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 48: Cosmological Economics
Ep 47: Are we alone?
Ep 46 "The Evolution of Creativity" Part 1
Ep 45 Free Will Exists
Ep 44 Ch 16 "The Evolution of Creativity" Part 0
Ep 43 Ch 15 "The Evolution of Culture" Part 3
Ep: 42 An autobiography of wealth
Ep 41: Deutsch Discoveries: Part 2 of an introduction to the philosophy of David Deutsch
Ep 40: Popper Pieces - Part 2 of an Introduction to Popper
Ep 39 Ch 15 "The Evolution of Culture" Part 2
Ep 38 Ch 15 "The Evolution of Culture" Part 1
Ep 37: An intermittent introduction to Popper and Deutsch
Ep 36: The Borders of Ideas
Ep 35 Ch 14 "Why are Flowers Beautiful?"
Ep 34 Ch 13 “Choices” Part 2. Some readings and remarks.
Ep 33 Ch 13 "Choices" Part 1. Some readings and remarks.
Ep 32 Ch 12 "A Physicist's History of Bad Philosophy" Part 3. Some readings and remarks
Ep: 31 Ch 12 "A Physicist's History of Bad Philosophy" Part 2: Some readings and remarks.
Ep: 30 Ch 12 "A Physicist's History of Bad Philosophy" Part 1: The Introduction
Ep: 29 Ch 11 "The Multiverse" Part 5
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