David Deutsch's "The Beginning of Infinity" Chapter 9 "Optimism" Part 2 of 3
This video is about "Deutschian Optimism" If you would like to support this endeavor, do consider making a one off donation by clicking the “Donate” button on the front page of www.bretthall.org or you may “subscribe” (contribute automatically each month) - at https://patreon.com/BrettRHall ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-iNNNidsFQ
This is some reading and reflections on David Deutsch's "The Beginning of Infinity" Chapter 11 "The Multiverse". It is the 3rd in this series and the 2nd that contains readings from the book. If you would like to support this endeavor my website www.bretthall.org has a donate button or you can contribute via Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/join/BrettRHall?
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1F1CY7uhYK0
The first in a series of shorts reflecting on David Deutsch's paper "The Philosophy of Constructor Theory" published here https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11229-013-0279-z and available in full here: https://www.constructortheory.org/portfolio/the-philosophy-of-constructor-theory/
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzvxPKeK6vY
This is the first in a 3 part series devoted to Chapter 15 of "The Beginning of Infinity" by David Deutsch. All about "The Evolution of Culture", in this part we are looking at the notion of a meme and consider under what conditions ideas replicate. As we touch upon: this is a question of civilizational consequence as it is related to the ability of a society to break out of being "static" (one with little to no progress) and become a modern "dynamic" one (where progress is unbounded).
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tzd7Q_fljwM
Some remarks about their second "Waking Up" podcast together.
If you would like to support this endeavor, do consider making a one off donation by clicking the “Donate” button on the front page of www.bretthall.org
or you may “subscribe” (contribute automatically each month) - at https://patreon.com/BrettRHall
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kPSI6djlwE
This episode is focussed on the physics content of chapter 1. I explain what the current “conception” of physics is in terms of dynamical laws and initial conditions. I run through a simple example of how equations of motion are used and discuss how this has been, hitherto, the way physics has been done, is done and is expected to continue to be done according to most philosophers and physicists. We then compare this vision of physics to what constructor theory aims to achieve by considering more than just a single thread through the fabric of reality (what was, is and will be) and instead to consider what might have been and might still be. This clearly has implications for knowledge and, again, we hint at the possibility of a physics of epistemology. It also opens up the possibility for physics to address questions about why the initial conditions are the way they are and thus provides a new window into the origins of the universe and the problem of "fine tuning" when it comes to the constant of nature and the form of the physical laws.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3q7GTjG_qdI
This is the podcast version of my Substack Newsletter number 3 here https://bretthall.substack.com/p/manners-and-misattributions?r=3r9kb&s=w&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Links referred to in the podcast can all be found in that article however here is a link to the historian who writes about Dr. Neil Tyson https://thonyc.wordpress.com/2022/04/13/nil-degrasse-tyson-knows-nothing-about-nothing/
and crucially here is a link to my page providing a pdf version of "Schools of Hellas" the book by Kenneth John Freeman https://www.bretthall.org/schools-of-hellas.html
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpl5SRhtVYA
This is the second part of a two part series. Here we focus exclusively upon "It from Qubit" (2002) by David Deutsch as found here: https://www.daviddeutsch.org.uk/wp-content/ItFromQubit.pdf
I read and comment upon the paper, unpacking its significance for physics, epistemology (i.e: the search for good explanations), metaphysics (ultimate reality beyond what science tells us) and compare this vision of reality to alternatives (for example as presented in the "It from Bit" thesis by Wheeler. The Simulator Hypothesis makes an appearance as does some of the mechanics behind quantum computation itself. But, overall, this is a work stranding physics and philosophy namely: what the former can tell us about having an informed explanation of the latter. To that end both Einstein and Popper are quoted by Deutsch herein.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pS3h71f42I