Philosopher David Chalmers reckons there’s a 25% chance that we are living in a simulation. And he’s OK with it.
David's new book is "Reality+: Virtual Worlds and the Problems of Philosophy."
To hear an extended version of this episode, download the Next Big Idea app: https://nextbigideaclub.com/podcast
Yesterday
How AI Could Change Everything in the Next 1,000 Days
Emad Mostaque co-founded Stability AI, the company behind the text-to-image generator Stable Diffusion, and he now runs Intelligent Internet, which builds open-source AI models. In his new book, The Last Economy, he argues that AI is about to make human intellect so cheap and a ... Show More
1h 21m
Mar 2
Do We Even Need Politicians?
“The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers,” sneers a rebel henchman in Shakespeare’s “Henry VI.” Hélène Landemore, a political scientist at Yale, has another idea: let’s fire all the politicians. She has a point, doesn’t she? Most of ’em are beholden to donors, allergic ... Show More
54m 55s
Feb 26
Inside the Most Creative Friendship in History
On the surface, Ian Leslie's book John & Paul: A Love Story in Songs is a dual biography of the greatest songwriting duo the world has ever seen. So not exactly standard Next Big Idea territory. But what’s remarkable about Ian's book, which I've been pressing on everyone I know, ... Show More
1h 1m
Jan 2022
Are we living in a simulation?
Sean Illing talks with philosopher David Chalmers about virtual worlds and the nature of reality, and other topics that stem from Chalmers's new book Reality+. In this far-reaching discussion, Sean and Prof. Chalmers get into the makeup of human consciousness, the question of whe ... Show More
1h 6m
Aug 2023
Episode #186 ... Are we heading for a digital prison? - Panopticon (Foucault, Bentham, Cave)
Today we talk about Jeremy Bentham's concept of the Panopticon. Michel Foucault's comparison to society in 1975. The historical role of intelligence as a justification for dominance. The anatomy of free will, and how a digital world may systematically limit our free will without ... Show More
36m 51s
Dec 2021
Cosmic Queries – Living in a Simulation with Nick Bostrom
<p>Are we in a simulation? On this episode, Neil deGrasse Tyson and comic co-host Chuck Nice take a deep dive into simulation theory, consciousness, and free will with Oxford theorist Nick Bostrom. Is this The Matrix? </p><p>NOTE: StarTalk+ Patrons can watch or listen to this ent ... Show More
53m 48s
Apr 2023
#107 — Is Life Actually Worth Living?
Sam Harris speaks with David Benatar about his philosophy of “anti-natalism.” They discuss the asymmetry between the good and bad things in life, the ethics of existential risk, the moral landscape, the limits and paradoxes of introspection, the “experience machine” thought exper ... Show More
49m 15s
Mar 2015
Episode #052 ... David Hume pt. 2 - Design
On this episode of the podcast, we continue our discussion of David Hume. This time, we focus on Hume's response to the Teleological Argument, which goes a little something like this: “Look at how perfectly everything works! All of this must have been designed by God.” We also le ... Show More
29m 28s