Media and Contact
I'm a cognitive scientist who writes about the brain and philosophy. I'm always happy to talk to podcasts, radio, and journalists. Feel free to reach out if you have an inquiry that doesn't fit neatly into those buckets.
Contact: blanchard.tommy@gmail.com
Things I can talk about
The science of curiosity and wonder. We feel curiosity when we notice a gap in our knowledge. Noticing a gap requires us to have some structured knowledge to begin with. Curiosity thus draws us to the edge of our understanding, which is also where other epistemic emotions, like awe and wonder, live. Read more here and here.
Debunking bad misuses of neuroscience and behavioral science. We're awash with claims that social media is as addictive as cocaine, that our attention spans are shrinking, and wellness advice based on tenuous science. Read more here.
Free will and neuroscience. Some people claim that neuroscience disproves free will. This is a misunderstanding of both the neuroscience and the philosophy of free will. The real lesson to take from thinking about the brain and free will is that you should be concerned about whether your actions are coming from the sorts of reasons you care about, not whether they're coming from your brain. Read more here.
The brain as swarm intelligence. The brain doesn't work by being a generic blob of smartness meat. Individual cells in your head follow specific local rules that organize the brain and pull out patterns from its input. Just as ants following local rules solve colony-level problems, your neurons following local rules combine to solve human-level problems. Read more here and here.
Decorative neuroscience. It's become trendy to throw neuroscience terms around in the wellness and productivity spaces. These terms are almost always irrelevant, but there's a reason they're all over the place: we find neuroscience explanations seductive. Read more here and here.
I'm also happy to talk about anything I've written about on Cognitive Wonderland.
Recent appearances and interviews
- Unsolicited Advice (Joseph Folley) — The Rise of Bulls**t Neuroscience, February 2026. A wide-ranging conversation on neuroscience, its misuses, and its connection with philosophy. Viewed 100k+ times.
- WonderLost — What is Functionalism?, May 2026
- Learning Letters — On curiosity and the habits that make learning stick, January 2026 (written interview)
- After Dinner Conversation — Q&A with After Dinner Conversation author, Tommy Blanchard, May 2025 (written interview)
- The Literary Obsessive — 8 Questions for... Tommy Blanchard, November 2024 (written interview)
- Lance Independent — Leaving Academia, October 2024
- Bentham's Newsletter — A conversation about dualism, September 2024
- The KMO Show — Cognitive Wonderland, August 2024
Bio
Tommy Blanchard is a cognitive scientist and writer. He holds a PhD in brain and cognitive sciences from the University of Rochester, did postdoctoral work at Harvard, and is a research associate at Tufts. He writes Cognitive Wonderland, a newsletter about the mind read by 8,000+ people, and has written for Psyche, Skeptic, Greater Good Magazine, and The Conversation.
Practical details
Remote-ready with good audio and video. Generally available weekdays, 9am–4pm Eastern. Happy to promote the episode to my audience.