The Penultimate “The Beginning of Infinity” episode. Herein we contrast pessimism with optimism - what the conditions are for providing succour to either philosophy and who some of the leaders are. While science writers such as John Horgan, author of “The End of Science” may provide something of an introduction to the ways in which people can conclude “the end is night”, philosophers like Nick Bostrom and Verner Vinge take things further providing academic papers on “the singularity” and “the doomsday argument” and “the simulation argument” - all of which regard people as being but a prelude to something else: a time without or beyond people. The arguments are summarised and countered. I provide my own spin on things, and invoke the work of computer scientist Jaron Lanier, who (while at times writing of a bleak *now*) exhaults people in the same way as David Deutsch via a different method and looks forward to a future where people are ascendant. What does our best science tell us about what is to come? If we are to take seriously our best theories - is there hope? And is there an opportunity to even find fun and funniness in what we are promised for the future? I have some ideas.
Ep 107: What is a good explanation?
Ep 106: David Deutsch’s ”The Fabric of Reality” Chapter 4 “Criteria for Reality” Part 2
Ep 105: David Deutsch’s “The Fabric of Reality” Chapter 4 “Criteria for Reality” Part 1
Ep 104: Are We Running Out Of Resources?
Ep 103: Ask Me Anything #2
Ep 102: The Thin Veneer
Ep 101 Ask Me Anything 1
Ep 100: David Deutsch
Ep: 99 David Deutsch‘s ”The Beginning of Infinity” - a retrospective in 99 minutes
Ep 98: ”Knowledge” Chiara Marletto‘s ”The Science of Can and Can‘t” Ch 5 Readings and discussion.
Ep 97: David Deutsch answers a question about dark energy. A question for David number 10.
Ep 96: Computational Universality: Yaron Brook vs Sam Harris response
Ep: 95 Steven Pinker‘s ”Rationality” Chapters 1 & 2 Remarks and Analysis
Ep 94: Wealth and the Conflict of Ideas
Ep 93: David Deutsch answers a question about the nature of mind. A question for David number 9.
Ep 92: David Deutsch answers a question about observations. A question for David number 8
Ep 91: David Deutsch‘s ”The Fabric of Reality” Chapter 3 “Problem Solving” Part 2
Ep 90: Fallibilism
Ep: 89 ”Quantum Information” Chiara Marletto‘s ”The Science of Can & Can‘t” Ch 4 readings and discussion
Ep: 88 Critically Creative (Critical and Creative Thinking 2.0).
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