Robinson's Podcast

Patreon: https://bit.ly/3v8OhY7

Brian Keating is the Chancellor’s Distinguished Professor of Physics at the Center for Astrophysics & Space Sciences at UC San Diego, host of the Into the Impossible Podcast, an expert on the cosmic microwave background, and the author of a number of books.  Robinson and Brian discuss the expansion and inflation of the universe, the relationship between theory and experiment in cosmology, gravitational waves, Brian’s brainchild the BICEP experiment, and a lot more. Brian’s most recent book is Into the Impossible (2021), which is a distillation of many of his conversations with Nobel Laureates and other brilliant thinkers.

Brian’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1 

Into the Impossible Podcast: https://link.chtbl.com/into-the-impossible 

Brian’s Mailing List: briankeating.com/list

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

01:02 Introduction

03:30 Brian the Builder

10:59 The Theory of Cosmological Expansion?

27:08 The Origins of Inflation

34:15 On Theory and Experiment in Astrophysics

44:27 On Gravitational Waves and Inflation

1:01:40 BICEP Tech Specs

1:14:54 What Did BICEP Find?

1:29:26 The Simons Array

1:32:50 On Eric Weinstein’s Theory of Everything

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

Patreon: https://bit.ly/3v8OhY7

Daniel Dennett is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Tufts University, where he was co-director of the Center for Cognitive Studies and the Austin B. Fletcher Professor of Philosophy. He is one of the most recognized philosophers today, and has made major contributions to the philosophy of mind and biology, among other areas, and is known as one of the Four Horsemen of Atheism. Dan’s latest book is I’ve Been Thinking (W. W. Norton, 2023), though much of what he and Robinson discuss comes from his earlier book, From Bacteria to Bach and Back (W. W. Norton, 2017). More particularly, they talk about the origin of life and reasons, the evolution of music, Robert Sapolsky and free will, famous thought experiments in the philosophy of mind, the origin of consciousness, and the relationship between mind and language.

I’ve Been Thinking: https://a.co/d/ahMEC0G

From Bacteria to Bach and Back: https://a.co/d/htcrcn7

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

00:54 Introduction

3:51 Where Am I? 

11:00 The Origin of Life as the Origin of Reasons 

16:42 On Music and Philosophy

23:13 Is Music Evolved?

26:52 What are Replicators and How Do they Figure in Natural Selection?

33:32 On Robert Sapolsky and Free Will

47:50 On Free Will and the Justice System

59:55 On Sean Carroll, Free Will, and Intuition Pumps

1:09:49 On the Chinese Room

1:13:14 On Mary in the White Room

1:18:18 Why Would Aliens Be Excited to Discover Clam Rakes? 

1:21:58 What Is Homuncular Functionalism?

1:30:11 How Do Brains Make Minds?

1:38:59 Are There Pathological Memes? 

1:47:19 Where Does Consciousness Come From?

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

Patreon: https://bit.ly/3v8OhY7

Robert Sapolsky is John A. and Cynthia Fry Gunn Professor and Professor of Biology, Neurology, and Neurosurgery at Stanford University. He’s also a best-selling author and one of the leading voices in the current—and enduring—debate over free will. In this conversation, Robinson and Robert discuss his latest book, Determined (Penguin, 2023), and the many arguments it contains against free will, and how, if we don’t have it, we ought to change many of our social institutions, like the carceral system, that operate on the assumption that people are free, morally responsible agents. 

Determined: https://a.co/d/g7n5fPj

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

00:34 Introduction

3:08 Turtles and the Illusion of Free Will

9:35 The Neuroscience of Denial

12:55 What Is Free Will and Why Don’t We Have It?

21:08 What Is Physical Determinism?

23:15 Chaos Theory, Complexity, and Free Will

34:08 Quantum Bullshit 

39:53 Quantum Mechanics and Free Will 

47:59 Does Consciousness Give Us Free Will?

58:12 Fear, Disgust, and Free Will

1:05:46 What Primatology Tells Us About Free Will

1:08:09 The Limbic System and Free Will

1:13:14 Does Testosterone Undermine Free Will?

1:19:45 How Does the Womb Determine Who We Are?

1:24:32 How Is Free Will Connected to Weight Loss? 

1:31:05 How Does Skepticism About Free Will Impact Behavior? 

1:36:51 If There Is No Free Will, What Should We Do With Prisons? 

1:45:32 What Is Funishment?

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

Patreon: https://bit.ly/3v8OhY7

Norman Finkelstein received his PhD from the Princeton University Politics Department, and is best known for his indefatigable research on Israel and Palestine, which is what he and Robinson discuss in this episode of the show, marking the culmination of a three-installment mini-series on Israel and Palestine. In particular, they discuss the importance—or distraction—of ideology, whether Israel is ethnically cleansing Palestine, the message that October 7th sent to the Arab world, what Gaza has in common with the concentration camps of the Holocaust, Palestinian and Israeli psychology, and whether this conflict is going to be the end of humanity. Norman’s most recent book is I’ll Burn That Bridge When I Get to It! Heretical Thoughts on Identity Politics, Cancel Culture, and Academic Freedom (Sublation Media, 2023).

Norman’s Website: https://www.normanfinkelstein.com

I’ll Burn That Bridge When I Get to It!: https://a.co/d/hDDj9OK

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

00:43 Introduction

2:56 Poisonous Ideology and the Israel-Palestine Conflict

14:20 Zionism, Imperialism, and the Conquest of Palestine

24:34 Is Zionist Israeli Policy Ethnically Cleansing Palestine?

42:28 Is Gaza a Concentration Camp? 

52:47 On Israel and the Leader of Hezbollah

1:01:36 Will Israel-Palestine Be the End of Humanity?

1:11:38 Does the Holocaust Justify Israel’s Response in Palestine? 

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

Patreon: https://bit.ly/3v8OhY7

Victor Davis Hanson is a renowned classicist, military historian, and political commentator. He is the Martin and Illie Anderson Senior Fellow in Residence in Classics and Military History at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. Among numerous other awards, Victor was presented the National Humanities Medal in 2007. In this episode, which is the second in an installment of three considering different perspectives on the Israel-Palestine conflict, Robinson and Victor discuss his appraisal of the situation as a military historian, some of the contentious claims on both sides that are repeated in the media, how the conflict is discussed on college campuses, and how equality ought to be achieved. Victor was also a guest on episode #112, in which he and Robinson talked about Victor’s latest book, The Dying Citizen. Keep up with Victor on Twitter, through his website, and on his podcast, The Victor Davis Hanson Show. 

Victor’s Website: https://victorhanson.com

Victor’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/VDHanson

The Victor Davis Hanson Show: https://art19.com/shows/the-victor-davis-hanson-show 

The Dying Citizen: https://a.co/d/dPocUJg

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

00:26 Introduction

03:52 An Overview of the Israel-Palestine Conflict

13:40 Who Has the Right to the Territory of Israel-Palestine?

20:01 Do the Jewish People Need a State?

26:08 Israel-Palestine Activism on College Campuses

29:39 DEI on College Campuses

37:05 Is Israel Committing Genocide in Palestine?

51:05 Is Israel an Apartheid State?

55:47 On Equality in Israel versus Palestine

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

Patreon: https://bit.ly/3v8OhY7

Richard Wolff is Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a visiting professor at The New School, where he works on economics in the Marxist tradition. This is Richard’s third appearance on Robinson’s Podcast. In episode #127, he and Robinson discussed some of the most profound criticisms of capitalism, and in #154 installment, they focused on the myths surrounding Marxism and Marx himself. In this episode, Richard and Robinson talk about the current—and enduring—Israel-Palestine conflict, with particular emphasis on how, with his Marxist training and background, Richard understands it from that perspective. Some particular questions discussed are how class figures into the conflict, whether ideology plays any pernicious roles, whether Israel should be considered a refugee state, why pro-Palestinian views are suppressed in the United States, and how Marx might have attempted to adjudicate the conflict.

Richard’s Website: https://www.rdwolff.com

Economic Update: https://www.democracyatwork.info/economicupdate

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

00:37 Introduction

04:19 Israel-Palestine and the Marxist Perspective 

11:33 Is Israel a Colonial State or a Refugee State? 

16:45 Some Important Marxist Distinctions in Israel and Palestine 

25:09 Israel as a Project of Colonialist Capitalism 

41:50 Ideology and the Perpetuation of the Israel-Palestine Disaster 

01:01:03 Warfare and the Horrors of Israel-Palestine 

01:07:43 The Suppression of Opposition to Israel in the United States 

01:19:15 The Marxist Solution to the Israel-Palestine Conflict?

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

Patreon: https://bit.ly/3v8OhY7

David Albert is the Frederick E. Woodbridge Professor of Philosophy at Columbia University, director of the Philosophical Foundations of Physics program at Columbia, and a faculty member of the John Bell Institute for the Foundations of Physics, as is the second guest. Barry Loewer is Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at Rutgers. Before that he did his PhD in philosophy at Stanford (!). Barry works largely in the philosophy of physics, the philosophy of science, and metaphysics. This is Barry’s second time on the show—in episode 83 he and Robinson discusses probability and laws of nature, both of which come up in this episode. This is David’s sixth (!) appearance on Robinson’s Podcast. He appeared on episode #23 with Justin Clarke-Doane on metaethics and absolute space, episode #30 on the philosophy of time, episode #67 with Tim Maudlin on the foundations of quantum theory, episode #106 with Sean Carroll on Many-Worlds and fine-tuning, and episode #157 on the metaphysics of quantum mechanics. In this episode, Robinson, Barry, and David talk about the Mentaculus, their joint project on the foundations of statistical mechanics, which provides a guide for how to think of and solve problems involving probability, determinism, free will, cosmology, time, and more. A book Barry, Brad Weslake, and Eric Winsberg have edited on essays concerning David’s book, Time and Chance, called The Probability Map of the Universe (Harvard, 2023), came out around this time last year, and the link is in the description.

The Probability Map of the Universe: https://a.co/d/4XoYTMY

A Guess at the Riddle: https://a.co/d/6qcsidl

The John Bell Institute: https://www.johnbellinstitute.org

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

00:41 Introduction

04:23 The Mentaculus

07:08 Chance, Probability, and Determinism

29:52 What Is the Mentaculus?

46:37 The Mentaculus, Thermodynamics, and Time’s Arrows

01:18:51 The Quantum Arrow of Time

01:30:34 On Tim Maudlin and the Arrow of Time

01:36:30 Can We Time Travel to the Future

01:44:22 Free Will and Statistical Mechanics

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

Patreon: https://bit.ly/3v8OhY7

Tim Maudlin is Professor of Philosophy at NYU and Founder and Director of the John Bell Institute for the Foundations of Physics. Sheldon Goldstein is Distinguished Professor of Mathematics at Rutgers University, where he researches mathematical physics, the foundations of quantum mechanics, and Bohmian Mechanics. He is also Board Member of the John Bell Institute for the Foundations of Physics, and this is his second appearance on the show. In episode 170, he and Robinson discussed Bohmian Mechanics. On the other hand, this is Tim’s fifth appearance on the show. Tim was also a guest on episode 46 (laws of nature, space, and free will), episode 67 with David Albert (the foundations of quantum mechanics), episode 115 with Craig Callender (the philosophy of time), and episode 142 on Bell’s inequality and the philosophy of science. In this episode, Robinson, Tim, and Shelly discuss the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics, the Many-Worlds theory, spontaneous collapse theories, Bohmian mechanics, and emergent relativity. If you’re interested in the foundations of physics—which you absolutely should be—then please check out the JBI, which is devoted to providing a home for research and education in this important area. Any donations are immensely helpful at this early stage in the institute’s life.

Tim’s Website: www.tim-maudlin.site

Shelly’s Website: https://sites.math.rutgers.edu/~oldstein/

The John Bell Institute: https://www.johnbellinstitute.org

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

00:22 Introduction

03:04 Is Copenhagen the Dominant Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics?

20:12 On the Most Promising Theories of Quantum Mechanics

34:46 Are There 0-Dimensional Quantum Objects?

41:03 On Spontaneous Wave Function Collapse in Quantum Mechanics

47:56 Bohmian Mechanics and Determinism

51:34 What is Bohmian Mechanics?

1:10:33 Is There a Fundamental Theory of Quantum Mechanics

1:18:45What Is Emergent Relativity?

1:31:01 What Are the Problems with Bohmian Mechanics?

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

Patreon: https://bit.ly/3v8OhY7

Michael Levin is a Distinguished Professor in the Biology Department at Tufts University, where he holds the Vannevar Bush endowed Chair, and he is also associate faculty at the Wyss Institute at Harvard University. Michael and the Levin Lab work at the intersection of biology, artificial life, bioengineering, synthetic morphology, and cognitive science. Michael also appeared on the show in episode #151, which was all about synthetic life and collective intelligence. In this episode, Michael and Robinson discuss the nature of cognition, working with Daniel Dennett, how cognition can be realized by different structures and materials, how to define robots, a new class of robot called the Anthrobot, and whether or not we have moral obligations to biological robots.

The Levin Lab: https://drmichaellevin.org/

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

00:19 Introduction

02:14 What is Cognition?

08:01 On Working with Daniel Dennett

13:17 Gatekeeping in Cognitive Science 

25:15 The Multi-Realizability of Cognition 

31:30 What are Anthrobots? 

39:33 What Are Robots, Really?

59:53 Do We Have Moral Obligations to Biological Robots?

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

Patreon: https://bit.ly/3v8OhY7

Jenann Ismael is the William H. Miller III Professor of Philosophy at Johns Hopkins University, where she researches the philosophy of physics, science, mind, and metaphysics. In this episode, Robinson and Jenann discuss the role of self-reference in physics, the arrows of time, interpretations of quantum mechanics, and free will. Jenann’s latest book is Time: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2021).

Jenann’s Website: https://www.jenanni.com

Time: A Very Short Introduction: https://a.co/d/8fRtXFZ

How Physics Makes Us Free: https://a.co/d/9OdFJ12

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode

00:23 Introduction

02:21 Jenann’s Entry into Philosophy of Physics

8:26 Self-Reference and the Universe

21:54 The Real-World Problem of Self-Reference

32:51 The Mentaculus

57:01 Interference and Self-Reference

1:01:55 Interference and Quantum Measurement

1:06:12 On Self-Reference and the Many-Worlds Theory of Quantum Mechanics

1:17:13 On Determinism and Free Will

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between.