This is the final "The Beginning of Infinity" episode. There are many ways in which it could also be the first episode too, as I begin with a long introduction about the significance of the book. But this is largely a personal reflection - so for those who have not read the book it may seem "arrogant" or self serving in some ways. Here is a time-stamped summary of the contents of this episode: 00:00 “The Horizon”: An introduction to “The Beginning of Infinity” 03:10 The Beginning. A throwback. 04:20 The point of all this. 06:15 Comments on Ricky Gervais and Sam Harris “Absolutely Mental” podcast and related themes 09:30 A place for religion and people. 16:00 A central message of BoI 16:45 Books that inform a worldview: including "The Fabric of Reality" by David Deutsch and "The End of Faith" by Sam Harris 22:30 Some criteria for understanding 27:40 Competing “epistemologies”. 31:20 Some comments on Ayn Rand’s philosophy 32:30 The “knowledge density” of "The Beginning of Infinity" 38:20 Critical thinking 43:15 Common Sense Realism 47:30 The end of the introduction 48:00 Reading Part 1 49:05 My reflections on historian Roy Porter and the competing Enlightenments 56:45 Reading Part 2 57:00 Prophesies and Predictions. 59:15 Reading Part 3 59:30 "Popperian Provisos" 1:00:35 Reading Part 4 1:00:51 The infinite potential of explanatory knowledge 1:01:40 Reading Part 5 1:04:10 Physical reality and laws of physics 1:05:15 Reading Part 6 1:05:30 Simulations vs recordings of people 1:06:35 Reading Part 7 1:08:00 Misunderstandings of Explanatory Universality 1:10:00 The Final Reading 1:11:00 The Beginning. A Throwback Part 2 1:12:30 Extended credits. Music: "Double Slit Test" by Ketsa: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Ketsa/The_Double_Slit_Test/Double_Slit_Test Made for Mum & Jem. ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MrIkv35vQQ

This is essentially a sequel to episode 1 of this series about the "reality of abstractions". This question considers the special case of the laws of physics. In what sense do the laws of physics exist? Can we deny their existence as some philosophers do? ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rF9Q4UhvG34

Part of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKhZvfqJPjA from episode 99 of ToKCast with @Brett Hall #shorts ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsl21oj5xk8

The Content of Future Theories: The fourth 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/ #physics #knowledge #philosophy #epistemology #daviddeutsch #science #shorts ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ke4C8zXUCM4