Episodes
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Scott Soames is a professor of philosophy at the University of Southern California.
His website: https://dornsife.usc.edu/scottsoames/
Find Back to the Stone Age on:
YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZrhMJ5eusE_ACw6Ec3TqCbvDVZ6HP809&si=WhVnrLLAUuYW-AnySpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3pT8MUeR8bskcsuu8gmUGKApple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/back-to-the-stone-age/id1741219288Outline
00:34 - What Is Meaning?
05:10 - How Do Words Refer To Things?
10:37 - Language And Logic
19:06 - Relativity Of Truth
22:26 - Truth Without Humans
24:00 - Possible Worlds Semantics
36:14 - Kripke's Contribution To Philosophy Of Language
42:02 - Soames' Cognitive Content
48:40 - Consequences Of Soames' View: Propositions
54:18 - Living Philosophically
59:19 - What Are The Limits Of Language?
01:14:32 - Are You Scared Of Not Finding Answers?
01:15:50 - Mental Changes To Embrace New Views
01:19:35 - Lack Of Experimental Validation In Philosophy
01:21:22 - Technology And Philosophy
01:24:20 - Most Pressing Philosophical Issue
01:26:11 - Which Philosopher Best Understood The Human Condition?
01:32:36 - Does Pursuing Philosophy Make You A Better Person?
01:34:00 - Final Questions and Conclusion
Enjoy Back to the Stone Age!
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John is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the University of Western Ontario. You can find his website here: https://publish.uwo.ca/~jbell/
Find Back to the Stone Age on:
YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZrhMJ5eusE_ACw6Ec3TqCbvDVZ6HP809&si=WhVnrLLAUuYW-AnySpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3pT8MUeR8bskcsuu8gmUGKApple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/back-to-the-stone-age/id1741219288Outline
00:41 - John's introduction
08:35 - Is The Universe Mathematical in Nature?
25:50 - Limitations of Language in Philosophical Enquiries
31:20 - Mathematical Constructivism
41:07 - Implications of Constructivism and Intuitionist Logic
48:54 - Nature of Mathematical Truths
01:05:45 - The Axiom of Choice
01:37:20 - The Nature of The Continuum
01:50:43 - Relationship between Mathematics, Physics, Philosophy
02:03:14 - The Nature of Consciousness
02:23:03 - 1000-years After- Nap Question
02:29:00 - Conclusion
Enjoy Back to the Stone Age!
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Missing episodes?
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Thomas is a professor of Physics at KU Leuven (https://shorturl.at/IVa8S).
He's on Twitter: https://x.com/ThomasVanRiet2
Find Back to the Stone Age on:
YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZrhMJ5eusE_ACw6Ec3TqCbvDVZ6HP809&si=WhVnrLLAUuYW-AnySpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3pT8MUeR8bskcsuu8gmUGKApple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/back-to-the-stone-age/id1741219288Outline
00:24 - General Relativity and Quantum Mechanics
11:50 - String Theory
21:41 - Singularities in String Theory
37:47 - Extra Dimensions in String Theory
48:30 - The Landscape and The Swampland
58:36 - Fine Tuning of the Universe
01:16:20 - The Most Beautiful Concept in Physics
01:20:00 - Final Thoughts and Conclusion
Hope you enjoy it, this is Back to the Stone Age!
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Andrea is a theoretical physicist and he works on Dark Matter and Particle Physics.
He was awarded the ERC (European Research Council) Starting Grant.
Andrea on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrea-caputo-ph-d-2475999b/?locale=en_US
Seeing my interviews from one year ago is a bit cringe, but I'm working on it 😜 Hope you like it anyway!
Find Back to the Stone Age on:
YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZrhMJ5eusE_ACw6Ec3TqCbvDVZ6HP809&si=WhVnrLLAUuYW-AnySpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3pT8MUeR8bskcsuu8gmUGKApple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/back-to-the-stone-age/id1741219288Outline
01:10 - The Standard Model
03:09 - Gravity and the Standard Model
06:30 - String theory and accelerators
13:47 - The Hierarchy problem
22:54 - Supersymmetry
26:12 - ΛCDM model and the Standard Model
34:08 - Dark Matter candidates
41:20 - Inflation and the Standard Model
49:00 - Extra dimensions
52:07 - The Baryon Asymmetry problem
57:58 - Neutrinos' mass problem
01:06:13 - The CP problem
01:16:24 - The parameters of the Standard Model
01:20:33 - Is mathematics invented or discovered?
01:23:07 - Final thoughts and conclusion
Enjoy Back to the Stone Age!
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Do you like philosophising? Then this conversation is for YOU! 🫵🏻
Brad Wray (https://shorturl.at/gY9Oh) is Associate Professor at Aarhus University, and together we tackle deep philosophical questions.
Find Back to the Stone Age on:
YouTube: https://shorturl.at/c5a37Spotify: https://shorturl.at/11x47Apple Podcast: https://shorturl.at/pFRCCOutline
00:35 - Philosophy of Science
01:17 - Definition of knowledge
01:52 - How do scientific discoveries shape our understanding of reality?
02:26 - Metaphysics
09:56 - God in Philosophy
11:41 - Limitation of human knowledge
13:52 - Theory of everything
19:45 - How is knowledge acquired?
29:24 - Role of epistemic communities for knowledge acquisition
34:40 - Disruptive science and increase of scientific papers
46:03 - Academic vs technological development
51:38 - Artificial intelligence and technology
01:00:44 - Collaborating with other researchers
01:04:15 - Thomas Kuhn
01:06:02 - Paradigm in science
01:13:30 - Kuhn cycle
01:20:19 - Revolutionising paradigm shifts: Copernican revolution and Plate tectonics
01:32:15 - Incommensurability in scientific revolutions
01:40:18 - Planck's principle
01:45:55 - Role of theories in understanding reality
01:52:11 - Is scientific progress linear?
01:52:55 - Scientific realism
01:58:25 - Antirealist perspective
02:05:40 - Death
02:09:25 - Nuclear weapons
02:16:27 - Conclusion
Enjoy Back to the Stone Age!
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Here is a conversation I've had with Daniel Ruberman, Professor of Mathematics.
Daniel's website: https://people.brandeis.edu/~ruberman/
Find Back to the Stone Age on:
YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZrhMJ5eusE_ACw6Ec3TqCbvDVZ6HP809&si=WhVnrLLAUuYW-AnySpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3pT8MUeR8bskcsuu8gmUGKApple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/back-to-the-stone-age/id1741219288Outline
00:16 - Is math invented or discovered?
05:30 - Mathematics and the physical world
28:02 - Topology
38:00 - Manifolds and smooth manifolds
52:31 - Higher dimensions and low-dimensional topology
01:04:39 - Intuition about 4th dimension
01:24:01 - Gauge theories
01:38:02 - Knots and manifolds
01:44:33 - Applications of knot theory and topology
01:50:28 - Infinity
01:56:38 - Final thoughts
Enjoy Back to the Stone Age!
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Some fundamental questions today with Gimmy, PhD student at GRAPPA doing research in black holes, gravitational-wave astronomy, and dark matter.
Gimmy is soon going to the Institute of Advanced Study of Princeton for a postdoc!
Gimmy's website: https://gimmytomas.github.io/index.html
Find Back to the Stone Age on:
YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZrhMJ5eusE_ACw6Ec3TqCbvDVZ6HP809&si=WhVnrLLAUuYW-AnySpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3pT8MUeR8bskcsuu8gmUGKApple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/back-to-the-stone-age/id1741219288Outline
00:32 - Is math invented or discovered?
06:40 - Are paradoxes intrinsic to our reality?
11:20 - String theory and mathematics
16:53 - Theories of everything
24:00 - Reconciling gravity and quantum mechanics
30:00 - Understanding the origin of the Big Bang
37:05 - Time
46:52 - Is time fundamental or emergent?
52:18 - Time and space swap inside a black hole
57:44 - Mental picture for spacetime curvature
01:04:19 - Weirdness of quantum mechanics: entanglement
01:07:00 - Schrödinger equation, probabilities, uncertainty principle
01:15:16 - Is the wave function real?
01:18:39 - “God” and death
01:24:25 - Biological engineering of human life
01:29:00 - Making sense of numbers in cosmology
01:34:20 - Fine-tuning of nature
01:40:26 - Inflationary multiverse and infinity
01:51:45 - Artificial intelligence
01:56:32 - Consciousness
02:03:22 - Free will
02:07:46 - James Webb Space Telescope
02:13:08 - Final thoughts and conclusion
Enjoy Back to the Stone Age!
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Journey to the edge of reason with Professor Hamkins!
Joel is a Professor of Philosophy and Mathematics at the University of Notre Dame. His research work spans Mathematical Logic and Set Theory.
You can find him here:
Personal website: https://jdh.hamkins.orgTwitter: https://twitter.com/JDHamkinsGoogle Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=MHLQDYQAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=aoBack to the Stone Age is on:
YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZrhMJ5eusE_ACw6Ec3TqCbvDVZ6HP809&si=EHUZow_K4nlcWw8MSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3pT8MUeR8bskcsuu8gmUGK?si=7f6f32052e9a4587Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/it/podcast/back-to-the-stone-age/id1741219288Outline
00:00 - Introduction
00:55 - Mathematician or philosopher?
05:05 - Set Theory
09:52 - Is mathematics invented or discovered?
15:42 - Godel Incompleteness Theorem
24:14 - Infinity: potential and actual infinity
46:51 - Paradoxes on infinity
55:56 - Penrose three world model: mathematical, physical, and platonic world
01:00:21 - Mathematical reality
01:08:34 - Transfinite numbers, cardinals and ordinals
01:18:44 - The Absolute Infinity
01:25:08 - Infinity and time
01:30:57 - Irrational numbers, Alan Turing and computability
01:40:00 - Cantor’s definition of Set
01:43:40 - Cantor’s theorem
01:54:00 - Continuum Hypothesis
02:05:46 - Hostility of mathematician towards infinity
02:11:39 - Law of excluded middle and infinity
02:17:38 - Not finding answers to questions
02:19:58 - Is there more than maths permeating reality?
02:25:20 - AI and maths/physics
02:31:51 - AI and consciousness
02:36:36 - Most beautiful idea in mathematics and conclusion
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Conversations with Friends: Greta Galluzzo.
Greta is a Psychology master's student and she's on Erasmus here in Amsterdam.
Find Back to the Stone Age on:
YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZrhMJ5eusE_ACw6Ec3TqCbvDVZ6HP809&si=WhVnrLLAUuYW-AnySpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3pT8MUeR8bskcsuu8gmUGKApple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/back-to-the-stone-age/id1741219288Outline:
00:32 - Consciousness
06:32 - Animal consciousness and death
11:22 - Intelligence and language
17:18 - Empathy
20:01 - Awareness
22:35 - Mathematics
32:40 - Predisposition to mathematics, nature or nurture
35:20 - Acceptation of "limits" vs biological engineering to enhance human condition
44:15 - Is consciousness good or bad
47:06 - What is good and bad? Is there a universal ethics?
49:55 - Are humans good or bad?
52:12 - Happiness, suffering and altruism
01:10:47 - Being and feeling alive and dreaming state
01:23:19 - Greta's meaning of life
01:27:00 - Conclusion
Enjoy Back to the Stone Age!
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Geetanjali is Associate Professor at St. Stephen’s College. She has a PhD in Cosmology from Delhi University. She's working on the Variable Chaplygin Gas model of dark energy.
Reach out to her on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/geetanjali-sethi-a7b201aa/?originalSubdomain=in
Find her research work on Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=EK8KFB0AAAAJ
Back to the Stone Age is on:
- YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZrhMJ5eusE_ACw6Ec3TqCbvDVZ6HP809&si=WhVnrLLAUuYW-Any
- Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3pT8MUeR8bskcsuu8gmUGK
- Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/back-to-the-stone-age/id1741219288
Outline
00:00 - Introduction
00:15 - Energy
02:53 - Dark matter and dark energy
10:15 - Dark energy as expansion of the universe
12:11 - Energy of empty space
17:08 - Heisenberg uncertainty principle
21:54 - Why dark energy has constant energy density
26:35 - Friedmann-Lemaitre-Robertson-Walker cosmological model
33:58 - Quintessence, modified gravity models
39:08 - Variable Chaplygin Gas model
39:40 - Cosmic fluid
43:34 - Differences with other models
48:19 - Fine-tuning in nature
53:31 - Combination of dark matter and dark energy
56:09 - Dependency of observations for the future of the universe
58:40 - Most interesting fact about the cosmos
59:24 - Making sense of enormous distances
01:05:42 - Will the universe expand forever?
01:11:38 - AI and science
01:13:01 - Limitations of human brain
01:17:45 - Conclusion
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Conversations with Friends: Florens van der Moezel
https://www.linkedin.com/in/florens-van-der-moezel-a657a0276/
Find Back to the Stone Age on:
YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZrhMJ5eusE_ACw6Ec3TqCbvDVZ6HP809&si=WhVnrLLAUuYW-AnySpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3pT8MUeR8bskcsuu8gmUGKApple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/back-to-the-stone-age/id1741219288Thanks to our sponsor Maryse Moerel (Florens' mother) for the chairs, table and car!
Outline:
00:00 - Introduction
01:10 - Alcohol
04:39 - Mental state under addiction
07:10 - Intoxicants, drugs and gambling
10:38 - Short-term rewards: smartphone, social media and dopamine
14:40 - Lack of commitment and shorter attention span
16:30 - Boredom
20:28 - Fleeing boredom
22:27 - Reasons for dopamine recalibration
25:53 - Alteration of the reward system
30:04 - Being present in the moment
35:35 - Why are people not interested in knowing
40:18 - Lack of passion and drive
45:03 - Consumeristic society and overwhelming information
50:39 - Is the Universe a One or a Many?
54:47 - Conversations with God
58:36 - What is God? Jesus, Muhammad, Siddhartha and godliness
01:06:40 - God, math and human language
01:08:19 - Godel Incompleteness Theorem and relation to irrational belief
01:13:05 - Higher forms of understanding
01:19:25 - Why are people not connected to their godliness
01:26:23 - Advice to listeners
01:29:25 - Conclusion
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Nick Van Remortel is a professor of physics at the University of Antwerp, find him on Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/nick-van-remortel-83a16373/
Outline:
00:00 - Introduction
00:36 - Cosmic microwave background radiation
25:10 - Size of the universe and infinity
30:20 - Expansion of the universe
40:45 - The standard model
01:02:30 - Greater purpose of fine-tuning and randomness
01:11:39 - Gravitational waves
01:18:10 - Principle of detection of gravitational waves
01:29:47 - Experimental effort of detection
01:32:29 - Information from gravitational waves
01:39:27 - Einstein Telescope
01:44:06 - Deep thoughts and conclusion
