Philosophy For Our Times

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Machines that feel? | Fotini Markopoulou Jan 25, 2022

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Can AI really help us reach our human potential? How reliant should we be on technology?

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We all know that the world of AI is rapidly changing. What is less obvious are the ways in which we change with it. In this talk, complex systems expert and pioneer of the world’s first empathic technology, Fotini Markopoulou, explores how we co-evolve with our technologies, and what this means as we build a new world of AI and emotion technology.

Fotini G. Markopoulou-Kalamara is a Greek theoretical physicist interested in quantum gravity, foundational mathematics and quantum mechanics and a design engineer working on embodied cognition technologies. Markopoulou is co-founder and CEO of Empathic Technologies.

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All the things we cannot say | Ray Tallis, Hilary Lawson, Joanna Kavenna Jan 18, 2022

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Can language ever truly capture reality? Is there anything unsayable? Listen to what the experts have to say.

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"What we cannot speak about we must pass over in silence", famously claimed the philosopher Wittgenstein. He primarily had in mind the relationship between language and the world, and more generally the very idea of metaphysics. Yet, a century after Wittgenstein's conclusion, many continue to wildly speculate about the ultimate meaning and nature of reality using our all-to-human language.

Have we ignored Wittgenstein's clear message that we cannot know how language and our theories relate to the world? Are all our lofty descriptions about the nature of reality and metaphysics simply nonsense? Or was Wittgenstein wrong, and can we continue in our human quest to uncover the essential character of reality and our relationship to it?

Author of the bestselling Zed Joanna Kavenna, philosopher and neuroscientist Ray Tallis, and post-realist philosopher and author of Closure, Hilary Lawson lock horns over how we understand the world. Hosted by author and research fellow at the University of Hertfordshire, Maria Balaska.

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The mechanics of other minds | Philip Ball Jan 11, 2022

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Have you ever wondered how animals, robots and even aliens think? Listen to find out!

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How do non-human minds think? Acclaimed science writer Philip Ball provides a whistle-stop tour of the kinds of minds that might exist in the universe and how these might be similar to and different from our own.

Philip Ball is a science writer and broadcaster. He is the former editor of the journal Nature and a prolific author of popular science books. Ball’s 2004 book Critical Mass won the Aventis Prize, and in the same year, he presented Small Worlds, a three-part series on nanotechnology for BBC Radio 4.

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The paradox of moral codes | David Friedman, Timothy Williamson and Maria Baghramian Jan 04, 2022

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Is there a universal moral code? Or are we lying to ourselves? Listen to find out.

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Absolute moral claims are making a resurgence along with demands for action in response. Yet at the same time many proclaim the value and importance of upholding diverse cultural outlooks with sometimes radically different moral codes.

To avoid this hypocrisy should we give up belief in a universal moral code, and see morality, as Nietzsche argued, as the product of a monotheistic culture which over the centuries has often led to violence and warfare? Or should we reassert confidence in our moral framework and deny alternative accounts? Is a 'universal moral code' a guise for the tyranny of western, Christian ethics, or is it the cornerstone of a fair and just society in any culture and at any time?

Infamous anarcho-capitalist David Friedman, leading analytic philosopher Timothy Williamson and morality specialist Maria Baghramian dig into the true nature of morality. Robert Rowland Smith hosts.

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More than a theory | Sabine Hossenfelder, Bjørn Ekeberg, Sam Henry Dec 21, 2021

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Is it time to shift our perception of the universe? Listen to what the experts have to say.

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Since the 1970s we have understood the world through the lens of the Standard Model and its account of the forces and particles that make up the universe. But a series of deep puzzles have emerged. And now, even more significantly, a new force has been discovered throwing the whole theory into question.

Can the Standard Model be modified to answer the increasing number of challenges it faces? Or is the Standard Model fatally flawed - and time for the next great paradigm shift to a radically different account of the universe? Alternatively, should we conclude that all theories have limitations and not worry about the flaws, however profound they might be?

CERN research scientist Sam Henry, renowned author and theoretical physicist Sabine Hossenfelder, and distinguished philosopher of science Bjørn Ekeberg discuss whether it is time to move past the standard model of particle physics. Acclaimed science writer Philip Ball hosts.

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Beyond truth | Hilary Lawson Dec 14, 2021

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What is wrong with truth? Can we find a solution? Listen to find out.

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There are many varied voices who see the attack on objective truth as the root cause of all that is wrong in today’s society, including recently Tom Stoppard, UK Cabinet member Liz Truss, and Pope Benedict. But philosopher and renowned critic of philosophical realism Hilary Lawson warns this is a dangerous and mistaken response. Instead we need a radical new way of looking at the world.

Hilary Lawson is a post-postmodern philosopher and is best known for his theory of 'Closure' which calls for a post-analytic return to metaphysics.

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How to navigate the hidden gems of philosophy | Maria Balaska Dec 07, 2021

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Is there a connection between philosophy and psychoanalysis? A place for discussing children in philosophy? Listen to find out.

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Psychoanalysis and philosophy share a deep interest in what it means to be human and what it means to be in the world. At the heart of both philosophical and psychological investigations lies three questions:What can I know? What ought I do? And what can I hope for?

Dr Maria Balaska discusses the connection between our psychological understanding of ourselves, and our philosophical understanding of the world around us.

Maria Balaska is a philosopher at the University of Hertfordshire. Her book Wittgenstein and Lacan at the Limit: Meaning and Astonishment brings together philosophy and psychoanalysis on the significance and the challenges of experiences of astonishment.

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A radical plan to save education | Michael Hrebeniak, Isabelle McNeill Nov 30, 2021

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There is hope for academia after all.

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We need a revolution. Universities are turning into corporations, students, academics and the culture at large is damaged as a result. Cambridge academics Michael Hrebeniak and Isabelle McNeill lay out their vision of how to revolutionise education by removing neo-liberal "outputs" culture and democratising the university once again.

Michael Hrebeniak is a polymath: an academic, author, film-maker, ex-jazz musician, and journalist. He is Director of Studies in English at Wolfson College and Lecturer in English at Magdalene College, Cambridge.

Isabelle McNeill is Philomathia Fellow in French at Trinity Hall, University of Cambridge, where she teaches French literature and cinema.

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Are we hallucinating ourselves? | Anil Seth Nov 23, 2021

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Is consciousness independent from our bodies? Or is it just a hallucination? Listen to find out.

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Somehow, within each of our brains, billions of neurons work to create our conscious experience. How does this happen? Why do we experience life in the first person? After over twenty years researching the brain, world-renowned neuroscientist Anil Seth puts forward a radical new theory of consciousness and the self.

Anil Seth is Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at the University of Sussex. His TED Talk on the brain has had close to 12 million views and he is the author of multiple books alongside his blog, NeuroBanter.

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The big ideas we choose to believe in | Dallas Campbell Nov 16, 2021

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Why do Flat Earthers believe the world is flat even when confronted with scientific evidence? Why don't anti-vaxxers "trust the science"? Listen to find out.

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Dallas Campbell is one of the most celebrated science television presenters in the UK. He has been communicating complicated ideas to the nation for years. But what does it really take to mediate between scientists and the public? In this interview, Dallas shares his insights into the scientific community and sheds light on why we choose to believe what we believe. Gunes Taylor hosts.

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