Best Bruce Nielson Podcasts (2025)

1
Episode 103: Neo-Darwinism vs Post-Darwinism 1:53:36

9d ago1:53:36

1:53:36

This week we discuss neo-Darwinism vs post-Darwinism. Neo-Darwinism meaning a gene centric view of evolution, which is also called the great synthesis since it unifies natural selection with genetics and paleontology and perhaps even human psychology. Post-Darwinism is a view that emphasizes factors outside random mutation, like epigenetics or the …

1
Episode 102: Is IQ a Bit Scientifically Valid? 1:25:51

1M ago1:25:51

1:25:51

This time we discuss Nassim Nicholas Taleb's article "IQ is Largely a Pseudoscientific Swindle" -- a title whose compliment is that he's claiming IQ is a bit scientifically valid. But which bits does he claim are valid? We use this article as a springboard to consider: Do the numbers produced by an IQ test say something meaningful or useful about h…

1
Episode 101: Wolfram, Rucker, and the Computational Nature of Reality 2:16:27

2M ago2:16:27

2:16:27

Bruce takes a deep dive into Stephen Wolfram’s ideas regarding computational universality, which may go further than the Church-Turing-Deutsch thesis in that Wolfram’s theories imply that all of nature could be simulated even by relatively simple systems, so even nature itself may be computational rather than something that can just be simulated on…

1
Episode 100: Interview with David Deutsch 2:27:25

2M ago2:27:25

2:27:25

Our Christmas gift to you this year is episode 100: an interview with The Man (TM) himself! Bruce stumbles over himself fan-boying as he asks all his burning (but geeky) questions about cosmology, the omega point, and probability. How do Deutsch and Tipler differ on optimistic end-time cosmology? Is the Omega point refuted by observation (Deutsch) …

1
Episode 99: Critical Rationalism and Solipsism 1:31:31

3M ago1:31:31

1:31:31

AKA "David Deutsch DESTORYS the Simulation Hypothesis" Bruce take a deep dive into solipsism in the form of the brain in a vat thought experiment, Nick Bostrom’s simulation hypothesis, and related ideas. Does the Church-Turing-Deutsch thesis suggest we could live in a simulation? What does critical rationalism say about these theories? Support us o…

1
Episode 98: Objectively Beautiful Flowers? 1:58:05

3M ago1:58:05

1:58:05

This week we discuss the chapter “Why are Flowers Beautiful?” from the book Beginning of Infinity by David Deutsch. Through our discussion we consider: Does relativism make any sense? Is preferring Mozart to a child banging on a piano really just an arbitrary preference? If progress in art is real, will human minds ever stop increasing the level of…

1
Episode 97: Karl Popper On Conservatism in Music (w/Chris Johansen) 1:31:41

4M ago1:31:41

1:31:41

We take a deep dive into Karl Popper’s philosophical ideas about music that he outlines in four chapters in this intellectual autobiography Unended Quest: “Music,” Speculations about the Rise of Polyphonic Music,” “Two Kinds of Music,” and “Progressivism in Art, Especially in Music.” We are joined by Peter’s brother, Chris Johansen, who is a straig…

1
Episode 96: Kenneth Stanley on the Pursuit of What’s Interesting 1:28:33

4M ago1:28:33

1:28:33

Here we interview AI researcher Kenneth Stanley, who makes the case that in complex systems, pursing specific objectives can actually be counterproductive. Instead, whether in machine learning, business, science, education, or art, we should pursue what is interesting. It is in this search for novelty—fueled by curiosity—where innovation and open-e…

1
Episode 95: On Morality, Moralizing, and Elephant Jockeys (Round Table) 2:48:50

5M ago2:48:50

2:48:50

This time we invited some of the coolest and smartest people we know to have a freewheeling discussion on morality loosely centered on Jonathan Haidt's “rider and the elephant” metaphor. We take a deep dive into this idea that moral reasoning is a slave to our passions. Guests: • Lulie Tanett (https://open.spotify.com/show/6OPFnEt6uTOTGeSpnZ1YDp?si…

1
Episode 94: Stephen Hicks on Critical Rationalism vs Objectivism 1:01:44

5M ago1:01:44

1:01:44

This episode we interview Professor of Philosophy Stephen Hicks. In his excellent books Explaining Postmodernism and Nietzsche and the Nazis it becomes clear that the history of bad and good ideas—which he sees through the lens of Enlightenment and counter-Enlightenment philosophers—is more than an academic issue but something with monumental impor…

1
Episode 93: Philosophical Theories vs Bad Explanations 2:07:05

6M ago2:07:05

2:07:05

Can philosophical theories be refuted? What is a bad explanation? Can all theories be made more empirical? In search of an answer to these questions, Bruce takes a deep dive into what he believes is the correct way to apply “Popper’s ratchet” to metaphysical or philosophical theories. Along the way, Bruce puts forward a generalization of testabilit…

1
Episode 92: Popper on Philosophical Theories 1:55:50

6M ago1:55:50

1:55:50

Continuing from episode 91, we continue our deep dive into Popper's Conjectures and Refutations Chapter 8 where Popper explains how to use his epistemology on philosophical theories that (by definition) can't be 'refuted'. Despite agreeing with most of Popper's specific arguments, we offer some considerable criticisms to Popper's approach to critic…

1
Episode 91: The Critical Rationalist Case For Induction!? 1:45:46

7M ago1:45:46

1:45:46

Forgive the clickbait title. The episode should probably actually be called "The (Lack of) Problem of Induction" because we primarily cover Popper's refutation of induction in C&R Chapter 8. This episode starts our deep dive into answering the question "What is the difference between a good philosophical explanation and a bad explanation?" To answe…

1
Episode 90: Bayesianism for Critical Rationalists!? 2:55:47

7M ago2:55:47

2:55:47

Today our guest Ivan Phillips methodically explains what Bayesianism is and is not. Along the way we discuss the validity of critiques made by critical rationalists of the worldview that is derived from Thomas Bayes’s 1763 theorem. Ivan is a Bayesian that is very familiar with Karl Popper's writings and even admires Popper's epistemology. Ivan make…

1
Episode 89: Tradition as a Source of Knowledge: Popper vs. Chesterton 1:26:19

8M ago1:26:19

1:26:19

This week we discuss the book Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton (1908), perhaps the most famous defense of the Christian tradition. We contrast this with Karl Popper’s talk, “Towards a Rational Theory of Tradition” (1948), from his collection of essays, Conjectures and Refutations. We consider: What is the role of tradition in science and knowledge? Is …

1
Episode 88: The Myth of the Objective 1:25:37

8M ago1:25:37

1:25:37

Here Bruce reflects on AI researcher Kenneth Stanley’s assertion that setting specific, measurable goals may actually hinder discovery and innovation, which he writes about in his book, Why Greatness Cannot Be Planned: The Myth of the Objective. How does Stanley’s insight relate to critical rationalism, education, and life in general? We cover topi…

1
Episode 87: Is the Universal Explainer Hypothesis Falsifiable? 2:06:33

9M ago2:06:33

2:06:33

Is the universal explainer hypothesis falsifiable? How does the concept of universality relate to human minds? Is anything truly beyond human comprehension? And how would you frame universality as an interesting topic at a party? This week we also feature a guest, Dan Gish, a fellow traveler Bruce has connected with on Twitter. Dan (on Twitter) had…

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

9M ago1:42:39

1:42:39

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

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

10M ago1:49:52

1:49:52

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

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

10M ago1:27:46

1:27:46

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

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

11M ago2:01:24

2:01:24

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

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

11M ago1:53:02

1:53:02

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

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

12M ago2:14:02

2:14:02

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

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

1y ago1:44:34

1:44:34

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

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

1y ago1:31:33

1:31:33

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

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

1y ago1:11:53

1:11:53

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

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

1y ago1:35:51

1:35:51

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

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

1y ago1:18:00

1:18:00

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

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

1y ago1:09:47

1:09:47

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

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

1y ago1:28:41

1:28:41

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

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

1y ago2:11:29

2:11:29

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

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

1y ago1:51:19

1:51:19

Here we use Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s essay “The Most Intolerant Wins: The Dictatorship of the Small Minority” as a springboard to discuss majority rule, moral progress, knowledge growth, wokism, Karl Popper’s paradox of tolerance, and “big agriculture.”

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

1+ y ago1:56:20

1:56:20

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

1
Episode 70: Sparks of Artificial General Intelligence? 2:14:47

1+ y ago2:14:47

2:14:47

How does ChatGPT really work? Is there a relationship between a program like ChatGPT and artificial general intelligence (AGI)? This time we review the famous paper "Sparks of Artificial General Intelligence: Early Experiments with GPT-4" from Microsoft Research as well as Melanie Mitchell's criticisms of it. Other papers mentioned: The Unreasonabl…

1
Episode 69: Social Science and Critical Rationalism 1:33:55

1+ y ago1:33:55

1:33:55

This week we have criminologist Brian Boutwell on again for part 2 of our discussion on critical rationalism and social science. Does all science share the same structure? How do you apply Popper's epistemology to social sciences? Are there laws of human nature? If humans are universal explainers, what does it mean to study our behavior? See episod…

1
Episode 68: Caldwell's "Clarifying Popper" 51:59

1+ y ago51:59

51:59

Bruce Caldwell (a scholar interested in Popper and Hayek) wrote a long paper in the Journal of Economic Literature (March 1991) called 'Clarifying Popper'. In this episode, Bruce Nielson summarizes and discusses Caldwell’s paper on how Popper’s ideas could be applied to economics. How well did Bruce Caldwell do in his goal of clarifying Popper's ep…

1
Episode 67: Disagreements with Deutsch 2:56:49

1+ y ago2:56:49

2:56:49

Though our guest Mark Biros is clearly immersed in critical rationalism and the worldview of Popper and Deutsch, he also has some fairly strong criticisms of some of the ideas popular in what could be called the CritRat community. Here we try to work out our differing ideas on environmentalism, epistemology, quantum mechanics, social media, optimis…

1
Episode 66: The Alien Abduction of Betty and Barney Hill and the Search For Meaning 1:34:04

1+ y ago1:34:04

1:34:04

Historian Matt Bowman discusses his new book, The Abduction of Betty and Barney Hill: Alien Encounters, Civil Rights, and the New Age in America. Betty and Barney Hill were one of the first and most famous persons who claimed to be abducted by aliens. Aside from being a story about UFOs, their life story hinges on a complicated relationship with re…

1
Episode 65: Causality, Time, and Free Will 1:58:43

1+ y ago1:58:43

1:58:43

What did David Deutsch get right and wrong in chapter 11, “Time: The First Quantum Concept,” from his first book, Fabric of Reality? Is the flow of time real or an illusion? What does it mean to have free will in a deterministic world? And what are the implications of Bruce’s “Turing world within a Turing world” thought experiment?…

1
Episode 64: What is a "Refutation"? 1:21:53

1+ y ago1:21:53

1:21:53

What did Karl Popper really mean by refutation? How are empirical theories special? How do objective criticisms differ from subjective criticisms? What is the difference between a theory and an explanation? We consider these questions with a tangent into the theory that animals don’t have feelings.

1
Episode 63: Brian Boutwell on Twin Studies and Heritability 2:43:36

1+ y ago2:43:36

2:43:36

Brian Boutwell is a professor of criminal justice at the University of Mississippi who specializes in “quantitative genetics, with a focus on environmental and psychological risk factors for antisocial and violent behavior.” He has a TED talk, numerous articles in Quillette, and has been published in many journals. Here we discuss his upcoming meta…

1
Episode 62: Aliens!?!? 1:15:11

1+ y ago1:15:11

1:15:11

Is the government hiding a secret UFO recovery program? What should the critical rationalist attitude be towards these kinds of claims? Why exactly would aliens want to hide from us? We discuss these questions and much more. If you missed it, be sure to check out the congressional hearings on UFOs (UAPs). It was actually quite interesting. Mick Wes…

1
Episode 61: A Critical Rationalist Defense of Corroboration 3:10:12

1+ y ago3:10:12

3:10:12

What did Popper say about corroboration in science? Can a theory NEVER be supported with evidence in any sense at all? Is the Popperian “war on words” justified? Are the positivists, Bayesianists, verificationists, and inductivists really wrong about EVERYTHING?

1
Episode 60: Learning, Work, and Art in the Age of ChatGPT 1:37:08

1+ y ago1:37:08

1:37:08

We interview Bruce’s nephew, Brendon Nielson, who is a well-known electronic music artist under the name Dvddy. We discuss how he uses AI as a tool to create music and how this technology is changing how we work and learn. Could AI liberate us from menial labor and education? Along the way, Cameo makes an AI-generated comic book about David Deutsch…

1
Episode 59: The Principle of Optimism (Round Table Discussion) 2:45:19

1+ y ago2:45:19

2:45:19

A deep dive into David Deutsch’s “principle of optimism” featuring Sam Kuypers, Vaden Masrani, Hervé Eulacia, Micah Redding, Bill Rugolsky, and Daniel Buchfink. (Plus, of course, Peter and Bruce).Are all evils due to a lack of knowledge? Are all interesting problems soluble? ALL the problems, really?!?! And what exactly is meant by interesting? Als…

1
Episode 58: Deutsch's "Creative Blocks": A Decade Later 2:02:12

2y ago2:02:12

2:02:12

Back in 2012, David Deutsch wrote an article called "Creative Blocks: How Close are we to Creating Artificial Intelligence?" This article inspired Bruce to go back to school and study Artificial Intelligence and get a Master's degree in the field. A decade later, a lot has changed in the field of AI, and the field has never seemed so exciting. But …

1
Episode 57: Quantum Immortality / Quantum Torment 1:03:00

2y ago1:03:00

1:03:00

Does every one of us live forever in the multiverse? Is death a solvable problem? What is “quantum suicide”? Is quantum torment a concern? Does every fantastical thing we can imagine occur somewhere in the multiverse? What are “Harry Potter universes? Are we Boltzmann brains? Bruce, Cameo, and Peter consider these questions in this week’s episode. …

1
Episode 56: Rationality, Religion, and the Omega Point 3:01:29

2y ago3:01:29

3:01:29

Special guest, Lulie Tanett, asked me if she could come on my podcast and interview me about religion. Lulie and Peter ask me numerous religion-related questions such as: How is the theology of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (i.e. Mormon church) similar and different from Deutsch's Four Strands worldview? What might the Deutsch Fou…

1
Episode 55: Why are Empirical Theories Special? (IQ part 3) 1:36:46

2y ago1:36:46

1:36:46

We continue our discussion of ⁠Dwarkesh Patel's article "Contra David Deutsch on AI"⁠ compared to ⁠Brett Hall's tweet on IQ theory⁠. This time we concentrate on criticisms of Brett Hall's theory. Along the way, we ask the ultimate question: Why did Karl Popper make his epistemology specifically about refuting empirical scientific theories instead o…

1
Episode 54: Computational and Explanatory Universality (IQ part 2) 2:09:50

2y ago2:09:50

2:09:50

In this episode, we continue our discussion of Dwarkesh Patel's article "Contra David Deutsch on AI" compared to Brett Hall's tweet on IQ theory. This time we concentrate on criticisms of Patel's Hardware+Scaling hypothesis. To Patel's credit, he admits that his hypothesis is problematic. Then Peter asks Bruce about why Brett Hall believes explanat…

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