Closer To Truth

Paul Thagard on AI, Animal Consciousness, and Human Intelligence

How do animals and smart machines measure up to human intelligence? Can fish feel pain and do dogs get jealous? Paul Thagard—a philosopher and cognitive scientist—explores hotly debated issues about animal and artificial intelligence to conclude that current bots and beasts fall far short of human capabilities.
 
Thagard's book, Bots and Beasts: What Makes Machines, Animals, and People Smart?, is available for purchase now.
 
Paul Thagard is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the University of Waterloo. He is the author of many books and writes a popular blog for Psychology Today.

Helen De Cruz on What Makes Life Worth Living

Philosopher Helen De Cruz discusses her new book, Wonderstruck: How Wonder and Awe Shape the Way We Think. De Cruz explores the transformative role of wonder and awe in an uncertain world and reveals how they are catalysts that can help us reclaim what makes life worth living and preserve the things we find wonderful and valuable in our lives.
 
Helen De Cruz is a Belgian philosopher and Danforth Chair in the Humanities at Saint Louis University who specializes in philosophy of religion, experimental philosophy, and philosophy of cognitive science.
 
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Why Philosophy of Biology?

Get 20% off tickets to this year's HowtheLightGetsIn Hay Festival with code CTT24 at checkout.
 
Philosophy of biology has two sides: the process of science and the content of biology. We address key questions. What is the nature of life? How does evolution work and what are its challenges? How to consider race, sex/gender, cognition, culture, morality, healthcare, religion, alien life, and alien intelligences.
 
Featuring interviews with Michael Ruse, Elliot Sober, Elisabeth Lloyd, Peter Godfrey-Smith, John Dupré, Paul Griffiths, Richard Dawkins, Josh Swamidass, Quayshawn Nigel Julian Spencer, Denis Noble, Alexander Rosenberg, Samir Okasha, Massimo Pigliucci, Alan Love, and Philip Kitcher.

Marcelo Gleiser on Why Science Cannot Ignore Human Experience

Theoretical physicist and astronomer Marcelo Glesier offers compelling argument for including the human perspective within science, and for how human experience makes science possible. He discusses his new book, The Blind Spot: Why Science Cannot Ignore Human Experience, which urges us to create a new scientific culture that views ourselves both as an expression of nature and as a source of nature's self-understanding, so that humanity can flourish in the new millennium.
 
The Blind Spot is available for purchase now: https://shorturl.at/ghu34
 
Marcelo Gleiser is the Appleton Professor of Natural Philosophy at Dartmouth, the 2019 Templeton Prize laureate, and author of seven widely translated books.
 
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Does Consciousness Require a Radical Explanation?

Does consciousness require a radical explanation? What causes consciousness? Our inner sense of awareness is at once most mundane and most bizarre. No explanation makes sense. Here are three novel candidates for explaining consciousness.
 
Featuring interviews with Giulio Tononi, David Chalmers, Sean Carroll, Max Tegmark, David Wallace, Bernard Carr, and Paul Davies.
 
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What Does the “Unreasonable Effectiveness” of Mathematics Mean?

The astonishing effectiveness of mathematics in the natural sciences, especially in physics, borders on the mysterious—and there seems no rational explanation. Our bafflement stimulates novel thinking. How to assess the meaning of math’s “unreasonable effectiveness"?
 
Featuring interviews with Michio Kaku, David Wallace, Michael Hopkins, Stuart Kauffman, Jim Holt, and Paul Davies.
 
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Carlo Rovelli on White Holes

Theoretical physicist Carlo Rovelli discusses his book, White Holes, which traces the ongoing adventure of his own cutting-edge research and outlines some of the most astounding ideas in astrophysics and cosmology. Rovelli investigates whether all black holes could eventually turn into white holes, equally compact objects in which the arrow of time is reversed.
 
Carlo Rovelli is a physicist and writer. He is currently a Distinguished Visiting Research Chair at the Perimeter Institute and core member of the Rotman Institute of Philosophy of Western University.
 
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Ilia Delio on Evolution, Quantum Physics, and Neuroscience in Theology

Innovative theologian and neuroscientist Ilia Delio discusses Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, technology and AI, the pursuit of extraterrestrial life, and the roles of evolution, quantum physics, and neuroscience in theology.
 
Dr. Ilia Delio is a Franciscan Sister and a theologian from the Catholic tradition specializing in science and religion. She holds the Josephine Connelly Endowed Chair in Theology at Villanova University and is the founder of the Center for Christogenesis. She has earned two PhDs in neuropharmacology and historical theology, and is the author of twenty books including The Hours of the Universe and The Primacy of Love.
 
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Can Mathematics Explain Biology?

If life is a vast space of possibilities, then mathematics can engage with biology. Statistics analyze biological data, and mathematical models improve biological theories and reveal hidden commonalties. But could the mathematics of biology touch fundamental realities?
 
Featuring interviews with Leon Glass, Martin Nowak, Geoffrey West, Paul Davies, and Robbert Dijkgraaf.
 
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Roger Penrose: Mathematics & What Exists

Roger Penrose—mathematician, physicist, philosopher—was awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics. We speak with Roger about our favorite, fundamental questions. What things exist? What is math and why does it work? What’s fundamental in the cosmos?
 
All episodes of Season 22 are available now on our website: https://bit.ly/3QwMzIA
 
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