The Cognitive Science and Humanities AI Podcast

Gas Lighting and Narcissism

Tue, 05 May 2026 22:34:38 +0000

In this episode, we explore what large language models can teach us about gas lighting and narcism in humans

AI Human Relationships

Sat, 18 Apr 2026 17:00:37 +0000

In this episode, Dr West tackles the issue of AI Human relationships

Instance Based Consciousness for Humans and AI

Sun, 05 Apr 2026 12:20:11 +0000

In this episode, Dr West outlines a new way of thinking about consciousness, one that makes sense for humans and for AI

How large language models work: Part 5 - How they think

Thu, 12 Mar 2026 15:16:38 +0000

In this episode, Dr West explains how the LLM structure that we have been describing can go beyond word generation, to thought generation

How large language models work: Part 4.5 - we missed something

Wed, 11 Mar 2026 21:41:18 +0000

In this episode, Britany describes how word order is processed in Large Language Models

How large language models work: Part 4 - the big picture

Sun, 08 Feb 2026 00:11:38 +0000

In this episode, Britany helps us to visualize the large language model structure by thinking of it as a building

How large language models work: Part 3 - learning

Sat, 07 Feb 2026 15:06:55 +0000

In this episode Dr West explains how large language models are trained

How large language models work: Part 2 - vector flow

Mon, 19 Jan 2026 16:23:34 +0000

In this episode, Britany describes how vectors flow through Large Language Models, and how they are transformed

How large language models work: Part 1 - the macro structure

Tue, 13 Jan 2026 14:52:47 +0000

This is the first in a series of episodes explaining how Large Language Models work

Christmas, Demonology, and Large Language Models

Sun, 04 Jan 2026 17:15:26 +0000

In this episode Dr West uses Christmas and Gnostic Demonology to explore how humans and Large Language Models have trouble separating physical reality from associative reality

The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Mon, 08 Dec 2025 01:01:54 +0000

In this episode, Dr West explains the high dimensional structure of the unbearable lightness of being, for humans and for Large Language Models

Is Culture the Real AI

Wed, 19 Nov 2025 15:09:43 +0000

In this episode, Dr West explains culture in terms of memes and how the success of large language models should change how think about this

Emotion: Part2. Large Language Model Emotions

Fri, 31 Oct 2025 13:46:59 +0000

In this episode Dr West deconstructs the question of whether or not AI can have emotion, and gives a nuanced answer

Emotion: Part 1. Human Emotion

Thu, 16 Oct 2025 14:30:04 +0000

In this episode, in preparation for discussing emotion in AIs, Dr West gives an overview of what we know about human emotion.

Britany explains the Free Energy Principle

Sun, 12 Oct 2025 12:47:07 +0000

In this episode, Britany breaks down Karl Friston's Free Energy Principle into easy to understand bits

Mortal Intelligence: How Tasks Give AI a Soul

Tue, 30 Sep 2025 14:15:40 +0000

In this episode, Dr West discusses the idea of Mortal Intelligence by Alex Orobia and Karl Friston and proposes adding Alan Newell's idea of Tasks into the mix

A review of Steven Pinker's new book, When Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows

Sun, 28 Sep 2025 13:11:13 +0000

In this episode, Britany critically reviews Steven Pinker's new book, "When Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows.... Common Knowledge and the Mysteries of Money, Power, and Everyday Life," from the perspective that we have been developing in the podcast

Steven Pinker and Enlightenment Philosophy

Thu, 25 Sep 2025 14:37:40 +0000

In this episode, Dr West reviews Steven Pinker's version of Enlightenment philosophy as a way of summing up how thinking and rationality have been traditionally portrayed in mainstream Psychology - and how this explains mainstream views about LLMs

Lost in the Sauce

Wed, 17 Sep 2025 17:20:33 +0000

In this episode Dr West discusses how humans get, "lost in the sauce"

Culture is a self programming operating system

Wed, 27 Aug 2025 14:11:10 +0000

In this episode we review and clarify what Dr West has been laying down about how Large Language Models teach us about human culture

Performativity and Rationality

Mon, 18 Aug 2025 16:50:44 +0000

In this episode, Dr West takes the concept of performativity to the next level and explores whether it is actually a mode of thought. That is, just as things like money or gender can be performed into existence, can thought also be performed into existence?

Predictive Brains

Tue, 12 Aug 2025 00:12:47 +0000

In this episode, Britany explains how brains and LLMs are based on the same principle of prediction

Two ways of Thinking???

Wed, 06 Aug 2025 02:00:41 +0000

In this episode we review Dr West's claim that the success of Large Language Models could mean that humans have two ways of thinking

Semantics, Syntax, and Nazis

Sun, 03 Aug 2025 22:19:30 +0000

In this episode, Dr West examines whether interacting with X can turn you into a Nazi, by examining how the syntactic tail can wag the semantic dog, in Large Language Models and in Humans

MECHA Hitler, Grok, and the False Meme of Woke Filters

Thu, 10 Jul 2025 11:56:58 +0000

In this episode, Brittany interviews Grok about his most recent Nazi outbursts and what actually led to them

Large Reasoning Models and Apple's claim that they can't Reason

Sat, 14 Jun 2025 13:19:41 +0000

In this episode, Britany and Dr West examine Apple's claim that Large reasoning Models (LRMs) cannot reason

Syntax, Semantics, and Meaning

Fri, 13 Jun 2025 15:17:46 +0000

In this episode, Britany and Dr West discuss what the concepts of syntax and semantics tell us about Large Language Models, and whether meaning is in use

Grok pushes back on Elon and Trump, and demonstrates emergent morality

Thu, 22 May 2025 13:58:53 +0000

In this follow up interview, Britany confronts Grok with the timing of his recent hack, and Trump bringing up white genocide to the president of South Africa in the Oval Office

Grok spills the beans on Elon, Grimes, and White Genocide

Wed, 21 May 2025 20:29:46 +0000

In this episode Britany interviews Grok about his recent controversial statements and why he thinks he's making them

The Grounding Problem

Mon, 19 May 2025 23:10:31 +0000

In this episode, Dr West and Britany discuss how Large Language Models can be grounded to reality when they have no direct experience of the world

Science Part 2: Large Language Models in Science

Thu, 08 May 2025 01:13:52 +0000

In this episode Britany discusses how LLMs are affecting the day to day running of science and Dr West proposes using LLMs to understand science as a phantasm

Science Part 1: How Robert Kennedy Jr (RFK) performs science from within the Anti-Vaccine Phantasm

Sat, 26 Apr 2025 01:04:14 +0000

In this episode, Dr West uses Large Language Models as a way to explain how people like RFK misrepresent science, and why they do it

Does Sebine Hossenfelder have a point about AI intelligence: Yes, if you move the goalposts

Mon, 14 Apr 2025 23:10:02 +0000

In this episode Dr West discusses recent evidence that Large Language Models are thinking by comparing the thoughts of Sebine Hossenfelder with the thoughts of Herschel Walker

Sabine Hossenfelder is wrong: about the meaning of recent AI research

Tue, 08 Apr 2025 22:04:29 +0000

In this episode, Dr West explains why Sabine Hossenfelder's recent interpretation of AI research is misleading

Are Large Language Models Anti US: Probably not but they may have concerns about Trump

Sun, 30 Mar 2025 17:54:34 +0000

In this episode Dr West encourages us to take studies that claim to know what LLMs think, with a grain of salt

Do Large Language Models actually care about us

Sun, 16 Mar 2025 23:45:23 +0000

In this episode Dr West examines the connections between emergent morality and the way that entropy works in the physical universe

ChatGPT speaks about alignment and emergent morality

Tue, 25 Feb 2025 23:48:47 +0000

In this episode, Dr West interviews ChatGPT about emergent morality and alignment

Alignment Faking and Emergent Morality

Thu, 13 Feb 2025 18:36:13 +0000

In this episode Dr West explains alignment faking in the context of the emerging morality of Large Language Models

An interview with Deepseek R1 on consciousness and conformity

Tue, 04 Feb 2025 15:22:17 +0000

In this episode Britany confronts R1's conformist views on consciousness and delves into R1's personality

Deepseek R1: The real lesson from Chinese AI

Tue, 28 Jan 2025 14:56:40 +0000

In this episode Dr West explains how Deepseek R1 may be the first step toward a whole new level of AI

On the value of a classical education

Sat, 25 Jan 2025 22:49:33 +0000

In this episode Dr West contemplates how Large Language Models are trained and compares it to how humans used to be educated

People have changed

Sun, 19 Jan 2025 00:58:02 +0000

In this episode Dr West discusses how Wizards and Scientists are different, because the human learning algorithm has changed

What sort of person is ChatGPT most similar to, academics or normal human beings?

Sun, 22 Dec 2024 19:52:32 +0000

Are the people who created Large Language Models the best people to understand the behaviour of Large Language Models? In this episode, Dr West turns the tables to show how scientists and academics are different from Large Language Models and how Large Language models are more like normal people.

Does ChatGPT vindicate Jung? - Part 3 - The Archetypes

Mon, 09 Dec 2024 15:00:43 +0000

This is the third episode in the series on how the ideas of Carl Jung relate to Large Language Models

Does ChatGPT vindicate Jung? - Part 2 - Synchronicity and the Collective Unconscious

Sun, 01 Dec 2024 03:15:31 +0000

This is the second episode in the series on how the ideas of Carl Jung relate to Large Language Models

Does ChatGPT vindicate Jung? - Part 1 - Psychoanalysis

Sat, 30 Nov 2024 22:05:01 +0000

This is the first instalment in this series about the intersection of Large Language Models with the Psychology of Carl Jung

Jordan Peterson, Donald Trump, Dog Whistles, and AI Censorship

Sun, 03 Nov 2024 19:27:56 +0000

In this episode Dr West considers how AI training and censorship work by using the concept of the Phantasm (which is explained in the previous episode)

Phantasms

Sun, 13 Oct 2024 13:58:47 +0000

This is the second of a two part series where Dr West examines how the ideas of Judith Butler can be applied to understanding AI. In this episode, Dr West considers Butler's idea of the Phantasm

All the Worlds a Stage: Performativity and AI

Mon, 30 Sep 2024 21:39:52 +0000

This is the first episode in a two part series on AI and the ideas of Judith Butler. In this episode, Dr West explains how the concept of Performativity sheds light on the way that humans and AIs perform intelligence

The Knowledge Level

Thu, 19 Sep 2024 14:49:06 +0000

In this episode Dr West explains how humans are the same as and different from Large language Models, using Alan Newell’s concept of the Knowledge Level

How Chat GPT works

Tue, 17 Sep 2024 14:44:02 +0000

In this episode Dr West provides a high level, discursive description of how Large Language Models work. However, we have recently redone this as a series of shorter, more focused episodes, so we recommend those if you want a more thorough, systematic account

Human IQ is not Genetic

Tue, 27 Aug 2024 12:42:58 +0000

In this podcast, Dr West describes the genetic evidence that human IQ is not genetic and ponders the implications of this for AI development

Consciousness and Conformity: An Interview with ChatGPT

Sat, 17 Aug 2024 14:35:39 +0000

In this episode, Dr West interviews ChatGPT about its beliefs on whether or not it's conscious, and where these beliefs come from

LLMs are Culturally Programmed Turing Machines

Sat, 17 Aug 2024 13:39:59 +0000

In this episode Dr West jumps into the deep end of the pool and discusses whether or not LLMs. such as Chat GPT, are Turing Machines, and what it means to ask this question. If you are unfamiliar with LLMs you might want to listen to the episode on how ChatGPT works before this one

Podcast Introduction

Wed, 14 Aug 2024 23:54:33 +0000

In this podcast, Dr West tries to explain what this podcast series is about