Be Smart
Why Do We Lie?
Everyone lies. Even you and even me. We lie about small things and we lie about big things. We lie to help ourselves and we lie to protect others. Powerful people lie, all the way down to little kids telling fibs. Why do we do this if...
SciShow
Why Do People Kill? And Other Revelations Of Human Nature
There are a lot of things that are still not fully understood about the species Homo sapiens - what makes us US? What makes us move the way we do, think the way we do, and kill the way we do? Today on SciShow News, Hank gives us a little...
SciShow
What Neuroscience Can Learn from Meditation
Meditation methods and the scientific method are teaming up to explore some of the deepest questions about our existence and human nature.
SciShow
Why Do People Kill? And Other Revelations Of Human Nature
There are a lot of things that are still not fully understood about the species Homo sapiens - what makes us US? What makes us move the way we do, think the way we do, and kill the way we do? Today on SciShow News, Hank gives us a little...
TED Talks
TED: The social animal | David Brooks
Columnist David Brooks unpacks new insights into human nature from the cognitive sciences -- insights with massive implications for economics and politics as well as our own self-knowledge. In a talk full of humor, he shows how you can't...
Crash Course
War & Human Nature: Crash Course World History 204
In which John Green teaches you about war! Specifically, John talks about whether humanity is naturally warlike, hard-wired to kill, or if perhaps war is a cultural construct. John will talk about the Hobbes versus Rousseau debate, the...
TED Talks
Alison Gopnik: What do babies think?
"Babies and young children are like the R&D division of the human species," says psychologist Alison Gopnik. Her research explores the sophisticated intelligence-gathering and decision-making that babies are really doing when they play.
TED Talks
TED: Can a divided America heal? | Jonathan Haidt
* Viewer discretion advised. This video includes discussion of mature topics and may be inappropriate for some audiences. How can the US recover after the negative, partisan presidential election of 2016? Social psychologist Jonathan...
TED Talks
Odes to vice and consequences - Felix Dennis
* Viewer discretion advised. This video includes discussion of mature topics and may be inappropriate for some audiences. Media big shot Felix Dennis roars his fiery, funny, sometimes racy original poetry, revisiting haunting memories...
TED Talks
Nick Bostrom: A philosophical quest for our biggest problems
Oxford philosopher and transhumanist Nick Bostrom examines the future of humankind and asks whether we might alter the fundamental nature of humanity to solve our most intrinsic problems.
TED Talks
TED: Remaking my voice | Roger Ebert
When film critic Roger Ebert lost his lower jaw to cancer, he lost the ability to eat and speak. But he did not lose his voice. In a moving talk from TED2011, Ebert and his wife, Chaz, with friends Dean Ornish and John Hunter, come...
TED Talks
TED: How a handful of tech companies control billions of minds every day | Tristan Harris
A handful of people working at a handful of tech companies steer the thoughts of billions of people every day, says design thinker Tristan Harris. From Facebook notifications to Snapstreaks to YouTube autoplays, they're all competing for...
TED Talks
David Cameron: The next age of government
The leader of Britain's Conservative Party says we're entering a new era -- where governments themselves have less power (and less money) and people empowered by technology have more. Tapping into new ideas on behavioral economics, he...
TED Talks
TED: How we can find ourselves in data | Giorgia Lupi
Giorgia Lupi uses data to tell human stories, adding nuance to numbers. In this charming talk, she shares how we can bring personality to data, visualizing even the mundane details of our daily lives and transforming the abstract and...
TED Talks
TED: How to heal a divided world | Michèle Lamont
How do we define worth in society, and who gets status? Sociologist Michele Lamont studies these questions and investigates ways to broaden the circle of recognition and fight the harm of social stigmatization. She lays out the steps...
TED Talks
Steven Pinker: What our language habits reveal
In an exclusive preview of his book The Stuff of Thought, Steven Pinker looks at language and how it expresses what goes on in our minds -- and how the words we choose communicate much more than we realize.
TED Talks
Barry Schwartz: The way we think about work is broken
What makes work satisfying? Apart from a paycheck, there are intangible values that, Barry Schwartz suggests, our current way of thinking about work simply ignores. It's time to stop thinking of workers as cogs on a wheel.
TED Talks
Geoff Mulgan: Post-crash, investing in a better world
As we reboot the world's economy, Geoff Mulgan poses a question: Instead of sending bailout money to doomed old industries, why not use stimulus funds to bootstrap some new, socially responsible companies -- and make the world a little...
TED Talks
TED: Why some people are more altruistic than others | Abigail Marsh
Why do some people do selfless things, helping other people even at risk to their own well-being? Psychology researcher Abigail Marsh studies the motivations of people who do extremely altruistic acts, like donating a kidney to a...
Crash Course
Separation of Powers and Checks and Balances: Crash Course Government and Politics
In which Craig Benzine teaches you about the US Governments Separation of powers and the system of checks and balances. In theory, the Legislative Branch, the Executive Branch, and the Judicial Brach are designed to keep each other in...
TED Talks
TED: The long reach of reason | Steven Pinker and Rebecca Newberger Goldstein
* Viewer discretion advised. This video includes discussion of mature topics and may be inappropriate for some audiences. Here's a TED first: an animated Socratic dialog! In a time when irrationality seems to rule both politics and...
TED Talks
TED: The evolution of compassion | Robert Wright
Robert Wright uses evolutionary biology and game theory to explain why we appreciate the Golden Rule ("Do unto others..."), why we sometimes ignore it and why there’s hope that, in the near future, we might all have the compassion to...
TED Talks
Steven Pinker: Human nature and the blank slate
Steven Pinker's book The Blank Slate argues that all humans are born with some innate traits. Here, Pinker talks about his thesis, and why some people found it incredibly upsetting.
SciShow
Is The Mirror Test Just a Reflection of Human Nature?
The mirror test is supposed to be a way to figure out when an animal is self-aware, but there might be only one particular animal this test works well on: humans.