Prof. James Evans, a University of Chicago sociologist and data scientist, believes we’re training AI to think too much like humans—and it’s holding science back.

In this episode, Evans shares how our current models risk narrowing scientific exploration rather than expanding it, and explains why he’s pushing for AIs that think differently from us—what he calls “cognitive aliens.” Could these “alien minds” help us unlock hidden breakthroughs? And what would it take to build them?

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