Closer To Truth

Arnold Zuboff on Why You Are Every Conscious Being

What if the boundaries between you and every other conscious being are an illusion? Philosopher Arnold Zuboff makes the case for Universalism — the radical view that first-person immediacy, not any particular body or origin, is what makes an experience yours. And if that's right, then you exist wherever consciousness exists.Arnold Zuboff is an American philosopher known for his work on personal identity, consciousness, and probability. He took his PhD at Princeton in 2009 under Thomas Nagel and spent most of his academic career at University College London. Subscribe to Closer To Truth:https://www.youtube.com/@CloserToTruthTV Join the Community:• Membership (5,000+ videos): https://closertotruth.com/register/ • Audio Podcast: https://closertotruth.podbean.com • Support the Show: https://closertotruth.com/donate/ • Official Merchandise: https://www.bonfire.com/store/closertotruth/

Rebecca Newberger Goldstein on The Mattering Instinct

Philosopher Rebecca Newberger Goldstein introduces the idea of the “mattering instinct”—the deep human drive to see our lives as significant. In this conversation, she explores how our longing to matter may arise from the very material reality we often try to transcend.
Rebecca Newberger Goldstein is an award-winning philosopher, writer, and public intellectual. She is the author of 10 books of acclaimed fiction and non-fiction — including 36 Arguments for the Existence of God, Betraying Spinoza, and her landmark new work The Mattering Instinct: How Our Deepest Longing Drives Us and Divides Us. She holds a PhD in philosophy of science from Princeton University and has taught at Yale, Columbia, NYU, Dartmouth, and Harvard. She is a MacArthur Fellow and recipient of the 2014 National Humanities Medal, presented by President Obama in 2015.
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What Is The Far Future Of Intelligence

What might intelligence become—not just in centuries, but across millions or even billions of years?
Robert explores the deepest questions about the far future of intelligence in the universe. While we often think in terms of decades, extending our perspective to vast cosmic timescales challenges our assumptions about meaning, purpose, and what may ultimately be real. If the future holds clues, how far can we reasonably speculate, and what might we discover about intelligence itself?Featuring interviews with Freeman Dyson, Lawrence Krauss, Raymond Kurzweil, Frank Tipler, Robin Collins, and Paul Davies.Get access to over 5,000 videos by signing up for a free Closer To Truth membership: https://closertotruth.com/register/

Roman Yampolskiy on How Dangerous Is Artificial Intelligence

We may be creating something a million times smarter than all of humanity combined — and we have no plan for what happens next. AI safety pioneer Roman Yampolskiy lays out the risks, the arguments, and whether any solution exists. Roman V. Yampolskiy is a tenured Associate Professor of Computer Science at the University of Louisville's Speed School of Engineering, where he founded and directs the Cyber Security Lab. Widely credited with coining the term "AI safety" in 2011, he is the author of AI: Unexplainable, Unpredictable, Uncontrollable.Get access to over 5,000 videos by signing up for a free Closer To Truth membership: https://closertotruth.com/register/

Michael James on What the World Is According to Sri Ramana

Is the world we experience truly real, or is it more like a dream we haven't yet woken up from? Michael James, a leading scholar and translator of the teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi, explores how Ramana's philosophy challenges our most basic assumptions about the self, the world, and the nature of reality. Michael James has spent nearly 50 years studying, practicing, and translating the works of Sri Ramana Maharshi. He studied under Sri Sadhu Om, a direct disciple of Ramana, and is the author of Atma-Vidya: The Science of Knowing Oneself. He is regarded as a leading authority on Ramana's primary sources and experiential practice.Make a donation to Closer To Truth to help us continue exploring the world's deepest questions without the need for paywalls: https://shorturl.at/OnyRq 

Current Arguments for God

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I like arguments about God, whether based on science, philosophy or personal experience. I like to push and to be pushed, explore the possible existence of a Creator. I must also consider defeaters of God.
Featuring interviews with Rebecca Goldstein, Ian Barbour, John Polkinghorne, Robin Collins, Anthony Grayling, Yujin Nagasawa, and Alvin Plantinga.
 

Can Brain Alone Explain Consciousness?

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Can physical facts about the brain account for mental experiences of the mind? Has philosophy of mind made progress? We take a 15-year journey with John Searle and David Chalmers.
 
 

Asking Ultimate Questions

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We like pushing boundaries, trying to discern existence, searching the foundations of reality, knowing all that can be known. Overly ambitious? Sophomoric? We don't care. We do it anyway. Here are ultimate questions.
 
Featuring interviews with Lawrence Krauss, John Leslie, Max Tegmark and Paul Davies

Why a Landscape of Consciousness?

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Explore diverse theories of consciousness, like materialism, dualism, panpsychism, idealism, and diverse ways of thinking about consciousness, like neuroscience, philosophy, wisdom traditions. Compare theories of consciousness on a ‘Landscape of Consciousness'.

What Life Might Come After Death?

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What kinds of afterlives do the world’s religions offer? Soul/spirit in heaven or hell, with or apart from God? Reincarnation with innumerable rebirths, seeking liberation and nirvana? Resurrection of the body, reuniting with a soul/spirit?