Robinson's Podcast

Anubav Vasudevan is Associate Professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Chicago, where he works in formal epistemology and the history of logic, though he has published in a number of other areas. This is Anubav’s second appearance on the show. In episode #81, he and Robinson discussed mathematics, physics, and the history of logic. In this episode, they talk about the wonderfully bizarre metaphysics of the renowned pragmatist and logician Charles Sanders Peirce. 

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

00:18 Introduction

04:54 The History of Logic

19:39 Who Was Charles Sanders Peirce?

37:04 The Problem of the Single Trial

48:35 Finding Our Coherent Philosophical Selves

54:32 Charles Peirce’s Bizarre Metaphysics

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. 

Geoffrey West is Shannan Distinguished Professor and Past President at the Santa Fe Institute. He is a theoretical physicist who has worked broadly on topics related to elementary particles and their cosmological implications. Among other topics, he has also worked on complexity theory, scaling laws in biology, and how they can be applied in other areas, such as cities and problems involving global sustainability. This is precisely what Robinson and Geoffrey discuss in this episode, with particular reference to his recent book, Scale: The Universal Laws of Growth, Innovation, Sustainability, and the Pace of Life in Organisms, Cities, Economies, and Companies (Penguin, 2017). 

Scale: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQ05syiaUxg

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

00:25 Introduction

02:21 Complexity and the Santa Fe Institute

22:14 What Are Emergent Phenomena?

34:18 What is Complexity Theory?

45:51 Why Do All Animals Have the Same Number of Heartbeats in a Lifetime

01:11:43 Does Complexity Theory Tell Us How to Live Longer

01:22:49 Why Don’t Cities Die Like Organisms Do?

01:59:40 The Pandemic and the Increasing Pace of Life

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. 

Daniel Levitin is Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Neuroscience at McGill University and Founding Dean of Arts & Humanities at Minerva University. He is also a record producer, musician, and writer. In this episode, Robinson and Daniel discuss one of his best-selling books, This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession (Penguin, 2006), as well as some of the songs on his two albums, Turnaround (2020) and Sex & Math (2021). More particularly, they talk about whether a neurological understanding of the mind and music reduces or increases one’s appreciation for music, how the brain processes complex music, whether music is evolved, why we get songs stuck in our head, and why some sounds are more pleasing than others.

Daniel’s Website: https://www.daniellevitin.com

This Is Your Brain On Music: https://a.co/d/fDxIvxd

Sex & Math: https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/daniellevitin/sex--math

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

00:56 Introduction

03:05 Music, Awe, and Neuroscience

11:12 Neuroscience and Songwriting

17:10 Why Can the Brain Easily Process Complex Music?

34:59 Why Do We Get Songs Stuck in Our Heads?

41:12 Why Do We Prefer Some Musical Time Signatures and Sounds to Others?

58:02 What Gives Some Musicians the IT Factor?

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. 

Tim Palmer is Royal Society Research Professor in Climate Physics at the University of Oxford, where he is a Senior Fellow at the Oxford Martin Institute and a Professorial Fellow at Jesus College. Tim works on the predictability and dynamics of weather and climate, including extreme events, and is well known within the field for developing probabilistic ensemble forecasting techniques. In this episode, Robinson and Tim discuss his recent book, The Primacy of Doubt: From Quantum Physics to Climate Change, How the Science of Uncertainty Can Help Us Understand Our Chaotic World (2022). More particularly, they talk about black holes and the holographic principle, the foundations of quantum mechanics, meteorology and probabilistic forecasting, chaos theory and consciousness, and the problem of climate change.

The Primacy of Doubt: https://a.co/d/dL8JfTn

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

00:37 Introduction

02:37 From Physics to Meteorology

13:17 Black Holes and the Holographic Principle

35:09 What Is the Butterfly Effect?

43:31 Why Is Weather Chaotic and What Can We Do About It?

01:09:34 Can Principles of Meteorology Be Applied to the Problems of Consciousness and Free Will?

01:30:55 Chaos Theory and Climate Change

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. 

James Owen Weatherall is Professor of Logic and the Philosophy of Science and Department Chair at the University of California, Irvine, where he is also a member of the Institute for Mathematical Behavioral Science, the Center for Cosmology, and the Jack W. Peltason Center for the Study of Democracy. Jim is a physicist, mathematician, and philosopher, and works broadly on  the mathematical and conceptual foundations of classical and quantum field theories, as well as the philosophy of science more generally, though he has plenty of other interests, such as model building in finance. In this episode, Robinson and Jim discuss nothingness and the physics of the void, beginning with the debate between Leibniz and Newton on the nature of space, moving through the revolution ushered in by Einstein’s special and general relativity, and ending with the quantum vacuum state.

Jim’s Website: http://jamesowenweatherall.com

Void: https://a.co/d/eEwbGCh

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

00:49 Introduction

03:04 MFA, PhD, PhD

06:04 Physics and Metaphysics

16:00 Newton, Leibniz, and the Debate Over Absolute Space

39:32 How Did Einstein Change Our Understanding of Space?

01:03:28 How Does Quantum Theory Change Our Classical Picture of the World

01:14:15 Fields and the Quantum Mechanics of the Void

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 Friedman is Professor Emeritus at the Santa Clara University School of Law. While he was trained as a physicist, David is best known for his work in economics, and particularly his defense of anarcho-capitalism, a political philosophy that advocates for a free-market system unhampered by government. In this episode, Robinson and David discuss some criticisms of current economic systems, the varieties of anarchism, David’s arguments for anarcho-capitalism, and one of his fascinating hobbies, anachronism.

David’s Website: http://www.daviddfriedman.com

David’s Substack: https://daviddfriedman.substack.com

The Machinery of Freedom: https://a.co/d/iKpTQYK

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

00:17 Introduction

02:55 Physics to Economics

09:35 What is Anarchism?

16:09 Is Government an Agency of Legitimized Coercion?

27:41 Could Anarchy Be More Efficient than Government?

37:52 What Are Moral Facts?

44:46 Was John Rawls a Quack?

48:44 What Are Moral Facts?

56:07 How Much Should We Trust the Government?

01:02:05 Can Governments Prevent Climate Change?

01:13:18 Could We Privatize Police?

01:30:11 Would Anarchy Lead to Wealth Inequality?

01:40:08 Will the United States Ever Become Anarchic?

01:46:26 Anachronism

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. 

Erik Verlinde is Professor of Physics in the Faculty of Science at the University of Amsterdam, where he specializes in quantum gravity and string theory, black holes, and cosmology. In this episode, Erik and Robinson discuss his studies with the Nobel laureate Gerard ’t Hooft, black holes, the holographic principle, string theory, entropic gravity, and dark matter.

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

00:51 Introduction

02:16 Studying with Gerard ‘t Hooft

13:33 How Do Black Holes Connect Quantum Theory and General Relativity?

20:57 Why Are Black Holes the Most Symmetric Objects in the Universe

24:10 How Do You Measure a Black Hole’s Entropy?

30:32 What Is The Holographic Principle in Physics?

44:17 What is String Theory and What Does It Teach Us About Black Holes?

01:04:49 What Is Entropic Gravity? 

01:24:09 What’s the Connection Between String Theory and Quantum Mechanics?

01:29:33 Entropic Gravity and General Relativity

01:40:32 Does Entropic Gravity Explain Dark Matter?

01:47:50 The Present and Future of Emergent Gravity

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 Solomon is Professor of Psychology at Skidmore College. He is best known for developing terror management theory with Tom Pyszczynski and Jeff Greenberg, which explores human psychology and mortality. In this episode, Robinson and Sheldon discuss Ernest Becker’s groundbreaking book The Denial of Death, how it influenced him and his collaborators, and how they have studied—with the tools of contemporary social psychology—how humans are affected by their sense of mortality.

The Worm at the Core: https://a.co/d/7p05yA6

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

00:51 Introduction

03:33 Discovering Ernest Becker

08:29 What Is Self-Esteem?

19:04 Freud and the Denial of Death

27:20 Man and the Heroic Journey

46:41 Where Was Becker Wrong?

54:44 What Is Terror Management Theory?

01:06:26 Children’s Fear of Death

01:10:23 A History of Death Denial

01:14:19 Possible Criticisms

01:18:00 A Prescriptive Dimension to Death Denial

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 Albert is the Frederick E. Woodbridge Professor of Philosophy at Columbia University and one of the world’s most respected philosophers of physics. He is also the director of the Philosophical Foundations of Physics program at Columbia and a faculty member of the John Bell Institute for the Foundations of Physics. This is David’s fifth (!) 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, and episode #106 with Sean Carroll on Many-Worlds and fine-tuning. In this episode, Robinson and David discuss his new book, A Guess at the Riddle: Essays on the Physical Underpinnings of Quantum Mechanics (Harvard, 2023), and the metaphysics of quantum mechanics. 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.

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

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

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

00:56 Introduction

05:12 On The Metaphysics of Quantum Mechanics

30:24 The Complex Origins of Antirealism in Quantum Physics

37:29 Instrumentalism and String Theory 

45:31 The Amazing History of Locality in Physics

01:22:38 Quantum Mechanics as Experimental Metaphysics

01:26:27 What Is Wave-Function Realism in the Foundations of Quantum 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. 

Fay Dowker is Professor of Theoretical Physics at Imperial College London, where she works broadly on quantum gravity, and more particularly on an approach called causal set theory that takes the most basic pieces of the universe to be atoms of spacetime. In this episode, Robinson and Fay begin by discussing her studies with Stephen Hawking and their work on wormholes before turning to quantum gravity and causal set theory. Fay is also a faculty member at the John Bell Institute for the Foundations of Physics. 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.

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

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

00:50 Introduction

04:49 How Do Physicists Think of Wormholes?

15:56 Stephen Hawking, Philosophy, and Quantum Gravity

26:00 Causal Set Theory and The Problem of Quantum Gravity

43:45 What is the Path Integral?

54:43 Is Spacetime Discrete?

57:40 Causal Set Theory and Black Holes

01:14:27 Lorentz Symmetry, Non-Locality, and Phenomenology in Causal Set Theory

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.