Robinson's Podcast

Michael Graziano, a professor at Princeton University, dives into the intriguing world of consciousness. He discusses his Attention Schema Theory, revealing how our brains model attention to craft our conscious experience. The conversation explores the philosophical versus scientific approaches to understanding consciousness, and Graziano addresses the meta-problem surrounding it. They also touch on AI's relationship with consciousness and the fascinating links between creative expression in science, music, and literature, highlighting how emotions shape these disciplines.

Una Stojnić is an assistant professor in the Department of Philosophy at Princeton University, where she works in the philosophy of language, formal semantics and pragmatics of natural language, and philosophical logic. In this episode, Robinson and Una discuss three of her projects. First, they talk about linguistic conventions, and how language consists of more than just the words we might find in a dictionary. Second, they talk abut slurs and pejoratives, and how philosophers have attempted to determine just what it is that makes them offensive. Finally they talk about a problem with word individuation—just how much can our spelling or pronunciation of a word vary from its canonical spelling or pronunciation and still be that same word? Una’s latest book is Context and Coherence: The Logic and Grammar of Prominence (Oxford, 2021). Una’s Website: https://www.unastojnic.com Context and Coherence: https://a.co/d/0wjOoaM OUTLINE 00:00 In This Episode… 00:51 Introduction 03:04 An Interest in Language 07:31 A Problem with Word Individuation 11:52 Context Sensitivity and Linguistic Convention 30:07 Word Individuation and Speaker Intentions  45:30 Slurs and Pejoratives 01:01:55 An Articulation Account of Slurs 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 Wallace is Mellon Professor in the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Pittsburgh. Before that, he obtained PhDs in both physics and philosophy at Oxford. David works mainly in the philosophy of physics, and is best known for his development and defense of the Everett—or Many-Worlds—interpretation of quantum mechanics. In this episode, Robinson and David talk all about Many-Worlds, including its history, how it relates to the broader question of realism in the philosophy of science, its strong points, and some potential problems, such as how to account for probability in the multiverse. David’s book on the subject is The Emergent Multiverse (Oxford, 2014). The Emergent Multiverse: https://a.co/d/3GOSC3a OUTLINE 00:00 In This Episode… 00:18 Introduction 03:38 From Physics to Philosophy 12:54 Realism and the Measurement Problem in Quantum Mechanics 25:14 Hugh Everett and the Many Worlds Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics 48:56 Bryce DeWitt 51:33 How Does the Many Worlds Theory of Quantum Mechanics Work? 01:02:22 Are There Problems with the Many Worlds Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics?  01:10:58 How Many Worlds Are There in the Multiverse? 01:21:54 How Can We Make Sense of Probability in the Multiverse? 01:43:44 Is The Multiverse Too Absurd to Believe In? 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. 

Robert Stickgold is Professor of Pyschiatry at Harvard Medical School, where he researches sleep and dreams from a cognitive neuroscience perspective. In this episode, Bob and Robinson discuss the role of sleep in memory processing and emotional regulation, how sleep deprivation affects performance, and the evolutionary purpose and function of dreams. OUTLINE 00:00 In This Episode… 00:17 Introduction 03:06 Why Study Sleep? 12:04 How Does the Brain Process Different Types of Memories? 20:45 How Does Sleep Affect Memory Processing? 33:10 How Does Sleep Deprivation Affect Memory Processing? 50:58 What Is The Connection Between Sleep and Emotions 01:09:03 How Do PTSD, Autism, and Schizophrenia Affect Sleep 01:32:00 An Interest in Dreams 01:34:05 Was Freud Wrong About Dreams? 02:03:29 On Hypnogogic Dreams 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. 

Anubav Vasudevan is Associate Professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Chicago, where he works in formal epistemology and the history of logic, though he has published in a number of other areas. This is Anubav’s second appearance on the show. In episode #81, he and Robinson discussed mathematics, physics, and the history of logic. In this episode, they talk about the wonderfully bizarre metaphysics of the renowned pragmatist and logician Charles Sanders Peirce.  OUTLINE 00:00 In This Episode… 00:18 Introduction 04:54 The History of Logic 19:39 Who Was Charles Sanders Peirce? 37:04 The Problem of the Single Trial 48:35 Finding Our Coherent Philosophical Selves 54:32 Charles Peirce’s Bizarre Metaphysics 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. 

Geoffrey West is Shannan Distinguished Professor and Past President at the Santa Fe Institute. He is a theoretical physicist who has worked broadly on topics related to elementary particles and their cosmological implications. Among other topics, he has also worked on complexity theory, scaling laws in biology, and how they can be applied in other areas, such as cities and problems involving global sustainability. This is precisely what Robinson and Geoffrey discuss in this episode, with particular reference to his recent book, Scale: The Universal Laws of Growth, Innovation, Sustainability, and the Pace of Life in Organisms, Cities, Economies, and Companies (Penguin, 2017).  Scale: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQ05syiaUxg OUTLINE 00:00 In This Episode… 00:25 Introduction 02:21 Complexity and the Santa Fe Institute 22:14 What Are Emergent Phenomena? 34:18 What is Complexity Theory? 45:51 Why Do All Animals Have the Same Number of Heartbeats in a Lifetime 01:11:43 Does Complexity Theory Tell Us How to Live Longer 01:22:49 Why Don’t Cities Die Like Organisms Do? 01:59:40 The Pandemic and the Increasing Pace of Life 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. 

Daniel Levitin, Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Neuroscience, discusses the neuroscience of music. Topics include the brain's processing of complex music, why songs get stuck in our heads, and why some sounds are more pleasing than others.

Tim Palmer, Royal Society Research Professor in Climate Physics at the University of Oxford, discusses topics such as black holes and the holographic principle, quantum mechanics, meteorology and probabilistic forecasting, chaos theory and consciousness, and the problem of climate change in this episode.

James Owen Weatherall, a physicist, mathematician, and philosopher, discusses nothingness and the physics of the void. The debate between Leibniz and Newton on the nature of space, Einstein's revolutionary theories, and the quantum vacuum state are explored. The episode delves into the relationship between metaphysics and physics, the shift in understanding space and time due to general relativity, and the challenges of unifying quantum field theory and general relativity.

David Friedman, known for his defense of anarcho-capitalism, discusses criticisms of current economic systems, varieties of anarchism, arguments for anarcho-capitalism, and his hobby of anachronism. They also debate government intervention, the role of government in climate change, funding the military in an anarcho-capitalist society, and wealth inequality in a free market system. They touch on medieval recipes, jewelry making, and the evolution of food and jewelry making.