Within Reason

SOCIAL LINKS:

Instagram: ⁠http://www.instagram.com/cosmicskeptic⁠

CONTACT

Business email: contact@alexoconnor.com

Brand enquiries: David@modernstoa.co

#155 AI Music is Not Music - Adam Neely May 13, 2026

Show notes

Get Huel today with this exclusive offer for New Customers of 15% OFF with code alexoconnor at www.huel.com/alexoconnor (Minimum $50 purchase).

For early, ad-free access to videos, and to support the channel, subscribe to my Substack.

Adam Neely is an American bassist, YouTuber, and jazz musician based in New York City. His YouTube content includes Q&A videos, vlogs about performing music, and video essays about online music culture. As a musician, he performs with groups including the electro-jazz duo Sungazer and the instrumental band Aberdeen.Watch Adam's video on Suno here.

TIMESTAMPS:

(0:00) Music and Philosophy(5:17) Can You Cheat in Music?(9:07) What is Suno?(25:20) Can You Use AI Musically?(32:21) Is AI Just the New Sampling?(38:40) AI and Inclusivity(46:21) Is Music Becoming Narcissistic?(57:26) Does Great Art Require Ego?(01:07:04) Are AI Music Tools Inevitable?(01:22:55) How Would Adam Improve Suno?(01:35:44) Are We Removing the Humanity From Music?(01:44:18) Is Jazz the Blueprint?

CONNECT

SOCIAL LINKS:

Instagram: ⁠http://www.instagram.com/cosmicskeptic⁠

CONTACT

Business email: contact@alexoconnor.com

Brand enquiries: David@modernstoa.co

#154 Happiness: Epicurus' Ancient Guide - Jonny Thomson May 04, 2026

Show notes

Get all sides of every story and be better informed at ⁠https://ground.news/AlexOC⁠ - subscribe for 40% off unlimited access.

For early, ad-free access to videos, and to support the channel, subscribe to my Substack: ⁠https://www.alexoconnor.com⁠.

Jonny Thomson is a philosopher and the founder of ⁠PhilosophyMinis ⁠. He is on the Executive Board for the British Philosophy Association and is a staff writer at Big Think.Get Jonny's upcoming book, ⁠The Art of Enough: The Ancient Epicurean Philosophy of Finding – and Keeping – Happiness⁠

TIMESTAMPS:

(00:00) Are Epicureans Selfish?

(05:30) Why Epicureanism?

(10:31) Who Was Epicurus?

(16:42) Godless But Not Atheistic

(23:21) Epicurus’ Metaphysics

(27:24) Why Focus on Pleasure?

(35:29) Epicureanism vs Utilitarianism

(48:59) What About Immoral Pleasures?

(53:02) Could AI be Epicurean?

(01:00:50) The Experience Machine

(01:10:59) Why Epicurus Didn’t Like Sex

(01:16:21) Are Influencers Watering Down Ancient Philosophy?

(01:20:06) Are You In Control of Your Happiness?

(01:26:33) Epicureanism vs Stoicism

(01:32:36) Epicurus on Death

(01:36:42) Do We Have a Happiness Crisis?

CONNECT

SOCIAL LINKS:

Instagram: ⁠http://www.instagram.com/cosmicskeptic⁠

CONTACT

Business email: contact@alexoconnor.com

Brand enquiries: David@modernstoa.co

#153 If Anyone Builds It, EVERYONE Dies - AI Expert on Superintelligence Apr 26, 2026

Show notes

Get all sides of every story and be better informed at ⁠https://ground.news/AlexOC⁠ - subscribe for 40% off unlimited access.

For early, ad-free access to videos, and to support the channel, subscribe to my Substack: ⁠https://www.alexoconnor.com⁠.

Nate Soares is an American artificial intelligence author and researcher known for his work on existential risk from AI. In 2014, Soares co-authored a paper that introduced the term AI alignment, the challenge of making increasingly capable AI’s behave as intended. Nate is the president of the Machine Intelligence Research Institute, a research nonprofit based in Berkeley, California.

Get the book, ⁠If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies: Why Superhuman AI Would Kill Us All⁠.

TIMESTAMPS:

(00:00) Is This an Exaggeration?

(04:31) What Is Unique About the Threat of AI?

(11:28) What is Superintelligence?

(21:25) From Chess Computers to Murderous Machines

(27:52) What Really Drives AI Systems?

(44:29) Evidence AI Is Already Turning Against Us

(56:03) How We Are Helping AI Take Over

(01:01:21) Why Would AI Seek Power or Control?

(01:07:42) Some Worst-Case AI Scenarios

(01:18:38) What Do We Do About This Now?

(01:32:53) How Has AI Changed in the Last Six Months?

CONNECT

SOCIAL LINKS:

Instagram: ⁠http://www.instagram.com/cosmicskeptic⁠

CONTACT

Business email: contact@alexoconnor.com

Brand enquiries: David@modernstoa.co

#152 Why AI Will Never Be Conscious Apr 20, 2026

Show notes

Get Huel today with this exclusive offer for New Customers of 15% OFF with code alexoconnor at ⁠https://huel.com/alexoconnor ⁠(Minimum $50 purchase).

For early, ad-free access to videos, and to support the channel, subscribe to my Substack: ⁠https://www.alexoconnor.com⁠.

Anil Seth is a British neuroscientist and professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at the University of Sussex. A proponent of materialist explanations of consciousness, he is currently amongst the most cited scholars on the topics of neuroscience and cognitive science globally. Read Anil's essay, ⁠"The Mythology of Conscious AI"⁠.

TIMESTAMPS

(00:00) The Difference Between Intelligence and Consciousness

(03:55) What’s Stopping the Replication of Consciousness in AI?

(17:01) Can You Separate What the Brain Is From What It Does?

(22:20) Is Conscious Experience Just Predictions From the Brain?

(26:48) Why Do We Project Consciousness Onto LLMs?

(37:27) Can Consciousness Exist Without a Body?

(42:25) Why We Liken the Brain to a Computer

(52:11) Is There An Evolutionary Reason For Consciousness?

(56:29) Studying Unconscious Perception?

(1:01:21) Is Consciousness Unified? Split-Brain Patients

(1:15:10) Attention and Consciousness

(1:19:04) What Would a Conscious Chatbot Even Look Like?

(1:25:13) Consciousness as a Controlled Hallucination

(1:34:19) Do Scientists Actually Study “Consciousness” At All?

CONNECT

SOCIAL LINKS

Instagram: ⁠http://www.instagram.com/cosmicskeptic⁠

CONTACT

Business email: contact@alexoconnor.com

Brand enquiries: David@modernstoa.co

#151 John Lennox - What Nearly Dying Taught Me About God Apr 13, 2026

Show notes

Get all sides of every story and be better informed at https://ground.news/AlexOC - subscribe for 40% off unlimited access.

For early, ad-free access to videos, and to support the channel, subscribe to my Substack: https://www.alexoconnor.com.

John Lennox is a Northern Irish mathematician, bioethicist, and Christian apologist originally from Northern Ireland. He has written many books on religion, ethics, the relationship between science and God, and has had public debates with atheists including Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens.

Exclusive discount: Listeners to my show can get 30% Off John Lennox’s autobiography, My Story when shopping directly from his publishers. Visit https://spckpublishing.co.uk/my-story and enter AOC30 at checkout to get 30% off.

TIMESTAMPS

(00:00) How Pressure Can Produce the Best Work
(02:29) Does the Incarnation Make Sense?
(06:22) John’s Richard Dawkins Debate
(14:39) What Did the New Atheists Get Wrong About God?
(26:21) Science Cannot Explain Everything
(31:22) What Did the New Atheists Get Right?
(35:18) Why Does God Hide From So Many People?
(44:36) Why Does God Allow Arbitrary Suffering?
(56:25) Is Faith “Belief Without Evidence”?
(1:00:33) How Could God Punish a Mere Lack of Faith?
(1:08:14) How Christopher Hitchens Agreed with Jesus
(1:13:03) Does Christianity Cause Evil?

CONNECT

SOCIAL LINKS

Instagram: ⁠http://www.instagram.com/cosmicskeptic⁠

CONTACT

Business email: contact@alexoconnor.com

Brand enquiries: David@modernstoa.co

#150 Materialist AND Panpsychism are True - Galen Strawson Apr 08, 2026

Show notes

Get Huel today with this exclusive offer for New Customers of 15% OFF with code alexoconnor at https://huel.com/alexoconnor (Minimum $50 purchase).

For early, ad-free access to videos, and to support the channel, subscribe to my Substack: ⁠https://www.alexoconnor.com⁠.

Galen Strawson is a British analytic philosopher and literary critic who works primarily on philosophy of mind, metaphysics, John Locke, David Hume, Immanuel Kant and Friedrich Nietzsche.

TIMESTAMPS

(00:00) Is Radical Emergence Possible?

(08:15) Can Physics Describe Consciousness?

(12:01) Is Everything Made of Consciousness?

(18:34) Why Are People Resistant to Panpsychism?

(21:19) Can Experience Alone Tell Us What Consciousness Is?

(23:50) Does Consciousness Require Complexity?

(29:03) Panpsychism vs Idealism: What’s the Difference?

(36:08) The Combination Problem

(40:03) What is the “Self”?

(43:16) Do We Even Need to Explain Consciousness?

(48:25) Is Consciousness a Scientific or Philosophical Question?

(53:25) Is It Possible for AI to Become Conscious?

CONNECT

SOCIAL LINKS

Instagram: ⁠http://www.instagram.com/cosmicskeptic⁠

CONTACT

Business email: contact@alexoconnor.com

Brand enquiries: David@modernstoa.co

#149 My Problem With C.S. Lewis - Philip Pullman Apr 02, 2026

Show notes

Get Huel today with this exclusive offer for New Customers of 15% OFF with code alexoconnor at https://huel.com/alexoconnor (Minimum $50 purchase).

For early, ad-free access to videos, and to support the channel, subscribe to my Substack: ⁠https://www.alexoconnor.com⁠.

Philip Pullman is one of England's most cherished and celebrated writers. Author of the popular His Dark Materials series of books (later adapted into a film, The Golden Compass (2007), and a 2019 HBO/BBC drama series), his novels are dripping with philosophical and religious themes. Get Philip Pullman's Books ⁠here⁠.

TIMESTAMPS

(0:00) C.S. Lewis Tells Filthy Lies

(5:12) Childhood Innocence is Overrated

(10:09) Religion in Philip’s Novels

(21:26) How to Improve the Story of Jesus and the Gospels

(27:43) The Connection Between Music and Fiction

(36:24) Books vs Movies

(43:38) Consciousness in The Book of Dust

(50:05) Should Novelists Go Back and Update Their Books?

(56:11) The Omniscient Narrator

(1:00:12) How Movies Changed Novels

(1:05:49) Why Subtitles Are So Popular Now

(1:10:56) The Role of Philosophy in Philip’s Novels

(1:13:27) Philip’s Writing Process

(1:20:11) The Fear of AI in Creative Industries

CONNECT

SOCIAL LINKS

Instagram: ⁠http://www.instagram.com/cosmicskeptic⁠