Axons and Axioms

It’s our first post-election podcast, and we ask: will democracy exist in the future, and if so, what steps should it take to work around human irrationality? Tim proposes improvements on the media, education, and income inequality that will make people more informed. Derek is less hopeful that most of the population has the capacity to properly update their beliefs on new information, and starts going Plato. Don’t go Plato. Show notes and links can be found on our website: axonsandaxioms.com/links http://axonsandaxioms.com/wp-content/uploads/AA_episode29.mp3

What does the future hold for sports? We tackle the topics of performance-enhancing drugs, prosthetics, and the purpose of sports in society. Along the way: are there any sports in the world of Star Trek? What can neuroscience tell us about fastballs? And, of course, we start out with our continuing game: “guess Donald Trump’s mental illness!” It turns out Derek is more serious about this game than Tim. Show notes and links can be found on our website: axonsandaxioms.com/links http://axonsandaxioms.com/wp-content/uploads/AA_episode28.mp3

We explain our long absence and introduce the topic of our new season: futurism! Along the way, consider an analogy between TED talks and porn, what happens if a scientist discovers a way to predict the stock market using brain imaging, and play our new game for the general election: “Guess Donald Trump’s Mental Illness!” Psychopath? Sociopath? The winner will receive a free breakfast. Recorded in Tim’s lab, with real-life graduate students (aka Kyle) working hard in the background! Show notes and links can be found on our website: axonsandaxioms.com/links http://axonsandaxioms.com/wp-content/uploads/AA_episode27.mp3

Imagine that you could take a free vacation anywhere in the world, but you would have to teleport there by vaporizing your body and recreating an exact copy of it somewhere else. Would this new thing still be you? How about uploading your memories and personality into a machine? We talk about ‘the problem of personal identity,’ what it is that makes you the same person over time. Show notes and links can be found on our website: axonsandaxioms.com/links http://axonsandaxioms.com/wp-content/uploads/AA_episode26.mp3

How do I know that what you mean by “socialist” is the same thing that I mean by “socialist?” We talk with Edouard Machery about the psychology of concepts, including whether the term ‘concept’ actually refers to a unified body of information at all. Show notes and links can be found on our website: axonsandaxioms.com/links http://axonsandaxioms.com/wp-content/uploads/AA_episode25.mp3

Politicians love to disparage the value of a liberal arts degree, especially fields like philosophy and psychology. Why should students major in these fields? We talk about the practical value of a bachelor’s degree in our fields, including what sorts of careers and skills are gained from them. Show notes and links can be found on our website: axonsandaxioms.com/links http://axonsandaxioms.com/wp-content/uploads/AA_episode24.mp3

Get ready for Tim and Derek’s lists of the most interesting people in the history of science and philosophy. “Interesting” means the person you would want to hang out with at a party more than anybody else, regardless of their achievements. These people lead lives like a Dos Equis commercial. Show notes and links can be found on our website: axonsandaxioms.com/links http://axonsandaxioms.com/wp-content/uploads/AA_episode23.mp3

Why do some people believe that 9/11 was carried out by the US Government, that the moon landing was faked, and that JFK was killed by a group of people, despite good evidence to the contrary? We talk about the logic and psychology of conspiracy theories, and how otherwise reasonable people can believe surprising things. Show notes and links can be found on our website: axonsandaxioms.com/links http://axonsandaxioms.com/wp-content/uploads/AA_episode22.mp3

We’re joined by physicist and AI researcher Jerry Vinokurov to talk about artificial intelligence and the movie “Ex Machina.” A whirlwind tour that includes the Turing Test, Searle’s Chinese Room, and whether we have to worry about Skynet anytime soon. Show notes and links can be found on our website: axonsandaxioms.com/links http://axonsandaxioms.com/wp-content/uploads/AA_episode21.mp3

In part 2 of our ‘nature-nurture debate,’ we’re joined by David Rakison to talk about innateness. What does it mean to say that a trait is innate, and how much of our personality and intelligence can be described as innate? Show notes and links can be found on our website: axonsandaxioms.com/links http://axonsandaxioms.com/wp-content/uploads/AA_episode20.mp3

In this first of a two-part discussion, we tackle the always frustrating ‘nature/nurture debate.’ This episode focuses on theories of learning, and what the Behaviorists got right. Show notes and links can be found on our website: axonsandaxioms.com/links http://axonsandaxioms.com/wp-content/uploads/AA_episode19.mp3  

We’re joined by Dr. David Creswell to talk about his research on meditation and its effects on the brain. Show notes and links can be found on our website: axonsandaxioms.com/links http://axonsandaxioms.com/wp-content/uploads/AA_episode18.mp3

Humans are constantly trying to establish causal links between events- causation is essential to the practice of medicine, law, economics, and blaming your roommate for not watering your plant. We’re joined by David Danks to discuss the many ways that people represent and think about causation. Show notes and links can be found on our website: axonsandaxioms.com/links http://axonsandaxioms.com/wp-content/uploads/AA_episode17.mp3

Is love an emotion, a judgment of value, a signal of social commitment, or just a four-letter-word? We are joined yet again by David Rakison to talk about theories of love from the Greeks to modern evolutionary psychology. Show notes and links can be found on our website: axonsandaxioms.com/links http://axonsandaxioms.com/wp-content/uploads/AA_episode16.mp3

Is your environment actually a part of your mind? Is it a mistake to represent thoughts as symbols and operations? We talk about the psychological and philosophical theory known as “Embodied Cognition,” which answers both these questions in the affirmative. Tim is skeptical. Derek is also skeptical. Show notes and links can be found on our website: axonsandaxioms.com/links http://axonsandaxioms.com/wp-content/uploads/AA_episode15.mp3