Curious Apes

Today I’m joined by Professor of Biology at Tufts University, Michael Levin. On the surface, Michael studies information processing inside biology, technology, and a combination of both, often with the goal of addressing health issues such as aging and cancer. But on a deeper level, Michael is a researcher whose name I hear whispered with a sort of reverence amongst the truly nerdy. And this seems...

On this episode we're joined by British neurologist Adam Zeman. Adam is most known for his pioneering work that led to the development and on-going refinement of the condition known as aphantasia–the inability to visualize inside our minds eye.  In this conversation with Adam, we explore what we know about this condition. How common is it? What evidence in the brain tells us this is a real phe...

On this episode, I’m joined by Nick Enfield, a linguistic anthropologist at the University of Sydney. We discuss Nick’s journey into the field of linguistic anthropology, the significance of multilingualism, how language affects our cognition, and how language serves as a tool for social coordination. We particularly focus on an idea that’s at the heart of Nick’s 2022 publication, Language vs. Rea...

Today I’m joined by professor of psychology at the University of Minnesota, Colin DeYoung. Amongst his varied interests, Colin is perhaps most well known for his pioneering work in the field of personality neuroscience, having developed what is known as the Cybernetic Big Five Theory of personality.  For those who may not be familiar, the Big 5 personality construct is typically considered the mos...

For this episode, I’m joined by Princeton professor of psychology and neuroscience, Michael Graziano. The particular goal of this conversation was an exploration of Michael’s theory of consciousness, known as the Attention Schema Theory. This is Michael’s attempt to do away with what he sees as more magical explanations of consciousness by grounding consciousness in the information that our brain...

Today I’m joined by writer, poet, farmer, and religious scholar, Brendan Graham Dempsey. In this episode, we go over the ideas covered in Brendan’s newest publication, A Universal Learning Process, which is part of his largest series entitled The Evolution of Meaning. This conversation is ultimately an exploration of the field known as complexity science and what it can tell us about how we naviga...

Today I’m joined by Dartmouth social neuroscientist, Mark Thornton. I was drawn to Mark due to my interest in work he did with Princeton's Diana Tamir around what is known as the MAPP–the Multilayer Atlas of Person Prediction. As the name suggests, this MAPP attempts to combine the many social theories that have been developed over scientific history and condense them into a set of related coordin...

Today we're joined by social psychologist, Sheldon Solomon. Currently based out of Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, NY, Sheldon has spent roughly 40 years as one of the world’s leading researchers of death. Alongside his colleagues Jeff Greenberg and Tom Pyszczynski , Sheldon established the Terror Management Theory, a rigorous body of scientific literature inspired by the late Ernest Becker’...

Today I’m joined by psychologist, physicist, and neuroscientist, Frank Krueger. Based out of George Mason University, where he runs the Social Cognition and Interaction: Functional Imaging lab, Frank’s work primarily focuses on the dynamics of trust, cooperation, altruism. In this episode, we explore these subjects from their evolutionary roots to their modern manifestations. We look at how Frank...

In this episode I’m joined by neuroscientist Bobby Azarian, who authored the 2022 book, The Romance of Reality: How the Universe Organizes Itself to Create Life, Consciousness, and Cosmic Complexity. I interviewed Bobby two years ago when the book was released, where he explained to me how the second law of thermodynamics creates complexity as a way to increase entropy, and how life itself is a pa...

On this episode I'm joined by psychology professor and researcher at the University of Missouri, Ken Sheldon. Ken focuses on a few of my favorite subjects in his research, namely that of personality, motivation, goals, happiness, and well-being. He’s also a leading researcher on the self-determination theory, arguably the world’s leading theory on motivation. Amongst other things, this theory...

Rob Chavez, an associate professor at the University of Oregon, joins me to discuss his field of computational social neuroscience. In addition to exploring his unique field of study, we also take a look at the weaknesses and strengths of brain imaging, the current state of neuroscience, the future impacts of AI, the importance of remembering "the map isn't the territory", and much m...

Evolutionary psychologist Steve Stewart-Williams joins me for a discussion on common evolutionary myths and misunderstandings, how these misreadings of the literature often lead to destructive ideologies, ways in which our modern world is mismatched to our evolutionary wiring, speculative explorations into theories of complexity and consciousness, and much more. Follow Steve at twitter.com/stevest...

Human Summary: Narcissism researcher Keith Campbell joins me for a very candid discussion on narcissism and the latest findings on the subject. We also explore its connections with anti-fragility and the ways in which technology and academia are failing us. AI Summary: The conversation explores the topic of narcissism, discussing its definition, different forms, causes, and cultural influences. Th...

** This is a partnership episode originally recorded in collaboration with ⁠ Singularity ⁠ ** This week my guest is Jean Twenge, a renowned psychologist, professor, and author who has been one of the world’s leading researchers investigating generational differences and the impacts of technology. This includes her books The Narcissism Epidemic , Generation Me , and my personal favorite iGen: Why T...

** This is a partnership episode originally recorded in collaboration with ⁠ Singularity ⁠ ** This week our guest is social psychologist, Jonathan Haidt, who has authored several of my personal favorite books including the Happiness Hypothesis, The Righteous Mind, and the Coddling of the American Mind. We're lucky enough to have Jon join us to discuss his just released Atlantic article entitle...

** This is a partnership episode originally recorded in collaboration with ⁠ Singularity ⁠ ** This week our guest is Stanford neuroscientist, Robert Sapolsky. You may know Dr. Sapolsky from his incredible 25-part lecture series on Youtube, his triumphant book, Behave, or his guest appearances on the Joe Rogan and Huberman Lab podcasts. And if you know him from any of these things, you may also kno...

** This is a partnership episode originally recorded in collaboration with ⁠ Singularity ⁠ ** Today we have one of my favorite comedians, Duncan Trussell, who many of you might recognize from his frequent appearances on the Joe Rogan Podcast, on Drunk History, or his latest Netflix show, The Midnight Gospel. He also has his own podcast, the ⁠Duncan Trussell Family Hour⁠ , which provides a steady s...

** This is a partnership episode originally recorded in collaboration with ⁠ Singularity ⁠ ** This week our guests are evolutionary biologists, Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying, who many of you might recognize from their frequent appearances on the Joe Rogan Podcast, or from their very own show, the ⁠ Darkhorse Podcast⁠ , where they explore current affairs through an evolutionary lens. They’ve re...

** This is a partnership episode originally recorded in collaboration with ⁠ Singularity ⁠ ** Anna Lembke is a psychiatrist currently working as the Chief of Addiction Medicine at Stanford’s Dual Diagnosis clinic. She was recently interviewed for the Social Dilemma, the amazing Netflix documentary exploring the dangers of social media.  On this episode, we really dive deep into the heart of addict...

** This is a partnership episode originally recorded in collaboration with ⁠ Singularity ⁠ ** Today we are joined by actor, comedian, and musician, Reggie Watts, who many of you might recognize from the Late Late Show with James Corden, where he leads the house band, or from one of his many amazing performances, including TedTalks and music videos that have garnered tens of millions of views. In t...

** This is a partnership episode originally recorded in collaboration with ⁠ Singularity ⁠ ** This week our guest is businessman and entrepreneur, Jim Rutt, who you may know as the former chairman of the Sante Fe Institute or from his own podcast, The Jim Rutt show. Jim is also arguably the founding spearhead for a movement known as “Game B,” which we’ll discuss much more deeply in the episode but...

** This is a partnership episode originally recorded in collaboration with ⁠ Singularity ⁠ ** This week our guest is cognitive scientist, Scott Barry Kaufman, who has an impressive resume that includes teaching at NYU and Columbia, writing for Scientific American, hosting a podcast on psychology that is so definitive it’s actually called The Psychology Podcast, and is the author of several books i...

** This is a partnership episode originally recorded in collaboration with ⁠ Singularity ⁠ ** This week we have Douglas Rushkoff, a no-bullshit media theorist who is undeniably one of the most influential thinkers who has been steering digital culture. We touch on many topics in this episode, but without a doubt the biggest focus throughout is how capitalism and digital culture are negatively impa...

** This is a partnership episode originally recorded in collaboration with ⁠ Singularity ⁠ ** This week we sit down with cognitive psychologist and long-time professor at UC Irvine, Donald Hoffman. Hoffman has a long history working with some of the greatest minds in the history of humanity, including Francis Crick who was part of the team that discovered the double helix of DNA. His own endeavors...