
RSam Podcast
Philosophy & Theory | AI & CogSci
Latest episodes

Jul 9, 2024 • 1h 51min
Anna Riedl: The Historical Development of Cognitive Science
Anna Riedl is a cognitive scientist who researches rationality under radical uncertainty. She completed her undergraduate degree in psychology at the University of Vienna and did the Middle European interdisciplinary master's programme in Cognitive Science. Anna was a researcher at the Viennese Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Decision Support and a member of the Global Shapers Community organised by the World Economic Forum, serving as curator for the Vienna Hub.
You can find more of Riedl's work at https://www.riedlanna.com/ and https://x.com/AnnaLeptikon.
CogSci map: https://www.riedlanna.com/cognitivesciencemap.html
CogSci millennium: https://cognitivescience.substack.com/p/the-cognitive-science-millennium
Watch the video version here.
RSam Podcast #44
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{Podcast}
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/RahulSam
Substack: https://rsampod.substack.com/
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4ryEqjut4r6SMtfxLdM1Le
Anchor: https://anchor.fm/rahul-samaranayake
Website: https://rahulsam.me/
{Social Media}
https://www.instagram.com/name_is_rahul/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rahul-samaranayake-981a9315b/
https://twitter.com/trsam97
{Reference Links}
https://youtu.be/0aQebCENIjg?si=Ed0aiOSKHEhCndlv
https://link.springer.com/book/10.1057/9780230307827
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24113.G_del_Escher_Bach
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/695429.G_del_s_Proof
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34848865-exact-thinking-in-demented-times
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Question_Concerning_Technology
https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262540568/being-in-the-world/
https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262540674/what-computers-still-cant-do/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubert_Dreyfus%27s_views_on_artificial_intelligence
https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-94-009-8947-4
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenomenology_of_Perception
https://direct.mit.edu/books/oa-monograph/5299/Active-InferenceThe-Free-Energy-Principle-in-Mind
https://academic.oup.com/book/36527
https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262514620/vision/
https://study.sagepub.com/friedenberg3e
https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262701099/mind/
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If the ideas I discuss in this podcast evoke your interest, consider visiting https://theunhappyman.substack.com/
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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.

17 snips
Jul 5, 2024 • 1h 32min
Mel Andrews: Ontology of the Free Energy Principle and the Philosophy of Machine Learning
Mel Andrews, a philosopher of science specializing in machine learning, delves into the philosophy of AI, ethics, and the ontology of the free energy principle. They discuss challenges in academia, capitalist influences on AI ethics, the evolution of machine learning research, and the intersection of philosophy with AI and critical theory.

May 25, 2024 • 1h 27min
Why You Should Read Byung-Chul Han (w/ Davood Gozli)
Dr Davood Gozli is a cognitive psychologist and lay philosopher. In this episode, we discuss Byung-Chul Han's work and his contributions to the contemporary critical theory discourse.
You can find more of Dr Gozli's work at https://dgozli.com/ and https://www.youtube.com/c/DavoodGozli
Watch the video version here.
RSam Podcast #42
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{Podcast}
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/RahulSam
Substack: https://rsampod.substack.com/
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4ryEqjut4r6SMtfxLdM1Le
Anchor: https://anchor.fm/rahul-samaranayake
Website: https://rahulsam.me/
{Social Media}
https://www.instagram.com/name_is_rahul/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rahul-samaranayake-981a9315b/
https://twitter.com/trsam97
{Reference Links}
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byung-Chul_Han
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/970747.Byung_Chul_Han
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If the ideas I discuss in this podcast evoke your interest, consider visiting https://theunhappyman.substack.com/
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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 16, 2024 • 1h 31min
Graham Oppy on Analytic Idealism, Gödel's Proof for God, and Ontological Arguments
Prof Graham Oppy is the Professor of Philosophy at Monash University and, before that, did his graduate work at Princeton. He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Humanities and the foundation editor of the Australasian Philosophical Review. He's also the author of several books, including Atheism: The Basics by Routledge, Arguing about Gods and Ontological Arguments and Belief in God—additionally, he's also published superlative papers on Gödel's ontological proof for the existence of God. Apart from being a renowned philosopher of religion, he has also published on the philosophy of math, language, aesthetics, and science. In this episode, we discuss new atheism, Bernardo Kastrup's analytical idealism, Gödel's proof for God, Anselm's and Hegelian ontological arguments, limits of formal axiomatisation, and its relationship to epistemology and Christian existentialism.
You can find more of Prof Oppy's work at https://research.monash.edu/en/persons/graham-oppy and https://x.com/OppyGraham
Watch the video version here.
RSam Podcast #41
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{Podcast}
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/RahulSam
Substack: https://rsampod.substack.com/
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4ryEqjut4r6SMtfxLdM1Le
Anchor: https://anchor.fm/rahul-samaranayake
Website: https://rahulsam.me/
{Social Media}
https://www.instagram.com/name_is_rahul/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rahul-samaranayake-981a9315b/
https://twitter.com/trsam97
{Reference Links}
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WE1y00bwCU
https://www.amazon.com.au/Ontological-Arguments-Belief-Graham-Oppy/dp/0521481201
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sOlr9TeI2k
https://www.academia.edu/8233351/Godelian_ontological_arguments
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WK-auo8Miw
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If the ideas I discuss in this podcast evoke your interest, consider visiting https://theunhappyman.substack.com/
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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 13, 2024 • 1h 48min
Inês Hipólito on Computational Phenomenology, E-Cognition and the AI of Maurice Merleau-Ponty
Dr Inês Hipólito is an Assistant Professor at Macquarie University, specialising in cognitive science and philosophy of mind and AI. Prior to this role, she served as a lecturer at the Berlin School of Mind and Brain. She employs E-Cognitive Science, Complex Systems, and the Free Energy Principle to investigate the dynamic relationship between human cognition and artificial intelligence. Furthermore, Dr Hipólito is also the co-founder of the ‘International Society of the Philosophy of the Sciences of the Mind’ and serves as the AI ethics advisor/architect for VERSES, a cognitive computing company. In this episode, we discussed computational phenomenology, E-cognition, active inference, the free energy principle, the philosophy and ethics of AI, Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Simone de Beauvoir.
You can find more of Dr Inês Hipólito's work at www.ineshipolito.com and https://researchers.mq.edu.au/en/persons/ines-hipolito
Watch the video version here.
RSam Podcast #40
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{Podcast}
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/RahulSam
Substack: https://rsampod.substack.com/
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4ryEqjut4r6SMtfxLdM1Le
Anchor: https://anchor.fm/rahul-samaranayake
Website: https://rahulsam.me/
{Social Media}
https://www.instagram.com/name_is_rahul/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rahul-samaranayake-981a9315b/
https://twitter.com/trsam97
{Reference Links}
https://researchers.mq.edu.au/en/publications/an-alternative-to-cognitivism-computational-phenomenology-for-dee
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Clark
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaun_Gallagher
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evan_Thompson
https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691180144/artificial-you
https://youtu.be/Wkyc2tay2dw?si=HWzZ-PQRWVLm1vGK
https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/5/article/925194/summary
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If the ideas I discuss in this podcast evoke your interest, consider visiting https://theunhappyman.substack.com/
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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 26, 2024 • 1h 12min
Simon Critchley on Heidegger, Hermeneutics and Why Philosophy Begins in Disappointment
Prof. Simon Critchley is a philosopher and the Hans Jonas Professor of Philosophy at the New School for Social Research in New York. He's the author of numerous books, including Infinitely Demanding: Ethics of Commitment, Politics of Resistance, On Heidegger's Being and Time, Memory Theatre, and Tragedy, the Greeks, and Us (to name a few). Since 2010, Prof. Critchley has moderated The New York Times philosophy series, The Stone, and in 2020, he released Apply-degger, a long-form podcast series on Martin Heidegger's Being and Time. In this episode, we discuss how to philosophise well while being a useless philosopher, phenomenological existentialism and all things Heidegger.
You can find more of Prof. Critchley's work at https://www.simoncritchley.org/ and https://www.newschool.edu/nssr/faculty/simon-critchley/
Watch the video version here.
RSam Podcast #39
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{Podcast}
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/RahulSam
Substack: https://rsampod.substack.com/
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4ryEqjut4r6SMtfxLdM1Le
Anchor: https://anchor.fm/rahul-samaranayake
Website: https://rahulsam.me/
{Social Media}
https://www.instagram.com/name_is_rahul/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rahul-samaranayake-981a9315b/
https://twitter.com/trsam97
{Reference Links}
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXaTWQcl9-DWk0N1yovQT6OJi2K89qj4J&si=HMJV2rlRZQAKKfqM
https://www.routledge.com/On-Heideggers-Being-and-Time/Levine-Critchley-Schurmann/p/book/9780415775960
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/743325.Infinitely_Demanding
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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 23, 2024 • 1h 43min
Philosopher of Education Reacts to Sabine Hossenfelder's Academic Woes
Dr. Vlasta Sikimić is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy of Science and a member of the Philosophy and Ethics group at Eindhoven University of Technology. Her research focuses on the Social Epistemology of Science, Metascience, Philosophy of AI and ML in Science and Philosophy of AI in Education. In this episode, we react to Sabine Hossenfelder's recent video: https://youtu.be/LKiBlGDfRU8?si=k95jhrK-QRHlIJ_P
You can find more of Dr. Sikimić's work at https://vlastasikimic.com/ and https://twitter.com/VlastaSikimic
Our previous conversation: https://youtu.be/70g559tguHs
Watch the video version here.
RSam Podcast #38
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{Podcast}
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/RahulSam
Substack: https://rsampod.substack.com/
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4ryEqjut4r6SMtfxLdM1Le
Anchor: https://anchor.fm/rahul-samaranayake
Website: https://rahulsam.me/
{Social Media}
https://www.instagram.com/name_is_rahul/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rahul-samaranayake-981a9315b/
https://twitter.com/trsam97
{Reference Links}
Dr. Sikimić's work:
https://vlastasikimic.com/publications/
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13164-020-00504-7
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13194-022-00478-6
https://vlastasikimic.files.wordpress.com/2018/11/sikimiceip18.pdf
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If the ideas I discuss in this podcast evoke your interest, consider visiting https://theunhappyman.substack.com/
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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 31, 2024 • 1h 45min
Vlasta Sikimić on the Philosophy of AI in Science, Epistemic Tolerance and Linguistic Injustice
Dr. Vlasta Sikimić is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy of Science and a member of the Philosophy and Ethics group at Eindhoven University of Technology. Her research focuses on the Social Epistemology of Science, Metascience, Philosophy of AI and ML in Science and Philosophy of AI in Education. In this episode, we discuss epistemic equity and tolerance, linguistic injustice, the philosophy of AI, scientific funding, using ML for scientific grant reviews, the epistemology of science and Slavoj Žižek.
You can find more of Dr. Sikimić's work at https://vlastasikimic.com/ and https://twitter.com/VlastaSikimic
Watch the video version here.
RSam Podcast #37
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{Podcast}
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/RahulSam
Substack: https://rsampod.substack.com/
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4ryEqjut4r6SMtfxLdM1Le
Anchor: https://anchor.fm/rahul-samaranayake
Website: https://rahulsam.me/
{Social Media}
https://www.instagram.com/name_is_rahul/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rahul-samaranayake-981a9315b/
https://twitter.com/trsam97
{Reference Links}
Dr. Sikimić's work:
https://vlastasikimic.com/publications/
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13164-020-00504-7
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13194-022-00478-6
https://vlastasikimic.files.wordpress.com/2018/11/sikimiceip18.pdf
On the discovery of the connection between HPV and cancer: https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781442215214/Catching-Cancer-The-Quest-for-Its-Viral-and-Bacterial-Causes
On diversity and inclusion: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02691728.2023.2258831
On the lab space gap: https://www.science.org/content/article/women-scientists-famed-oceanography-institute-have-half-lab-space-men
On the diversity of thoughts: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10670-009-9194-6
Sabina Leonelli's on data: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2053951714534395
Speciesist bias in AI: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s43681-022-00199-9
Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41104077-invisible-women
Slavoj Žižek's work:
https://philpapers.org/archive/SLAPSC.pdf
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1013322.Did_Somebody_Say_Totalitarianism_
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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 12, 2024 • 1h 31min
Hunter Coates on Christian Socialism and Universal Salvation
Hunter Coates is an Orthodox Christian theologian, undergraduate student and aspiring academic. He's currently pursuing a double B.A. in philosophy and history at Georgia College and State University. After graduation, he plans to work towards a PhD in philosophy. In February 2023, Hunter published his first full-length text titled 'Conspiracy and the Subject: A Lacanian Enterprise.' And he will be publishing 'Grace Abounds: A Holistic Case for Universalism' by the end of 2024. In this episode, we discuss Žižek, Lacan, Hegel, theosis, Orthodox Christianity, Christian socialism and universal salvation.
Papers discussed:
https://www.academia.edu/104665528/Salvation_for_All_On_Christian_Universalism
https://www.academia.edu/114089297/On_Earth_As_In_Heaven_Orthodox_Spirituality_and_Eschatology_in_Christian_Socialism
Our previous conversations:
https://youtu.be/DAAkbs2HnkM?si=NW-qyMcGfAglylVd
https://youtu.be/t9osxSi3FwI?si=6meNepMYPbJllcRN
You can find more of Hunter's work at https://linktr.ee/h003
Conspiracy & The Subject: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/123002084-conspiracy-the-subject
Watch the video version here.
RSam Podcast #36
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{Podcast}
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/RahulSam
Substack: https://rsampod.substack.com/
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4ryEqjut4r6SMtfxLdM1Le
Anchor: https://anchor.fm/rahul-samaranayake
Website: https://rahulsam.me/
{Social Media}
https://www.instagram.com/name_is_rahul/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rahul-samaranayake-981a9315b/
https://twitter.com/trsam97
{Reference Links}
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5423242-the-monstrosity-of-christ
https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/44174516
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25845273-the-great-divorce
https://ecommons.udayton.edu/rel_fac_pub/94/
https://youtu.be/rOuRI2FuN_4?si=QSSZzNfIDAsLuA6m
https://www.pevpat-ugent.be/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/H-Arendt-what-is-authority.pdf
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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 send me an email at mrrahulmaxcontact@gmail.com, and we can sort it out. Thank you.

Mar 4, 2024 • 1h 35min
Paul Thagard on AI, Free Energy Principle, and the Cognitive Science of Misinformation
Prof. Paul Thagard is a philosopher and cognitive scientist. He is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the University of Waterloo and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, the Cognitive Science Society, and the Association for Psychological Science. He's authored myriad interdisciplinary books, including a treatise on Mind and Society, and recently published his new book, Falsehoods Fly: Why Misinformation Spreads and How to Stop It. In this episode, we discuss AI, neural networks, ChatGPT and LLMs, Karl Friston's free energy principle, explanatory coherence, philosophy of science and mitigating misinformation.
You can find more of Prof. Thagard's work at https://paulthagard.com/
Watch the video version here.
RSam Podcast #35
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{Podcast}
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/RahulSam
Substack: https://rsampod.substack.com/
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4ryEqjut4r6SMtfxLdM1Le
Anchor: https://anchor.fm/rahul-samaranayake
Website: https://rahulsam.me/
{Social Media}
https://www.instagram.com/name_is_rahul/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rahul-samaranayake-981a9315b/
https://twitter.com/trsam97
{Reference Links}
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/behavioral-and-brain-sciences/article/abs/explanatory-coherence/E05CB61CD64C26138E794BC601CC9D7A
https://www.psychologytoday.com/au/blog/hot-thought/202105/is-writing-agony-or-ecstasy
https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/hot-thought/201311/how-write-productively
https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262700924/coherence-in-thought-and-action/
https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/hot-thought/202401/how-to-stop-misinformation
https://cup.columbia.edu/book/balance/9780231205580
https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/7530965
https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262548540/bots-and-beasts/
http://cogsci.uwaterloo.ca/Articles/successful.pdf
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/hot-thought/202202/the-real-problem-consciousness
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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 send me an email at mrrahulmaxcontact@gmail.com, and we can sort it out. Thank you.
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