What if we had the ultimate work-life balance? This fundamental question underlies the hit Apple TV+ show Severance – now in its second season. Ahead of the season 2 finale this Friday, producer Rachel Carlson sat down with the science consultant for the series, Dr. Vijay Agarwal. Vijay says the concept is "resoundingly" possible – and that scientists are closer than we might think. More questions about the intersections of pop culture and science? Email us at [email protected]. Listen to every episode of Short Wave sponsor-free and support our work at NPR by signing up for Short Wave+ at plus.npr.org/shortwave. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
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Hey, shortwavers. Producer Rachel Carlson here. Before we start, you should know this episode contains Severance Season 2 spoilers. All right, we warned you.
You're listening to Shortwave from NPR.
So every morning, I try to wake up around 5.45 a.m. ish. I almost always hit the snooze once. Okay, fine. Twice. And an hour later, I'm walking into the office. I say hi to our editor, Rebecca. Hello. Hello. But what if that me walking into NPR wasn't really me?
She was me. I was her.
But these two versions of myself were completely separate. What if we had the ultimate work-life balance?
Number one, can you do this scientifically? And I think resoundingly, the answer is yes. And then number two, I think is a bigger question, is should we be doing these things?
These fundamental questions are at the root of the hit Apple TV Plus show, Severance, now in its second season. And I love TV and I love neuroscience, so I had to hear from Dr. Vijay Agarwal. He's a neurosurgeon and Severance's science consultant. In the show, some employees at a company called Lumen Industries undergo a surgical procedure that alters their brain.
Their memories are divided between work experiences, where they're known as their innies, and their personal lives where they're known as their outies. The protagonist, Mark Scout, and many of the other characters in the show choose to get the procedure after personal trauma. It's a way of escaping their everyday lives.
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