Podcast
The Theory of Anything
Hosted by Bruce Nielson and Peter Johansen · EN
A podcast that explores the unseen and surprising connections between nearly everything, with special emphasis on intelligence and the search for Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) through the lens of Karl Popper's Theory of Knowledge.
David Deutsch argued that Quantum Mechanics, Darwinian Evolution, Karl Popper's Theory of Knowledge, and Computational Theory (aka "The Four Strands") represent an early 'theory of everything' be it science, philosophy, computation, religion, politics, or art. So we explore everything.
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29episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Episode 119: New Right vs Libertarianism w/Logan Chipkin
Oct 2801:54:33Tap to summarizeThis week we interview Logan Chipkin. Logan is a writer and author of several books. Recently he co-authored and published The Sovereign Child about raising children without coercion, and The Lords of the Cosmos, which tells the story of progress through the lens of good philosophy. Logan is also the president of Conjecture Institute, which is a brand new organization dedicated to promoting the worldview of Karl Popper and David Deutsch. (Follow on X)Here we discuss the New Right vs libertarianism. We consider: What is the core difference between liberalism, conservatism, and libertarianism? Why are so many libertarians into conspiracy theories? How are we to think about Popperian arguments against utopianism applied to libertarians? Does it make sense for an anarcho-capitalist to be hawkish on military intervention in places like Ukraine? And why have mainstream conservatives strayed so far from making intellectual arguments for their positions as they may have in the days or Milton Friedman?What criticisms can be correctly leveled against the Right today, especially economically but also in terms of their methods. And what does the New Right 'get right' according to Logan?Right wing resources suggested by Logan:The DispatchCommentary Magazine PodcastNational Review PodcastThe Politically Incorrect Guide to American HistoryThe Right: The Hundred-Year War for American ConservatismRadicals for Capitalism: A Freewheeling History of the Modern American Libertarian Movement
Transcribe →Episode 118: Christian Transhumanism (with Micah Redding)
Oct 1402:26:45Tap to summarizeThis week we talk to Micah Redding, the host of the Christian Transhumanist podcast. We discuss: What is the significance of a singularity? What is free will from a many worlds perspective? Does Omega Point cosmology solve the problem of evil? And most importantly, will my sweet dog Jojo join me in the afterlife?
Transcribe →Episode 117: Jonathan Rauch
Sep 3001:52:31Tap to summarizeThis week we had the absolute honor of interviewing Jonathan Rauch. Rauch is an extremely influential public intellectual (journalist and author) who is also a Popperian. His 1993 book, Kindly Inquisitors, makes the epistemic case for free speech. It is a stone cold classic that will be with us for a long time. In his 2021 sequel, The Constitution of Knowledge, he considers how society collectively produces knowledge and the dangers of misinformation. He has also written a book that provided the “intellectual framework” for the case for same sex marriage. (link)And though he says he's a Jewish atheist, his latest book, Cross Purposes, is a critical, yet reverential, book on Christianity making the case that our society needs more and not less Christianity. Follow Jonathan Rauch on X.
Transcribe →Episode 116: The Knowledge Machine
Sep 1602:17:28Tap to summarizeThis week Bruce take a deep critical rationalist dive into Michael Strevens’s book, The Knowledge Machine: How Irrationality Created Modern Science, which is an attempt to describe how science is a self-correcting system designed to create knowledge based on explanation. The book is somewhat critical of Popperian falsification, though the reading of Popper presented may be a superficial reading. Bruce describes how Strevens’s “iron rule of science” or the idea that we should settle science based on empirical tests overlaps with what Bruce calls “Popper’s ratchet,” or the idea that we should strive to move our theories to be more testable and avoid ad hoc saves designed to make our theories less testable.Is there anything we can learn from a (semi) Bayesian / Inductivist like Strevens that we Popperians don't already know?Perhaps more interestingly, Strevens' theory is meant to explain why we got stuck in static societies for so long. How does his theory compared to Deutsch's?
Transcribe →Episode 115: Is Falsification Falsifiable?
Sep 201:55:30Tap to summarizeThis week we consider: Is falsification falsifiable? Was Popper a “naive falsificationist”? Why do so many people think he was? (Including at least one of his own students!)Is falsification itself a philosophical theory that makes it immune from falsification? Does the Duhem-Quine problem, or the assertion that theory exist in an interwoven web of other theories, create a problem for falsification? What exactly is falsification anyhow? It's about showing that a theory is false, right? Right? Popper?Bruce considers these questions and more as our infinite journey into epistemology continues.
Transcribe →Episode 114: Campbell's Evolutionary Epistemology
Aug 1902:10:58Tap to summarizeStarting in the 1950s, Popperian Donald Campbell developed a theory of "evolutionary epistemology" (coining that term in the process) that expanded Karl Popper’s ideas about scientific knowledge and learning into the natural world. Campbell intended a universal theory of how 'all increases in fit of system to environment' work based on a meta-algorithm (or class of algorithms sharing certain features) he called blind-variation-and-selective-retention. Could it be that nature creates knowledge through processes analogous to biological natural selection? How far reaching is Popper’s theory? Could this be how cultures create knowledge? Perhaps this even has cosmological implications. Is this just how the universe works?And what did Karl Popper think of Campbell's evolutionary epistemology?This episode attempts to summarize two of Campbell's less available papers on the subject as a resource for critical rationalists. In future podcasts we'll challenge Campbell's views and also discuss the myriad of possible interpretations of his theory as well as the CritRat communities response to his theory.
Transcribe →Episode 113: Evolution, Collective Minds, and Static Societies
Aug 6, 202501:30:41Tap to summarizeThis week Bruce takes a deep dive into anthropologist Joseph Henrich’s book: The Secret of Our Success: How Culture Is Driving Human Evolution, Domesticating Our Species, and Making Us Smarter.Bruce outlines Henrich's hypothesis that human evolution occurs at the level of culture as much as genes and that this collective mind may be far superior to any individual. Bruce considers ways this theory may or may not be consistent with David Deutsch’s ideas on static and dynamic societies. What we can learn about the details of life in a static society from Henrich's evidence? How might this evidence change our perceptions of Deutsch's theory?Support us on Patreon
Transcribe →Episode 112: Words vs Concepts: Does 'Randomness' Exist?
Jul 22, 202501:12:05Tap to summarizeBruce first explains the difference between arguing over concepts vs arguing over words. Then Bruce examines assertions about probability and randomness in the critical rationalist community. Why does David Deutsch insist that there is no such thing as 'randomness'? What does the many worlds interpretation really say about this? Is all 'randomness' really just pseudo-randomness? Is this really a conflict between concepts or just an argument over words?Support us on Patreon
Transcribe →Episode 111: Static vs Dynamic Societies
Jul 8, 202501:30:49Tap to summarizeWhat precisely is a static vs dynamic society? It is possible to take this down to the level of machine learning? Could this distinction turn into a testable theory? What are the alternatives to what Deutsch proposes? Is Deutsch's theory of static societies testable? What exactly is a culture or criticism and how is this intertwined with the Enlightenment? Which came first: the Enlightenment or the Scientific Revolution?Support us on Patreon
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