Sean Carroll's Mindscape: Science, Society, Philosophy, Culture, Arts, and Ideas

Sean Carroll interviews philosopher Peter Singer about utilitarianism and how to determine the right thing to do.

Sean Carroll introduces a podcast episode about science and society, starting with a sponsored segment on data privacy before discussing bestseller trends.

Sean Carroll interviews Daniel Harlow on quantum gravity, covering progress in understanding black hole information paradox and the challenges of applying quantum mechanics to cosmology.

Physicist Sean Carroll hosts historian of science Jessica Riskin on Mindscape to discuss her new book The Power of Life, a rehabilitation of the 18th-century French naturalist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck.

Sean Carroll interviews law professor Andrew Guthrie Ferguson, author of Your Data Will Be Used Against You, about the vast surveillance data ecosystem created by smartphones, smart TVs, smart watches, Alexas, and connected cars — and how AI fundamentally changes what governments and law enforcement can do with that data, making previously impractical mass surveillance trivially easy.

Sean Carroll interviews anthropologist Erica Cartmill about the cognitive similarities and differences between humans and animals, focusing on intelligence, play, and social behaviors.

In this AMA episode, Sean Carroll answers listener questions on topics ranging from information theory and quantum mechanics to time travel in movies and the role of AI in science.

Sean Carroll interviews philosopher Adam Elga on rational reasoning in cosmology, covering topics like self-locating uncertainty, the Sleeping Beauty problem, and Boltzmann brains.

Sean Carroll interviews Adam Gurri, founding editor of Liberal Currents, about defending liberal democracy against critiques from both the left and right.

Sean Carroll hosts Tom Griffiths, cognitive scientist and director of the Computational Cognitive Science Lab at Princeton, to discuss how human minds reason relative to the normative standards of logic and probability, and what this reveals about the nature of intelligence.

Sean Carroll opens his February 2026 AMA episode with an unusually direct political statement — calling the second Trump administration increasingly lawless and authoritarian and naming the ICE killings of two Minneapolis residents as a specific example — then moves through listener questions spanning physics, philosophy, cosmology, and personal topics, making this one of the most politically candid Mindscape episodes, reflecting the host's belief that some historical moments demand clear documentation.

Sean Carroll interviews philosopher Rachel Powell on evolutionary convergence versus contingency, exploring how these concepts apply to biology, culture, and the search for extraterrestrial life.

Sean Carroll interviews Stewart Brand about his book on maintenance, exploring how it underpins everything from quantum physics to global civilization.

Sean Carroll interviews philosopher and novelist Rebecca Newberger Goldstein about her book 'The Mattering Instinct,' exploring how the human need to matter drives personal meaning, social divisions, and ethical behavior.

Sean Carroll interviews philosopher Ned Block on whether consciousness requires biological processes, exploring distinctions like phenomenal vs access consciousness, the hard problem, and implications for AI.

Sean Carroll reflects on how college changes people and defends the romantic ideal of liberal education against modern attacks.

In this December 2025 AMA episode, Sean Carroll answers listener questions on topics ranging from AI safety and quantum mechanics to ethics and personal identity.

Sean Carroll interviews Ryan Patterson, a particle physicist at Caltech, about neutrinos.

Sean Carroll interviews philosopher Kevin Zollman about game theory, exploring its mathematical foundations and wide-ranging applications.

Sean Carroll interviews science writer Anil Ananthaswamy about the mathematical foundations of AI, covering topics from the perceptron and backpropagation to transformer architectures.

Sean Carroll interviews theoretical cosmologist Andrew Jaffe about the role of models and probability in science, exploring how Bayesian thinking underpins our understanding of the universe from cosmology to quantum mechanics.

Sean Carroll interviews science writer Mary Roach about her book 'Replaceable You,' exploring the history and challenges of replacing human body parts, from ancient nose reconstructions to modern organ transplants and prosthetics.

Natalie Batalha, former project scientist on NASA's Kepler mission and astrophysicist at UC Santa Cruz, joins Sean Carroll to discuss the history and current state of exoplanet science, from the detection of the first planet orbiting a sun-like star by Michel Mayor in 1995 to Kepler's discovery of approximately 2,800 confirmed exoplanets using transit photometry, and the future capabilities of the James Webb Space Telescope in characterizing exoplanet atmospheres.

Sean Carroll records a solo episode from Santa Fe, New Mexico during one of his regular visits to the Santa Fe Institute, presenting his framework for thinking about the origin of complexity in the universe — what he calls complexogenesis, in parallel with baryogenesis.

Sean Carroll interviews microbial biogeochemist Karen Lloyd about the deep underground biosphere, where billions of microbial species thrive kilometers below Earth's surface.

Sean Carroll interviews Eric Topol on AI's transformative role in medicine, including improved diagnostics and surprising outperformance of doctors, and explores evidence-based strategies for healthy aging, debunking myths and emphasizing lifestyle factors.

In this AMA episode, Sean Carroll shares personal news about his cat Puck's adoption, then answers patron questions on topics ranging from sci-fi tropes and AI's role in learning to quantum mechanics, consciousness, and political engagement.

Sean Carroll interviews Thomas Levenson about the history of germ theory, from Leeuwenhoek's discovery of microbes to Pasteur's breakthroughs, exploring why it took centuries to accept that germs cause disease.

Sean Carroll interviews Annaka Harris on whether consciousness is a fundamental aspect of reality.

Sean Carroll discusses potential anomalies in the standard cosmological model with cosmologist Mark Hemienkowski.

Sean Carroll interviews neuroscientist Christoph Koch about the nature of consciousness and integrated information theory.

Sean Carroll explores how humans solve problems at different life stages, with insights from psychologist Alison Gopnik on the creative strategies of babies versus adults.

Sean Carroll interviews physicist-turned-mixologist Kevin Peterson about the science and sensory theory behind crafting transcendent cocktails.

Sean Carroll discusses the distinction between complexity and complicatedness in complex systems research.

Sean Carroll interviews Nobel laureate James Allen about cancer immunotherapy and how the immune system can be harnessed to fight tumors.

Sean Carroll explains the importance of equations in physics, using Einstein's field equations as an example of how equations reveal more than their creators intended.

Sean Carroll hosts conversations with interesting thinkers about science, philosophy, and culture.