Within Reason

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Simon Critchley is a British philosopher, author and professor at The New School in New York. He is best known for his work on existentialism, mysticism, ethics and continental philosophy, and is the author of books including The Book of Dead Philosophers, Faith of the Faithless and Mysticism. Get Simon's book Mysticism ⁠here⁠.

TIMESTAMPS:

(7:52) What is Mysticism?

(18:58) Unification With the Divine

(29:58) Mysticism and the Self

(40:38) Why Are So Many Mystics Women?

(48:41) The Limits of Language

(59:54) Was Pascal a Mystic?

(01:03:21) Where Does Simon Stand on Mysticism?

(01:11:22) Where Should We Start With Learning About Mysticism?

(01:15:36) Imagery in Simon’s Book

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Adam Neely is an American bassist, YouTuber, and jazz musician based in New York City. His YouTube content includes Q&A videos, vlogs about performing music, and video essays about online music culture. As a musician, he performs with groups including the electro-jazz duo Sungazer and the instrumental band Aberdeen.Watch Adam's video on Suno here.

TIMESTAMPS:

(0:00) Music and Philosophy(5:17) Can You Cheat in Music?(9:07) What is Suno?(25:20) Can You Use AI Musically?(32:21) Is AI Just the New Sampling?(38:40) AI and Inclusivity(46:21) Is Music Becoming Narcissistic?(57:26) Does Great Art Require Ego?(01:07:04) Are AI Music Tools Inevitable?(01:22:55) How Would Adam Improve Suno?(01:35:44) Are We Removing the Humanity From Music?(01:44:18) Is Jazz the Blueprint?

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Jonny Thomson is a philosopher and the founder of ⁠PhilosophyMinis ⁠. He is on the Executive Board for the British Philosophy Association and is a staff writer at Big Think.Get Jonny's upcoming book, ⁠The Art of Enough: The Ancient Epicurean Philosophy of Finding – and Keeping – Happiness⁠

TIMESTAMPS:

(00:00) Are Epicureans Selfish?

(05:30) Why Epicureanism?

(10:31) Who Was Epicurus?

(16:42) Godless But Not Atheistic

(23:21) Epicurus’ Metaphysics

(27:24) Why Focus on Pleasure?

(35:29) Epicureanism vs Utilitarianism

(48:59) What About Immoral Pleasures?

(53:02) Could AI be Epicurean?

(01:00:50) The Experience Machine

(01:10:59) Why Epicurus Didn’t Like Sex

(01:16:21) Are Influencers Watering Down Ancient Philosophy?

(01:20:06) Are You In Control of Your Happiness?

(01:26:33) Epicureanism vs Stoicism

(01:32:36) Epicurus on Death

(01:36:42) Do We Have a Happiness Crisis?

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Nate Soares is an American artificial intelligence author and researcher known for his work on existential risk from AI. In 2014, Soares co-authored a paper that introduced the term AI alignment, the challenge of making increasingly capable AI’s behave as intended. Nate is the president of the Machine Intelligence Research Institute, a research nonprofit based in Berkeley, California.

Get the book, ⁠If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies: Why Superhuman AI Would Kill Us All⁠.

TIMESTAMPS:

(00:00) Is This an Exaggeration?

(04:31) What Is Unique About the Threat of AI?

(11:28) What is Superintelligence?

(21:25) From Chess Computers to Murderous Machines

(27:52) What Really Drives AI Systems?

(44:29) Evidence AI Is Already Turning Against Us

(56:03) How We Are Helping AI Take Over

(01:01:21) Why Would AI Seek Power or Control?

(01:07:42) Some Worst-Case AI Scenarios

(01:18:38) What Do We Do About This Now?

(01:32:53) How Has AI Changed in the Last Six Months?

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Anil Seth is a British neuroscientist and professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at the University of Sussex. A proponent of materialist explanations of consciousness, he is currently amongst the most cited scholars on the topics of neuroscience and cognitive science globally. Read Anil's essay, ⁠"The Mythology of Conscious AI"⁠.

TIMESTAMPS

(00:00) The Difference Between Intelligence and Consciousness

(03:55) What’s Stopping the Replication of Consciousness in AI?

(17:01) Can You Separate What the Brain Is From What It Does?

(22:20) Is Conscious Experience Just Predictions From the Brain?

(26:48) Why Do We Project Consciousness Onto LLMs?

(37:27) Can Consciousness Exist Without a Body?

(42:25) Why We Liken the Brain to a Computer

(52:11) Is There An Evolutionary Reason For Consciousness?

(56:29) Studying Unconscious Perception?

(1:01:21) Is Consciousness Unified? Split-Brain Patients

(1:15:10) Attention and Consciousness

(1:19:04) What Would a Conscious Chatbot Even Look Like?

(1:25:13) Consciousness as a Controlled Hallucination

(1:34:19) Do Scientists Actually Study “Consciousness” At All?

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John Lennox is a Northern Irish mathematician, bioethicist, and Christian apologist originally from Northern Ireland. He has written many books on religion, ethics, the relationship between science and God, and has had public debates with atheists including Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens.

Exclusive discount: Listeners to my show can get 30% Off John Lennox’s autobiography, My Story when shopping directly from his publishers. Visit https://spckpublishing.co.uk/my-story and enter AOC30 at checkout to get 30% off. 

TIMESTAMPS

(00:00) How Pressure Can Produce the Best Work
(02:29) Does the Incarnation Make Sense?
(06:22) John’s Richard Dawkins Debate
(14:39) What Did the New Atheists Get Wrong About God?
(26:21) Science Cannot Explain Everything
(31:22) What Did the New Atheists Get Right?
(35:18) Why Does God Hide From So Many People?
(44:36) Why Does God Allow Arbitrary Suffering?
(56:25) Is Faith “Belief Without Evidence”?
(1:00:33) How Could God Punish a Mere Lack of Faith?
(1:08:14) How Christopher Hitchens Agreed with Jesus
(1:13:03) Does Christianity Cause Evil?

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Galen Strawson is a British analytic philosopher and literary critic who works primarily on philosophy of mind, metaphysics, John Locke, David Hume, Immanuel Kant and Friedrich Nietzsche.

TIMESTAMPS

(00:00) Is Radical Emergence Possible?

(08:15) Can Physics Describe Consciousness?

(12:01) Is Everything Made of Consciousness?

(18:34) Why Are People Resistant to Panpsychism?

(21:19) Can Experience Alone Tell Us What Consciousness Is?

(23:50) Does Consciousness Require Complexity?

(29:03) Panpsychism vs Idealism: What’s the Difference?

(36:08) The Combination Problem

(40:03) What is the “Self”?

(43:16) Do We Even Need to Explain Consciousness?

(48:25) Is Consciousness a Scientific or Philosophical Question?

(53:25) Is It Possible for AI to Become Conscious?

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Philip Pullman is one of England's most cherished and celebrated writers. Author of the popular His Dark Materials series of books (later adapted into a film, The Golden Compass (2007), and a 2019 HBO/BBC drama series), his novels are dripping with philosophical and religious themes. Get Philip Pullman's Books ⁠here⁠.

TIMESTAMPS

(0:00) C.S. Lewis Tells Filthy Lies

(5:12) Childhood Innocence is Overrated

(10:09) Religion in Philip’s Novels

(21:26) How to Improve the Story of Jesus and the Gospels

(27:43) The Connection Between Music and Fiction

(36:24) Books vs Movies

(43:38) Consciousness in The Book of Dust

(50:05) Should Novelists Go Back and Update Their Books?

(56:11) The Omniscient Narrator

(1:00:12) How Movies Changed Novels

(1:05:49) Why Subtitles Are So Popular Now

(1:10:56) The Role of Philosophy in Philip’s Novels

(1:13:27) Philip’s Writing Process

(1:20:11) The Fear of AI in Creative Industries

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Graham Tomlin is a British theologian, author and former Church of England bishop. Get Graham's book, ⁠Blaise Pascal: The Man Who Made the Modern World⁠. Graham's organisation, ⁠Seen and Unseen⁠. 

TIMESTAMPS

(00:00) Can Blaise Pascal Be Categorised?

(03:05) Who Was Blaise Pascal?

(11:12) Pascal’s First Conversion

(17:19) Pascal’s “Night of Fire”

(21:59) Did Pascal Reject Reason?

(31:45) Pascal’s War With Descartes

(42:31) Did Pascal Invent the Bus?

(45:42) The Heart Has Its Reasons, Of Which Reason Knows Nothing

(50:03) How Pascal Invented Probability Theory

(52:29) Pascal’s Wager

(1:15:35) The Pensées

(1:18:30) Pascal’s “Two Minds”

(1:22:39) The Importance of Boredom

(1:26:58) Why Should Atheists Read Pascal?

(1:31:34) What Would Graham Ask Pascal?

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Thomas Metzinger is a German philosopher and Professor Emeritus of theoretical philosophy at the University of Mainz. His primary research areas include philosophy of mind, philosophy of neuroscience, and applied ethics, particularly focusing on neurotechnology, virtual reality, and artificial intelligence.

Get The Elephant and the Blind: The Experience of Pure Consciousness: Philosophy, Science, and 500+ Experiential Reports

TIMESTAMPS

(0:00) The Minimal Phenomenal Experience Project
(11:34) Is MPE New Age Meditation?
(17:07) Collecting Reports of Pure Consciousness
(25:48) Lucid Deep Sleep - Thomas’ Experience
(32:19) Does Consciousness Require Complexity?
(39:29) The Power of Meditation
(45:32) Is Meditation Always a Positive Experience?
(53:13) Is a MPE Actually an Experience?
(01:11:21) Your Brain is Not Telling You the Truth
(01:20:08) Analysing Minimal Conscious Experiences
(01:27:26) Is Meditative Enlightenment Unethical?
(01:32:37) Western Ignorance of Eastern Tradition
(01:40:13) “Coming Home”
(01:44:29) The Political Implications of MPE
(01:52:40) Should Ketamine Be Legalised?

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