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

Welcome to the March 2025 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded by Patreon supporters [https://www.patreon.com/seanmcarroll] (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number -- based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the questions themselves are good -- and sometimes group them together if they are about a similar topic. Enjoy! Link to the 2012 Moving Naturalism Forward [https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/naturalism2012/] workshop, mentioned in the episode. Blog post with questions and full transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/03/10/ama-march-2025/ [https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/03/10/ama-march-2025/] Support Mindscape on Patreon [https://www.patreon.com/seanmcarroll]. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy [https://art19.com/privacy] and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info [https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info].

A lot of science goes into crafting the perfect cocktail. Balancing sweet and bitter notes, providing the right amount of aeration and dilution, getting it to just the right temperature and keeping it that way. And even if you have no interest in cocktails as such, the general principles extend to other activities in art and in life. I talk to scientist-turned-mixologist Kevin Peterson about how to think about the simple magic of a perfect drink. Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/03/03/307-kevin-peterson-on-the-theory-of-cocktails/ [https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/03/03/307-kevin-peterson-on-the-theory-of-cocktails/] Support Mindscape on Patreon [https://www.patreon.com/seanmcarroll]. Kevin Peterson received a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan. He is currently co-owner of both Castalia [https://www.castaliacocktails.com/] (an experimental craft cocktail bar) and Sfumato Fragrances [https://sfumatofragrances.com/] in Detroit, Michigan. He is the author of Cocktail Theory: A Sensory Approach to Transcendent Cocktails [https://sfumatofragrances.com/products/cocktail-theory]. Mindscape Petrichor Negroni (from the episode) * 1 part gin distilled from vetiver [https://www.britannica.com/plant/vetiver] * (alternative: herbaceous gin such as Moletto [https://www.molettogin.com/]) * 1 part St. George Bruto Americano [https://stgeorgespirits.com/spirits/bruto-americano/] * 1 part Antica Formula [https://www.carpano.com/en/prodotto/antica-formula-2/?age-verified=d1e48f1b60] vermouth Stir over an ice cube, express with orange peel (not shown). See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy [https://art19.com/privacy] and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info [https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info].

It is commonplace to refer to the Earth's oceans as vast and largely unexplored. But we do understand some aspects, and improving that understanding is crucial to ensuring the continued viability and success of life on this planet. The oceans are a paradigmatic complex system: there are many components, distinct but mutually interacting, that add up to a nuanced whole. We talk with ocean physicist Helen Czerski about what the ocean is and how it's changing. Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/02/24/306-helen-czerski-on-our-energetic-oceans/ [https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/02/24/306-helen-czerski-on-our-energetic-oceans/] Support Mindscape on Patreon [https://www.patreon.com/seanmcarroll]. Helen Czerski received her Ph.D. in physics from the University of Cambridge. She is currently an Associate Professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering at University College London. She is the author of several books, most recently The Blue Machine: How the Ocean Works [https://www.amazon.com/Blue-Machine-How-Ocean-Works-ebook/dp/B0BWGY28Z4?ref_=ast_author_dp]. She is a frequent television presenter for the BBC and elsewhere. * Web site [https://www.helenczerski.net/] * UCL web page [https://profiles.ucl.ac.uk/42545-helen-czerski] * Google Scholar publications [https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C21&q=helen+czerski&btnG=&oq=helen+] * Wikipedia [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Czerski] * Amazon author page [https://www.amazon.com/stores/Helen-Czerski/author/B01J95066E] * Bluesky [https://bsky.app/profile/helenczerski.bsky.social] See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy [https://art19.com/privacy] and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info [https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info].

Political outcomes would be relatively simple to predict and understand if only people were well-informed, entirely rational, and perfectly self-interested. Alas, real human beings are messy, emotional, imperfect creatures, so a successful theory of politics has to account for these features. One phenomenon that has grown in recent years is an alignment of cultural differences with political ones, so that polarization becomes more entrenched and even violent. I talk with political scientist Lilliana Mason about how this has come to pass, and how democracy can deal with it. Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/02/17/305-lilliana-mason-on-polarization-and-political-psychology/ [https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/02/17/305-lilliana-mason-on-polarization-and-political-psychology/] Support Mindscape on Patreon [https://www.patreon.com/seanmcarroll]. Lilliana Hall Mason received her Ph.D. in political psychology from Stony Brook University. She is currently an SNF Agora Institute Associate Professor of Political Science at Johns Hopkins University. She is the author of Uncivil Agreement: How Politics Became Our Identity [https://www.amazon.com/Uncivil-Agreement-Politics-Became-Identity/dp/022652454X/] and co-author (with Nathan Kalmoe) of Radical American Partisanship: Mapping Violent Hostility, Its Causes, and the Consequences for Democracy [https://www.amazon.com/Radical-American-Partisanship-Hostility-Consequences-ebook/dp/B09RVFRDVM]. * Web Site [https://www.lillianamason.com/] * Hopkins web page [https://snfagora.jhu.edu/person/lilliana-mason/] * Google Scholar publications [https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=hAKarYwAAAAJ&hl=en] * Bluesky [https://bsky.app/profile/lilymasonphd.bsky.social] See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy [https://art19.com/privacy] and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info [https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info].

The Trump administration, led by Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency, has proposed sweeping cuts [https://www.npr.org/2025/02/10/nx-s1-5292161/trump-administration-makes-deep-cuts-to-science-funding] to spending on science research here in the US, in particular at the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. I explain a little about what is being cut and why these funds are important to scientific progress. I try, for what it's worth, to provide these explanations in a way that would be informative to those who generally favor cutting government waste in dramatic fashion. Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/02/12/bonus-cuts-to-science-funding-and-why-they-matter/ [https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025/02/12/bonus-cuts-to-science-funding-and-why-they-matter/] Support Mindscape on Patreon [https://www.patreon.com/seanmcarroll]. * Indirect costs primer [https://nanoscale.blogspot.com/2025/02/indirect-costs-potential-unintended.html] * Cuts to NIH indirect costs [https://www.science.org/content/article/nih-slashes-overhead-payments-research-sparking-outrage] * Appropriated funds are mandated by statute [https://buttondown.com/sbagen/archive/indirect-costs-and-trumps-attack-on-independent/] * Proposed NSF cuts [https://www.science.org/content/article/my-boss-was-crying-nsf-confronts-potentially-massive-layoffs-and-budget-cuts] * Elon Musk doesn't understand indirect costs [https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1888022189984858476] * Shrimp treadmill story [https://x.com/pitdesi/status/1886642596296229365] * Bribing foreign officials [https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-loosen-enforcement-us-law-banning-bribery-foreign-officials-2025-02-10/] * Deleting NSA web pages [https://popular.info/p/the-nsas-big-delete] * Executive Orders are not laws [https://www.verifythis.com/article/news/verify/donald-trump/executive-orders-are-not-same-laws-passed-by-congress/536-bd4e950e-713b-42e9-b83b-e1ef7f99d19f] * History of impoundments [https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/what-you-need-to-know-about-impoundment-and-how-trump-vows-to-use-it] See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy [https://art19.com/privacy] and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info [https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info].