vafa on the Universe According to String Theory 1:22:25

1
276 | Gavin Schmidt on Measuring, Predicting, and Protecting Our Climate 1:19:48

1
275 | Solo: Quantum Fields, Particles, Forces, and Symmetries 2:12:27

1
AMA | May 2024 3:35:08

1
274 | Gizem Gumuskaya on Building Robots from Human Cells 1:10:09

1
273 | Stefanos Geroulanos on the Invention of Prehistory 1:19:24

1
272 | Leslie Valiant on Learning and Educability in Computers and People 1:08:17

1
AMA | April 2024 3:14:00

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