Making Sense with Sam Harris - Subscriber Content #318 - Physics & Philosophy
02:45:36
Multiple Levels Of Scientific Explanation
- Higher-level explanations (biology, computation, economics) give understanding physics alone cannot provide.
- Tim Maudlin argues these levels remain explanatory even if ultimately grounded in physics.
Spinning Screen Example
- Maudlin gives a computer display example to contrast physicist versus computer scientist explanations.
- The physicist predicts hardware failure; the computer scientist explains the looping program producing the spinny display.
Consciousness As The Hard Emergent Problem
- Consciousness resists reductionary explanation in a way functions like computation do not.
- Maudlin calls subjective experience the core example of a genuinely puzzling emergence.
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Introduction
00:00 • 5min
Tim Modlin on the Nature of Scientific Reductionism
04:44 • 4min
The Relationship Between Reductionism and Emergence
08:21 • 4min
The Supervenience Claim for Micro Physics
12:00 • 2min
The Computer Science and the Future of Computing
13:45 • 2min
Functionalism in the Philosophy of Mind
15:17 • 3min
The Different Levels of Conceptual Structure
18:14 • 2min
The Hard Problem of Consciousness
20:00 • 3min
The Relationship of Mathematics to Physics
22:45 • 2min
Platonism and Time
24:21 • 2min
The Consequences of Time
26:00 • 2min
The Neuroscience of Time Perception
27:45 • 2min
The Perception of Time
29:30 • 2min
The Objective Structure of Time
31:38 • 2min
The Two Views of Time
33:26 • 2min
The Block Universe
35:23 • 2min
Presentism Versus Eternalism in the Block Universe
36:57 • 3min
The Relativity of Time
39:39 • 2min
The Importance of Directionality in Physics
41:23 • 2min
The Problem With Time Symmetry
43:22 • 2min
The Problem With Time Symmetry
45:32 • 2min
The Importance of Causation in Time Order
47:16 • 2min
The Uncertainty of Reality
48:52 • 4min
The Importance of Conscience
52:23 • 2min
The Importance of Possibility
54:03 • 2min
The Law of Gravity
56:02 • 2min
The Uncanny View of Possible Worlds
57:40 • 2min
Newton's Laws of Nature
01:00:05 • 3min
What if I Could Trisect an Angle With Straight Edge and Compass?
01:02:48 • 2min
The Importance of Imagining the Future
01:04:37 • 2min
The Problem With Determinism
01:06:39 • 2min
The Limits of Free Will
01:09:09 • 3min
The Importance of Free Will
01:12:28 • 2min
The Dismissiveness of Determinism
01:14:06 • 1min
The Concept of Time
01:15:35 • 2min
The Four-Dimensional Spacetime
01:17:13 • 2min
The Block Universe and Time
01:18:55 • 2min
The Limitations of Time
01:20:36 • 2min
The Importance of Context in Languages
01:22:33 • 2min
The Illusion of Time
01:24:05 • 2min
The Importance of Free Will in Physics
01:26:28 • 3min
How to Understand What Bohr Believed
01:29:25 • 2min
The Probability of the Wave Function
01:30:55 • 2min
The Origins of Einstein's Gripe
01:32:42 • 2min
The Schrodinger Cat and the Wave Function
01:34:20 • 2min
The Schrodinger Equation Isn't Everything
01:36:12 • 2min
The Many Worlds Theory
01:37:44 • 2min
The Branching Structure of Quantum Mechanics
01:39:39 • 1min
The Probability Problem in Quantum Mechanics
01:41:08 • 2min
The Importance of Free Will
01:42:50 • 2min
The Importance of Free Will
01:45:12 • 2min
The Laplacian Demon
01:46:52 • 2min
The Limits of Freedom
01:48:38 • 4min
The Problem With Predictability
01:52:44 • 2min
The Importance of Deciding
01:54:41 • 2min
The Importance of Deliberation
01:56:33 • 2min
The Predictability of Hannibal Lecter
01:58:29 • 2min
The Difference Between Free Will and Physical Determinism
02:00:00 • 3min
The Importance of Free Will
02:02:35 • 2min
The Importance of Free Will
02:04:48 • 2min
The Paradigm of Free Will
02:06:19 • 3min
The Mysterious Power of Choice
02:08:59 • 2min
The Paradigm of Free Will
02:10:54 • 2min
The Power of Subjective Factors
02:13:05 • 3min
The Paradigm of Free Will
02:15:58 • 2min
The Power of Choice
02:18:19 • 2min
The Importance of Free Choices
02:20:33 • 3min
The Paradigm of Freedom
02:23:10 • 2min
The Consequences of Tuning
02:25:19 • 2min
The Importance of Choosing Your Preferences
02:26:57 • 2min
The Importance of Being Able to Express Your Preferences
02:28:30 • 2min
The Moral Conundrum of Responsibility
02:30:02 • 5min
The Moral Case of Tiger Woods
02:34:37 • 2min
The Importance of Deliberative Decision Making
02:36:20 • 3min
The Power of Blame
02:39:01 • 2min
Blame Is an Admonishment
02:41:17 • 2min
The John Bell Institute for the Foundations of Physics
02:43:06 • 3min
Sam Harris speaks with Tim Maudlin about the foundations of physics and metaphysics. They talk about the nature of scientific reductionism, emergence, functionalism, the nature of time, presentism vs eternalism, causation, the nature of possibility, the laws of nature, David Lewis’s possible worlds, rival interpretations of quantum mechanics, free will, and other topics.
Tim Maudlin is Professor of Philosophy at NYU and the Founder and Director of the John Bell Institute for the Foundations of Physics. He has a BA in Physics and Philosophy from Yale and a PhD in History and Philosophy of Science from the University of Pittsburgh. He is a Guggenheim Fellow and fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Science, and the author of books on the foundations of physics, logic, and foundations of mathematics. His books include Quantum Non-Locality and Relativity, Truth and Paradox, The Metaphysics Within Physics, Philosophy of Physics: Space and Time, and Philosophy of Physics: Quantum Theory.
Website: www.JohnBellInstitute.org
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