# Mindscape podcast by Sean Carroll

18 Hacker News commenters recommended Mindscape podcast by Sean Carroll and 0 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 6 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** People recommend Mindscape for clear explanations of physics, philosophy and science, with varied guests. Caveat: one long Q&A ran heavily into politics and basketball.

## Why people recommend it

- High quality, worth regular listens (4 comments): "I go through chosen episodes from it regularly, and I can vouch for its quality." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49696773)) "I truly consider that podcast a gem of our culture." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49688780)) "Mindscape is one of the best podcasts out there." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50182409))
- Explains complex topics clearly (3 comments): "I really appreciate "complex topics in easy to understand terms" and look forward to checking this out." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49687726)) "He has a talent for explaining complex topics in easy to understand terms" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49687521)) "Love the Mindscape podcast. It taught me everything I know about quantum physics" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48706422))
- Specialist guests and varied topics (3 comments): "Mostly the episodes are specific topics with a guest who's area of research/specialty is the topic" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49690561)) "Mindscape is great, with lots of interesting guests and topics." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49687775)) "He focuses mostly on the topics that interest him and isn't averse to getting technical" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49691390))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Dwarkesh Podcast](https://hackerapproved.com/p/dwarkesh-podcast.md): 29 recommend
- [Oxide and Friends](https://hackerapproved.com/p/oxide-and-friends-podcast.md): 26 recommend
- [Acquired podcast](https://hackerapproved.com/p/acquired-podcast.md): 25 recommend
- [Behind the Bastards podcast](https://hackerapproved.com/p/behind-the-bastards-podcast.md): 18 recommend
- [Latent Space podcast](https://hackerapproved.com/p/latent-space-podcast.md): 15 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Mindscape podcast by Sean Carroll", https://hackerapproved.com/p/mindscape-podcast/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).