ToKCast

Ep 253: Further Comments on the Bondi Massacre.

Here I remark on comments made by Australian Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke and Education Minister Jason Clare and then make some broader points about the recent tragedy on Bondi Beach. This is part 2 of a response to the Prime Minister of Australia and others.

Ep 252: Response to the Prime Minister of Australia

A reaction "episode" where I make some remarks about a speech by Anthony Albanese, Prime Minister of Australia, in the wake of the Bondi Beach Massacre by Islamists terrorists who attacked Jews at a Hanukkah celebration on 14 December, 2025

Ep 251: OK Doomer!

This is a reproduction of a talk I gave to some trainee surgeons in Sydney who, among other things, were learning about AI as it was affecting their own field. It is, in a sense, a summary of many of the points I have been making recently on this channel with respect to AI and pessimism around it.

Ep 250: The Farthest Reaches - Audiobook

The Farthest Reaches is a book about "Explanatory Universality". Explanatory Universality is a concept introduced by physicist and philosopher David Deutsch in his book "The Beginning of Infinity".
Links, as mentioned in the audiobook can be found in the ebook available for free here: https://www.bretthall.org/the-farthest-reaches.html
This present work follows the logic of that concept as it applies to education, psychology, morality, immigration, the trans issue, "evolutionary psychology" and the significance of people to physical reality and much more. This version is significantly longer and with superior audio production compared with the original podcast of the same name. These are the chapters and timestamps:
00:00 Preface
21:51 Chapter 1 - Universality and Reach
29:38 Chapter 2 - The Reach of Explanatory Universality
38:53 Chapter 3 - Explaining Explanatory Universality
47:31 Chapter 4 - Explanatory Universality and Education
1:00:27 Chapter 5 - Explanatory Universality, Psychological Science and IQ
1:03:41 Chapter 6 - Explanatory Universality and Adopting Culture
1:10:26 Chapter 7 - Explanatory Universality and IQ Part 2
1:14:58 Chapter 8 - Explanatory Universality and the “Trans Issue”
1:22:57 Chapter 9 - Explanatory Universality and Immigration
1:48:12 Chapter 10 - Explanatory Universality and Ethnicity
2:11:39 Chapter 11 - Explanatory Universality and Multiculturalism
2:23:22 Chapter 12 - Explanatory Universality and Mental Illness
2:32:35 Chapter 13 - Explanatory Universality, Hangups and Sexuality
2:41:26 Chapter 14 - Explanatory Universality and The Woke Left and The Woke Right
2:48:29 Chapter 15 - Explanatory Universality and Optimism
2:58:20 Chapter 16 - Explanatory Universality and Artificial Intelligences
3:09:59 Chapter 17 - Universality, Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Reach
3:17:07 Chapter 18 - Explanatory Universality and Evolutionary Psychology
3:31:20 Chapter 19 - Explanatory Universality and Individuality
3:39:05 Chapter 20 - Summary and Conclusions
4:08:18 Acknowledgements and Afterward
 
The author thanks David Deutsch ( ⁨@DavidDeutschPhysicist⁩  ) Naval Ravikant ( ⁨@NavalR⁩  ) Reid Nicewonder ( ⁨@CordialCuriosity⁩ ) and Peter Boghossian ( ⁨@drpeterboghossian⁩ ) for their crucial support and engagement. And to all other supporters who have contributed to the ongoing viability of ToKCast and my other content output. Brett Hall is a technical advisor and content creator, Ambassador to Conjecture Institute ( ⁨@ConjectureInstitute⁩ ) and Board Member of the National Progress Alliance (www.nationalprogressalliance.org) and holds undergraduate qualifications from:
The University of New South Wales )in Physics and the Philosophy of Science)
The University of Western Sydney (in Science and Mathematics Teaching)
and Postgraduate Qualifications from
Swinburne University, Melbourne (in Astronomy and Astrophysics).
Macquarie University (in the Teaching of English Language)
The Australian Catholic University (in Mathematics)
and a partially completed post graduate certificate in Geology and Geophysics from Macquarie University.
He lives in Sydney, Australia.

Ep 249: The Farthest Reaches Part 4 and Conclusion

Chapters and Timestamps
00:06 Chapter 13: Explanatory Universality, Hangups and Sexuality
08:07 Chapter 14: The Woke Left and the Woke Right
15:38 Chapter 15: Universality and Optimism
25:04 Chapter 16: Universality and Artificial Intelligences
35:54 Chapter 17: Universality, Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Reach
42:44: Chapter 18: Summary and Conclusions

Ep 248: AI and Philosophy of Science

This is the extended "director's cut" of a talk delivered for "RatFest 2025" (next year to be "Conjecture Con"). This also serves as a supplement to my "Doom Debates" interview which can be found here: https://youtu.be/koubXR0YL4A?si=483M6SPOKwbQYmzb
It is simply assumed some version of "Bayesian reasoning" is how AI will "create" knowledge. This misconception permeates the https://ai-2027.com paper, as well as Bostrom and Yudkowsky's work on this, as well as that of every other AI "Doomer" and even on the other extreme the so-called "AI-Accelerationists". All of that indicates a deep misconception about how new explanations are generated which comes from a deep misconception about how science works because almost no one in the field of AI seems to think the *philosophy of* science is even relevant. I explain what has gone wrong:
00:00 Introduction
09:14 The Big Questions and the new Priesthoods
18:40 Nick Bostrom and Superintelligence
25:10 If anyone builds it, everyone dies and Yudkowsky.
33:32 Prophecy, Inevitability, Induction and Bayesianism.
41:42 Popper, Kuhn, Feyerabend and Lakatos.
49:40 AI researchers ignore The Philosophy of Science.
58:46 A new test for AGI from Sam Altman and David Deutsch?
1:03:35 Accelerationists, Doomers and “Everyone dies”.
1:10:21 Conclusions
1:15:35 Audience Questions

Ep 247: The Farthest Reaches Part 3

Chapters and Timestamps
00:07 Chapter 10 Explanatory Universality and Ethnicity
24:51 Chapter 11 Explanatory Universality and Multiculturalism
37:47 Chapter 12 Explanatory Universality and Mental Illness.

Ep 246: The Farthest Reaches Part 2

Chapters and Timestamps:
 
00:06 Chapter 5 Explanatory Universality, Psychology and IQ
03:30 Chapter 6 Explanatory Universality and Adopting Culture
11:47 Chapter 7: Explanatory Universality and IQ Part 2
17:10 Chapter 8 Explanatory Universality and the “trans” issue.
27:35 Chapter 9: Explanatory Universality and Immigration

Ep 245: The Farthest Reaches (Part 1)

Chapters 1 to 4 of a multi-chapter series about the reach of what I argue is one of the most important lessons to learn in order to solve many pressing problems: explanatory universality. This podcast provides an explanation that "explanatory universality" is an idea of such depth it may have among the greatest reach of any idea.
Chapters:
00:12 Chapter 1 - Universality and Reach
09:09 Chapter 2 - The Reach of Explanatory Universality
20:01 Chapter 3 - Explaining Explanatory Universality
30:23 Chapter 4 - Explanatory Universality and Education

Ep 244: Deep learning is not "inductive".

We are told by people working in the field, researchers and those who publish academic papers on the topic that artificial intelligence or deep learning or LLMs or Machine Learning or Recurrent Neural Networks - call them what you like - employ some form of inductive reasoning. But do they? What is inductive reasoning? What is deductive or adductive for that matter? Is "new physics" or other new science being discovered by the most recent and best chatbots or other "artificially intelligent" computer systems? My response to all that is contained herein.
 
For images see: https://youtu.be/9Dimv7mOls4
For more information: https://www.bretthall.org/blog/induction

Ep 243: In praise of ignorance - the podcast. With Liberty Fitz-Claridge

This episode is a reading of and reflection upon more writing by David Deutsch - an article you can find at https://takingchildrenseriously.com/in-praise-of-ignorance/
Joining me is philosopher and language educator Liberty Fitz-Claridge. Liberty holds Master Degrees in both Philosophy and Applied Linguistics and English Language teaching, as well as a Bachelors in The Philosophy of Science. As well as teaching, Liberty runs the Popper-Deutsch Reading Group which can be found at www.meetup.com/popper-deutsch-reading-group/
In this conversation Liberty refers to the following articles:
1. Ioup, Georgette, Elizabeth Boustagui, Manal El Tigi, and Martha Moselle. “Reexamining the Critical Period Hypothesis: A Case Study of Successful Adult SLA in a Naturalistic Environment.” Studies in Second Language Acquisition 16, no. 1 (1994): 73–98. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0272263100012596.
 
2. Alsulaimani, Adil. (1990). Reading problems in Arab learners of English (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). London University, UK.
 
3. Randall, Mick and Meara, Paul. (1988). “How Arabs read Roman letters.” Reading in a Foreign Language, 4 (2): 133-145.

Ep 242: Is religion worth preserving?

 
Woke is a rejection of the truth, the good, the beautiful. Is the best response a return to traditional religion? Are some dogmas worth defending?

Ep 241: AI 2027 Reaction Part 5: Summary and Conclusions

A summary of some arguments made in the previous 4 parts, and a conclusion to my evaluation of https://ai-2027.com I refer to Daniel Kokotajlo's paper which contained an earlier set of predictions made in 2021 about the 5 years leading to 2026 which is found here https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/6Xgy6CAf2jqHhynHL/what-2026-looks-like Note that Part 4 is here: https://youtu.be/C3jDjuSLBv0 Part 3 is here: https://youtu.be/7P-UlHiTins Part 2 is here: https://youtu.be/o3Rdj37UJjw Part 1 is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uq_txKy-XMQ Credit to  ⁨@drpeterboghossian⁩  for the inspiration,  ⁨@NavalR⁩  for the support and  ⁨@DavidDeutschPhysicist⁩  for many of the arguments made with errors, as always, my own.

Ep 240: AI 2027 Reaction Part 4

Note that Part 3 is episode 239 or can be found here: https://youtu.be/7P-UlHiTins Part 2 is here: https://youtu.be/o3Rdj37UJjw Part 1 is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uq_txKy-XMQ I react to the contents of this article https://ai-2027.com

Ep 239: AI 2027 Reaction Part 3

Episode 238 contains Part 2 of this podcast and Episode 237 is Part 1. Also all parts are available on Youtube as almost always. Eg here for part 2: https://youtu.be/o3Rdj37UJjw Part 1 is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uq_txKy-XMQ
 
I am reacting to the contents of this article https://ai-2027.com

Ep 238: AI 2027 Reaction Part 2

Note that Part 1 is found in Episode 237 or can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uq_txKy-XMQ
 
I react to the contents of this article https://ai-2027.com with some further general comments on ‪@DwarkeshPatel‬ 's interview with two of the authors here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htOvH12T7mU

Ep 237: AI 2027 Reaction. Part 1

I react to the contents of this article https://ai-2027.com with some further general comments on ‪@DwarkeshPatel‬ 's interview with two of the authors here:    • 2027 Intelligence Explosion: Month-by...  
 
Youtube version of this podcast is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uq_txKy-XMQ

Ep 236: Max Velthoven, legal science, AI and epistemology.

Max is a tax lawyer who is applying Popperian epistemology to legal science and issues in AI. Links to some more of his work, and the slides to accompany part of this video are below. Slides for Max's talk(s):
https://www.bretthall.org/popper-and-legal-science.html
Max’s journal article on AI with Eric Marcus (in NLFiscaal TaxTech): NLFiscaal | Problems in AI, their roots in philosophy, and implications for science and society:
https://www.nlfiscaal.nl/nlfiscaal-doc/BEEAD89DD9E44E81B23811716258A4C4
Slides to accompany: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7290619876879028225/
Made possible with support from, and In association with, https://nav.al

Ep 235: The Simulation Hypothesis

This is a "megasode" combining two episodes from Youtube all about the Simulation Hypothesis. In the first part I provide the philosophical basis for the simulation hypothesis as explained especially by Nick Bostrom and compare it to other "ultimate" explanations of reality. In part 2 I discuss and evaluate the arguments made by Scott Adams and Joe Rogan who endorse some version of Bostrom's argument.

Ep 234: On the Evolution of Reason

I recently had the opportunity to participate in "Spectrum Street Epistemology" with  @drpeterboghossian  and a number of others including  @destiny  . This episode was inspired by both that event and the many other conversations I had with Peter, Reid, David, Evan, Mia and Travis across the days I spent in Florida with those excellent people engaged in the important work of defending the Enlightenment. This is a sort of disjointed episode as I have in mind a particular audience of sophisticated thinkers on epistemology so I meander through my own worldview, take a historic look at why it is "belief" and "degrees of belief" or "strength of feeling", "confidence" and so on arose and became an important improvement on more primitive ways of thinking about the world. I compare all of that to what I argue is the most rational way of conceiving of "critical thinking". I end with some personal reflections. If you go to Peter's channel I imagine the many conversations we recorded together will be gradually released in the coming days and weeks. Compared to what I do here: their's is a very professional production! The videos accompanying the audio are a mixture of my own poorly shot camera work and stock footage - just so the viewer does not have to stare at nothing but my head for ~40 minutes.
00:00 Introductions
01:00 Are humans unique…just like every other species?
03:45 We are 98% the same as chimpanzees?
07:00 Was there an “Adam” - a first person?
09:00 The first creative minds
10:10 The evolution of authoritarianism
12:30 Medieval societies vs primitive tribalism
13:20 Early individualism, empiricism, rationalism and reason
16:10 Empiricism, rationalism and inductivism as “appeals to authority”
18:25 Belief and the weight of evidence
21:00 “Updating one’s priors”.
22:20 The God of the Subjectivism
23:30 Fossils
26:04 Better ways of thinking
29:00 Knowing and believing
31:00 Moving beyond “degrees of belief” and subjectivism
32:00 Knowledge: what it is
34:00 Knowing is binary
36:00 Reason is more than feeling
36:55 Reflecting on Spectrum Street Epistemology
41:05 Gratitude and acknowledgements