The Human Podcast

The Human Podcast

Stories & ideas about being human. Watch filmed interviews: https://www.youtube.com/@TheHumanPodcastofficial

  1. 5H AGO

    The Mind Of A World-Class Magician - Alex Hansford

    Watch on YouTube - https://youtu.be/Ic7waaBcUm8 In this episode, I sit down with world-class magician and creator of The Neat Review, Alex Hansford. Alex has performed internationally in card magic, including at The Magic Castle, earning global recognition. He's also a highly respected designer and publisher, creating beautifully crafted magic magazines and designing Derren Brown's latest book, Notes From a Fellow Traveller. The Human Podcast explores stories & ideas about being human. Timestamps 0:00 - Incredible card trick performance 4:02 - How much practice is needed 5:46 - Why people obsess over magic 8:36 - Personality of a magician 11:05 - Different areas of magic 12:18 - How to master magic 14:35 - Magic community around world 16:29 - Psychology secrets behind magic 22:02 - Working with my idol, Derren Brown 25:17 - Derren Brown's influence on me 26:34 - What is 'The Neat Review'? 32:55 - Creating Derren Brown's book 34:35 - Learning great design skills 37:13 - Future plans in magic 39:20 - Rare magician-designer combination 44:02 - What makes a good life? Guest - Alex Hansford Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/watchalexander Instagram (The Neat Review) - https://www.instagram.com/neatrvw The Neat Review - https://theneatreview.com Derren Brown Book (Notes From A Fellow Traveller) - https://derrenbrown.co.uk/books Magic Tricks - https://www.vanishingincmagic.com/magician/Alex-Hansford The Neat Review (Store) - https://theneatreview.com/collections/all The Human Podcast 𝕏 - https://twitter.com/heyhumanpodcast Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/thehumanpodcastinsta Support the show - https://buymeacoffee.com/thehumanpodcast Music License SyncID - MB01JIHRGHQFBB8

    48 min
  2. FEB 11

    Why AI May Solve Mathematics’ Hardest Problems - Yang Hui-He (Mathematical Physicist)

    Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/xOpnvk7XIyE In this episode, I sit down with Professor Yang Hui-He, a mathematical physicist who is a Fellow at the London Institute for Mathematical Sciences (LIMS) and a lecturer at Merton College, Oxford. I ask Yang about his work on AI-guided mathematics and whether AI will solve the hardest mathematical problems, the basics of string theory, his career journey, who LIMS are, why he's working in Michael Faraday's apartment, and more! The Human Podcast explores stories & ideas about being human. Timestamps 0:00 - Working in Faraday's apartment 3:30 - $1million problems AI could solve 7:38 - Does AI make you sad or excited? 10:54 - What AI can already do 14:57 - What AI struggles with 17:18 - How I became a mathematical physicist 19:57 - AI will replace your calculator 20:40 - What is string theory? 25:33 - Does string theory mess with your mind? 27:24 - Mathematics can literally drive people mad 30:27 - Lecturing at the Royal Institution 33:10 - What is algebraic geometry? 37:20 - What I most love about mathematics 39:47 - Princeton, Cambridge & MIT PhD 42:34 - How I plan years of research 44:14 - Does your work practically matter? 46:19 - One question for a superintelligence 47:53 - What is a good life? Guest - Yang Hui-He LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/yang-hui-he-22b3ab/ Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/yanghui.he.9 Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yang-Hui_He London Institute for Mathematical Sciences (LIMS) - https://lims.ac.uk/ Oxford Physics (Yang) - https://www.physics.ox.ac.uk/our-people/he LIMS (Yang) - https://lims.ac.uk/yang-hui-he/ Royal Institution Lecture (The Search for a Theory of Everything) - https://youtu.be/llGvkEgXnAQ?si=FYBDjwcd6JsMlYYO Royal Institution Lecture (How geometry created modern physics) - https://youtu.be/z8jdndd-x7w?si=i_4wdBzUyCawK12j Royal Institution Lecture (Mathematics: The rise of the machines) - https://youtu.be/oOYcPkBaotg?si=NrAGlzIWitSU9vlo The Human Podcast 𝕏 - https://twitter.com/heyhumanpodcast Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/thehumanpodcastinsta Support the show - https://buymeacoffee.com/thehumanpodcast Music License SyncID - MB01JIHRGHQFBB8

    52 min
  3. FEB 4

    Why People Do "Evil" Things (The Psychology of Empathy) - Dr. Simon Baron-Cohen

    Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/MloFCML_Y7E In this episode, I sit down again with Professor Simon Baron-Cohen of Cambridge University - one of the world's leading psychologists, and author of Zero Degrees of Empathy. Is evil the best way to explain people who do cruel things? Simon argues that what we call "evil" is actually rooted in low empathy, not some inherent darkness. We explore the science behind empathy, examine the minds of psychopaths, narcissists, and those with borderline personality disorder (BPD), discuss what causes empathy to break down, and explore how we should respond to those behaving badly. The Human Podcast explores stories & ideas about being human. Timestamps 0:00 - Do evil people exist? Watch Previous Episode with Simon: https://youtu.be/fwC1rzgmPtw Guest - Simon Baron-Cohen 𝕏: https://twitter.com/sbaroncohen Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Baron-Cohen Zero Degrees of Empathy Book - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Zero-Degrees-Empathy-Simon-Baron-Cohen/dp/0141017961 The Science of Evil: On Empathy and the Origins of Cruelty Book - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Science-Evil-Empathy-Origins-Cruelty/dp/0465031420/ Uni of Cambridge Bio - https://www.psychol.cam.ac.uk/people/simon-baron-cohen Autism Research Centre (ARC) - https://www.autismcentreofexcellence.org The Human Podcast 𝕏 - https://twitter.com/heyhumanpodcast Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/thehumanpodcastinsta Support the show - https://buymeacoffee.com/thehumanpodcast Music License SyncID - MB01JIHRGHQFBB8

    47 min
  4. 06/15/2025

    What I Learned Running a Marathon in Every Country | The Human Podcast

    WATCH ON YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/qp-41ZOHt94?si=Q9YSFgkrUvqEW4No Today, I speak to Nick Butter, the first person to ever run a marathon in every single country in the world. I ask about this incredible adventure, what motivates him, another adventure running Britain, his life story, starting a charity, running tips, and more! The Human Podcast explores the life stories of humans, known and unknown. Subscribe for a new interview every week! You can donate to Nick's charity, The 196 Foundation, here: https://www.the196foundation.com/ 🕒 TIMESTAMPS 0:00 – Intro 0:05 – Running a Marathon in Every Country 5:41 – What I’ve Learned About Myself 8:20 – The Psychological Experience 11:10 – Marathons vs. Countries 12:48 – Next Challenge: 1,000 Marathons 16:26 – Nick’s Top Running Tips 20:40 – Life Story & Background 25:49 – Becoming Obsessed with Running 28:20 – What Is “Suffering”? 30:19 – Are You Addicted? 33:11 – Being Misunderstood 35:02 – Running Britain & The Italian Grand Tour 37:40 – Starting a Charity 41:38 – Hosting My ‘Run Weekends’ 43:31 - CLOSING QU: What is a good life? 👤 NICK Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/nickbutterrun Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/nickbutterun Linktree - https://linktr.ee/nickbutterrun Website - https://www.nickbutter.com/ Book (Running The World) - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Running-World-World-Record-Breaking-Adventure/dp/1787631729 Book (Run Britain) - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Run-Britain-Record-Breaking-Adventure-Coastline-ebook/dp/B0B7W7FP5X?ref_=ast_author_dp 📱 SOCIAL 𝕏 - https://twitter.com/heyhumanpodcast Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/thehumanpodcastinsta Email - heythehumanpodcast@gmail.com ☕️ SUPPORT THE SHOW https://buymeacoffee.com/thehumanpodcast It's just me working on this, and so any support is hugely helpful and greatly appreciated! ❤️

    47 min
  5. 04/27/2025

    Co-Founder of Centre For British Progress, Julia Willemyns | The Human Podcast

    WATCH EPISODE HERE: https://youtu.be/w8OkYrWKBqM In this episode, I speak to Julia Willemyns, a co-founder of The Centre for British Progress, a new non-partisan think tank researching and producing concrete ideas for an era of British growth and progress. Julia is an entrepreneur and studied at the University of Oxford and LSE. The Human Podcast explores the life stories of humans, known and unknown. Subscribe for a new interview every week! ☕️ SUPPORT THE SHOW https://buymeacoffee.com/thehumanpodcast It's just me (Joe) working on this, and so any support is hugely helpful and greatly appreciated! ❤️ 🕒 TIMESTAMPS 0:00 - Intro 0:32 - Overview of the Centre for British Progress 1:17 - What is a (non-partisan) think tank? 2:46 - What progress are you focused on? 4:07 - Turning ideas into real results 6:08 - How do you conduct research? 9:03 - How are politicians influenced? 10:23 - What is movement building? 12:38 - How to encourage ambitious individuals 13:59 - Analysing Britain's progress 19:04 - How are you funded? 19:40 - Story co-founding the think tank 22:01 - Why are you passionate about this? 25:52 - Daily life at work 27:21 - Vice President of Oxford University Debating Society 29:08 - Studying Public Policy at LSE 30:00 - Developing three mobile apps 31:41 - Career highlights so far 34:45 - Value of learning about fundraising 36:08 - What have you learnt about people's ambitions? 37:47 - What do you do to unwind? 38:23 - Proust is an inspiration to me 43:28 - CLOSING QU: What is a good life? 👤 JULIA WILLEMYNS 𝕏 - https://x.com/jujulemons LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/julia-garayo-willemyns-baba111b0 👤 CENTRE FOR BRITISH PROGRESS 𝕏 - https://x.com/britishprogress LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/britishprogress/ Substack - https://britishprogress.substack.com/ Website - https://britishprogress.org/ 📱 SOCIAL 𝕏 - https://twitter.com/heyhumanpodcast Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/thehumanpodcastinsta Email - heythehumanpodcast@gmail.com

    44 min
  6. 04/13/2025

    Conjecture Co-Founder & ControlAI Advisor, Gabe Alfour | AI SAFETY SERIES #4

    WELCOME TO THE AI SAFETY SERIES, FEATURING FILMED INTERVIEWS WITH INDIVIDUALS WORKING IN THE AI SAFETY FIELD, ABOUT THEIR LIVES & WORK. In this episode, I speak to Gabe Alfour, a co-founder and the CTO of Conjecture, and an advisor to ControlAI. Conjecture is an AI Safety organisation, based in London. ControlAI is a non-profit organisation that works to reduce the risks to humanity from artificial intelligence. The Human Podcast explores the lives and ideas of inspiring individuals. Subscribe for new interviews every week. ☕️ BUY ME A COFFEE https://buymeacoffee.com/thehumanpodcast It's just me (Joe) working on this so any support is hugely helpful and greatly appreciated! ❤️ 🕒 TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 - Intro 0:15 - What are Conjecture & ControlAI? 1:22 - Why are you starting to speak out? 2:45 - Working in crypto 4:23 - GPT-3 caused me to pivot into AI safety 7:30 - What is alignment? 9:45 - What is AI alignment? 12:57 - Story of co-founding Conjecture 14:52 - What has Conjecture worked on? 18:13 - Why run Conjecture as a for-profit? 20:02 - Publishing 'The Compendium' 21:25 - How could AI cause human extinction? 25:21 - What do ControlAI do? 28:09 - Transitioning to policy work from technical 30:04 - Dissecting the 'AI safety community' into 4 groups 32:59 - Personal impact of belief in AI causing extinction 35:01 - Biggest lesson learnt: people are too cynical 39:06 - Believing great change is possible 42:00 - CLOSING QU: What is a good life? 👤 GABE ALFOUR: X - https://x.com/gabe_cc Conjecture - https://www.conjecture.dev/about ControlAI - https://controlai.com/ 'The Compendium' - https://www.thecompendium.ai/ 'A Narrow Path' - https://www.narrowpath.co/ 📱 SOCIAL: 𝕏 - https://twitter.com/heyhumanpodcast Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/heythehumanpodcast/ Email - heythehumanpodcast@gmail.com 🎵 MUSIC: Music by penguinmusic - Better Day from Pixabay

    44 min
  7. 03/23/2025

    Host of 'Doom Debates' Podcast, Liron Shapira | AI SAFETY SERIES, Ep #3

    WATCH ON YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/0KmaotctziE WELCOME TO THE NEW AI SAFETY SERIES, FEATURING FILMED CONVERSATIONS WITH INDIVIDUALS WORKING IN THE AI SAFETY FIELD, ABOUT THEIR LIVES AND WORK. In this episode, I speak to Liron Shapira,host of the 'Doom Debates' Podcast. Doom Debates' Mission is to raise mainstream awareness of imminent extinction from AGI and build the social infrastructure for high-quality debate. The Human Podcast explores the lives and ideas of inspiring individuals. Subscribe for new interviews every week. 🕒 TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 - Intro 0:05 - What is 'Doom'? 0:57 - How could AI cause doom? 4:08 - What is P(doom)? 6:02 - How do you determine P(doom)? 8:16 - Hosting the 'Doom Debates' Podcast 10:17 - Most people are worried about AI 11:51 - Journey into AI safety 14:25 - Liron's mind and life 17:55 - Beliefs about AI 20:14 - Best argument against AI doom 22:49 - Who would you like to see debate AI? 25:19 - Why do you believe we're doomed? 28:48 - Other risks such as nuclear & virus doom 31:05 - Rogue AI vs AI misuse risks 31:54 - What can be done to stop AI doom? 37:23 - Don't we need to build AGI because of bad actors? 40:35 - Richard Feynmann painting 41:15 - CLOSING QU: What is a good life? 👤 LIRON SHAPIRA / DOOM DEBATES: Liron's X - https://x.com/liron Doom Debates YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@DoomDebates 'Doom Debates' Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/4v2mFQwcDa8vQvCnYceCfs 'Doom Debates' Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/doom-debates/id1751366208 'Doom Debates' Substack - https://lironshapira.substack.com/ 📱 SOCIAL: 𝕏 - https://twitter.com/heyhumanpodcast Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/heythehumanpodcast/ Email - heythehumanpodcast@gmail.com 🎥 EQUIPMENT: Provided by Kintek, who provide organisations with outstanding technology services - https://kintek.co.uk 🎵 MUSIC: Music by penguinmusic - Better Day from Pixabay

    44 min
  8. 03/16/2025

    Life Stories: World's Most Fun Psychologist & Magician, Professor Richard Wiseman

    WATCH ON YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/VTGBHcPnJXo Meet the world's most fun psychologist & magician, Professor Richard Wiseman, Britain's only Professor in the Public Understanding of Psychology. He's consulted for top magicians like Derren Brown, published a dozen influential books and over 100 papers, amassed an astonishing 800+ million YouTube views and helped shape the Edinburgh Fringe as a board member. The Human Podcast explores the lives and ideas of unique individuals. Subscribe for new interviews every week. 🕒 TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 - Intro 0:19 - Richard's many achievements 1:09 - How have you achieved so much? 2:24 - Richard's research journey 4:42 - Parapsychology research 7:02 - Practising magic early on 8:39 - Richard's supportive parents 9:58 - Pursuing psychology instead of magic 13:37 - Magic's psychology lessons 15:28 - Edinburgh Fringe: Working on the board 16:24 - World's funniest joke 18:54 - Apollo moon landing research 21:36 - 'in59seconds' YouTube channel 22:36 - 59 second ideas that will change how you think 24:10 - 'Quirkology' YouTube channel 27:14 - Derren Brown: Helping as a creative consultant 28:42 - Luck research: How to I be lucky? 31:44 - Changing my mind at the last minute 32:53 - Has your career been stressful? 34:02 - Watching no TV 35:31 - Taking no holidays as I love my work 36:45 - How has your research impacted your life? 38:24 - How would your friends and family describe you? 39:37 - CLOSING QU: What is a good life? 👤 PROFESSOR RICHARD WISEMAN: Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Wiseman Amazon - https://www.amazon.co.uk/stores/author/B001IGSOSK?ingress=0&visitId=5aa7397a-318f-4298-9682-707c19bbd4fc&ref_=ap_rdr Website - https://richardwiseman.wordpress.com/ X - https://x.com/RichardWiseman Quirkology - https://www.youtube.com/user/Quirkology In59seconds - https://www.youtube.com/@In59seconds 📱 SOCIAL: 𝕏 - https://twitter.com/heyhumanpodcast Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/heythehumanpodcast/ Email - heythehumanpodcast@gmail.com 🎥 EQUIPMENT: Provided by Kintek, who provide organisations with outstanding technology services - https://kintek.co.uk 🎵 MUSIC: Music by penguinmusic - Better Day from Pixabay

    41 min

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Stories & ideas about being human. Watch filmed interviews: https://www.youtube.com/@TheHumanPodcastofficial