458 episodes
How Maya Elites Raised Then Ruined a Civilization - Drs. DeLay & Bendebury (DemystifySci +446)
2026/09/01 | 2h 20 mins.This week we're bringing you along to the Yucatán where we investigate the rise and collapse of our nearest ancient civilization, the classic Mesoamerican Maya. We make the argument that each Maya city states ran on a deal between the people and their leaders, where the few promised defense, calendars, and above all - clean, fresh water in a land without rivers. Ultimately, each city didn't die so much as empty out, abandoned when their elite demanded payment without rendering said promised services. What emerges is a common failure mode, that points us toward scrutinizing the social contracts we observe in the modern world.PATREON https://www.patreon.com/c/demystifysciPARADOX LOST (Our Book): https://demystifysci.com/paradoxlostHOMEBREW MUSIC - Check out our new album!Hard Copies (Vinyl): FREE SHIPPING https://demystifysci-shop.fourthwall.com/products/vinyl-lp-secretary-of-nature-everything-is-so-good-hereStreaming:https://secretaryofnature.bandcamp.com/album/everything-is-so-good-herePARADIGM DRIFThttps://demystifysci.com/paradigm-drift-show00:00 Go! What does a civilization owe the people who build it?00:03:44 Why would anyone build cities in a place like this?00:10:50 How did a few people end up in charge of everyone?00:17:22 Why did the cities empty out at their peak?00:26:38 What knowledge did the elite actually hold?00:36:30 What was Chichen Itza built to do?00:42:22 Was the great ball court ever actually played?00:50:06 How much of what tourists hear is real?00:59:12 Who was pulling the strings between cities?01:10:08 What happens when the experts run out of answers?01:17:28 Did people still believe as the sacrifices grew?01:23:21 Who wins when priests and warriors collide?01:30:03 Did these cities grow, or were they planted?01:37:17 Was Chichen Itza founded or conquered?01:49:59 What did the collapse actually leave behind?01:58:44 Are we living out the same story now?02:10:16 Do today's elites still deserve their place? #maya #ancienthistory #archaeology #collapse MERCH: Rock some DemystifySci gear : https://demystifysci-shop.fourthwall.com/AMAZON: Do your shopping through this link: https://amzn.to/3YyoT98DONATE: https://bit.ly/3wkPqaDSUBSTACK: https://substack.com/@UCqV4_7i9h1_V7hY48eZZSLw@demystifysci RSS: https://anchor.fm/s/2be66934/podcast/rssMAILING LIST: https://bit.ly/3v3kz2S SOCIAL: - Discord: https://discord.gg/MJzKT8CQub- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/DemystifySci- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/DemystifySci/- Twitter: https://twitter.com/DemystifySciMUSIC: -Shilo Delay: https://g.co/kgs/oty671How Gravity & Inertia Hide the Meaning of Mass - LIVE! Drs. Bendebury & DeLay (DemystifySci +445)
2026/08/31 | 1h 39 mins.This week we continue to read from our book, Paradox Lost, exploring the hidden meaning of the word "mass" in the Newtonian sense, and see how this maps onto modern usage of the word. We apply the material principles of natural philosophy to understand mass as a product of atomic architecture in networks of physically chained atoms, experiencing basic mechanical adhesion and, ultimately, cohesion.#Physics #Gravity #Inertia #Mass #Newton #Cosmology #ParadoxLostPre-order our upcoming book, Paradox Lost: https://demystifysci.com/paradoxlostPATREON https://www.patreon.com/c/demystifysciHOMEBREW MUSIC - Check out our new album!Hard Copies (Vinyl): FREE SHIPPING https://demystifysci-shop.fourthwall.com/products/vinyl-lp-secretary-of-nature-everything-is-so-good-hereStreaming:https://secretaryofnature.bandcamp.com/album/everything-is-so-good-herePARADIGM DRIFThttps://demystifysci.com/paradigm-drift-showMERCH: Rock some DemystifySci gear : https://demystifysci-shop.fourthwall.com/AMAZON: Do your shopping through this link: https://amzn.to/3YyoT98DONATE: https://bit.ly/3wkPqaDSUBSTACK: https://substack.com/@UCqV4_7i9h1_V7hY48eZZSLw@demystifysci RSS: https://anchor.fm/s/2be66934/podcast/rssMAILING LIST: https://bit.ly/3v3kz2S SOCIAL: - Discord: https://discord.gg/MJzKT8CQub- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/DemystifySci- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/DemystifySci/- Twitter: https://twitter.com/DemystifySciMUSIC: -Shilo Delay: https://g.co/kgs/oty671How to Detect Consciousness Beyond the Brain - Dr. Arnaud Delorme (DemystifySci +444)
2026/08/30 | 1h 36 mins.Today we're joined by Arnaud Delorme, a computational neuroscientist at UCSD EEGLAB creator, and one of the most cited brainwave researchers, who is also fascinated by the emerging field of consciousness and parapsychology. Across a long career studying mediums, monks, and meditation, he's never claimed to have proven anything paranormal, but refuses to dismiss what the instrument actually records. Arnaud has sought evidence to support an antennae model of consciousness, and has stumbled upon at least one striking result when it comes to the strange brains of allegedly psychic mediums. We put his findings under the DemystifySci microscope.
PATREON
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HOMEBREW MUSIC - Check out our new album!
Hard Copies (Vinyl): FREE SHIPPING
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Streaming:
https://secretaryofnature.bandcamp.com/album/everything-is-so-good-here
PARADIGM DRIFT
https://demystifysci.com/paradigm-drift-show
00:00 Go! Who Is Arnaud Delorme?
00:03:46 What Deep Learning Still Can't Copy From the Brain
00:14:16 What Meditation Made a Neuroscientist Question
00:30:06 What an EEG Picks Up During a Reading
00:36:57 Can Mediums Read Death From a Photo
00:46:14 Why Won't These Effects Repeat
00:55:22 Where Does Consciousness Actually Begin
01:07:24 Is the Brain a Receiver, Not a Source
01:22:29 Does Consciousness Do Anything at All
01:31:40 What Delorme Is Testing Next
#physics #philosophyofmind #consciousness
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MUSIC:
-Shilo Delay: https://g.co/kgs/oty671How Electron Guns Work Without Firing Electrons - LIVE! Drs. Bendebury & DeLay (DemystifySci +443)
2026/08/24 | 1h 37 mins.This week we are broadcasting live from Mexico, on an unrelated assignment, and we continue our discussion of the material atom, reading from our upcoming book Paradox Lost. Picking up where we left off last week, we seek an explanation for electron guns like cathode ray tubes that doesn't involve the projectile action of electric particles. Instead we model the electron as circulation of atomic surface material, discussing electron beams as atom-to-atom propagation of this action.#physics #particlephysics #quantumphysics #paradoxlost Pre-order our upcoming book, Paradox Lost: https://buy.stripe.com/7sY7sKdoN5d29eUdYddEs0bPATREON https://www.patreon.com/c/demystifysciHOMEBREW MUSIC - Check out our new album!Hard Copies (Vinyl): FREE SHIPPING https://demystifysci-shop.fourthwall.com/products/vinyl-lp-secretary-of-nature-everything-is-so-good-hereStreaming:https://secretaryofnature.bandcamp.com/album/everything-is-so-good-herePARADIGM DRIFThttps://demystifysci.com/paradigm-drift-showMERCH: Rock some DemystifySci gear : https://demystifysci-shop.fourthwall.com/AMAZON: Do your shopping through this link: https://amzn.to/3YyoT98DONATE: https://bit.ly/3wkPqaDSUBSTACK: https://substack.com/@UCqV4_7i9h1_V7hY48eZZSLw@demystifysci RSS: https://anchor.fm/s/2be66934/podcast/rssMAILING LIST: https://bit.ly/3v3kz2S SOCIAL: - Discord: https://discord.gg/MJzKT8CQub- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/DemystifySci- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/DemystifySci/- Twitter: https://twitter.com/DemystifySciMUSIC: -Shilo Delay: https://g.co/kgs/oty671How Humanity Will Rise From the Age of Empire - Part Two, Dr. Luke Kemp, DemystifySci +442
2026/08/20 | 1h 28 mins.This is part two from a recent conversation with Luke Kemp from Cambridge University's Centre for the Study of Existential Risk. In part one we asked what made humanity suddenly pivot to the nation-state all around the world at the cusp of the bronze age. In part two Kemp argues that colonial expansion stretched a single Goliath across the globe, and we now live in a single integrated system of finance, information, and military power. The deeper problem is not hierarchy itself but permanent, illegitimate dominance. What comes next isn't mere doom and gloom. It's already being tested in fragments: sortition and citizens' assemblies that separate decisions from wealth, benefit corporations, decentralized projects that outperform funded hierarchies, and power split across politics, money, information, and force so that no single domain can capture the rest.
Part one: https://youtu.be/rTwRXy_-pZQ
PATREON
https://www.patreon.com/c/demystifysci
PARADOX LOST PRE-SALE: https://buy.stripe.com/7sY7sKdoN5d29eUdYddEs0b
HOMEBREW MUSIC - Check out our new album!
Hard Copies (Vinyl): FREE SHIPPING
https://demystifysci-shop.fourthwall.com/products/vinyl-lp-secretary-of-nature-everything-is-so-good-here
Streaming:
https://secretaryofnature.bandcamp.com/album/everything-is-so-good-here
PARADIGM DRIFT
https://demystifysci.com/paradigm-drift-show
00:00 Go! How Empire Reaches the Present Day
03:39 Why Violence Fell as the Stakes Rose
08:13 How Close We Came to Nuclear War
15:03 Why Global Rules Have No Teeth
17:49 Do We Already Live Under One Empire?
21:19 How Corporations Became a New Power
32:26 How Corporate and State Power Fuse
41:27 What Power Does to People
46:21 Could Random Citizens Govern Better?
54:27 Who Actually Deserves to Lead
1:05:21 How Inequality Breaks Democracy
1:09:00 Can a Company Serve More Than Profit?
1:16:09 Why Fear Keeps Choosing Strongmen
1:18:00 What Comes After Empire
1:24:40 Should Citizens Decide the Biggest Risks?
#economics #politicalphilosophy #history
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MUSIC:
-Shilo Delay: https://g.co/kgs/oty671
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DemystifySci is Dr. Michael Shilo DeLay and Dr. Anastasia Bendebury. Together they untangle complex theories of nature, making analysis accessible through conversations with exceptional thinkers. Each week they interview a new theorist about the ideas that are going to rewrite our understanding of the world. Power them via Patreon: @demystifysci
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