Mindscape Ask Me Anything, Sean Carroll | April 2023

Welcome to the April 2023 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded by Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number — based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the questions themselves are good — and sometimes group them together if they are about a similar topic. Enjoy!

#podcast #ideas #science #philosophy #culture

[nishgriff]

just for the record I listen to this podcast on YouTube, and I hope you continue posting it here :)

[deeiks]

I'm one of the people that prefer to listen to your podcast on youtube. The reason is that I personally find I have here more content to my liking, and it's easier to get all the content from one place. There is of course Mindscape, then there's the Royal Institution, Gresham College, Caltech lectures, etc. And some very good OC like Cool Worlds, Ben Miles and so on. For some reason i've found that based on keywords only (not knowing specific creators) it's easier to find quality content here. When I search for lets say astronomy podcasts in Apple podcasts there's lots of lower quality content, riddled with ads and so on. But this is just my experience.

[stephengarside]

I'm a you tube listener. So thanks for putting them here.

[FunWithMatt]

I hereby challenge Sean to make each subsequent AMA episode an hour longer than the last for the remainder of this year. Imagine: a twelve hour Christmas AMA bonanza!

[MrElvis]

2am in Australia.
AMA is my cure for insomnia.

[DanaVastman]

I truly appreciate all your views on climate change. It's such a huge issue. I really think we've got to focus on climate change. Climate change? Climate change climate change. Send this to everyone who does not believe it climate change. Maybe we could wake them up.😂😂😂

[ymgisi]

Just FYI, with YouTube red, you can listen to YouTube with your screen off on mobile. I listen to most my podcasts this way. Like for this one. I click it, shut my screen off, and then listen to it like I'm listening on podcast platform. Thanks Sean! You're one of my favorite science communicators!

[CurtOntheRadio]

I love these AMAs especially (along with all the others): it's like having a dinner party with Sean in which he's just hammered with questions for four hours (!). Thanks very much.

On ranking the episodes: "the obvious choices :D

[GoatOfTheWoods]

Wohoo my favourite show! And FOUR hours of it! Made my day, Sean.

[Themongrelable]

My goodness sean 4 hours? We are so lucky to have you!

[seionne]

Congrats on going viral Sean, If only you could have chosen the terms and audience yourself! Thanks for the work you put in to this

[michaeljfigueroa]

Thank you. I appreciate you being here

[tatotato]

Thank you Sean!, always happy to listen to you. These 4hs just fly over

[CorwynGC]

Sadly, people living in cities seem to not know all the degradation of the planet that is happening on their behalf. The Brazilian rain forest is not being destroyed for housing, but for burgers.

[Auxend]

It would be great to have a Social Media Algo guest on the Mindscape podcast to talk about the influence of ad focused social media and it's impact on the perception of understanding. Another question might be - what ads are being sold to whom in the process of a viral storm.

[Lance_Lough]

I liked last month's AMA...nice and long. So, positive reaction and no complaints here. Keep em coming.

[tombombadyl]

Loved the discussion of Pride and Prejudice. There is more to the universe than physics.

[Sam-hhry]

All Sean has done with the Mary thought experiment is shift the question slightly, without challenging the fundamental point. Instead of asking about learning what it's like to see red, we're asking about what it's like be in x neural state. The fact that there's something it's like to BE in a particular state is the problem. How could you know anything about phenomenal states working purely from physical states? You can't because all physical knowledge is necessarily preceded by phenomenal experience, i.e. observation and experimentation.

[themiddleman]

It somewhat saddens me to say that your logical approach is refreshing. Thank you.

[robomatt]

Climate change, climate change, climate change.