MeaningofLife.tv
Conversations about philosophy, science, religion and spirituality
Latest episodes
Mar 22, 2021 • 60min
Steven Pinker, the Unabomber, Quantum Physics, and DMT (Nikita Petrov & John Horgan)
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Mar 8, 2021 • 60min
Explaining Quantum Mechanics (John Horgan & Tim Maudlin)
Why Tim became a philosopher ... John gets entangled in superposition ... Tim explains Bell’s Theorem with diagrams ... Tim rejects shutting up and calculating ... Will quantum computers lead to a better quantum theory? ...
Mar 2, 2021 • 60min
Kant’s Transcendental Philosophy (Robert Wright & David Ottlinger)
Distinguishing between the numinous and the noumenal ... Kant’s religious vision ... The Copernican revolution in philosophy ... What, if anything, does the Buddhist idea of emptiness have to do with Kant? ... The transcendental status of space and time ... Can the Matrix help us understand Kant? ... Distinguishing between the noumenal and the phenomenal ... Can we transcend our phenomenal experience of the world? ...
Feb 23, 2021 • 60min
Ten Keys to Reality (Robert Wright & Frank Wilczek)
What got Frank his Nobel Prize ... Frank's new book, Fundamentals: Ten Keys to Reality ... Solving the mystery of dark matter ... Can quantum physics make sense? ... Frank: Mind emerges from matter, not the other way around ... Can you love an automaton? ... Complementarity as scientific concept and everyday attitude ... How Frank's Catholic upbringing influenced his scientific thinking ... Is reality an algorithm? ... The limits of human intelligence ...
Feb 22, 2021 • 60min
(What If) Ideas Are Alive (Nikita Petrov & John Horgan)
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Feb 18, 2021 • 60min
Questioning the Practice of Grading in Schools (Robert Gressis & Kevin Currie-Knight)
Rob and Kevin make small talk ... Kevin describes and laments the grade economy ... What's the relationship between grades and learning? ... Bryan Caplan's "The Case Against Education" and how it has traumatized Rob ... Unschooling ... If schools suck so much, how did Rob and Kevin learn? ...
Feb 10, 2021 • 60min
Free Speech and Academic Freedom in 2020 (Daniel Kaufman & David Ottlinger)
A new home for Sophia ... The (latest) defenestration of Kathleen Stock ... How sincere are pro-trans rights public intellectuals? ... Justin Weinberg's essay on the Kathleen Stock incident ... David: "It's the squishy middles that are gonna kill us" ... Dan: deplatforming people on social media is effectively censorship ... The death of public discourse and the rise of Trump ... How consensus crumbles ... David: we should get rid of the harm principle ...
Feb 1, 2021 • 60min
Quantum Mechanics and “Reality” (John Horgan & Adam Becker)
Do you need math to grok quantum mechanics? ... Adam's quibble with Nils Bohr ... Explaining David Bohm’s pilot-wave model ... Defending the many-worlds hypothesis ... Are quantum mechanics and consciousness entangled? ... Will science ever explain the world? ...
Jan 26, 2021 • 60min
The Dharma of Bob 3: Cognitive Biases (Robert Wright & Josh Summers)
Continuing “the Dharma of Bob” ... The evolutionary logic of cognitive biases ... Attribution error, or why your enemies seem so damn evil ... Zero-sum biases in a non-zero-sum world ... Bob fixes social media ... How cognitive biases have shaped perceptions of the Capitol riot ... The psychology of tribalism and the BLM protests ...
Jan 18, 2021 • 60min
Introducing Psychopolitica (John Horgan & Nikita Petrov)
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