SciShow Tangents

Trick or Treat Month: Theories with Dan Schreiber!

Oct 17, 2023

Guest Dan Schreiber, podcaster, author, and mad genius, talks about the weirdest, creepiest, most otherworldly theories ever devised. Topics include eccentric scientists, the friendship paradox, the Infinite Monkey Theorem, theory of mind, and the origins of 'anal retentive'.

54:47

Creator website

Episode guests

Dan Schreiber

AI Summary

AI Chapters

Episode notes

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

The theory of mind investigates how individuals perceive others to have thoughts, beliefs, and experiences, and differs from scientific theories in that it focuses on perception rather than explaining how minds work.

Nostradamus, often associated with predicting future events, was a scientifically minded individual who made contributions to science, such as describing benzoic acid and creating his own jam recipes.

Deep dives

The Infinite Monkey Theorem and the Curious Case of Sarah the Chimpanzee

The theory of mind investigates the understanding of mental states and intentions in humans and animals. The term 'theory of mind' was coined during a study with a chimpanzee named Sarah, who demonstrated an ability to infer intention from human behavior. This theory examines how individuals perceive others to have thoughts, beliefs, and experiences. The false belief task, where children predict someone's belief about the world, is commonly used to assess theory of mind. The term originated in the study of chimpanzees, but has since been applied to human cognition as well. In 1978, a team of researchers investigated whether chimpanzees could understand intention by observing their reactions to videotaped scenes featuring a human actor. The researchers concluded that the chimpanzee, Sarah, grasped the intention of the actor based on her selections of pictures representing solutions. While theory of mind explores the complexities of mental states and understanding, it differs from scientific theories in that it focuses on perception rather than explaining how minds work.

Introduction

2min

Theories and Glowing Raccoons

26min

The Friendship Paradox and its Theories

7min

The Infinite Monkey Theorem and the Complexity of Approximating Human Behavior

12min

Exploring Theory of Mind

5min

Monkeys, Podcasts, and Beliefs

2min

The Origins of 'Anal Retentive'

2min

Trick or Treat Month returns... and this time it's personal! Join us for another month of spooky themes and special surprise guest apparitions! Try not to get too scared!

Our yearly cavalcade of terror rolls on with a new Grand Marshall of Terror: podcaster, author, and mad genius Dan Schreiber! And he's here to tell us about the weirdest, creepiest, most otherworldly theories ever devised of! There are lots of science-y ideas out there, and not all of them can be right, after all!

SciShow Tangents is on YouTube! Go to www.youtube.com/scishowtangents to check out this episode with the added bonus of seeing our faces!

Head to www.patreon.com/SciShowTangents to find out how you can help support SciShow Tangents, and see all the cool perks you’ll get in return, like bonus episodes and a monthly newsletter! A big thank you to Patreon subscribers Garth Riley and Glenn Trewitt for helping to make the show possible!

And go to https://store.dftba.com/collections/scishow-tangents to buy some great Tangents merch!

Follow us on Twitter @SciShowTangents, where we’ll tweet out topics for upcoming episodes and you can ask the science couch questions!

While you're at it, check out the Tangents crew on Twitter: Ceri: @ceriley Sam: @im_sam_schultz Hank: @hankgreen

[Trivia Question]

The Classification of Quasithin Groups page number

https://www.livescience.com/33628-funny-physics-theorems-names.html

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/researchers-race-to-rescue-the-enormous-theorem-before-its-giant-proof-vanishes/

https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Classification_of_Quasithin_Groups.html?id=KC0ZAQAAIAAJ

https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn20893-prize-awarded-for-largest-mathematical-proof/

[Fact Off]

Infinite monkey theorem test in a zoo

https://law.stanford.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/PATENTS-IN-AN-ERA-OF-INFINITE-MONKEYS-AND-ARTIFICIAL-INTELLIGENCE.pdf