Inner Cosmos with David Eagleman

Re-Release "Why Do Brains Dream"

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 wor

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

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 butt

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

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

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

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 pleasu

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

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 yo

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

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 LL

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

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

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

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 n

Ep166 "Could the Next Brain Interface Get Sprayed Up Your Nose?" with Tetiana Aleksandrova & Scott Meek

A brain computer interface (BCI) is any technology that allows you to connect your 3 pounds of wetware to a computer. But instead of implanting electrodes via neurosurger

Ep165 "What's a Doom Loop & How Do You Escape It?" with Jonathan Downar

Have you ever spent hours with a thought cycling around in your head? What happens when the brain continuously worries, craves, or replays something without finding the e

Ep164 "Why Do We Act Differently Around Different People?" With Claude Steele

Does your identity and performance change in different situations? What does this have to do with wondering how you’re being judged? What if polarization grows from uncer

Ep163 "How Quickly Does AI Become Smarter Than Humanity?" with Ben Goertzel

What is artificial general intelligence (AGI) and how close are we to getting there? What defines the next step, called artificial superintelligence (ASI), and why might

Ep162 "What Does Medicine Look Like in Ten Years?" with Jeanne Loring

For all of medical history, we’ve tried to persuade sick cells to behave better. What if instead we just swapped them out? Can we insert new brain cells grown from your o

Ep161 "What Do Ancient Brains and Future AIs Have in Common?" with Read Montague

What do honeybee brains have in common with human brains -- and with the AI that beat the world's best Go player? What simple algorithm has been hiding inside brains for

Ep160 "Do You Really Have a Self?" with Sam Harris

re you the author of your thoughts or just their witness? Do we simply watch our thoughts like we watch unfolding dream plots? What if the most familiar thing you experie

Ep159 "If Your Brain Changed Slightly, Would You Still Be You?" with Masud Husain

Could a tiny injury to your brain change your personality? If your friends didn’t know something had happened in your brain, would they just think you're choosing to act

Ep158 "What do babies, animals, and AI have in common?" with Melanie Mitchell

When AI gets the right answer, how do we know it got there the right way? Why do we assume that fluent language means intelligence? What do infants and chatbots have in c

Ep157 "Where Did the Letter "A" Come From?" with Danny Bate

How can we use 26 symbols to capture everything in the cosmos of human experience? Where do our written symbols in English come from? What ancient ghosts are still hiding

Ep156 What Do We Learn About AI by Dancing with Robots? with Catie Cuan

Why do we read so much into how a robot moves, and what does that tell us about human brains? Why did our history make us so sensitive to movement? Why do we trust gracef

Ep155 "Why Can’t Some People Stop Thinking Certain Thoughts?" with Jon Hershfield

Why do brains generate strange thoughts sometimes? And why do some brains refuse to let go of those thoughts? Today we'll talk about Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) w