Robinson's Podcast

Craig Callender is Professor of Philosophy and Co-Director of the Institute for Practical Ethics at UC San Diego. Tim Maudlin is Professor of Philosophy at NYU and Founder and Director of the John Bell Institute for the Foundations of Physics. Craig and Tim are leading philosophers of science and physics. Craig also appeared on episode 73, in which he and Robinson discussed pseudoscience and conspiracy theories. Tim was a guest on episode 46, which covered laws of nature, space, and free will, and episode 67 with David Albert, which was all about the foundations of quantum mechanics. In this episode, Craig, Tim, and Robinson delve into the philosophy of time, touching on the reality of the past, present, and future, the direction of time, its relationship to relativity and quantum mechanics, and time travel. Craig and Tim have both written on time. Check out Craig’s book What Makes Time Special? (Oxford University Press, 2017) and Tim’s book Philosophy of Physics, Volume 1: Space and Time (Princeton, 2012). If you’re interested in the foundations of physics—which you absolutely should be—then please check out the John Bell Institute, which is devoted to providing a home for research and education in this important area. At this early stage any donations are immensely helpful.

Craig’s Website: https://www.craigcallender.com

Tim’s Website: www.tim-maudlin.site

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

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

01:12 Introduction

04:43 The A- and B-Series of Time

21:20 Presentism, Possibilism, and Eternalism

42:03 Foliations in Time

57:39 Foliations of Time in Quantum Theory

01:03:30 Superluminal Signaling

01:11:56 The Direction of Time

01:35:24 Philosophy and Time Travel

02:03:07 The John Bell Institute

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. 

Eric Helms is an AUT Research Fellow at the Sports Performance Research Institute New Zealand (Auckland University of Technology) in the Strength & Conditioning and Sports Physiology and Nutrition research groups. He is also the Director and Chief Science Officer of 3DMJ, an organization devoted to strength training and education centered around the same, a competitive bodybuilder, co-host of the Iron Culture podcast—which comes highly, highly recommended by Robinson—and a founding editor and reviewer for Monthly Applications in Strength Sport. Eric is also the author of two terrific books on strength training and nutrition respectively, The Muscle and Strength Pyramid: Training and The Muscle and Strength Pyramid: Nutrition. In this episode, Robinson and Eric discuss one of his areas of expertise, nutrition, covering both broad topics like various approaches to structuring one’s diet and more specific questions like how much protein you should be consuming and what supplements you should be taking.

Eric’s Instagram: @helms3dmj

Iron Culture: https://ironculture.libsyn.com

MASS: https://massresearchreview.com

3DMJ: https://3dmusclejourney.com

OUTLINE

00:00 Introduction

03:36 Eric’s Academic Background

11:14 Should You Get Your Diet Advice From Bodybuilders?

18:28 The Benefits of Intuitive Eating

52:25 How to Determine Maintenance Calories

59:50 How Much Protein Should You Be Eating?

01:16:38 MASS

01:20:08 Creatine

01:30:43 Should You Take BCAAs?

01:38:33 The Role of Meta-analyses in Sports Science

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 Spiegel is Willson Professor of Medicine and Associate Chair of Psychiatry at Stanford University School of Medicine. He did his undergraduate work at Yale and received his M.D. from Harvard Medical School. David is highly regarded as one of the most creative psychiatrists in the field, and has worked on a wide array of topics within the discipline. In this episode, Robinson and David discuss his pioneering work in hypnotherapy, as David is the world’s leading hypnotherapist and hypnotherapy researcher. More particularly, they discuss the origins of hypnotherapy, its relationship to hypnosis in popular culture, how therapeutic interventions fare compare to pharmaceutical interventions for mental illness, how hypnosis treats mental disorders, and how self-hypnosis can be a useful tool in everyone’s mental health arsenal. David is also the Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Reveri, which is a groundbreaking self-hypnosis application for your smartphone that can guide you through a wide variety of modules to help improve sleep, anxiety, eating habits and many other facets of life.

Reveri: https://www.reveri.com

Trance & Treatment: Clinical Uses of Hypnosis: https://a.co/d/0lLXoU2

OUTLINE:

00:00 Introduction

4:24 David’s Start in Hypnotherapy

10:28 Hypnotherapy’s Rising Popularity

16:46 Therapy Versus Medication?

23:50 PTSD, MDMA, and Hypnosis

30:37 What Is Hypnotherapy?

36:05 Hypnosis and Comedic Gags

39:24 Are You Hypnotizable

59:31 Is Hypnotherapy Supported by Research?

01:04:41 Can Hypnosis Treat Eating Disorders?

01:09:20 Hypnosis, Restructuring, Psychopathy, and Understanding the Self

01:15:32 Reveri and Self-Hypnosis

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. 

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, Robinson and Victor discuss his latest book, The Dying Citizen. More particularly, they talk about the Ancient Greek origin of a flourishing egalitarian society centered around the notion of citizenship, the way this history has been subverted and recast, the perils of judging the past through the lens of the present, how citizenship is threatened in the United States today, and the nature of human progress. 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…

01:18 Introduction

04:10 The Dying Classics

10:28 Ancient Greece and the Perils of Revisionist History

20:55 Don’t Judge the Past Against the Present

24:32 The Difference between Citizens and Residents

40:04 The Importance of Citizenship

47:37 On Our Obsession with Inequality

51:23 Is Humankind Making Progress?

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. 

Avi Loeb is Frank B. Baird Jr. Professor of Science in the Department of Astronomy at Harvard University, and former chair of the department. Before joining Harvard he spent fifteen years working in theoretical astrophysics at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. He is also the Director of the Institute for Theory and Computation, the Founding Director of the Black Hole Initiative at Harvard, and Head of the Galileo Project. In this episode, Avi and Robinson discuss his controversial and compelling research on—and theories about—Oumuamua, a comet that passed through the solar system in 2017, and which Avi believes was a spacecraft of extra-terrestrial origin. They also talk about the likelihood of life outside earth, Avi’s current investigations into the same, and his upcoming book Interstellar: The Search for Extraterrestrial Life and Our Future in the Stars, which will be released on August 29, 2023.

Interstellar: https://a.co/d/8Or10aM

Avi on Medium: https://avi-loeb.medium.com  

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode

01:38 Introduction

04:56 Avi’s Interest in Extra-Terrestrial Life

25:04 Avi’s Background in Astrophysics

33:14 The Fermi Paradox

45:09 Was Oumuamua an Alien Spacecraft?

01:31:27 Interstellar

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 Kahneman is Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Public Policy at Princeton University. He won the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences in 2002 for joint work with Amos Tversky in which they revealed the biases and heuristics with which humans operate, thereby deviating from the rationality presumed by economic theory at the time. Among this and many other awards, Danny was also given the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Barrack Obama. While Danny is likely best known outside of psychology for his book Thinking Fast and Slow, he and Robinson discuss his latest a book, co-authored with Olivier Simony and Cass Sunstein, called Noise: A Flaw in Human Judgment, which concerns the astonishingly prevalent and damaging variability inherent in human judgment.

Noise: https://a.co/d/hbKBQKD

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

00:55 Introduction

06:16 Danny’s Childhood

11:23 The Difference Between Noise and Bias

16:21 Some Themes from Noise

18:57 Noise in the Judicial System

32:36 Noise in the Medical System

37:59 The Difficulty of Spotting Noise

39:58 Psychology and the Descriptive, Prescriptive, and Normative

43:14 Decision Hygiene for Reducing Bias and Noise in Judgment

54:32 Limiting Intuitions to Improve Decision-Making

01:00:38 Understanding Regression to the Mean

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. 

Slavoj Žižek is international director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities at the University of London, visiting professor at New York University, and a senior researcher at the University of Ljubljana’s Department of Philosophy. He and Robinson discuss a great many things, including the role of psychoanalysis in the cultural criticism of wokeness, the relationship between truth, science, and philosophy, and what quantum theory might tell us about the nature of reality.

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

01:31 Introduction

04:07 Wokeness and Psychoanalysis

15:00 Free Speech and Curb Your Enthusiasm

23:32 Trans Ideology and Racism

34:23 Violence, Gender, and the Unconscious

41:06 Fate, Freedom, and Falling in Love

48:53 Free Association and Gender Identity

53:08 Truth, Science, and Quantum Theory

57:22 Nazis, the Jew, and Psychoanalysis

01:04:26  Unholy Alliances

01:07:20 Analytic and Continental Philosophy

01:17:27 World War III and Ontological Openness

01:23:25 Life is a Quantum Theory Video Game

01:27:27 Hegel and Quantum Theory

01:31:01 A Dirty Joke about Quantum Theory

01:34:14 Nazi Testicle Torture

(Photo by Matt Carr/Licensed from Getty Images)

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. 

Chiara Mingarelli is a gravitational-wave astrophysicist and a professor in the Department of Physics at Yale University. She studies supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies and their mergers using data about gravitational waves that are detected by pulsar timing array experiments. In this episode, Robinson and Chiara discuss PTAs, gravitational waves, black holes, how and why they merge, and the fresh release of NANOgrav’s fifteen-year data set, which gives the first ever evidence of a gravitational wave background in the universe, an unprecedented discovery that marks the dawn of a new era of astrophysical research.

Chiara’s Website: https://www.chiaramingarelli.com/

Chiara’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/Dr_CMingarelli

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode...

00:30 Introduction

02:58 Chiara’s Interest in Black Holes

10:25 What Are Gravitational Waves

15:47 Detecting Gravitational Waves

31:39 How to Visualize Black Holes

40:55 Black Holes and Gravitational Waves

48:51 Two Different Backgrounds

53:46 Collecting and Interpreting Data

56:36 Why Do Black Holes Anchor Galaxies?

58:34 Why Do Black Holes Form Binaries?

01:04:25 Lingering Questions

01:11:33 Cosmic Strings

01:17:35 NANOgrav’s Data Release and the Gravitational Wave Background

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. 

Kevin Dorst is a professor in the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy at MIT. He works at the intersection between philosophy and social science, focusing on rationality. In this episode Kevin and Robinson discuss just this: They begin with classical theories of rationality and where they fall short before discussing instances where the empirical literature shows that humans do not reason rationally at all, touching on the gambler’s fallacy, sunk-cost reasoning, and the hindsight bias. They then move on to discuss the phenomenon of political polarization, which draws both on our capacity for rationality and irrationality. Make sure to check out Kevin’s Substack, Stranger Apologies.

Stranger Apologies: https://kevindorst.substack.com

Kevin’s Website: https://www.kevindorst.com

Kevin’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/kevin_dorst

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

01:02 Introduction

04:14 Rationality and Philosophy

15:14 Bayesian Reasoning

45:10 The Hindsight Bias

56:53 What is Bias?

01:04:03 The Gambler’s Fallacy

01:15:00 Sunk-Cost Reasoning

01:19:07 Political Polarization

01:40:12 Talking Through Disagreement

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 Director of the Philosophical Foundations of Physics program at Columbia. David is a prior guest of the Robinson’s Podcast multiverse, having appeared on episodes #23 (with Justin Clarke-Doane), #30, and #67 (with Tim Maudlin). Sean Carroll is Homewood Professor of Natural Philosophy at Johns Hopkins University and fractal faculty at the Santa Fe Institute. He is also host of Sean Carroll’s Mindscape, a terrific show (that influenced the birth of Robinson’s Podcast ) about science, society, philosophy, culture, arts, and ideas. Sean also had a great conversation with David on Mindscape, linked below. Both David and Sean are rare breeds—philosophers who are physicists, and physicists who are philosophers—and in this episode Robinson, David, and Sean speak about some of the philosophical concerns at the foundations of physics. They first discuss the Many-Worlds theory of quantum mechanics before turning to the apparent fine-tuning of our universe for life and the possibility of Boltzmann Brains, or complex observers in the universe that arise spontaneously due to quantum fluctuations or the random motion of matter.

Preorder David’s A Guess at the Riddle: https://a.co/d/4MUEJZN

Sean’s Website: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com

Sean’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/seanmcarroll

The Biggest Ideas in the Universe: https://a.co/d/dPKZ40X

David Albert on Sean Carroll’s Mindscape: https://youtu.be/AglOFx6eySE 

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

00:59 Introduction

08:11 Superposition and The Many-Worlds Theory of Quantum Mechanics

22:34 Decoherence

27:20 Probability

41:32 Some Thought Experiments Concerning Probability

01:08:35 Parsimony

01:12:03 The Fine-Tuned Universe and Quantum Theory

01:14:52 Entropy

01:45:37 Intelligent Design

01:47:22 Boltzmann Brains Galore

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.