Is your personality written into the circuitry of your brain? With brain disease, can someone lose who they are without realizing it? What happens when the person changing is the only one who can't see it? What does it mean to love someone whose personality has become unrecognizable? If you carried a genetic mutation that would alter your brain in the near future, would you want to know? Join Eagleman with bestselling author Robert Kolker to discuss these questions in the context of his new book about frontotemporal dementia, The Vanishing Family.

Is your personality written into the circuitry of your brain? With brain disease, can someone lose who they are without realizing it? What happens when the person changing is the only one who can't see it? What does it mean to love someone whose personality has become unrecognizable? If you carried a genetic mutation that would alter your brain in the near future, would you want to know? Join Eagleman with bestselling author Robert Kolker to discuss these questions in the context of his new book about frontotemporal dementia, The Vanishing Family.

Ep175 Who Are You When Your Brain Changes? with Robert Kolker

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/6fc9fd86-2dfd-4b52-928c-b4e7018ab05e/transcript

How do you get trillions of cells to collaborate as the single organism that we call you? Does that kind of cooperation create opportunities for hijacking -- for example, is cancer a form of "cellular cheating"? Can we take the lessons learned from biology and apply them to understanding politics? And what do models of cooperation tell us about building and living with AI? Join Eagleman with evolutionary biologist and cooperation theorist Athena Aktipis to understand cooperation and competition from cells to societies to our technological future.

How do you get trillions of cells to collaborate as the single organism that we call you? Does that kind of cooperation create opportunities for hijacking -- for example, is cancer a form of "cellular cheating"?&nbsp;Can we take the lessons learned from biology and apply them to understanding politics? And what do models of cooperation tell us about building and living with AI? Join Eagleman&nbsp;with evolutionary biologist and cooperation theorist Athena Aktipis to understand cooperation and competition from cells to societies to our technological future.

Ep174 "Can Evolution Teach AI?" with Athena Aktipis

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/9d90fd4f-3dab-4e33-8180-b4e10058e1af/transcript

This week we reach into the archive for one of the most popular episodes of Inner Cosmos.

Why do brains dream, and why are dreams so bizarre? Why doesn't your clock work in your dreams? And even though you spend much of your working day looking at your cell phone and computer – why do they almost never make appearances in your dream content? Is dream content the same across cultures and across time? Are dreams experienced in black & white, or in color? Are dreams the strange love child of brain plasticity and the rotation of the planet? What is the relationship between schizophrenia and dreaming? In the future, will we be able to read out the content of somebody's dream? Join Eagleman this week to learn why and how we spend a fraction of our sleep time locked in different realities, swimming in plots which aren't real but which compel us entirely nonetheless.

This week we reach into the archive for one of the most popular episodes of Inner Cosmos.
Why do brains dream, and why are dreams so bizarre? Why doesn't your clock work in your dreams? And even though you spend much of your working day looking at your cell phone and computer &ndash; why do they almost never make appearances in your dream content? Is dream content the same across cultures and across time? Are dreams experienced in black &amp; white, or in color? Are dreams the strange love child of brain plasticity and the rotation of the planet? What is the relationship between schizophrenia and dreaming? In the future, will we be able to read out the content of somebody's dream? Join Eagleman this week to learn why and how we spend a fraction of our sleep time locked in different realities, swimming in plots which aren't real but which compel us entirely nonetheless.

Re-Release  "Why Do Brains Dream"

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/13361241-d471-42da-9eb4-b4da0043718d/transcript

What's a feeling for? What is jealousy measuring and motivating? Why do both awe and grief slow us down? What happens when ancient emotions meet dating apps and like buttons? Does the intensity of a feeling decide which part of you takes control? Can understanding an emotion loosen its grip? Today we sit down with evolutionary psychologist Robert Kurzban to understand the logic behind the our varied panoply of emotions.

What's a feeling for? What is jealousy measuring and motivating? Why do both awe and grief slow us down? What happens when ancient emotions meet dating apps and like buttons? Does&nbsp;the intensity of a feeling decide which part of you takes control? Can understanding an emotion loosen its grip? Today we sit down with evolutionary psychologist Robert Kurzban to understand the logic behind the our varied panoply of emotions.

Ep173 "Why Do We Have Emotions?" with Robert Kurzban

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/b643ed62-1805-4e48-a662-b4d2014797c6/transcript

Can your smartwatch detect subtle changes before you feel them? Might a continuous glucose monitor pick up on things you didn’t know about yourself? Could a drop of blood map your future health? Why does your personal baseline matter more than a population average? Could AI decode the massive signaling networks of your body? Does seeing your own data change your behavior? Join Eagleman with Michael Snyder, Stanford professor of genetics and a pioneer in massive personal data, to understand what happens when healthcare moves from a snapshot of your body to a movie.

Can your smartwatch detect subtle changes before you feel them? Might a continuous glucose monitor pick up on things you didn&rsquo;t know about yourself? Could a drop of blood map your future health? Why does your personal baseline matter more than a population average? Could AI decode the massive signaling networks of your body? Does seeing your own data change your behavior? Join Eagleman with&nbsp;Michael Snyder, Stanford professor of genetics and a pioneer in massive personal data, to understand what happens when healthcare moves from a snapshot of your body to a movie.

Ep172 "Can You Quantify Yourself to Improve Health?" with Michael Snyder

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/7422b952-e10a-42a4-9a7d-b4cb005823bb/transcript

Why do two people facing the same choice feel different urges? How much effort hides behind resisting a cookie? Why can the brain keep wanting something long after pleasure fades? Can a molecule crank down the volume of your internal radio? Does a biological understanding of behavior reduce responsibility, or does it deepen compassion? And how would your life change if your loudest urge went quiet? Today Eagleman examines free will through the lens of eating disorders, with guest Paige Gordon, an author and former model who spent decades suffering an invisible internal battle.

Why do two people facing the same choice feel different urges? How much effort hides behind resisting a cookie? Why can the brain keep wanting something long after pleasure fades? Can a molecule crank down the volume of your internal radio? Does a biological understanding of behavior reduce responsibility, or does it deepen compassion? And how would your life change if your loudest urge went quiet? Today Eagleman examines free will through the lens of eating disorders, with guest Paige Gordon, an author and former model who spent decades suffering an invisible internal battle.

Ep171 "Why Do Some Urges Feel Irresistible?" with Paige Gordon

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/2dbfc3ab-8c45-45df-a4e1-b4c20075b503/transcript

What happens when we start birthing babies on Mars? Might a Martian human become unable to survive on Earth because of differences in microbes and gravity? How much of your body is shaped by the details of this planet? Will radiation accelerate human evolution on Mars? Could living on Mars eventually create a new species of human? Could Mars change the way humans dream? Would a Martian child find Earth's oceans as strange and awe-inspiring as we find another planet? Could two branches of humanity become too different to recognize each other? Today we’re joined by Scott Solomon, evolutionary biologist and author of the book “Becoming Martian: How Living in Space Will Change Our Bodies and Minds”.

What happens when we start birthing babies on Mars? Might a Martian human become unable to survive on Earth because of differences in microbes and gravity? How much of your body is shaped by the details of this planet? Will radiation accelerate human evolution on Mars? Could living on Mars eventually create a new species of human? Could Mars change the way humans dream? Would a Martian child find Earth's oceans as strange and awe-inspiring as we find another planet? Could two branches of humanity become too different to recognize each other? Today we&rsquo;re joined by Scott Solomon, evolutionary biologist and author of the book &ldquo;Becoming Martian: How Living in Space Will Change Our Bodies and Minds&rdquo;.

Ep 170 "Will Mars Create a New Species of Human?" with Scott Solomon

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/c8c190b9-85ca-4312-9ebe-b4bd004c6144/transcript

Is AI thinking things it never says aloud? How would we know if a large language model were having a subjective experience? Is there a way to read the 'thoughts' of an LLM? Human brains seem to have a 'global workspace' -- what would it mean if we discovered that AI has something similar? Can you reach inside an LLM to change one of its 'thoughts'? Join Eagleman with Anthropic interpretability researcher Jack Lindsey to talk about what might be going on inside the mind of Claude.

Is AI thinking things it never says aloud?&nbsp;How would we know if a large language model were having a subjective experience? Is there a way to read the 'thoughts' of an LLM? Human brains seem to have a 'global workspace' -- what would it mean if we discovered that AI has something similar? Can you reach inside an LLM to change one of its 'thoughts'? Join Eagleman with Anthropic interpretability researcher Jack Lindsey to talk about what might be going on inside the mind of Claude.

Ep169 "What Is Claude Thinking But Not Saying?" with Jack Lindsey

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/7160067b-84ee-4bdd-97de-b4b60161761c/transcript

Could there be a better form of government than the one we have now? As we enter an AI-powered world, when might we choose an AI leader? Will your grandchildren ever vote for a human president, who comes with a political party & the weaknesses of a human, or will they vote for a system that has a jaw-dropping capacity to extract patterns from vast rivers of data, simulate millions of possible futures, & govern with a deeper wisdom than a human could naturally possess? Will we all have personal AI agents that know our strongest political opinions, such that we finally achieve (for the first time at scale) a direct democracy rather than a representative one? Join Eagleman as he explores the future of an AI leader (pros & cons) and where he thinks we’re inevitably heading.

Could there be a better form of government than the one we have now? As we enter an AI-powered world, when might we choose an AI leader? Will your grandchildren ever vote for a human president, who comes with a political party &amp; the weaknesses of a human, or will they vote for a system that has a jaw-dropping capacity to extract patterns from vast rivers of data, simulate millions of possible futures, &amp; govern with a deeper wisdom than a human could naturally possess? Will we all have personal AI agents that know our strongest political opinions, such that we finally achieve (for the first time at scale) a direct democracy rather than a representative one? Join Eagleman as he explores the future of an AI leader (pros &amp; cons) and where he thinks we&rsquo;re inevitably heading.

Ep168 "Will it Someday Make Sense to Elect an AI President?"

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/0560da79-94ec-4680-9148-b4b000146f4a/transcript

What happens when old brain circuitry collides with modern tech? Are we heading into an age of abundance, and can abundance create its own psychological problems? Do we need friction in our lives to become better humans? Could curiosity become the most important survival skill of the twenty-first century? What happens to your biological neural networks when artificial neural networks do your thinking for you? Eagleman sits down with author and researcher Steven Kotler to discuss his new book, We Are As Gods.

What happens when old brain circuitry collides with modern tech? Are we heading into an age of abundance, and can abundance create its own psychological problems? Do we need friction in our lives to become better humans? Could curiosity become the most important survival skill of the twenty-first century? What happens to your biological neural networks when artificial neural networks do your thinking for you? Eagleman sits down with author and researcher Steven Kotler to discuss his new book,&nbsp;We Are As Gods.

Ep167 "What Happens With Stone Age Brains + Godlike Tools?" with Steven Kotler

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/0402956b-fad7-4d73-a0ba-b4a9004fa5b2/transcript

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.

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.

Inner Cosmos with David Eagleman

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