Inner Cosmos with David Eagleman

Cognitive scientist Lera Boroditsky explores the influence of language on perception and attention, discussing topics such as color perception, representation of time, black storytelling, cultural orientation awareness, orientation patterns, thinking patterns, grammar's impact on children's thinking, and the relationship between language and our brains.

Explore the possibilities and limitations of mind-reading technology, including portable brain scanning in airports. Discover the incredible potential of brain-computer interfaces in controlling the outside world. Learn about the decoding of words from brain signals and the complex nature of thoughts. Understand the challenges of brain interpretation and understanding someone's thoughts and emotions. Find out how to access more podcast content and enjoy some travel and sale advertisements.

Explore the phenomenon of word aversion and its connection to synesthesia, autism, shapes, and sound probabilities. Discover why certain words like 'moist' trigger strong negative emotional responses. Learn about the mere exposure effect and how repeated exposure to something can lead to a preference for it. Dive into the concept of neighborhood density and its relation to word aversion. Get insights into ongoing research on the genetic and neural bases of word aversion.

David Eagleman is joined by Christopher Chabris and Dan Simons to discuss their book, Nobody's Fool. They explore various topics related to deception, including understanding others, cognitive shortcuts, the deception of attention, the confidence of AI models, struggling to update beliefs, and expanding mental models.

Exploring the brain's ability to readjust its circuitry and its impact on our perceptions. Topics include motion after effect, visual aftereffects, the McCulloch effect, adaptation in the brain, invisible parts of the world, predicting and filtering sensory information, and retina functions in day and night.

Explore the challenges of deciphering an alien language and the parallels to understanding communication among Earth's diverse species. Delve into the Fermi Paradox and uncover intriguing hypotheses surrounding the absence of extraterrestrial signals. Discover the power of data and AI in opening up infinite possibilities. Explore advancements in AI for translating and decoding animal languages. Discuss the challenges of understanding and translating the language of an alien species. Explore the potential of technology in decoding animal languages and communicate with extraterrestrial beings in the future.

Explore the science of attractiveness and beauty, the biology of beauty and attraction, the power of attractiveness in decision-making, unraveling the hidden nature of instincts and the science of attraction, understanding the brain's mechanisms of attraction, unconscious signals of fertility and attractiveness, and the role of anticipation and biased judgments.

Would you torture someone if you were commanded by an authority figure? To what degree are your decisions contextual, and what does this have to do with matching the length of a line, the Iroquois Native Americans, the banality of evil, soldiers posing with dead bodies of their enemies, propaganda, giving shocks to a stranger, or how we should educate our children? Join Eagleman for part 2 of the exploration into brains, dehumanization, and what we can do to improve our possible future.

Why do we so naturally form ingroups and outgroups? And what does that have to do with evolution, monkeys, Greeks, psychopaths, Syndrome E, and propaganda posters? Join Eagleman to learn why our brains are so wired for tribalism, what the consequences are for the world, and how a bit of knowledge goes a long way to making us more immune to propaganda. 

How good is your memory, really? Why do we feel so certain about our memory, even while it is so suspect? Can something told to you after an event change your memory of the event? Why is it so hard to reconstruct a face? Is there a relationship between confidence and accuracy? How is your ability to remember a scene changed if there's a gun pointed at you? Join Eagleman to find out why eyewitness testimony is the most questionable technology we allow in courts.