From the Origins of Modern China to the Nature of Consciousness

New episodes from the holiday season

I hope you’ve had a good start to 2025!

I took some time off recording regular episodes over the holiday season. There’s plenty of new material on the On Humans feed, though.

First, you can enjoy a live recording of my conversation with MIT Professor Yasheng Huang, hosted at the London Business School. We discuss his two upcoming books, Revisiting the Needham Question and Statism with Chinese Characteristics. Our conversation touched upon a huge range of topics, from ancient Chinese innovations to Huang’s own experiences around the Tiananmen Massacre.

Listen (85 min): Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Other players

I also continued a New Year tradition of posting an rerun of the most popular episode of the past year. This was my conversation on the nature of consciousness with Professor Donald Hoffman, originally published in two parts. In this encore, you can enjoy the full conversation in one epic journey to the frontiers of human understanding.

Listen (88 min): Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Other players

I’m now posting three short bonus episodes before returning to the typical pattern. These bonuses are unheard clips that didn’t make it to the original episodes.

In the first bonus clip, you can hear Professor Katie Starkweather debunk some myths about human mating. We discuss polyandry (one woman, many husbands) and her research on sexual jealousy in small-scale societies.

Listen (11 min): Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Other players

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That’s it for today. Keep an eye on the feed for more bonuses coming up soon!