RSam Podcast
Rahul Samaranayake
Philosophy & Theory | AI & CogSci
Episodes
Mentioned books
Jul 17, 2025 • 1h 40min
Žižek vs. Pinkard and the Hegel of Analytic Philosophy (w/ Joshua Wretzel)
Dr Joshua Wretzel is the Associate Teaching Professor of Philosophy at Pennsylvania State University, specialising in social and political philosophy, Kant and German Idealism, hermeneutics, phenomenology, and the philosophy of art and logic. Prof Wretzel's work on German philosophy is published in journals such as the European Journal of Philosophy, Hegel Bulletin, International Journal of Philosophical Studies, and Continental Philosophy Review. He's also co-editor of Cambridge's Hegel's Encyclopedia of the Philosophical Sciences: A Critical Guide, Routledge's Hegel's Encyclopedic System and is currently co-editor of the Cambridge Elements series on the philosophy of G. W. F. Hegel. In this episode, we discussed Žižek vs. Pinkard, the Pittsburgh School of Philosophy, Hegel in analytic philosophy, Hegelianism and American pragmatism and contradictions in Hegelian philosophy.You can find more of Dr Wretzel's work at https://philosophy.la.psu.edu/people/jiw10/.Watch it on YouTube here.RSam Podcast #78--------------------------------------- Please consider financially supporting my work (ONLY if you have the means). Patreon: https://patreon.com/trsam?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLinkSubstack: https://rsampod.substack.com---------------------------------------{Podcast}YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/RahulSamSubstack: https://rsampod.substack.com/Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4ryEqjut4r6SMtfxLdM1LeSFP: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/rahul-samaranayake Website: https://rahulsam.me/ {Social Media}https://substack.com/@trsam/https://www.instagram.com/name_is_rahul/https://www.linkedin.com/in/rahul-samaranayake-981a9315b/https://twitter.com/trsam97{Music Used}"Supapao - Can't Fall In Love" is under a Free To Use YouTube license https://soundcloud.com/supapaoMusic powered by BreakingCopyrightChill Lofi Hiphop - 'Breath' by l33 is under a Free To Use YouTube licenseSoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/nocopyrightlofi/no-copyright-chill-lofi-hiphop-breath-by-l33---------------------------------------If the ideas I discuss in this podcast evoke your interest, consider visiting https://theunhappyman.substack.com/--------------------------------------- Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statutes that might otherwise be infringing. If you are or represent the copyright owner of materials used in this video and have a problem with the use of the related material, please email me at trahulsam@gmail.com, and we can sort it out.Thank you.
Jun 27, 2025 • 2h 10min
Lacan for Analytic Philosophers (w/ Andrew Flores)
Andrew Flores is an autodidact in Freudo-Lacanian psychoanalysis, philosophy, theology, and Marxism. In this episode, we discuss Lacan's relationship to analytic philosophy and science.You can find more of Andrew's work at https://www.youtube.com/@The_Big_Sig and https://www.youtube.com/@thevanishingmediatorsGOAT memes: https://www.instagram.com/the_big_sig/1st podcast with Andrew: https://youtu.be/Wzu63JKoB3w?si=-mCpXQDvot5tD2C8Watch the video version here.RSam Podcast #77--------------------------------------- Please consider financially supporting my work (ONLY if you have the means). Patreon: https://patreon.com/trsam?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLinkSubstack: https://rsampod.substack.com---------------------------------------{Podcast}YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/RahulSamSubstack: https://rsampod.substack.com/Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4ryEqjut4r6SMtfxLdM1LeSFP: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/rahul-samaranayake Website: https://rahulsam.me/ {Social Media}https://substack.com/@trsam/https://www.instagram.com/name_is_rahul/https://www.linkedin.com/in/rahul-samaranayake-981a9315b/https://twitter.com/trsam97{Music Used}"Supapao - Can't Fall In Love" is under a Free To Use YouTube license https://soundcloud.com/supapaoMusic powered by BreakingCopyrightChill Lofi Hiphop - 'Breath' by l33 is under a Free To Use YouTube licenseSoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/nocopyrightlofi/no-copyright-chill-lofi-hiphop-breath-by-l33---------------------------------------If the ideas I discuss in this podcast evoke your interest, consider visiting https://theunhappyman.substack.com/--------------------------------------- Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statutes that might otherwise be infringing. If you are or represent the copyright owner of materials used in this video and have a problem with the use of the related material, please email me at trahulsam@gmail.com, and we can sort it out.Thank you.
May 23, 2025 • 1h 46min
Tim Maudlin: Physics and Epistemology
Prof Tim Maudlin is a philosopher of physics and science who, in the last few decades, has pioneered forwarding the field' Foundations of Physics.' He's the founder of the John Bell Institute for the Foundations of Physics, domiciled in Split, Croatia. He taught for over two decades at Rutgers University before joining the Department of Philosophy at New York University. Prof Maudlin is the author of numerous books, including New Foundations for Physical Geometry, Philosophy of Physics with Princeton University Press and Quantum Non-Locality and Relativity. In this episode, we discussed Lee Smolin and Carlo Rovelli's radical ontology of time, the difference between a mathematical representation, theory and interpretation, the Kuhn-Popper debate in the philosophy of science, Wittgenstein and Moore's views on knowledge, metaphysics of physics and the relationship between physics and epistemology.You can find more of Prof Maudlin's work at https://as.nyu.edu/faculty/tim-maudlin.htmlJohn Bell Institute for the Foundations of Physics: https://www.johnbellinstitute.org/John Bell Institute GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/a-permanent-home-for-the-john-bell-instituteWatch the video version here.RSam Podcast #76--------------------------------------- Please consider financially supporting my work (ONLY if you have the means). Patreon: https://patreon.com/trsam?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLinkSubstack: https://rsampod.substack.com---------------------------------------{Podcast}YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/RahulSamSubstack: https://rsampod.substack.com/Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4ryEqjut4r6SMtfxLdM1LeSFP: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/rahul-samaranayake Website: https://rahulsam.me/ {Social Media}https://substack.com/@trsam/https://www.instagram.com/name_is_rahul/https://www.linkedin.com/in/rahul-samaranayake-981a9315b/https://twitter.com/trsam97{Music Used}"Supapao - Can't Fall In Love" is under a Free To Use YouTube license https://soundcloud.com/supapaoMusic powered by BreakingCopyrightChill Lofi Hiphop - 'Breath' by l33 is under a Free To Use YouTube licenseSoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/nocopyrightlofi/no-copyright-chill-lofi-hiphop-breath-by-l33---------------------------------------If the ideas I discuss in this podcast evoke your interest, consider visiting https://theunhappyman.substack.com/--------------------------------------- Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statutes that might otherwise be infringing. If you are or represent the copyright owner of materials used in this video and have a problem with the use of the related material, please email me at trahulsam@gmail.com, and we can sort it out.Thank you.
May 8, 2025 • 48min
Paul Cockshott: Defending Materialism and Scientific Socialism
Dr Paul Cockshott is a computer scientist and multidisciplinary economist working through Marxism and scientific socialism. Dr Cockshott earned a PhD in Computer Science from Edinburgh University. Named on fifty-two patents, his research covers political economy, robotics, computer parallelism, 3D TV, foundations of computability, and data compression. He is the author of numerous books, including How the World Works, Towards a New Socialism and Defending Materialism. In this episode, we discuss the history of materialism, whether dialectical or mechanical materialism is correct, what type of materialist Marx was, scientific socialism, centralised planning, computational economics and whether markets without capitalism are possible.You can find more of Dr Cockshott's work at https://www.youtube.com/@paulcockshott8733, https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=eDREwZMAAAAJ&hl=en and https://paulcockshott.wordpress.com/ Defending Materialism: https://www.bloomsbury.com/au/defending-materialism-9781350447349/Towards a New Socialism: https://users.wfu.edu/cottrell/socialism_book/new_socialism.pdfWatch the video version here.RSam Podcast #75--------------------------------------- Please consider financially supporting my work (ONLY if you have the means). Patreon: https://patreon.com/trsam?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLinkSubstack: https://rsampod.substack.com---------------------------------------{Podcast}YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/RahulSamSubstack: https://rsampod.substack.com/Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4ryEqjut4r6SMtfxLdM1LeSFP: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/rahul-samaranayake Website: https://rahulsam.me/ {Social Media}https://substack.com/@trsam/https://www.instagram.com/name_is_rahul/https://www.linkedin.com/in/rahul-samaranayake-981a9315b/https://twitter.com/trsam97{Reference Links}https://youtu.be/9aK4OztueuE?si=ejHFFQ_BnThrxgvA{Music Used}"Supapao - Can't Fall In Love" is under a Free To Use YouTube license https://soundcloud.com/supapaoMusic powered by BreakingCopyrightChill Lofi Hiphop - 'Breath' by l33 is under a Free To Use YouTube licenseSoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/nocopyrightlofi/no-copyright-chill-lofi-hiphop-breath-by-l33---------------------------------------If the ideas I discuss in this podcast evoke your interest, consider visiting https://theunhappyman.substack.com/--------------------------------------- Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statutes that might otherwise be infringing. If you are or represent the copyright owner of materials used in this video and have a problem with the use of the related material, please email me at trahulsam@gmail.com, and we can sort it out.Thank you.
Apr 24, 2025 • 1h 55min
Everything You Wanted to Know About Australian Politics (w/ ActuallyAdu)
ActuallyAdu is a video essayist and political commentator. He has a background in economics and makes videos about Australian and global politics. In this episode, we discuss the housing crisis, how bad the Australian economy is compared to the rest of the world, neoliberalism and its discontents, decommodifying housing, energy policy, migration, identity, preferential voting and building alternate systems.You can find more of Adu's work at https://www.youtube.com/@adu__ and https://www.instagram.com/actuallyadu/Watch the video version here.RSam Podcast #74--------------------------------------- Please consider financially supporting my work (ONLY if you have the means). Patreon: https://patreon.com/trsam?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLinkSubstack: https://rsampod.substack.com---------------------------------------{Podcast}YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/RahulSamSubstack: https://rsampod.substack.com/Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4ryEqjut4r6SMtfxLdM1LeSFP: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/rahul-samaranayake Website: https://rahulsam.me/ {Social Media}https://substack.com/@trsam/https://www.instagram.com/name_is_rahul/https://www.linkedin.com/in/rahul-samaranayake-981a9315b/https://twitter.com/trsam97{Reference Links}https://youtu.be/LZLwKwWOW88?si=xUE95QtYt9lY30Vqhttps://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/may/05/morrison-government-spent-208bn-on-consultants-and-outsourcing-public-service-in-final-year-audit-findshttps://www.innovationaus.com/australias-economic-complexity-ranking-worsens-again/{Music Used}"Supapao - Can't Fall In Love" is under a Free To Use YouTube license https://soundcloud.com/supapaoMusic powered by BreakingCopyrightChill Lofi Hiphop - 'Breath' by l33 is under a Free To Use YouTube licenseSoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/nocopyrightlofi/no-copyright-chill-lofi-hiphop-breath-by-l33---------------------------------------If the ideas I discuss in this podcast evoke your interest, consider visiting https://theunhappyman.substack.com/--------------------------------------- Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statutes that might otherwise be infringing. If you are or represent the copyright owner of materials used in this video and have a problem with the use of the related material, please email me at trahulsam@gmail.com, and we can sort it out.Thank you.
13 snips
Apr 18, 2025 • 1h 21min
Cognitive Computing vs. LLMs (w/ Mahault Albarracin)
Mahault Albarracin, a PhD student at UQAM and Director of Research Strategy at VERSUS, dives into the world of cognitive computing and AI. She reveals the critical distinctions between large language models and true cognitive agents, stressing the latter's need for self-awareness. The conversation also traverses her interdisciplinary journey from sexology to cognitive science, highlighting the philosophical implications of AI's development. Additionally, Mahault touches on engineering challenges, sustainability in AI, and the importance of a sociological perspective on sentience.
Apr 13, 2025 • 1h 44min
Can AI Lie? Chatbots, Language & Psychoanalysis (w/ Jack Black)
Dr Jack Black is an Associate Professor of Culture, Media, and Sport at Sheffield Hallam University (UK), where he's affiliated with the Centre for Culture, Media, and Society and is Research Lead for the Anti-Racism Research Group. He is an interdisciplinary researcher primarily focused on Freudo-Lacanian psychoanalysis, media, and cultural studies, authoring numerous books, including The Psychosis of Race, Racism and Political Correctness in Comedy (published with Routledge) and co-authored the edited collections of Sport and Psychoanalysis. Dr Black has also written about the relationship between AI and humans, which was the central subject of this discussion. In this episode, we discuss the relationship between AI, language and subjectivity through a psychoanalytic lens.You can find more of Dr Black's work at https://www.jackblackphd.co.uk/ and https://www.shu.ac.uk/about-us/our-people/staff-profiles/jack-blackWatch the video version here.RSam Podcast #72--------------------------------------- Please consider financially supporting my work (ONLY if you have the means). Patreon: https://patreon.com/trsam?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLinkSubstack: https://rsampod.substack.com---------------------------------------{Podcast}YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/RahulSamSubstack: https://rsampod.substack.com/Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4ryEqjut4r6SMtfxLdM1LeSFP: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/rahul-samaranayake Website: https://rahulsam.me/ {Social Media}https://substack.com/@trsam/https://www.instagram.com/name_is_rahul/https://www.linkedin.com/in/rahul-samaranayake-981a9315b/https://twitter.com/trsam97{Reference Links}https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/s41282-021-00241-5https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/08944393241282602https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/s41282-023-00406-4https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/s41282-021-00241-5{Music Used}"Supapao - Can't Fall In Love" is under a Free To Use YouTube license https://soundcloud.com/supapaoMusic powered by BreakingCopyright---------------------------------------If the ideas I discuss in this podcast evoke your interest, consider visiting https://theunhappyman.substack.com/--------------------------------------- Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statutes that might otherwise be infringing. If you are or represent the copyright owner of materials used in this video and have a problem with the use of the related material, please email me at trahulsam@gmail.com, and we can sort it out.Thank you.
Mar 28, 2025 • 1h 34min
Christian Nationalism vs. the Void of Christianity (w/ Richard Boothby)
Prof Richard Boothby is a professor of philosophy at Loyola University Maryland who works in psychoanalysis, philosophical psychology, phenomenology, existentialism, and contemporary continental philosophy. He is the author of Death and Desire, Freud as Philosopher, Blown Away and numerous other books. In this episode, we discuss his religious work (as a response to Christian Nationalism and identity politics) along with the book Embracing the Void: Rethinking the Origin of the Sacred, which Todd McGowan has said is the best psychoanalytic take on religion.You can find more of Prof Boothby's work at https://www.loyola.edu/academics/philosophy/faculty/boothby-richard.htmlAdu's video essays: https://www.youtube.com/@adu__Watch the video version here.RSam Podcast #71--------------------------------------- Please consider financially supporting my work (ONLY if you have the means). Patreon: https://patreon.com/trsam?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLinkSubstack: https://rsampod.substack.com---------------------------------------{Podcast}YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/RahulSamSubstack: https://rsampod.substack.com/Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4ryEqjut4r6SMtfxLdM1LeSFP: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/rahul-samaranayake Website: https://rahulsam.me/ {Social Media}https://substack.com/@trsam/https://www.instagram.com/name_is_rahul/https://www.linkedin.com/in/rahul-samaranayake-981a9315b/https://twitter.com/trsam97{Reference Links}https://nupress.northwestern.edu/9780810145382/embracing-the-void/https://youtu.be/sLM1cODM65w?si=RyaUA7-gWJljCkYj{Music Used}"Supapao - Can't Fall In Love" is under a Free To Use YouTube license https://soundcloud.com/supapaoMusic powered by BreakingCopyright---------------------------------------If the ideas I discuss in this podcast evoke your interest, consider visiting https://theunhappyman.substack.com/--------------------------------------- Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statutes that might otherwise be infringing. If you are or represent the copyright owner of materials used in this video and have a problem with the use of the related material, please email me at trahulsam@gmail.com, and we can sort it out.Thank you.
Mar 23, 2025 • 2h 3min
Dialectical Science and Why AI Research Needs Continental Philosophy (w/ Tim Elmo Feiten)
Dr Tim Elmo Feiten is a philosopher of science with a focus on the sciences of life, mind, and artificial intelligence. His work brings the history and philosophy of science into dialogue with other fields, especially continental and Classical German philosophy. He has used the philosophy of embodied cognitive science to develop new readings of Jakob von Uexküll and Max Stirner and to ask questions about the relationships between art, science, technology, and society. Dr Feiten is currently an Assistant Teaching Professor at Penn State University and did his PhD at the University of Cincinnati. In this episode, we discuss how subjective experience remains a deep philosophical and scientific problem, how continental philosophy can be used in AI and cognitive science research and how science is essentially dialectical.You can find more of Dr Feiten's work at https://philosophy.la.psu.edu/people/tim-elmo-feiten/ and https://www.linkedin.com/in/tim-elmo-feiten-41882b48/Watch the video version here.RSam Podcast #70--------------------------------------- Please consider financially supporting my work (ONLY if you have the means). Patreon: https://patreon.com/trsam?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLinkSubstack: https://rsampod.substack.com---------------------------------------{Podcast}YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/RahulSamSubstack: https://rsampod.substack.com/Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4ryEqjut4r6SMtfxLdM1LeSFP: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/rahul-samaranayake Website: https://rahulsam.me/ {Social Media}https://substack.com/@trsam/https://www.instagram.com/name_is_rahul/https://www.linkedin.com/in/rahul-samaranayake-981a9315b/https://twitter.com/trsam97{Reference Links}Dr Feiten's papers: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=4-FTePoAAAAJ&hl=en{Music Used}"Supapao - Can't Fall In Love" is under a Free To Use YouTube license https://soundcloud.com/supapaoMusic powered by BreakingCopyright---------------------------------------If the ideas I discuss in this podcast evoke your interest, consider visiting https://theunhappyman.substack.com/--------------------------------------- Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statutes that might otherwise be infringing. If you are or represent the copyright owner of materials used in this video and have a problem with the use of the related material, please email me at trahulsam@gmail.com, and we can sort it out.Thank you.
Mar 7, 2025 • 2h 37min
Why Study Lacan (w/ Andrew Flores AKA The Big Signorelli)
Andrew Flores, an autodidact in Freudo-Lacanian psychoanalysis, philosophy, and Marxism, dives deep into Lacan's complex theories. He unpacks the intricacies of subjectivity, discussing the role of transference in therapy and the dialectical dance between desire and drive. With wit, he navigates the symbolic order and critiques ego psychology, shedding light on how these concepts can illuminate contemporary political and cultural discussions. Andrew also offers guidance on accessible readings and the challenges of engaging with Lacanian texts.
