AMA | Feb 2026
2/2/20263 hr 10 min
Welcome to the February 2026 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded by Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number -- based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the questions themselves are good -- and sometimes group them together if they are about a similar topic. Enjoy!
Blog post with AMA questions and transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/02/02/ama-february-2026/
Note that Mindscape now has a new hosting p...
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsSpeaker 00:00
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Speaker 10:27
[singing] And Doug.
Speaker 20:30
There's nowhere I wouldn't go to help someone customize and save on car insurance with Liberty Mutual, even if it means sitting front row at a comedy show.
Speaker 30:39
Hey, everyone. Check out this guy and his bird. What is this, your first date?
Speaker 20:42
Oh, no. We help people customize and save on car insurance with Liberty Mutual together. We're married.
Speaker 30:47
Ah.
Speaker 20:47
Me to a human, him to a bird.
Speaker 30:49
Yeah, the bird looks out of your league anyways.
Speaker 20:51
Get a quote at libertymutual.com or with your local agent.
Speaker 10:54
[singing] Liberty, Liberty, Liberty, Liberty.
Sean Carroll· Host0:57
Hello, everyone, and welcome to the February 2026 Ask Me Anything edition of the Mindscape Podcast. I'm your host, Sean Carroll. It's a little bit weird, uh, for me personally to be, uh, recording this AMA right now. You know, we have the usual spectrum of great questions in the AMA, but it's a weird time in the United States. Um, I like to, as you know, pretend that I'm talking potentially to people listening hundreds of years from now. I know that's not true. Most of the people who listen to the podcast are gonna do so in, within a couple weeks or months