Robinson's Podcast

Paul Boghossian is Silver Professor of Philosophy at New York University, where he is also Chair of the Philosophy Department. Paul has worked in a wide variety of areas within philosophy, including epistemology and the philosophy of language, mind, and logic respectively. Robinson and Paul discuss the sociological relationship between physics and philosophy, the Sokal Hoax, philosophy in public life, the role of the a priori and a posteriori distinction in metaphysics, logic, and epistemology, and the nature of moral facts. For more detail on the latter, check out Paul’s book with Timothy Williamson, Debating The A Priori (Oxford, 2020). Debating The A Priori: https://a.co/d/diNADPx OUTLINE 00:00 In This Episode… 00:32 Introduction 04:33 Physics and Philosophy 17:12 The Sokal Hoax 26:52 Distinguishing the A Priori and A Posteriori 31:59 Does The A Priori/A Posteriori Distinction Hold Water? 48:07 Clarifying the Distinction 53:51 Debating the A Priori with Timothy Williamson 01:03:11 Are There Moral Facts? Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

David Pizarro, Professor of Psychology at Cornell University, discusses moral psychology, praise, blame, social cognition, and the relationship between disgust and political affiliation. They explore the concept of morality, intuition in psychology, asymmetries in praise and blame judgments, blaming non-human objects, AI rights, the evolution and usage of disgust, linguistic relativism, and the impact of disgust on moral judgment and political orientation.

Julian Barbour is a physicist working in the foundations of physics and quantum gravity, with a special interest in time and the history of science. In this episode, Julian and Robinson discuss thermodynamics and the arrows of time, including a new theory of time developed by Julian and his collaborators, which is laid out in his book, The Janus Point: A New Theory of Time. If you’re interested in the foundations of physics—which you absolutely should be—then please check out the John Bell Institute (Julian is an Honorary Fellow at the JBI), which is devoted to providing a home for research and education in this important area. At this early stage any donations are immensely helpful. Julian’s Website: http://platonia.com/index.html The Janus Point: https://a.co/d/4NVOGqq A History of Thermodynamics: http://platonia.com/A_History_of_Thermodynamics.pdf Quantum without Quantum:  https://arxiv.org/abs/2305.13335 The John Bell Institute: https://www.johnbellinstitute.org OUTLINE 00:00 In This Episode… 00:56 Introduction 04:42 Julian’s Interest in Time 07:27 Time’s Arrows 23:34 The Problem of Time-Reversal Symmetry 25:54 A Potted Overview of Entropy and Thermodynamics 38:21 Entropy and Time’s Arrow 52:32 The Janus Point and a New Theory of Time 01:07:00 Intuition and The Janus Point 01:21:21 Entropy and Entaxy 01:26:00 Cosmic Inflation and Its Problems 01:44:05 Quantum Mechanics without the Wave Function Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

Simon Blackburn was Professor of Philosophy at the University of Cambridge and Edna J. Koury Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. This is Simon’s second appearance on the show. In episode 68, Simon and Robinson discussed metaethics and moral realism.  In this episode, they talk about his latest books, Lust and Mirror, Mirror, with special attention to toxic vanity, the tale of Narcissus, and pride. Lust: https://a.co/d/9dcOem9 Mirror, Mirror: https://a.co/d/9uy81GY OUTLINE 00:00 In This Episode… 00:38 Introduction 03:08 Love and Simon’s Philosophy 10:04 L’Oreal and Toxic Vanity 31:09 The Tale of Narcissus 42:41 Lust and Self-Love 46:45 Psychology and Narcissism 52:43 Pride Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

Mark Solms is professor of Neuropsychology at the Neuroscience Institute at the University of Cape Town. He is also a psychoanalyst, and while Mark’s early research focused on the brain mechanisms of sleep and dreaming, he is currently working on the neural correlates of consciousness and affect. In this episode, Robinson and Mark talk about his new book The Hidden Spring: A Journey to the Source of Consciousness. More particularly, they discuss the hard problem of consciousness and how recent advances in neuroscience have pointed toward a solution. The Hidden Spring: https://a.co/d/jcvbmLw Mark’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/Mark_Solms OUTLINE 00:00 In This Episode… 00:47 Introduction 03:09 What is Neuropsychoanalysis? 11:54 Was Freud a Neuroscientist? 26:17 What is the Hard Problem of Consciousness? 36:24 What is the Relationship between Dreaming and Consciousness? 54:44 Patients without a Cortex 01:03:01 Does Consciousness Have a Purpose? 01:14:53 Daniel Dennett and Karl Friston 01:24:49 Solving the Hard Problem of Consciousness Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

Slavoj Žižek is international director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities at the University of London, visiting professor at New York University, and a senior researcher at the University of Ljubljana’s Department of Philosophy. He was also the guest for Robinson’s Podcast #109 on psychoanalysis, wokeness, racism, and a hundred other topics. Sean Carroll is Homewood Professor of Natural Philosophy at Johns Hopkins University and fractal faculty at the Santa Fe Institute. He is also host of Sean Carroll’s Mindscape, a terrific show (that influenced the birth of Robinson’s Podcast) about science, society, philosophy, culture, arts, and ideas. Sean was one of the guests—along with David Albert of Columbia—on Robinson’s Podcast #106, which covers the Many-Worlds theory of quantum mechanics, entropy and Boltzmann Brains, and the fine-tuned universe. In this episode, Robinson, Sean, and Slavoj (though mostly Sean and Slavoj) talk about quantum mechanics, the indeterminacy of small-scale reality, cosmology and the big bang, major figures like Niels Bohr, Einstein, and Stephen Hawking, and the world of sci-fi, including movies like Everything Everywhere All at Once, Indian Jones, and the Avengers. If you’re interested in the foundations of physics—which you absolutely should be—then please check out the John Bell Institute (Sean is an Honorary Fellow at the JBI), which is devoted to providing a home for research and education in this important area. At this early stage any donations are immensely helpful. Robinson's Podcast #109 | Slavoj Žižek: Wokeness, Psychoanalysis, and Quantum Mechanics: https://youtu.be/IxmZ4AVac7U Robinson’s Podcast #106 | David Albert & Sean Carroll: Quantum Theory, Boltzmann Brains, & The Fine-Tuned Universe: https://youtu.be/U6ZtmGIhIhU Sean’s Website: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com Sean’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/seanmcarroll The Biggest Ideas in the Universe: https://a.co/d/dPKZ40X The John Bell Institute: https://www.johnbellinstitute.org OUTLINE 00:00 In This Episode… 00:38 Introduction 04:40 Quantum Incompleteness 15:56 A Problem with Many-Worlds? 27:08 Niels Bohr and the Copenhagen Interpretation 40:30 Ontological Indeterminacy and Quantum Physics 47:23 On Superposition, History, and Art 01:02:10 What’s The Status of the Big Bang? 01:09:57 Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr, and Indeterminacy 01:21:13 Will Quantum Mechanics Be in a Theory of Everything? 01:27:55 Everything Everywhere All at Once, Indiana Jones, and The Avengers 01:33:03 Time Travel and Killing Hitler 01:41:54 On Stephen Hawking Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

Dr. Anna Lembke received her undergraduate degree in Humanities from Yale University and and her medical degree from Stanford University. She is currently Professor and Medical Director of Addiction Medicine at the Stanford University School of Medicine. She is also Program Director of the Stanford Addiction Medicine Fellowship, and Chief of the Stanford Addiction Medicine Dual Diagnosis Clinic. In this episode, Robinson and Anna discuss her latest, New York Times bestselling book Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence (Dutton/Penguin Random House, August 2021). More particularly, they talk about just what happens in the brain when someone develops an addiction, what current social and cultural conditions have led to increased rates of addiction, and how all of these factors—and addiction itself—ought to be combatted. Anna is also the author of Drug Dealer, MD: How Doctors Were Duped, Patients Got Hooked, and Why It’s So Hard to Stop (Johns Hopkins, 2016), which sounded the alarm on—and covers—various dimensions of the opioid crisis. Dopamine Nation: https://a.co/d/0AJw6Je Drug Dealer, MD: https://a.co/d/2soL324 OUTLINE 00:00 In This Episode… 00:56 Introduction 04:10 Addiction and Narrative 11:18 The Role of Dopamine in Addiction 20:29 Risk Factors for Addiction 27:31 Anna’s Addiction to Romance Novels 40:39 Pain, Pleasure, and Addiction 59:11 How to Tackle Addictions? 01:15:09 Is The Hype For Medical Psychedelics Overblown? 01:21:51 Honesty, Shame, and Recovery from Addiction Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between.

Massimo Pigliucci is K.D. Irani Professor of Philosophy at the City University of New York, where he specializes in both ancient philosophy and the philosophy of science. In addition to a doctorate in philosophy, Massimo has a PhD in evolutionary biology. In this episode, Robinson and Massimo discuss the vast landscape between science on the one hand and pseudoscience on the other, covering how they should be distinguished, examples galore, and the role of the public intellectual in science education. Check out Massimo’s excellent book, which ranges across these topics and more, Nonsense on Stilts: How to Tell Science from Bunk. Nonsense on Stilts: https://a.co/d/agrSGF4 Massimo’s Website: https://massimopigliucci.org Massimo’s Substack: https://figsinwinter.substack.com/ OUTLINE 00:00 In This Episode… 01:22 Introduction 04:17 Massimo’s Interest in Pseudoscience 10:29 What Is Pseudoscience? 24:36 Pseudoscience and The Search For Aliens 39:43 Conspiracy Theories and Expert Selection 46:00 Should Scientists Debate Pseudoscientists and Conspiracy Theorists? 49:20 Aristotle and the Elements of Scientific Communication 59:41 The Decline of the Public Intellectual and the Rise of the Think Tank Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

Craig Callender and Tim Maudlin, leading philosophers of science and physics, join Robinson to delve into the philosophy of time, discussing the reality of the past, present, and future, the direction of time, and its relationship to relativity and quantum mechanics. They explore the A-Theory and B-Theory of time, concepts like presentism, eternalism, and the four-dimensional view of time. They also touch on non-locality in quantum mechanics, measuring time in relativity, and the purpose of theorizing about time travel. Plus, they discuss the compatibility of time travel with physics and make a pitch for the John Bell Institute for the Foundations of Physics.

Eric Helms is an AUT Research Fellow at the Sports Performance Research Institute New Zealand (Auckland University of Technology) in the Strength & Conditioning and Sports Physiology and Nutrition research groups. He is also the Director and Chief Science Officer of 3DMJ, an organization devoted to strength training and education centered around the same, a competitive bodybuilder, co-host of the Iron Culture podcast—which comes highly, highly recommended by Robinson—and a founding editor and reviewer for Monthly Applications in Strength Sport. Eric is also the author of two terrific books on strength training and nutrition respectively, The Muscle and Strength Pyramid: Training and The Muscle and Strength Pyramid: Nutrition. In this episode, Robinson and Eric discuss one of his areas of expertise, nutrition, covering both broad topics like various approaches to structuring one’s diet and more specific questions like how much protein you should be consuming and what supplements you should be taking. Eric’s Instagram: @helms3dmj Iron Culture: https://ironculture.libsyn.com MASS: https://massresearchreview.com 3DMJ: https://3dmusclejourney.com OUTLINE 00:00 Introduction 03:36 Eric’s Academic Background 11:14 Should You Get Your Diet Advice From Bodybuilders? 18:28 The Benefits of Intuitive Eating 52:25 How to Determine Maintenance Calories 59:50 How Much Protein Should You Be Eating? 01:16:38 MASS 01:20:08 Creatine 01:30:43 Should You Take BCAAs? 01:38:33 The Role of Meta-analyses in Sports Science Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between.