The Escaped Sapiens Podcast

Richard Feynman once dubbed turbulence “the last unsolved problem of classical physics.” Beyond the Navier–Stokes equations, no comprehensive statistical framework exists to predict how fluids spin, eddy, and cascade energy—whether in galactic jets, ocean currents, or the swirl of your morning coffee. But that might all be changing. In this episode, I sit down with theoretical physicist Sasha Migdal, who emerged from retirement with a bold, loop‑equation approach to turbulence. His formalism recasts the Navier–Stokes equations as an infinite number of linear, readily solvable equations that track circulation around closed loops in the fluid—offering, for the first time, a tractable statistical framework for chaotic flow. We chart Sasha's remarkable journey: from a promising career at the Landau Institute and Russian Space Institutes, where he resisted KGB pressure to compromise his work, to his defection to the United States in the late 1980s. We discuss his time outside of physics, and then delve into his return, and his novel approach to solving Navier–Stokes.  Since we recorded, his theory has advanced rapidly. A rigorous proof now shows that it is the solution  to the Navier–Stokes (NS) loop equation. The theory has also been extended to magnetohydrodynamics and turbulent mixing. Recent large-scale direct numerical simulations (DNS) match the theoretical predictions with even greater accuracy.  ►Watch On YouTube: https://youtu.be/BNORi7mxxzg ►Find out more about Sasha's work here: https://alexandermigdal.com/ https://sashamigdal.github.io/TurbulenceDuality/index.html ►For a more technical overview of Sasha's work you can check out his recent talk at the IAS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgvGA6q7oPY  

In this conversation I ask Professors Sam Richards & Laurey Mulvey about some of the most controversial topics concerning race and ethnicity in the US today. Is White Privilege a useful term that helps build understanding and facilitates conversation, or does it generate social tension and make poor white people feel gaslit? What is DEI, why is it so contentious, and can it be implemented effectively? What makes the N-word and blackface so triggering? Why are US racial social norms so culturally dominant and readily exported?  Sam Richards is a sociologist and Teaching Professor at Penn State and a Distinguished Professor at Konkuk University in Seoul, Korea. He runs SOC119, which is the largest race, ethnicity and cultural relations course in the world. Every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon his class is live streamed to 370,000 subscribers from around the world, and his classes have had over 400 million views. His willingness to challenge orthodox thinking led him to be named one of the “101 Most Dangerous  Professors in America” and together with Laurie Mulvey is one of the “parents of radical empathy.”  Laurie Mulvey is the director and co-founder of the World in Conversation Center for Public Diplomacy at Penn State, which is the largest dialogue center in the United States, hosting more than 17,000 participants each academic year. The Center has worked with the UNDP, UNESCO, and NATO, along with organizations and universities in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Palestinian Territories, Israel, Kuwait, Qatar, China, Haiti, Saudi Arabia, and twelve nations in the NATO Alliance to host dialogues between people separated by vast distances and borders. Laurie is a master facilitator, focused on moderating beneficial conversations between different groups on some of the most difficult, hot button topics. ►Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/wd2DytWSAYE ►Find out more about Sam's work here: https://sociology.la.psu.edu/people/sam-richards/ ►Find out more about Laurie's work here: https://sociology.la.psu.edu/people/laurie-mulvey/ These conversations are supported by the Andrea von Braun foundation (http://www.avbstiftung.de/), as an exploration of the rich, exciting, connected, scientifically literate, and (most importantly) sustainable future of humanity. The Andrea von Braun Foundation has provided me with full creative freedom with their support. As such, the views expressed in these episodes are my own and/or those of my guests.  

What is Holography and how does it help us Quantize gravity? In this conversation I speak with Pedro Vieira, one of the worlds leading experts on holographic dualities and their application in quantum gravity. We start our discussion with a few standard but big questions, like why is quantum gravity difficult, what is quantum field theory, and what is gauge symmetry. We then dive into the topic of holography, which in broad and provocative terms is the idea that our universe and everything in it might be a hologram projected from some lower dimensional quantum theory. That is, there might be a duality between the mathematics that describes our world including gravity and the mathematics that describes a world with quantum mechanics and without gravity in one dimension lower. If such a duality were true, then it might provide a radial way of side stepping all of the usual difficulties of quantizing gravity.  ►Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/FdpVxLq_PAk ►Find out more about Pedro here: https://perimeterinstitute.ca/people/pedro-vieira  https://inspirehep.net/authors/1027784  These conversations are supported by the Andrea von Braun foundation (http://www.avbstiftung.de/), as an exploration of the rich, exciting, connected, scientifically literate, and (most importantly) sustainable future of humanity. The Andrea von Braun Foundation has provided me with full creative freedom with their support. As such, the views expressed in these episodes are my own and/or those of my guests.  

In this conversation I speak with Sam Bendett, one of the worlds leading experts on Russian weapons development and capabilities, drones, AI, and the war in Ukraine. Sam is an advisor for the Center for Naval Analyses and an adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, an honorary “mad scientist” with the Mad Scientist Initiative of the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, and a Russian military autonomy and artificial intelligence subject matter expert for the DOD's Defense Systems Information Analysis Center. We discuss drone warfare in Ukraine as it stands today. We cover the range of systems being fielded, counter measures, AI capabilities, what life is like for drone operators and soldiers on the line of contact, drone production pipelines and supply, and more. ►Watch On YouTube: https://youtu.be/cvBQ715PShw ►Find out more about Sam's work here: https://www.cna.org/our-experts/bendett-samuel https://www.csis.org/people/samuel-bendett ►Follow Sam on Twitter & Bluesky: @sambendett, @sambendett.bsky.social   These conversations are supported by the Andrea von Braun foundation (http://www.avbstiftung.de/), as an exploration of the rich, exciting, connected, scientifically literate, and (most importantly) sustainable future of humanity. The Andrea von Braun Foundation has provided me with full creative freedom with their support. As such, the views expressed in these episodes are my own and/or those of my guests.  

Will we ever have an AI for president? In this episode of the podcast I speak with Pedro Domingos about the impact of AI on society, industry, and politics. Pedro is professor emeritus of computer science and engineering at the University of Washington and co-founded the International Machine Learning Society. He is also the Author of `The Master Algorithm' and `2040: A Silicon Valley Satire'. This episode is not a paid advertisement for Pedro's books, but we use his book `2040' to set the context for the discussion.  We discuss the hype and fear surrounding AI and the future of tech, and Pedro gives an insiders view into the realities of AI development and impact. In his view AI is a human made tool. It isn't going to take over the planet like the terminator, but it will be something that is used by humans to shift the balance of power in society, industry, and politics. A particularly interesting aspect of the discussion surrounds digital twins. Imagine a world in which dating apps are replaced with a digital platform in which your digital twin simulates dates, and even entire lives with the digital twins of potential partners. Users would then go on physical dates with the top performing selection. This same idea could be extended to predicting crime, presidential election outcomes, and more. All of a sudden the simulation hypothesis doesn't seem to crazy, when simulations are used to predict future outcomes in the real world. Another key topic in this conversation is that of `wokism'. Pedro discusses `wokism' as a new iteration of cultural marxism, an ideology that reinterprets the dynamics of class struggle through cultural and identity-based lenses. While the creation of wealth in a society is not inherently a zero-sum game—where one person's gain is necessarily another's loss— the division and redistribution of that wealth that has been created is a zero-sum conflict. Pedro suggests that `wokism' is an attempt to shift power and resources within society, but where the division between the oppressed and the privileged is identity based. ►Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/LjBZc-Zh4bc ►Find out more about Pedro's work here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedro_Domingos https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=KOrhfVMAAAAJ&hl=en https://homes.cs.washington.edu/~pedrod/ ►Follow Pedro on Twitter: @pmddomingos These conversations are supported by the Andrea von Braun foundation (http://www.avbstiftung.de/), as an exploration of the rich, exciting, connected, scientifically literate, and (most importantly) sustainable future of humanity. The Andrea von Braun Foundation has provided me with full creative freedom with their support. As such, the views expressed in these episodes are my own and/or those of my guests.  

In this conversation I speak with renegade economist and creator of doughnut economics Kate Raworth. Kate is a Senior Associate at Oxford University's Environmental Change Institute, where she teaches on the Masters in Environmental Change and Management. She is also Professor of Practice at Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences. We speak about economic transformation, and re-imagining economic possibilities for the 21st century. What should we design our economic system to do? Growth in GDP is a nice target to aim for because it is simple, but it doesn't do a very good job of capturing all of the economic externalities associated with market contracts, and in particular the impact of doing business on the environment and human well being. Our economies are beginning to run up against our planets boundaries, and it is becoming increasingly apparent that our planet is finite. So what should our target be if not for endless growth in GDP at the expense of our only known habitable planet? ►Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/edP8rgk6l3g ►Find out more about Kate's work here: https://www.kateraworth.com/about/  ►Follow Kate on Twitter:  @KateRaworth    These conversations are supported by the Andrea von Braun foundation (http://www.avbstiftung.de/), as an exploration of the rich, exciting, connected, scientifically literate, and (most importantly) sustainable future of humanity. The Andrea von Braun Foundation has provided me with full creative freedom with their support. As such, the views expressed in these episodes are my own and/or those of my guests.  

This conversation is the second part of a two part mini-series on Regenerative cattle farming. The question is: Does raising cattle really have to be so damaging to the environment? Can cattle be integrated into a natural system that sequesters carbon from the atmosphere, and if so what would that system look like? Joel Salatin segregates his land into small fenced off areas, which he rotates his cattle through. By moving his herd routinely he gives grass and other wild vegetation optimal time to grow and absorb carbon, and for the cattle to disperse their excreta such that it is optimally absorbed into the fields. By dispersing the impact of his cattle, and introducing a number of complimentary species he is able to reduce the impact of disease and pests without the use of insecticides, pesticides, and other chemical based management approaches. This keeps the soil alive such that smaller organisms can work the carbon deposited by the cattle into the soil. The claim is that this approach is able to sequester carbon. Its also far better for the animals, and leads to a better end product. At 21:00 Joel mentions a connection between autism, and nutrition. The exact causes of autism are not fully understood, but research points to a combination of genetic, environmental, and possibly prenatal influences. Maternal nutrition during pregnancy (including adequate levels of folic acid and vitamin D), gut health, and nutritional deficiencies may influence autism-related symptoms, though no definitive dietary cause has been identified and specialized diets show mixed evidence and require further research. At 1:16:00  Joel mentions health comparisons between Fake meat Substitutes and real beef. I don't know much about that topic yet, but here is somewhere to start looking if you are interested: https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/impossible-and-beyond-how-healthy-are-these-meatless-burgers-2019081517448 At 1:19:51, 1:41:36, and 1:45:48, Joel mentions concerns about an agenda surrounding Claus Schwab, Bill Gates, and population reduction/control. This is a topic that I completely failed to properly question or investigate during the interview itself. This is not a topic that I was aware of or primed for, but there appear to be multiple articles online highlighting conspiracy theories surrounding these topics, and for that reason I would suggest caution regarding them. These are not my views, but the views of my guest. This does not detract from my guest's extensive expertise with cattle and regenerative farming. ►Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Mvp36SgMRMY ►Find out more about Polyface Farm Here: https://polyfacefarms.com/ ►Follow PolyFace Farm on Twitter: @Polyface_Farm These conversations are supported by the Andrea von Braun foundation (http://www.avbstiftung.de/), as an exploration of the rich, exciting, connected, scientifically literate, and (most importantly) sustainable future of humanity. The Andrea von Braun Foundation has provided me with full creative freedom with their support. As such, the views expressed in these episodes are my own and/or those of my guests.

In this conversation I speak with Will Harris, who is a fourth generation cattle farmer. Will originally ran a standard industrial farm, but increasingly became dissatisfied by the welfare of his animals. That started a journey to change the way his farm ran, and over the years he has converted his operation piece by piece into a regenerative farm. That means no more grain feed, no more confined feed lots, no more hormones, no more pesticides. The basic idea is to focus on improving the land in order to leave it better each year. Will has come up with a system that is not only better for the cattle and the consumer, but which also appears to be significantly better for the environment. Its quite common to hear about the environmental problems caused by Beef production, including chemical runoff, loss of top soils, and methane from belches. But these problems are usually associated with intensive farming, where cattle are densely packed, and fed on grain. What does the story look like for regenerative practices? The claim is that when cattle are optimally rotated through paddocks,  their impact on the land is dispersed, and it reduces the need for pesticides, herbicides, hormones, and other pharmaceuticals (both in feed production, and within the herd itself). Solar energy goes into growing the grass, which captures carbon as it grows. Carbon is then processed by the herd on the field, and without wormer, and insecticides and other chemicals being used, a living soil is able to develop, which increases in carbon content over the years, drawing down carbon and fixing it in the soil. But what about methane production? Methanotrophs that metabolize methane are also found within healthy soils - and it might be the case that these species account for the methane produced by cattle. Third party assessments appear to show that White Oak Pastures does significantly better than conventional intensive farming,  and within the margin of error of the study, there is a potential that the beef production is climate positive, storing more carbon in the soil than the pasture-raised cows emit during their lifetime: https://blog.whiteoakpastures.com/blog/carbon-negative-grassfed-beef   ►Watch On Youtube or subscribe on YouTube to see more: https://youtu.be/IYYq2LRe0ow https://www.youtube.com/c/EscapedSapiens?sub_confirmation=1 ►Find out more about White Oak Pastures Here: https://whiteoakpastures.com/ ►Follow White Oak Pastures on Twitter: @whiteoakpasture These conversations are supported by the Andrea von Braun foundation (http://www.avbstiftung.de/), as an exploration of the rich, exciting, connected, scientifically literate, and (most importantly) sustainable future of humanity. The Andrea von Braun Foundation has provided me with full creative freedom with their support. As such, the views expressed in these episodes are my own and/or those of my guests.

In quantum mechanics the state of a physical system is described by a wavefunction, which provides information about the probabilities of various outcomes, such as finding a particle at a particular location in space. This differs dramatically from classical physics, where a particle is described by a definite position and momentum. As a result, quantum mechanics inherently involves a certain level of uncertainty. A key question is whether this uncertainty reflects a fundamental indeterminacy in reality itself or merely our limited knowledge of the physical system. One possibility is that reality could be deterministic, and the wavefunction might simply describe statistical properties, much like temperature and pressure describe the collective behavior of gas molecules. In this view, the true state of the system would be governed by hidden variables—deterministic factors that remain unseen yet produce the probabilistic outcomes we observe in quantum experiments. The standard view, however, is that the universe itself is inherently probabilistic.  Furthermore, Bell's theorem famously rules out “local hidden variable” models, suggesting to many that any such model must allow instantaneous causal influences between spatially separated objects. But is this standard picture as definitive as it seems? In this episode of the podcast, I speak with Rob Spekkens, one of the world's leading experts on the foundations of quantum mechanics. His research explores the idea that a quantum state may represent a state of incomplete knowledge rather than an objective state of reality. Many of the phenomena commonly associated with quantum mechanics—noncommutativity, interference, entanglement, wave-particle duality, and discrete energy levels—can, as Rob demonstrates, be modeled with classical toy models wherein each system has a determinate physical state but where we have incomplete knowledge of this state.. Rob suggests that quantum mechanics may not be as fundamentally different from classical physics as it initially appears. If we truly want to understand quantum reality, we should focus on isolating and investigating the "thin film" of phenomena that distinguish a quantum from a classical world. That's what we discuss in this episode.  ►Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/J2ZIRkfrFlI ►Find out more about Rob's work: https://perimeterinstitute.ca/people/robert-spekkens ►Follow Rob on Twitter: @RobertSpekkens ►Subscribe And Turn On All Notifications To See More: https://www.youtube.com/c/EscapedSapiens?sub_confirmation=1 These conversations are supported by the Andrea von Braun foundation (http://www.avbstiftung.de/), as an exploration of the rich, exciting, connected, scientifically literate, and (most importantly) sustainable future of humanity. The Andrea von Braun Foundation has provided me with full creative freedom with their support. As such, the views expressed in these episodes are my own and those of my guests.

Wheat, soy, corn, potatoes—did we really domesticate the best crops nature had to offer? In this episode of the podcast, I speak with geneticist Padraic J. Flood, who specializes in population and quantitative genetics. Padraic left academia and a position in vertical farming to pursue a dream: the domestication of the Aardaker. The Aardaker is a small, unassuming plant native to moist temperate regions of Europe and Western Asia. It produces edible tubers similar to potatoes, but unlike potatoes, these tubers are rich in protein. This unique combination could yield several times more protein per hectare than soy. Not only that, but the Aardaker is delicious, versatile (much like a potato), and improves soil quality by fixing nitrogen. If Padraic succeeds in domesticating the Aardaker—improving its size, uniformity, and other key traits—he could create a super crop that requires less land, enriches the soil, and potentially returns vast areas of farming land to nature. ►Find out more about Padraic's work: www.aardaia.com These conversations are supported by the Andrea von Braun foundation (http://www.avbstiftung.de/), as an exploration of the rich, exciting, connected, scientifically literate, and (most importantly) sustainable future of humanity. The Andrea von Braun Foundation has provided me with full creative freedom with their support. As such, the views expressed in these episodes are my own and those of my guests.  

In this episode I speak with Professor Thomas Metzinger about how our strong, consciously experienced subjectivity emerges out of objective events in the natural world. According to Thomas, no such things as selves really exist in the world: nobody ever had or was a self. All that exists are what he calls `phenomenal' selves which our brains fabricate. In this episode I try to unpack what this means exactly, and what the implications are.  Note: The first question of this interview has been re-filmed after the interview. Thomas has a new book, which he made open access for everybody to read for free. You can find it here:  https://direct.mit.edu/books/oa-monograph/5725/The-Elephant-and-the-BlindThe-Experience-of-Pure  ►Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/KdHxUo8wRpY These conversations are supported by the Andrea von Braun foundation (http://www.avbstiftung.de/), as an exploration of the rich, exciting, connected, scientifically literate, and (most importantly) sustainable future of humanity. The Andrea von Braun Foundation has provided me with full creative freedom with their support. As such, the views expressed in these episodes are my own and those of my guests.  

Why is alcohol use so widespread? The usual thinking is that despite its negative effects, alcohol is pleasurable and that is why we drink it. But this can't be the whole story because if alcohol is really so bad then cultures that prohibit drinking should dominate over those that like to drink, or you might think that a genetic mutation that makes drinking less pleasurable would spread rapidly through the population. In this conversation I discuss this mystery with sinologist and philosopher Edward Slingerland, who is a Professor of Philosophy at the University of British Columbia, where he also holds appointments in the Departments of Psychology and Asian Studies. Our conversation ranges from the history of alcohol, to its biochemistry and impact on creativity and social life, to a discussion of whether alcohol was necessary for the development of civilization. ► Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/j36sKDsvZUg ► For more information about Edward's work see: https://www.edwardslingerland.com/ https://philosophy.ubc.ca/profile/edward-slingerland-iii/ ►Follow Stephen on X: @slingerland20 These conversations are supported by the Andrea von Braun foundation (http://www.avbstiftung.de/), as an exploration of the rich, exciting, connected, scientifically literate, and (most importantly) sustainable future of humanity. The Andrea von Braun Foundation has provided me with full creative freedom with their support. As such, the views expressed in these episodes are my own and those of my guests.  

This is a conversation with Stephen Wolfram about his proposed theory of everything. Stephen is a British-American computer scientist, mathematician, physicist, and CEO of Wolfram Research. He also created Mathematica, and Wolfram|Alpha & Wolfram Language, and is the Author of 'A New Kind of Science' as well as a number of other books. Stephen's attempt to derive all of the laws of nature (including gravitation, statistical mechanics, and general relativity) rests on two key ideas:  1. The idea of computational irreducibility. In physics we usually deal with systems for which we are able to predict the state of the system at a later time as long as the initial conditions are known. For example, the trajectory of a bullet can be calculated at any point along its path. There are, however, complicated systems like cellular automata where there isn't a closed formula that lets you calculate the state of the system at some arbitrary later point. Instead you are forced to compute the development of the system one step at a time if you want to know how it evolves. Such systems are 'computationally irreducible'. 2. The idea of computational boundedness. This is the idea that we have finite computing power in our brains. There are many complex systems that scale so fast that our bounded computing power isn't enough follow every element of the system (e.g. we can't visualize the motion of the billions of cells in our own bodies, and so instead we develop an aggregated model of ourselves). Starting with these two ideas, Stephen asks what a world with computational irreducibility would look like to a computationally bounded creature living in that world. He then builds a computational model based on hypergraphs (which you can think of as a kind of cellular automata), and from there attempts to re-derive all the laws of nature. This is an extraordinarily ambitious project, that lies somewhat outside of mainstream approaches to physics. The claim is, however, that significant progress has been made, and that this approach really is able to derive interesting aspects of the physical world. This conversation explores the key ideas behind the program. ►Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/T0s_H9c2O28 ► For more information about Stephen's work see: www.stephenwolfram.com www.wolframphysics.org ►Thumbnail source images can be found here: https://company.wolfram.com/press-center/stephen-wolfram/ https://www.wolframphysics.org/visual-gallery/  ►Follow Stephen on X: @stephen_wolfram These conversations are supported by the Andrea von Braun foundation (http://www.avbstiftung.de/), as an exploration of the rich, exciting, connected, scientifically literate, and (most importantly) sustainable future of humanity. This interview is one of a series of interviews that explores the impact of economics on sustainability and the environment. The Andrea von Braun Foundation has provided me with full creative freedom with their support. As such, the views expressed in these episodes are my own and those of my guests.   A big thank you to anonymous for letting me use their space as a temporary studio.

Housing regulation is often put in place for good reasons, namely comfort, safety, environmental protection, availability of utilities and services, and more. With each additional regulation, however, restrictions are being placed on what you can build, where you can build, and how quickly you can build it. Professor Bryan Caplan argues that our current mess of regulations dramatically increases the price of housing, by limiting supply. This, he argues, has disastrous effects on fertility, and many social issues that we care about today, including social mobility and financial inequalities. Bryan argues further that inappropriate zoning and regulation creates widespread environmental damage through urban sprawl, congestion, and by limiting the number of people who are able to live in environmentally less damaging areas of the country (e.g. where heating and air condition is not required throughout the year, or where water is not scarce). Bryan's preference would be to lift many, if not all building regulations. My approach would be somewhat more conservative. We discuss the nuances of the debate in this conversation. ►Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Rh1eFIveLfE ►For more information about Bryan's work: http://www.bcaplan.com/ ►For Bryans new book: https://www.cato.org/books/build-baby-build ►Follow Bryan on X: @bryan_caplan These conversations are supported by the Andrea von Braun foundation (http://www.avbstiftung.de/), as an exploration of the rich, exciting, connected, scientifically literate, and (most importantly) sustainable future of humanity. This interview is one of a series of interviews that explores the impact of economics on sustainability and the environment. The Andrea von Braun Foundation has provided me with full creative freedom with their support. The views expressed in these episodes are my own and those of my guests.  

Julia Berezutskaya is one of the worlds leading researchers working in the area of brain computer interfaces. She is part of the brain-computer interface group (dept. Neurology & Neurosurgery) at UMC Utrecht, where she works at the intersection of fundamental and clinical neuroscience research. A key goal of her work on the computational modeling of cognitive and neurobiological processes is to one day allow for the decoding of naturalistic human speech from the brain signals of patients who have lost all motor function. In this conversation we discuss the basics of her work: what do the implants look like? Where do they go in the brain? What does the signal look like? What is being decoded? How are brain signals decoded? Who is getting these implants, and what is the state of the art? ►Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/JrE-Ux7BnHA ►You can find out more about the EU project that Julia is a part of where she will implant individuals with an intracortical BCI here: https://intrecom.eu/ ►You can see one of the mockup implants she uses here:  https://wysscenter.ch/advances/ability/ ►Visit Julias website to find out more about her work: https://www.juliaberezutskaya.com/ These conversations are supported by the Andrea von Braun foundation (http://www.avbstiftung.de/), as an exploration of the rich, exciting, connected, scientifically literate, and (most importantly) sustainable future of humanity. The views expressed in these episodes are my own and those of my guests.

Carl Bender is an applied mathematician and mathematical physicist holding positions at Washington University in St. Louis, the University of Heidelberg, Imperial College, London. He was also one of my own favorite lecturers. He taught me about perturbation theory and asymptotic series which are powerful mathematical tools for solving difficult problems in physics. I invited Carl on to the podcast to discuss complex numbers, and their application in physics. At a conceptual level Carl talks about the link between mathematics and reality, the history of complex numbers and what they are good for, his research into weird new quantum systems known as PT-symmetric quantum systems, his interactions with Richard Feynman, and the role that beauty plays in Mathematical discovery. ►Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/UbHaAziq6jY ►You can find out more about Carl Here: https://web.physics.wustl.edu/cmb/ These conversations are supported by the Andrea von Braun foundation (http://www.avbstiftung.de/), as an exploration of the rich, exciting, connected, scientifically literate, and (most importantly) sustainable future of humanity. The views expressed in these episodes are my own and those of my guests.  

What role should Nuclear Power play in energy production? This episode of the podcast explores the case for Nuclear Energy. I speak with Rachel Slaybaugh, who was an Associate Professor of Nuclear Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, and a Division Director at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. She also served as a Program Director at the Department of Energy's ARPA‑E, where she created the nuclear fission program. She is currently a partner at DCVC. We discuss three of the main problems that people have with nuclear power: (i) The risk of plant meltdowns, (ii) the storage of nuclear waste, and (iii) the expense of setting up new nuclear plants. We also cover the environmental benefits of nuclear as a low carbon energy source, as well as some of the exciting new advanced reactor designs that are coming online right now. ►Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/BIMj1-GAE4E ►You can find out more about Rachel Here: https://www.dcvc.com/team/rachel-slaybaugh/ ►Follow rachel on twitter: @RachelSlaybaugh These conversations are supported by the Andrea von Braun foundation (http://www.avbstiftung.de/), as an exploration of the rich, exciting, connected, scientifically literate, and (most importantly) sustainable future of humanity. The views expressed in these episodes are my own and those of my guests.  

On this episode of the podcast I speak with UCL Honorary Professor of Economics and ISRS Distinguished Research Fellow Steve keen. Steve famously predicted the 2008 market crash. He is also known for his criticism of modern economic theory, which he views as being inconsistent, unscientific, and empirically unsupported. He is currently working on a new science of economics built upon incontrovertible facts. We discuss the history of economic theory, the problems with neoclassical economics, and the way that our economic theory causes environmental destruction.  ►Watch on YouTube:  https://youtu.be/Ma_TiVNa9wE ►Find out more about Steve's work:  profstevekeen.substack.com/ www.profstevekeen.com ►Support Steve on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ProfSteveKeen or Substack https:// ►Follow Steve on YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/@ProfSteveKeen  These conversations are supported by the Andrea von Braun foundation (http://www.avbstiftung.de/), as an exploration of the rich, exciting, connected, scientifically literate, and (most importantly) sustainable future of humanity. The views expressed in these episodes are my own and those of my guests.

On this episode of the Podcast I speak with economist and public policy analyst Jeffrey Sachs. Jeffrey is Director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University and President of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network. He served as Special Advisor to the UN Secretary General for almost two decades, and is co-founder and chief strategist of the Millennium Promise Alliance, a nonprofit organization dedicated to ending extreme poverty and hunger. In this conversation we cover the question: "Is Capitalism Responsible For the Environmental Destruction We are Seeing Today?" These conversations are supported by the Andrea von Braun foundation (http://www.avbstiftung.de/), as an exploration of the rich, exciting, connected, scientifically literate, and (most importantly) sustainable future of humanity. The views expressed in these episodes are my own and those of my guests. ►Watch on YouTube:  https://youtu.be/kNv94Ggf9YI   ►Find out more about Jeffery's work:  https://www.jeffsachs.org/ https://sdgs.un.org/panelists/mr-jeffrey-d-sachs-29781 https://www.sipa.columbia.edu/communities-connections/faculty/jeffrey-sachs https://csd.columbia.edu/sachs   ►Watch more of Jeffery on YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/@JeffreySachsOfficial2023    

In this episode of the podcast I speak with David Shapiro about some of the threats associated with AI development. We discuss the impact that generative AI will have on truth, trust in evidence, and divisive narratives. Who will pay for AI, and how will that determine the path of its development? Will artificial relationships and generated adult content lead to new forms of sexual addiction and social isolation? What impact will AI have on cyber security, and what will weaponized AI look like? How will AI eventually escape our control?  We close with a brief discussion of UBI, and why humans matter. ►Watch on YouTube:  https://youtu.be/pCtbdYQm16s ►Visit David's Youtube Channel:  https://www.youtube.com/@DavidShapiroAutomator ►Join David's Discord:  https://discord.com/invite/32kNMc2Pqt ►Support David's work on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/daveshap  These conversations are supported by the Andrea von Braun foundation (http://www.avbstiftung.de/), as an exploration of the rich, exciting, connected, scientifically literate, and (most importantly) sustainable future of humanity. The views expressed in these episodes are my own and those of my guests.  

What is narcissism, and why do so many successful people seem to be narcissists? In this conversation I speak with Professor Mitja Back from the university of Muenster, who is one of the worlds leading experts on the topic of Narcissism. We discuss narcissism as a personality trait, how narcissistic traits develop (nature vs nurture), relationship breakdown, narcissism on social media, and the link between narcissism and success. ►Watch On YouTube: https://youtu.be/JXDs3TbIiEk   ►For more information about Mitja's work see: https://www.uni-muenster.de/PsyIFP/AEBack/members/mitja-back.html https://www.mitjaback.de/buecher/ https://www.instagram.com/dr.mitjaback/ https://www.youtube.com/@MitjaBack   These conversations are supported by the Andrea von Braun Foundation (http://www.avbstiftung.de/), as an exploration of the rich, exciting, connected, scientifically literate, and (most importantly) sustainable future of humanity. The views expressed in these episodes are my own and/or those of my guests. 

In this conversation I speak with Professor Kerstin Göpfrich, who works at Heidelberg University at the Center for Molecular Biology (ZMBH), and who is also leading the Max Planck Research Group for the Biophysical Engineering of Life. Kerstin is attempting to construct living cells from scratch, piece by piece from non-living materials. So far she has created cell membranes, cytoskeletons, linkers for connecting cytoskeletons to the cell membrane, a mechanism for cell division, microscopic channels for ion transport in and out of cell membranes, an artificial 'mitochondria' analog, and more. The goal is eventually to put together all of these elements into a self replicating, and autonomous model 'cell'. We discuss her progress, and what it teaches us about the origins of life on earth. We also touch on the ethics of bringing an entirely new branch of life into existence.   ►Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/JBnlKY-9f5c   ►For more information about Kerstin's work see: https://goepfrichgroup.de/kerstin-gopfrich/ https://www.mr.mpg.de/person/53539/14181493   These conversations are supported by the Andrea von Braun Foundation (http://www.avbstiftung.de/), as an exploration of the rich, exciting, connected, scientifically literate, and (most importantly) sustainable future of humanity. The views expressed in these episodes are my own and those of my guests.    

This conversation is about the history of life and earth. I speak with evolutionary biologist and author Olivia Judson, who is best known for her book 'Dr. Tatiana's sex advice to all creation''. Oliva thinks of the history of life on earth in terms of 5 energy epochs, in which life has worked out how to make use of different kinds of energy. These epochs are geochemistry, light, oxygen, flesh, and fire. Olivia explains her fascination with the transformation of life over time, and with what it means to be alive 4.5 billion years into earth's history. Olivia is currently in the final stages of authoring her next popular science book on just this topic. ►Watch Conversation on YouTube: https://youtu.be/NgN5M4UWOMY ►For more information about Olivias work see: https://aeon.co/essays/the-insight-of-darwins-work-on-corals-worms-and-co-evolution https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-017-0138   At 1:14:38 Olivia accidently says cyanobacteria instead of Coccolithophores. At 1:57:12 Olivia accidently says 20,000 base pairs instead of 20,000 genes. Genes are sequences of base pairs. The typical Bacteria have between 2000 and 5000 genes, corresponding to several million base pairs.   These conversations are supported by the Andrea von Braun Foundation (http://www.avbstiftung.de/), as an exploration of the rich, exciting, connected, scientifically literate, and (most importantly) sustainable future of humanity. The views expressed in these episodes are my own and those of my guests.

NOTE: From 0:01:07-0:02:36 the sound quality is lower than the rest of the episode as you are hearing the backup recording.    This conversation is about democracy and scientific literacy. In 2023 Germany shut down the last of its nuclear plants, and is now bringing back several mothballed coal plants to keep the lights on over winter. Was this a smart decision given the scientific consensus that we need to cut carbon emissions? Similar questions can be asked about the banning of GMO crops, or government handling of Covid. More and more, the decisions being made in western democracies have a scientific basis. Can our democracies thrive (or even survive) without a well informed, engaged, and scientifically literate population? In this conversation I speak with Johannes Vogel, who is the Director General of the Natural Science Museum in Berlin, and a Professor of Biodiversity and Public Science at Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany. We discuss the role of museums in society, the unglamorous side of science, open and citizen science, scientific spending, ownership of museum items, the war in Ukraine, preserving museum specimens, the effectiveness of political protest and marches, scientists as politicians, AI and misinformation, and much more. ►Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/KT_p26a_d_M ►For more information about Johannes work: https://www.museumfuernaturkunde.berlin/en/about/team/johannes.vogel   These conversations are supported by the Andrea von Braun Foundation (http://www.avbstiftung.de/), as an exploration of the rich, exciting, connected, scientifically literate, and (most importantly) sustainable future of humanity. The views expressed in these episodes are my own and those of my guests. This episode focuses on the sustainability of western democracies in the face of anti-scientific sentiment.

In this conversation I speak with Dr. Gary Linkov about the ethics and practice of plastic surgery. Gary is a double board certified facial plastic surgeon who specializes in lip lift surgeries and hair restoration. He is also renowned for carrying out complex nasal surgery for US war veterans in need, and for teaching rhinoplasty procedures to the NYU head and neck surgery residents.   Plastic surgery is controversial. On the one hand critics claim that it leads to unhealthy beauty standards, and that aggressive marketing preys upon people who are already under enormous pressure the alter who they are to conform with societies view of beauty. On the other hand our society values personal agency and individual choice, and plastic surgery can help improve self image and quality of life. This is particularly apparent in cases where patients have suffered from physical trauma, or cancer, or who were born with congenital defects. We discuss some of the ethics behind plastic surgery, including who might be an appropriate candidate. We also touch on the technical aspects of the job, including how certain procedures are done.   ►Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/8iOLX1_LbRU ►For more information about Gary's research and work: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=_O-qmfUAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao https://cityfacialplastics.com/dr-gary-linkov/ ►Follow Gary on YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@drgarylinkov These conversations are supported by the Andrea von Braun Foundation (http://www.avbstiftung.de/), as an exploration of the rich, exciting, connected, scientifically literate, and (most importantly) sustainable future of humanity. The views expressed in these episodes are my own and those of my guests.

In this conversation I discuss distributed and decentralized organizations with Jean-Philippe Vergne, who is an associate professor of strategy at University College London. We focus on the development of blockchain technology, which at least in theory should allow for new forms of organization that don't rely on centralized authorities to function. The initial dream was that blockchain technology would drive innovation, provide transparency, limit abuses of power, and provide access to financing for people living in dysfunctional states. Crypto currencies based on the technology might also act as a counterweight to the sovereign monopoly that nation states have on currency creation. As we discuss, however, blockchain networks and applications often maintain elements of centralization and it is often difficult in practice to use the technology to construct organizations that are more distributed than traditional hierarchical organizations. ►Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/qxe5Oiwvk7c ►For more information about JP's research: https://www.mgmt.ucl.ac.uk/people/jeanphilippevergne https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2631787720977052 ►Follow JP on twitter and LinkedIn: https://twitter.com/PirateOrg https://www.linkedin.com/in/jpver/ These conversations are supported by the Andrea von Braun foundation (http://www.avbstiftung.de/), as an exploration of the rich, exciting, connected, scientifically literate, and (most importantly) sustainable future of humanity. The views expressed in these episodes are my own and those of my guests. This episode focuses on new forms of organization and the evolution of societies. 

What is the future of our oceans? On this episode of the Podcast I speak with Dr. Shawn Robinson about marine ecology, aquaculture, and the politics and economics of what ends up on your plate. Shawn is a marine ecologist who did his graduate work at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia on the giant Pacific octopus (MSc) and at the University of British Columbia on biological oceanography off Vancouver Island (PhD). He began his career as a research scientist in 1988 with the Dept. Fisheries and Oceans at the Biological Station in St. Andrews, New Brunswick, Canada, one of Canada's oldest marine research stations. Over the last 35 years, he has been actively engaged in applied ecological research on a wide range of marine invertebrate species such as blue mussels, sea scallops, sea urchins, sea cucumbers, soft-shell clams, lobsters, marine worms, sea lice and marine bacteria. His research team specifically studied the natural ecological processes by which these animals interact with and utilise their environment so that better and more sustainable culture techniques could be developed for the evolution of food production in today's society (such as the concept of integrated multi-trophic aquaculture or IMTA). Most recently, he and other colleagues have been studying sea lice ecology in relation to salmon farming, biodiversity in marine bacteria through eDNA genomic approaches in response to organic impacts, and wild-farmed interactions between natural ecosystems and salmon aquaculture farms. He currently lives in St. Andrews enjoying the retirement pleasures that a coastal town in the Canadian Maritimes provides. These conversations are supported by the Andrea von Braun foundation (http://www.avbstiftung.de/), as an exploration of the rich, exciting, connected, scientifically literate, and (most importantly) sustainable future of humanity. The views expressed in these episodes are my own and those of my guests. This episode looks at the sustainable use of our oceans. ►Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/N805eseQtWA ►Subscribe And Turn On All Notifications To See More: https://www.youtube.com/c/EscapedSapiens?sub_confirmation=1

In only 250 years since colonization, Australia has seen the extinction of 38 species of mammals. Much of the devastation to Australia's native wildlife has been caused or exacerbated by the introduction of invasive pests like cats, dogs, cane toads, camels, and rabbits. A key question is whether science will one day be able to return Australia to its original state? In this conversation I speak with Dr. Stephen Frankenberg about genetic biocontrol and de-extinction. We focus on the use of gene drives, which are genetic tools that can be used to increase the likelihood that a suite of genes will spread throughout a population. Gene drives can be used, to spread infertility into a population over a number of generations, removing that population without having to cull animals. We also discuss the work being done to return the Tasmanian tiger from extinction. ►Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Qeth7hIPNnM ►Check out Stephen's research here: https://blogs.unimelb.edu.au/pasklab/dr-stephen-frankenberg/ https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Fk_RvmoAAAAJ&hl=en ►Follow Stephen on Twitter: @srfrankenberg These conversations are supported by the Andrea von Braun foundation (http://www.avbstiftung.de/), as an exploration of the rich, exciting, connected, scientifically literate, and (most importantly) sustainable future of humanity. The views expressed in these episodes are my own and those of my guests. This episode looks at using technology to preserve species that are in threat of extinction, and to return the wild spaces that have already been destroyed.

Progress in AI development seems to be accelerating, and we might be living through a period in human history that is every bit as significant as the agricultural and industrial revolutions. We might be witnessing the dawn of synthetic general intelligence. In this conversation I speak with David Shapiro who is an AI researcher and YouTube content creator. We discuss the current state of the art LLMs, and the inevitable rise of autonomous AI given current global economic competition. We cover the social implications in the near term and existential threats in the long term, as well as alignment and AI control. ►Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/YfjaspSWI0c ►Check out David's work on alignment here: https://www.gatoframework.org/ ►Visit David's Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@DavidShapiroAutomator ►Join David's Discord: https://discord.com/invite/32kNMc2Pqt ►Support David's work on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/daveshap These conversations are supported by the Andrea von Braun foundation (http://www.avbstiftung.de/), as an exploration of the rich, exciting, connected, scientifically literate, and (most importantly) sustainable future of humanity. The views expressed in these episodes are my own and those of my guests. This episode looks at maintaining human cohesion, birthrates, social security, and world peace in the face of artificial general intelligence. 

Now that the dust has settled to a certain extent, how did we do with the pandemic? Which countries handled the situation best? Did we learn anything? How well did scientists do, and how well did the public, politicians, and the media do? In this episode of the podcast I speak with Australian immunologist and author Peter Doherty. Peter has won a range of distinguished prizes for his research including the Albert Lasker prize for basic medical research and the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine jointly with Rolf M. Zinkernagel. Peter is also a National Trust Australian Living Treasure, and was the 1997 Australian of the year. We discuss immunology, life in research, the Nobel prize, scientific ego, the role of science in politics, the struggles of young scientists, existential risk, and political polarization.   ►Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/ttGFjDcHLCI   ►For more information about Peter: https://www.doherty.edu.au/people/laureate-professor-peter-doherty These conversations are supported by the Andrea von Braun foundation (http://www.avbstiftung.de/), as an exploration of the rich, exciting, connected, scientifically literate, and (most importantly) sustainable future of humanity. The views expressed in these episodes are my own and those of my guests. This episode looks at (medical) science more broadly, and the role it played in maintaining stable and healthy societies during the pandemic. 

It is easy to take peace for granted. In this episode of the podcast I speak with John Kornblum about the hard work that diplomats do in the background to maintain peace between nations. John specializes in European and east–west relations, and played a defining role in many of the important events leading up to the end of the Cold War, and those that led to the current post-cold war security environment. These included the Quadripartite negotiations on Berlin, the Helsinki Final Act, the stationing of nuclear weapons in Europe, President Ronald Reagan's historic 1987 speech at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, German reunification, the Dayton Agreement on the Balkans, enlargement of NATO, the post-Cold War security settlement with Russia and Ukraine and the agreement on compensation of slave laborers and establishment of the Reconciliation Foundation of German Industry. John also served as US Special Envoy to the Balkans and directed two dramatic prisoner and spy exchanges on the Glienicke Bridge in Berlin in 1985 and 1986.   ►Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/tU0q0C0jTUw   ►For more information about John: https://www.csis.org/people/john-c-kornblum These conversations are supported by the Andrea von Braun foundation (http://www.avbstiftung.de/), as an exploration of the rich, exciting, connected, scientifically literate, and (most importantly) sustainable future of humanity. The views expressed in these episodes are my own and those of my guests. This episode covers the maintenance of international relations, the rule of international law, and world peace.

Most of us live nowhere near where our food comes from. which means that the food that we have access to is dictated by conderations like does it travel well, and does it have a long shelf life. Our supply chains also lead to sprawling monocrops, pesticide overuse, and agricultural runoff, as well as biodiversity loss, and a range of other problems. But this might all change in the near future with vertical farming. In this episode of the Podcast I speak with Dr. Vivian Correa Galvis about the future of Vertical Farming. Vivian is a Crow Quality Team Lead at Infarm, which is one of the worlds largest vertical agricultural company. The idea we discuss is simple but dramatic. We might one day be able to return vast amounts of land to nature by bringing crops back into the cities and stacking them vertically in controlled environments. The benefit of controlled environments is the ability to decide on the cultivars that we want to grow, and we can also control runoff and water usage. There are even ways of controlling how fast plants grow, their size, shape, nutrition value, flavor, and colour without altering their genetics. ►Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYWDzhn1CKA  ►For more information about Vivian: https://scholar.google.de/citations?hl=de&user=Tzkz19sAAAAJ&view_op=list_works&sortby=pubdate   ►For more information about Infarm: https://www.infarm.com/   ►Note, that this episode is not a paid advertisement for infarm. Infarm, however, very kindly allowed me to visit their premises in Berlin for this interview.   These conversations are supported by the Andrea von Braun foundation (http://www.avbstiftung.de/), as an exploration of the rich, exciting, connected, scientifically literate, and (most importantly) sustainable future of humanity. The views expressed in these episodes are my own and those of my guests. This episode covers sustainable resource use in agriculture. 

In this episode of the Podcast I speak with Professor Munjed Al Muderis about a new technology that is allowing amputees to walk again. Osseointegration is the direct structural and functional connection between living bone and the surface of a load-bearing artificial implant. While dental implants have long been standard, surgeons are now starting to use this technology to reconstruct missing limbs. We cover some of the technical details of these kinds of surgeries, the complications, and the difficulties of introducing new medical procedures and therapies. ►Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/YINU7GXkkWw   ►For more information about Munjed: https://www.almuderis.com.au/   These conversations are supported by the Andrea von Braun foundation (http://www.avbstiftung.de/), as an exploration of the rich, exciting, connected, scientifically literate, and (most importantly) sustainable future of humanity. The views expressed in these episodes are my own and those of my guests. This episode is the second part of a two part conversation that covers Munjed's world leading work as a surgeon. A key part of this discussion is Munjed's dream of creating a more economically sustainable environment for medicine in Australia. 

In this episode of the Podcast I speak with Professor Munjed Al Muderis about his escape from Iraq as a refugee. In 1999 Munjed was forced to flee Iraq after a busload of army draft evaders were brought into the hospital where he worked to have the top of their ears amputated under Saddam Hussein's orders. The senior surgeon in the operating theatre refused the orders and was immediately interrogated and shot in front of several medical staff. Rather than complying with orders Munjed decided to escape. This conversation covers Munjed's journey from Iraq to Australia as a refugee. We also discuss Australian refugee policies. ►For more information about Munjed: https://www.almuderis.com.au/ These conversations are supported by the Andrea von Braun foundation (http://www.avbstiftung.de/), as an exploration of the rich, exciting, connected, scientifically literate, and (most importantly) sustainable future of humanity. The views expressed in these episodes are my own and those of my guests. This episode is the first part of a two part conversation that covers Munjed's journey from being a refugee to being a world leading surgeon. In the second part of the discussion we discuss one of Munjed's dreams: the goal of creating a more economically sustainable environment for medicine in Australia.

On this episode of the podcast I speak with Professor Hans-Georg Moeller from the University of Macau. Georg's work focusses on Chinese and Comparative Philosophy (specifically Daoism) and on Social and Political Thought (specifically Social Systems Theory). We discuss the role that morality plays as a potent social engineering tool for establishing order and power. While morality is usually thought of in a positive sense, morally charged communication is often rigid and divisive, and leaves little room for mediation. Our morality allows us to frame ourselves as heros for our own actions and claims of ownership, while judging those that disagree with us as not just wrong, but as evil. Georg argues for the benefits a more amoral society, and points to humor as an antidote to moral outrage, and righteous anger.   ►Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/3fh159MqlQs   ►For more information about Georg: https://fah.um.edu.mo/hans-georg-moeller/   ►I highly recommend checking out Georg's own YouTube channels Carefree Wandering and Philosophy in Motion: https://www.youtube.com/@carefreewandering/videos https://www.youtube.com/@philosophyinmotion/videos   ►You can get a 20% discount on Georg's book `You and Your Profile: Identity After Authenticity', by using the promo code CUP20 on the Columbia University Press website: http://cup.columbia.edu/book/you-and-your-profile/9780231196017   These conversations are supported by the Andrea von Braun foundation (http://www.avbstiftung.de/), as an exploration of the rich, exciting, connected, scientifically literate, and (most importantly) sustainable future of humanity. The views expressed in these episodes are my own and those of my guests. This episode focuses on the upsides and downsides of using morality as a social tool for establishing and maintaining power, ownership, and hierarchy. If you find these discussions valuable then please consider liking, sharing, and subscribing. 

On this episode of the podcast I speak with Professor Philipp Huebl about moral myopia, political division, and the spread of "bull$&%t" and misinformation. Bull$&%t, in this case, is something that lies somewhere between lies and truth, or something created by those that are indifferent towards the truth. Philipp is a visiting professor in philosophy and cultural studies at the Universität der Künste. We discuss why fake news and conspiracy is so captivating, and the tribal psychology that makes us susceptible to misinformation and ethical blindness. Our conversation also covers the role that shared morality plays in shaping society, the connection between morality and emotions, and the spread of political division and fake news.   ►View on YouTube: https://youtu.be/2_zTQN6nghA   ►For more information about Philipp: https://www.udk-berlin.de/person/philipp-huebl/ ►Philipp's books can be found here: https://www.amazon.de/Philipp-H%25C3%25BCbl/e/B00OA1DFR0%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share   These conversations are supported by the Andrea von Braun foundation (http://www.avbstiftung.de/), as an exploration of the rich, exciting, connected, scientifically literate, and (most importantly) sustainable future of humanity. The views expressed in these episodes are my own and those of my guests. This episode in focuses on the impact of human individual and group psychology on the development maintenance of stable democracies. If you find these discussions valuable then please consider liking, sharing, and subscribing. 

On this episode of the podcast I speak with Professor Frederike Ambagtsheer about the illegal trade and trafficking in human organs. Frederike has a background in criminology and public international law, has a doctorate on organ trade, and is currently researching organ trafficking at Erasmus MC's Transplant Institute in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. In this conversation we discuss what is currently know about the trade in human organs, focusing on the kidney trade. We cover the experience of some of the victim groups, how operations and transactions take place, and some of the health and financial implications of the trade. Our main focus is the impact of criminalization on human suffering. In particular, we explore whether evidence based alternatives to prohibition might exist that have better population health outcomes.   Note: At around 7:50 and 8:32 Frederike talks about “voluntary” kidney sales using air quotations to indicate that the voluntary nature of donations is extremely questionable, and often occurs under severe financial duress or various forms of coercion. The audio only version has been edited to make these air quotations more explicit.   ►Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/YvgsZFEw8z4   ►For more information about Frederike: https://www.organtraffickingresearch.org/team/frederike-ambagtsheer/   These conversations are supported by the Andrea von Braun foundation (http://www.avbstiftung.de/), as an exploration of the rich, exciting, connected, scientifically literate, and (most importantly) sustainable future of humanity. The views expressed in these episodes are my own and those of my guests. This episode in focuses on building healthy and sustainable societies in the face of an aging population, and in particular on the larger ethical and societal implications of criminalizing demand driven products that society finds morally objectionable. 

On this episode of the podcast I speak with Yanis Varoufakis about the role of banks and politicians. Yanis is an economist, politician, author and Secretary-General of MeRA25. He is perhaps best known for his role as the Greek Minister of Finance during the Greek credit crisis. In our discussion we cover some fairly big questions: When banks are bailed out, who really foots the bill? Who are the winners and losers during inflation? Are those that control the means of production still the dominant class? Why powers do politicians really have? What might a non-exploitative social economy look like in practice and is there a peaceful way to get there?  ► https://youtu.be/IccRwqTThMU ►For more information about Yanis: https://www.yanisvaroufakis.eu/ ►Follow Ola on Twitter: @yanisvaroufakis These conversations are supported by the Andrea von Braun foundation (http://www.avbstiftung.de/), as an exploration of the rich, exciting, connected, scientifically literate, and (most importantly) sustainable future of humanity. The views expressed in these episodes are my own and those of my guests.   

On this episode of the podcast I speak with Ola Wikander about the field of “Nuclear Semiotics”, the scholarly discussion concerning communicating information about nuclear waste disposal into the far future. Ola is a Ugaritologist, Hebraist, Semitist, author, and Senior Lecturer at Lund University. He specializes in ancient languages and religions of the near east, and in particular the texts of Ugarit, which was a city state destroyed c. 1185 BC.   Assuming we work out a secure way of dealing with our nuclear waste, how do we let our descendants 10,000 years into the future know that that is what we have done, bearing in mind that the oldest written text is only around 5,000 years old. In 10,000 years our descendants will likely live in an entirely different symbolic universe. Borders (if borders still exist) will have shifted, our political systems will be entirely new, and none of the languages spoken today will be recognizable. Furthermore, even if we can make our message understandable, there is no guarantee that our descendants will listen or care. Museums all over the world are filled with deceased kings warning people not to move their bodies.   The discussion begins with the history, texts, religion, and destruction of Ugarit, as well as the links that Ugarit had to the early texts and religion of the israelites. It ends with nuclear waste, and the difficulties of transmitting information into the distant future. We cover some of the more unique suggested solutions to the problem, including `Atomic Priesthood', proposed by linguist Thomas Sebeok, a semi-religious council, responsible for passing on knowledge down the generations through artificially created ritual-and-legend.   Note: At around 13:00 minutes into the video we discuss techniques for learning new languages. Despite what was said in the video, there have been new developments: lately, an online lesson series teaching Ugaritic by immersion has actually been started by Benjamin Kantor - see here: https://biblicalhebrew.com/tv-show/immersion-ugaritic/   ►Watch on Youtube: https://youtu.be/WvCmG0w8vko   ►For more information about Ola's research: https://portal.research.lu.se/en/persons/ola-wikander   ►Follow Ola on Twitter: @OlaWikander These conversations are supported by the Andrea von Braun foundation (http://www.avbstiftung.de/), as an exploration of the rich, exciting, connected, scientifically literate, and (most importantly) sustainable future of humanity. The views expressed in these episodes are my own and those of my guests. Many thanks to Bill Edwards for suggestion the topic of this interview. 

For many people the question of whether or not women are treated more unfairly than men is so obvious that is obscene to challenge the assumption. But if we are genuinely interested in creating a more equal society, then as society develops our biases should be routinely returning to with sober eyes. How should those issues that affect men, such as conscription, incarceration rates, suicide rates, circumcision, custody issues, steroid use, low university attendance rates, poor school performance, etc, enter into the gender equality discussion? In this episode of the podcast I speak with Professor of Economics, Bryan Caplan from George Mason University. Bryan uses a range of techniques and tools from economics to analyze today's most important social issues from a quantitative standpoint. We discuss whether the status of women as a minority or victim class still remains compatible with an evidence based approach to building a fairer, more empathetic, and more egalitarian society in 21st century western democracies. Note: I am currently looking for a feminist academic to balance the viewpoint presented here. If you have any suggestions please feel free to let me know here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdMjEDRe5qck8BluVfFUS05iCMeAeG1F6Htng31a9qPD8w8nw/viewform   ►Watch on Youtube: https://youtu.be/yOf555BoJ9k ►For more information about Bryan's work: http://www.bcaplan.com/ ►For Bryans book on feminism see: https://amzn.to/3AZ9lQl  These conversations are supported by the Andrea von Braun foundation (http://www.avbstiftung.de/), as an exploration of the rich, exciting, connected, scientifically literate, and (most importantly) sustainable future of humanity. The views expressed in these episodes are my own and those of my guests.   

In this episode of the podcast I discuss the state of marine fisheries with Professor Trevor Branch from the University of Washington. Trevor specializes in data synthesis and constructing mathematical models to determine the health of fish populations. Often in the media one sees stories of collapsing fish populations and dire predictions of species extinction and a future with empty seas. The goal of this episode was to find out what the science says about the actual current status of our oceans, and to learn about the work that is being done to ensure that future generations continue to enjoy the abundance and diversity of the sea. What emerges is a nuanced picture of ocean protection that involves tradeoffs between the protection of different land and ocean ecosystems, political motives, and economics. This conversation was supported by the Andrea von Braun foundation (http://www.avbstiftung.de/), as an exploration of the rich, exciting, connected, scientifically literate, and (most importantly) sustainable future of humanity. ►For more information about Trevor's work: https://fish.uw.edu/faculty/trevor-branch/    ►Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/2pds5UDB380   

In this episode of the podcast I speak with developmental and synthetic biologist Michael Levin from Tufts University. Michael is a director of the Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University and Tufts Center for Regenerative and Developmental Biology. He is also co-director of the Institute for Computationally Designed Organisms. We discuss the implications of Michael's research in medicine and society including cures for cancer, regenerating limbs, and the creation of artificial super intelligences. We also address the criticism that this research sometimes from those who think that it is 'unnatural' to meddle with human biology. This conversation was supported by the Andrea von Braun foundation (http://www.avbstiftung.de/), as an exploration of the rich, exciting, connected, scientifically literate, and (most importantly) sustainable future of humanity.   ►Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/mY0MB0J4vTs ►For more information about Michael's work: https://allencenter.tufts.edu/our-team/michael-levin/ https://icdorgs.org/people/   SOCIAL: ► Twitter: https://twitter.com/EscapedSapiens ► Website: https://www.escapedsapiens.com/ ► Support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/EscapedSapiens Subscribe  

What are our digital lifestyles doing to our eyes? In this conversation I speak with Alex Müntz, who is a Romanian clinical scientist and research fellow in the department of ophthalmology at the University of Auckland in New Zealand. From weird anatomy, to the disgusting mites that colonize your eyes, we talk about eye health and everything you never knew you didn't know about eyes.   This conversation was supported by the Andrea von Braun foundation (http://www.avbstiftung.de/), as an exploration of the rich, exciting, connected, scientifically literate, and (most importantly) sustainable future of humanity.   This episode of the podcast was made as a collaboration with the Bucharest science festival, to help spread the joy of Science in Romania. For more information see: https://www.bucharestsciencefestival.ro/   ►Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/JX2kYWJEeD4   ►For more information about Alex and his work see: https://profiles.auckland.ac.nz/a-muntz   ►Tear stimulation device: https://pricevisiongroup.com/conditions/dry-eye/truetear/   SOCIAL:   ► Twitter: https://twitter.com/EscapedSapiens   ► Website: https://www.escapedsapiens.com/   ► Support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/EscapedSapiens

This Episode of the Podcast was supported by the Andrea von Braun foundation. See http://www.avbstiftung.de/ for more information.   Is the study of urban warfare a science? In this conversation I speak with John W. Spencer, who is chair of urban warfare studies at the Modern War Institute at West Point, codirector of the Urban Warfare Project, and host of the Urban Warfare Project Podcast. The conversation ranges from John's personal experiences leading in war, to his experience on the ground doing research in Ukraine and Nagorno-Karabakh, to explanations of many aspects of war. ►Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/KbRxQ_CGAsU   ►The views expressed in this conversation by John are his own, and he is not acting as a representative of his other affiliations. For more information about John and his work see: https://mwi.usma.edu/staff/john-spencer/ ►Subscribe And Turn On All Notifications To See More: https://www.youtube.com/c/EscapedSapiens?sub_confirmation=1   SOCIAL: ► Twitter: https://twitter.com/EscapedSapiens ► Website: https://www.escapedsapiens.com/ ► Support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/EscapedSapiens    

Note: This episode is not a paid advertisement for Ian's new book. This is a conversation with archaeologist, historian, and professor of classics Ian Morris from Stanford University. We discuss how factors like soft power, and geography shape the flow of history, and what contemporary issues like Brexit and the conflict in Ukraine look like from the perspective of the last 10,000 years of history. ►Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/_qJDfkNnOC8 ►For information about Ian's most recent book see: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374157272/geographyisdestiny ►For more information about Ian's work, and a full list of written works see: https://classics.stanford.edu/people/ian-morris   SOCIAL: ► Twitter: https://twitter.com/EscapedSapiens ► Website: https://www.escapedsapiens.com/ ► Support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/EscapedSapiens  

On this episode of the podcast I speak with geologist and planetary scientist Dr. Tanya Harrison, to find out what it is like to do research with the robots currently being used to explore Mars. Tanya worked for years on NASAs Perseverance, Curiosity, and Opportunity rovers, as well as the with Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Part of Tanya's work was to select interesting locations for the Reconnaissance orbiter to take imagery of. Since working as a mission specialist with NASA rovers and orbiters, Tanya continues to work as a planetary scientist and scientific director at Planet Labs, and she is also a Fellow of the University of British Columbia's Outer Space Institute. We discuss the limits of remote research on other planets. How do scientists use meteorite impacts, and other geological signs to date a planet? What tools do the rovers have to look for life? Who gets naming rights when something interesting is found? After colonization will the rovers end up in a museum on mars? If the orbits of mars and Venus were switched, would Venus become a habitable planet like earth? These questions and more. ►View on YouTube https://youtu.be/73_ZflnnYGM ►For more information about Tanya: https://www.tanyaharrison.com/about/ ►Follow Tanya on Twitter: @tanyaofmars ►Intro music by NEFFEX SOCIAL: ► Twitter: https://twitter.com/EscapedSapiens ► Website: https://www.escapedsapiens.com/ ► Support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/EscapedSapiens

In this episode of the podcast I speak with developmental and synthetic biologist Michael Levin from Tufts University. Michael is a director of the Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University and Tufts Center for Regenerative and Developmental Biology. He is also co-director of the Institute for Computationally Designed Organisms. We discuss the way that organisms grow and regenerate. In particular - how does the large scale structure of our bodies form (the size, shape, arrangement of all the organs)? Michael and his colleagues are learning how to read, and overwrite the bodies bioelectrical signaling, which controls the way we develop. What unfolds is a story about building two headed organisms, re-growing the legs and other organs of frogs, and the dream of one day curing cancer, reverse aging, and the cure for all current medical conditions with the exception of infectious disease. The story also touches on the definition of life and intelligence, and how the world might look once we are able to design our own organisms. Big thanks to Patreon Subscriber Bruce Burman for suggesting this guest.   ►Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/6Q59Zx-h2Jc   ►For more information about Michael's work: https://allencenter.tufts.edu/our-team/michael-levin/ https://icdorgs.org/people/   SOCIAL: ► Twitter: https://twitter.com/EscapedSapiens ► Website: https://www.escapedsapiens.com/ ► Support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/EscapedSapiens  

In this episode of the podcast I speak with Daniel Schubert from the German Aerospace Center about designing and creating bioregenerative life-support systems for use in hostile and alien environments. Daniel is the leader of the Eden initiative, which over the past few years has been testing greenhouse food production in Antarctica in preparation for the implementation of plant production in Moon and Mars Habitats. We discuss the unexpected challenges of growing plants in hostile environments, building economically viable space colonies, the value of space exploration, future plans for space faring systems, environmental destruction, and the future of humanity. ►Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/_bU4RCneXeM ►For more information about Daniel's work: https://eden-iss.net/index.php/contact/  https://www.dlr.de/irs/ SOCIAL: ► Twitter: https://twitter.com/EscapedSapiens ► Website: https://www.escapedsapiens.com/ ► Support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/EscapedSapiens 

How complex does animal communication get? How much information is encoded in dog barks, the clicks of sperm whales, or the chirps of small birds? In this conversation I speak with Irene Pepperberg, who is an expert on animal communication and cognition, best known for her work with African grey parrots. We discuss the remarkable abilities of her birds, from large vocabularies and complex verbal understanding, to counting and puzzle solving, to even competing with young children on certain cognitive tests. We also touch on deeper questions about how animals might see the world, the link between intelligence and personhood, the morals and ethics of doing science with highly intelligent animals, as well as the morals and ethics that animals themselves might have.   ►Watch on Youtube: https://youtu.be/HQvfs94IZYI   ►For more information about Irene's work, or if you would like to support her research: https://alexfoundation.org/   SOCIAL: ► Twitter: https://twitter.com/EscapedSapiens ► Website: https://www.escapedsapiens.com/ ► Support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/EscapedSapiens

This is a conversation with Ankit Panda about nuclear proliferation and deterrence. Ankit Panda is the Stanton Senior Fellow in the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. An expert on the Asia-Pacific region, his research interests range from nuclear strategy, arms control, missile defense, nonproliferation, emerging technologies, and U.S. extended deterrence. We discuss: mutually assured destruction and mutual unacceptable damage - Kim Jong Un's foreign and domestic nuclear policies and capabilities. - The impact of Russian incursions into Ukraine on nuclear proliferation. - What the US, China, and Russia want from north Korea. - How Russian estrangement ties in with US geopolitical strategy. - New weapons like drones, hypersonics, and AI. - Chinas expansion in the Asia Pacific, US strategic insolvency, and peace ►Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/PqC8C-Tn8YM ►For more information about Ankit's work including his podcast appearances, journal articles, books, etc: https://www.ankitpanda.com/about-me/ ►Follow Ankit on Twitter: https://twitter.com/nktpnd Note: This episode was filmed just before the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. If you are interested in providing humanitarian support here is one option: https://unitedhelpukraine.org/ SOCIAL: ► Twitter: https://twitter.com/EscapedSapiens ► Website: https://www.escapedsapiens.com/ ► Support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/EscapedSapiens 

This is the second part of a two part conversation with Mark Benecke, forensic biologist, forensic entomologist, NRW state chairman for German's Die Partei, chairman of the Pro Tattoo association, and much more. Both halves can be watched independently for the most part. Mark investigates how insect life develops at crime scenes. Because he works all over the world, I was wondering if he had seen a drop in insect populations during the past decades. There have been reports in Germany that populations have dropped by as much as 80% in recent years, but records are scant elsewhere in the world. I was hoping that forensic science might be able to fill in the gaps! Apart from insects we discuss modern forensic techniques, the Epstein trial, data protection laws, psychopaths, and the future of criminal investigation. ►Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/fLIJNhSoMR4  ►For more information about Mark's work I highly recommend visiting his website, where you can find his research, a great gallery of photos, information about presentations, and more: https://home.benecke.com/ ►Mark also has an excellent YouTube channel, which I highly recommend. It is mostly in German, but there is also interesting English content: https://www.youtube.com/user/wwwSatankade/videos ► You can also find Mark on facebook and Instagram: https://fb.com/markbenecke & https://instagram.com/markito_benecke