with Julia Galef
September 17, 2017 The field of neuroscience has been collecting more and more data, and developing increasingly advanced technological tools in its race to understand how the brain works. But can those data and tools ever yield true understanding? This episode features neuroscientist and computer scientist Eric Jonas, discussing his provocative paper titled “Could a Neuroscientist Understand … Read more
September 3, 2017 You may have heard of the Implicit Associations Test (IAT) — one of the most famous instruments from social psychology, it’s frequently cited as evidence that most people harbor implicit racism or sexism, even if they aren’t aware of it. This episode features science journalist Jesse Singal, who argues that the IAT has … Read more
August 20, 2017 There are a lot of sensitive topics about human nature that would be interesting to study, such as people’s sexual behavior, or how racist people really are. Researchers studying those questions have always faced the problem that we tend to lie on surveys — but we don’t lie to Google. This episode … Read more
August 6, 2017 You’ve probably heard of Pascal’s Wager: That it’s rational to believe in God, because if you’re wrong it’s no big deal, but if you’re right then the payoff is huge. This episode features philosopher Amanda Askell, who (though not religious herself) argues that it’s much trickier to rebut Pascal’s Wager than most people … Read more
July 23, 2017 In this episode Julia sits down with neuroscientist and obesity researcher Stephan Guyenet, to talk about what scientists know so far about the causes of obesity, and in particular the brain’s role in regulating weight gain. Julia and Stephan cover questions such as: Why did obesity start to increase in the United States … Read more
July 9, 2017 In this episode, recorded live at the Northeast Conference on Science and Skepticism, Julia interviews evolutionary psychologist Rob Kurzban, author of “Why Everyone (Else) is a Hypocrite.” Rob describes the “modular mind” hypothesis, and how it explains hypocrisy, self-deception, and other seemingly irrational features of human nature. Rob and Julia argue about how useful these kinds … Read more
June 25, 2017 What determines which policies a person votes for? Is it their personality, their upbringing, blind loyalty to their political party? Or is it self-interest — people voting for policies that will benefit themselves and the groups they belong to? This episode features psychologist Jason Weeden, arguing that self-interest is a much bigger determinant … Read more
June 11, 2017 Humans have an innate urge to reach for explanations of the world around us. For example, “What caused this tragedy?” or “Why are some people successful?” This episode features psychologist and philosopher Tania Lombrozo, discussing her research on what purpose explanation serves — i.e., why it helps us more than our brains … Read more
May 28, 2017 We’re used to conflating political parties (Republican and Democrat) with political ideologies (conservative and liberal), but the two were very distinct only a few decades ago. In this episode of Rationally Speaking, Julia talks with political scientist Hans Noel about why the Democrats became the party of liberalism and the Republicans the party of … Read more
May 14, 2017 Nothing changed the course of human history as much as the industrial revolution. Yet its cause is a mystery: Why did it occur in the late 1700s, and not sooner (or later)? Why did it occur in Britain, a relatively small and geographically isolated country, and not somewhere much bigger like China, … Read more