Philip Goff is a philosopher and author, and one of the world's foremost proponents of panpsychism, among several other non-mainstream philosophical views.

Philip's Links:

Timestamps

10:15 Why might the universe have a purpose?

15:10 Why does the universe seem designed for life?

20:30 Is the universe design for rabbits?

26:30 The multiverse hypothesis and reverse gambler's fallacy

38:10 Pseudoscience and falsifiability

41:30 What does it mean to say the universe has a purpose?

45:10 Is a universe with purpose a good thing?

56:50 How this has changed Philip's life?

1:02:55 Regrets and #movember

1:04:30 Book recommendations

Sara is an astronomer and planetary scientist known for her pioneering work on the vast and unknown world of exoplanets, and the search for life beyond Earth.

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

We discuss:

… and other topics.

Timestamps

0:00 Intro: Where are they?

5:35 Is there life on Venus?

13:25 Venus Life Finder mission

17:15 Non-biological life?

20:15 How might aliens discover life on Earth?

23:17 Should we broadcast our existence?

28:30 Consensus view - is there life outside of Earth?

31:05 Fermi Paradox - where are they?

34:50 Exoplanets

48:20 Starshade mission

54:11 Beauty and awe in physics

1:03:50 Book recommendations

1:11:23 Behind the scenes / backstory

Joscha is an artificial intelligence researcher, cognitive scientist, and philosopher known for his work on cognitive architectures and mind extension technologies.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus content and perks, visit: https://www.matthewgeleta.com/

Watch on YouTube. Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or any other podcast platform. Read the full transcript here. Follow me on LinkedIn or Twitter/X for episodes and infrequent social commentary.

Timestamps:

0:00 Intro - AI risk

5:20 Transhumanism and mind uploading

10:20 Philosophy of self & mind

12:50 Is mind uploading physically possible?

21:50 Tele-transportation

24:50 Philosophy of self & mind - part 2

31:40 Gaia & hypergaia

37:05 Information processing & consciousness

54:10 AI risk & Eliezer Yudkowsky

1:03:10 AI regulation & control

1:11:25 Responsible AI development

1:27:26 AI intelligence explosion

1:36:23 Book recommendations & wrap

Anil Seth is a cognitive and computational neuroscientist and author of an excellent and highly successful book called Being You: A New Science of Consciousness.

He is recognised as being in the top 0.1% of most impactful researchers globally, and his TED talks have collectively been viewed around 20 million.

Episode notes more more available here: https://www.matthewgeleta.com/

Anil's book available here: https://amzn.to/4dKXg2Mhttps://amzn.to/4dKXg2M

Timestamps

0:00 Intro

4:10 Blue and black or white and gold?

9:08 Yanny or Laurel?

12:17 Do we see the world in the same way?

18:21 Perceived is a controlled hallucination

24:16 Why does consciousness exist?

31:19 The Hard and Real problems of consciousness

34:15 Integrated information theory

46:17 Beast machines and the emergence of consciousness

1:04:40 Dreams, psychedelics and exotic conscious experiences

1:18:00 Book recommendations

Samir Okasha is a philosopher of science whose work focuses on theories of knowledge, evolutionary theory and the philosophy of biology.

He’s a fellow of the British Academy, and the author of several interesting and very accessible books on philosophy and science, including Agents and Goals in Evolution, and an introductory book to the philosophy of biology.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers and get access to bonus content, episode notes, and subscriber perks, visit: https://www.matthewgeleta.com/

Timestamps:

0:00 Intro

1:00 The limits of human knowledge

3:55 What is science?

9:00 Science vs philosophy

18:38 Can we make progress in philosophy?

23:20 Philosophy of biology

29:58 Functional language in biology

34:12 Is evolutionary psychology is pseudoscience?

45:40 Evolution and morality

58:28 Can we get 'ought' from 'is'?

1:08:00 Book recommendations

Naomi is a Harvard University professor of the history of science, and an Affiliated Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences. She’s a leading voice on the role of science in society, the reality of anthropogenic climate change, and the role of disinformation in blocking climate action.

She’s also a world-renowned author, having co-authored 9 books, including the best-selling book Merchants of Doubt, Climate change denial, and her most recent book, the Big Myth, which explores the idea of free market economics, and its dark and politically laden history.

In this conversation Naomi and Matt discuss:

* The relationships between science, economics, and politics

* The idea of the free market, and common misconceptions about free market economics

* Arguments for and against a free market way of thinking

* The incentives systems that influence how ideas spread in a society

* Meme theory

* Propaganda

… and other topics

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers and get access to bonus content, episode notes, and subscriber perks, visit: https://www.matthewgeleta.com/

Chapters:

0:00:00 Intro

0:03:15 Myth of the Free Market

0:08:55 Adam Smith vs regulation

0:28:40 Bad incentives vs bad actors

0:34:25 Arguments for and against regulation

0:44:10 Are free markets more fair?

0:53:00 Distrust in government as a cause of free market thinking

0:57:50 Meme theory of free market thinking

1:01:00 Ayn Rand & propaganda

1:09:00 Advice for people in positions of power

1:14:20 The Entrepreneurial State

1:16:50 Book recommendations

1:18:00 Advice for scientists

1:18:00 Who should represent humanity to an AI superintelligence?

Stephen Fleming is a professor of cognitive neuroscience whose work focuses on metacognition - what people think or know about their own minds - and the computational and neural basis of subjective experience. He’s the author of the book Know Thyself: The Science of Self-Awareness.

Today’s topics include the possibility of self deception; cognitive biases and what we can do to guard against them; the benefits and drawbacks of improved metacognition; the relationship between metacognition of conscious experience; the theoretical limits of self knowledge; and other topics.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers and get access to bonus content, episode notes, and subscriber perks, visit: https://www.matthewgeleta.com/

Chapters:

0:00:00 Intro

0:01:20 Self deception

0:08:08 Cognitive biases and over confidence

0:14:40 Evolution of metacognitive biases

0:18:18 Dunning Kruger effect

0:20:52 Split brain experiments and self narratives

0:25:32 Delusion of self understanding

0:29:54 Isolation of losing touch with reality

0:34:38 How good is our metacognition?

0:38:53 Metacognition vs performance

0:42:46 How trainable is metacognition?

0:46:51 Limits of self knowledge

0:50:52 Theory of self vs others

0:54:16 Benefits from improving metacognition

1:01:40 Psychosis and reality vs imagination

1:14:15 The hard problem of consciousness

1:27:05 Book recommendations

1:33:35 Who should represent humanity to an AI superintelligence?

Thomas Metzinger is a philosopher and author whose work focuses neuroethics, neurotechnology, and the philosophy of mind. Thomas is the author of books on the philosophy of mind, consciousness, and the self, including the Ego Tunnel, Being No One, and The Elephant and the Blind.

Today’s topics include the prospects for engineering post-biotic conscious systems, and the ethical implications of doing so; psychedelic drugs and psychedelic experiences, and what these might teach us about the nature of the mind; the range of possible conscious experiences available to human beings and other systems; climate change; intellectual honesty; and other topics.

Links:

* Website: https://thomasmetzinger.com/

* Books - available for free on the website

SUPPORT & CONNECT:

- Follow and leave a 5-star review

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewgeleta/

- Twitter: https://twitter.com/MatthewGeleta

- Donate: https://bit.ly/donate-to-paradigm

PODCAST INFO:

- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MatthewGeleta

- Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3IVDF2W

- Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3oEZYmJ

- Google Podcasts: https://bit.ly/paradigm-on-google

Chapters:

0:00:00 Intro

0:02:10 Postbiotic conscious systems

0:13:00 The Ego Tunnel

0:20:15 Space of possible experiences

0:29:13 Psychedelics and epistemology

0:36:17 Ethical obligations to explore phenomenal state space

0:50:36 Climate change & culture of consciousness

1:00:45 Can we pull back from the brink?

1:09:00 AI ethics & suffering AI

1:27:20 Minimal forms of consciousness

1:35:40 Book recommendations

1:37:00 Advice (meditate!)

Get full access to Paradigm at

Alice Dreger is a bioethicist, historian, activist, and author. She’s well known as a powerful public voice in support of rights people born with atypical sex characteristics, such as intersex.

In this conversation, Alice and Matt explore the science, philosophy, and history sex, gender, intersex, and similar topics.

Topics:

* Biological and social determinants of sex and gender

* Medical treatment of people born with atypical sex characteristics

* Ethics of sex and gender affirming medical interventions, especially in the case of children and adolescents

* Conflicts that often arise between science and activists on matters relating to individual identity

… and other topics.

Alice’s links:

* Website: https://alicedreger.com/

* Books: https://alicedreger.com/books/

* Twitter: https://twitter.com/AliceDreger

SUPPORT & CONNECT:

- Follow and leave a 5-star review

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewgeleta/

- Twitter: https://twitter.com/MatthewGeleta

- Donate: https://bit.ly/donate-to-paradigm

PODCAST INFO:

- Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3IVDF2W

- Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3oEZYmJ

- YouTube: https://bit.ly/paradigm-on-youtube

- RSS: https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/1656558/s/65176.rss

Chapters:

0:00:00 Intro

0:02:20 Alice’s path to studying intersex

0:04:05 What are sex and gender?

0:08:20 Are sex and gender biologically determined?

0:10:14 Is intersex a “problem”?

0:13:00 Sexual orientation vs gender identity

0:16:34 How common is intersex?

0:22:24 Medical treatment of intersex people

0:30:23 Experience of people with intersex

0:41:21 Intersex in children and adolescents

0:44:32 Scientists vs activists

0:55:54 Galileo’s Middle Finger

0:58:21 Book recommendations

1:01:20 Advice for aspiring activists

Thomas Hertog is a cosmologist and one of Stephen Hawking’s closest collaborators. He's the author of the book On the Origin of Time, which is a beautiful blend of physics, philosophy, and biography of Stephen and his long term collaboration with Thomas.

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

Topics:

* The physics and philosophy of time

* The origin of time, and how even make sense of statements of that type

* A bold new idea about the origin of the laws of physics

* Stephen Hawking, both as a scientist and a human being

… and other topics.

Thomas’ book: https://www.amazon.com.au/Origin-Time-journey-Stephen-Hawking-ebook/dp/B08QV2Y1JF

SUPPORT & CONNECT:

- Follow and leave a 5-star review

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewgeleta/

- Twitter: https://twitter.com/MatthewGeleta

- Donate: https://bit.ly/donate-to-paradigm

PODCAST INFO:

- Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3IVDF2W

- Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3oEZYmJ

- Google Podcasts: https://bit.ly/paradigm-on-google

- YouTube: https://bit.ly/paradigm-on-youtube

- RSS: https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/1656558/s/65176.rss

Timestamps:

0:00 Intro

1:10 How could time have an origin?

8:15 Human intuition and the origin of time

10:50 Thomas and Matt reminisce about Stephen Hawking

20:20 Can time flow in reverse?

28:30 Wave Function of the Universe

36:25 Imaginary time & quantum gravity

39:15 Darwinian evolution of the laws of physics

56:15 Quantum multiverse

1:06:10 Experimental verification of Thomas' & Stephen's' theories

1:15:25 Book recommendations

1:18:25 Who should represent humanity to an AI superintelligence?