The Theory of Anything

Karl Popper's philosophy is often heavily associated with the concept of "criticism." But most people don't react well to criticism. Why is that? Should you just give criticism whether people want to hear it or not?    Kim Scott's book "Radical Candor" answers this question with some surprising answers. In part 1 we went over the motivations for and basic framework for Scott's approach. In this episode, we get into the details of how to set up a culture of criticism that will be actually effective. Follow us on Twitter Youtube version with optional visuals

Karl Popper's philosophy is often summarized as "Conjecture and Refutation." It's also heavily associated with the concept of "criticism." But most people don't react well to criticism. Why is that? Should you just give criticism whether people want to hear it or not?  Kim Scott's book "Radical Candor" answers this question with some surprising answers. She argues that the most effective kind of criticism is compassionate criticism and that the way to create a culture of criticism is to start with simply seeking it yourself from your subordinates. Her "Radical Candor" framework lays out an approach for how to go about implementing a culture of criticism in a business environment.  In Part 1, we layout the motivation and basic framework for Scott's approach to 'getting what you want by saying what you mean.' If you are enjoying this show, please retweet us and give us a 5-Star Review. Follow us on Twitter

Bruce and Cameo are joined by Dennis Hackethal, Ella Hoeppner, and Thatchaphol Saranurak as we discuss Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). In part 3, each of the guests talks about their own theories about Artificial General Intelligence and where they are taking their research.  If you are enjoying this show, please retweet us and give us a 5-Star Review. Follow us on Twitter Link to "Evolution is exponentially more powerful with frequency-dependent selection" paper.

This was recorded during the 24 hr. transcontinental Popperian ZOOM Meet 'n Greet of January 9th-10th, 2021 organized by OurKarlPopper.net. Bruce was asked to host a session with the subject of David Deutsch and how he brought a whole new generation to Karl Popper's philosophy. But at the last minute, we found out David Deutsch himself was attending. So we redid our plans to allow people to ask him questions.   Follow us on Twitter Youtube version with video Check out our blog.

Bruce and Cameo are joined by Dennis Hackethal, Ella Hoeppner, and Thatchaphol Saranurak as we discuss Artificial General Intelligence (AGI).  In part 2, among other things, we discuss various objections people make to AGI and why they can't be correct due to the existence of universality. We also discuss what a "Universal Explainer" is and if it is possible to create a quantum "oracle machine" which is a computer that can compute things that the Turning machine can't. 

In the last episode, we showed that Artificial General Intelligence was possible according to the laws of physics. This episode is part 1 of a 3-part panel discussion among computer scientists interested in AGI. Bruce and Cameo are joined by Dennis Hackethal, Ella Hoeppner, and Thatchaphol Saranurak -- all interested in both AGI and Karl Popper's epistemology and believe Popper's theories can shed light on how to discover AGI. In part 1, we discuss how AI (Artificial Intelligence) differs from AGI (Artificial General Intelligence). 

Part 3 of our series on Computational Theory. Using the theory we've built up, we now prove that Artificial General Intelligence is possible due to what is called "The Turing Principle" which is the most profound philosophical implication of Computational Theory. Plus Cameo asks Bruce about how religious people look at these theories.  Youtube version with optional visuals Note: Due to the nature of these Computational theory episodes, it might be helpful to see the Youtube visuals. 

In the last episode, we gave you the basic theory. Now we're going to show you how Computational Theory is actually used in real life. We'll discuss the various computational classes that exist and one special class in particular: NP-Complete. Using reducibility (as discussed in the previous episode) we can prove that this is a universal class of problems. This provides us evidence (but not a proof!) that many algorithms are too slow to be tractable (i.e. return a result in a useful amount of time.) Finally, we'll discuss the startling fact that some problems can't be computed at all because the laws of physics don't allow it. Youtube version with optional visuals: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVpM8XOwmz4 Note: Due to the nature of these Computational theory episodes, it might be helpful to see the Youtube visuals.

Delve into the intriguing world of Computational Theory, where the intersection of mathematics and physics sparks fascinating conversations. Discover the significance of finite automata and their impact on machine capabilities. Explore the groundbreaking contributions of Turing and Church, alongside the revolutionary implications of Shor's algorithm in quantum computing. Finally, take a wild ride through the controversial ties between quantum physics and mysticism, challenging our understanding of reality and the nature of artificial intelligence.

Unlike the universally acclaimed Marvel movies, Disney has struggled to turn their Purchase of the Star Wars franchise into the powerhouse they were hoping for. Why is there such strong split opinions on these movies? What did Disney do well and what did they get wrong?    We argue that good art is hard-to-vary, so it's easy to get something wrong that detracts from the overall movie. The recent Disney Star Wars movies aren't bad movies, but they aren't great Star Wars. We discuss how the movies slowly departed from the myth creation stories they started out as and how this impacted the overall storytelling.