ToKCast

Latest Episodes:

Ep: 31 Ch 12 "A Physicist's History of Bad Philosophy" Part 2: Some readings and remarks. Aug 06, 2020

Show notes

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 Aug 06, 2020

Show notes

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 Jul 02, 2020

Show notes

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 May 15, 2020

Show notes

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 Apr 25, 2020

Show notes

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 Apr 17, 2020

Show notes

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 Mar 03, 2020

Show notes

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 Feb 26, 2020

Show notes

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 Feb 19, 2020

Show notes

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 Feb 12, 2020

Show notes

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!)

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