ToKCast

Latest Episodes:

Ep 131:Corroboration? Excerpts and Analysis of Popper’s ”Realism & The Aim of Science”. Aug 19, 2022

Show notes

This is part of "The Fabric of Reality" series of podcasts, working as a supplement to material in Chapter 7 "A Conversation about Justification". In this episode I am beginning to draw a line from where Popper was, what epistemological worldview he was trying to (philosophically!) escape from - where he began in that journey, what he passed through, where Deutsch took off from and where we are now. This one may be for the real Popper "die hards" so to speak. Although esoteric and quibbling, nonetheless there should be something in here of use to anyone new to Popper or just interested in science, the philosophy of science and epistemology.

Ep 130: Steven Pinker’s ”Rationality” Ch 6 ”Risk and Reward” (Rational Choice & Expected Utility). Analysis. Aug 13, 2022

Show notes

This chapter continues the themes from Chapter 5 and purports to be an exploration of the use of so-called "rational choice theory". I discuss this "theory" and how well it applies to the "real life process of the same name". How do we make rational choices? By assigning probabilities? By weighing our options? Something else?

Ep 129: David Deutsch’s ”The Fabric of Reality” Chapter 7 ”A Conversation about Justification”. Jul 29, 2022

Show notes

This serves as an introduction to the chapter proper. I cover what justification is, David's stated ways in which he might revise the wording chosen in parts of this chapter, inductivism, Bayesianism, "God Shaped Gaps" and "Induction shaped gaps". This episode links well with the episode immediately prior to this one - episode 128 about Pinker's chapter on Bayesian Reasoning from his book "Rationality".

Ep 128: Steven Pinker’s ”Rationality” Chapter 5 ”Beliefs & Evidence (Bayesian Reasoning” Remarks & Analysis Jul 22, 2022

Show notes

This chapter continues the themes from Chapter 4 as well as my episode all about probability, risk and Bayesianism found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOK5aiASmKM which is an exploration of another talk given by David Deutsch on the nature of probability given what we know about physics. So this chapter of Pinker's book Rationality - being centrally concerned about the use of what is called "Bayesian Reasoning" is compared in this episode to alternative explanations of what rationality and reason amount to. More than previous episodes so far that I have published on the book "Rationality" this one is very much a critique. There is much to recommend the book "Rationality" for two reasons (1) it does summarise and explain some common misconceptions about how to reason or common mistakes people make when reasoning - and these are worth knowing (2) it works as an excellent summary of the prevailing intellectual/academic perspective on these matters for people who are interested in what the truth of the matter is. Knowing what "academic experts" think about this stuff means knowing what gets taught and what filters eventually into culture itself via the "top down" education system we presently have. All that is worth knowing. But here, in this chapter, we encounter the fundamental clash of epistemological worldviews: the mainstream intellectual *prescription* of what they think should be the way people think as against Karl Popper's *description* of the reality as to how knowledge is generated and progress made through incremental identification of errors and their correction. Have fun listening!

Ep 127: The End of Global Order (A response). Jul 15, 2022

Show notes

A quick reaction video to the first 10 minutes of Sam Harris' "Making Sense" episode number 288 "The End of Global Order" - found here https://www.podbean.com/media/share/dir-bwjew-145a8d0b?utm_campaign=w_share_ep&utm_medium=dlink&utm_source=w_share or anywhere podcasts can be found (as of writing this it was not yet on Youtube). This video/podcast is more fun than anything else.

Ep: 126 Origins Jul 14, 2022

Show notes

I strongly recommend watching this episode on Youtube as it is heavy on the visuals. That video can be found here: https://youtu.be/s3tMRgAHXgw

A version of this podcast/video without the music can be found here: https://youtu.be/7Ay300_ZjVI

This is a video/podcast both about the book "The Beginning of Infinity" by David Deutsch and the July 2022 release of images by NASA from the James Webb Space Telescope. The 5 first images are discussed and the broader implications of "discovery science" for our view of our place in and significance for the cosmos. All music by Ketsa Tracks in order: 00:00 Beauty Calls 03:21 No Space 06:42 Falling Angels 10:17 Physics 13:26 Rewinding Time 16:39 Star Blessed Night 19:45 Night Shadows 23:22 Surroundings

Ep 125: Livestreams 1, 2 & 3 Jul 08, 2022

Show notes

These is the audio from knitted together livestreams conducted on YouTube recently. Lots of new questions and common topics discussed. A special introduction for the podcast version of this at the beginning to explain what’s going on. Audio listeners should feel free to submit me questions: find me on Twitter @ToKteacher or else find me on YouTube and leave a comment under any video at all - I read them all.

There's no reason at all audio listeners need to worry about watching the video of these - but incase you want to know where the playlist is, it's here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsE51P_yPQCQx7tQSucLA3gYHvPdu1Yri

Ep 124: David Deutsch’s ”The Fabric of Reality” Chapter 6 “Universality and the limits of Computation” Jun 30, 2022

Show notes

This chapter traverses a terrain of "computers" - the abstract ideas of Turing and Church, the physical computers envisaged by Deutsch and hence quantum computation, the relationship between what computers can do and what mathematics makes possible and ultimately what people can explain and why the universe and reality broadly is comprehensible. We look at the science, the physics and the philosophical consequences of all of this. An inspiring chapter about technology, people and the unbounded possibility of coming to understand reality ever better and thus the physical possibility of always being able to solve problems and make progress.

Ep 123: Ask Me Anything 3 Jun 25, 2022

Show notes

This is an ask me anything episode. The questions and timestamps are as follows:

01:13 Arjun Khemani “Why are problems inevitable?"

06:41 Jiten Terricola “There are differences between men and women. They have different propensities for doing things. What explains this when we’re all universal explainers each capable of doing what any other person can do?”

20:48 - David Hurn “With the right knowledge,can we change the laws of physics/reality? Or can we only get round them? #Optimism"

30:00 - Jeffcoast Bourbon “He’s written a bit on education; does he have any updated thoughts?”

44:58 DingbattusSapiens “Please ask him/her what fallibilism means :) Also, are we a self-domesticated species and why does Adam Sandler have a career.”

57:00 Kees Manshanden “How would you guard against knowledge production that's potentially catastrophic to humanity? For example, the knowledge to create 'easy nukes'; a weapon of mass destruction that can be made by anyone with a high school diploma.”

01:11:27 dean_of_no What is scientific thinking?

01:19:38 Alan Curtis “Why is there only one Monopolies Commission?”

01:32:00 Resty T “I know Deutsch describes his ideas as footnotes to Popper, but didn't he make improvements like "good explanations are hard-to-vary" or was that something Popper expressed too?”

Areo Magazine: https://areomagazine.com

Support Areo Magazine: https://www.patreon.com/Areo

Iona Italia: https://twitter.com/IonaItalia

Arjun Khemani: https://arjunkhemani.com

Links to my website and how to support this project through Patreon and/or Paypal: https://www.bretthall.org

David Deutsch: https://www.daviddeutsch.org.uk

Naval Ravikant: https://nav.al

Ep 122: ”Work and Heat” - Chiara Marletto’s ”The Science of Can and Can’t” Chapter 6 Readings & Discussion. Jun 22, 2022

Show notes

In this episode - unlike the other also titled "Work and Heat" - we actually cover the content of Chiara's book and go through some readings. We look at Work and Heat through the lens of Constructor Theory. How so-called "work-like" transformations are reversible but "heat-like" are not and hence we have an avenue to an exact expression of the second law without approximations or talk of what will "most likely" or "probably" happen. We also go over some discussions about the universal constructor.

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