This is the second part of a two part series. Here we focus exclusively upon "It from Qubit" (2002) by David Deutsch as found here: https://www.daviddeutsch.org.uk/wp-co... I read and comment upon the paper, unpacking its significance for physics, epistemology (i.e: the search for good explanations), metaphysics (ultimate reality beyond what science tells us ... Show More
Mar 11
Ep 259: Reaction to Michael Levin Part 3: Bait and Switch, Podcastistan and Surprising(?) algorithms.
In this, the third and final part of a series, I break down some work Michael Levin has done with sorting algorithms. That seems very dry until you hear his claim that these algorithms that are well known and have been studied for decades exhibit extremely unusual behaviour never ... Show More
59m 35s
Feb 16
Ep 258: Reaction to Michael Levin, Part 2: Bioelectricity, Consciousness and Knowing
This is the second in a multipart series where I react to some interviews with @drmichaellevin a biologist who, among other things, specialises in bioelectricity. His research can be found here: https://www.drmichaellevin.org and his "explainer articles" for his own professiona ... Show More
1h 38m
Feb 9
Ep 257: Reaction to Michael Levin, Part 1: Categories and Continuums.
This is the first in a multipart series where I react to some interviews with @drmichaellevin - a biologist who, among other things, specialises in bioelectricity. His research can be found here: https://www.drmichaellevin.org/publications/ and his "explainer articles" for his ow ... Show More
1h 8m
Oct 2023
253 | David Deutsch on Science, Complexity, and Explanation
David Deutsch is one of the most creative scientific thinkers working today, who has as a goal to understand and explain the natural world as best we can. He was a pioneer in quantum computing, and has long been an advocate of the Everett interpretation of quantum theory. He is a ... Show More
1h 42m
Jul 2021
Alyssa Ney, "The World in the Wave Function: A Metaphysics for Quantum Physics" (Oxford UP, 2021)
Quantum mechanics is full of weird findings – for example, that systems widely separated can somehow still be correlated, and that a system may be in two different possible states at the same time. Entanglement and superposition, among other phenomena, have prompted debate since ... Show More
1h 11m
Feb 2021
#238 — How to Build a Universe
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Sam Harris speaks with Frank Wilczek about the fundamental nature of reality. They discuss the difference between science and non-science, the role of intuition in science, the nature of time, the prospect that possibility is an illusion, the cu ... Show More
59m 13s
Aug 2021
Chiara Marletto, "The Science of Can and Can't: A Physicist's Journey Through the Land of Counterfactuals" (Viking, 2021)
There is a vast class of things that science has so far almost entirely neglected. They are central to the understanding of physical reality both at an everyday level and at the level of the most fundamental phenomena in physics, yet have traditionally been assumed to be impossib ... Show More
1h 6m
Aug 2021
Ep. 277: Hegel on Our Understanding of Physics (Part One)
On The Phenomenology of Spirit, ch. 3, "Force and the Understanding." What is "force" as physics describes it? And scientific law? Do these terms denote objects in the world, or models for how we describe the world? Part two of this episode is only going to be available to you if ... Show More
53m 53s
Mar 2023
Quantum melodies: the intersection of music and quantum physics
When pioneering musicians such as Kraftwerk and Brian Eno began experimenting with synthesizers and digital samplers in the 1970s, it was considered avant-garde and confined to niche audiences. It didn’t take long, however, for electronic music to explode in popularity, and today ... Show More
59m 58s
Apr 2021
170. Michio Kaku — The God Equation: The Quest for a Theory of Everything
Synthesizing relativity and quantum theory would be the crowning achievement of science, a profound merging of all the forces of nature into one beautiful, magnificent equation to unlock the deepest mysteries in science. In this episode, Michael Shermer speaks with professor of t ... Show More
1h 36m