Best Epistemology Memes Podcasts (2024)

1
Episode 86: Fuzzy Categories, Essentialism, and Epistemology (Hofstadter Part 2) 1:42:39

7m ago1:42:39

1:42:39

How do humans form 'fuzzy categories'? How does this all relate to essentialism? Is essentialism false? Or is it partially true? And how does this all relate to Critical Rationalism? Picking up where we left off last week, Bruce getsdeeper into Douglas Hofstadter’s ideas on language and the mind and his assertion that “analogy-making lies at the he…

1
Adventure As Epistemology | Solo Show 1:32:46

4d ago1:32:46

1:32:46

Let's make the most of my jet lag and jump right back into regular live streams the morning after I arrive back on the farm! In this episode, we discuss How and why Wade Davis is my hero. The definition of adventure and why that matters for magicians. How adventuring creates reality. Sacred travel, how it is and isn't different from adventure. Tips…

1
Episode 85: Critical Rationalism and Douglas Hofstadter (Part 1) 1:49:52

14d ago1:49:52

1:49:52

This is the first of our two part series (that may or may not be released back-to-back) where Bruce delves into the work Douglas Hofstadter, specifically the book Surfaces and Essences. We consider what is the relationship—if there is any—between critical rationalism and Hofstadter's idea that analogy is a core mechanism of human cognition. Is it f…

1
Jake Stratton-Kent's Night School | Erzebet Barthold 1:17:01

8h ago1:17:01

1:17:01

Hadean Press's Erzebet Barthold returns to the show this week, on the occasion of the release of Cyprian's Offices of the Spirits -the posthumously published final volume in Jake Stratton-Kent's Night School. We talk about goetia, we talk about the sublunar, we talk about English Qaballa -all the Jake hits, really. And, inevitably, we reminisce abo…

1
Episode 84: Are Video Games Harmful to Children? 1:27:46

21d ago1:27:46

1:27:46

Here we discuss a 1992 interview with David Deutsch where he makes the case that video games are inherently educational, not addictive, and that children should not be stopped from playing as much as they want. We contrast the view of humans, science, and knowledge promoted there by David Deutsch with the more pessimistic view of thinkers such as J…

1
How To Get Good at Magic - Notes From Bolivia | Solo Show 40:44

22d ago40:44

40:44

Coming to you from the shores of Lake Titicaca! Some lessons on how to get good at magic, specifically sigil magic, learned on the road in Bolivia. The short answer is your first hundred sigils will teach you more about magic than any book ever will. The long answer is.... this podcast. Here I share my notes and observations from spending time in m…

1
Episode 83: Popper's Second Axis (aka Bruce's Epistemology?) 2:01:24

1M ago2:01:24

2:01:24

Bruce summarizes his (unique?) understanding of Karl Popper’s epistemology that (possibly?) straddles the line between orthodox and unorthodox and is Influenced both by Deutsch, more old school Popperians, and his own unique interpretation of critical rationalism. Bruce claims that the key difference between regular "folk epistemology" (i.e. how hu…

1
Episode 82: Popper's Ratchet 1:53:02

1M ago1:53:02

1:53:02

In an episode that may (or may not) be his magnum opus, Bruce introduces his term for Karl Popper’s idea that you are only allowed to solve problems with your (scientific) theory by making it more empirical, not less empirical. Bruce makes the case that this is one of Karl Popper’s least appreciated ideas, as all of us are tempted by ad hoc saves t…

1
Is Marxism Gnostic? Responding To Jordan Peterson | Miguel Conner 1:35:41

2M ago1:35:41

1:35:41

Aeon Byte Gnostic Radio's Miguel Conner returns to the show this week for an in-depth unpacking of claims made by Jordan Peterson, James Lindsay and others in the online Right that Marxism is actually Gnosticism. We look at The origins of these claims. Exactly WHERE and HOW they are wrong. The origins of Gnosticism. The 'true' origins of 'woke' tho…

1
Episode 81: Easy to Varyness vs Ad Hocness 2:14:02

2M ago2:14:02

2:14:02

Bruce sympathetically critiques David Deutsch’s concept of “easy to varyness” as a way to judge our explanations. Are our best theories about reality truly hard to vary? Bruce makes the case that Popper’s concept of “ad hocness” may be a strangely interwoven concept. Along the way we get deeper into whether Popperian epistemology is best seen as an…

1
Kate Middleton, Willy Wonka and the Spice Memes of Arrakis | World Without Sin 2:06:59

2M ago2:06:59

2:06:59

This week's episode is an installment in the long-running World Without Sin series, examining how we respond to monolithic media and how not every outsider is a plucky freedom fighter. We also look at how and why it might be that all forms of expression are collapsing into a meme singularity and what this might have to do with the jester archetype.…

1
Episode 80: Knowledge vs. Simul-Knowledge 1:44:34

3M ago1:44:34

1:44:34

Bruce wraps up his epic 6 part series on knowledge and the 'two sources hypothesis' (i.e. Deutsch's theory that all 'knowledge' comes from only two sources: Biological evolution and human minds). What happens if we take all the non-two sources examples of 'adapted information that cause itself to remain so' (e.g. the walking robot, the immune syste…

1
Episode 79: Perspiration vs Inspiration 1:31:33

3M ago1:31:33

1:31:33

Is human creativity algorithmic? What is the difference between an Inspiration and a perspiration algorithm? Can mechanical processes ever create knowledge? What is the relationship between creativity and explanation? If we had the 'inspiration' algorithm today, would it use perspiration? Here Bruce continues his exploration of these issues and mor…

1
Episode 78: Are Animal Memes Knowledge In the Genes? 1:11:53

3M ago1:11:53

1:11:53

Do animals create knowledge? Deutsch claims they don't because all their knowledge is in their genes. Yet he admits that animals do have memes! But aren't memes, by definition, knowledge outside the genome? How does Deutsch attempt to deal with these problems with his theory of knowledge? And how well do his arguments hold up? --- Send in a voice m…

1
Leaning Into 'Mixed' (Bad) Fortune | Life Update | Solo Show 37:54

4M ago37:54

37:54

Hello from the road! Just wanted to get out a little solo show of what I have been up to, which also morphed into how to deal with foreseen rather than unforeseen dramas. We also cover some updates on the Sigil A Day project, and speculate on the development of media and podcasts in our post-Putin-interview World Without Sin. Enjoy! Chat soon!…

1
Episode 77: Counter Examples To Deutsch's Theory of Knowledge? 1:35:51

4M ago1:35:51

1:35:51

Bruce continues to consider what our best theories tell us about knowledge. Is there something special (or even physically different) about the knowledge created by nature through biological evolution and human minds (i.e. the 'two sources hypothesis')? How should we think about knowledge created in human minds that could take us to the moon and be…

1
Episode 76: The Constructor Theory of Knowledge 1:18:00

4M ago1:18:00

1:18:00

In the previous episode, Bruce pointed out an apparent contradiction between Deutsch's criteria for knowledge as 'adapted information that causes itself to remain so' and his example of the 'walking robot algorithm' which is a case of adapted information causing itself to remain so but that Deutsch doesn't consider to be knowledge. This time we con…

1
Episode 75: Deutsch's Theory of Knowledge: The Walking Robot 1:09:47

4M ago1:09:47

1:09:47

What is the “two sources hypothesis,” or the idea that there exist only two sources of knowledge in the known universe: Darwinian natural selection and human minds? Does a “genetic programming algorithm” used to make a robot walk create knowledge? Thus begins our deep dive into Deutsch's Theory of Knowledge and particularly his "Two Source Hypothes…

1
Episode 74: The Problem of Open-Endedness 1:28:41

5M ago1:28:41

1:28:41

What is the “problem of open-endedness”? Bruce explores how what might sound like an esoteric machine-learning issue may actually be interwoven with our deepest theories on evolution, human consciousness, and knowledge creation. Also included: Bruce's guide to how NOT to argue with a Creationist. References: Kenneth Stanley's article: "Open-endedne…

1
UFOs, Jung and the Apocalypse | Mystic and the Machine 1:22:27

5M ago1:22:27

1:22:27

You may recall that Angie from Angie Speaks guested on the podcast last year. Well, she graciously invited me on a show she co-hosts, Mystic and the Machine, where we have a good ol' chat about UFOs, Jung, the looming apocalypse and how all of these things are interrelated. It was such a good chat, I'm releasing it as a main podcast episode this we…

1
Turning New Year's Intentions Into Enchantment Targets | Solo Show 58:03

5M ago58:03

58:03

Here we are in 2024, eh? And it’s off to a bang for people starting on the #SigilADay2024 Project and, to a lesser extent, Japan Airlines. In this solo show, we cover: Locating your intentions and goals for 2024. Turning them into enchantment topic areas. How to create sigils from scratch. The initial sigil activation I am offering for those embark…

1
Episode 73: Argue Me Everything 2:11:29

5M ago2:11:29

2:11:29

Here we move three arguments from social media to the podcast. 1. Given Deutsch’s universal explainer hypothesis, does it make sense to say that men commit more crimes due to testosterone? Are humans only 'approximately' Universal Explainers?2. Can anything in reality be simulated? What exactly does it mean to be simulated? 3. Is “heat death” a bum…

1
H1 2024 Astrology Forecast | Austin Coppock 2:12:52

5M ago2:12:52

2:12:52

You know the festive season has begun when Austinmas rolls around! Join Gordon White and Austin Coppock for a look into the first half of 2024 and how to navigate it. We look at Risk of war. What we can and can't learn from 2024. The best time of year to GTD. The Year of the Dragon. Mars, Mars and also some Mars to go with your Mars. Plus there's t…

1
Episode 72: Moral Progress and Tolerance for Intolerance 1:51:19

6M ago1:51:19

1:51:19

Here we use Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s essay “The Most Intolerant Wins: The Dictatorship of the Small Minority” as a springboard to discuss majority rule, moral progress, knowledge growth, wokism, Karl Popper’s paradox of tolerance, and “big agriculture.” --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/four-strands/messageSupport …

1
Join Me In Launching A Sigil A Day In 2024 22:52

6M ago22:52

22:52

After tabling the possibility in the last live stream and thrashing out some of the details with the Rune Soup Premium Member brain trust, we'll be moving forward with the goal of launching one sigil a day for every day of next year. The audio version of the announcement -ie this one- is a bit more involved than the video one. That's because 58% of…

1
AI: Worlding and Shapeshifting (I Would Cheat) | Solo Show 1:00:07

6M ago1:00:07

1:00:07

We come at last to the final in the AI For Magicians series of solo shows. This time we explore how we co-create with non-human beings and what that AI co-creation looks like for magicians. As is traditional, there is a video slide presentation that goes along with this episode, which you absolutely do not need to watch if you're vibing more with t…

1
Episode 71: Can Values be Objective? 1:56:20

6M ago1:56:20

1:56:20

With guest Ivan Phillips, we discuss and debate subjective vs objective morality. Does the concept of objective morality ever make sense given “Hume’s guillotine”? Can humans ever really live as though morality is subjective? Along the way, we take detours into Bayesian epistemology vs critical rationalism. --- Send in a voice message: https://podc…

1
My Year In Review And How To Do Yours | Solo Show 1:39:22

6M ago1:39:22

1:39:22

This weekend was the livestream of my year in review, as well as a suggested shape for How to conduct your own. Why you should do it now as a separate act to your new year intention setting. As is now traditional, we did a Q&A on YouTube at the end which is only available on the video version, starting around 1:40. Two things came up that have alre…

Podcasts Worth a Listen

Epistemology Memes Podcasts

Podcasts Worth a Listen

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Epistemic Media

Epistemology Memes

1
Rune Soup

Gordon

1
The Theory of Anything

Bruce Nielson

1
Episode 86: Fuzzy Categories, Essentialism, and Epistemology (Hofstadter Part 2) 1:42:39

1
Adventure As Epistemology | Solo Show 1:32:46

1
Episode 85: Critical Rationalism and Douglas Hofstadter (Part 1) 1:49:52

1
Jake Stratton-Kent's Night School | Erzebet Barthold 1:17:01

1
Episode 84: Are Video Games Harmful to Children? 1:27:46

1
How To Get Good at Magic - Notes From Bolivia | Solo Show 40:44

1
Episode 83: Popper's Second Axis (aka Bruce's Epistemology?) 2:01:24

1
Episode 82: Popper's Ratchet 1:53:02

1
Is Marxism Gnostic? Responding To Jordan Peterson | Miguel Conner 1:35:41

1
Episode 81: Easy to Varyness vs Ad Hocness 2:14:02

1
Kate Middleton, Willy Wonka and the Spice Memes of Arrakis | World Without Sin 2:06:59

1
Episode 80: Knowledge vs. Simul-Knowledge 1:44:34

1
Episode 79: Perspiration vs Inspiration 1:31:33

1
Episode 78: Are Animal Memes Knowledge In the Genes? 1:11:53

1
Leaning Into 'Mixed' (Bad) Fortune | Life Update | Solo Show 37:54

1
Episode 77: Counter Examples To Deutsch's Theory of Knowledge? 1:35:51

1
Episode 76: The Constructor Theory of Knowledge 1:18:00

1
Episode 75: Deutsch's Theory of Knowledge: The Walking Robot 1:09:47

1
Episode 74: The Problem of Open-Endedness 1:28:41

1
UFOs, Jung and the Apocalypse | Mystic and the Machine 1:22:27

1
Turning New Year's Intentions Into Enchantment Targets | Solo Show 58:03

1
Episode 73: Argue Me Everything 2:11:29

1
H1 2024 Astrology Forecast | Austin Coppock 2:12:52

1
Episode 72: Moral Progress and Tolerance for Intolerance 1:51:19

1
Join Me In Launching A Sigil A Day In 2024 22:52

1
AI: Worlding and Shapeshifting (I Would Cheat) | Solo Show 1:00:07

1
Episode 71: Can Values be Objective? 1:56:20

1
My Year In Review And How To Do Yours | Solo Show 1:39:22

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