Are you a Closer To Truth member? Register for a free account to get special exclusives, event discounts, and more.

How can I assess whether God exists without exploring what kind of God is supposed to exist? So I examine God's essence and nature.

Featuring interviews with John Polkinghorne, John Behr, John Hick, J.L. Schellenberg, and Timothy O'Connor.

Show your support for the show with a tax-deductible donation of any amount to help keep our content free from paywalls: https://shorturl.at/SOeum

Help us continue exploring the greatest questions of the universe with a tax-deductible donation to Closer To Truth: https://shorturl.at/OnyRq

Astrophysicist Or Graur offers a brief and fascinating overview of the history, physics, and astrophysical uses of galaxies. Starting with the history of the last two thousand years of galaxy studies, Graur discusses the types of galaxies we observe and the physics that drive them; the myths and physical structure of the Milky Way; how galaxies were used to discover and study the mysterious phenomena of dark matter and dark energy; and how scientists think galaxies formed shortly after the Big Bang and evolved to their present forms.

Watch more Closer To Truth Chats: https://t.ly/jJI7e

Or Graur is Associate Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Portsmouth's Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation, as well as Research Associate at the American Museum of Natural History. He is the author of "Supernova" and his latest book, "Galaxies" from MIT Press.

Register for a free CTT membership today to get exclusive benefits.

Do I disappear at death? My body? Sure, it's gone. But my awareness? Does my consciousness end forever? What could be more frightening! Is there any hope here?

Featuring interviews with Charles Tart, Richard Swinburne, Robert Park, James Tabor, and Keith Ward.

What constitutes good science? Are there limits to science? If so, what are the boundaries? How deep can science dig into the foundations of the world?

Featuring interviews with Steven Weinberg, Paul Davies, Colin Blakemore, and Scott Aaronson.

Keep Closer To Truth's content free from paywalls! Make a tax-deductible donation of any amount today.

Help us continue exploring the greatest questions of the universe with a tax-deductible donation to Closer To Truth.

Scientists say my consciousness is just my brain. Theologians believe my consciousness reflects the God who created it. Mystics hold my consciousness is a drop in the ocean of cosmic consciousness. Who's right?

Featuring interviews with Marvin Minsky, Marilyn Schlitz, J. van Huyssteen, Colin McGinn, and Roger Walsh.

Closer to Truth presents the world’s greatest thinkers exploring humanity’s deepest questions. Discover fundamental issues of existence. Engage new and diverse ways of thinking. Appreciate intense debates. Share your own opinions. Seek your own answers.

Distinguished Philosopher Ned Block discusses perception, cognition, and consciousness as well as his latest book, The Border Between Seeing and Thinking, a model for bringing philosophy and the mind sciences into dialogue.

Ned Block is an American philosopher working in philosophy of mind who has made important contributions to the understanding of consciousness and the philosophy of cognitive science. He has been professor of philosophy and psychology at New York University since 1996.

Get subscriber-only benefits with a free Closer To Truth account today.

Help Closer To Truth keep our content free from paywalls with a tax-deductible donation.

To inquire whether plants are “sentient” sounds like pseudoscience but has become real science. What does a plant know? Plants can react to their environments, but can plants sense or feel? Can they remember long-term? Can they adapt and learn? Are plants intelligent? And are they in any sense aware?

Daniel Chamovitz is an American-born plant geneticist and the 7th President of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Beer-Sheva, Israel.

How do Buddhism, Chinese traditions, and Hinduism address the perennial problems of suffering, ethics, ritual and contemplative practices? Why is suffering so important in Buddhism? Why karma in Hinduism? Why systems of nature in Chinese traditions?

Featuring interviews with Helen De Cruz Jay Garfield, Swami Sarvapriyananda, Swami Medhananda, Franklin Perkins, and Yang Xioa.

Explore all CTT videos on Eastern Traditions.

Why are we here? Why is there a world, a cosmos, something-instead of absolutely nothing at all? Of all the big questions, this is the biggest. Why? What can we learn from "nothing"?

Featuring interviews with John Leslie, Bede Rundle, Max Tegmark, Simon Blackburn, Quentin Smith, Victor Stenger, Peter van Inwagen, John Polkinghorne, Richard Swinburne, and Paul Davies.

Are you a Closer To Truth member? Register for free today to get event discounts, early access to episodes, and more.

Professor Brian Swimme discusses cosmogenesis, our cultural evolution, human consciousness, the Noosphere, and more.

Brian Thomas Swimme is a professor at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco where he teaches evolutionary cosmology to graduate students in the philosophy, cosmology, and consciousness program. His upcoming book, The Story of the Noosphere, will be published in October.

Register for members-only perks like early access to episodes with a free Closer To Truth account.