Reason Is Fun

Guest Mark Alexander, Producer of Art of Accomplishment's Great Decisions course, joins Lulie and David to discuss competing wants, non-coercive morality, subconscious processes in decision making, mental blocks, and getting back to a creatively problem-solving state of mind.

Lulie and David chat about decision making, focusing on the roles of creativity, institutions, and emotions. They debunk the misconception of decisions being made by analyzing data. The conversation explores the limitations of Decision Theory and the extent to which decision making requires emotion. They also discuss the impact of contradictory wants, the effects of emotions and brain damage, and the connection between emotions and decision making, particularly in professions like acting.

Lulie asks David Deutsch more about inexplicit ideas, what it means to be an inexplicit idea, and the nature of internal language. They also debate whether cognition is embodied. This is very much an 'into the jungle' episode, where neither of us know a lot about some of the topics discussed, but it's a lively conversation. TWITTER David Deutsch: https://twitter.com/DavidDeutschOxf/  Lulie Tanett: https://twitter.com/reasonisfun/

Lulie asks David Deutsch about how he came to the concept of 'inexplicit ideas' (knowledge that isn't in words), and it became a conversation about how inexplicit knowledge relates to quantum physics.   TWITTER David Deutsch: https://twitter.com/DavidDeutschOxf/  Lulie Tanett: https://twitter.com/reasonisfun/   [The audio quality in this one isn't as pristine as last time, which had the lovely Sarah Melody Vinci doing sound mixing. I hope to get it sorted for future episodes! Also, apologies for the late update – I aim to release these every second Saturday, but this weekend was EAG.]

Lulie asks David Deutsch probing questions about the 'fun criterion', and they explore why it's necessary for rational thought.   They also discuss: - Difference between mindless fun and fun-criterion 'fun' - What about conflicts between explicit theories and what seems fun? - What is suffering? - Is anger good? - Debating whether anger is an appropriate response to external suffering - Creativity, conflicting theories and problems - Do we need bodies and feelings to think? - What makes the difference between enjoyable and suffering situations?   TWITTER David Deutsch: https://twitter.com/DavidDeutschOxf/  Lulie Tanett: https://twitter.com/reasonisfun/ 

Lulie asks physicist David Deutsch about the epistemology of Effective Altruism, how to make progress given the unpredictability of knowledge, and whether we should be concerned about existential risk. In the second half, she asks about Effective Accelerationism (e/acc) – specifically, is its thermodynamic physics legit?   TWITTER Lulie Tanett: @reasonisfun David Deutsch: @DavidDeutschOxf Feat. @BasedBeffJezos Discuss this episode on Twitter: https://twitter.com/reasonisfun/status/1649904006418890754 

Lulie asks physicist David Deutsch about his disagreements with the prevailing view on artificial general intelligence and modern AI. They discuss: • epistemology • how AI differs from AGI • limits of LLMs • why the Turing Test is not a test.   TWITTER David Deutsch: https://twitter.com/DavidDeutschOxf/ Lulie Tanett: https://twitter.com/reasonisfun/ Link to the episode on Twitter – Ask questions here: https://twitter.com/reasonisfun/status/1645528342509043713