Best Karl Popper Podcasts (2025)

1
#87 - Gullibility, Belief, and Conformity (with Hugo Mercier) 54:13

3d ago54:13

54:13

Ben and Vaden test their French skills and have Hugo Mercier on the podcast to discuss who we trust and what we believe. Are humans gullible? Do we fall for propaganda and advertising campaigns? Do we follow expert consensus or forge ahead as independent thinkers? Can Vaden go for one episode without bringing up Trump? Hugo Mercier is a research di…

1
Episode 109: Genes, Emergence, and Platonism (round table with Sadia and Ivan) 3:24:46

13d ago3:24:46

3:24:46

In this round table discussion with Ivan Phillips and Sadia Naeem, we begin by discussing differing viewpoints on “third way evolution,” or a gene-centric viewpoint vs a more holistic view of natural selection. The discussion evolves into a deep dive into emergence and reductionism and many interwoven ideas.Ivan Phillips is author of Textbook Ratio…

1
#86 (Reaction) - On Confidence and Evidence: Reacting to Brett Hall and Peter Boghossian (Part 2) 1:20:07

23d ago1:20:07

1:20:07

Go fund me page for Dr. Alaa Al-Najjar Please donate here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-dr-alaa-alnajjar-and-her-family-in-gaza Podcast w/ Dr. Ali Al Najjar https://open.spotify.com/episode/2f6twY40sjd0zwT0Eks3NX Further Reading https://www.thesun.ie/news/15281868/sligo-doctor-ali-al-najjar-nieces-nephew-killed-gaza/ https://www.thejournal.ie/br…

1
Ep 241: AI 2027 Reaction Part 5: Summary and Conclusions 42:18

25d ago42:18

42:18

A summary of some arguments made in the previous 4 parts, and a conclusion to my evaluation of https://ai-2027.com I refer to Daniel Kokotajlo's paper which contained an earlier set of predictions made in 2021 about the 5 years leading to 2026 which is found here https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/6Xgy6CAf2jqHhynHL/what-2026-looks-like Note that Part …

1
Episode 108: AI and Obedience (with Dan Gish) 1:52:04

27d ago1:52:04

1:52:04

This week we are joined by fellow traveler Dan Gish to discuss LLMs and AGI. Does it really, truly make sense to think that OpenAI or DeepMind are not at least an important stepping stone towards the creation of human-level creativity? What does it mean when CritRats assert that these AI algorithms are the opposite of human intelligence because the…

1
Ep 240: AI 2027 Reaction Part 4 22:01

1M ago22:01

22:01

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.comBy Brett Hall

1
Ep 239: AI 2027 Reaction Part 3 46:19

1M ago46:19

46:19

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…

1
Ep 238: AI 2027 Reaction Part 2 48:15

1M ago48:15

48:15

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…

1
Ep 237: AI 2027 Reaction. Part 1 52:51

1M ago52:51

52:51

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-XMQBy Brett Hall

1
Episode 107: Was Popper a Fideist? 1:48:23

1M ago1:48:23

1:48:23

Here we discuss fidesim and critical rationalism. Fideism has many definitions, but at least how we are thinking of it, it is the idea that something like faith has validity in the process of moving closer to truth through reason. Our starting point is a paper written by prominent Popperian Joseph Agassi about how William Bartley, another critical …

1
#85 (Reaction) - On Confidence and Evidence: Reacting to Brett Hall and Peter Boghossian (Part 1) 1:49:48

2M ago1:49:48

1:49:48

We all knew that Vaden would release his inner Youtube debate bro at some point. Well he finally paid Ben enough to do it, and here we are: our first reaction video. Today we're commenting on the video What's the most rational way to know?, a discussion between Brett Hall and Peter Boghossian on the relationship between confidence and evidence. Are…

1
Episode 106: Karl Popper and God 1:25:05

2M ago1:25:05

1:25:05

This week we discuss a short interview with Karl Popper from 1969 where he discusses God and religion. Specifically, he makes a case for agnosticism, asserts that all men are religious, and discusses the problem of evil. We use this as a starting point to consider if we live in an inherently meaningful universe or one ruled by something like entrop…

1
Ep 236: Max Velthoven, legal science, AI and epistemology. 1:09:37

2M ago1:09:37

1:09:37

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 | Pro…

1
#84 - A Primer on Not Born Yesterday by Hugo Mercier 1:09:39

2M ago1:09:39

1:09:39

Some thoughts (arguments?) on Hugo Mercier's Not Born Yesterday, which advances the thesis that humans are not as gullible as is commonly thought. This is our second episode on Mercier's work, and we're as intrigued as ever. But this time we have different interpretations of his thesis, so it's a good thing the man himself is coming on soon to sort…

1
Ep 235: The Simulation Hypothesis 1:50:15

2M ago1:50:15

1:50:15

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…

1
Episode 105: Michael Levin's Unseen World of Cell Cognition 1:51:55

3M ago1:51:55

1:51:55

This week Bruce speaks about the work or Michael Levin, who is a biologist know for his work on cell cognition and collective intelligence or the idea that electrical signals between cells influence the formation of biological systems. His work has potentially massive implications in cancer research and other fields. Though rarely identified with 3…

1
#83 - The Anxious Generation Round II: Alternative Explanations 1:21:20

3M ago1:21:20

1:21:20

Round two on the anxious generation. Well, honestly, round three. But we had a false start with round two, which is why this episode is a little late in coming. If you want to hear the gory, data-heavy details of our second attempt, you can access the episode by becoming a patron (was there ever a better sell?). We discuss Whether the rise in self-…

1
Episode 104: 3rd Way Evolution vs the Critics 1:57:37

3M ago1:57:37

1:57:37

How well do the collection of assertions called “3rd way evolution” stand up to criticism? Here, in our second of at least 3 episodes on this topic, Bruce considers the criticisms of Denis Noble and James Shapiro by YouTuber and evolutionary biologist Zach Hancock in his epic video on the subject. Perhaps the role of epigenetics is overstated, Lama…

1
#82 - Are Screens Really That Bad? Critiquing Jon Haidt's "The Anxious Generation" 1:52:49

4M ago1:52:49

1:52:49

Anxiety, dispair, loneliness, depression -- all we need is a social media recession! A popular thesis is that All The Bad Things things are on the rise among adolescents because of social media, a view popularized in Jon Haidt's 2024 book The Anxious Generation. Haidt is calling for an end of the "phone-based childhood" and hoping that schools bani…

1
Ep 234: On the Evolution of Reason 42:32

4M ago42:32

42:32

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 i…

1
Episode 103: Neo-Darwinism vs Post-Darwinism 1:53:36

4M ago1:53:36

1:53:36

This week we discuss neo-Darwinism vs post-Darwinism. Neo-Darwinism meaning a gene centric view of evolution, which is also called the great synthesis since it unifies natural selection with genetics and paleontology and perhaps even human psychology. Post-Darwinism is a view that emphasizes factors outside random mutation, like epigenetics or the …

1
Ep 233: David Deutsch’s ”The Fabric of Reality” Chapter 13 ”The Four Strands" Part 1 1:10:56

4M ago1:10:56

1:10:56

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" an…

1
#81 - What Does Critical Rationalism Get Wrong? (w/ Kasra) 1:39:05

4M ago1:39:05

1:39:05

As whores for criticism, we wanted to have Kasra on to discuss his essay The Deutschian Deadend. Kasra claims that Popper and Deutsch are fundamentally wrong in some important ways, and that many of their ideas will forever remain in the "footnotes of the history of philosophy". Does he change our mind or do we change his? Follow Kasra on twitter a…

1
Ep 232: Karl Popper's "The Myth of the Framework" Sections IV to VI. "The Critical Method": deep dive 1:22:46

5M ago1:22:46

1:22:46

The second in the series on "The Myth of the Framework" paper. Timestamps: 00:00 Introduction with some reflections on Joe Rogan and Gad Saad 05:14 Section IVa reading - on “Confrontations” 06:32 Section IVa reflection 09:48 Section IVb reading 10:17 Section IVb reflection 12:14 Section IVc reading - tolerance and respect 13:26 Section IV c reflect…

1
Episode 102: Is IQ a Bit Scientifically Valid? 1:25:51

5M ago1:25:51

1:25:51

This time we discuss Nassim Nicholas Taleb's article "IQ is Largely a Pseudoscientific Swindle" -- a title whose compliment is that he's claiming IQ is a bit scientifically valid. But which bits does he claim are valid? We use this article as a springboard to consider: Do the numbers produced by an IQ test say something meaningful or useful about h…

1
#80 (C&R Series, Chap. 7) - Dare to Know: Immanuel Kant and the Enlightenment 1:06:47

5M ago1:06:47

1:06:47

Immanuel Kant was popular at his death. The whole town emptied out to see him. His last words were "it is good". But was his philosophy any good? In order to find out, we dive into Chapter 7 of Conjectures and Refutations: Kant’s Critique and Cosmology, where Popper rescues Kant's reputation from the clutches of the dastardly German Idealists. We d…

1
Ep 231: Karl Popper's "The Myth of the Framework" Sections I to III. Discussing discussions: deep dive 1:36:01

5M ago1:36:01

1:36:01

I take another deep dive into a deeply insightful and original lecture by Karl Popper: The Myth of the Framework. In this first part (of 4) I spend most of the episode unpacking our motivations, Popper's own thoughts on his success in combating bad ideologies and the purposes of discussion. Indeed this piece can be considered an instruction manual …

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Ep 230: David Deutsch’s ”The Fabric of Reality” Chapter 12 ”Time Travel” Part 3 1:33:17

5M ago1:33:17

1:33:17

The best part! If you missed the others, don't miss this one. All four strands come together to explain the possibility of time travel and the intrigue that arises when considering travelling to "your" past or future to visit "yourself". Rough timestamps follow: 00:00 introduction and the significance of virtual reality 04:03 Physically possible re…

1
Ep 229: David Deutsch’s ”The Fabric of Reality” Chapter 12 ”TimeTravel” Part 2 52:51

5M ago52:51

52:51

An outside broadcast as you will hear. Image generation and virtual reality provide a window on the physics of time travel. Why is that? And what about all those time travel paradoxes? The resolution to all is found herein.By Brett Hall

1
Episode 101: Wolfram, Rucker, and the Computational Nature of Reality 2:16:27

5M ago2:16:27

2:16:27

Bruce takes a deep dive into Stephen Wolfram’s ideas regarding computational universality, which may go further than the Church-Turing-Deutsch thesis in that Wolfram’s theories imply that all of nature could be simulated even by relatively simple systems, so even nature itself may be computational rather than something that can just be simulated on…

1
Ep 228: Knowledge Beyond Belief 55:30

6M ago55:30

55:30

An assortment of topics looking forward to 2025. Timestamps: 00:00 Truth is indispensable 04:06 The “search for truth” is error correction 08:11 Remarks on selflessness and personhood. How can we square the two? 09:14 Decisions and free will and creativity 10:46 Truth and the two senses of “believe”. 13:30 Belief, epistemology and psychology 17:16 …

1
#79 (Bonus) - The Mitford Sisters 24:32

6M ago24:32

24:32

Hope everyone is having a great holiday! Today we're releasing a short lil' bonus episode from the patreon archives before we get back into the serious and professional business of podcasting in the new year. A few months ago, Vaden appeared on the forthcoming Treacherous Jezebels podcast, to discuss the life of Unity Valkyrie Freeman-Mitford, the …

1
Episode 100: Interview with David Deutsch 2:27:25

6M ago2:27:25

2:27:25

Our Christmas gift to you this year is episode 100: an interview with The Man (TM) himself! Bruce stumbles over himself fan-boying as he asks all his burning (but geeky) questions about cosmology, the omega point, and probability. How do Deutsch and Tipler differ on optimistic end-time cosmology? Is the Omega point refuted by observation (Deutsch) …

1
Episode 99: Critical Rationalism and Solipsism 1:31:31

6M ago1:31:31

1:31:31

AKA "David Deutsch DESTORYS the Simulation Hypothesis" Bruce take a deep dive into solipsism in the form of the brain in a vat thought experiment, Nick Bostrom’s simulation hypothesis, and related ideas. Does the Church-Turing-Deutsch thesis suggest we could live in a simulation? What does critical rationalism say about these theories? Support us o…

1
Ep 227: "What is Capitalism?" - an encounter between Objectivism and Critical Rationalism. 1:50:59

6M ago1:50:59

1:50:59

Live from Sydney, Yaron Brook and Nikos Sotirakopoulos join me on stage to discuss capitalism, liberty, personhood, energy policy, Israel and antisemitism and much more. Rough timestamps are here: 00:00 Brett’s welcome and introduction 02:32 Nikos on “What is Capitalism?” 04:21 Yaron on “What is Capitalism?” 07:33 Brett on the relationship between …

1
Ep 226: Realism and the purposes of philosophy. 2:16:58

6M ago2:16:58

2:16:58

I discuss the point of philosophy and how "concrete" the work of Karl Popper and David Deutsch are in marshalling examples taken directly from science in order to illustrate how philosophy solves problems in other areas. Then I have some lengthy remarks on some recent criticism of Popper and Deutsch which is found here: https://substack.com/home/po…

1
#78 - What could Karl Popper have learned from Vladimir Nabokov? (w/ Brian Boyd) 1:00:39

7M ago1:00:39

1:00:39

Where do you arrive if you follow Vaden's obsessions to their terminus? You arrive at Brian Boyd, the world expert on the two titanic thinkers of the 20th century: Karl Popper and Vladimir Nabokov. Boyd wrote his PhD thesis on Nabokov's 1969 novel Ada, impressing Nabokov's wife Vera so much that he was invited to catalogue Nabokov's unpublished arc…

1
Episode 98: Objectively Beautiful Flowers? 1:58:05

7M ago1:58:05

1:58:05

This week we discuss the chapter “Why are Flowers Beautiful?” from the book Beginning of Infinity by David Deutsch. Through our discussion we consider: Does relativism make any sense? Is preferring Mozart to a child banging on a piano really just an arbitrary preference? If progress in art is real, will human minds ever stop increasing the level of…

1
Ep 225: Livestream from November 27, 2024 1:56:19

7M ago1:56:19

1:56:19

A long "ask me anything" episode live and off the cuff. Apologies for the audio quality.By Brett Hall

1
#15 - [Patreon Episode] Reductio Ad Reductionem, with Lucas Smalldon 1:40:23

7M ago1:40:23

1:40:23

Lucas starts a fire with his bare hands and threatens Christofer's marriage by being so manly, followed by the two having a productive discussion about why Chris is an information-ist (derogatory towards information) and why cavemen probably thought a lot about apples. In these unedited bonus episodes for supporters, Christofer casually explores di…

1
Ep 224: Shapes, Time, and Holism - by Julian Barbour 1:53:50

7M ago1:53:50

1:53:50

Julian Barbour is an independent British Physicist and the author of technical and popular books including the best selling "The End of Time" and most recently "The Janus Point: A New Theory of Time". In this lecture, Julian shows just how interesting Newtonian Mechanics can get. Can it be a fundamental theory of space, time and physical reality? T…

1
#77 (Bonus) - AI Doom Debate (w/ Liron Shapira) 2:21:22

7M ago2:21:22

2:21:22

Back on Liron's Doom Debates podcast! Will we actually get around to the subject of superintelligent AI this time? Is it time to worry about the end of the world? Will Ben and Vaden emotionally recover from the devastating youtube comments from the last episode? Follow Liron on twitter (@liron) and check out the Doom Debates youtube channel and pod…

1
Episode 97: Karl Popper On Conservatism in Music (w/Chris Johansen) 1:31:41

7M ago1:31:41

1:31:41

We take a deep dive into Karl Popper’s philosophical ideas about music that he outlines in four chapters in this intellectual autobiography Unended Quest: “Music,” Speculations about the Rise of Polyphonic Music,” “Two Kinds of Music,” and “Progressivism in Art, Especially in Music.” We are joined by Peter’s brother, Chris Johansen, who is a straig…

1
#76 (Bonus) - Is P(doom) meaningful? Debating epistemology (w/ Liron Shapira) 2:50:58

8M ago2:50:58

2:50:58

Liron Shapira, host of [Doom Debates], invited us on to discuss Popperian versus Bayesian epistemology and whether we're worried about AI doom. As one might expect knowing us, we only got about halfway through the first subject, so get yourselves ready (presumably with many drinks) for part II in a few weeks! The era of Ben and Vaden's rowdy youtub…

1
Episode 96: Kenneth Stanley on the Pursuit of What’s Interesting 1:28:33

8M ago1:28:33

1:28:33

Here we interview AI researcher Kenneth Stanley, who makes the case that in complex systems, pursing specific objectives can actually be counterproductive. Instead, whether in machine learning, business, science, education, or art, we should pursue what is interesting. It is in this search for novelty—fueled by curiosity—where innovation and open-e…

1
#57 - [Half Episode] Truth and Abstractions, with David Deutsch and Jake Orthwein 42:16

8M ago42:16

42:16

Christofer speak with physicist David Deutsch and Jake Orthwein about the logical concept of truth. They discuss the reality of abstractions, how representations get their meaning, the difference between biological evolution and the evolution of ideas, how emotions aren't theories, and more. Note: This is only the first half of the conversation, th…

1
#75 - The Problem of Induction, Relitigated (w/ Tamler Sommers) 1:41:13

8M ago1:41:13

1:41:13

When Very Bad Wizards meets Very Culty Popperians. We finally decided to have a real life professional philosopher on the pod to call us out on our nonsense, and are honored to have on Tamler Sommers, from the esteemed Very Bad Wizards podcast, to argue with us about the Problem of Induction. Did Popper solve it, or does his proposed solution, like…

1
Ep 223: The Deutsch Files IV (ToKCast version) 1:28:01

8M ago1:28:01

1:28:01

After a short introduction by me, the remainder of this episode is a reproduction of "The Deutsch Files IV" the latest in a series of conversations between myself, Naval Ravikant and David Deutsch about a wide variety of topics including, and sometimes going far beyond the contents of "The Fabric of Reality", "The Beginning of Infinity" and Constru…

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