Episodios

  • Ep 240: AI 2027 Reaction Part 4
    May 22 2025

    Note that Part 3 is episode 239 or can be found here: https://youtu.be/7P-UlHiTins Part 2 is here: https://youtu.be/o3Rdj37UJjw Part 1 is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uq_txKy-XMQ I react to the contents of this article https://ai-2027.com

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    22 m
  • Ep 239: AI 2027 Reaction Part 3
    May 21 2025

    Episode 238 contains Part 2 of this podcast and Episode 237 is Part 1. Also all parts are available on Youtube as almost always. Eg here for part 2: https://youtu.be/o3Rdj37UJjw Part 1 is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uq_txKy-XMQ

    I am reacting to the contents of this article https://ai-2027.com

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    46 m
  • Ep 238: AI 2027 Reaction Part 2
    May 20 2025

    Note that Part 1 is found in Episode 237 or can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uq_txKy-XMQ

    I react to the contents of this article https://ai-2027.com with some further general comments on ‪@DwarkeshPatel‬ 's interview with two of the authors here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htOvH12T7mU

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    48 m
  • Ep 237: AI 2027 Reaction. Part 1
    May 16 2025

    I react to the contents of this article https://ai-2027.com with some further general comments on ‪@DwarkeshPatel‬ 's interview with two of the authors here: • 2027 Intelligence Explosion: Month-by...

    Youtube version of this podcast is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uq_txKy-XMQ

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    53 m
  • Ep 236: Max Velthoven, legal science, AI and epistemology.
    Apr 25 2025

    Max is a tax lawyer who is applying Popperian epistemology to legal science and issues in AI. Links to some more of his work, and the slides to accompany part of this video are below. Slides for Max's talk(s):

    https://www.bretthall.org/popper-and-legal-science.html

    Max’s journal article on AI with Eric Marcus (in NLFiscaal TaxTech): NLFiscaal | Problems in AI, their roots in philosophy, and implications for science and society:

    https://www.nlfiscaal.nl/nlfiscaal-doc/BEEAD89DD9E44E81B23811716258A4C4

    Slides to accompany: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7290619876879028225/

    Made possible with support from, and In association with, https://nav.al

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    1 h y 10 m
  • Ep 235: The Simulation Hypothesis
    Apr 9 2025

    This is a "megasode" combining two episodes from Youtube all about the Simulation Hypothesis. In the first part I provide the philosophical basis for the simulation hypothesis as explained especially by Nick Bostrom and compare it to other "ultimate" explanations of reality. In part 2 I discuss and evaluate the arguments made by Scott Adams and Joe Rogan who endorse some version of Bostrom's argument.

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    1 h y 50 m
  • Ep 234: On the Evolution of Reason
    Mar 4 2025

    I recently had the opportunity to participate in "Spectrum Street Epistemology" with @drpeterboghossian and a number of others including @destiny . This episode was inspired by both that event and the many other conversations I had with Peter, Reid, David, Evan, Mia and Travis across the days I spent in Florida with those excellent people engaged in the important work of defending the Enlightenment. This is a sort of disjointed episode as I have in mind a particular audience of sophisticated thinkers on epistemology so I meander through my own worldview, take a historic look at why it is "belief" and "degrees of belief" or "strength of feeling", "confidence" and so on arose and became an important improvement on more primitive ways of thinking about the world. I compare all of that to what I argue is the most rational way of conceiving of "critical thinking". I end with some personal reflections. If you go to Peter's channel I imagine the many conversations we recorded together will be gradually released in the coming days and weeks. Compared to what I do here: their's is a very professional production! The videos accompanying the audio are a mixture of my own poorly shot camera work and stock footage - just so the viewer does not have to stare at nothing but my head for ~40 minutes.

    00:00 Introductions

    01:00 Are humans unique…just like every other species?

    03:45 We are 98% the same as chimpanzees?

    07:00 Was there an “Adam” - a first person?

    09:00 The first creative minds

    10:10 The evolution of authoritarianism

    12:30 Medieval societies vs primitive tribalism

    13:20 Early individualism, empiricism, rationalism and reason

    16:10 Empiricism, rationalism and inductivism as “appeals to authority”

    18:25 Belief and the weight of evidence

    21:00 “Updating one’s priors”.

    22:20 The God of the Subjectivism

    23:30 Fossils

    26:04 Better ways of thinking

    29:00 Knowing and believing

    31:00 Moving beyond “degrees of belief” and subjectivism

    32:00 Knowledge: what it is

    34:00 Knowing is binary

    36:00 Reason is more than feeling

    36:55 Reflecting on Spectrum Street Epistemology

    41:05 Gratitude and acknowledgements

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    43 m
  • Ep 233: David Deutsch’s ”The Fabric of Reality” Chapter 13 ”The Four Strands" Part 1
    Feb 20 2025

    The first part of my discussion of the differing visions of science and how scientific knowledge "grows" (or not) according to Thomas Kuhn vs Karl Popper as outlined in this chapter of "The Beginning of Infinity". Kuhn's "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions" explains the concept of a "paradigm" and "paradigm shifts" comparing "revolutionary" and "normal" periods of science. Kuhn's work remains the most cited in the social sciences and so far more people - especially in academia - are familiar with his work that Popper's. What explains this? What does Kuhn have to say? And what does a "critical rationalist" perspective on the growth of knowledge have to say in response to Kuhn?

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    1 h y 11 m
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