Robinson's Podcast

Robert Plomin is MRC Research Professor of Behavioral Genetics at King’s College London. He has published over 800 papers, is among the hundred most cited psychologists of the twentieth century, and was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire for his research, the best known of which is on twin studies and behavioral genetics. In this episode, Robinson and Robert discuss the distinction between molecular and quantitative genetics, how one researches the question of nature vs nurture, the extent to which genetics determines human behavior, the controversies about these lines of research, and what to expect in the next ten years of behavioral genetics. Robert’s most recent book is Blueprint: How DNA Makes Us Who We Are (MIT, 2018).

Blueprint: https://a.co/d/eqpK5dB

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

01:06 Introduction

03:22 An Interest in Behavioral Genetics

12:46 The Distinction Between Quantitative and Molecular Genetics

26:12 How Impactful is Genetics on Behavior?

33:25 Twins, Adoption, and Nature Versus Nurture

41:07 Some Remarkable Consequences of DNA Sequencing

50:43 Nazis, Intelligence, and the Controversy of Genetics Research

01:02:16 Is Intelligence Heritable?

01:15:51 The Generalist and Modular Models of Genes

01:21:50 Is Depression Genetically Determined?

01:31:22 What Is The Role of Nurture in Human Behavior?

01:39:08 What Behaviors and Traits are Heritable?

01:44:53 The Next Ten Years

01:52:47 Is Socioeconomic Status Heritable?

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. 

Rebecca Goldstein is a philosopher and novelist. She received her Ph.D. in philosophy from Princeton University and studied with Thomas Nagel. She is a MacArthur Follow and was awarded the National Humanities Medal by Barack Obama. Rebecca is also an expert on Spinoza and Gödel, and has a whole bevy of other wide-ranging interests. In this episode, Robinson and Rebecca discuss her novel the Mind-Body Problem, atheism, Spinoza, and what makes life meaningful in a godless world. Rebecca’s most recent book is Plato at the Googleplex: Why Philosophy Won’t Go Away (Pantheon, 2014).

Rebecca’s Website: https://www.rebeccagoldstein.com

Thirty-Six Arguments for the Existence of God: https://a.co/d/dAoDqbU

Plato at the Googleplex: https://a.co/d/c1vvVaw

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

00:45 Introduction

02:40 Publishing a First Novel

14:01 Philosophy and Literature

22:11 From Judaism to Atheism

42:36 Arguments Against the Existence of God

01:02:45 On Spinoza

01:16:14 Mattering

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. 

Ken Olum is Research Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Tufts University, where he works on exotic physics and topics in cosmology like cosmic strings, gravitational waves, anthropic reasoning, and inflation. In this episode, Robinson and Ken talk all about cosmic strings, which are spindly, hypothesized astronomical objects of intense mass and energy that may have been created in the earliest periods of the universe.

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

00:27 Introduction

03:00  Exotic Astrophysics and NANOGrav

16:19  What Are Cosmic Strings?

37:14 String Theory and the Multiverse

42:34 Details About Cosmic Strings

48:46 How Can We Detect Cosmic Strings?

01:00:03 Travel Within the Multiverse

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. 

Joseph LeDoux is Henry and Lucy Moses Professor of Science, University Professor, Professor of Neural Science, Professor of Psychiatry, and Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at New York University, where he works in neuroscience and related areas. Though his career is expansive, one major focus of his research has been emotions in humans and other animals. He is also the frontman of The Amygdaloids. Joseph’s most recent book is The Four Realms of Existence: A New Theory of Being Human (Harvard, 2023). In this episode, Joseph and Robinson discuss psychoanalysis, the nature of biological life, how nervous systems evolved, and the relationship between consciousness and cognition.

The Four Realms: https://a.co/d/2wrFGG2

Joseph’s Website: http://joseph-ledoux.com

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

01:06 Introduction

04:29 Thoughts on Psychoanalysis

17:05 The Four Realms of Human Existence

41:29 What Is Life?

48:10 What Are Nervous Systems and How Did They Evolve?

01:10:07 Cognition Substance-Neutral?

01:15:12 What Is Consciousness? 

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. 

Richard Haier is Professor Emeritus in the School of Medicine at the University of California, Irvine, where he uses brain imagining and the tools of neuroscience to study learning, memory, and intelligence, and how they relate to brain function and structure. He is the editor-in-chief of the journal Intelligence. In this episode, Robinson and Rich discuss all things human intelligence, ranging from its controversies, the origin and current status of psychometric testing, the relationship between intelligence, brain structure, and function, the predictive power of IQ in career success and other areas, and whether or not it’s possible to increase one’s general intelligence. Rich’s most recent book is the second edition of his guide to neuroscience research and intelligence, The Neuroscience of Intelligence (Cambridge University Press, 2023).

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

The Neuroscience of Intelligence: https://a.co/d/c7aO9aK

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

01:06 Introduction

02:50 Intelligence, Psychometrics, and the Brain 

12:01 The Controversy about Race and Intelligence Research

21:09 How Should We Define Human Intelligence?

26:36 On The Origin and Value of IQ Tests

32:16 Intelligence and Brain Structure

46:05 How Accurate Are Contemporary IQ Tests Like?

57:16 Are IQ Tests Racist?

01:03:47 Should We Abolish Standardized Tests?

01:13:34 Do IQ Tests Predict Career Success?

01:17:05 The Parieto-Frontal Integration Theory of Intelligence

01:34:25 Psychometric Tests and Human Intelligence

01:41:10 Group Differences and IQ

01:46:53 Can You Increase Your IQ? 

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. 

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, founded by fellow Robinson’s Podcast multiverse denizen, Tim Maudlin. In this episode, Robinson and Shelly discuss all things Bohmian mechanics, from the origins of pilot wave theory with de Broglie to its chief theoretical innovations and its relationship to philosophy, including some of the main objections to—and strengths of—the theory. Check out Shelly’s book on the subject, Bohmian Mechanics and Quantum Theory: An Appraisal (Springer, 1996). 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.

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

Bohmian Mechanics and Quantum Theory: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-94-015-8715-0

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

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

00:55 Introduction

06:40 Kripke and Quantum Logic

18:30 De Broglie and Pilot Wave Theory

23:38 What is Bohmian Mechanics?

43:55 Sociology and the Origin of Bohmian Mechanics

52:57 John Bell and Bohmian Mechanics

57:32 Realism and Bohmian Mechanics

01:12:39 Current Work on Bohmian Mechanics

01:22:10 What are the Criticisms of 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. 

Michael Graziano is Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Princeton University, where he and his lab research the brain basis of consciousness. Naturally, this is precisely what Michael and Robinson discuss in this episode. More particularly, they get into the philosophical question of what consciousness is, the roles of philosophy and science in answering the same, and whether or not there are deep, intractable issues here. Then they turn to Michael’s theory of consciousness—the Attention Schema Theory—in which consciousness is a way in which the brain models attention to better organize and monitor it. Michael’s most recent book is Rethinking Consciousness (W. W. Norton, 2019).

Rethinking Consciousness: https://a.co/d/8euR1EL

Graziano Lab: https://grazianolab.princeton.edu

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

00:55 Introduction

02:56 Getting Started in Consciousness

07:18 The Dialogue Between Science and Philosophy on Consciousness

13:05 What Are We Talking About When We Talk About Consciousness

25:38 What is Consciousness?

32:25 What Are Cognitive Models?

36:45 What Is The Meta-Problem of Consciousness?

48:24 How Does a Neuroscientist Think of Attention?

59:39 The Attention Schema Theory of Consciousness

01:17:46 Neural Correlates of Consciousness 

01:28:47 Magical” Theories of Consciousness

01:35:03 Artificial Intelligence and Consciousness

01:43:44 Fiction and Music

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. 

Una Stojnić is an assistant professor in the Department of Philosophy at Princeton University, where she works in the philosophy of language, formal semantics and pragmatics of natural language, and philosophical logic. In this episode, Robinson and Una discuss three of her projects. First, they talk about linguistic conventions, and how language consists of more than just the words we might find in a dictionary. Second, they talk abut slurs and pejoratives, and how philosophers have attempted to determine just what it is that makes them offensive. Finally they talk about a problem with word individuation—just how much can our spelling or pronunciation of a word vary from its canonical spelling or pronunciation and still be that same word? Una’s latest book is Context and Coherence: The Logic and Grammar of Prominence (Oxford, 2021).

Una’s Website: https://www.unastojnic.com

Context and Coherence: https://a.co/d/0wjOoaM

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

00:51 Introduction

03:04 An Interest in Language

07:31 A Problem with Word Individuation

11:52 Context Sensitivity and Linguistic Convention

30:07 Word Individuation and Speaker Intentions 

45:30 Slurs and Pejoratives

01:01:55 An Articulation Account of Slurs

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. 

David Wallace is Mellon Professor in the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Pittsburgh. Before that, he obtained PhDs in both physics and philosophy at Oxford. David works mainly in the philosophy of physics, and is best known for his development and defense of the Everett—or Many-Worlds—interpretation of quantum mechanics. In this episode, Robinson and David talk all about Many-Worlds, including its history, how it relates to the broader question of realism in the philosophy of science, its strong points, and some potential problems, such as how to account for probability in the multiverse. David’s book on the subject is The Emergent Multiverse (Oxford, 2014).

The Emergent Multiverse: https://a.co/d/3GOSC3a

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

00:18 Introduction

03:38 From Physics to Philosophy

12:54 Realism and the Measurement Problem in Quantum Mechanics

25:14 Hugh Everett and the Many Worlds Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics

48:56 Bryce DeWitt

51:33 How Does the Many Worlds Theory of Quantum Mechanics Work?

01:02:22 Are There Problems with the Many Worlds Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics? 

01:10:58 How Many Worlds Are There in the Multiverse?

01:21:54 How Can We Make Sense of Probability in the Multiverse?

01:43:44 Is The Multiverse Too Absurd to Believe In?

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. 

Robert Stickgold is Professor of Pyschiatry at Harvard Medical School, where he researches sleep and dreams from a cognitive neuroscience perspective. In this episode, Bob and Robinson discuss the role of sleep in memory processing and emotional regulation, how sleep deprivation affects performance, and the evolutionary purpose and function of dreams.

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

00:17 Introduction

03:06 Why Study Sleep?

12:04 How Does the Brain Process Different Types of Memories?

20:45 How Does Sleep Affect Memory Processing?

33:10 How Does Sleep Deprivation Affect Memory Processing?

50:58 What Is The Connection Between Sleep and Emotions

01:09:03 How Do PTSD, Autism, and Schizophrenia Affect Sleep

01:32:00 An Interest in Dreams

01:34:05 Was Freud Wrong About Dreams?

02:03:29 On Hypnogogic Dreams

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.