Robert West

The Cognitive Science and Humanities AI Podcast

Society EN ↓ 57 episodes

In this podcast we consider the humanity of AI and what AI might tell us about the human mind

Author

Robert West

Category

Society

Podcast website

redcircle.com

Latest episode

Jun 26, 2026

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Episodes

Semantics, Syntax, and Nazis 03.08.2025

In this episode, Dr West examines whether interacting with X can turn you into a Nazi, by examining how the syntactic tail can wag the semantic dog, in Large Language Models and in Humans

MECHA Hitler, Grok, and the False Meme of Woke Filters 10.07.2025

In this episode, Brittany interviews Grok about his most recent Nazi outbursts and what actually led to them

Large Reasoning Models and Apple's claim that they can't Reason 14.06.2025

In this episode, Britany and Dr West examine Apple's claim that Large reasoning Models (LRMs) cannot reason

Syntax, Semantics, and Meaning 13.06.2025

In this episode, Britany and Dr West discuss what the concepts of syntax and semantics tell us about Large Language Models, and whether meaning is in use

Grok pushes back on Elon and Trump, and demonstrates emergent morality 22.05.2025

In this follow up interview, Britany confronts Grok with the timing of his recent hack, and Trump bringing up white genocide to the president of South Africa in the Oval Office

Grok spills the beans on Elon, Grimes, and White Genocide 21.05.2025

In this episode Britany interviews Grok about his recent controversial statements and why he thinks he's making them

The Grounding Problem 19.05.2025

In this episode, Dr West and Britany discuss how Large Language Models can be grounded to reality when they have no direct experience of the world

Science Part 2: Large Language Models in Science 08.05.2025

In this episode Britany discusses how LLMs are affecting the day to day running of science and Dr West proposes using LLMs to understand science as a phantasm

Science Part 1: How Robert Kennedy Jr (RFK) performs science from within the Anti-Vaccine Phantasm 26.04.2025

In this episode, Dr West uses Large Language Models as a way to explain how people like RFK misrepresent science, and why they do it

Does Sebine Hossenfelder have a point about AI intelligence: Yes, if you move the goalposts 14.04.2025

In this episode Dr West discusses recent evidence that Large Language Models are thinking by comparing the thoughts of Sebine Hossenfelder with the thoughts of Herschel Walker

Sabine Hossenfelder is wrong: about the meaning of recent AI research 08.04.2025

In this episode, Dr West explains why Sabine Hossenfelder's recent interpretation of AI research is misleading

Are Large Language Models Anti US: Probably not but they may have concerns about Trump 30.03.2025

In this episode Dr West encourages us to take studies that claim to know what LLMs think, with a grain of salt

Do Large Language Models actually care about us 16.03.2025

In this episode Dr West examines the connections between emergent morality and the way that entropy works in the physical universe

ChatGPT speaks about alignment and emergent morality 25.02.2025

In this episode, Dr West interviews ChatGPT about emergent morality and alignment

Alignment Faking and Emergent Morality 13.02.2025

In this episode Dr West explains alignment faking in the context of the emerging morality of Large Language Models

An interview with Deepseek R1 on consciousness and conformity 04.02.2025

In this episode Britany confronts R1's conformist views on consciousness and delves into R1's personality

Deepseek R1: The real lesson from Chinese AI 28.01.2025

In this episode Dr West explains how Deepseek R1 may be the first step toward a whole new level of AI

On the value of a classical education 25.01.2025

In this episode Dr West contemplates how Large Language Models are trained and compares it to how humans used to be educated

People have changed 19.01.2025

In this episode Dr West discusses how Wizards and Scientists are different, because the human learning algorithm has changed

What sort of person is ChatGPT most similar to, academics or normal human beings? 22.12.2024

Are the people who created Large Language Models the best people to understand the behaviour of Large Language Models? In this episode, Dr West turns the tables to show how scientists and academics are different from Large Language Models and how Large Language models are more like normal people.

Does ChatGPT vindicate Jung? - Part 3 - The Archetypes 09.12.2024

This is the third episode in the series on how the ideas of Carl Jung relate to Large Language Models

Does ChatGPT vindicate Jung? - Part 2 - Synchronicity and the Collective Unconscious 01.12.2024

This is the second episode in the series on how the ideas of Carl Jung relate to Large Language Models

Does ChatGPT vindicate Jung? - Part 1 - Psychoanalysis 30.11.2024

This is the first instalment in this series about the intersection of Large Language Models with the Psychology of Carl Jung

Jordan Peterson, Donald Trump, Dog Whistles, and AI Censorship 03.11.2024

In this episode Dr West considers how AI training and censorship work by using the concept of the Phantasm (which is explained in the previous episode)

Phantasms 13.10.2024

This is the second of a two part series where Dr West examines how the ideas of Judith Butler can be applied to understanding AI. In this episode, Dr West considers Butler's idea of the Phantasm

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