ToKCast

This is some reading and reflections upon chapter 13 of "The Beginning of Infinity". In this second part we consider criteria for democracy and democratic institutions. I take a deep dive into Popper's own writings on the topic to supplement the material in David's book. There is even, what we might call, some "self help" when it comes to making choices, or making better choices, or cultivating a better approach to problem solving when no option seems viable. Popper's article on democracy can be found here: https://www.economist.com/democracy-in-america/2016/01/31/from-the-archives-the-open-society-and-its-enemies-revisited

This is the first episode of 2 parts all about chapter 13 "Choices" from "The Beginning of Infinity" by David Deutsch. Here we take a deep dive into voting systems and what this means for decision making more broadly: both as societies and individuals. Logic and fairness seem to come in conflict if we become reductionist and turn only to mathematics in order to make rational choices. As always the "David Deutsch" take on what might otherwise seem to be a parochial issue turns out to have civilisation level consequences.

This is the third episode in a 3 part series about chapter 12 of "The Beginning of Infinity". This part is focussed in a more specific way on bad science (that being explanationless science). We also delve into the nature of personhood once more, its moral significance and the possibility of having an experience as a human animal versus a non-human animal. 

This is the second episode in a 3 part series about chapter 12 of "The Beginning of Infinity". Here we get into some of the connections between poor "interpretations" of quantum theory and relativism.

This is the first episode in a 3 part series about Chapter 12 of "The Beginning of Infinity". As this chapter is about Bad Philosophy, I thought an episode that sets the context - especially the contemporary context - might be timely. 

The final part of "The Multiverse" series - and with some discussion (and a story!) of some little known material about how to test "The Multiverse" against other (so-called) interpretations of quantum theory.

With apologies to audio only listeners, this one was up on Youtube for a while (and contains a few visuals) - I simply forgot to upload it to Podbean and Apple Podcasts. It is largely an analysis of common misconceptions about the multiverse and references a conversation between Sam Harris and Bret Weinstein who spoke about the multiverse during a recent conversation. 

This is a very brief and non-standard non-Beginning of Infinity podcast. It also does not mention COVID-19 at all. It is inspired in part by some remarks made by Yaron Brook. There is an important post associated with this episode which appears here: http://www.bretthall.org/blog/mainstream-morality As with my last episode, we will return to the usual programming soon.

This is a non-Beginning of Infinity Podcast. While it makes some references, as always, to the work of David Deutsch, it is primarily some thoughts about finding ourselves in a given problem situation and what we need to find our way out in time. Of course there is some reference made to the present COVID-19 situation. A rather different episode to the usual. I hope to get back to regular programming soon. Includes also: some response to Sam Harris "Making Sense" podcast on April 16 2020. And some explanation for the BoI "hiatus" (essentially that my studio is presently a "home office"). I hope it's still worth your time :)

Some readings and remarks about David Deutsch's "The Beginning of Infinity" Chapter 11 "The Multiverse". This is the 3rd episode in this series. As with some of the others, audio only listeners may miss a few visuals in this one...but they're not absolutely crucial this time around. There is a way to support this endeavor on my website www.bretthall.org where you can click the donate button and contribute one time, or monthly. Thank you :)