363 | Chandra Sripada on How LLMs and Humans are Cognitive Cousins

Large Language Models display an uncanny ability to construct human-sounding speech, and can synthesize concepts in novel ways. Is this because they are truly thinking like human beings in some way, or have they found a way to be human-like without reproducing the internal mechanisms of human thought? Chandra Sripada argues that LLM cognition is more human-like than we suppose, and offers evidence from the ways that cognitive scientists study actual humans. Blog post with transcript: https://preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/08/10/363-chandra-sripada-on-how-llms-and-humans-are-cognitive-cousins/ Support Mindscape on Patreon. Chandra Sripada received an M.D. from the University of Texas and a Ph.D. in philosophy from Rutgers University. He is currently a professor of philosophy and psychiatry at the University of Michigan, where he holds the Theophile Raphael Research Professorship and directs the Weinberg Institute for Cognitive Science. He writes Cognition, Decoded, a Substack newsletter about AI, cognitive science, and philosophy. Web site Google Scholar publications PhilPeople profile Babbel is offering listeners up to 60% off. Go to https://babbel.com/MINDSCAPE. #ad Get 60% off an annual plan from Incogni using code MINDSCAPE at https://incogni.com/mindscape. #ad