Robinson's Podcast
By Robinson Erhardt
linktr.ee/robinsonerhardt
271 - Sara Imari Walker & Lee Cronin: Quantum Physics, Time, and the Origin of Life
Sara Imari Walker is Professor in the School of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University, where she is Deputy Director of the Beyond Center. Sara is an astrobiologist and theoretical physicist, with research interests in the origins of life, artificial life, life and detection on other worlds. Lee Cronin is Regius Chair of Chemistry at the University of Glasgow. Among his many pursuits are the digitization of chemistry, the discovery of alien life, and the creation of artificial life. In this episode, Robinson, Sara, and Lee discuss the relationship between philosophy and science, quantum physics, time, determinism, AI, and the origin of Life.
Life as No One Knows It: https://a.co/d/2fdKa2e
Lee’s Website: https://www.chem.gla.ac.uk/cronin/
Lee’s Twitter: https://x.com/leecronin
OUTLINE
00:00 Chemistry, Biology, Physics, and Philosophy
07:57 Philosophy and Science
20:58 Is Time an Object?
30:00 More on Time
44:38 On Time and Entropy
51:13 Is the Universe Deterministic?
01:08:54 What’s Wrong with Quantum Physics?
01:17:08 Contingency, Selection, and Evolution
01:29:05 Scientific Temperament
01:44:18 Do We Experience ChatGPT as Human?
Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com
Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University, where he is also a JD candidate in the Law School.
270 - Tim Maudlin & Jacob Barandes: The Indivisible Approach to Quantum Theory
Tim Maudlin is Professor of Philosophy at NYU and Founder and Director of the John Bell Institute for the Foundations of Physics. Jacob Barandes is Senior Preceptor in Physics at Harvard University, where he works widely across the philosophy of physics, with focuses on the foundations of quantum mechanics, the philosophy of spacetime, and the metaphysics of laws. In this episode, Robinson, Tim, and Jacob discuss Jacob’s novel approach to quantum mechanics, which he calls the “Indivisible Approach”. More particularly, they discuss the problems at the core of quantum mechanics, the ontology of the theory, causality and quantum phenomena, probability, and more. If you’re interested in the foundations of physics, then please check out the JBI, which is devoted to providing a home for research and education in this important area. Any donations are immensely helpful at this early stage in the institute’s life.
Tim’s Website: www.tim-maudlin.site
The John Bell Institute: https://www.johnbellinstitute.org
Jacob’s Website: https://www.jacobbarandes.com
The Stochastic-Quantum Correspondence: https://philosophyofphysics.lse.ac.uk/articles/10.31389/pop.186
Historical Debates over the Physical Reality of the Wave Function: https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.09397
Pilot-Wave Theories as Hidden Markov Models: https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.10569
OUTLINE
00:21 The Problems at the Foundations of Quantum Mechanics
13:00 More on the Problems
26:09 Is the Wave Function a Real Thing?
32:48 Causation, Correlation, and Quantum Mechanics
42:03 Terminological Issues
44:34 Causal Models and the Markov Condition
01:00:57 Can Time Exist Without Change?
01:15:00 On Time and Change
01:30:38 Newtonian Mechanics and the Markov Condition
1:45:00 More on Newtonian Mechanics
2:00:00 More on the Markov Condition
02:17:49 Tim’s Response
02:28:18 Philosophy and Physics
02:32:38 More on Probability
02:42:13 Probability and the Double Slit Experiment
02:59:42 Why Tim Remains Puzzled
Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com
Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University, where he is also a JD candidate in the Law School.
269 - Scott Aaronson: What Is Quantum Computing?
Scott Aaronson is the Schlumberger Centennial Chair of Computer Science at The University of Texas at Austin, and director of its Quantum Information Center. He researches the capabilities and limits of quantum computers, and computational complexity theory more generally. For the 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 academic years, he was on leave to work at OpenAI on the theoretical foundations of AI safety. In this episode of Robinson’s Podcast, Scott answers a host of questions about the basics of quantum computing. He and Robinson discuss the physics- and computer science elements of the field, how it connects to the foundations of quantum mechanics, the biggest myths about quantum computing, and whether quantum computers will every actually be built.
Scott’s Blog: https://scottaaronson.blog
OUTLINE
00:00 Scott’s Interest in Quantum Computing
07:10 Distinguishing the Physics from the Computer Science
14:43 What Is Quantum Computation?
39:41 The Interpretations of Quantum Mechanics
53:31 Quantum Information
55:54 Prime Factorization
01:03:19 The Biggest Myths About Quantum Computing
01:14:06 Can Quantum Computers Actually Be Built?
Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com
Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University, where he is also a JD candidate in the Law School.
268 - Jeffrey Pfeffer: Power, Influence, and the Psychology of Institutions
Jeffrey Pfeffer is the Thomas D. Dee II Professor of Organizational Behavior at the Graduate School of Business, Stanford University where he has taught since 1979. He is the author or co-author of 16 books. Dr. Pfeffer received his B.S. and M.S. degrees from Carnegie-Mellon University and his Ph.D. from Stanford. In this episode, Robinson and Jeffrey discuss the field of organizational behavior. More particularly, they talk about the aims and methods of the field, some of its subjects—such as power and influence—and case studies. Jeffrey’s latest book is the 7 Rules of Power (Holt, 2022).
7 Rules of Power: https://a.co/d/58WWhiC
OUTLINE
OUTLINE
00:00 Introduction
05:46 Understanding Vs Implementation
11:42 The Seven Principles of Influence
19:33 Evolutionary Biology
20:49 How Self-Interest Rules Organizations
29:37 Power and the Prevalence of Conspiracies
33:53 Jeffrey Epstein and the Laws of Power
42:55 The Administration of Health Benefits
49:16 How Jeffrey’s Research Has Influenced His Behavior
59:06 The Price of Power
Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com
Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University, where he is also a JD candidate in the Law School.
267 - Lee Cronin: Aliens, Artificial Intelligence, and the Origin of Life
Lee Cronin is Regius Chair of Chemistry at the University of Glasgow. Among his many pursuits are the digitization of chemistry, the discovery of alien life, and the creation of artificial life. Lee was most recently on the show for episode 264, in which he and Robinson and Lee discussed astrobiology, the chemistry of life as we know it, and the controversies surrounding artificial intelligence. In this follow-up conversation, they focused primarily on artificial intelligence, aliens, and assembly theory.
Lee’s Website: https://www.chem.gla.ac.uk/cronin/
Lee’s Twitter: https://x.com/leecronin
OUTLINE
00:00 Introduction
01:01 AI or Aliens?
02:46 What Is Intelligence?
13:57 Are Autonomous Vehicles Intelligent?
21:39 Assembly Theory and the Origin of Life
28:23 Is ChatGPT Intelligent?
34:12 What Would Genuine Artificial Intelligence Really Look Like?
41:13 Are “AI Skills” Just Product Placement?
49:45 Are AI Actually Intelligent “Agents”?
56:21 Concluding Thoughts
59:16 Will Aliens Be Biological?
01:00:01 How Common Are Aliens in the Universe?
01:05:51 How Will Aliens Search for Life on Earth?
01:12:58 The Chemistry of Minds
01:17:10 The Biggest Myths About Aliens
Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com
Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University, where he is also a JD candidate in the Law School.
266 - Annaka Harris: The Fundamentality of Consciousness
Annaka Harris is the New York Times bestselling author of CONSCIOUS: A Brief Guide to the Fundamental Mystery of the Mind and writer and producer of the audio documentary series, LIGHTS ON. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Nautilus Magazine, the Journal of Consciousness Studies, and IAI Magazine. She is also an editor and consultant for science writers, specializing in neuroscience and physics. In this episode, Robinson and Annaka discuss panpsychism and the case that consciousness is fundamental. More particularly, they talk about complexity and emergence, the relationship between consciousness and physics, and artificial intelligence.
Lights On: https://a.co/d/cy8YTpd
Conscious: https://a.co/d/3uFZ2Jq
Annaka’s Website: https://annakaharris.com
OUTLINE
00:00 Introduction
00:52 Annaka’s Obsession with Consciousness
06:09 How Should We Define Consciousness?
13:06 Why the Complexity Might Not Explain Consciousness
25:30 Is Consciousness Emergent or Fundamental?
29:45 Are Fundamentalia Conscious?
45:18 How Can Consciousness Solve Deep Problems of Physics?
52:14 Consciousness and Quantum Entanglement
01:00:11 Consciousness and the Many Worlds Theory of Quantum Mechanics
01:10:50 What Does an Electron Feel?
01:13:41 AI and Consciousness
01:22:42 Science and the Fundamentality of Consciousness
Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com
Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University, where he is also a JD candidate in the Law School.
265 - Jacob Barandes: A New Foundation for Quantum Mechanics
Jacob Barandes is Senior Preceptor in Physics at Harvard University, where he works widely across the philosophy of physics, with focuses on the foundations of quantum mechanics, the philosophy of spacetime, and the metaphysics of laws. In this episode, Robinson and Jacob focus on the foundations of quantum mechanics. They discuss the importance of history and philosophy in the same, its connections to mathematics, many of the biggest puzzles in quantum physics, and Jacob’s new approach to the foundations, which he refers to as the “Indivisibility” approach.
Jacob's Website: https://www.jacobbarandes.com
OUTLINE
00:00 Mathematics, Nature, and Physics
07:55 The Deep Link Between Math and Physics CLIP
15:21 Scrutinizing the History and Philosophy of Physics
28:11 A Digression on Achille Varzi
36:53 The Etymology of “Matrix”
41:17 Learning from the History of Physics
52:38 Why Does Quantum Mechanics Need New Foundations?
59:04 Does Quantum Gravity Need New Quantum Foundations?
01;08:26 What Is a Constructive Physical Theory?
01:32:31 Markov Laws and Determinism
01:45:30 The Wave Function
02:06:53 Inconsistencies in Quantum Mechanics
02:12:20 What Is Quantum Decoherence?
02:23:10 The Biggest Problems in Quantum Foundations?
02:33:49 Interpretations of Quantum Mechanics
02:38:57 Quantum Mechanics, Many Worlds, and the Problem of Induction
02:50:05 The Indivisibility Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics
03:04:42 What Are the Fundamentalia of the Universe?
Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com
Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University, where he is also a JD candidate in the Law School.
264 - Lee Cronin: The Chemistry of Life
Lee Cronin is Regius Chair of Chemistry at the University of Glasgow. Among his many pursuits are the digitization of chemistry, the discovery of alien life, and the creation of artificial life. In this episode, Robinson and Lee focus on astrobiology, the chemistry of life as we know it, and the controversies surrounding artificial intelligence.
Lee’s Website: https://www.chem.gla.ac.uk/cronin/
Lee’s Twitter: https://x.com/leecronin
OUTLINE
00:00 Introduction
00:55 Lee’s Interests in the Origin of Life
10:29 Is Life Unique to Earth?
18:16 What Is the Self?
24:05 Is the Selfish Gene Hypothesis Wrong?
30:46 How Does Sand Turn into Cells?
44:02 What Is Chemputation?
45:41 What Is Assembly Theory?
01:11:33 Why Won’t We Find a Mine of Coffee Mugs on an Asteroid?
01:25:09 Has AI Become a Cult?
01:32:16 Will AI Use Biological Weapons to Wipe Out Humanity?
01:55:24 Why AI Can’t Be Agents
Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com
Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University, where he is also a JD candidate in the Law School.
263 - Sara Imari Walker: Astrobiology, Aliens, and the Origin of Life
Sara Imari Walker is Professor in the School of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University, where she is Deputy Director of the Beyond Center. Sara is an astrobiologist and theoretical physicist, with research interests in the origins of life, artificial life, life and detection on other worlds. In this episode, Robinson and Sara discuss the physics that makes life possible. More particularly, they discuss assembly theory, the growing field of astrobiology, the difficulties of defining life, and where we are most likely to find aliens. Sara’s latest book is Life as No One Knows It: The Physics of Life’s Emergence (Riverhead Books, 2024).
Life as No One Knows It: https://a.co/d/2fdKa2e
OUTLINE
00:00 Introduction
00:35 The Connection Between Physics and Biology
07:15 Philosophy and the Origin of Life
10:03 Is the Selfish Gene Theory Wrong?
22:17 On Her Work with Lee Cronin
38:47 Experiments To Discover the Origin of Life
48:52 What Is Assembly Theory?
01:00:42 Are Boltzmann Brains Possible?
01:05:53 The Paradox of Defining Life
01:31:10 Is Life a Vague Concept?
01:38:13 Where Are All the Aliens?
Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com
Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University, where he is also a JD candidate in the Law School.
262 - Slavoj Žižek: Marxism, Quantum Mechanics, and Artificial Intelligence
Visit our sponsor, Wealthfront!: wealthfront.com/robinson
Slavoj Žižek is international director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities at the University of London, visiting professor at New York University, and a senior researcher at the University of Ljubljana’s Department of Philosophy. This is Slavoj’s fifth appearance on the show. On episode 109, he and Robinson discussed wokeness and psychoanalysis. On episode 118, he, Sean Carroll, and Robinson discussed quantum physics, the multiverse, and time travel. And on episode 206 he, Lee Smolin, and Robinson discussed quantum physics. In episode 212, Robinson and Slavoj talk about ancient philosophy, god, communism, quantum mechanics, and psychoanalysis. In this episode, they discuss current political events, marxism, quantum mechanics, and artificial intelligence. Slavoj’s upcoming book is Quantum History: A New Materialist Philosophy (Bloomsbury, 2025).
Quantum History: https://a.co/d/7WFcAGi
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OUTLINE
00:00 Introduction
01:07 Marxism and Quantum Mechanics
07:34 Why We Aren’t Pessimistic Enough
16:29 The Wisdom of the First Philosopher
29:27 The Assassination of Charlie Kirk
38:10 On Curtis Yarvin
49:23 The Naivety of Pete Hegseth
51:06 The Contradiction in American Fascism
57:43 Could a Coup Overthrow Trump?
01:04:17 The Utter Shamelessness of Today’s Society
01:14:15 The Danger of the Disappearing Left
01:18:06 AI Is a Tool of Authoritarian Suppression
Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com
Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University, where he is also a JD candidate in the Law School.
261 - Tyler Cowen: The Economics of Artificial Intelligence
Go to https://surfshark.com/robinsonerhardt and use code robinsonerhardt at checkout to get 4 extra months of Surfshark VPN!
Tyler Cowen is the Holbert L. Harris Chair of Economics at George Mason University and serves as chairman and faculty director of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. A dedicated writer and communicator of economic ideas, Tyler is the author of several bestselling books and is widely published in academic journals and the popular media. In this episode, Robinson and Tyler discuss the economics of artificial intelligence. More particularly, they touch on whether AI will destroy humanity, how it will affect employment, whether there will no longer be a place for art in the marketplace, and more. Tyler’s latest book is Talent: How to Identify Energizers, Creatives, and Winners Around the World (St. Martin’s Press, 2022).
Marginal Revolution: https://marginalrevolution.com
Tyler’s X: https://x.com/tylercowen
Talent: https://a.co/d/ftqNWcn
OUTLINE
00:00:00 Introduction
00:01:03 What is State-Capacity Libertarianism?
00:04:32 Should Government Regulate AI?
00:05:54 Is AI an Existential Threat to Humanity?
00:07:33 The Fallacy of Mood Affiliation
00:11:11 AI Music and the Velvet Sundown
00:15:03 Is AI Ending America’s Great Stagnation?
00:19:45 How Will Top-Tier AI Cognition Impact the Labor Market?
00:30:17 How Will AI Transform Education?
00:42:15 Does AI Doom Human-Generated Research?
00:45:21 Why Is AI Taking Off So Slowly?
00:48:39 Does AI Mean the End of Lawyers?
00:51:41 Is Harvard Just a Dating Hack in the World of AI?
00:54:53 Does AI Help or End Social Mobility?
00:57:03 How We Should Write When AI Is Reading It All?
01:02:24 Will AI Enable Us to Eat All We Want?
Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com
Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University, where he is also a JD candidate in the Law School.
260 - Reid Hoffman: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Humanity
Reid Hoffman is the co-founder of LinkedIn, Manas AI, and Inflection AI. As an investor at Greylock, he is one of the leading figures in the tech industry, working at the forefront of AI development. In this episode, Reid and Robinson talk all about the future of AI. They begin by covering the worst case scenario—doomsday—and why Reid is optimistic about our chances. From there, they turn to how AI could help us cure cancer, replace therapists, enable us to be more powerful agents, and make our lives better. Reid’s most recent book is Superagency: What Could Possibly Go Right with Our AI Future (2025).
Reid’s Website: https://www.reidhoffman.org
Superagency: https://a.co/d/hdSZeCY
OUTLINE
00:00:00 Introduction
00:01:09 Why Won’t AI Destroy Humanity?
00:06:39 Will AI Be Good or Bad for Employment?
00:08:20 On Optimism
00:10:10 It Isn’t Inevitable that AI Will Wipe Out Human Life
00:19:03 How to Align AI with Human Interests
00:24:40 Reid’s Interest in Friendship
00:32:13 Why AI Can’t be Our Friends
00:36:33 Could AI Replace Therapists?
00:45:18 Using AI to Cure Cancer
00:52:04 Will AI Extinguish Humanity with a Virus?
01:00:02 How Will AI Make Us More Powerful Agents?
01:07:06 Will Academia Be Revolutionized by AI?
01:15:10 Are You an AI Native?
01:17:36 How to Invest in AI
Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com
Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University, where he is also a JD candidate in the Law School.
259 - Kenneth Roth: Genocide, Ethnic Cleansing, and How to Shame a Dictator
Support our sponsor, FarmKind, to fix factory farming: https://www.farmkind.giving
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Kenneth Roth is the Charles and Marie Robertson Visiting Professor at the Princeton School for Public and International Affairs. Until August 2022, he served for nearly three decades as the executive director of Human Rights Watch. In this episode, Robinson and Ken discuss his work with HRW and what he has been doing since. More particularly, they get into the details of how HRW operated, how shaming tactics can be deployed against figures like Putin, Trump, and Orban, Israel and Palestine, the relationship between genocide and ethnic cleansing, and more. For more, read Ken’s recent book, Righting Wrongs: Three Decades on the Front Lines Battling Abusive Governments (Knopf, 2025).
Righting Wrongs: https://a.co/d/gHkbmmw
OUTLINE
00:00 Introduction
00:00:53 Why Human Rights?
00:08:23 How Does Human Rights Watch Work?
00:14:04 Can Putin or Orban Be Shamed?
00:21:14 Can Trump Be Shamed into Standing Up to Putin?
00:26:53 Libya, Gaddafi, and Forcing the Release of Political Prisoners
00:29:14 Fighting the Dreaded M23 Rebel Group in Congo
00:31:56 Why Governments Always Violate Human Rights
00:33:57 Is Torture Ever Justified?
00:38:21 Facts and Investigations
00:46:27 Verifying Starvation and Famine in Gaza
00:51:29 Can Netanyahu Be Shamed?
00:58:24 Genocide vs. Ethnic Cleansing in Palestine
01:04:16 The United States’ Biggest Human Rights Violations
01:09:24 Sudan: The World’s Worst Humanitarian Crisis
258 - Richard Wolff: Donald Trump’s Tariff War Dissected
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Richard Wolff is Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a visiting professor at The New School, where he works on economics in the Marxist tradition. This is Richard’s ninth appearance on Robinson’s Podcast. In this episode, Richard and Robinson discuss the tariffs that President Donald Trump would like to place on goods imported from around the world. More particularly, they cover the real problems America is facing that Trump has to solve, the connection to Russia, China, and the BRICS, Elon Musk and electric vehicles, and more. Richard’s latest book is Understanding Capitalism (Democracy at Work, 2024).
Understanding Capitalism (Book): https://www.democracyatwork.info/understanding_capitalism
Richard’s Website: https://www.rdwolff.com
Economic Update: https://www.democracyatwork.info/economicupdate
OUTLINE
00:00:00 Introduction
00:01:07 Is Trump’s Tariff Plan Nuts?
00:06:31 Is the United States Unsustainable?
00:15:33 Can Tariffs Solve America’s Debt Problems?
00:19:17 Tesla’s Electric Vehicle Tariff War on China
00:25:19 The Declining American Empire
00:32:53 Exposing the Myths About Trump’s Tariffs
00:44:55 The Empty Promises of American Politics
00:53:54 Why DC Doesn’t Have Representation in Congress
01:00:22 The Bizarre Alliance Between Israel and the United States
01:04:48 Why Russia Is Exempt from Trump’s Tariffs
01:13:48 Are Israel and the United States “Winning” Against Gaza?
01:24:25 How Wealth Now Controls the United States
01:27:52 On The Impending Economic Downturn in the United States
01:31:47 How Trump is Turning Allies into Enemies
01:37:12 America’s Terrible Healthcare
01:42:25 Who Really Rules America?
01:57:04 How Should Trump Solve America’s Real Problems?
02:04:39 What America Can Learn from Britain’s Collapse
Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com
Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University, where is also a JD candidate in the Law School.
257 - Carl Hart: The Neuroscience of Drugs and Their Role in the Good Life
Carl Hart is Mamie Phipps Clark Professor of Psychology at Columbia University, where he researches the behavioral and neuropharmacological effects of psychoactive drugs in humans. In this wide-ranging conversation, Robinson and Carl discuss drugs from many different angles, touching on the neuroscience of addiction, the opioid crisis, drugs’ connections to poverty, the roles they can play in a creative life, and more. Carl’s most recent book is Drug Use for Grown-Ups (2021, Penguin).
Drug Use for Grown-Ups: https://a.co/d/efgXuJK
OUTLINE
00:00:49 Introduction
00:03:14 What Is a Drug?
00:14:58 DARE and Drug Education
00:26:07 Rodrigo Duterte and the Drug War in the Philippines
00:39:25 Studying Drugs in the Lab
00:49:07 Does Addiction Change the Brain?
00:58:12 On the Opioid Crisis
01:10:42 How Should We Solve the Opioid Crisis?
01:14:01 What Is the Connection Between Drugs and Poverty?
01:18:21 How Do Drugs Affect the Brain?
01:28:27 How Can Drugs Improve Your Creativity?
01:36:04 Should Science Inform Drug Policy?
Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com
Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University, where is also a student in the Law School.
256 - Tim Maudlin: A Masterclass on the Philosophy of Time
Tim Maudlin is Professor of Philosophy at NYU and Founder and Director of the John Bell Institute for the Foundations of Physics. This is Tim’s eighth appearance on the show. His second to last appeared on episode 246 for a masterclass on Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity, explaining it from the ground up and elucidating some common misconceptions. In this episode Tim returns for a discussion of the philosophy of time. More particularly, Tim and Robinson discuss black holes, fundamentality, simultaneity, time’s flow, rate, and limits, connections to physics, time travel, and more. If you’re interested in the foundations of physics, then please check out the JBI, which is devoted to providing a home for research and education in this important area. Any donations are immensely helpful at this early stage in the institute’s life.
Tim’s Website: www.tim-maudlin.site
The John Bell Institute: https://www.johnbellinstitute.org
OUTLINE
00:00:00 Introduction
00:01:01 “What Is” Questions
00:06:09 Everyday Misconceptions About Simultaneity
00:15:12 The Relativity of Duration
00:20:19 Is Time Fundamental?
00:28:55 Does Time Exist at Quantum Scales?
00:40:19 Is Quantum Mechanics Complete?
00:50:16 What Is Time-Reversal Invariance?
01:01:01 Parity Violations
01:11:46 What Is Metaphysics?
01:22:16 Does Time Have A Rate of Passage?
01:25:02 Does Time Flow?
01:27:04 What Does Time Really Measure?
01:29:15 Is There a Limit to How Accurately Clocks Can Measure Time?
01:33:06 Is Time Continuous or Discrete?
01:36:36 On Zeno’s Paradoxes of Motion
01:44:08 Is Time Discrete?
01:51:14 Did Time Have a Beginning?
02:02:41 Stephen Hawking on Time
02:05:39 David Albert’s Past Hypothesis
02:14:13 The Debate Between Presentism and Eternalism
02:23:16 Lee Smolin’s Black Hole Theory
02:24:46 A Shortcoming of the Standard Model
02:26:05 Arrival Time and Time of Flight
02:34:51 Arrival Time Experiments and Bell’s Inequality
02:46:07 The Black Hole Information Paradox
02:56:27 Is Time Travel Back to the Dinosaurs Possible?
02:58:34 A Rant on Aliens
03:03:35 The John Bell Institute for the Foundations of Physics
Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com
Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University, where is also a student in the Law School.
255 - Michael Hudson: Trump, China, AI, and the Untold History of Economics
Michael Hudson is Distinguished Research Professor of Economics at the University of Missouri, Kansas City and President of the Institute for the Study of Long-Term Economic Trends. He researches domestic and international finance, the history of economics, and the role of debt in shaping class stratification, among many other topics. This is Michael’s fifth appearance on the show. He was also a guest on episode 180, where he and Robinson discussed neoliberalism, industrial capitalism, and the rentier economy, and on episode 198, where they discussed Marxism, economic parasites, and contemporary debt cancellation. He has also joined with Richard Wolff. In this episode, Michael and Robinson discuss how the Crusades shaped the future of economics, the role of economics in political history, the current budget of the Republicans, problems with social security, the effects of AI on economics, and more. Michael’s most recent book is Temples of Enterprise (ISLET, 2024).
Michael’s Website: https://michael-hudson.com
Temples of Enterprise: https://a.co/d/a3c53dm
OUTLINE
00:00:00 Introduction
00:00:37 Why Historians Missed How the Crusades Shapes Economics
00:10:39 What Motivated the Crusades?
00:20:09 The Problem of Financing Wars
00:29:23 How The Roman Catholic Church Invented Financial Interest
00:40:08 Importing Jewish Merchants to England
00:45:12 The Intolerance of the Catholic Church
00:48:51 The Origin of Roman Catholic Indulgences
00:58:39 Using Indulgences to Finance the Crusades
01:05:54 Neglecting the Role of Economics in Political History
01:15:43 Finance as the Central Planning Power of Governments
01:18:17 What’s Wrong with the Republicans’ Budget?
01:19:48 The Dark Problem with Social Security
01:26:40 The Conflict Between Finance and Democracy
01:37:19 How the 1 Percent Don’t Contribute to the Economy
01:38:40 How Will AI Impact the Future of Economics?
01:45:55 How Will AI Affect Unemployment Rates?
01:54:18 Will the 1 Percent Need People in an AI Future
01:58:32 How Will AI Affect the Future of Academia?
02:08:59 Papal Financial Control vs The IMF
02:19:37 How the Government Favors the Creditor over the Debtor
02:23:42 The Difference Between the Chinese and American Economies
02:32:37 Global Warming’s Devastating Effects on the Economy
Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com
Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University.
254 - The Yale US-China Forum: Slavoj Žižek, Richard Wolff, Yannis Varoufakis, Robin Visser, Yascha Mounk, Pei Wang, Daniel Mattingly
In this special episode, Robinson and Karl Zheng Wang co-host at the Yale US-China Forum. Return guests from the show include Slavoj Žižek, Richard Wolff, and Yascha Mounk. Slavoj Žižek is international director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities at the University of London, visiting professor at New York University, and a senior researcher at the University of Ljubljana’s Department of Philosophy. Richard Wolff is Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a visiting professor at The New School, where he works on economics in the Marxist tradition. Yascha Mounk is a Professor of the Practice of International Affairs at Johns Hopkins University. He is also a Contributing Editor at the Atlantic, a Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, and the host of The Good Fight podcast. Yannis Varoufakis is a Greek economist and politician, and current Secretary-General of the Democracy in Europe Movement 2025. Robin Visser is Professor in the Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she researches modern Chinese and Sinophone literatures, urban cultural studies, and environmental studies. Pei Wang is Professor in the Chinese History and Culture Program at the University of Hong Kong, where she specializes in comparative philosophy, psychoanalysis, and more. Daniel Mattingly is Professor in the Department of Political Science at Yale University, where he studies the domestic and international politics of authoritarian regimes, with a focus on China.
OUTLINE
00:00:00 Introduction
00:01:46 The Future of Europe and China
00:10:40 There Is No Such Thing as Trade Wars, They Are All Class Wars
00:15:50 How Wall Street’s Failures Fueled the Rise of Tech
00:20:02 Why Is There a New Cold War Between the US and China?
00:27:18 Why the United States Is Abandoning Democracy and Why China is Yannis Varoufakis’s Only Hope
00:29:26 Richard Wolff to Yannis Varoufakis: Are We Heading Toward Nuclear War with China?
00:35:58 How Class WARFARE Shaped the World Superpowers CLIP
00:41:01 Is China Capitalism’s Final Form?
00:52:03 Is There Any Way that China and the United Stated Could Avert Conflict?
00:59:16 Varoufakis to Wolff: Is a Tariff Hail Mary Trump’s Only Remaining Option?
01:03:39 Daniel Mattingly on China’s Sociopolitical Organization
01:08:39 How Does Xi Jinping Talk About Socialism?
01:13:47 Yascha Mounk on US-China Competition
01:22:36 Philosophy, Socialism, and Capitalism
01:48:40 Pei Wang on the Hero and Father in US-China Competition
01:54:31 Hero and Father Archetypes in Politics
Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com
Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University.
253 - Peter Zeihan: China’s Fall, America’s Rise, and the End of the World Order
Peter Zeihan is a geopolitical analyst, futurist, and best-selling author who researches and strategizes around demography, economics, energy, politics, technology, and security. In this episode, Peter and Robinson focus on revisiting content from his latest book—The End of the World is Just the Beginning—in the context of today’s developments. More particularly, they discuss, Donald Trump, tariffs, ICE Raids, deportations, how demography and geography will affect the future balance of world powers, the impact of AI on global economics, what the end of the world order could look like, Trump’s immigration policies, and more. You can keep up with Peter through his website or YouTube channel, links to which are below.
Peter’s Website: https://zeihan.com
Peter’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ZeihanonGeopolitics
The End of the World is Just the Beginning: https://a.co/d/bZJES4t
OUTLINE
00:00:00 Introduction
00:01:09 Trump and the End of the American-Led World Order
00:06:49 Does AI Change the Economics of the Future?
00:14:39 The 2,000,000,000$ Failure of the F-35 Fighter Jet
00:25:00 Why the United States Needs Immigrants
00:33:03 Is There Any Strategy Behind Donald Trump?
00:41:43 Why Food Will Become Weaponized in the Near Future
00:50:39 Why China’s Economy is Doomed to Recession
00:53:55 How Do We Prepare For China’s Collapse?
01:00:37 Trump’s Tariffs and the Fall of America
01:01:54 Was Russia Doomed to Fall Even Before Ukraine?
01:05:51 The Biggest Underestimated Global Conflicts
Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com
Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University.
252 - David Kipping: Alien Civilizations, Megastructures, Spacecraft, and Artificial Intelligence
David Kipping is a Professor of Astronomy at Columbia University, where he runs Cool Worlds Lab and researches planets and moons that revolve around stars other than our own, in addition to his own work on the search for—and theorization about—alien life. In this episode, David and Robinson have a wide-ranging conversation about extraterrestrials. They discuss alien civilizations, propulsion, megastructures, Oumuamua, quantum immortality, Dyson spheres, simulation theory, ancient aliens, and much more. David also runs the YouTube channel Cool Worlds Lab, where he has produced many videos on these topics.
Cool Worlds Lab (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/@CoolWorldsLab
David’s Website: http://davidkipping.co.uk
OUTLINE
00:01:05 Astronomy or Aliens?
00:06:12 How Scientists Get Burned by Alien Research
00:16:52 Three Big Obstacles to UFO Science
00:23:59 What is the Kardashev Scale of Alien Civilizations?
00:30:28 Cloaking Devices
00:33:46 How To Detect Alien Civilizations with Heat Signatures
00:37:21 Other Schemes for Detecting Civilizations
00:47:22 Does Alien Life Need Water to Exist?
00:51:46 Why Would Aliens Have Very Different Technology From Us?
00:55:54 When Did the First Life Form in the Universe?
01:07:23 Is the Universe Filled with Ancient Alien Civilizations?
01:16:45 What Is the Great Filter Hypothesis For Alien Life?
01:19:31 Artificial Intelligence, Aliens, and the End of Humanity
01:25:05 How Rare Is the Creation of Life From Nothing?
01:31:53 Communicating with Extraterrestrials
01:37:28 What Are Alien Megastructures?
01:47:07 Can We Engineer the Sun to Live Longer?
01:51:08 Clark Belt Detection
01:54:35 Should We Look for Alien Life on Exomoons?
02:01:33 Could We Find Alien Life on Planets in the Interstellar Medium?
02:04:34 Future Telescopes
02:13:35 What Is a Warp Drive and Why Can’t We Build One?
02:21:47 On Time Travel and the Best Time Machines
02:26:40 What Are the Best Interstellar Propulsion Technologies?
02:34:07 Was Oumuamua an Alien Spacecraft?
02:43:09 Are the TicTac UFOs Alien Spacecraft?
02:56:58 Do We Live in a Simulation?
03:00:17 What Is Quantum Immortality?
Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com
Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University.
251 - Eliezer Yudkowsky: Artificial Intelligence and the End of Humanity
Eliezer Yudkowsky is a decision theorist, computer scientist, and author who co-founded and leads research at the Machine Intelligence Research Institute. He is best known for his work on the alignment problem—how and whether we can ensure that AI is aligned with human values to avoid catastrophe and harness its power. In this episode, Robinson and Eliezer run the gamut on questions related to AI and the danger it poses to human civilization as we know it. More particularly, they discuss the alignment problem, gradient descent, consciousness, the singularity, cyborgs, ChatGPT, OpenAI, Anthropic, Claude, how long we have until doomsday, whether it can be averted, and the various reasons why and ways in which AI might wipe out human life on earth.
The Machine Intelligence Research Institute: https://intelligence.org/about/
Eliezer’s X Account: https://x.com/ESYudkowsky?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
OUTLINE
00:00:00 Introduction
00:00:43 The Default Condition for AI’s Takeover
00:06:36 Could a Future AI Country Be Our Trade Partner?
00:11:18 What Is Artificial Intelligence?
00:21:23 Why AIs Having Goals Could Mean the End of Humanity
00:29:34 What Is the Alignment Problem?
00:34:11 How To Avoid AI Apocalypse
00:40:25 Would Cyborgs Eliminate Humanity?
00:47:55 AI and the Problem of Gradient Descent
00:55:24 How Do We Solve the Alignment Problem?
01:00:50 How Anthropic’s AI Freed Itself from Human Control
01:08:56 The Pseudo-Alignment Problem
01:19:28 Why Are People Wrong About AI Not Taking Over the World?
01:23:23 How Certain Is It that AI Will Wipe Out Humanity?
01:38:35 Is Eliezer Yudkowski Wrong About The AI Apocalypse
01:42:04 Do AI Corporations Control the Fate of Humanity?
01:43:49 How To Convince the President Not to Let AI Kill Us All
01:52:01 How Will ChatGPT’s Descendants Wipe Out Humanity?
02:24:11 Could AI Destroy us with New Science?
02:39:37 Could AI Destroy us with Advanced Biology?
02:47:29 How Will AI Actually Destroy Humanity?
Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com
Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University.
250 - Norman Finkelstein: Trump, Israel, Gaza, and the Criminalization of Dissent
Norman Finkelstein received his PhD from the Princeton University Politics Department, and is best known for his research on Israel and Palestine. Norman also appeared on episodes 192, 218, 228, and 244, where he addressed the facts and fictions generated by the Israel-Hamas War, October 6th, allegations of genocide and apartheid, Hezbollah, the Holocaust, and more. In this episode, Robinson and Norman discuss Trump, the current state of Gaza, the fate of Palestine, wokeness, Bernies Sanders, Chuck Schumer, antisemitism, free speech, and other topics. Norman’s most recent book is I’ll Burn That Bridge When I Get to It! Heretical Thoughts on Identity Politics, Cancel Culture, and Academic Freedom (Sublation Media, 2023).
Norman’s Website: https://www.normanfinkelstein.com
OUTLINE
00:01:11 Norman’s Predictions for the War
00:10:12 Trump and the End of the Ceasefire
00:14:29 Why Didn’t The Democrats Strike a Ceasefire in Israel?
00:25:50 A Jeremy Corbin Witch Hunt?
00:29:52 On Wokeness and DEI
00:54:01 Bernie Sanders and the Working Class
00:57:16 Bernie Sanders, Chuck Schumer, and Anti-Semitism
01:04:17 Is Trump a Slave to Money, Power, and Putin?
01:11:02 Is Chuck Schumer’s Definition of Anti-Semitism Terrible?
01:19:52 Free Speech and Academia
01:24:34 How Norman Feels About Being Academically Canceled
01:27:45 On Noam Chomsky’s Deceptiveness
01:29:42 More on the Cancelation
01:34:13 How Should We Define Anti-Semitism?
01:43:45 What Should We Do With Holocaust Deniers?
01:47:14 On W.E.B Du Bois
01:58:31 On Race and IQ
02:01:35 Suppression of Free Speech
02:09:02 How to Prevent Another Holocaust
02:18:18 Chuck Schumer is Wrong About Media Echo Chambers
02:22:01 How to Fight Violent Hate
02:35:58 On Chuck Schumer’s Backstory and the Holocaust
02:40:05 Cleaning the Augean Stables of Gaza Scholarship
02:46:21 What Changed on October 7th
02:48:59 Gaza Is Already Rubble: What’s Next?
249 - Chris Hedges: Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and the Rise of American Fascism
Chris Hedges is a Pulitzer Prize–winning author and journalist who was a foreign correspondent for fifteen years for The New York Times. He has covered numerous wars across the decades, written many books—including America: The Farewell Tour and American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America—and has been involved in work for prisoner advocacy. In this episode, Robinson and Chris discuss Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and the rise of American fascism. More particularly, they address comparisons between Trump and Hitler, DOGE, the new crisis for the Democratic Party, Israel and Palestine, the Christian far right, Marxism, and more. Chris’s latest book is A Genocide Foretold (Penguin Random House, 2025).
Chris’s YouTube Channel: https://youtube.com/@chrishedgeschannel?si=XIMAFyQFmWGoYyuO
The Chris Hedges Report Substack: https://chrishedges.substack.com
A Genocide Foretold: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/786808/a-genocide-foretold-by-chris-hedges/
OUTLINE
00:00:00 Introduction
00:00:59 PTSD and Weightlifting
00:06:49 The Decline of the American Empire
00:11:10 The Strongest Dimension of Trump’s Presidency
00:17:20 Was Hitler a Better Speaker than Trump?
00:19:54 How the Democratic Party Sold Out the Working Class
00:22:21 Elon Musk and the Oligarchic Takeover of America
00:28:26 Is Elon Musk Wrong About the Efficiency of Government?
00:31:02 What Is the Deep State?
00:42:46 Is Donald Trump at War with the Deep State?
00:49:23 Infiltrating the Far Right Christian Community
00:54:04 Becoming a Minister
00:57:27 The Christian Right and the Fascist State
01:06:26 The Problem of Evil
01:10:31 On Sadism and the Decline of Empires
01:17:35 Why the Christian Right Supports Israel
01:20:20 How Does Trump Think of Israel?
01:27:38 On How the CIA Attempted to Recruit Him
01:31:06 Is Israel Still Committing Genocide in Gaza?
01:40:25 Chris’s New Book
01:46:24 On His Time with Hamas
01:55:01 Journalism vs Academia
01:58:28 Is Zionism Anti-Semitism?
02:04:52 How to Read the Bible
02:12:01 Where Does Integrity Come From?
02:22:26 Dehumanization in Palestine
02:26:15 On Marxism and Elon Musk
02:31:16 The Farewell Tour
02:35:34 On Trump’s Love of TV
02:37:50 On Reporting the Middle East
02:39:56 Russia and Ukraine
02:42:59 Growing Wealth Disparities in the United States
02:46:56 Fascist Attacks on Education
02:51:39 The Dark Future of the Press
02:57:30 Could the American Empire Be Revived?
Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com
Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University.
248 - Richard Wolff: Trump, Hitler, and the End of the American Empire
Richard Wolff is Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a visiting professor at The New School, where he works on economics in the Marxist tradition. This is Richard’s eighth appearance on Robinson’s Podcast. In his last appearance, episode #243, he and Robinson discussed 2025 and the first weeks of Trump’s presidency, as well as what’s to come. More particularly, they discuss the irrelevance of Donald Trump, his domestic and global policies, China, narratives on the right and left, and the future of the United States. In this episode, they continue the discussion by diving deeper into recent events, Doge, Elon Musk, the relationship between Trump and Hitler, and important historical Marxists. Richard’s latest book is Understanding Capitalism (Democracy at Work, 2024).
Understanding Capitalism (Book): https://www.democracyatwork.info/understanding_capitalism
Richard’s Website: https://www.rdwolff.com
Economic Update: https://www.democracyatwork.info/economicupdate
OUTLINE
00:00:00 Introduction
00:01:27 What Do Trump and Hitler Have in Common?
00:09:42 Is This the Democratic Party’s Worst Crisis?
00:14:58 Is Trump’s Economic Policy a Hail Mary?
00:26:29 The Mexican Deportation Crisis
00:30:19 Global Retaliation Against American Tariffs
00:33:29 America’s Big Mistake with Russian Sanctions
00:40:50 Trump’s Big TikTok Mistake
00:47:05 How Adolf Hitler Came to Power in Germany
01:08:40 Does Elon Musk Symbolize the End of America?
01:16:07 How Bosses Lie When They Fire You
01:23:08 On Elon Musk’s Chainsaw Public Relations Disaster
01:28:52 On the Drowning American Empire
01:34:36 On Elon Musk and the Self-Destruction of Tesla
01:39:27 Feudalism, Communism, and the Death of Capitalism
01:46:22 Does China Represent a New Breed of Capitalism?
01:55:16 What Can the United States Do to Beat China?
02:03:46 What Makes Mao an Important Marxist?
02:17:56 Richard Wolff’s Mediocre Ivy League Education
02:23:59 How Mao Made the China of Today
02:40:39 The Myth of European Global Dominance
02:52:08 On Antonio Gramsci and Mussolini
02:57:03 Why Is Gramsci One of the Great Marxists?
Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com
Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University.
247 - Garry Nolan: Aliens | The Case They’re Already Here
Dr. Nolan is the Rachford and Carlota A. Harris Professor in the Department of Pathology at Stanford University School of Medicine. He has published over 350 research articles and is the holder of 50 US patents, and has been honored as one of the top 25 inventors at Stanford University. He specializes in groundbreaking cancer and immunotherapy research. Yet Garry is also a world-renowned UAP investigator and Executive Director of the Board at the Sol Foundation, one of whose unofficial mottos is: Science, Policy, and Public Education for a Post-UAP World. In this episode, Robinson and Garry discuss the evidence that aliens exist and have already visited Earth. More particularly, they discuss various hypotheses about what aliens are—interdimensional travelers, visitors from other planets, Boltzmann Brains, and others—the Atacama Mummy, Garry’s own UFO encounter, the relationship between aliens and national security, the Pentagon Videos, the Fermi Paradox, and more. Keep up with Garry through X and the Sol Foundation.
Garry’s X Account: https://x.com/GarryPNolan
The Sol Foundation: https://thesolfoundation.org
OUTLINE
00:00:00 Introduction
00:01:23 Garry’s Interest in Aliens
00:05:03 How Garry’s Medical Research Turned into Alien Investigations
00:14:44 The Alien Controversy Around the Atacama Mummy
00:24:08 What Is the Definitive Proof for Aliens?
00:29:34 What Are UAPs
00:32:46 What Are Interdimensional Aliens??
00:36:03 What Are Ultraterrestrial Aliens?
00:40:01 The Time-Traveling Alien Hypothesis
00:41:13 The Angry-Monkey Alien Hypothesis
00:43:35 The Panspermia Alien Hypothesis
00:48:20 Could Intelligent Aliens Have Come to Earth?
00:54:50 Garry’s Background in Genetics
00:57:13 Does Extraterrestrial Life Need Air and Water to Live?
01:07:16 What Is the Fermi Paradox?
01:15:56 UFOs and Government
01:22:23 Garry’s UAP Experience
01:35:27 On Telepathy and Paranormal Abilities
01:39:31 On the Credibility of Alien Witnesses
01:41:34 Does the Government Suppress UFO Reports?
01:49:11 Why Are Aerospace Companies Hiding UFO Data?
01:51:53 Does the Government Possess Alien Metals?
01:58:29 Is Knowledge of Aliens a National Security Threat?
02:02:15 On Alien Abductions and Animal Mutilations
02:06:28 The Violent Changes to Brains Exposed to UFOs
02:17:56 Garry’s Top Secret Clearance
02:19:15 The Truth About the Tic-Tac UFO Incident
02:37:25 What Is the Skywatcher UAP Contact Program?
02:46:01 The Sol Foundation
02:58:24 Why Alien Research Can Prevent Nuclear War
03:02:03 What Are Transmedium Alien UAPs?
03:04:50 Are UAPs Biological Threats?
03:06:31 On Avi Loeb’s Pioneering UAP Research
03:12:49 Is Jacques Vallee One of the Most Important Alien Researchers?
03:18:17 What Should You Tell Someone Who Doesn’t Believe in Aliens?
Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com
Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University.
246 - Tim Maudlin: A Masterclass on General Relativity
Tim Maudlin is Professor of Philosophy at NYU and Founder and Director of the John Bell Institute for the Foundations of Physics. This is Tim’s seventh appearance on the show. He last appeared on episode 237 for a masterclass on Albert Einstein’s theory of special relativity, explaining it from the ground up and elucidating some common misconceptions. In this episode Tim returns for a discussion of another of Einstein’s major impacts on physics: his theory of general relativity. More particularly, Tim and Robinson discuss black holes, time, paradoxes of distance, Penrose diagrams, figures like Leonard Susskind and Richard Feynman, the curvature of space, and more. If you’re interested in the foundations of physics, then please check out the JBI, which is devoted to providing a home for research and education in this important area. Any donations are immensely helpful at this early stage in the institute’s life.
Tim’s Website: www.tim-maudlin.site
The John Bell Institute: https://www.johnbellinstitute.org
00:00:42 An Extended Prelude
00:05:08 Naming Names
00:10:02 The Difference Between Quantum Mechanics and General Relativity
00:13:46 Einstein on General Relativity and Metric
00:27:21 More on Coordinates
00:40:26 A Novel Coordinate System
00:46:25 What Is Special Relativity?
00:50:30 The Conflict Between Quantum Theory and Relativity
01:02:00 Doing Physics with Geometry
01:12:38 Geometry and Special Relativity
01:30:20 More on Geometry and Relativity
01:36:19 Lorentz Frames
01:46:56 Simultaneity
02:02:03 John Bell and Special Relativity
02:11:00 Paradoxes of Distance
02:22:12 A Penrose Diagram
02:27:47 Introducing General Relativity
02:32:23 The Most Important Experiment About Gravity
02:45:52 Changing the Geometry of Spacetime
02:55:28 Curvature of Space
03:02:03 Be Careful with Diagrams in Science
03:05:45 The Basic Idea of General Relativity
03:10:23 The Equivalence Principle
03:19:40 Clocks and Gravity
03:28:09 Richard Feynman on General Relativity
03:37:00 The Cosmological Constant
03:41:56 What Are Black Holes?
03:50:45 What Steven Weinberg Got Wrong About General Relativity
04:01:01 Black Holes and the Centrifugal Force Paradox
04:06:32 Curved Black Holes and Gödel Spacetime
04:19:34 The John Bell Institute
Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com
Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University.
245 - Leonard Susskind: String Theory and the Black Hole War
Leonard Susskind is Felix Block Professor of Physics at Stanford University. Along with other accomplishments, he is among the fathers of such revolutionary concepts in physics as string theory, black hole complementarity, the holographic principle, and the string-theoretic landscape. He was also the guest on episode #217, where he and Robinson discussed the fine-tuning problem and the physics of the multiverse. In this episode, Leonard and Robinson get into another topic—black holes and the information paradox. More particularly, they talk about important figures like Stephen Hawking and Gerard ’t Hooft, singularities, chaos, whether the cosmos is a hologram, the end of the universe, and more. For further details, check out Leonard’s book on the title: The Black Hole War (Back Bay Books, 2009).
The Black Hole War: https://a.co/d/3eTOHoZ
The Theoretical Minimum: https://theoreticalminimum.com
OUTLINE
00:00 Introduction
05:21 Black Holes and the War Between Relativity and Quantum Mechanics
11:18 Is The Singularity at the Heart of a Black Hole Real?
21:51 Demystifying the Puzzle of Quantum Information
28:27 What Does The Famous Phrase “It From Bit” Mean?
38:47 Can Information Be Stored on the Surface of a Black Hole?
47:11 Was Stephen Hawking a Good Physicist?
56:21 How Will The Universe End?
1:00:49 What Is the Black Hole Information Paradox?
1:10:47 What Is the Holographic Principle?
1:20:01 How Leonard Susskind Won the Black Hole War Against Stephen Hawking
1:25:09 What Is the Infamous AdS/CFT Correspondence?
1:32:29 Is Physics in a Deep Crisis?
1:39:29 Are String and M-Theory Totally Wrong?
1:43:05 Is String Theory the Theory of Everything?
1:47:43 Is String Theory a Failure?
1:50:15 Does Our World Have Extra Dimensions?
1:53:34 Could Our World Be a Hologram?
Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com
Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University.
244 - Norman Finkelstein: Donald J. Trump, Mossad Conspiracies in Israel, and the Dying Left
Norman Finkelstein received his PhD from the Princeton University Politics Department, and is best known for his research on Israel and Palestine. In this episode, Norman and Robinson sit down for a discussion about Donald Trump, the latest from Israel, Palestine, and Gaza, and the dying Left. Norman also appeared on episode 192, where he and Robinson discussed allegations of genocide and apartheid, Hamas and Hezbollah, and connections between the war and the Holocaust. Norman was also featured on episode 218, where he addressed the facts and fictions generated by the Israel-Hamas War, and episode 228, which was all about October 6th. Norman and Robinson also discuss Mehdi Hassan, Noam Chomsky, Christopher Hitchens, the Holocaust, Apartheid, Joan Peters, Julia Sebutinde, the Mossad, Sheryl Sandberg, Destiny, Lex Fridman, Bill Ackman, Alan Dershowitz, and more. Norman’s most recent book is I’ll Burn That Bridge When I Get to It! Heretical Thoughts on Identity Politics, Cancel Culture, and Academic Freedom (Sublation Media, 2023).
Norman’s Website: https://www.normanfinkelstein.com
OUTLINE
00:00:00 Introduction
00:07:25 Mehdi Hassan: The Working Class is Stupid
00:12:59 How Far Will the Supreme Court Go with Donald Trump?
00:21:49 Why Bernie Sanders Appeals to the Common Man
00:38:12 How Did Identity Politics Help Trump Win?
00:46:02 The Joy of Stereotypes
01:01:23 Why the People Loved Bernie Sanders and Trump
01:06:16 Noam Chomsky, Philosopher King
01:11:16 Christopher Hitchens Was Not a Serious Intellectual
01:20:58 Norman’s Parents Hate For Religion After the Holocaust
01:34:06 A Lex Fridman and Destiny Conspiracy
01:37:12 Norman’s Family and the Holocaust
01:45:43 Why Jews Stopped Caring About the Holocaust
01:54:43 Why Norman Never Had a Bar Mitzvah
02:02:52 Why Norman’s Parents Hated Germans and Poles
02:11:22 Comparing Gaza to the Holocaust
02:16:48 Comparing Gaza to Apartheid South Africa
02:24:41 Corruption Over Genocide in Palestine
02:27:05 On the Colossal Joan Peters Palestine Hoax
02:30:16 On Norman’s Time as a Maoist
02:39:35 The Corruption of Julia Sebutinde at the International Court of Justice
02:42:25 Does the Mossad Blackmail Public Figures?
02:52:49 Sheryl Sandberg and the War Crime “Israeli Propaganda Machine”
03:05:19 On Accusations of Sex Crimes on October 6th
03:18:12 On His Mortal Feud With Alan Dershowitz
03:31:19 On Bill Ackman and the Pro-Israel American Billionaire Class
Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com
Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University.
243 - Richard Wolff: Donald J. Trump and the Decline of the United States
Richard Wolff is Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a visiting professor at The New School, where he works on economics in the Marxist tradition. This is Richard’s seventh appearance on Robinson’s Podcast. In his last appearance, episode #230, he and Robinson discussed Richard’s arguments against electing Donald Trump for president, as well as his analysis of the election. In this episode, Richard and Robinson talk about 2025 and the first weeks of Trump’s presidency, as well as what’s to come. More particularly, they discuss the irrelevance of Donald Trump, his domestic and global policies, China, narratives on the right and left, and the future of the United States. Richard’s latest book is Understanding Capitalism (Democracy at Work, 2024).
Understanding Capitalism (Book): https://www.democracyatwork.info/understanding_capitalism
Class Theory and History (Book): https://a.co/d/ht4trZN
Understanding the 2024 Elections (Article): https://asiatimes.com/2024/08/capitalism-mass-anger-and-2024-elections/
Richard’s Website: https://www.rdwolff.com
Economic Update: https://www.democracyatwork.info/economicupdate
OUTLINE
00:00 Introduction
05:48 Three Months Later: Why Did Trump Defeat Harris?
08:34 How the Left Can Defeat Donald Trump
12:57 Donald J. Trump Is a Naughty Boy
15:06 Why Kamala Harris Lost the Election
16:27 Why Trump Won the Longshoremen’s Union (Because the Left Failed Them)
25:23 Is Victor Davis Hanson Wrong About the Elites’ War on the Working Class?
36:31 Did West Coast Elites Cause the LA Wildfire Disaster (Is Victor Davis Hanson Wrong?)?
42:26 Why Richard Wolff Enjoys Tucker Carlson
47:02 Can Psychoanalysis and the Subconscious Explain Donald Trump’s Victory?
54:32 Why Unemployment Tanked Harris in the Election
59:45 Deep Seek, The Chinese Phenomenon
1:05:31 The Astonishing Story of How China Came to Dominate Elon Musk Over Electric Cars
1:13:25 Donald Trump’s Huge Misunderstanding About Tariffs
1:17:44 Donald Trump’s Irrational Bluster Tactics
1:20:04 Richard Wolff Exposes Donald Trump’s Contradictions About Immigration
1:34:23 The Marxist Truth About Why Immigrants Are a Gift to the United States
1:41:37 The Weakness of the American Empire
1:44:34 Why Trump’s Policies Will Increase Illegal Mexican Immigration and Drug Trafficking
1:47:58 Should Trump Make Canada the 51st State?
1:51:04 How Elites Rejected Donald Trump and Created the Man He Became
1:54:45 On Larry Summers’s Debacle at Harvard (And How Donald Trump Did It Better)
1:59:25 Why Donald Trump Wants to Take the Panama Canal (And the Actual Best Reason to Control It)
2:02:33 How American Neocons Failed to Stop China From the World Superpower
2:13:29 How the BRICS Are Drastically Outperforming the American Economy
2:20:14 On Europe’s Impending Economic Doom
2:25:18 Is There a Fatal Contradiction in Trump’s Climate Policy?
2:30:03 On Donald Trump’s Anti-Elitist, Anti-DEI Rhetoric
2:33:20 How Will AI Affect China and America’s Economic War?
2:43:19 How Elon Musk is Only an Unsuccessful Bureaucrat
2:45:04 How China’s Communist Government Is More Efficient than the United States’s
2:48:11 Why the United States Is the Aggressor Against China
2:51:10 Why Trump Thinks We Should Conquer Greenland
3:02:18 On China’s Number One Global Priority
3:09:41 What Marxists Learned from the Failure of the Soviet Union
3:15:23 Some Key Lessons from Marx’s Kapital
3:21:56 On How History Will Overwhelm Trump In the Next Four Years
3:26:30 Donald Trump and the Gulf of America
3:28:28 Why We Should Expect More of the Same from Donald Trump
3:32:26 On His Hope For a Brighter Future From the Left
Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com
Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University.
242 - Victor Davis Hanson: President Donald J. Trump and the Fate of the United States
Victor Davis Hanson is a renowned classicist, military historian, and political commentator. He is the Martin and Illie Anderson Senior Fellow in Residence in Classics and Military History at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. Among numerous other awards, Victor was presented with the National Humanities Medal in 2007. Victor most recently appeared on episode #231, which came out just before the 2024 election, and where he made a case to vote for Donald Trump. In this episode, Robinson and Victor discuss the results of the election and President Trump’s inauguration. More particularly, they talk about the biggest challenges he will face as president, the class- and culture war in the United States, Trump’s rhetorical abilities, the California wildfires, and geopolitics, including our relationships with China, Canada, Russia, and the Middle East. Keep up with Victor on Twitter, through his website, and on his podcast, The Victor Davis Hanson Show.
Victor’s Website: https://victorhanson.com
Victor’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/VDHanson
The Victor Davis Hanson Show: https://art19.com/shows/the-victor-davis-hanson-show
The End of Everything: https://a.co/d/46O0mMB
The Case for Trump: https://a.co/d/8Bf0OdC
OUTLINE
00:00 Introduction
00:53 Victor’s Biggest Worries For Donald Trump’s Presidency
06:38 Donald Trump, The Troll
10:53 Should Donald Trump and the United States Annex Greenland and Canada?
12:50 Will President Donald Trump Take Over the Panama Canal?
14:57 Why the World Fears Donald Trump
17:53 Are the CIA and FBI More Damaging to the United States than Donald Trump?
25:33 The Ideological Disease that Caused the California Wildfire Disaster
28:33 How Victor’s Life Was Saved by Three Hispanic Women
30:08 Is Donald Trump the Problem with America, or Something Else?
32:13 The Real Reason People Hate Donald Trump
34:04 Victor Davis Hanson’s Rude Awakening at Stanford from University Elites
37:43 How California’s Incompetence Destroyed Its Own Water Supply
45:16 Did California Elites Cause the Los Angeles Wildfire Disaster?
50:48 Why Competence Defeated Ideology in Trump’s 2024 Election Victory
54:41 Does Donald Trump Have an Incompetent Cabinet?
1:04:45 Who’s More Competent? Blue Collar Americans or Bicoastal Elites?
1:07:07 Is China Trump’s Biggest Challenge?
1:11:44 Will the Middle East Finally See Peace Under Trump?
Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com
Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University.
241 - Raphael Bousso: The Cold Truth About Quantum Mechanics
Raphael Bousso is the Chancellor’s Chair in Physics at the Berkeley Center for Theoretical Physics, where he leads the Bousso Group in research on quantum gravity and quantum information. He is a renowned string theorist famous also for his development of the string theoretic landscape and the Bousso bound in holography. In this episode, Robinson and Raphael talk about the foundations of quantum mechanics and whether or not there are any deep mysteries within the theory that remain to be solved, and whether philosophical discussion of these issues is overblown. More particularly, they get into what quantum theories tell us about the world, whether we need different interpretations of quantum mechanics, whether the final theory of the universe will be quantum mechanical, how quantum mechanics connects to cosmology, the multiverse, and quantum gravity, and more. The Bousso Group: https://lightsheet.berkeley.edu OUTLINE 00:00 Introduction 00:58 Raphael’s Interest in the Interpretations of Quantum Mechanics 06:11 What Does Quantum Mechanics Tell Us About the World? 19:43 Just What Is an Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics? 26:17 Are There Serious Holes in Quantum Mechanics? 31:01 Schrödinger’s Cat 45:11 UV Completion 48:57 Will The Final Theory of Physics Be Quantum Mechanical? 58:00 How Cosmology Might Help Answer Questions About Quantum Mechanics 1:13:44 String Theory and the Multiverse 1:20:39 How the Multiverse Can Explain Probability 1:30:01 Will the Foundations of Quantum Mechanics Help Us Solve Quantum Gravity? Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University.
240 - Peter Godfrey-Smith: Cuttlefish, Octopuses, and the Consciousness of Mysterious Minds
Robinson’s Podcast #240 - Peter Godfrey-Smith: Cuttlefish, Octopuses, and the Consciousness of Mysterious Minds
Peter Godfrey-Smith is a professor in the School of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Sydney. He has also taught at Stanford University and Harvard University. Among other topics, he has researched the philosophy of biology and mind, and is very well-known for his book Other Minds: The Octopus, The Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness (FSG, 2016). In this episode, Peter and Robinson discuss that book, as well as his latest, Living on Earth (William Collins, 2024). More particularly, they discuss cuttlefish, octopuses, consciousness, metaethics, and animal welfare.
Peter’s Website: https://petergodfreysmith.com
Living on Earth: https://a.co/d/9MvUFHV
OUTLINE
00:00 Introduction
01:10 Scuba Diving with Cuttlefish and Octopuses
09:43 Why Did Creatures Evolve Nervous Systems?
16:18 Why Did Conscious Minds Evolve?
27:23 Why Do We Believe that Other Animals Have Minds?
36:49 Do Shrimp or Fish Feel Pain?
47:01 What’s It Like to Be an Octopus?
57:32 What Is Metaethics?
1:04:57 First-Order Ethics
1:08:12 Is It Morally Acceptable to Eat Animals?
1:16:04 What Does Peter Eat?
1:29:49 Future Work
239 - Ned Block: Consciousness, Artificial Intelligence, and the Philosophy of Mind
Ned Block is Silver Professor at New York University in the Departments of Philosophy and Psychology, where he works on the philosophy of mind, the philosophy of neuroscience, and cognitive science. In this episode, Robinson and Ned discuss some of the titans he studied under, ChatGPT and the nature of artificial intelligence, the Turing Test, androids, consciousness, the connection between seeing and thinking, blindsight, change blindness, and more. Ned’s most recent book is The Border Between Seeing and Thinking (OUP, 2023).
Ned’s Website: https://www.nedblock.us
The Border Between Seeing and Thinking: https://a.co/d/fqVb7gj
OUTLINE
00:00 Introduction
00:53 Ned’s Entry into Philosophy of Mind
02:08 On Hilary Putnam, John Rawls, and Philippa Foot
08:10 Can ChatGPT Do Multiplication?
10:57 Does Noam Chomsky Understand ChatGPT?
13:11 Is the Turing Test Completely Wrong?
17:52 On Daniel Dennett
23:46 On Michael Graziano and the Attention Schema Theory of Consciousness
26:03 Are Animals Conscious?
30:51 Does ChatGPT Pass the Turing Test?
36:53 Mary in the White Room
41:16 The Blockhead Thought Experiment
45:53 How to Show that ChatGPT Is Dumb
48:51 Why Can’t ChatGPT Reason About Images?
51:48 How to Create an Android
55:10 What Is Thought?
1:00:13 Susan Carey
1:03:19 Are There Different Kinds of Consciousness?
1:05:10 On Psychoanalysis
1:06:08 What Are Blindsight and Change Blindness?
1:11:38 The Difference Between Seeing and Thinking
1:16:03 Was Helen Keller Conscious?
1:18:39 Are Salmon Conscious?
1:20:58 What Are the Dominant Theories of Consciousness?
1:27:35 Do We Know What Consciousness Is?
1:31:25 Functionalism and Mental Properties
Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com
Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University.
238 - Barry Loewer: What Is The Philosophy of Science?
Barry Loewer is Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at Rutgers. Before that he did his PhD in philosophy at Stanford. Barry works largely in the philosophy of physics, the philosophy of science, and metaphysics. This is Barry’s third appearance on the show. He was last on episode 189 with David Albert, in which Robinson, David, and Barry discussed David and Barry’s joint program known as “The Mentaculus”, which they use to solve many problems in the foundations of physics, from probability to the direction of time. In this episode, Barry and Robinson discuss the philosophical foundations of science, touching on the relationship between science and pseudoscience, Karl Popper, string theory, scientific realism, and many other important debates and figures. If you’re interested in the foundations of physics, then please check out the the John Bell Institute for the Foundations of Physics, which is devoted to providing a home for research and education in this important area. Any donations are immensely helpful at this early stage in the institute’s life.
The Probability Map of the Universe: https://a.co/d/4XoYTMY
The John Bell Institute: https://www.johnbellinstitute.org
OUTLINE
00:00 Introduction
7:53 On Pseudoscience and Astrology
11:40 Falsification as a Criterion of Science
16:40 Is String Theory Pseudoscience?
20:14 On Marxism
24:45 What Is Scientific Realism?
34:35 On Hilary Putnam
42:16 Science Vs Metaphysics
48:32 Time in Science and Metaphysics
52:38 On Fundamentalia
56:01 On Reductionism
1:00:04 On Consciousness and Emergence
1:04:56 On Causation
1:25:52 On Time Travel
1:28:29 On Explanation and Thermodynamics
1:39:23 On Free Will
1:47:00 The Laws of Nature
Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com
Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University.
237 - Tim Maudlin: A Masterclass on Special Relativity
Tim Maudlin is Professor of Philosophy at NYU and Founder and Director of the John Bell Institute for the Foundations of Physics. This is Tim’s seventh appearance on the show. He last appeared on episode 210 with David Albert for a discussion of the measurement problem in quantum mechanics. In this episode, Tim and Robinson talk about Albert Einstein’s theory of special relativity, explaining it from the ground up and elucidating some common misconceptions. More particularly, they get into Einstein’s magnificent mind, how special relativity displaced the theory of the ether, absolute and relative space, the speed and nature of light, the possibility of time travel, relativistic quantum mechanics, and more. If you’re interested in the foundations of physics, then please check out the JBI, which is devoted to providing a home for research and education in this important area. Any donations are immensely helpful at this early stage in the institute’s life.
Tim’s Website: www.tim-maudlin.site
The John Bell Institute: https://www.johnbellinstitute.org
OUTLINE
00:00 Introduction
01:59 The Amazing Fertility of Einstein's Mind
08:50 The Mysterious Ether and Why It Isn't All Around Us
25:01 Einstein Versus Relative and Absolute Space
29:58 The Single Most Important Experiment in Physics
45:23 Special Relativity and Absolute Space
53:56 The Conceptual Clarity of Genius Physicists
1:01:05 A Thought Experiment to Explain Einstein's Theory of Special Relativity
1:13:48 Is the Speed of Light an Illusion?
1:23:33 Richard Feynman's Big Mistake About Einstein
1:34:23 On Einstein and the Possibility of Time Travel
1:42:53 Is Special Relativity Compatible with Quantum Mechanics?
1:49:55 Relativistic Bohmian Mechanics
1:57:00 Does Anything Move Faster than Light?
1:59:03 The John Bell Institute for the Foundations of Physics
Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com
Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University.
236 - David Albert: A Masterclass on Time’s Arrow
David Albert is the Frederick E. Woodbridge Professor of Philosophy at Columbia University, director of the Philosophical Foundations of Physics program at Columbia, and a faculty member of the John Bell Institute for the Foundations of Physics. This is David’s ninth appearance on Robinson’s Podcast. He last appeared on episode 221 to discuss the measurement problem of quantum mechanics. In this episode, David gives a pedagogical and introductory overview of the problem of time’s arrow, which is one of the most enduring of all physical and philosophical puzzles. David’s most recent book is A Guess at the Riddle (2023). If you’re interested in the foundations of physics, then please check out the JBI, which is devoted to providing a home for research and education in this important area. Any donations are immensely helpful at this early stage in the institute’s life.
A Guess at the Riddle: https://a.co/d/6qcsidl
The John Bell Institute: https://www.johnbellinstitute.org
OUTLINE
00:58 The Tension Between Past and Future in Physics
8:56 The Arrow of Time in Life and Physics
12:26 The Three Arrows of Time
18:12 Entropy and the Direction of Time
29:12 Thermodynamics and the Problem of the Past
38:26 Why Do We Remember the Past But Not the Future?
48:46 Two Ways to Understand the Past
1:04:21 Why Can We Affect the Future But Not the Past
1:17:51 Why Can Agents Control the Future but not the Past?
1:26:57 Can the Laws of Quantum Physics Be Run Backward?
1:33:11 The Connection Between the Foundations of Quantum Physics and Statistical Mechanics
1:41:53 Cosmology and the Past Hypothesis
1:44:25 Why are Left and Right Different from Past and Future?
1:49:28 The Difference Between Space and Time
1:57:14 Is Time a Fundamental Part of Reality?
1:59:14 Future Work
Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com
Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University
235 - Janna Levin: How to Survive a Black Hole
Janna Levin is the Claire Tow Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Barnard College of Columbia University. She is also the Chair and Founding Director of the Science Studios at Pioneer Works. In this episode, Robinson and Janna talk all about black holes and how to survive them. More particularly, they discuss how black holes were discovered both theoretically and empirically, common misconceptions about black holes, their role in theories of quantum gravity, and how they do and will contribute to both the life and death of the universe. If you’d like to learn more about black holes, read Janna’s latest book, Black Hole Survival Guide (Anchor, 2022). Janna’s Website: https://jannalevin.com Black Hole Survival Guide: https://a.co/d/biGGqZc Pioneer Works: https://pioneerworks.org OUTLINE 00:00 Introduction 06:10 The Original Theory of Black Holes 14:45 Is There Gravity in Space? 20:40 Just What IS a Black Hole? 38:47 Why Physicists Resisted the Possibility of Black Holes 50:44 What’s at the Center of a Black Hole? 55:34 What Happens When Something Falls into a Black Hole? 1:03:23 Is Leonard Susskind a Genius Physicist? 1:12:07 What Is the Fine-Tuning Problem? 1:17:52 How Close Can You Get to a Black Hole and Still Survive? 1:25:10 Why Are Black Holes Perfect Objects? 1:32:12 How Do Black Holes Form? 1:41:31 What Will Happen to the Sun When It Dies? 1:50:38 Black Holes, Dark Energy, and the Fate of the Universe 1:54:45 The Heat Death of the Universe 1:59:18 Pioneer Works Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University.
234 - Richard Wolff & Michael Hudson: Karl Marx and the Fall of the West
This episode came on the heels of a traumatic, eight-interview sprint in NYC. As you’ll see, this one was particularly chaotic, but the stars aligned to make it happen. Camera switches, bathroom breaks, health concerns, equipment malfunctions, and even a robbery didn’t prevent the conversation from coming together. With this in mind, I hope you’ll forgive how crazy and inconsistent the video is; the fact that it even got put together is courtesy of my friend and editor Yu Guo (a philosopher who got his PhD from NYU with past guest Paul Boghossian). Given that there’s some new intro music, and you’re already getting an abundance of distracting production nuggets, I decided to show the soup being made. My thanks go to Richard, who met with me twice in three days (not to mention his wife, who allowed it), and Michael, who put up with me for over four hours.
- Robinson
P.S. Toward the end of the episode Michael eats a jerky stick from Maui Nui Venison, which is a company operating out of Hawaii that manages the invasive deer population of Maui that is decimating the landscape. Instead of culling the animals and disposing of their bodies, the meat is butchered and sold. It is the only meat I eat, full-stop, and the ethical reasons are sufficient for this, but it is also the best meat that I have ever had. I reached out to Maui Nui and told them that I support what they are doing and would like to be of any help that I can. They gave me this coupon code—ROBINSON—which you can use for 15% off. I am not being paid for this in any way. I believe in what they are doing and I want this model to succeed. People are going to be eating meat for the foreseeable future and I would be happier if it was not factory-farmed meat. So please check Maui Nui out and give them a try!
Richard Wolff is Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a visiting professor at The New School, where he works on economics in the Marxist tradition. Michael Hudson is Distinguished Research Professor of Economics at the University of Missouri, Kansas City and President of the Institute for the Study of Long-Term Economic Trends. He researches domestic and international finance, the history of economics, and the role of debt in shaping class stratification, among many other topics.
OUTLINE
00:00 Introduction
00:51 Michael and Rick's Histories with Marx
16:50 A Marxless Education
29:42 Marxism and the West
35:18 Marx and the Emergence of Capitalism
43:59 Socialism Vs State Capitalism
49:21 The Culmination of Economics in Marx
57:16 The Crucial Features of Marxism
1:12:15 Marx, China, and the BRICS
1:25:57 The Laws of Motion of Finance Capitalism
1:28:58 Why Won't Mainstream Media Interview Michael Hudson and Richard Wolff?
1:42:16 Why is the American Empire Crumbling?
1:54:51 Is the Dollar Destroying the United States?
2:01:38 Marx as the Culmination of Classical Economics
2:10:19 Will Trump's China Tariff Policy Spell Disaster for America?
2:22:43 Is Trump's Policy on Russia Idiotic?
2:27:23 Does It Matter for America Who Wins the Election?
2:37:13 Michael's Rhetorical Abilities
2:43:54 How Can We Use Economics to Forecast the Future?
2:54:48 Does Paul Krugman Know Anything About Economics?
2:57:57 How Michael Got His PhD
3:04:59 What's Wrong With the Nobel Prize in Economics?
3:10:04 The Long and Short of Marx's Kapital
3:17:20 Capitalism and Labor
3:31:51 The Biggest Myth About Karl Marx
233 - Judith Butler: Trump & Harris | Israel & Palestine | Sex & Gender
Judith Butler is Distinguished Professor in the Graduate School and formerly the Maxine Elliot Chair in the Department of Comparative Literature and the Program of Critical Theory at the University of California, Berkeley. In this episode, Robinson and Judith discuss three broad topics. First, they talk about Judith’s latest book, Who’s Afraid of Gender? (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2024). In particular, they touch on the dynamics of sex and gender, as well as their political dimensions. Second, the conversation turns to the 2024 presidential election between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. Finally, they broach the topic of Israel and Palestine, with particular attention to the questions of genocide and anti-semitism. Who’s Afraid of Gender?: https://a.co/d/beDcQ1S OUTLINE 00:00 Introduction 01:03 Judith’s Introduction to Philosophy and Gender Studies 11:00 Who’s Afraid of Gender? 22:11 On Trans and Intersex Olympics Controversies 26:09 Is the Man/Woman Binary a Fantasy? 35:17 Are Putin and Orban Transphobic? 41:49 How to Change One’s Gender 47:25 Language and Gender 52:16 On Psychoanalysis 58:49 On Gender Issues and the 2024 Election 1:04:30 On Trump 2024 1:06:14 On Harris 2024 1:10:39 Is Anti-Zionism Anti-Semitism? 1:18:51 Is Gaza a Concentration Camp? 1:20:49 How Will the War in Israel and Palestine End? Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, historians, economists, and everyone in-between.
232 - Niall Ferguson: Trump v. Harris | Israel v. Hamas | Russia v. Ukraine
Sir Niall Ferguson is the Milbank Family Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and a senior faculty fellow of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University, where he served for twelve years as the Laurence A. Tisch Professor of History. In this episode, Robinson and Niall discuss three of the biggest conflicts currently gripping the news—the election in the United States and the two wars between Israel and Hamas on the one hand, and Russia and Ukraine on the other. Undergirding the entire discussion is the question of whether the United States is an empire, whether it is failing, and what the world needs America to be. Niall's most recent book is Doom: The Politics of Catastrophe (Penguin, 2021).
Niall's Website: https://www.niallferguson.com
Doom: https://a.co/d/eWAx65C
OUTLINE
00:00 Introduction
00:44 Niall's Take as a Scottish Historian
05:20 Is the United States an Empire?
12:49 What Does the World Need the United States to Be?
19:47 Is Trump or Harris Better for the Russia-Ukraine War?
26:35 Is Trump Too Dangerous to Have the Nuclear Launch Codes?
29:54 How Terrible Was Biden's Withdrawal from Afghanistan?
34:22 Is the United States on the Precipice of Self-Destruction?
41:08 Will Donald Trump Actually Help the Suffering Poor of America?
46:23 Will Niall Ferguson Vote For Donald Trump?
50:31 The Dangers of American Politics
54:55 The Right Versus the Left on the Wars in Ukraine and Israel
1:00:07 How Has the Media Fed the Israel-Hamas War in Palestine?
1:06:35 Is Benjamin Netanyahu a Satanic Figure?
1:11:19 Is Israel Committing a new Holocaust—Genocide—in Palestine?
1:17:21 Trump, Harris, Russia, Ukraine, Israel, Palestine: Do They Even Matter?
Robinson's Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com
Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University.
231 - Victor Davis Hanson: The Final Case for Donald J. Trump
Victor Davis Hanson is a renowned classicist, military historian, and political commentator. He is the Martin and Illie Anderson Senior Fellow in Residence in Classics and Military History at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. Among numerous other awards, Victor was presented the National Humanities Medal in 2007. In this episode, Robinson and Victor discuss the 2024 presidential election. More particularly, they review some of the main arguments for and against electing Donald Trump or Kamala Harris. This includes their records, domestic and foreign policies, recent assassination attempts, and more. Victor also appeared as a guest on episode #112, in which he and Robinson talked about what was at the time Victor’s latest book, The Dying Citizen. He was also a guest on episode #191, which covered Victor’s views on the current crisis in Israel and Palestine. Most recently, on episode #208, they spoke about Victor’s most recent book, The End of Everything. Keep up with Victor on Twitter, through his website, and on his podcast, The Victor Davis Hanson Show.
Victor’s Website: https://victorhanson.com
Victor’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/VDHanson
The Victor Davis Hanson Show: https://art19.com/shows/the-victor-davis-hanson-show
The End of Everything: https://a.co/d/46O0mMB
The Case for Trump: https://a.co/d/8Bf0OdC
OUTLINE
00:00 Introduction
03:56 Why Is The 2024 Election So Important?
10:18 Is Trump Innocent of All Charges?
20:19 Is Trump a Unique Election Denier?
27:30 On the Trump Assassination Attempts and Anti-Trump Conspiracy Theories
35:21 The Best Reasons to Have Voted for Joe Biden
44:44 Will Kamala Harris Bring a New Radical Agenda to the White House?
48:49 Why You Shouldn’t Vote for Kamala Harris
55:51 The Case for Trump
1:01:50 On Hillsdale College
1:07:52 On Hard Political Discussions in Hard Times
Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com
Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, historians, economists, and everyone in-between.
230 - Richard Wolff: The Final Case Against Donald J. Trump
Patreon: https://bit.ly/3v8OhY7
Robinson’s Fashion Empire: http://bit.ly/3XBKqO2
Richard Wolff is Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a visiting professor at The New School, where he works on economics in the Marxist tradition. This is Richard’s fifth appearance on Robinson’s Podcast. In episode #127, he and Robinson discussed some of the most profound criticisms of capitalism; in #154, they focused on the myths surrounding Marxism and Marx himself; in #190 they covered the Israel-Palestine conflict from a Marxist perspective; and in #222 they assess the end of the American Empire. In this episode, Richard and Robinson talk about the 2024 election. More particularly, they discuss the irrelevance of Donald Trump, both candidates’ economic policies, the Biden administration’s track record, Ukraine and Russia, Israel and Palestine, the promise of Kamala Harris, immigration, and the future of the United States. Richard’s latest book is Understanding Capitalism (Democracy at Work, 2024).
Understanding Capitalism (Book): https://www.democracyatwork.info/understanding_capitalism
Class Theory and History (Book): https://a.co/d/ht4trZN
Understanding the 2024 Elections (Article): https://asiatimes.com/2024/08/capitalism-mass-anger-and-2024-elections/
Richard’s Website: https://www.rdwolff.com
Economic Update: https://www.democracyatwork.info/economicupdate
OUTLINE
00:00 Introduction
01:08 Is it Possible to Predict the Future?
07:51 The Irrelevance of Donald Trump
12:15 The United States vs The Savages
15:41 Does the Government Even Matter?
18:26 On Young Frankenstein and the Declining American Empire
20:49 On Richard’s Astounding Rhetorical Abilities
29:40 What Makes Donald Trump Great?
37:38 Was Trump Good for the Economy?
40:52 Did Trump Win the Economic War Against China?
43:46 Were Trump’s Tax Cuts Disastrous for Americans?
50:00 Why Won’t Trump Just Go Away?
52:29 Is Ukraine Doomed to Lose the Russian War?
54:26 On Private Versus State Capitalism (Or, American vs Russia)
1:00:21 Who Will be Left When America Crumbles?
1:05:04 How Can We Sum Up Biden’s Presidency?
1:13:14 What on Earth Should We Make of Kamala Harris
1:23:24 Donald Trump Versus Marxism
1:29:30 The Republican and Democratic War on Immigrants
1:37:38 Trump Vs Harris on Economics | Who Wins?
1:43:44 Trump Vs Harris on Russia, Ukraine, Israel, & Palestine
1:50:37 Trump, Harris, and the War on Data
1:55:10 On Richard Wolff, the Man, and Donald Trump
1:57:43 Will Trump or Harris Win 2024?
Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com
Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, historians, economists, and everyone in-between.
229 - Rashid Khalidi: October 7th Revisited | Israel, Palestine, Gaza, Hamas, & The Nakba
Patreon: https://bit.ly/3v8OhY7
Robinson’s Fashion Empire: http://bit.ly/3XBKqO2
Some speakers, like Norman (https://youtu.be/vhFm62msNGc), are whip-smart and all I can do is ask a question before letting them take me along for the ride. Others are just as sharp, but the interview is an entirely different experience. I feel silly being this dramatic, so forgive me; it just seems that what follows is the proper extended metaphor to describe our conversation. Rashid crackles with energy when he talks, just as if he were a fighter. Even if he’s not using his fists, his cadence is like a boxer’s and I had to roll with the punches. This was another great one, and as usual I bear very little responsibility beyond sticking it out in the ring. I’m going to resist the urge to make any more boxing comments and instead finish with this: Thanks for listening.
- Robinson
P.S. In a number of recent episodes I’ve mentioned Maui Nui Venison, which is a company operating out of Hawaii that manages the invasive deer population of Maui that is decimating the landscape. Instead of culling the animals and disposing of their bodies, the meat is butchered and sold. It is the only meat I eat, full-stop, and the ethical reasons are sufficient for this, but it is also the best meat that I have ever eaten. I reached out to Maui Nui and told them that I support what they are doing and would like to be of any help that I can. They gave me this coupon code—ROBINSON—which you can use for 20% off. I am not being paid for this in any way. I believe in what they are doing and I want this model to succeed. People are going to be eating meat for the foreseeable future and I would be happier if it was not factory-farmed meat. So please check Maui Nui out and give them a try!
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Rashid Khalidi is the Edward Said Professor Emeritus of Modern Arab Studies at Columbia University. He was editor of the Journal of Palestine Studies, President of the Middle East Studies Association, and an advisor to the Palestinian delegation to the Madrid and Washington Arab-Israeli peace negotiations from October 1992 until June 1993. In this episode, Rashid and Robinson discuss the history that culminated in October 7th, 2023, what has happened since then, and what might happen in the future. More particularly, they talk about Zionism, the Nakba, how Gaza was created, the war between Israel and Hamas, Egypt’s role in the crisis, the question of genocide, and the future of Palestine. Rashid’s most recent book is The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine (Metropolitan Books, 2021).
The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine: https://a.co/d/7Mrwuz9
The Neck and the Sword: https://shorturl.at/N7HRo
A New Abyss (The Guardian Long Read): https://shorturl.at/oVn5j
OUTLINE
00:00 Introduction
01:07 On His Palestinian Ancestors’ Battle Against Zionism
04:04 Is the Israel-Hamas War an American War?
06:04 How Far Back Must We Go to Understand October 7th?
07:33 The Nakba Versus the Bible
12:42 The Zionist Propaganda War
15:40 Is the War Between Israel and Hamas Fought in the Media?
18:52 Is All Zionist History Propaganda?
22:12 How Did the Nakba Create Gaza?
27:16 How Rashid’s Family Was Scattered by the Nakba
28:45 Has Gaza Become a Concentration Camp?
33:10 Did Hamas Cause the Apocalyptic Blockade on Gaza?
38:04 Did the Election of Hamas Further Doom Gaza?
40:21 Is Israel Committing Genocide in Gaza?
45:17 Were the War Crimes of October 7th Justified?
46:52 Can Israel’s War Crimes Against Gaza Be Justified?
48:48 Can Israel Destroy Hamas?
51:30 Is Egypt Responsible for the Gaza Crisis?
53:30 Who Are the Biggest Players in the Israel-Hamas War?
54:30 Is the Israel-Hamas War Just Beginning?
01:00:07 How Soon Will Israel Conquer Gaza?
01:05:19 Rashid’s Hope for the Future of Israel and Palestine
Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com
Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University.
228 - Norman Finkelstein: October 7th Revisited | Israel, Palestine, Hezbollah, & The End of Gaza
Patreon: https://bit.ly/3v8OhY7
Robinson’s Fashion Empire: http://bit.ly/3XBKqO2
Norman Finkelstein received his PhD from the Princeton University Politics Department, and is best known for his research on Israel and Palestine. In this episode, Norman and Robinson sit down for a discussion centered around the anniversary of October 7th, and they speak about the immensity of what has happened in the Israel-Palestine region in the time before and since. Norman also appeared on episode 192, where he and Robinson discussed allegations of genocide and apartheid, Hamas and Hezbollah, and connections between the war and the Holocaust. Norman was also featured on episode 218, where he addressed the facts and fictions generated by the Israel-Hamas War. Norman’s most recent book is I’ll Burn That Bridge When I Get to It! Heretical Thoughts on Identity Politics, Cancel Culture, and Academic Freedom (Sublation Media, 2023).
Norman’s Website: https://www.normanfinkelstein.com
OUTLINE
00:00:00 Introduction
00:01:44 Why Norman Couldn’t Have Predicted October 7th
00:04:45 Gaza’s Last Victim
00:07:55 Is the Palestine Question Dead?
00:11:13 What Hamas in Gaza and American Slave Rebellions Have in Common
00:17:22 How the Nakba Created Gaza in 1948
00:21:21 Is Gaza a Concentration Camp?
00:25:20 High-Tech Israeli Killing Sprees in Gaza
00:29:23 The Butcher of Beirut & The Sabra and Shatila Massacre
00:31:20 On the First Intifada and the Silencing of Gaza
00:37:11 On Hassan Nasrallah, Leader of Hezbollah
00:41:59 How Israel Will Destroy Hezbollah
00:42:35 Israel Vs The Party of God
00:45:32 On the Courage of Dying for a Cause
00:48:24 On His Time with Hezbollah and Nasrallah
00:52:41 Noam Chomsky on Hezbollah’s Threat to Israel
00:56:30 On Nasrallah’s Prophetic Speech Before His Assassination
01:02:10 On Martin Luther King Jr’s Final Words
01:04:35 On Nasrallah and the Assassination of Pro-Palestine Leaders
01:07:08 The Parallel Between American Slaves and Gazan Palestinians
01:12:37 Will the Gazans Be Emancipated like American Blacks from Slavery?
01:19:16 Norman’s Big Question for Noam Chomsky
01:21:26 The Question of Gaza as a Concentration Camp
01:23:03 The Crushing Toll of the Holocaust on Norman
01:32:08 On His Mother, Piers Morgan, and Gaza as a Holocaust
01:34:14 On the Rise of Hamas
01:38:49 On Hamas, Nasrallah, and the Sealed Fate of Gaza
01:41:36 Does Israel Have the Right to Commit Genocide?
01:45:48 Does Israel Intentionally Murder Innocent Civilians?
01:50:10 Just How Brutal Are Israel’s High Tech Military Operations?
01:54:09 On Gandhi’s Meditations in Jail
01:56:07 Does Israel Go on Killing Sprees in Palestine?
01:58:43 Are the Leaders of Hamas Rich Billionaires?
02:04:43 Comparing Gaza and the Warsaw Ghetto
02:09:33 The Absurdity of Gaza’s Economy
02:15:11 What Was Hamas’s Intentions on October 7th?
02:18:14 Did Hamas Commit Sexual Violence Against Israelis on October 7th?
02:24:07 On Israel’s Violent Revenge Against Hamas
02:26:50 Has Israel Restored Its Fearsome Reputation in the Middle East?
02:30:34 Has Israel Exterminated Gaza?
02:36:31 The Bottom Line on Israel and the Desolation of Gaza
02:39:39 Will There Be a Ceasefire in Gaza?
02:43:58 Why Does Israel Always Win?
02:52:40 On Philosophy, Chattel Slavery, and Justice in Palestine
02:58:02 On Justice and Norman Finkelstein’s Purpose in Life
Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com
Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, historians, economists, and everyone in-between.
227 - David Eagleman: Synesthesia, Brain Plasticity, AI, and Conspiracy Theories
Patreon: https://bit.ly/3v8OhY7
Robinson’s Fashion Empire: http://bit.ly/3XBKqO2
David Eagleman is a neuroscientist at Stanford University who works on synesthesia, brain plasticity, and sensory substitution, among other topics. He is also a bestselling author, the host of the Inner Cosmos podcast, and writer and presenter of the international PBS series The Brain with David Eagleman. In this episode, Robinson and David discuss brain plasticity and its optimization, the neuroscience of language-learning, consciousness and animal minds, synesthesia, sensory substitution, artificial intelligence, conspiracy theories, and more. David’s most recent book is Livewired: The Inside Story of the Ever-Changing Brain (Vintage, 2021).
David’s Website: https://eagleman.com
Livewired: https://a.co/d/67w3TQ3
Inner Cosmos: https://eagleman.com/podcast/
OUTLINE
00:00:53 David’s Interest in the Mind
00:02:52 Solving A Problem of Kant with Modern Neuroscience
00:06:08 On Brain Plasticity and How to Maximize It
00:15:23 Do Children Really Learn Languages Faster than Adults?
00:19:46 Using Neuroscience to Maximize Weight Loss and Improve Diet Outcomes
00:22:09 Was Helen Keller Conscious?
00:24:14 Why Neuroscience Hasn’t Figured Out Consciousness
00:28:32 What Really Is Synesthesia?
00:36:44 On Animal Consciousness and Eating Meat
00:42:56 What Is Intelligence?
00:45:52 What Is the Intelligence Echo Illusion?
00:52:02 Will ChatGPT Surpass Our Greatest Thinkers?
00:55:50 Do We Need to Replace the Turing Test?
01:05:57 Inner Cosmos
01:09:16 Why Does the Brain Love Conspiracy Theories?
01:11:33 Why Does the Brain Fall for Magic Tricks?
01:13:14 Why Can’t We Tickle Ourselves?
Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com
Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, historians, economists, and everyone in-between.
226 - David Builes: The Metaphysics of Time and Consciousness
Patreon: https://bit.ly/3v8OhY7
David Builes is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Princeton University, where he works in metaphysics and epistemology and has made serious contributions to the philosophies of mind, science, and mathematics. In this episode, Robinson and David discuss the metaphysics of time—including debates about the reality of the past, present, and future—the question of whether science can explain consciousness, and whether numbers exist as abstract objects.
David’s Website: https://davidbuiles.com
OUTLINE
00:00 Introduction
01:05 David’s Interest in Philosophy
05:47 On the Philosophy of Time
16:01 In Defense of Presentism
24:21 How Long is the Present?
25:58 Humean and Non-Humean Laws
28:02 Can Science Explain Consciousness?
40:25 Does David Believe His Work?
43:32 First-Person Realism
53:18 Is First-Person Realism Correct?
57:42 The Philosophy of Math
01:01:45 Do Numbers Exist?
Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com
Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, historians, economists, and everyone in-between.
225 - Alexander Nehamas: Nietzsche, Eternal Recurrence, and the Will to Power
Patreon: https://bit.ly/3v8OhY7
Alexander Nehamas is the Edmund N. Carpenter II Class of 1943 Professor in the Humanities, both of philosophy and comparative literature, at Princeton University. He is best known for his work on ancient philosophy, literary theory, the philosophy of art, and his scholarship on Friedrich Nietzsche. In this episode, Robinson and Alexander primarily discuss the latter, though they also delve into some of his other work. More particularly, they discuss Nietzsche’s writings on eternal recurrence, the will to power, and morality, among other topics, as well as the perils of doing history as a philosopher, the infamous Elgin marbles, great works of literature, and personal style. Alexander’s most well-known work on Nietzsche is Nietzsche: Life as Literature (Harvard, 1987).
Nietzsche: Life as Literature: https://a.co/d/7V3MYk0
OUTLINE
00:00 Introduction
3:07 The Essentials of Nietzsche
11:42 Nietzsche and Eternal Recurrence
14:46 Nietzsche on Free Will
19:06 Nietzsche on Art and the Ideal Life
20:41 Nietzsche on Herd Morality and Mediocrity
23:20 Nietzsche on the Will to Power
27:02 Nietzsche on Our Dominance Over Animals
30:41 Was Nietzsche an Anti-Semite?
33:02 Nietzsche’s Relationship to Animals
36:53 Was Nietzsche an Enemy of Morality?
39:54 Nietzsche and the Worship of Greatness
41:06 Favorite Literature
48:39 Nietzsche and the Perils of the History of Philosophy
1:05:43 The Elgin Marbles
1:13:50 On Plato and Ancient Philosophy
1:22:34 Nietzsche on Animal Agriculture
1:29:10 Nietzsche on Seeing Life as a Literary Work
1:34:10 Nietzsche on the Weak and the Great
1:39:32 Philosophy and Life
1:46:11 On Philosophy and Fashion
Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com
Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, historians, economists, and everyone in-between.
224 - Peter Woit: String Theory and the Crisis in Physics
Patreon: https://bit.ly/3v8OhY7
Peter Woit is a senior lecturer in the Department of Mathematics at Columbia University, where he researches quantum field theory and quantum gravity. Peter is one of the most well-known critics of string theory, and in this episode he and Robinson discuss his work and research in the area, which is encapsulated in his book Not Even Wrong: The Failure of String Theory and the Search for Unity in Physical Law (Basic Books, 2007), as well as his website by the same name. More particularly, they talk about the standard model of particle physics, the problem of quantum gravity, the main figures in string theory, the arguments for and against this approach to physics, its many alleged failures, and the future of research in the area.
Not Even Wrong (Book): https://a.co/d/iVnPEi1
Not Even Wrong (Website): https://www.math.columbia.edu/~woit/wordpress/
OUTLINE
00:00 Introduction
02:29 Peter’s Training in Physics
06:21 What Is the Standard Model of Physics?
10:42 What Is Symmetry?
21:37 Experiment and the Standard Model of Particle Physics
26:15 What’s Wrong with the Standard Model of Particle Physics?
29:36 What Are Grand Unified Theories in Physics?
34:47 What Is Supersymmetry?
40:15 On Ed Witten and the Genius Mind Behind M-Theory
49:08 What Is String Theory?
1:04:56 What Is M-Theory?
1:07:59 On AdS/CFT
1:16:03 On Holography and Quantum Gravity
1:20:27 String Theory and the Sokal Hoax
1:24:09 Peter’s Love of Physics
1:32:13 On the String-Theoretic Landscape and the Multiverse
1:41:51 What’s the Path Forward for Physics?
1:47:52 Is String Theory the Only Game in Time?
1:53:17 How Did String Theory Become Dominant?
1:56:45 String Theory: Not Even Wrong?
Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com
Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, historians, economists, and everyone in-between.
223 - Michael Graziano: Consciousness, Animal Minds, and the Neuroscience of Suffering
Patreon: https://bit.ly/3v8OhY7
Michael Graziano is Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Princeton University, where he and his lab research the brain basis of consciousness. This is Michael’s second appearance on Robinson’s Podcast. In episode #169, they discussed Michael’s Attention Schema Theory of consciousness, in which consciousness is a way in which the brain models attention to better organize and monitor itself. In this conversation, Robinson and Michael reexamine the Attention Schema Theory with an eye toward the problem of studying the consciousness not only of humans, but of other animals, and with particular regard to the moral questions surrounding animals’ roles in our lives. Michael’s most recent book is Rethinking Consciousness (W. W. Norton, 2019).
Rethinking Consciousness: https://a.co/d/8euR1EL
Graziano Lab: https://grazianolab.princeton.edu
OUTLINE
00:00 Introduction
04:28 Michael’s Interest in Consciousness
07:22 What Is Consciousness?
16:03 Is there a Magical Essence to Consciousness?
28:43 How Did Consciousness Evolve?
35:29 Testing Michael’s Model of Consciousness
44:55 What’s It Like to Be a Human?
48:25 Is Human Suffering an Illusion?
54:07 The Neuroscience of Pain and Suffering
01:00:39 Is There Value to Human Life?
01:10:42 Was Helen Keller Conscious?
01:21:15 The Global Workspace Theory of Consciousness
01:30:20 Do Animals Value Their Own Lives?
01:41:23 Are Shrimp Conscious?
01:52:23 Should Science Inform Morality?
01:54:03 Can Chickens Suffer?
01:57:12 Are Salmon Conscious?
02:09:40 Are Octopuses Conscious?
02:22:43 Are Poultry Conscious?
02:29:43 Are Barnyard Animals Conscious?
Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com
Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, historians, economists, and everyone in-between.
222 - Richard Wolff: Israel, Ukraine, China, and the End of the American Empire
Patreon: https://bit.ly/3v8OhY7
Richard Wolff is Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a visiting professor at The New School, where he works on economics in the Marxist tradition. This is Richard’s fourth appearance on Robinson’s Podcast. In episode #127, he and Robinson discussed some of the most profound criticisms of capitalism; in #154, they focused on the myths surrounding Marxism and Marx himself; and in #190 they covered the Israel-Palestine conflict from a Marxist perspective. In this wide-ranging episode, Richard and Robinson talk about the end of the American empire. More particularly they discuss the wars in Russia, Ukraine, Israel, and Palestine, the rivalry between China and the United States, the global interplay between capitalism and socialism, the distinction between socialism and communism, the conflict between the BRICS and G7 nations, and more. Richard’s latest book is Understanding Capitalism (Democracy at Work, 2024).
Understanding Capitalism (Book): https://www.democracyatwork.info/understanding_capitalism
Class Theory and History (Book): https://a.co/d/ht4trZN
Understanding the 2024 Elections (Article): https://asiatimes.com/2024/08/capitalism-mass-anger-and-2024-elections/
Richard’s Website: https://www.rdwolff.com
Economic Update: https://www.democracyatwork.info/economicupdate
OUTLINE
03:10 On the Trauma of His Family Background
10:50 Academia’s War on Marxism
22:45 Economics as the Secret Undercurrent of History
28:01 Will Ukraine Defeat Russia?
31:52 Is China the Empire of the New World?
39:04 The Best American Strategy Against China
45:24 How Trump Won and Lost America
56:22 Is Israel a Colonialist State?
01:03:23 On the Expulsion of the Palestinians from Israel
01:10:49 Israel as America’s Economic Baby
01:18:08 Global Capitalism as the Enemy of the Islamic World
01:23:00 Why You Should Distrust Wartime Propaganda
01:33:03 Zelensky and the Ukrainian Chess Match
01:42:53 The Economic Conspiracy Behind the American Pick-Up Truck
01:49:31 Israel, Ukraine, and the New Cold War
01:54:20 The Many Taboos of Socialism and Communism
01:58:54 The War Between Socialism and Capitalism
02:07:51 Is Socialism More Efficient than Capitalism?
02:16:58 World War I and the Rise of Socialism
02:22:58 The Failed American Attempt to Destroy Russian Communism
02:27:26 Why Did Russia Choose Communism over Socialism?
02:38:06 Communism, Socialism, and the War for the Workplace
02:43:00 Is China Secretly Capitalist?
02:53:18 America’s Choice Between Equality or Subservience to China
02:58:45 Europe’s Hidden Economic Apocalypse
Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com
Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, historians, economists, and everyone in-between.