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PODCAST

Inner Cosmos with David Eagleman

Neuroscientist and author David Eagleman discusses how our brain interprets the world and what that means for us. Through storytelling, research, interviews, and experiments, David Eagleman tackles wild questions that illuminate new facets of our lives and our realities.

science mental health

All Episodes

43:48

Ep129 "Is utopia possible or do human brains preclude...

Inner Cosmos with David Eagleman ·

2025/11/10

Would a utopia be possible? Or does our innate tribalism and jealousy make perfect societies difficult to achieve? Do we secretly love hierarchies? Why are primate brains such excellent detectors of unfairness? Why do things become more desirable when we’re told we can’t have them? Did the church’s disavowal of first-cousin marriage lead to better politics? This week Eagleman talks with psychologist Paul Bloom about the (im)possibility of achieving societal utopias.

en-US

63:22

Ep128 "Would space aliens see the world as we do?"...

Inner Cosmos with David Eagleman ·

2025/11/03

Imagine we eventually meet some alien scientists. If they can see electrons or smell photons, would their science look like ours? Is physics a universal language, or just a local dialect of the human brain? Would aliens use math, or might their truths be organized unrecognizably? Are the “laws of nature” really laws, or simply our interpretations? Join Eagleman withparticle physicist Daniel Whiteson, author of the new book “Do Aliens Speak Physics?”

en-US

60:04

EP127 "What happens when we marry brains to...

Inner Cosmos with David Eagleman ·

2025/10/27

What is a brain-computer interface? How can a paralyzed person use her brain to control a robotic arm? How can someone who's lost the gift of speech use brain signals to broadcast his voice again? Can we eventually restore autonomy and dignity so seamlessly that the technology disappears and the person reappears? Where are the ethical boundaries between restoring function and spying on private thought?Who owns the stream of neural data that represents you? Join this week with guest neuroscientist

en-US

35:39

Ep126 "Does science fiction shape reality?" with...

Inner Cosmos with David Eagleman ·

2025/10/20

How is sci-fi like a cultural research and development lab? Will we someday have AI agents that live in robot bodies, and will we be liable if they commit murder? What happens when reality is no longer verifiable? How can we create AI advocates that guide us toward self-actualization over distraction? What is a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer? This week we talk with researcher Bethany Maples about science fiction and how it might prepare us to wrestle with the deepest questions about AI, identity,

en-US

54:54

Ep125 "Why do brains need friends?" (with Ben Rein)

Inner Cosmos with David Eagleman ·

2025/10/13

Why do human brains need social interaction? Why might AI chatbots be insufficient to scratch the itch? What do we love so much about real human touch and in-person interaction? Why doso many of us live with dogs? From empathy to introversion to social media to isolation (and what to do about it), we’ve got it all this week with guest Ben Rein, author of the new book Why Brains Need Friends.

en-US

41:34

Ep124 "Why don't we notice gaps in time?"

Inner Cosmos with David Eagleman ·

2025/10/06

How is your consciousness like a flame that continually goes out and gets re-lit? Why can you see other people's eyes move, but you can't see your own eyes move in the mirror? And what does any of this have to do with deep sleep, anesthesia, comas, amnesia, and empires of soft-bodied creatures that came before us? Tune in this week for some science that will shift your view of reality.

en-US

40:48

Ep123 "Will AI cure loneliness?" with Paul Bloom

Inner Cosmos with David Eagleman ·

2025/09/29

On the one hand, AI companions are (increasingly) amazing at rectifying isolation. But on the other hand, loneliness is a biological signal that pushes us towardimproving ourselves socially. So what's the right balance here? And does everyone have the same need to cure loneliness? In other words, might AI relationships mess up our young evenwhile providing a critical lifeline to our seniors? Join this week as we dive deep with psychologist Paul Bloom.

en-US

44:01

Ep122 "Why do we so rarely say what we mean?" (with...

Inner Cosmos with David Eagleman ·

2025/09/22

Why do people on a date speak in innuendo? Why do dictators squelch protests? Why do humans stand apart from the rest of the animal kingdom by blushing, laughing, and crying? And what does any of this have to do with bullies, George Costanza, or cancel culture? Join this week with cognitive scientistSteven Pinker as we discuss his new book oncommon knowledge:“When Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows”.

en-US

41:35

Ep121 "What’s the secret to intelligence (in brains...

Inner Cosmos with David Eagleman ·

2025/09/15

Is AI going to go the same way as computing: from colossal LLMs owned by a few companiesto billions of networked AI agents? How does that parallel one of thegreat underappreciated secrets of the human brain? Join this week with guest MIT Media Lab professor (and AI-decentralizer) Ramesh Raskar.

en-US

33:37

Ep120 "Will AI build us into better humans?"

Inner Cosmos with David Eagleman ·

2025/09/08

Will AI end up building us into stronger, more talented humans? What might this have to do with linguistics, the movie Arrival, self-driving cars, debate, video games, elections, chess, and the ancient game of Go? Are we going to be taken over, or instead exposed to ideas and concepts that stretch the boundaries of our thinking? Join this week to see how AI might just up the human game.

en-US

36:55

Ep119 "Why do brains believe in the unbelievable?"...

Inner Cosmos with David Eagleman ·

2025/09/01

Why are brains superstitious? Would you wear a nice sweater that belonged to a murderer? What does this have to do with lucky socks, ghosts, our interpretation of coincidences, why kids often need their special blankets, and what any of this has to do with the brain? Join this week with guest Bruce Hood to learn why it's so natural for brains to take incomplete data and infer causes.

en-US

59:15

Ep118 "Why has the brain always been our hardest...

Inner Cosmos with David Eagleman ·

2025/08/25

Howhave humans through the ages tried to crack the mysteries of the brain, and why are our theories always yoked to the most recent technologies? What does the history of brain science have to do with bumps on the skull, electricity, Frankenstein, animatronics, telegraphs, telephone exchanges, computers, and LLMs? What's the next metaphor we'll use to try to capture the brain’s magic? Join this week with guest Matthew Cobb.

en-US

60:23

Ep117 "What does brain science have to do with free...

Inner Cosmos with David Eagleman ·

2025/08/18

Most peopleclaimto be in favor of free speech, but they often mean speech from their own side (and not whatever those crazy people on the other side want to say). But from the point of view of the brain, why does free speech need to be rigorously defended? What does this have to do with internal models, printing presses, college campuses, John Stuart Mill, online indecency, cultures of honor, Robinson Crusoe, cancel culture, the importance of literature, and why free speech makes everyone safer?

en-US

37:58

Ep116 " What is Color? Part 2: Why royals wear purple"

Inner Cosmos with David Eagleman ·

2025/08/11

Are there new colors you could see? And why are they impossible to imagine before you've seen them?Can you lose your color vision? And what does any of this have to do with linguisticcolor terms, why the military likes colorblind people for a particular task, and why Eagleman suggests that the cultural history of Thailand was influenced by one single, unknown neurodivergent?

en-US

37:36

Ep115 "What is color? Part 1: Why hunters wear orange"

Inner Cosmos with David Eagleman ·

2025/08/04

Why do birds and bees choose different flowers? Why do mammals' eyes seem to be optimized formoving around at night, and what does that have to do with hairless humans getting angry? What does any of this have to do with road signs, camouflage, mantis shrimp, the sun, the dress that broke the internet, and women who can see more colors than you can?

en-US

36:19

Ep114 "Would you eat a self burger?"

Inner Cosmos with David Eagleman ·

2025/07/28

Would you eat a burger grown from a human muscle cell? Would you rather use your own cell or someone else's? What does the future of lab-grown meat illuminate about neuroscience, our calculations of morality, and whether your grandchildren will have a different answer? What does any of this have to do with endangered species, the sacred versus the profane, brain plasticity, moral positioning, social belonging, stepping on the boundary between mental categories, flesh copyrights, and the future of

en-US

57:19

Ep113 "What's special about inventors?" (with Pablos...

Inner Cosmos with David Eagleman ·

2025/07/21

Why do some people jump into entirely new categories of possibility? And what does this have to do with self-driving ships, solar panels in space, shooting mosquitoes with lasers, skateboarding tricks, silent drones, and our future as a species? Join Eagleman with guestPablos Holman, a venture capitalist, author, and connoisseur of invention.

en-US

42:44

Ep112 "How is computer code like magic?" (with Sam...

Inner Cosmos with David Eagleman ·

2025/07/14

What is code, and can it be thought of like a magic spell? Are we building a world so complex that we will lose the ability to understand its operations -- and has that already happened? What does any of this have to do with SimCity, or knowledge that already exists but no one has put together, or how coding will evolve in the near future? Join Eagleman with scientist Sam Arbesman, who has just written a book asking the question: what is code, really?

en-US

51:33

Ep111 "Might we be surrounded with undetected minds?"...

Inner Cosmos with David Eagleman ·

2025/07/07

What is intelligence? If we look hard, can we find it in unexpected places: not just in brains but in all kinds of structures? How should we recognize it? And what does any of this have to do with a bipedal dog born without front legs, or making small new organisms out of single cells, or how Wikipedia might be like an axolotl, or why we are so blind to the vast variety of minds that might surround us? Join Eagleman with guest Michael Levin, professor at Tufts, about how we might discover

en-US

47:42

Ep110 "Is consciousness related to quantum physics?"...

Inner Cosmos with David Eagleman ·

2025/06/30

Can we explain consciousness as emerging from classical neuroscience, or do we require deeper principles? Could quantum physics have something to do withit? Is it possible that consciousness predates biology, and biology evolved to take advantage of it? What are the right ways to build new theories in neuroscience when we don’t know the answers? Join Eagleman with Nobel laureate Roger Penrose and anesthesiologist Stuart Hameroff to explore the controversial idea that there could be, even

en-US

141 results

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