Podcast Episodes

Episode 85: Critical Rationalism and Douglas Hofstadter (Part 1)

Season 1 Episode 83

This is the first of our two part series (that may or may not be released back-to-back) where Bruce delves into the work Douglas Hofstadter, specifically the book Surfaces and Essences. We consider w…

Published on 1 year, 7 months ago

Episode 84: Are Video Games Harmful to Children?

Season 1 Episode 84

Here we discuss a 1992 interview with David Deutsch where he makes the case that video games are inherently educational, not addictive, and that children should not be stopped from playing as much as…

Published on 1 year, 7 months ago

Episode 83: Popper's Second Axis (aka Bruce's Epistemology?)

Season 1 Episode 83

Bruce summarizes his (unique?) understanding of Karl Popper’s epistemology that (possibly?) straddles the line between orthodox and unorthodox and is Influenced both by Deutsch, more old school Poppe…

Published on 1 year, 8 months ago

Episode 82: Popper's Ratchet

Season 1 Episode 82

In an episode that may (or may not) be his magnum opus, Bruce introduces his term for Karl Popper’s idea that you are only allowed to solve problems with your (scientific) theory by making it more em…

Published on 1 year, 8 months ago

Episode 81: Easy to Varyness vs Ad Hocness

Season 1 Episode 81

Bruce sympathetically critiques David Deutsch’s concept of “easy to varyness” as a way to judge our explanations.

Are our best theories about reality truly hard to vary? Bruce makes the case that Po…

Published on 1 year, 8 months ago

Episode 80: Knowledge vs. Simul-Knowledge

Season 1 Episode 79

Bruce wraps up his epic 6 part series on knowledge and the 'two sources hypothesis' (i.e. Deutsch's theory that all 'knowledge' comes from only two sources: Biological evolution and human minds).

W…

Published on 1 year, 9 months ago

Episode 79: Perspiration vs Inspiration

Season 1 Episode 79

Is human creativity algorithmic? What is the difference between an Inspiration and a perspiration algorithm? Can mechanical processes ever create knowledge? What is the relationship between creativit…

Published on 1 year, 9 months ago

Episode 78: Are Animal Memes Knowledge In the Genes?

Season 1 Episode 78

Do animals create knowledge? Deutsch claims they don't because all their knowledge is in their genes. Yet he admits that animals do have memes! But aren't memes, by definition, knowledge outside the …

Published on 1 year, 9 months ago

Episode 77: Counter Examples To Deutsch's Theory of Knowledge?

Season 1 Episode 77

Bruce continues to consider what our best theories tell us about knowledge. Is there something special (or even physically different) about the knowledge created by nature through biological evolutio…

Published on 1 year, 10 months ago

Episode 76: The Constructor Theory of Knowledge

Season 1 Episode 76

In the previous episode, Bruce pointed out an apparent contradiction between Deutsch's criteria for knowledge as 'adapted information that causes itself to remain so' and his example of the 'walking …

Published on 1 year, 10 months ago