Uploaded July 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
I personally subscribe to The Economist. TOE listeners get 35% off the annual subscription. No other podcast has this! economist.com/TOE
Does Batman exist? Not really—but proving he doesn't turns out to be a logical minefield. This episode tackles negative existentials: why saying "X doesn't exist" seems to require referring to X in the first place. We trace the debate from Russell's theory of descriptions, through Kripke's devastating critique in Naming and Necessity, to Meinong's radical claim that non-existent objects still populate our domain of discourse. Plus: null pointer exceptions as computer science's Meinongianism, why AI struggles with fictional facts, and why three competing theories—descriptivism, Meinongianism, and abstract realism—each come with a steep philosophical price tag. I hope you enjoy.
TIMESTAMPS:
- 00:00 - The Batman Paradox
- 03:26 - Russell’s Theory of Descriptions
- 06:36 - Kripke’s Rigid Designators
- 09:44 - Meinongian Domain Quantification
- 12:45 - Nuclear and Extra-Nuclear Properties
- 15:50 - Modal Descriptivism and AI
- 18:54 - Presentism and Temporal Ontology
LINKS MENTIONED:
- Diana Pasulka [TOE]: youtu.be/E5MuTHUbMUs
- Why I Don't Buy The Simulation Hypothesis [TOE]: youtu.be/3_lBPMc6JRY
- Elan Barenholtz [TOE]: youtu.be/A36OumnSrWY
- Naming And Necessity [Book]: neuroself.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/naming-and-necessity-full-text.pdf
- Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus [Book]: amazon.com/dp/0486404455?tag=toe08-20
- Critique Of Pure Reason [Book]: amazon.com/dp/0140447474?tag=toe08-20
- The Interpretations Of Quantum Mechanics In 5 Minutes [Article]: curtjaimungal.substack.com/p/the-interpretations-of-quantum-mechanics
- Alexius Meinong: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/meinong/
- On Denoting [Paper]: https://www.uvm.edu/~lderosse/courses/lang/Russell(1905).pdf
- Graham Priest [TOE]: youtu.be/ZGOMmGK4eeY
- Nonexistent Objects [Book]: amazon.com/dp/0300024045?tag=toe08-20
- Abstract Objects [Book]: amazon.com/dp/9027714746?tag=toe08-20
- Noam Chomsky [TOE]: youtu.be/RIY0GFtHU2U
- John Vervaeke [TOE]: youtu.be/GVj1KYGyesI
- Presentism: https://iep.utm.edu/time/
- Joscha Bach [TOE]: youtu.be/3MNBxfrmfmI
- Existence [Book]: amazon.com/dp/1107625262?tag=toe08-20
FOLLOW:
- Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/4gL14b92xAErofYQA7bU4e
- Substack: curtjaimungal.substack.com/subscribe
- Twitter: twitter.com/TOEwithCurt
- Discord Invite: discord.com/invite/kBcnfNVwqs
- Crypto: nowpayments.io/donation/TOE
- PayPal: paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=XUBHNMFXUX5S4
Guests do not pay to appear. #science
I personally subscribe to The Economist. TOE listeners get 35% off the annual subscription. No other podcast has this! economist.com/TOE
Does Batman exist? Not really—but proving he doesn't turns out to be a logical minefield. This episode tackles negative existentials: why saying "X doesn't exist" seems to require referring to X in the first place. We trace the debate from Russell's theory of descriptions, through Kripke's devastating critique in Naming and Necessity, to Meinong's radical claim that non-existent objects still populate our domain of discourse. Plus: null pointer exceptions as computer science's Meinongianism, why AI struggles with fictional facts, and why three competing theories—descriptivism, Meinongianism, and abstract realism—each come with a steep philosophical price tag. I hope you enjoy.
TIMESTAMPS:
- 00:00 - The Batman Paradox
- 03:26 - Russell’s Theory of Descriptions
- 06:36 - Kripke’s Rigid Designators
- 09:44 - Meinongian Domain Quantification
- 12:45 - Nuclear and Extra-Nuclear Properties
- 15:50 - Modal Descriptivism and AI
- 18:54 - Presentism and Temporal Ontology
LINKS MENTIONED:
- Diana Pasulka [TOE]: youtu.be/E5MuTHUbMUs
- Why I Don't Buy The Simulation Hypothesis [TOE]: youtu.be/3_lBPMc6JRY
- Elan Barenholtz [TOE]: youtu.be/A36OumnSrWY
- Naming And Necessity [Book]: neuroself.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/naming-and-necessity-full-text.pdf
- Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus [Book]: amazon.com/dp/0486404455?tag=toe08-20
- Critique Of Pure Reason [Book]: amazon.com/dp/0140447474?tag=toe08-20
- The Interpretations Of Quantum Mechanics In 5 Minutes [Article]: curtjaimungal.substack.com/p/the-interpretations-of-quantum-mechanics
- Alexius Meinong: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/meinong/
- On Denoting [Paper]: https://www.uvm.edu/~lderosse/courses/lang/Russell(1905).pdf
- Graham Priest [TOE]: youtu.be/ZGOMmGK4eeY
- Nonexistent Objects [Book]: amazon.com/dp/0300024045?tag=toe08-20
- Abstract Objects [Book]: amazon.com/dp/9027714746?tag=toe08-20
- Noam Chomsky [TOE]: youtu.be/RIY0GFtHU2U
- John Vervaeke [TOE]: youtu.be/GVj1KYGyesI
- Presentism: https://iep.utm.edu/time/
- Joscha Bach [TOE]: youtu.be/3MNBxfrmfmI
- Existence [Book]: amazon.com/dp/1107625262?tag=toe08-20
FOLLOW:
- Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/4gL14b92xAErofYQA7bU4e
- Substack: curtjaimungal.substack.com/subscribe
- Twitter: twitter.com/TOEwithCurt
- Discord Invite: discord.com/invite/kBcnfNVwqs
- Crypto: nowpayments.io/donation/TOE
- PayPal: paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=XUBHNMFXUX5S4
Guests do not pay to appear. #science
