Sean Carroll, theoretical physicist at Caltech, joins us on this episode of the FLI Podcast to comb through the history of human thought, the strengths and weaknesses of various intellectual movements, and how we are to situate ourselves in the 21st century given progress thus far.

 Topics discussed in this episode include:

-Important intellectual movements and their merits

-The evolution of metaphysical and epistemological views over human history

-Consciousness, free will, and philosophical blunders

-Lessons for the 21st century

You can find the page for this podcast here: https://futureoflife.org/2020/12/01/sean-carroll-on-consciousness-physicalism-and-the-history-of-intellectual-progress/

You can find the video for this podcast here: https://youtu.be/6HNjL8_fsTk

Timestamps: 

0:00 Intro

2:06 The problem of beliefs and the strengths and weaknesses of religion

6:40 The Age of Enlightenment and importance of reason

10:13 The importance of humility and the is--ought gap

17:53 The advantages of religion and mysticism

19:50 Materialism and Newtonianism

28:00 Duality, self, suffering, and philosophical blunders

36:56 Quantum physics as a paradigm shift

39:24 Physicalism, the problem of consciousness, and free will

01:01:50 What does it mean for something to be real?

01:09:40 The hard problem of consciousness

01:14:20 The multiple worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics and utilitarianism

01:21:16 The importance of being charitable in conversation

1:24:55 Sean's position in the philosophy of consciousness

01:27:29 Sean's metaethical position

01:29:36 Where to find and follow Sean

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