ToKCast

Latest Episodes:

Ep 201: Progress: Conserving the means of Error Correction. Free Speech, Free Trade and Democracy. Dec 14, 2023

Show notes

Drawing on Chapter 15 "The Evolution of Culture" from "The Beginning of Infinity" by David Deutsch and then applying it to some special cases.

Come and chat to me about this or anything else at https://www.getairchat.com/brett

Timestamps:

00:00 Speech, Trade and Democracy

02:39 Is Democracy under attack?

07:05 Free Speech as Error Identification

09:14 Limits on Free Speech?

13:02 Case Study 1: North Korea

14:18 Case Study 2: Afghanistan and Iraq

17:30 Case Study 3: South Korea

19:43 Case Study 4: China

24:43 The Evolution of Culture by David Deutsch 1

29:43 Protecting liberty in Western Nations

30:30 Bringing Liberty to nations without it.

32:25 Case Study 5: Japan

35:01 Immigration: Why worry?

35:58 The Evolution of Culture by David Deutsch 2

39:01 Preserve the means of error correction at all costs

Support me at www.bretthall.org

Ep 200: Chiara Marletto Nov 30, 2023

Show notes

00:00 Introduction

08:03 Interview Begins

09:42 How Chiara found herself at the foundations of physics

15:30 How Chiara found Everett

19:13 No Special Physics is required for Observers

21:02 What is a counterfactual? How is it linked to a constructor?

29:05 What is (classical) information? How is it different to quantum information?

32:30 Quantum Information is more constrained. This makes it more powerful.

34:08 Is the universe made of information?

38:04 The Simulation Hypothesis

40:33 The second law of thermodynamics

53:16 The AI Apocalypse?

58:02 How do we help a human become passionate about knowledge?

59:39 The Fine Tuning Problem

01:07:48 The Constructor Theoretic Notion of Knowledge

01:10:52 Constructor Theoretic Knowledge as a window on the origins of life.

01:12:16 The links between physics, epistemology and biology

01:14:15 Experimentally testing the quantum nature of gravity

01:26:05 Where to find out more

Support me by following the links at www.bretthall.org

Ep 199: David Deutsch’s ”The Fabric of Reality” Chapter 10 ”The Nature of Mathematics” Part 2 Oct 11, 2023

Show notes

The certainty of mathematics and its place in the supposed hierarchy of subjects (assumed to be above science which is itself above philosophy in turn). Some more remarks on Bayesianism and somehow ghosts and alien life.

Ep 198: Bayesianism Sep 12, 2023

Show notes

Everything and more one might ever want to know about the topic...that other epistemology people often talk about. The central project is to distinguish between 4 "species" of what is often called "Bayesianism"

1. Bayes' Theorem.

2. Bayesian Statistics.

3. Bayesian Reasoning

4. Bayesian Epistemology.

Actual timestampes and chapters are:

00:00 - Introduction to this podcast

02:55 Epistemology

11:30 Substrate Independence

12:30 Inexplicit Knowledge/Knowledge without a knower

21:30 Explanatory Universality and Supernaturalism

24:30 When we lack good explanations

29:00 Rational Decision Theory

33:39: Bayes’ Theorem

41:40 Bayesian Statistics

1:07:50 Bayesian Reasoning

1:16:00 Bayesian “Epistemology”

1:20:13: Quick Recap

1:20:49 A question from Stephen Mix

1:21:50 “Confidence” in epistemology

1:26:13 Measurement and Uncertainty

1:31:50 Confidence and experimental replication

Join the conversation https://getairchat.com/s/p3ql7kNB

Ep 197: David Deutsch’s ”The Fabric of Reality” Chapter 10 ”The Nature of Mathematics” Part 1: Introduction Sep 10, 2023

Show notes

This episode is an introduction to the chapter. Although there are some readings, they are limited and I provide context by diving deep into David's more recent work on all this. Specifically we go through the connection of Chapter 10 here (published in 1997) and Chapter 5 "The Reality of Abstractions" from "The Beginning of Infinity" (published in 2011) and then also in light of David's recent speech given at his Dirac Medal award ceremony (published in 2017) - here is the timestamped link to that https://www.youtube.com/live/J7HeDX_7... and the text of that speech is online here: https://www.daviddeutsch.org.uk/wp-co... None of that is essential reading (or listening) for this episode - but it can help. As always - buy "The Fabric of Reality" and read along as I never read the entire chapter - just excerpts!

Ep 196: The Mother Military Aug 29, 2023

Show notes

Commentary (and Explainer) This podcast is largely an op-ed about the "feminisation" of Western militaries and the effect of so-called "diversity, equity and inclusion" ideologies on modern defence forces. I look at what the purpose of a military is and the tension between its aims and the ways some arms of some defence forces are "marketing" themselves to their own people. Of chief concern to some has been the way the US army has chosen to attempt to recruit people into its ranks. Timestamps/Chapters and references below.

00:00 Introduction secs: concerns of late about military decline/changes in standards

00:25 Concerns about politicising the military

1:23 - Should physical standards be lowered to accommodate “diversity” in the military?

2:18 The Military as a deterrent (as nuclear weapons are a special case of) First Pass

3:08: The “Mutually Assured Destruction” trope is a lie

5:01 - Chinese/Russian tech (military & other) is a stolen, poor imitation of Western innovation

6:20 - A comparison of military forces in terms of numbers (expenditure, land/air/manpower, materiel, capabilities)

10:30 The difference in Military Cultures (Jocko Willink on decentralised command).

12:14 - Gandalf’s cameo

12:18 - raw soldier numbers vs army cultures and capabilities

12:31 Case Study: North Korea “the world’s 4th largest army”.

13:54 - Case Study: The Russia Ukraine war

14:24 Case Study: The First Gulf War - The Tank Battle

16:18 Case study: the 6 day Israeli war

17:46 The Military as a deterrent (Second Pass)

19:08 Gratuitous Holiday Snap

19:56 The Mother Military Thesis

21:56 North Korea/Communism and Cancel Culture

22:51 Contemporary Western Nations and Cancel Culture

23:27 Woke Culture and Toxic Masculinity

26:23 Is there sexism in custody proceedings?

27:54 - Toxic “Father” Masculinity vs A Feminist “Mother” Military

28:39 The US Army recruitment advertisement controversy 30:53 Alan Watts on “Prickles and Goo” 31:21 Masculine and Feminine traits: some comparisons

33:50 James Damore and “the Google Memo” - commentary

34:19 The function and public face of the military 35:46 Pathological Goo: Jordan Peterson and The Devouring Mother

37:14 Early Signs of military culture rot?

39:04 Exclusive Clubs, Bouncers and Gay Culture

39:57 The Military as a Deterrent (Third Pass)

40:34 - Comparison of Recruitment Tactics - US Army vs US Marines or US Army vs Russian/Chinese Army.

41:24 Conclusions

42:11 Credits, How to support the channel, podcast and me

References: 1. https://youtu.be/MIYGFSONKbk?si=C8mFqnObEburxXqz

2. A recent article from Australian media about coercion of "LGBTQIA+" ideologies on cadets: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-08-27/adf-academy-cadets-claim-they-were-pressured-to-remove-uniforms/102780562

3. US Marine corps recruitment ad for comparison: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9gTAjbiQEM

4. Humorous Aussie analysis of US vs Russian & Chinese army recruitment commercials: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXmyWdZfdgk

5. Ex-Marine comments on US Military Matters (Jameson's Travels) - https://www.youtube.com/@UC-N44TadAniwC7v8Zj858nQ #woke #feminism #military #transition #army #philosophy "Like" my video and "subscribe" to my channel :)

Ep 195: Knowledge, Wealth and Constructors Aug 23, 2023

Show notes

Very brief readings from and lengthy reflections upon David Deutsch's paper "The Philosophy of Constructor Theory" published here https://link.springer.com/article/10.... and available in full here: https://www.constructortheory.org/por... #physics #knowledge #philosophy #epistemology #daviddeutsch #science

Also available on Youtube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMCx2Com7LU

Discuss this or any episode of ToKCast on ToKChat: a channel on "Airchat" available here for download for iPhone and Android: https://www.getairchat.com/

ToKChat is here: https://www.getairchat.com/bretthall/tokchat

Timestamps/chapters:

00:00 Introduction

00:45 Predictions are not always possible

01:27 The Unpredictable

02:33 The Content of Future Theories

03:36 Better Theories Better Explain What Exists

04:31 The Principle of Testability

04:58 The Negation of an Explanation is Not an Explanation

06:04 Knowledge is the most significant entity in the universe

06:33 The Most Important Kind of Abstract Constructor Is Knowledge (Part 1)

07:22 The Most Important Kind of Abstract Constructor Is Knowledge (Part 2)

07:44 Physics is almost entirely the study of the effects of knowledge

08:40 Knowledge is not primarily about the content of minds

09:20 People are more significant than any religion realises

10:15 Wealth = Knowledge + Resources

11:15 Ultimately, Knowledge is the Only Scarce Resource

12:05 Knowledge determines which physical transformations happen

13:17 Knowledge is Information with Causal Power

14:13 Knowledge is Substrate Independent (Part 1)

15:11 Knowledge is Substrate Independent (Part 2)

16:01 Knowledge is Substrate Independent (Part 3)

16:12 Knowledge is Substrate Independent (Part 4)

17:01 Knowledge is Substrate Independent (Part 5)

17:44 Knowledge is Substrate Independent (Part 6)

18:34 Knowledge is Substrate Independent (Part 7)

19:35 The Role of Emotion in Objective Knowledge Creation

20:31 On Why People are Unique

21:16 Humans Routinely Defy Their Instincts

22:13 People are Universal Explainers

23:16 Human Brains obey the Laws of Physics

23:57 Many “Rationalists” Endorse the Supernatural

24:32 Good Explanations and Decision Making

25:33 Inexplicit Knowledge and Misconceptions

26:38 Quaila: We have them. We cannot describe them

27:42 Intuitions are conjectures

28:51 Either you have a Good Explanation or you don’t

29:45 Vibes can be an indication to investigate further

30:43 Knowledge is not just a “decision engine”

31:31 Obsession with guessing the future is irrational

32:15 A “simulation” of a mind is a mind.

33:08 We cannot predict the output of a creative entity

34:04 Knowledge Rekindles Light When Other Lights Go Out.

Ep 194: David Deutsch’s ”The Fabric of Reality” Chapter 9 ”Quantum Computers” Part 4: Shor’s Algorithm Jul 26, 2023

Show notes

This is a "return to regular format" episode in one respect - readings from and reflections upon "The Fabric of Reality" but also a departure from regular formatting in another respect: I teach a bunch of simple mathematics. This is for those who might think "quantum computation" and "quantum algorithms" will be forever beyond me. They are not! I begin with (quite literally) primary school mathematics level stuff (what's a prime number, what is the "fundamental theorem of arithmetic") and very gradually move up into algebra and some modular arithmetic and present examples using real numbers of what the problem is and then lead us to a place where we can glimpse the solution (which is Shor's Algorithm). I do not promise to bring the listener to a graduate quantum physics-degree-level of proficiency in quantum information theory and cryptography - but you will gain quite some insight. I refer to the following more in-depth expositions of all this and hopefully bridge the gap I think is there between "I know a little bit of maths and physics" and the kind of thing the following more "high level" videos offer (which I present in order of increasing technical difficulty) 1. The PBS Infinite Series on all this stuff is brilliant. In particular this introduction: • How to Break Cryp... and this video focussed more narrowly on Shor's algorithm: • Hacking at Quantu... 2. Here is Peter Shor himself explaining the history of his work: • The Story of Shor... 3. Artur Ekert's graduate level free online course on Quantum Information Theory: https://www.youtube.com/@ArturEkert/v... in particular his lecture focussed on Shor's Algorithm: • IQIS Lecture 6.9 ... (which, aside from "The Fabric of Reality" itself, served as the basis for this episode).

Ep 193: Effortless Stoicism Jul 18, 2023

Show notes

I recommend the version found here that contains visuals and music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlvgxEBekP4

However the same message will come through on this audio only podcast.

Full Credit for all ideas to:

James (Jim) Pierce

Naval and Nivi

and

David Deutsch

With mistakes all my own

See also James' website (and relevant article) here: https://www.james-pierce.com/writings/effortless-stoicism

His instagram account including the original "Effortless Stoicism" video here: https://www.instagram.com/p/CuuDzL9sKOG/

His Twitter and relevant thread here: https://twitter.com/jimmpierce/status/1190810962493788160?s=20

Naval and Nivi's work on "How to get rich" where you can download their podcast from Naval's website here: https://nav.al/rich

Or the Youtube version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-TZqOsVCNM

See also Akira The Don's outstanding magical version along with other original music featuring Naval here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nX7x9AzwUTaGMFNVAxrLNXUJrKFotQ84Y

And my new favorite Naval/Nivi/Akira song here: https://www.meaningwave.com/blogs/meaningwave/akira-the-don-naval-ravikant-ft-nivi-you-will-need-to-rent-your-time-to-get-started-single

Ep 192: Where do ideas come from? Jun 29, 2023

Show notes

This is a cross-post from my Substack podcast "The 3Rs: Reality, Reason, Rationality" the text of which can be found here: https://bretthall.substack.com/p/where-do-ideas-come-from?sd=pf#details

This diagram is also relevant:

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