Sean Carroll's Mindscape: Science, Society, Philosophy, Culture, Arts, and Ideas
Sean Carroll | Wondery
341 | Stewart Brand on Maintenance as an Organizing Principle
About This Episode
"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold," wrote W.B. Yeats. I don't know about the centre, but the tendency of things to fall apart is pretty universal, ultimately due to the Second Law of Thermodynamics. Anyone living in a society or involved with technology must therefore be interested in the concept of maintenance -- keeping systems working. In his book Maintenance: Of Everything, Part One, Stewart Brand looks at the challenges and rewards of this concept.
Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/01/19/341-stewart-brand-on-maintenance-as-an-organizing-principle/
Support Mindscape on Patreon.
Stewart Brand received an undergraduate degree in biology from Stanford University. He was the founder, editor, and publisher of the Whole Earth Catalog, which won a National Book Award. He founded the journal CoEvolution Quarterly and the WELL electronic community, and was a co-founder of the Long Now Foundation. He has been called "the 20th century's top influencer."
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Listen to Sean Carroll's Mindscape: Science, Society, Philosophy, Culture, Arts, and Ideas in Podtastic
Podcast Listening Magic
More Episodes
344 | Adam Gurri on Liberal Democracy and How to Fight For It
343 | Tom Griffiths on The Laws of Thought
AMA | Feb 2026
SummaryIn this February 2026 installment of the Mindscape Podcast, Sean Carroll hosts an Ask Me Anything episode that bridges the gap between contemporary political anxiety and deep scientific inquiry. Carroll opens the session by addressing the current climate in the United States, expressing his concern regarding the shift toward authoritarianism under the second Trump administration. Despite his personal feelings of despair regarding recent domestic tragedies and the global impact of administrative policy, he encourages listeners to remain active and optimistic, grounding his hope in the resilience of those fighting for justice. Transitioning to scientific and philosophical topics, Carroll fields diverse listener questions. He analyzes recent data from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument, explaining why current findings, while potentially challenging the standard Lambda-CDM model, do not necessarily support a Big Crunch scenario. He also discusses the inherent fragility and resilience of complex systems, such as the Earth's biosphere, and shares his perspective on the eventual global adoption of the metric system. Furthermore, he explores the complexities of emergent time, the moral status of potential artificial consciousness, and the appropriate boundaries for institutional political activism within universities.
342 | Rachell Powell on Evolutionary Convergence, Morality, and Mind
340 | Rebecca Newberger Goldstein on What Matters and Why It Matters
339 | Ned Block on Whether Consciousness Requires Biology
Holiday Message 2025 | The Romance of the University
AMA | December 2025
338 | Ryan Patterson on the Physics of Neutrinos
337 | Kevin Zollman on Game Theory, Signals, and Meaning
Related Podcasts
All podcast names and trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Podcasts listed on Podtastic are publicly available shows distributed via RSS. Podtastic does not endorse nor is endorsed by any podcast or podcast creator listed in this directory.