Best Sergey Bloom Podcasts (2025)

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Ep70 Re Broadcast "Why do our memories drift? Part 1: The War of the Ghosts" 33:52

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2d ago33:52

33:52

Happy Holidays- New episodes starting Jan. 5th Why did lions look so strange in medieval European art? What does this have to do with Native American folklore, eyewitness memory of a car accident, or what a person remembers 3 years after witnessing the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center? And what does any of this have to do with flashbulb memori…

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Ep134 "What do brains teach us about morality?" with Joshua Greene 1:15:32

10d ago1:15:32

1:15:32

Why will you make different moral decisions in similar circumstances? Why do some people make different choices than you? What happens when ancient moral instincts collide with modern problems such as pandemics, AI alignment, and political tribalism? Could a simple online game reduce polarization? Could you contribute to charities more effectively …

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Ep133 "Why do people hold misbeliefs?" with Dan Ariely 46:35

17d ago46:35

46:35

Why do people sometimes buy into ideas that seem obviously false from the outside, as with conspiracy theories? Is this kind of misbelief a universal feature of human brains? Does it offer clarity and belonging when reality feels chaotic and threatening? What would it take for you (under the right emotional conditions) to begin believing something …

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Ep132 "What will AI mean for the economy?" with Andrew Mayne 51:24

24d ago51:24

51:24

If AI can do everything from writing novels to designing proteins, what remains that only humans can do? What's the human advantage in a world where machines can outperform us at almost any measurable task? What does any of this have to do with Stephen King’s nightmares, Tom Cruise’s stunts, the first shoeshine caught on camera, the shortage of air…

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Ep131 "What do brains tell us about politics?" Part 2: Rehumanization 49:02

1M ago49:02

49:02

How do societies work their way out of polarization? And what does the answer have to do with broken trucks, the Apollo program, the movie 'Watchmen', Iroquois Native Americans, a new idea for social media algorithms, moral taste buds, and how we can take advantage of the common threads that bond us -- coming to see each other again as fellow trave…

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Ep130 "What do brains tell us about politics?" Part 1: Polarization 45:43

1M ago45:43

45:43

What do propaganda posters have in common across nation and time, and how is that related to the medial prefrontal cortex? What is behind repeating cycles of societal polarization? What does any of this have to do with the American Civil War, hippies vs soldiers, border ruffians vs free-staters, hanging chads, Pearl Harbor, and why education can se…

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Ep129 "Is utopia possible or do human brains preclude it?" with Paul Bloom 43:48

1M ago43:48

43:48

Would a utopia be possible? Or does our innate tribalism and jealousy make perfect societies difficult to achieve? Do we secretly love hierarchies? Why are primate brains such excellent detectors of unfairness? Why do things become more desirable when we’re told we can’t have them? Did the church’s disavowal of first-cousin marriage lead to better …

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Ep128 "Would space aliens see the world as we do?" with Daniel Whiteson 1:03:22

2M ago1:03:22

1:03:22

Imagine we eventually meet some alien scientists. If they can see electrons or smell photons, would their science look like ours? Is physics a universal language, or just a local dialect of the human brain? Would aliens use math, or might their truths be organized unrecognizably? Are the “laws of nature” really laws, or simply our interpretations? …

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EP127 "What happens when we marry brains to machines?" with Sergey Stavisky 1:00:04

2M ago1:00:04

1:00:04

What is a brain-computer interface? How can a paralyzed person use her brain to control a robotic arm? How can someone who's lost the gift of speech use brain signals to broadcast his voice again? Can we eventually restore autonomy and dignity so seamlessly that the technology disappears and the person reappears? Where are the ethical boundaries be…

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Ep126 "Does science fiction shape reality?" with Bethanie Maples 35:39

2M ago35:39

35:39

How is sci-fi like a cultural research and development lab? Will we someday have AI agents that live in robot bodies, and will we be liable if they commit murder? What happens when reality is no longer verifiable? How can we create AI advocates that guide us toward self-actualization over distraction? What is a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer? This…

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Ep125 "Why do brains need friends?" (with Ben Rein) 54:54

2M ago54:54

54:54

Why do human brains need social interaction? Why might AI chatbots be insufficient to scratch the itch? What do we love so much about real human touch and in-person interaction? Why do so many of us live with dogs? From empathy to introversion to social media to isolation (and what to do about it), we’ve got it all this week with guest Ben Rein, au…

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Ep124 "Why don't we notice gaps in time?" 41:34

3M ago41:34

41:34

How is your consciousness like a flame that continually goes out and gets re-lit? Why can you see other people's eyes move, but you can't see your own eyes move in the mirror? And what does any of this have to do with deep sleep, anesthesia, comas, amnesia, and empires of soft-bodied creatures that came before us? Tune in this week for some science…

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Ep123 "Will AI cure loneliness?" with Paul Bloom 40:48

3M ago40:48

40:48

On the one hand, AI companions are (increasingly) amazing at rectifying isolation. But on the other hand, loneliness is a biological signal that pushes us toward improving ourselves socially. So what's the right balance here? And does everyone have the same need to cure loneliness? In other words, might AI relationships mess up our young even while…

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Ep122 "Why do we so rarely say what we mean?" (with Steven Pinker) 44:01

3M ago44:01

44:01

Why do people on a date speak in innuendo? Why do dictators squelch protests? Why do humans stand apart from the rest of the animal kingdom by blushing, laughing, and crying? And what does any of this have to do with bullies, George Costanza, or cancel culture? Join this week with cognitive scientist Steven Pinker as we discuss his new book on comm…

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Ep121 "What’s the secret to intelligence (in brains and AI)?" with Ramesh Raskar 41:35

3M ago41:35

41:35

Is AI going to go the same way as computing: from colossal LLMs owned by a few companies to billions of networked AI agents? How does that parallel one of the great underappreciated secrets of the human brain? Join this week with guest MIT Media Lab professor (and AI-decentralizer) Ramesh Raskar.By iHeartPodcasts

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Ep120 "Will AI build us into better humans?" 33:37

4M ago33:37

33:37

Will AI end up building us into stronger, more talented humans? What might this have to do with linguistics, the movie Arrival, self-driving cars, debate, video games, elections, chess, and the ancient game of Go? Are we going to be taken over, or instead exposed to ideas and concepts that stretch the boundaries of our thinking? Join this week to s…

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Ep119 "Why do brains believe in the unbelievable?" with Bruce Hood 36:55

4M ago36:55

36:55

Why are brains superstitious? Would you wear a nice sweater that belonged to a murderer? What does this have to do with lucky socks, ghosts, our interpretation of coincidences, why kids often need their special blankets, and what any of this has to do with the brain? Join this week with guest Bruce Hood to learn why it's so natural for brains to ta…

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Ep118 "Why has the brain always been our hardest puzzle?" with Matthew Cobb 59:15

4M ago59:15

59:15

How have humans through the ages tried to crack the mysteries of the brain, and why are our theories always yoked to the most recent technologies? What does the history of brain science have to do with bumps on the skull, electricity, Frankenstein, animatronics, telegraphs, telephone exchanges, computers, and LLMs? What's the next metaphor we'll us…

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Ep117 "What does brain science have to do with free speech? (with Greg Lukianoff)" (with Greg Lukianoff) 1:00:23

4M ago1:00:23

1:00:23

Most people claim to be in favor of free speech, but they often mean speech from their own side (and not whatever those crazy people on the other side want to say). But from the point of view of the brain, why does free speech need to be rigorously defended? What does this have to do with internal models, printing presses, college campuses, John St…

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Ep116 " What is Color? Part 2: Why royals wear purple" 37:58

5M ago37:58

37:58

Are there new colors you could see? And why are they impossible to imagine before you've seen them? Can you lose your color vision? And what does any of this have to do with linguistic color terms, why the military likes colorblind people for a particular task, and why Eagleman suggests that the cultural history of Thailand was influenced by one si…

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Ep115 "What is color? Part 1: Why hunters wear orange" 37:36

5M ago37:36

37:36

Why do birds and bees choose different flowers? Why do mammals' eyes seem to be optimized for moving around at night, and what does that have to do with hairless humans getting angry? What does any of this have to do with road signs, camouflage, mantis shrimp, the sun, the dress that broke the internet, and women who can see more colors than you ca…

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Ep114 "Would you eat a self burger?" 36:19

5M ago36:19

36:19

Would you eat a burger grown from a human muscle cell? Would you rather use your own cell or someone else's? What does the future of lab-grown meat illuminate about neuroscience, our calculations of morality, and whether your grandchildren will have a different answer? What does any of this have to do with endangered species, the sacred versus the …

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Ep113 "What's special about inventors?" (with Pablos Holman) 57:19

5M ago57:19

57:19

Why do some people jump into entirely new categories of possibility? And what does this have to do with self-driving ships, solar panels in space, shooting mosquitoes with lasers, skateboarding tricks, silent drones, and our future as a species? Join Eagleman with guest Pablos Holman, a venture capitalist, author, and connoisseur of invention.…

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Ep112 "How is computer code like magic?" (with Sam Arbesman) 42:44

5M ago42:44

42:44

What is code, and can it be thought of like a magic spell? Are we building a world so complex that we will lose the ability to understand its operations -- and has that already happened? What does any of this have to do with SimCity, or knowledge that already exists but no one has put together, or how coding will evolve in the near future? Join Eag…

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Ep111 "Might we be surrounded with undetected minds?" (with Michael Levin) 51:33

6M ago51:33

51:33

What is intelligence? If we look hard, can we find it in unexpected places: not just in brains but in all kinds of structures? How should we recognize it? And what does any of this have to do with a bipedal dog born without front legs, or making small new organisms out of single cells, or how Wikipedia might be like an axolotl, or why we are so bli…

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Ep110 "Is consciousness related to quantum physics?" (with Roger Penrose and Stuart Hameroff) 47:42

6M ago47:42

47:42

Can we explain consciousness as emerging from classical neuroscience, or do we require deeper principles? Could quantum physics have something to do with it? Is it possible that consciousness predates biology, and biology evolved to take advantage of it? What are the right ways to build new theories in neuroscience when we don’t know the answers? J…

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Ep85 rebroadcast - "What is a Thought?" 36:47

6M ago36:47

36:47

Brains bear thoughts like a peach tree bears peaches. Even for meditators it's almost impossible to stop the firehose of words and images and ideas. But what in the world is a thought, physically? How can you hear a voice in your head when there's no one speaking in the outside world? And what does any of this have to do with a small marine animal …

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Ep109 "Are you one mind or many drives?" with Jordan Peterson 42:39

6M ago42:39

42:39

Is your brain a one-person show or an ensemble cast of rivaling neural networks? How do we manage the conflict between different drives, and what does this have to do with literature, deities, maturation, and what Nietzsche meant when he said “every drive wants to be master, and it attempts to philosophize in that spirit”? Join Eagleman this week w…

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Ep108 "Can brains increase their happiness?" (with Bruce Hood) 39:03

7M ago39:03

39:03

Is it possible to become happier? How much of your happiness has to do with genetics, social connection, comparison to other people, your balance of optimism vs pessimism, and whether it would be useful to keep a journal of your life? Join Eagleman this week with Bruce Hood, experimental psychologist and author of “The Science of Happiness”.…

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Ep107 "Why do brains love stories?" (with Joshua Landy) 49:23

7M ago49:23

49:23

How do brains slip so easily from the real world into made up worlds? What do authors of great literature have in common with stage magicians and comedians? What does any of this have to do with cognitive shortcuts, prediction machines, Marcel Proust, Toni Morrison, Jane Austen, or why jokes are always structured in threes? Join Eagleman this week …

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Ep106 "What happens when brains watch movies?" (with Jeffrey Zacks) 48:09

7M ago48:09

48:09

Why do movies work so well? What does film reveal about the way the brain processes reality? What does any of this have to do with omniscience, simulation, jumping around in time, or why dogs don’t do story? Join Eagleman with guest Jeffrey Zacks, cognitive scientist at Wash U, as we dive into the peculiar magic that happens when the lights go down…

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Ep105 "What if AI is not actually intelligent?" (with Alison Gopnik) 1:10:09

7M ago1:10:09

1:10:09

Is AI an intelligent agent, or is there a different way we should be thinking about it? Is it more like a piece of cultural technology? What in the world is a piece of cultural technology -- and how would re-thinking this change our next steps? What does any of this have to do with the myth of the Golem, printing presses, Socrates, Martin Luther, o…

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Ep104 "What is your internal world really like?" (with Russell Hurlburt) 42:29

8M ago42:29

42:29

If you had to give a detailed description of what flits through your mind, how good would you be at it? Might you be surprised at how many of your thoughts don't involve language? Are your thoughts changed by paying attention to them? What does this have to do with getting surprised by a random beep and immediately writing down what you’re thinking…

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Ep103 "Could you ever know what it’s like to be someone else?" (Part 2) 39:21

8M ago39:21

39:21

What would it take to get inside someone else's head, and could new brain technologies ever help us get there? Will there be dream celebrities, in which uploads go viral? What does consciousness feel like from the inside, and why do movies always get this wrong? Why don't you see your own blinks? What would it be like if exactly 1/2 of your brain w…

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Ep102 "Could you ever know what it’s like to be someone else?" (Part 1) 35:49

8M ago35:49

35:49

What does it mean to stand in another’s shoes—and when are the gaps between us too wide to cross? This week, Eagleman explores bats, kicked robots, Helen Keller, empathy, storytelling, and the phrase “I know exactly how you feel.” We'll weave through neuroscience, philosophy, literature, and technology to ask: Can we ever truly understand another’s…

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Ep101 "Why do people walk away from bad events with different outcomes?" 59:55

8M ago59:55

59:55

What enables some people to keep going when everything falls apart? We all know someone who’s been through hell and comes out standing. This episode is about resilience. Join Eagleman with guest Dr. Jonathan Downar to discover what happens in the brain when we face adversity. Is resilience something you’re born with, or is it something your brain c…

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Ep100 "Why do brains love slow motion video?" 43:52

8M ago43:52

43:52

What does The Matrix tell us about the brain and time perception? And what does that have to do with champion bicyclists, hidden data, elementary particles, secret murderers, or time machines? Today’s episode is about slow motion: what’s going on in the brain, and why we are so mesmerized by it. Whether watching a sword battle, basketball dunk, or …

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Ep99 "Why do brains sometimes make things up?" 40:40

9M ago40:40

40:40

Your brain occasionally cooks up falsehoods that you believe entirely, but why does this confabulation happen, and how frequently? What does this tell us about memory, truth-telling, and your life as a story that drifts? And what does this have to do with a paralyzed Supreme Court judge, a blind person who insists she can see, whether Nelson Mandel…

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EP98 "What's the future of AI relationships?" (with Bethanie Maples) 48:39

9M ago48:39

48:39

How many people are having relationships with artificial neural networks? Should we think of AI lovers as traps, mirrors, or sandboxes? Is there a clear line between relationship bots and therapist bots? And what does this have to do with Eliza Doolittle, a doll cabinet in your head, loneliness epidemics, or suicide mitigation? Join Eagleman with g…

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Ep 97 "Can we rewrite the human code?" (with Trevor Martin) 46:05

9M ago46:05

46:05

You're defined in part by the genome you arrive with -- so what does it mean when you can edit it? What does this have to do with viruses, copy-pasting, and whether we will modify the story of our own species? Join Eagleman with guest Trevor Martin, CEO of Mammoth Biosciences, for this week's episode about the remarkable situation we find ourselves…

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Ep96 "What’s the future of education in an AI world?" (Part 2: Sal Khan) 52:14

9M ago52:14

52:14

Now that we’re careening into our AI future, what are the most important things for our students to learn? Do we keep teaching as we always have, do we drop our heads on the desk, or are there clever ways to steer and optimize education? What would Sal Khan, founder of Khan Academy, say about all this? Find out in this week's episode.…

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Ep95 "What's the future of education in an AI world?" (Part 1) 46:47

10M ago46:47

46:47

How can we rethink schools to meet the future? What does this have to do with the invention of the printing press, the prevalence of desk calculators, or the spread of Google? And how is this connected to the writer Goethe, a digital replica of the philosopher Aristotle, or the two lasting bequests that we should give our children? Join Eagleman th…

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Ep94 "How does the brain construct reality?" 1:07:40

10M ago1:07:40

1:07:40

Do you perceive red the same way I do? What is wrong with the textbook model of vision? Why do brains have so many internal feedback loops? And what does any of this have to do with Plato’s cave, Ernest Hemingway, or artificial neural networks that perceive dogs everywhere? Join Eagleman with guest Anil Seth, author of “Being You”, to explore the s…

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David Eagleman on Joy A Podcast. Hosted by Craig Ferguson 50:40

10M ago50:40

50:40

Meet David Eagleman - neuroscientist, author, and more. He is best known for his work on sensory substitution, time perception, brain plasticity, synesthesia, and neurolaw and is currently a neuroscientist at Stanford University. I thoroughly enjoyed picking his brain and I hope you enJOY too!By iHeartPodcasts

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Ep93 "Will AI kill our creativity or enhance it?" 34:14

10M ago34:14

34:14

How will creative people make a living in a world with AI? Is there a different way to think about the economy of the future -- and how might it involve mystifying and elevating humans? What does the term “data dignity" mean? Join Eagleman with guest Jaron Lanier -- computer scientist, artist, futurist -- as they discuss AI's boundless creative out…

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Ep92 "Why is it hard to keep a secret?" 42:41

10M ago42:41

42:41

How are secrets in the brain like Abraham Lincoln’s political cabinet? Will AI in the near future hide things from you? And what does any of this have to do with political hierarchies, the formula for Coca-Cola, or deceptive chimpanzees? Join Eagleman to understand what neuroscience tells us about secrets: what they are, why they weigh on us, and h…

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Ep91 "What is love?" 49:18

11M ago49:18

49:18

What are we talking about neurobiologically when we talk about love? What does it have to do with how you were raised, the symmetry of someone's face, or the smell of their underarms? What do we learn from heartbreak, rom-coms, and little rodents called prairie voles? And what is the future of love & AI? Join Eagleman for a Valentine's Day special …

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Ep90 "What's the future of connecting our tech to our brains?" 56:12

11M ago56:12

56:12

A brain's 86 billion neurons are always chattering along with tiny electrical and chemical signals. But how can we get inside the brain to study the fine details? Can we eavesdrop on cells using other cells? What is the future of communication between brains? Join Eagleman with special guest Max Hodak, founder of Science Corp, a company pioneering …

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Happy Birthday, Amira! 39:31

11M ago39:31

39:31

Amira is 8 years old! And this podcast is part of Amira’s present because Amira loves the podcasts (and Inessa and Rafa do, too). It’s a quick look back, a quick examination of the present, and a quick look forward. Happy Birthday, Amira!

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Ep89 "Why do you love some flavors and not others?" 35:42

11M ago35:42

35:42

Why do you like the taste of things that your friend doesn't? Why do kids not like coffee but adults do? What does any of this have to do with smelling people’s armpits, whether women really synchronize their menstruation, whether your culture eats a lot of spicy foods, and how animals sense the world? Join Eagleman this week to understand why ther…