One of the paradoxes of science is that it seeks objectively true understanding of the world, but its methodology is […]
364 | Stuart Firestein on How Science Relies on Ignorance and Failure Read More
Did I have any freedom in choosing this particular podcast guest? At the level of particles, fields, and the fundamental
354 | Christian List on Free Will and Levels of Reality Read More
Peter Singer has been an influential philosopher for a number of decades. He was a significant early voice in animal
351 | Peter Singer on Maximizing Good for All Sentient Creatures Read More
Behaving rationally involves facing up to conditions of uncertainty; we never navigate the world with perfect confidence. Sometimes we are
345 | Adam Elga on Being Rational in a Very Large Universe Read More
Evolution with natural selection involves an intricate mix of the random and the driven. Mutations are essentially random, while selection
342 | Rachell Powell on Evolutionary Convergence, Morality, and Mind Read More
It’s become increasingly clear that the Turing Test — determining whether human interlocutors can tell whether a conversation is being
339 | Ned Block on Whether Consciousness Requires Biology Read More
Game theory is a way of quantitatively describing what happens any time one thing interacts with another thing, when both
337 | Kevin Zollman on Game Theory, Signals, and Meaning Read More
Certain features of our universe seem unnatural to us. These include “constants of nature” such as the cosmological constant and
331 | Solo: Fine-Tuning, God, and the Multiverse Read More
“Liberalism,” divorced from its particular connotations in this or that modern political context, refers broadly to a philosophy of individual
327 | Cass Sunstein on Liberalism Read More
When we think of the capacities that distinguish humans from other species, we generally turn to intelligence and its byproducts,
322 | Philip Pettit on Language, Agency, Politics, and Freedom Read More