Episodes
Wednesday Aug 14, 2024
What is God?
Wednesday Aug 14, 2024
Wednesday Aug 14, 2024
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How can I assess whether God exists without exploring what kind of God is supposed to exist? So I examine God's essence and nature.
Featuring interviews with John Polkinghorne, John Behr, John Hick, J.L. Schellenberg, and Timothy O'Connor.
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Wednesday Aug 07, 2024
Or Graur on the Big Bang and the Physics of Galaxies
Wednesday Aug 07, 2024
Wednesday Aug 07, 2024
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Astrophysicist Or Graur offers a brief and fascinating overview of the history, physics, and astrophysical uses of galaxies. Starting with the history of the last two thousand years of galaxy studies, Graur discusses the types of galaxies we observe and the physics that drive them; the myths and physical structure of the Milky Way; how galaxies were used to discover and study the mysterious phenomena of dark matter and dark energy; and how scientists think galaxies formed shortly after the Big Bang and evolved to their present forms.
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Or Graur is Associate Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Portsmouth's Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation, as well as Research Associate at the American Museum of Natural History. He is the author of "Supernova" and his latest book, "Galaxies" from MIT Press.
Wednesday Jul 31, 2024
Can We Survive Death?
Wednesday Jul 31, 2024
Wednesday Jul 31, 2024
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Do I disappear at death? My body? Sure, it's gone. But my awareness? Does my consciousness end forever? What could be more frightening! Is there any hope here?
Featuring interviews with Charles Tart, Richard Swinburne, Robert Park, James Tabor, and Keith Ward.
Wednesday Jul 24, 2024
Does Philosophy Help Science?
Wednesday Jul 24, 2024
Wednesday Jul 24, 2024
What constitutes good science? Are there limits to science? If so, what are the boundaries? How deep can science dig into the foundations of the world?
Featuring interviews with Steven Weinberg, Paul Davies, Colin Blakemore, and Scott Aaronson.
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Wednesday Jul 17, 2024
Is Human Consciousness Special?
Wednesday Jul 17, 2024
Wednesday Jul 17, 2024
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Scientists say my consciousness is just my brain. Theologians believe my consciousness reflects the God who created it. Mystics hold my consciousness is a drop in the ocean of cosmic consciousness. Who's right?
Featuring interviews with Marvin Minsky, Marilyn Schlitz, J. van Huyssteen, Colin McGinn, and Roger Walsh.
Closer to Truth presents the world’s greatest thinkers exploring humanity’s deepest questions. Discover fundamental issues of existence. Engage new and diverse ways of thinking. Appreciate intense debates. Share your own opinions. Seek your own answers.
Wednesday Jul 10, 2024
Ned Block on Perception, Cognition, and Consciousness
Wednesday Jul 10, 2024
Wednesday Jul 10, 2024
Distinguished Philosopher Ned Block discusses perception, cognition, and consciousness as well as his latest book, The Border Between Seeing and Thinking, a model for bringing philosophy and the mind sciences into dialogue.
Ned Block is an American philosopher working in philosophy of mind who has made important contributions to the understanding of consciousness and the philosophy of cognitive science. He has been professor of philosophy and psychology at New York University since 1996.
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Wednesday Jul 03, 2024
Are Plants Sentient?
Wednesday Jul 03, 2024
Wednesday Jul 03, 2024
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To inquire whether plants are “sentient” sounds like pseudoscience but has become real science. What does a plant know? Plants can react to their environments, but can plants sense or feel? Can they remember long-term? Can they adapt and learn? Are plants intelligent? And are they in any sense aware?
Daniel Chamovitz is an American-born plant geneticist and the 7th President of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Beer-Sheva, Israel.
Wednesday Jun 26, 2024
Are Suffering and Ritual Vital?
Wednesday Jun 26, 2024
Wednesday Jun 26, 2024
How do Buddhism, Chinese traditions, and Hinduism address the perennial problems of suffering, ethics, ritual and contemplative practices? Why is suffering so important in Buddhism? Why karma in Hinduism? Why systems of nature in Chinese traditions?
Featuring interviews with Helen De Cruz Jay Garfield, Swami Sarvapriyananda, Swami Medhananda, Franklin Perkins, and Yang Xioa.
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Wednesday Jun 19, 2024
Why is There Anything at All?
Wednesday Jun 19, 2024
Wednesday Jun 19, 2024
Why are we here? Why is there a world, a cosmos, something-instead of absolutely nothing at all? Of all the big questions, this is the biggest. Why? What can we learn from "nothing"?
Featuring interviews with John Leslie, Bede Rundle, Max Tegmark, Simon Blackburn, Quentin Smith, Victor Stenger, Peter van Inwagen, John Polkinghorne, Richard Swinburne, and Paul Davies.
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Wednesday Jun 12, 2024
Brian Swimme on Consciousness, Cultural Evolution, and the Noosphere
Wednesday Jun 12, 2024
Wednesday Jun 12, 2024
Professor Brian Swimme discusses cosmogenesis, our cultural evolution, human consciousness, the Noosphere, and more.
Brian Thomas Swimme is a professor at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco where he teaches evolutionary cosmology to graduate students in the philosophy, cosmology, and consciousness program. His upcoming book, The Story of the Noosphere, will be published in October.
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