Oliver Burkeman is the author of the New York Times bestseller Four Thousand Weeks, Meditations for Mortals, and several other books on the philosophy and psychology of time management and happiness.

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Timestamps

00:00 Mortality and Immortality

00:57 The Paradox of Infinite Time

02:51 Polls and Public Opinion on Immortality

05:09 The Concept of Finitude

06:56 The Philosophy of Time and Life's Shortness

10:03 Accepting Mortality and Denial of Death

19:49 Eastern and Western Philosophies

45:14 The Paradox of Productivity and Burnout

45:45 Critique of Capitalism and Personal Goals

47:19 Finding Purpose in a Capitalist System

48:33 Introducing 'Meditations for Mortals'

54:40 The Three to Four Hour Rule

01:04:20 The Fallacy of Effort Equals Worth

01:07:57 Parenting and Personal Development

01:15:06 Closing Thoughts and Book Recommendations

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Neil Johnson is a professor of physics at George Washington University. His work explores impact of generative AI tools like ChatGPT in online battlefields (e.g. Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and more).

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Cailin O’Connor is a philosopher of science and evolutionary game theorist. She’s a Professor in the Department of Logic and Philosophy of Science at UC Irvine.

We discuss:

… and other topics

Podcast info

David Krakauer is an evolutionary biologist and President of the Santa Fe Institute. His research explores the evolution of intelligence and stupidity on Earth.

Ad-free episodes, AMAs and more at ⁠https://www.matthewgeleta.com/

David's Books

Books discussed

Timestamps

01:45 Limits of AI and Human Predictability

06:15 Determinism & Laplace

09:00 Free Will

23:00 Symmetry Breaking and Quantum Fluctuations

41:00 Emergence and Effective Theories

50:15 Large Language Models

53:00 Evolution of Intelligence

55:00 Science: Humanistic vs. Utilitarian

01:07:00 Complexity Science and Its Applications

01:14:00 Future of Complexity Science

01:29:00 Book Recommendations

01:36:00 Who Should Represent us to an AI Superintelligence

This is the full video of our previously published audio-only discussion with neuroscientist Anil Seth.

Video episodes and other content are available at ⁠⁠https://www.matthewgeleta.com/⁠

Special episode - please share your feedback.

This is the video version of our most recent conversation with Christof Koch, without the intro from Matt. Usually video episodes are published on YouTube, and audio episodes with intros are published elsewhere.

Which do you prefer? Please let us know what you think in the comments

Christof's latest book can be found here

Christof Koch is an acclaimed neuroscientist known for his work on consciousness and the physical world.

Find full episode details, video, and more at https://www.matthewgeleta.com/

Christof's latest book: Then I Am Myself the World

Avi Loeb is a world-leading astrophysicist known for his work on the search for technologically advanced extraterrestrial civilisations. Enjoy our conversation!

Find full episode details, video, and more at https://www.matthewgeleta.com

Michael Muthukrishna is an associate professor of economic psychology at the London School of Economics, and the author of the book "A Theory of Everyone".

Timestamps:

00:00 Episode intro

01:00 Energy and nuclear power - reflections

08:00 How do cultural differences impact how we work together?

23:30 Why is human coordination and cooperation so difficult

33:50 Why do we need energy abundance to enable cooperation?

46:05 What is the most efficient energy source?

1:00:00 Why is energy becoming scarce?

1:06:45 Nuclear - why might this be our best bet?

1:11:40 Sustainability - should we pull the brakes?

1:23:16 Major challenge for the 21st century

1:27:50 Book recommendations

Lee McIntyre is philosopher and leading voice on the topics of Disinformation and Science Denial.

Lee's books: https://leemcintyrebooks.com/

Timestamps

0:00 Intro - disinformation

5:05 Flat Earther phenomenon

9:30 What is disinformation?

11:40 How big of a problem is disinformation?

16:40 What should we do when the truth sounds conspiratorial?

22:15 Origins to Big Tobacco

27:50 Amplification of disinformation

31:25 Is social media to blame?

34:30 How should social media companies be regulated?

46:30 Social media business models

50:15 Information diet - what is healthy?

56:45 How can individuals protect themselves against misinformation?

59:25 Book recommendations