The Odds Are Stacked Against You to Be a Successful Artist

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It's been bothering me because it does feel like you're almost not allowed to say, to try to cheer people on and inspire them. And I just don't see that in other fields. Like Martin Scorsese has to constantly remind everyone that the odds were so stacked against him. He was the lucky one. That's exactly what I'm talking about. It's pretty clear that it's really, really hard to become a successful actor or musician or NBA player or whatever. In a way that is not clear when you're a first-year PhD student.

David and Tamler argue about William James' classic essay "The Will to Believe." What's more important - avoiding falsehood or discovering truth? When (if ever) is it rational to believe anything without enough evidence? What about beliefs that we can't be agnostic about? Are there hypotheses that we have to believe in order for them to come true? Does James successfully demonstrate that faith can be rational?

Plus, a philosopher at Apple who's not allowed to talk to the media - what are they hiding? And why are academics constantly telling students that academia is a nightmare?

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