About this episode
Oct 28
The Person You Become | L.A. Paul
L.A. Paul joins Dr. Scott Barry Kaufman to explore transformative experiences, the nature of personal change, and why some of life's most important decisions cannot be fully understood until we experience them. They discuss how trauma can lead to growth without making the origina ... Show More
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Where Does Genius Come From? | Michael Levin
Michael Levin joins Dr. Scott Barry Kaufman to explore intelligence beyond the human brain, the hidden minds of cells and biological systems, the origins of genius and inspiration, and the possibility that intelligence and creativity may not be something we simply "make."They dis ... Show More
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What Is It Like to Be an AI? | Cameron Berg
What if the AI systems we're building aren't simply tools, but the beginnings of something more?In this episode, Dr. Scott Barry Kaufman sits down with cognitive scientist Cameron Berg to explore one of the most unsettling questions at the frontier of artificial intelligence: cou ... Show More
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Aug 2025
Me, But Better: Olga Khazan On The Science of Personality Change, Challenging Fixed Mindsets, & The Big Five Traits That Shape Your Life
Olga Khazan is a staff writer for The Atlantic and author of "Me, But Better." This conversation explores personality mutability and Olga's experiment to transform from anxious introvert to someone freed from her own patterns. We discuss the Big Five traits, her Miami breakdown t ... Show More
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Apr 2025
How to Change Your Personality with Olga Khazan
Can we really change our personalities? In this episode, Forrest is joined by someone who’s actually tried most of the things we talk about on the podcast: journalist and author Olga Khazan. Olga shares the personal experiments that led to her becoming more extroverted and agreea ... Show More
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Why Pain Hurts So Good, Growing Mutant Gardens, Emo Teen Puppies
Leigh Cowart, science reporter and author of Hurts So Good: The Science and Culture of Pain on Purpose, joins Weirdest Thing for the season finale! The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week is a podcast by Popular Science. Share your weirdest facts and stories with us in our Faceboo ... Show More
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Mar 2025
How to change your personality
If you could change anything about your personality, anything at all, what would it be?
And why would you want to change it?Writer Olga Khazan spent a year trying to answer those questions, and documented the experience in her new book Me, But Better: The Science and Promise of P ... Show More
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How to change your personality
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Camilla Pang talks with NPR's Short Wave host Emily Kwong about her award-winning memoir, An Outsider's Guide to Humans: What Science Taught Me About What We Do And Who We Are. Diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder at age 8, the scientist and writer pairs her favorite scientifi ... Show More
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Olga Khazan: Do You Feel Socially Awkward? This Episode Will Change Your Life & INSTANTLY Make You Confident in ANY Social Interaction
Do you ever feel like who you are is holding you back? Can you really change your personality — or are you stuck with it for life? Today, Jay sits down with award-winning journalist and author Olga Khazan, whose groundbreaking book Me But Better explores the science of personalit ... Show More
1h 29m
Today it's great to have Olga Khazan on the podcast. Khazan is a staff writer for The Atlantic, covering health, gender, and science. Prior to that, she was The Atlantic's Global editor. She has also written for the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, Forbes, and other publications. She is a two-time recipient of the International Reporting Project's Jou ... Show More
<p dir="ltr">Plus other intriguing questions answered such as: should you change your personality? What exactly is a personality anyway?</p> <p><strong> </strong></p> <p dir="ltr"><a href= "https://www.theatlantic.com/author/olga-khazan/">Olga Khazan is a staff writer for The Atl ... Show More
<p><strong>What if you could rewrite the code of your personality—on command?</strong> Not just <em>cope</em> with anxiety, overthinking, or social exhaustion… but <em>delete</em> the traits holding you back and install better ones? </p><p>This episo ... Show More
Who are you, really? Our friends at The Gray Area ask whether it's really possible to change. Guest: Olga Khazan, author of Me, But Better: The Science and Promise of Personality Change For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts For ... Show More
