TrueSciPhi

Podcast Profile: The Big Idea

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42 episodes
2018 to 2020
Median: 10 minutes
Collection: SciPhi-Adjacent

Description (podcaster-provided):

Themes and summary (AI-generated based on podcaster-provided show and episode descriptions):

This podcast explores “big ideas” that are influencing how we understand society, human behaviour, and the future. Hosted by David Edmonds, it uses interviews with leading researchers and thinkers across disciplines—especially psychology, neuroscience, economics, philosophy, anthropology, criminology, and political science—to explain current debates and findings in an accessible way.

A recurring focus is the science of the mind and decision-making: how emotions arise in the body and brain, why addiction involves wanting without liking, what sleep is for, how memory can be distorted, and why beliefs and preferences may be more fragile than people assume. Several conversations examine social behaviour and moral life, including fairness, trust, disgust, laughter, friendship networks, and the dynamics behind online outrage and reputation.

The podcast also looks outward to institutions and large-scale social outcomes. Topics include how democracies respond to crises like famine, what drives national prosperity, how inequality shapes anxiety and health, and how discrimination and implicit bias operate. There is attention to law and public safety as well, from identifying problem police officers to understanding cross-national differences in homicide and strategies for resisting dictatorship.

Technology and data-driven change appear frequently, including big-data analyses of cities, app-based labour markets, artificial intelligence in medicine, and the possibility of superintelligent machines. Public health and the environment also feature, with discussions of pandemic preparedness and proposals to reduce climate impacts from livestock. Overall, the series connects empirical research with practical questions about how people and societies function.

Episodes:

Fighting pandemics 2020-Dec-19 11 minutes

The science of addiction 2020-Dec-12 11 minutes

The new normal 2020-Dec-05 11 minutes

Do cities need rules? 2020-Nov-28 9 minutes

The science of sleep 2020-Nov-21 14 minutes

The importance of fairness 2020-Nov-14 12 minutes

How do we spot rogue cops? 2020-Nov-07 11 minutes

Understanding emotions: Should we follow our hearts? 2020-Oct-31 12 minutes

Ubernomics 2020-Oct-24 15 minutes

Why living in the city could make you happier 2020-Oct-17 13 minutes

Why do we find things disgusting? 2020-Oct-10 13 minutes

The fragility of choice 2020-Oct-03 9 minutes

The truth about marriage 2020-Sep-26 10 minutes

How to topple a dictator 2020-Sep-19 9 minutes

Why do we laugh? 2020-Sep-12 10 minutes

The Afterlife 2018-Sep-23 9 minutes

Why Are Some Nations Rich? 2018-Sep-16 9 minutes

How does language work? 2018-Sep-09 10 minutes

A Future Without Doctors? 2018-Sep-02 8 minutes

The Intelligent Tree 2018-Aug-26 9 minutes

Consciousness: A Strange Theory 2018-Aug-19 10 minutes

The Teenage Brain 2018-Aug-12 10 minutes

How To Stop Murder 2018-Aug-05 9 minutes

Democracy and Famine 2018-Jul-29 9 minutes

Dimensions of Discrimination 2018-Jul-22 11 minutes

Inequality Makes Us Anxious 2018-Jul-15 10 minutes

Are We All Racist? 2018-Jul-08 11 minutes

The New Distrust 2018-Jul-01 10 minutes

Contact Theory 2018-Jun-24 9 minutes

Economics and Mosquito Nets 2018-Jun-17 10 minutes

Memory Wars 2018-Jun-10 10 minutes

A World Without Livestock? 2018-Jun-03 9 minutes

Outrage and Moral Conscience 2018-May-27 9 minutes

Friends 2018-May-20 9 minutes

Baby Boffins 2018-May-19 9 minutes

Super-Intelligence 2018-May-17 9 minutes

Social Physics 2018-May-16 9 minutes

The Growth Mindset 2018-May-15 9 minutes

Epigenetics 2018-May-14 9 minutes

Future Gazing 2018-May-13 9 minutes

Monkey Money 2018-May-12 10 minutes

The Big Preview: The Big Idea 2018-May-11 2 minutes