The Unending Process

Episode 13 of the Sympathetic People podcast. Tim and Joha discuss a study which investigated the problem-solving skills of wolves and dogs and concluded that wolves are better at independent problem-solving. Does this mean wolves are "smarter" than dogs? Joha thinks it might, but Tim isn't so convinced.

The discussion uses the study as a jumping off point for a broader discussion about domestication, intelligence and problem-solving and ultimately leads to some ruminations on the importance of having challenge and conflict in our lives. We find meaning and ultimately fulfillment by rising to challenges and triumphing over them. Are we too sheltered in the modern world? Is life too easy?

The recording includes some cameos by Tim's (exceptionally intelligent and smarter than any damn wolf) Australian Shepherd, Keneally, who knew we were talking about her and wanted to get involved in the action. Notable by their absence were wolves, who aren't interested in human conversation one bit (maybe they ARE smarter than dogs after all).

Enjoy!

Episode 12 of the Sympathetic People Podcast (AKA the Permanent Evolution Podcast). This time around, Tim reads from Norman Doidge's introduction to Jordan Peterson's new book - "12 Rules For Life: An Antidote to Chaos".

A recurrent theme of the subsequent discussion is the concept of the "Open Society" (a term coined by Karl Popper) and the importance of reasonable, open, critical discussion of ideas - none of has all the answers, so we all need to be open to criticism of our views, just as we need to be allowed to criticise the views of others.

Other topics raised in this episode include evolution, suffering, rules & judgement, freedom of speech, relativism, post-modernism, social justice, conspiracy theories, adults giving advice to kids, rules for life and (of course!) philosophy in ancient Greece and India.

Thanks for listening!

Episode 11, in which we discuss Carlos Castaneda, Buddhism, Karl Popper, science, fallibilism, magic, reality, and all such fun stuff!

To what extent do we perceive the world through words? Can we escape our verbal preconceptions and experience things "as they really are?" Can we do so and remain functional? We agree that it is healthy and productive to "get outside our selves" and attempt to perceive the world in a way less filtered by our preconceptions, but is all perception ultimately theoretical? Haven't we evolved to perceive "affordances" - things we can use?

We hope you enjoy the discussion!

Episode 10! In a decimal system that is surely a milestone; in any other system of counting maybe not, but we'll take it!

Tim reads from Sean Carroll's wonderful book "The Big Picture", and the intrepid evolutionary biologists (your hosts) discuss the meaning of life, conflict between science and religion on this topic, meditation, and a bunch of other stuff. It's fun!

Spoiler alert - we don't really know what the meaning of life is, but as Bill Fay(he's a musician, check him out) says "like my old dad said, life is people".....

Listen! We compel you to do so and hope you enjoy doing so. Subscribe on iTunes! Rate us on iTunes! Comment on the blog! Use exclamation marks excessively!!!

Thanks :)

Episode nine of the Permanent Evolution Podcast, a discussion about gender and sexuality and whether or not these are merely socially constructed categories. Do we need labels to function as part of social groups, as part of societies? Words are tools, but what happens when we give them too much power by using them to define our identities?

We speak over each other a couple of times during this episode - sorry, we're working on that! We're also working to improve the sound quality. We hope you're enjoying the content! Please subscribe on iTunes if so.

Thanks for listening!

In episode 8 of the Permanent Evolution Podcast Joha reads a short excerpt from a paper by Robert J. Sternberg on Intelligence which stimulates a wide-ranging discussion between Drs Jackson (Tim) and Coludar (Joha) concerning the nature of intelligence, conservative values, cross-culturual studies, and much else besides.

The article's abstract can be accessed here:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26302705

Thanks for listening!

Episode 7 of the Permanent Evolution Podcast.

In part 1, Dr Coludar and Dr Jackson discuss an article - "If Philosophy Won’t Diversify, Let’s Call It What It Really Is" - published in the New York Times in 2016 which caused quite a bit of controversy.

The original article can be found here: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/11/opinion/if-philosophy-wont-diversify-lets-call-it-what-it-really-is.html

And some of the commentary can be found here: https://storify.com/BryanVanNorden/ethnocentrism-strikes-back

In Part 2, we play a new game - "Devil's Advocate" - in which we come up with a proposition then throw (digital) dice to find out who will be defending it and who will be attempting to refute it. This time round, the proposition was "Non-native species are alien and damage the integrity of ecosystems, their eradication must therefore be a priority for conservation efforts."

Thanks for listening!

Episode 7 of the Permanent Evolution Podcast.

In part 1, Dr Coludar and Dr Jackson discuss an article - "If Philosophy Won’t Diversify, Let’s Call It What It Really Is" - published in the New York Times in 2016 which caused quite a bit of controversy.

The original article can be found here: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/11/opinion/if-philosophy-wont-diversify-lets-call-it-what-it-really-is.html

And some of the commentary can be found here: https://storify.com/BryanVanNorden/ethnocentrism-strikes-back

In Part 2, we play a new game - "Devil's Advocate" - in which we come up with a proposition then throw (digital) dice to find out who will be defending it and who will be attempting to refute it. This time round, the proposition was "Non-native species are alien and damage the integrity of ecosystems, their eradication must therefore be a priority for conservation efforts."

Thanks for listening!

Episode 6 of the Permanent Evolution Podcast, the consciousness episode. Consciousness has been a constant theme of the podcast, but in this episode Dr Coludar and Dr Jackson indulge in a debate (that almost becomes heated) loaded with jargon. Topics discussed in part 1 include the "hard problem" of consciousness and whether it is a scientific question, the metaphysics of mind, reductionism, and explanations versus descriptions. In part two, panpsychism, unanswerable questions, the "ethics of audience" and whether or not it's worth trying to understand others, are all on the table.

Episode 6 of the Permanent Evolution Podcast, the consciousness episode. Consciousness has been a constant theme of the podcast, but in this episode Dr Coludar and Dr Jackson indulge in a debate (that almost becomes heated) loaded with jargon. Topics discussed in part 1 include the "hard problem" of consciousness and whether it is a scientific question, the metaphysics of mind, reductionism, and explanations versus descriptions. In part two, panpsychism, unanswerable questions, the "ethics of audience" and whether or not it's worth trying to understand others, are all on the table.