ToKCast

Ep 39 Ch 15 "The Evolution of Culture" Part 2

This is the second in a 3 part series devoted to Chapter 15 of "The Beginning of Infinity" by David Deutsch. All about "The Evolution of Culture", in this part we are looking at the causes of a static society: that rule (rather than the exception) about progress coming to a halt in human communities. We follow on from part 1 in looking at how memes get replicated and how different kinds of memes have different effects upon their holders the the wider society.

Ep 38 Ch 15 "The Evolution of Culture" Part 1

This is the first in a 3 part series devoted to Chapter 15 of "The Beginning of Infinity" by David Deutsch. All about "The Evolution of Culture", in this part we are looking at the notion of a meme and consider under what conditions ideas replicate. As we touch upon: this is a question of civilizational consequence as it is related to the ability of a society to break out of being "static" (one with little to no progress) and become a modern "dynamic" one (where progress is unbounded).

Ep 37: An intermittent introduction to Popper and Deutsch

A very brief, and personal, introduction to the philosophy of Karl Popper and David Deutsch. Note that the Youtube version of this exists in 3 parts, each of which has visuals that may help some with the explanations.

Ep 36: The Borders of Ideas

This is some commentary upon a recent debate Douglas Murray was engaged in - which can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3sSnmq9uKU It is, broadly speaking, an excellent encounter, modulo - as Douglas rightly observes - the tendency for his interlocutor to resort to insults or other ad hominem remarks. I reflect on Douglas' position (with which I largely agree) and attempt to connect his remarks to some underlying modern philosophy. (Modern, I hasten to add, not "postmodern"!).

Ep 35 Ch 14 "Why are Flowers Beautiful?"

Audio listeners, please note: This episode contains a lot more visuals than my usual podcasts. As always this can be found on Youtube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWZ4GcRd-_8 if you want the full experience. I'm referring to images and so on throughout, or the images are illustrating what I am saying without comment.
In this chapter we counter a number of prevailing views about the arts: the purposes of art and the possibility of objective standards of beauty. This leads to a discussion of the place of inexplicit knowledge when creating in the arts and how the "hard to vary" quality of explanations finds an analogue in the art. All of this discussion comes through the lens of beauty in nature and how flowers evolved to be attractive. But this attractive quality of flowers is not a mere matter of opinion for both insects and people find flowers attractive.
 
 

Ep 34 Ch 13 “Choices” Part 2. Some readings and remarks.

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

Ep 33 Ch 13 "Choices" Part 1. Some readings and remarks.

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.

Ep 32 Ch 12 "A Physicist's History of Bad Philosophy" Part 3. Some readings and remarks

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. 

Ep: 31 Ch 12 "A Physicist's History of Bad Philosophy" Part 2: Some readings and remarks.

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.

Ep: 30 Ch 12 "A Physicist's History of Bad Philosophy" Part 1: The Introduction

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. 

Ep: 29 Ch 11 "The Multiverse" Part 5

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.

Ep 28: Ch 11 "The Multiverse" Part 4

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. 

Ep 27: Christian Atheists

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.

Ep 26: Problems, Knowledge and Wealth

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 :)

Ep 25: Ch 11 "The Multiverse" Part 3

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 :) 

Ep 24: The Multiverse, Part 2

This is the first episode that includes reading from Chapter 11 of "The Beginning of Infinity" about "The Multiverse". It is less edited...and rather more conversational. Compare this to episode 23 and let me know what you prefer. I will take on board comments moving forward. Thank you. As always, donations are welcome at www.brethall.org on the "donate" button. 

Ep 23: The Multiverse, Part 1

This episode is an introduction to chapter 11 from "The Beginning of Infinity". While there are no readings from the book this time around, there are readings from "The Fabric of Reality". Audio only listeners should be aware that there is a significant visual component of this episode: animations, diagrams and so forth.

Ep 22: The Logic of Experimental Tests

This is not a regular ToKCast (about a chapter from "The Beginning of Infinity"). Instead it will serve in part firstly as a stand alone episode about an esoteric piece of epistemology: what is the function of the experiment in the natural sciences? (As explained by David Deutsch in his paper "The Logic of Experimental Tests particularly Everettian Quantum Theory"). I make many remarks - including many new remarks. The final third or so of this episode is largely devoted to a defense of Popper broadly and his criterion of demarcation in particular. 
Secondly this episode is like an "episode 1a" of Chapter 11 "The Multiverse". This episode contains some useful material for anyone interested in "the quantum multiverse" and its testability. Spoiler alert: it's testable, no matter what others say. 
Sources:
You can find David's Paper "The Logic of Experimental Tests" here
My exposition of that paper is here: http://www.bretthall.org/philosophy-of-science.html
You can download a free pdf copy of Popper's "The Logic of Scientific Discovery" here 
(it's well and truly out of copyright, so feel no guilt about the download!)
 

Ep 21: Ch 10, Part 2 "A Dream of Socrates"

In this, the second episode covering Chapter 10 "A Dream of Socrates", we encounter Plato in dialogue with Socrates. An attempt is made to learn epistemology from Socrates by Plato. Epistemology is applied to political institutions and the concept of dynamic and static societies is explored and we get our first sense of what anti-rational memes are about (though this terminology is not yet being used). In the second half I compare and contrast kinds of democracy.

Ep 20: Ch 10, Part 1 "A Dream of Socrates"

In this, the first episode covering Chapter 10 "A Dream of Socrates", we explore epistemology directly. Hermes comes to Socrates in a dream (or somehow!) and uses a quite "Socratic Method" to draw out Popperian epistemology from Socrates. Empiricism is refuted and the correct way knowledge is guest and criticized to improve it discussed.