COMPLEXITY

This is a podcast by and for the curious — and yet, in over three years, we have pointed curiosity a

Humans have an unusually long childhood — and an unusually long elderhood past the age of reproducti

What does it mean to think? What are the traits of thinking systems that we could use to identify th

In his foundational 1972 paper “More Is Different,” physicist Phil Anderson made the case that reduc

What makes us human?  Over the last several decades, the once-vast island of human exceptionalism ha

The brain is arguably one of the most complex objects known to science. How best to understand it? T

Communication is a physical process. It’s common sense that sending and receiving intelligible messa

What does it mean to be alive? Our origins are the horizon of our understanding, and as with the phy

One way to frame the science of complexity is as a revelation of the hidden order under seemingly se

As the old nut goes, “To the victor goes the spoils.” But if each round of play consolidates the spo

Chances are you’re listening to this on an advanced computer that fits in your pocket, but is really

Human beings are distinctly weird. We live for a very long time after we stop reproducing, move comp

Ask any martial artist: It’s not just where a person strikes you but your stance that matters. The a

What is life, and where does it come from? These are two of the deepest, most vexing, and persistent

Math and music share their mystery and magic. Three notes, played together, make a chord whose prope

We lead our lives largely unaware of the immense effort required to support them. All of us grew up

As our world knits together, economic interdependencies change in both shape and nature. Supply chai

In the digital era, data is practically the air we breathe. So why does everybody treat it like a pr

The world is unfair — but how much of that unfairness is inevitable, and how much is just contingenc

Context is king: whether in language, ecology, culture, history, economics, or chemistry. One of the