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Physicist and philosopher Jenann Ismael joins to unveil a radical idea: free will isn’t an illusion, it’s a physical reality grounded in thermodynamics and relativity. In this conversation, Jenann explains why no system, not even a perfect computer, can predict its own future, and how this inherent unpredictability opens the door to real agency. We explore the paradox of identity, the limits of determinism, the role of memory in selfhood, and why your choices truly come from you. This is the clearest, most rigorous defense of free will in the age of physics.
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Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4gL14b92xAErofYQA7bU4e
Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction
01:42 Free Will
29:16 The Limits of Predictability
41:45 Defining Free Will
59:42 Life and Cognition in the Universe
1:05:30 The Choices We Make
1:08:01 Dark Nights of the Soul
1:09:35 Philosophical Responses to Free Will
1:11:03 Personal Reflections on Life
1:11:54 The Weight of Loss
1:13:40 Patterns of Persistence
1:17:17 Understanding the Self
1:18:41 The Continuity of Existence
1:20:17 The Nature of Mortality
1:22:27 Time and Its Mysteries
1:51:42 The Nature of Existence
2:04:23 The Paradox of Newcomb's Dilemma
2:08:38 Lessons Learned from Suffering
Links Mentioned:
• How Physics Makes Us Free [Book]: https://amzn.to/44CcHr8
• Why Physics Should Care About The Mind [Paper]: https://www.jenanni.com/wp-content/uploads/Why-physics-should-care-about-the-mind-and-how-to-think-about-it-without-worrying-about-the-mind-body-problem.pdf
• Diana Pasulka [TOE]: https://youtu.be/E5MuTHUbMUs
• Leonard Susskind [TOE]: https://youtu.be/2p_Hlm6aCok
• Sean Carroll [TOE]: https://youtu.be/9AoRxtYZrZo
• Matt Segall [TOE]: https://youtu.be/DeTm4fSXpbM
• Tim Maudlin [TOE]: https://youtu.be/fU1bs5o3nss
• David Lewis’s Metaphysics: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/lewis-metaphysics/#Bib
• Robert Sapolsky [TOE]: https://youtu.be/z0IqA1hYKY8
• David Lewis’s Books: https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B000APAW62
• Stephen Wolfram [TOE]: https://youtu.be/0YRlQQw0d-4
• Roy Baumeister [TOE]: https://youtu.be/aXoK-C2c2AQ
• Free Will Ontoprism [TOE]: https://youtu.be/SSbUCEleJhg
• Michael Levin [TOE]: https://youtu.be/c8iFtaltX-s
• Dark Night Of The Soul: https://basilica.ca/documents/2016/10/St.%20John%20of%20the%20Cross-Dark%20night%20of%20the%20soul.pdf
• George Musser [TOE]: https://youtu.be/KVy3NeXpMaI
• Tim Maudlin & Tim Palmer [TOE]: https://youtu.be/883R3JlZHXE
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