Brain Inspired

BI 107 Steve Fleming: Know Thyself


Listen Later

Steve and I discuss many topics from his new book Know Thyself: The Science of Self-Awareness. The book covers the full range of what we know about metacognition and self-awareness, including how brains might underlie metacognitive behavior, computational models to explain mechanisms of metacognition, how and why self-awareness evolved, which animals beyond humans harbor metacognition and how to test it, its role and potential origins in theory of mind and social interaction, how our metacognitive skills develop over our lifetimes, what our metacognitive skill tells us about our other psychological traits, and so on. We also discuss what it might look like when we are able to build metacognitive AI, and whether that's even a good idea.

  • Steve's lab: The MetaLab.
  • Twitter: @smfleming.
  • Steve and Hakwan Lau on episode 99 about consciousness
  • Papers:
    • Metacognitive training: Domain-General Enhancements of Metacognitive Ability Through Adaptive Training
  • The book:
    • Know Thyself: The Science of Self-Awareness.

Timestamps

0:00 - Intro
3:25 - Steve's Career
10:43 - Sub-personal vs. personal metacognition
17:55 - Meditation and metacognition
20:51 - Replay tools for mind-wandering
30:56 - Evolutionary cultural origins of self-awareness
45:02 - Animal metacognition
54:25 - Aging and self-awareness
58:32 - Is more always better?
1:00:41 - Political dogmatism and overconfidence
1:08:56 - Reliance on AI
1:15:15 - Building self-aware AI
1:23:20 - Future evolution of metacognition

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

Brain InspiredBy Paul Middlebrooks

  • 4.9
  • 4.9
  • 4.9
  • 4.9
  • 4.9

4.9

128 ratings


More shows like Brain Inspired

View all
Making Sense with Sam Harris by Sam Harris

Making Sense with Sam Harris

26,408 Listeners

Into the Impossible With Brian Keating by Big Bang Productions Inc.

Into the Impossible With Brian Keating

1,030 Listeners

80,000 Hours Podcast by Rob, Luisa, and the 80,000 Hours team

80,000 Hours Podcast

292 Listeners

The Michael Shermer Show by Michael Shermer

The Michael Shermer Show

901 Listeners

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

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

4,102 Listeners

Your Undivided Attention by Tristan Harris and Aza Raskin, The Center for Humane Technology

Your Undivided Attention

1,434 Listeners

The Jim Rutt Show by The Jim Rutt Show

The Jim Rutt Show

249 Listeners

Google DeepMind: The Podcast by Hannah Fry

Google DeepMind: The Podcast

198 Listeners

COMPLEXITY by Santa Fe Institute

COMPLEXITY

279 Listeners

Machine Learning Street Talk (MLST) by Machine Learning Street Talk (MLST)

Machine Learning Street Talk (MLST)

90 Listeners

Dwarkesh Podcast by Dwarkesh Patel

Dwarkesh Podcast

333 Listeners

Clearer Thinking with Spencer Greenberg by Spencer Greenberg

Clearer Thinking with Spencer Greenberg

136 Listeners

The Joy of Why by Steven Strogatz, Janna Levin and Quanta Magazine

The Joy of Why

481 Listeners

Robinson's Podcast by Robinson Erhardt

Robinson's Podcast

196 Listeners

Theoretical Neuroscience Podcast by Gaute Einevoll

Theoretical Neuroscience Podcast

6 Listeners