logo
episode-header-image
Jan 2024
45m 38s

Christmas Lecture 05: Virtual Reality: C...

Richard Dawkins
About this episode

The human eye and the human brain help us process reality. How accurate is our shared perception of reality? Scientific knowledge helps us clear the rubble from the path and see things for what they are. In the last part of Growing Up In The Universe, I take you through virtual reality models in the human mind and in computers. Through them we examine the questions: How do imagination, language and technology help us discern what is real from what is not? And what does the future of the human mind and perception look like? 
 

Up next
Sep 30
Why Ants Tear Off Their Own Wings
In this episode, Richard Dawkins revisits a 2012 conversation from the Great Minds program, produced by the Educational Broadcasting System in South Korea. Drawing on themes from his book Flights of Fancy, Dawkins explores humanity’s ancient dream of flight, the physics that gove ... Show More
14 m
Sep 20
Why Ideas Spread Like Viruses
In this episode of The Poetry of Reality, Richard joins a live audience in Edinburgh to discuss his latest book, The Genetic Book of the Dead. In this wide-ranging conversation, he reflects on how DNA preserves the story of evolution, describing organisms as “living books” that r ... Show More
1h 13m
Sep 14
Can We Still Be Optimistic About the Future? | A Conversation with Steven Pinker
In this episode of The Poetry of Reality, Richard Dawkins and Steven Pinker explore the frontiers of science, language, morality, artificial intelligence, evolution, and the future of human civilization. Steven Pinker is a Canadian-American cognitive psychologist, psycholinguist, ... Show More
1h 37m
Recommended Episodes
Jul 2019
EP52: Scientific Realism الواقعية العلمية
معرفتنا بالعالم تجريبية في الاساس، لكن لو تلك المعرفة نتاج وسيط ما بينا وبين العالم وهو الافكار، إذن كيف نستطيع ان نجزم ان تلك المعرفة حقيقية ومستقرة، الفكرة دى أدركها ديفيد هيوم في القرن السابع عشر، وجادل ان بالرغم من ان لا يوجد أمامنا اختيار غير التظاهر بان هناك عالم خارجي إلا ... Show More
1h 42m
Apr 2022
Ep 115: David Deutsch’s ”The Fabric of Reality” Chapter 5 “Virtual Reality”
Although an episode devoted to "virtual reality" may seem quirky, parochial or quaint: the fact is that the concept of virtual reality runs very deep. Our understanding of reality is via virtual reality: that conjuring of the external physical world that our minds manage to do. I ... Show More
1h 11m
Sep 2023
Can technology read our mind?
How does our brain process language? We speak to an expert who is using technology to turn narrative thoughts into text. Also on the show, what is happening in our brains when we switch languages? And what are the positives and perils of technology and translation?Also on the sho ... Show More
50m 44s
Aug 2019
78. Dr. Donald Hoffman — The Case Against Reality: Why Evolution Hid the Truth From Our Eyes
In his new book, The Case Against Reality: Why Evolution Hid the Truth From Our Eyes, the U.C. Irvine cognitive scientist Dr. Donald Hoffman challenges the leading scientific theories that claim that our senses report back objective reality. How can it be possible that the world ... Show More
1h 44m
Jan 2024
Vision Happens Before Reality
A big life vision pulls our biggest dreams into our 3D reality by establishing alignment in a non-physical dimension. Click here to access the Visioneering Dreams To Reality Workshop! 
4m 3s
Nov 2002
Imagination
Melvyn Bragg investigates the creatives forces of the imagination. Immanuel Kant said, "Imagination is a blind but indispensable function of the soul without which we should have no knowledge whatever but of which we are scarcely even conscious". Imagination has been the companio ... Show More
28m 3s
Aug 2022
249. Reality Is Made Up By Your Brain
For most people who dip their toes into the world of thought work for the first time, there are usually some questions that come up around subjectivity and reality. “If all thoughts are made up in our brains - is anything really true? How do I know if something is true?” But the ... Show More
16m 14s
Aug 2023
887: Andy Clark | How Our Minds Predict and Shape Reality
University of Sussex cognitive philosophy professor Andy Clark joins us to discuss how our brains experience and manipulate the reality that surrounds us. What We Discuss with Andy Clark: How your brain operates as a prediction machine that constructs an estimation of reality bas ... Show More
1h 9m
Dec 2022
How can we use virtual reality to teach English?
In recent times, the influence of virtual reality, artificial intelligence and the metaverse in our daily lives has increased. This influence has also been very noticeable in English language teaching in many parts of the world. In this episode, we talk to Nergiz Kern, a leading ... Show More
30m 55s