Philosophical Trials

Professor Kai von Fintel is a world-leading linguist (Section Head at MIT) who is well known for his contributions to Semantics, an academic fields which sits at the intersection of many disciplines which is typically concerned with the meaning of linguistic expressions. He is the co-founder of the open access journal Semantics & Pragmatics. You can find more about his work on his website: https://www.kaivonfintel.org 

Conversation Outline: 

00:00 Introduction
00:18 What is special about language? 
03:31 How did we (as a species) get linguistic abilities?
05:24 What do people who work in Semantics do? 
09:19 How can babies pick up language? 
15:07 What is the meaning of words? Aren’t they just dictionary entries? 
19:03 On idiolects 
27:00 The meanings of sentences
33:43 What are possible worlds? Are they the same as the many-worlds of quantum theory? 
39:52 Differences between ‘school’ grammar, syntax and formal logic
49:07 What is the meaning of ‘if’? 
01:04:54 Does the research of Semanticists impact the field of Computational Linguistics?
01:07:39 The relationship between thought and language

Twitter: 
https://twitter.com/tedynenu

Apple Podcasts:
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/philosophical-trials/id1513707135

Spotify: 
https://open.spotify.com/show/3Sz88leU8tmeKe3MAZ9i10

Google Podcasts:
https://podcasts.google.com/?q=philosophical%20trials

Instagram: 
https://www.instagram.com/tedynenu/

Ed Cooke is a Grandmaster of Memory and the CEO and co-founder of Memrise, one of the most used Language Learning apps in the world. He was also a main character in the international bestseller “Moonwalking with Einstein”. He graduated with a first-class degree in Psychology and Philosophy from the University of Oxford and today we are discussing various memory related issues, briefly described in the following timestamps:

00:00 Memrise introduction
00:39 Grandmaster of Memory and memory feats
01:40 How long have you been into the art of memory?
02:48 Did your memory skills benefit your life outside competition?
04:16 Is there anything you have trouble remembering?
05:32 The scope of memory techniques and remembering your autobiography
08:30 How do you actually  memorise a pack of cards in 45 seconds?
12:07 The functional role of memory and forgetting
17:22 Myths about memory
19:23 Relationship between memory and attention
23:39 False memories
27:41 Can memory give insights into consciousness?
33:07 Tell us about the work that takes place at Memrise

Enjoy!

Tim Crane is a world leading philosopher whose areas of research gravitate towards the study of the mind. His book, The Mechanical Mind, has introduced thousands of people to the central ideas which unite Artificial Intelligence, Philosophy of Mind and Cognitive Science. He is currently the Head of Department at the Central European University, having previously been the Knightbridge Professor of Philosophy at the University of Cambridge.

Conversation outline:

00:00 The problem of mental representation
10:38 Can a computer think? Is the Turing Test satisfactory?
14:15 Can a robot think?
18:32 What is the Computational Theory of Mind?
20:20 The Language of Thought Hypothesis
26:33 Do neural networks implement our language of thought?
31:32 Can deep neural networks achieve a complexity which brings about awareness or AGI?
33:03 What is general intelligence?
34:29 Are there necessary conditions for intelligence?
38:00 What is the mechanical view of the human mind?
42:35 Consciousness
46:32 Can we have free will on the mechanical picture?
50:58 Can God account for the explanatory gap between science and consciousness?
54:40 Comments on aspects of religion

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Simon Blackburn is a Fellow of the British Academy. He is a Professor of Philosophy at Trinity College, University of Cambridge who is well known for his contribution to meta-ethics (where he defends quasi-realism) and for his excellent introductory books (such as 'Think' or 'Being Good').

Outline of the conversation:
00:10 What motivated you to write 'Think'?
02:00 What is the role of Philosophy?
04:10 Progress in Philosophy
07:18 Remarks on the notion of Truth
09:27 Deflationism about Truth
14:15 The Correspondence Theory of Truth and problems with Facts
17:40 Is there anything wrong with abstract objects?
19:44 The Liar's Paradox
28:37 The relationship between religion and morality
33:55 Free Will
47:18 Which philosophers influenced you the most?
48:50 What contributions did Hume make to modern thought?

Twitter: https://twitter.com/tedynenu

Joel David Hamkins is an American Mathematician who is currently Professor of Logic at the University of Oxford. He is well known for his important contributions in the fields of Mathematical Logic, Set Theory and Philosophy of Mathematics. Moreover, he is very popular in the mathematical community for being the highest rated user on MathOverflow.

Outline of the conversation:
00:00 Podcast Introduction
00:50 MathOverflow and books in progress
04:08 Mathphobia
05:58 What is mathematics and what sets it apart?
08:06 Is mathematics invented or discovered (more at 54:28)
09:24 How is it the case that Mathematics can be applied so successfully to the physical world?
12:37 Infinity in Mathematics
16:58 Cantor's Theorem: the real numbers cannot be enumerated
24:22 Russell's Paradox and the Cumulative Hierarchy of Sets
29:20 Hilbert's Program and Godel's Results
35:05 The First Incompleteness Theorem, formal and informal proofs and the connection between mathematical truths and mathematical proofs
40:50 Computer Assisted Proofs and mathematical insight
44:11 Do automated proofs kill the artistic side of Mathematics?
48:50 Infinite Time Turing Machines can settle Goldbach's Conjecture or the Riemann Hypothesis
54:28 Nonstandard models of arithmetic: different conceptions of the natural numbers
1:00:02 The Continuum Hypothesis and related undecidable questions, the Set-Theoretic Multiverse and the quest for new axioms
1:10:31 Minds and computers: Sir Roger Penrose's argument concerning consciousness

Twitter: https://twitter.com/tedynenu