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261. Jim Al-Khalili on the Joy of Science

The Michael Shermer Show

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How to Apply Science to Morality, Ethics, Society

Scientists studying political, economic, social and moral subjects will discover certain things that are true in these fields of inquiry. And then why? Because it's in our nature. There's something about human nature you could discover. So here i quote pinker on this analogy were so he's talking about a platonic truths. On this analogy, we are born with a rudimentary concept of number, but as soon as we build on it with formal mathematical reasoning, the nature of mathematical reality forces us to discover some truths and not others. No one who understands the concept of two, the concept of four and the concept of edition can come to any conclusion but that two plus two equals four.

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