Episodes
What are the implications of recent developments in code- and image-generating AI? What is the difference between intelligence and consciousness? What impact do these developments have on the open-source community? How will this affect developer jobs?
What does it mean to exist? We explore Plato’s theory of ideas and his Republic.
Who were the Stoics, what did they believe about the world, and how can we apply it to life today?
What is the self? Am I a different person than you are? How can we engender compassion in ourselves? Trevor & Eric discuss enlightenment as talked about by Ram Dass – philosopher, psychologist, luminary.
How should we feel about billionaires pursuing space exploration when there's so much wrong on earth?
We are joined by special guest Walker T. Roman to continue our discussion of abstraction, this time in the context of art and music.
Would you choose to be immortal?
This is the first in a two-part series in which we discuss the topic of abstraction. In this episode we focus on the term as it relates to computer science, existentialism, and music.
Can we have morality without religion? Where do spiritual experiences fit into a modern scientific conception of the world? In this episode we discuss a debate between Matt Dillahunty and Jordan Peterson from 2018 on religion, morality and more.
What motivates a teacher to pursue a career in software engineering? How do class roles permeate our society? We speak with teacher Eric Saldivar about his experience transitioning into a technical field.
In this episode we discuss the advent of AlphaGo, an artificial intelligence program created by DeepMind that was the first to beat a top-ranked professional player at Go. This accomplishment in 2016 came nearly a decade before most experts thought it was possible, and brings up many interesting questions about the rate of AI progress, narrow vs. general artificial intelligence, intuition, and more.
Does an artistic background lend unique advantages in the field of computer science? How will Github Copilot effect the future of software engineering? We speak with accredited actor Sam Arnold about his experience transitioning into a technical field.
What does the divided brain tell us about the mind body problem? As each half of our brain perceives the world in a different way, does it create a distinct world, or two aspects of the same one? We examine the first chapter of Iain McGilchrist's "The Master and His Emissary".
It's our 50th episode of this crazy show somehow! We reflect back on this past year of recording the podcast and re-examine some of the topics we've touched.
How do the two hemispheres of our brains differ? How do they interact? How do these interactions influence society as a whole? We examine some of the ideas of British psychiatrist and author Iain McGilchrist.
What if there were secret knowledge that could effect everything you do: make you stronger, smarter, cure mental illness & heal chronic pain? We explore the concept of salutogenesis; that some activities can increase wellness for the sake of wellness.
In this episode we examine and explore the many interesting ideas of Dr. Ted Achacoso on consciousness, wellness, the brain, and more.
We explore some concepts in music theory: What are the fundamental elements that make music, and how do we use them in our own compositions?
What can roleplaying games tell us about ourselves -- about our relationships, about what it means to be human? We're joined by special guest Walker T. Roman; artist, creator, dungeon master.
What if current efforts to produce human-level artificial intelligence are fatally misguided? We discuss new research which suggests current AI practices fail to take into account the 95% of brain activity which takes the form of "spontaneous fluctuations" which are not clearly tied to anything in the mind or the body.
Are NFTs really the future of art? Do their benefits outweigh their downsides, and can their environmental impact really be mitigated? We discuss this potentially pivotal technology as well as the cryptocurrency and blockchain elements that make it possible.
AGI. Quantum Computing. What would it take for an artificial intelligence to be considered conscious? How can we approach AI development in an ethical way? We discuss the recent firings of Google's heads of Ethical AI research, Timnit Gebru & Margret Mitchel.
AGI. Quantum Computing. We continue our exploration of computer science, delving into its history and relating our experiences as we enter into this field of study.
AGI. Quantum Computing. We explore some topics in computer science and relate our experiences delving into this daunting subject.
We give our thoughts on the now widely-shared idea that governments should provide all their citizens with regular no-strings-attached payments.
Is introversion a helpful concept, or does it cause harm? How does it relate to mental illness and generational trauma? We explore this concept and share some of our own experiences with anxiety, depression & social awkwardness.
We continue our deep dive into meme culture and how this phenomenon affects public opinion.
We continue our deep dive into meme culture and how this phenomenon affects public opinion. (But not really.)
We continue our deep dive into meme culture and how this phenomenon affects public opinion.
Writer, multi-disciplinary artist, and friend of the show Alex White joins us again to talk societal collapse in light of the recent power crisis in Texas; Trevor also relates his experience in Austin.
What is Atheism? What are the ramifications of holding a belief?
What duty do we have to protect others against their will? Does religion threaten our ability to make rational decisions about morality? We examine the ideas of Sam Harris, an American author, philosopher, neuroscientist, and host of the popular podcast Waking Up.
We speak with multi-disciplinary artist Alex White about the creative process - what inspires you? How do you motivate yourself to create?
What is a life worth? Does one person have an obligation to suffer to protect another? In this episode, we explore some of the costs of our response to covid-19 and examine the possibility that social distancing may be causing more harm than good.
Jordan Peterson: radical luminary or raving bigot? We explore the ideas of public intellectual Dr. Jordan Peterson and why he has garnered so much criticism from trans right activists.
In the second episode of our multi-part series on the Intellectual Dark Web, or IDW, we continue to critique their ideas and give our opinions on why the movement has gained so much traction.
In the next episode of our multi-part series on the Intellectual Dark Web, or IDW, we continue to critique their ideas and give our opinions on why the movement has gained so much traction.
We kick off 2021 with an episode recorded unusually close to its release! We give our thoughts on the recent storming of the Capitol especially as it relates to the Intellectual Dark Web, the topic of a multi-episode series we'll be releasing over the coming weeks.
In our final episode of 2020, we talk about the holiday-cheer-filled topic of environmental and societal collapse as well as the possibility of near-term human extinction with Colorado multidisciplinary artist and friend of the show Alex White.
Death! Dread! Meaning! In the latest installment of “Books You Haven’t Read,” Eric leads Trevor through a discussion of some excerpts from Fyodor Dostoevsky’s The Idiot on awaiting executions, having epileptic seizures, and doing good in the world.
Are we living in a simulation? If we are, do we have free will? Are simulations the same as dreams? We explore the Simulation Argument presented in the paper by Nick Bostrom.
Is science based in intuition? Can we trust logic? What do psychedelics have to do with culture and feminism? We explore the ideas of renowned ethnobotanist & psychonaut Terence McKenna.
How can we have the greatest impact on the world? Does it even make sense to try? We explore the concept of Effective Altruism through Will MacAskill's groundbreaking book 'Doing Good Better'.
What is Ultimate Reality? We react to an interview by PBS' Closer to Truth with Dr. Lothar Schafer, accredited Quantum Chemist and philosopher.
Does free will exist? How do you even define it? We take on this long-debated topic as it relates to volition, perfect vs. imperfect worlds, determinism vs. indeterminism, musical improvisation, moral responsibility, consciousness, and more.
Why do we read? What makes us feel like we 'should' read? Why do we leave books unread & unfinished? We talk with librarian Marco Daniels about books and reading.
What can our dreams tell us about ourselves? We discuss dreams — lucid dreaming, sleep paralysis and more, and share some of our experiences with them.
How has COVID-19 affected the music industry and the lives of musicians?
We share our experiences with psychedelics and talk about how they've affected us.
Disclaimer: We do not endorse nor encourage the use of any illicit substances. Psychedelics should be approached with extreme caution and respect.
How does addiction affect our motivation? Why do we feel a resistance to achieving our goals?
What is spectral music?
What is consciousness? How can we relate to others? We discuss Thomas Nagel's groundbreaking essay, 'What's It Like to Be A Bat'.
If existence is suffering, can we justify creating human life?
Books You Haven't Read: we explore a selection from Dostoevsky's pivotal novel 'The Brothers Karamazov', wherein the brothers Ivan and Alyosha discuss life, suffering, and god.
What will future developments in AI bring? What is free will? What is pain? We react to ideas shared by Nick Bostrom in Chapter 9 of his book, 'Superintelligence'.
Books You Haven't Read: we explore the first chapter of David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest.
We explore Donald Hoffman's theory that our experience bears no resemblance to actual reality.
We speak with special guests Luke Collier and Richard Franklin (Product Engineer and Marketing Agent of EdBoard) about their experiences with makerspaces, school, and working in a startup company.
What is music?
Is time an illusion?
Considering the many tangible ways you can be helping the world, can you justify investing your time to create art?
Coming Soon:
A lot! Tune in Thursday morning for our next episode.