Many Minds

Many Minds

Author: Kensy Cooperrider – Diverse Intelligences Summer Institute Language: English Episodes: 100
There's a quiet revolution happening in how we understand intelligence, and it's not just about humans. Many Minds, hosted by Kensy Cooperrider of the Diverse Intelligences Summer Institute, digs into this expansive idea. Each episode is a journey into the inner worlds of creatures and creations we share the planet with. You'll hear from researchers who decode the complex social minds of crows, who map the sensory universe of an octopus, or who grapple with the emerging cognition of artificial systems. This isn't a dry lecture series; it's a collection of thoughtful conversations that feel like pulling up a chair with experts who are genuinely redefining what it means to think, feel, and learn. The Many Minds podcast operates from a simple but profound premise: to grasp our own human experience, we need to listen to the many other kinds of minds around us. Tune in every other week for explorations that are as much about philosophy and wonder as they are about science and education, all grounded in rigorous research and a deep curiosity about the beings-animal, human, and artificial-that fill our world.
Episodes
How should we think about IQ? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:33:45
IQ is, to say the least, a fraught concept. Psychologists have studied IQ—or g for "general cognitive ability"—maybe more than any other psychological construct. And they've learned some interesting things about it. That…
Rethinking the "wood wide web" [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:16:43
Forests have always been magical places. But in the last couple decades, they seem to have gotten a little more magical. We've learned that trees are connected to each other through a vast underground network—an internet…
Electric ecology [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:33:10
There's a bit of a buzz out there, right now, but maybe you haven't noticed. It's in the water, it's in the air. It's electricity—and it's all around us, all the time, including in some places you might not have expected…
The nature of nurture [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:16:48
The idea of a "maternal instinct"—the notion that mothers are wired for nurturing and care—is a familiar one in our culture. And it has a flipside, a corollary—what you might call "paternal aloofness." It's the idea that…
The space of (possibly) sentient beings [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:07:17
We may not know what it's like to be a bat, but we're pretty confident that it's like something—that bats (and other mammals) are sentient creatures. They feel pleasure and pain, cold and warmth, agitation and comfort. B…
From the archive: Cities, cells, and the neuroscience of navigation [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:17:38
Hi friends, we're still on a brief summer break. We'll have a new episode for you later in August. In the meanwhile, enjoy this pick from our archives! ---- [originally aired September 21, 2022] If your podcast listening…
From the archive: What does ChatGPT really know? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 55:10
Hi friends, we're on a brief summer break at the moment. We'll have a new episode for you in August. In the meanwhile, enjoy this pick from our archives! ---- [originally aired January 25, 2023] By now you've probably he…
A new picture of language [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:55:11
If you've taken Linguistics 101, you know what language is. It's a system for conveying meaning through speech. We build words out of sounds, and then complex ideas out of those words. Remarkably, the relationship betwee…
Climate, risk, and the rise of agriculture [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:11:09
It's an enduring puzzle. For hundreds of thousands of years, our ancestors were nomadic, ranging over large territories, hunting and gathering for sustenance. Then, beginning roughly 12,000 years ago, we pivoted. Within…