{"podcast":{"title":"Machine Learning Street Talk (MLST)","slug":"machine-learning-street-talk","podcast_index_feed_id":781643,"rss_url":"https://anchor.fm/s/1e4a0eac/podcast/rss","website_url":"https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/machinelearningstreettalk","image_url":"https://d3t3ozftmdmh3i.cloudfront.net/staging/podcast_uploaded_nologo/4981699/4981699-1757416025703-f026fa81b6d04.jpg","author":"Machine Learning Street Talk (MLST)","episode_count":250,"summary":"Welcome! We engage in fascinating discussions with pre-eminent figures in the AI field. Our flagship show covers current affairs in AI, cognitive science, neuroscience and philosophy of mind with in-depth analysis. Our approach is unrivalled in terms of scope and rigour – we believe in intellectual diversity in AI, and we touch on all of the main ideas in the field with the hype surgically removed. MLST is run by Tim Scarfe, Ph.D (https://www.linkedin.com/in/ecsquizor/) and features regular appearances from MIT Doctor of Philosophy Keith Duggar (https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-keith-duggar/).","last_synced_at":null,"page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/machine-learning-street-talk"},"episode":{"title":"Your Brain is Running a Simulation Right Now [Max Bennett]","slug":"your-brain-is-running-a-simulation-right-now-max-bennett","published_at":"2025-12-30T07:26:36+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/machine-learning-street-talk/your-brain-is-running-a-simulation-right-now-max-bennett","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/machine-learning-street-talk","url":"https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/machinelearningstreettalk/episodes/Your-Brain-is-Running-a-Simulation-Right-Now-Max-Bennett-e3cvce2","audio_url":"https://traffic.megaphone.fm/APO4908706053.mp3","summary":"Tim sits down with Max Bennett to explore how our brains evolved over 600 million years—and what that means for understanding both human intelligence and AI. Max isn't a neuroscientist by training. He's a tech entrepreneur who got curious, started reading, and ended up weaving together three fields that rarely talk to each other: comparative psychology (what different animals can actually do), evolutionary neuroscience (how brains changed over time), and AI (what actually works in practice). *Your Brain Is a Guessing Machine* You don't actually "see" the world. Your brain builds a simulation of what it *thinks* is out there and just uses your eyes to check if it's right. That's why optical illusions work—your brain is filling in a triangle that isn't there, or can't decide if it's looking at a duck or a rabbit. *Rats Have Regrets* *Chimps Are Machiavellian* *Language Is the Human Superpower* *Does ChatGPT Think?* (truncated description, more on rescript) Understanding how the brain evolved isn't just about the past. It gives us clues about: - What's actually different between human intelligence and AI - Why we're so easily fooled by status games and tribal thinking - What features we might want to build into—or leave out of—future AI systems Get Max's book: https://www.amazon.com/Brief-History-Intelligence-Humans-Breakthroughs/dp/0063286343 Rescript: https://app.rescript.info/public/share/R234b7AXyDXZusqQ_43KMGsUSvJ2TpSz2I3emnI6j9A --- TIMESTAMPS: 00:00:00 Introduction: Outsider's Advantage & Neocortex Theories 00:11:34 Perception as Inference: The Filling-In Machine 00:19:11 Understanding, Recognition & Generative Models 00:36:39 How Mice Plan: Vicarious Trial & Error 00:46:15 Evolution of Self: The Layer 4 Mystery 00:58:31 Ancient Minds & Th…","meta_description":"Tim sits down with Max Bennett to explore how our brains evolved over 600 million years—and what that means for understanding both human intelligence and…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":11829,"processing_state":"processed","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/machine-learning-street-talk/episodes/your-brain-is-running-a-simulation-right-now-max-bennett/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/machine-learning-street-talk/your-brain-is-running-a-simulation-right-now-max-bennett.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}