In this episode Curt Jaimungal talks with David Wolpert about free will, the limits of scientific knowledge, the No Free Lunch theorem, and the Mathematical Universe hypothesis. They explore how Bayesian reasoning, Zen Buddhism, and superdeterminism intersect with physics and philosophy, and critique popular views on free will.
- 00:00:00 - Introduction
- 00:05:41 - No Free Lunch theorem explained
- 00:08:42 - Limits of mathematical proof
- 00:18:38 - Limits of Bayesian reasoning
- 00:24:23 - Meaning of No Free Lunch theorems
- 00:32:15 - The Problem and NFL nihilism
- 00:40:01 - Life's temporary meaning
- 00:44:07 - Zen Buddhism and No Free Lunch
- 00:45:50 - Artist vs Mathematician
- 00:48:54 - NFL and Zen continuation
- 00:51:38 - Atheism and intellectuals
- 00:57:30 - Superdeterminism video discussion
- 00:59:23 - What free will is and is not
- 01:02:23 - Critique of Dennett and Wolfram on free will
- 01:12:46 - Science as instrumental vs metaphysical
- 01:21:12 - Map vs Territory and Mathematical Universe
- 01:35:05 - Physics supervening on free will
- 01:39:36 - Explaining the Mathematical Universe
- 01:43:09 - Preview Part 2 with Wolpert
- 01:46:06 - Philosophy of mathematics and reality
- 01:47:45 - Why science shouldn't work / cross validation
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- Sabine Hossenfelder's video on Superdeterminism: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytyjgIyegDI
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