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

Welcome to the November 2026 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...

Economics often starts with an assumption that people are rational maximizers of their own self-interest; but it doesn't stop there. Economists do understand that sometimes people are irrational, altruistic, or just random. So how can we understand how people actually do behave in economic circumstances? Colin Camerer is a pioneer of "neuroeconomics" -- not only understanding...

When we think of computers, we think of machines running on some kind of silicon chips. But the idea is more general: at heart, a computer is any object that takes in input, processes information, and produces output. Taking inspiration from biology, it is interesting to imagine building computers out of DNA -- a molecule that can store and process information, and is even pr...

Humanity is merely one species out of millions living on Earth, but we have a disproportionate impact on the rest of the biosphere. Recent transformations have accelerated that impact, but in fact it stretches back to the earliest days in human history. In his new book