Why Anything at All? | Episode 1213 | Closer To Truth Closer To Truth 2020-06-25 | 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.Season 12, Episode 13 - #CloserToTruth▶Register for free at CTT.com for subscriber-only exclusives: http://bit.ly/2GXmFsP Closer To Truth host Robert Lawrence Kuhn takes viewers on an intriguing global journey into cutting-edge labs, magnificent libraries, hidden gardens, and revered sanctuaries in order to discover state-of-the-art ideas and make them real and relevant. ▶Free access to Closer to Truth's library of 5,000 videos: http://bit.ly/376lkKN 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.#Existence #Reality
Seth Lloyd - What are Observers? Closer To Truth 2024-06-24 | Register for a free Closer To Truth account for event discounts, early access to episodes, and more: closertotruth.comWhy is an observer a critical part of quantum physics? What does it mean to be an observer? Does the act of observation affect what exists and what happens in the external world? Why is observation in the quantum world still a mystery?Subscribe to the Closer To Truth podcast and hear audio versions of your favorite interviews: https://shorturl.at/mtJP4Watch more videos on quantum theory: https://shorturl.at/cj5YySeth Lloyd is a professor of mechanical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He refers to himself as a “quantum mechanic”.Closer To Truth, hosted by Robert Lawrence Kuhn and directed by Peter Getzels, 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.
John Searle - Why Philosophy of Science? Closer To Truth 2024-06-23 | Find us on X for news and articles, plus connect with other CTT viewers: https://shorturl.at/imHY9Science is humankind’s magnificent achievement, the way of thinking to discern facts and truths and to reject errors and myths. But how to understand the scientific method itself and what is it really that science is learning? That’s the role of philosophy. For example, when science discerns ‘regularities’ in nature, are these ‘laws’ of nature?Watch more interviews on the mystery of existence: https://shorturl.at/alOChSupport the show with Closer To Truth merch like hoodies, notebooks, and mugs: bit.ly/3P2ogjeRegister for a free membership to get exclusive benefits: closertotruth.comCloser To Truth, hosted by Robert Lawrence Kuhn and directed by Peter Getzels, 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.
Alva Noë - Solutions to the Mind-Body Problem? Closer To Truth 2024-06-22 | Watch more videos on the mind-body problem: https://shorturl.at/1scfSWhat’s the relationship between our brains and our consciousness, between the physical stuff in our skulls and the mental experiences in our minds? Much rides on the answer. Are human beings purely physical? Evolved at random and destined to die, extinguished forever? Or are we something more? A spirit or a soul, with existence beyond?Follow us on X for exciting updates: https://x.com/CloserToTruthFor members-only exclusives, register for a free CTT account today: https://shorturl.at/ajRZ8Alva Noë is Professor of Philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley. The main focus of his work is the theory of perception and consciousness. In addition to these problems in cognitive science and the philosophy of mind, he is interested in phenomenology, the theory of art, Wittgenstein, and the origins of analytic philosophy.Show your love for the show with Closer To Truth merch: bit.ly/3P2ogjeCloser To Truth, hosted by Robert Lawrence Kuhn and directed by Peter Getzels, 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.
John Leslie - Why is There Something Rather Than Nothing? Closer To Truth 2024-06-21 | Are you a Closer To Truth member? Sign up for free at closertotruth.com/.Here’s the ultimate question: What if it were true that everything always and forever had been ‘nothing’? Imagine that not a single thing ever existed–not emptiness, not blankness, not even the existence of emptiness, or the meaning of blankness. If you can image that, now ask yourself: why is there anything at all?Watch more videos on Listen to audio versions of your favorite interviews with the Closer To Truth podcast: https://shorturl.at/hwGP3John Andrew Leslie is a Canadian philosopher who focuses on explaining the world’s existence. He is University Professor Emeritus at the University of Guelph, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.Find Closer To Truth on Instagram: https://shorturl.at/rwC16Closer To Truth, hosted by Robert Lawrence Kuhn and directed by Peter Getzels, 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.
Dean Radin - Do Angels and Demons Exist? Closer To Truth 2024-06-21 | Follow us on Instagram for announcements, giveaways, and more: https://shorturl.at/rwC16Many theologians take angels and demons seriously. Why? Certainly, most human beings believe in angels and demons. Anecdotal cases are legion. Certainly, such nonphysical beings, in one form or another, populate most of the world’s religions. But angels and demons seem out of place, anachronistic, in our modern world. Is there anything here we should take seriously?Get subscriber-only benefits with a free Closer To Truth account today: https://shorturl.at/ajRZ8Watch more interviews on this topic: https://shorturl.at/PJ46ODean Radin is a researcher and author in the field of parapsychology. He is also co-editor-in-chief of the journal Explore: The Journal of Science and Healing.Subscribe to the Closer To Truth podcast to listen to new episodes every Wednesday: https://shorturl.at/hwGP3Closer To Truth, hosted by Robert Lawrence Kuhn and directed by Peter Getzels, 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.
Stephen Wolfram - Does the Cosmos Have a Reason? Closer To Truth 2024-06-20 | Free access to Closer To Truth's 5,000+ videos: https://shorturl.at/eJsZdWhat remarkable discoveries are being made in cosmology! Cosmologists now develop credible theories about the beginning and end of our universe and theory-based speculations about vast numbers of multiple universes. But does the cosmos have a reason? Could revolutionary ideas support some kind of ‘universal reason’? The bar is set high, and it is OK to say no.Watch more videos on the mysteries of the cosmos: https://shorturl.at/IfEneSubscribe to the Closer To Truth podcast on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen: https://shorturl.at/hwGP3Stephen Wolfram is the creator of Mathematica, Wolfram|Alpha, and the Wolfram Language; the author of A New Kind of Science; and the founder and CEO of Wolfram Research. Over the course of nearly four decades, he has been a pioneer in the development and application of computational thinking—and has been responsible for many discoveries, inventions and innovations in science, technology and business.Shop Closer To Truth merch and support the show with your purchase: bit.ly/3P2ogjeCloser To Truth, hosted by Robert Lawrence Kuhn and directed by Peter Getzels, 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.
Robert Saucy - Does Consciousness Have Purpose? Closer To Truth 2024-06-19 | Subscribe to the Closer To Truth podcast on Apple, Spotify, or any podcast platform: https://shorturl.at/mtJP4How has inner experience radically emerged from cosmic dust? How has our vibrant private awareness developed in what seems to be a wholly physical universe? Is consciousness only an accident of biology? Or does consciousness have deeper meaning? We best be careful not to come to final conclusions based on early science.Watch more videos on the purpose of consciousness: https://shorturl.at/zc1aKFollow Closer To Truth on Instagram: https://shorturl.at/dnA39Robert Lloyd Saucy was an American Biblical scholar and professor of systematic theology.For members-only exclusives, register for a free account today: https://shorturl.at/ajRZ8Closer To Truth, hosted by Robert Lawrence Kuhn and directed by Peter Getzels, 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.
Steven Weinberg - How Do Particles Explain the Cosmos? Closer To Truth 2024-06-19 | Watch more interviews on cosmic fundamentals: https://t.ly/wVpdYThe cosmos is vast, the largest stuff that exists. Particles are tiny, the smallest stuff that exists. Yet the particles compose the cosmos; there is nothing in the cosmos other than the particles, and the fields and forces that are associated with them. How does the whole system composed of cosmos and particles work?Support the show with Closer To Truth merch: bit.ly/3P2ogjeFind us on Instagram for news, giveaways, announcements, and more: https://shorturl.at/dnA39Steven Weinberg is an American theoretical physicist and Nobel laureate in Physics for his contributions to the unification of the weak force and electromagnetic interaction between elementary particles.For members-only exclusives, register for a free CTT account today: https://shorturl.at/ajRZ8Closer To Truth, hosted by Robert Lawrence Kuhn and directed by Peter Getzels, 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.
Sean Carroll - Physics of Consciousness Closer To Truth 2024-06-18 | Sign up for a free Closer To Truth account to receive special members-only benefits: closertotruth.comHow to explain our inner awareness that is at once most common and most mysterious? Traditional explanations focus at the level of neuron and neuronal circuits in the brain. But little real progress has motivated some to look much deeper, into the laws of physics — information theory, quantum mechanics, even postulating new laws of physics.Subscribe to the Closer To Truth podcast wherever you listen: https://shorturl.at/mtJP4Watch more videos on consciousness as all physical: https://shorturl.at/PKpOkSean Carroll is Homewood Professor of Natural Philosophy at Johns Hopkins University and fractal faculty at the Santa Fe Institute. His research focuses on fundamental physics and cosmology.Closer To Truth, hosted by Robert Lawrence Kuhn and directed by Peter Getzels, 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.
Carlo Rovelli - Multiverse: Where Do We Go from Here? Closer To Truth 2024-06-17 | Follow us on X for news and articles, plus connect with other viewers: https://shorturl.at/imHY9The stunning realization that there may be multiple universes has progressed from speculative metaphysics (or science fiction) to serious theoretical cosmology to data-rich observational cosmology to majority-accepted conventional wisdom. Yet challenges remain and questions abound. Watch more interviews on multiple universes: https://shorturl.at/FXM5ASupport the show with Closer To Truth merch like T-shirts, hoodies, and mugs: bit.ly/3P2ogjeCarlo Rovelli is an Italian theoretical physicist at Centre de Physique Theorique de Luminy.Register on CTT.com for free to get members-only benefits: closertotruth.comCloser To Truth, hosted by Robert Lawrence Kuhn and directed by Peter Getzels, 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.
Mahmoud Ayoub - Wondering About God Closer To Truth 2024-06-16 | Register for a free Closer To Truth account today to get special member exclusives: closertotruth.comThe God debate is not a game. ‘Is there a Creator God?’ is a serious question. If God exists, what can we know about God? Can an infinite God be accessible to finite humans? Can we inquire of God’s essences and traits? What are all the ways that God could be? Or could not be? We discover different beliefs of different kinds of Gods.Subscribe to the Closer To Truth podcast wherever you listen: https://shorturl.at/mtJP4Mahmoud Ayoub was born in 1938 in south Lebanon. Upon completion of his education, he has authored a number of books in English and Arabic in the area of Islam and Inter-religious dialogue.Watch more videos on concepts of God: https://shorturl.at/GxczFCloser To Truth, hosted by Robert Lawrence Kuhn and directed by Peter Getzels, 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.
Alva Noë - What is the Mind-Body Problem? Closer To Truth 2024-06-15 | Free access Closer to Truth's library of 5,000+ videos: http://bit.ly/376lkKNHow is it possible that mushy masses of brain cells, passing chemicals and shooting sparks, can cause mental sensations and subjective feelings? How can brain chemistry and electricity be ‘about’ things? Can physical activities literally be mental activities? Physical and mental activities seem so radically different.Watch more videos on the mind-body problem: https://shorturl.at/hCoeySubscribe to the Closer To Truth podcast on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen: https://shorturl.at/hwGP3Alva Noë is Professor of Philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley. The main focus of his work is the theory of perception and consciousness. In addition to these problems in cognitive science and the philosophy of mind, he is interested in phenomenology, the theory of art, Wittgenstein, and the origins of analytic philosophy.Shop Closer To Truth merch and support the show with your purchase: bit.ly/3P2ogjeCloser To Truth, hosted by Robert Lawrence Kuhn and directed by Peter Getzels, 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.
Warren Brown - Can Consciousness be Non-Biological? Closer To Truth 2024-06-14 | Listen to audio versions of your favorite interviews with the Closer To Truth podcast: https://shorturl.at/hwGP3If consciousness is 100% physical, we would have to conclude that the same kind of consciousness that we experience as humans can be generated by non-biological entities (eventually). Conversely, if non-biological consciousness would somehow, someday, prove impossible, then consciousness would have to embed some nonphysical aspect. But how would we ever know?Get exclusive subscriber-only benefits with a free Closer To Truth membership: bit.ly/3He94NsWarren S. Brown is founder and previous director of the Lee Edward Travis Research Institute at the Fuller Theological Seminary and Professor of Psychology in the Graduate School of Psychology. He is also a previous member of the UCLA Brain Research Institute.Watch more videos on consciousness as all physical: https://shorturl.at/deAVyCloser To Truth, hosted by Robert Lawrence Kuhn and directed by Peter Getzels, 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.
Alexander Vilenkin - How Did Our Universe Begin? Closer To Truth 2024-06-14 | Watch more videos on cosmic beginnings: https://shorturl.at/dlOmBBeginnings are momentous, the beginning of the universe especially so. How did the beginning of our universe happen? Cosmic inflation is the theory that an exponential expansion within the first tiny fraction of a second generated everything that we see, all the vast galaxies, stars and planets. What’s the evidence? What’s the meaning?Follow us on Instagram for announcements, giveaways, and more: https://shorturl.at/rwC16Alexander Vilenkin is the Leonard and Jane Bernstein Professor and Director of the Institute of Cosmology at Tufts University. A theoretical physicist who has been working in the field of cosmology for 35 years, Vilenkin has written over 150 papers and is responsible for introducing the ideas of eternal inflation and quantum creation of the universe from nothing. His work in cosmic strings has been pivotal.Subscribe to the Closer To Truth podcast for new episodes every Wednesday: https://shorturl.at/hwGP3Closer To Truth, hosted by Robert Lawrence Kuhn and directed by Peter Getzels, 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.
Carol Edith Cleland - Philosophy of Extraterrestrial Life & Intelligence Closer To Truth 2024-06-13 | Are you a Closer To Truth member? Sign up for free at closertotruth.com/.What could life be as we don’t know it? Three transitions. Non-life to life. Life to intelligent life. Intelligent life to technological civilization. Fermi’s Paradox: with at least 10^22 planets in the universe, the evidence for alien life is zero.Watch more videos on alien life and intelligence: https://shorturl.at/UK9wjListen to audio versions of your favorite interviews with the Closer To Truth podcast: https://shorturl.at/hwGP3Carol Edith Cleland is an American philosopher of science and a professor of philosophy at the University of Colorado Boulder. She holds affiliations with the NASA Astrobiology Institute, the SETI Institute, and the CU Boulder Center for Astrobiology.Follow Closer To Truth on Instagram for announcements, giveaways, and more: https://shorturl.at/rwC16Closer To Truth, hosted by Robert Lawrence Kuhn and directed by Peter Getzels, 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.
John Leslie - What are the Ultimate Questions of All Reality? Closer To Truth 2024-06-12 | Register for a free Closer To Truth account today to get special exclusives just for members: closertotruth.comWhat are the most fundamental questions, the most penetrating questions, that we can ask of all reality? Stretch your mind. Envision all manner of things, whether in the physical world or in nonphysical realms (if such exist). Do not admit any constraints. Imagine all that can be. Ask the hardest questions.Subscribe to the Closer To Truth podcast on Apple, Spotify, or any podcast platform: https://shorturl.at/mtJP4Watch more videos on ultimate questions: https://shorturl.at/qVkxQJohn Andrew Leslie is a Canadian philosopher who focuses on explaining the world’s existence. Educated at Wadham College, Oxford, he earned a BA in Psychology and Philosophy, then an MLitt in Philosophy. He is University Professor Emeritus at the University of Guelph, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. Closer To Truth, hosted by Robert Lawrence Kuhn and directed by Peter Getzels, 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.
Brian Josephson - Must the Universe Contain Consciousness? Closer To Truth 2024-06-12 | Watch more videos on the purpose of consciousness: https://shorturl.at/bTi0VOur universe seems fine-tuned for life, with the constants of physical laws having to be within tight boundaries. Does this mean that the universe has a goal of consciousness? Is there a directedness of the universe toward consciousness? Is consciousness entirely contingent or is it something special, even a ultimate object of universal development?Support the show with Closer To Truth merchandise: bit.ly/3P2ogjeFollow us on Instagram for news, giveaways, announcements, and more: https://shorturl.at/dnA39Brian David Josephson, FRS, is a Welsh physicist. He became a Nobel Prize laureate in 1973 for the prediction of the eponymous Josephson effect.Get members-only exclusives with a free account today: https://shorturl.at/ajRZ8Closer To Truth, hosted by Robert Lawrence Kuhn and directed by Peter Getzels, 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.
John Polkinghorne - Can Science Provide Ultimate Answers? Closer To Truth 2024-06-11 | Register for a free Closer To Truth account today to get special exclusives just for members: closertotruth.comIf we seek answers to ultimate questions of human existence, can science provide them? Which of them? Ultimate questions include morality and art as well as purpose or meaning of life. In other words, if science is unable to know something, is that something forever unknowable? Or are there ways of knowing beyond science? If so, why would we trust them?Subscribe to the Closer To Truth podcast wherever you listen: https://shorturl.at/mtJP4Watch more videos on the limits of science: https://shorturl.at/N3vcfThe Rev. John Charlton Polkinghorne was an English theoretical physicist, theologian, writer, and Anglican priest. He was professor of Mathematical Physics at the University of Cambridge for 11 years, after which he resigned his chair to study for the priesthood, becoming an ordained Anglican priest.Closer To Truth, hosted by Robert Lawrence Kuhn and directed by Peter Getzels, 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.
Daniel Chamovitz - Are Plants Sentient? Closer To Truth 2024-06-10 | Free access Closer to Truth's library of 5,000+ videos: http://bit.ly/376lkKNTo 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?Subscribe to the Closer To Truth podcast on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen: https://shorturl.at/hwGP3Watch more videos on plant sentience: https://shorturl.at/Kb2Y5Daniel Chamovitz is an American-born plant geneticist and the 7th President of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Beer-Sheva, Israel.Shop Closer To Truth merch and support the show with your purchase: bit.ly/3P2ogjeCloser To Truth, hosted by Robert Lawrence Kuhn and directed by Peter Getzels, 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.
Ned Block - Whats the Meaning of Consciousness? Closer To Truth 2024-06-09 | Listen to audio versions of your favorite interviews with the Closer To Truth podcast: https://shorturl.at/hwGP3Only about consciousness can we be 100 percent sure. That consciousness exists almost everyone agrees. What consciousness means—that’s where arguments and disputations arise. Must consciousness have ‘meaning’? Or can consciousness be a random accident, selected by evolution, the ‘foam on the waves’ of brain activity. But consciousness seems so radically vital.Get exclusive subscriber-only benefits with a free Closer To Truth membership: bit.ly/3He94NsNed Block is an American philosopher working in the field of the philosophy of mind who has made important contributions to matters of consciousness and cognitive science.Watch more videos on the mystery of consciousness: https://shorturl.at/nPmWuCloser To Truth, hosted by Robert Lawrence Kuhn and directed by Peter Getzels, 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.
Willem Drees - The Mystery of Existence Closer To Truth 2024-06-08 | Find us on Instagram for announcements, giveaways, and more: https://shorturl.at/rwC16If all that exists—everything imaginable, physical and nonphysical—is ‘something’. Why is there ‘something’ rather than ‘nothing’? Wouldn’t ‘nothing’ be simpler than any sort of ‘something’? It’s a haunting wonderment. It’s the biggest possible question. Why is there anything at all? There must be an answer. But who can know it?Get subscriber-only benefits with a free Closer To Truth account today: https://shorturl.at/ajRZ8Watch more videos on the mysteries of existence: https://shorturl.at/DElQXWillem Bernard Drees is professor of philosophy of the humanities at Tilburg University in the Netherlands. He was the editor-in-chief of Zygon Journal of Religion & Science, and professor of philosophy of religion at Leiden University, the Netherlands.Subscribe to the Closer To Truth podcast for new episodes every Wednesday: https://shorturl.at/hwGP3Closer To Truth, hosted by Robert Lawrence Kuhn and directed by Peter Getzels, 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.
Peter Tse - Philosophy of Free Will Closer To Truth 2024-06-07 | Are you a Closer To Truth member? Sign up for free at closertotruth.com/.Free will is a classic and perennial problem in philosophy. It is a probe of profound issues of how the world works as well as how the mind works. What are the primary issues of free will? What are the opposing views? Can philosophical analysis help? What are the philosophical challenges? What is the current state of play?Listen to audio versions of your favorite interviews by subscribing to the Closer To Truth podcast: https://shorturl.at/hwGP3Peter Ulric Tse is Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience in the department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Dartmouth College. He holds a BA from Dartmouth in Mathematics and Physics, and a PhD in Experimental Psychology from Harvard University.Check us out on Instagram for announcements, giveaways, and more: https://shorturl.at/rwC16Closer To Truth, hosted by Robert Lawrence Kuhn and directed by Peter Getzels, 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.
Nick Bostrom - What Does a Fine-Tuned Universe Mean? Closer To Truth 2024-06-07 | Follow us on X for news and articles, plus connect with other viewers: https://shorturl.at/imHY9That the universe is ‘fine-tuned’ is generally not controversial. The laws of physics have to be ‘just so’ for anything we know, including ourselves, to exist. But why this is so and what this may mean is highly controversial. Coincidence and wildly good fortune? Multiple universes with anthropic selection? A Creator God (in one form or another)?Watch more interviews on fine-tuning the universe: https://shorturl.at/iSCvNSupport the show with Closer To Truth merch like T-shirts, hoodies, and mugs: bit.ly/3P2ogjeNick Bostrom is a Swedish-born philosopher with a background in theoretical physics, computational neuroscience, logic, and artificial intelligence, as well as philosophy. He is the most-cited professional philosopher in the world under the age of 50.Register on CTT.com for free to get members-only benefits: closertotruth.comCloser To Truth, hosted by Robert Lawrence Kuhn and directed by Peter Getzels, 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.
Hamza Yusuf - Death, Life After Death, Reincarnation Closer To Truth 2024-06-06 | Register for a free Closer To Truth account today to get special exclusives just for members: closertotruth.comWhat happens after we die? Is there life after death? If so, what kind of life? From heaven and hell to systems and cycles of reincarnation, we explore Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Judaism, and Chinese traditions, as well as Christianity.Subscribe to the Closer To Truth podcast wherever you listen: https://shorturl.at/mtJP4Watch more videos on the global philosophies of religion: https://shorturl.at/qVkxQHamza Yusuf Hanson currently serves as president of Zaytuna College in Berkeley, California, the first accredited Muslim liberal arts college in the United States. He also serves as vice-president for the Global Center for Guidance and Renewal.Closer To Truth, hosted by Robert Lawrence Kuhn and directed by Peter Getzels, 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.
Michael Merzenich - How Do Brains Function? Closer To Truth 2024-06-05 | Watch more videos on brain structure and function: https://shorturl.at/vMN4sEverything we know, everything we think, comes from our brain. How do brains manage this remarkable feat? What principles do brains use? Do all brains work similarly? How to account for differences among species and among individuals? Are brains our window to reality, seeing what truly exists? Or are we bound by brains, mental slaves of the meat in our heads?Shop CTT merch and support the show with your purchase: bit.ly/3P2ogjeFollow us on Instagram for news, giveaways, announcements, and more: https://shorturl.at/dnA39Michael M. Merzenich is a Professor Emeritus Neuroscientist at the University of California, San Francisco. He attended the University of Portland in Portland, Oregon earning his Bachelor of Science.To receive members-only exclusives, register for a free account today: https://shorturl.at/ajRZ8Closer To Truth, hosted by Robert Lawrence Kuhn and directed by Peter Getzels, 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.
Christof Koch - Is Consciousness Unified? Closer To Truth 2024-06-05 | Get free access Closer to Truth's library of 5,000+ videos: http://bit.ly/376lkKNWe feel as if our consciousness is unified—we integrate sight, sound, all the senses. Our minds feel as an indivisible whole. But eye or brain injury can alter or eliminate sight. A stroke can destroy subtle aspects of language capacity—you can write and not speak, speak and not write. The brain is compartmentalized. So is unified consciousness an illusion?Subscribe to the Closer To Truth podcast on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen: https://shorturl.at/hwGP3Watch more videos on the mystery of consciousness: https://shorturl.at/Et5mbChristof Koch is an American neuroscientist best known for his work on the neural bases of consciousness. He is the President and Chief Scientific Officer of the Allen Institute of Brain Science in Seattle.Support the show with your Closer To Truth merch purchase: bit.ly/3P2ogjeCloser To Truth, hosted by Robert Lawrence Kuhn and directed by Peter Getzels, 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.
Alexander Vilenkin - Did the Universe Begin? Closer To Truth 2024-06-04 | Listen to audio versions of your favorite interviews by subscribing to the Closer To Truth podcast: https://shorturl.at/hwGP3Some scientists claim that the universe did not have a beginning. Some theologians contend that the universe did not need a beginning. Yet the universe is expanding, and so run the movie in reverse and there seems to be a beginning. What stakes are riding on whether the universe had a beginning?Get exclusive subscriber-only benefits with a free Closer To Truth membership: bit.ly/3He94NsAlexander Vilenkin is the Leonard and Jane Bernstein Professor and Director of the Institute of Cosmology at Tufts University. A theoretical physicist who has been working in the field of cosmology for 35 years, Vilenkin has written over 150 papers and is responsible for introducing the ideas of eternal inflation and quantum creation of the universe from nothing. His work in cosmic strings has been pivotal.Watch more videos on cosmic beginnings: https://shorturl.at/oC6inCloser To Truth, hosted by Robert Lawrence Kuhn and directed by Peter Getzels, 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.
Eastern Traditions: What is Our Ultimate Future? | Episode 2405 | Closer To Truth Closer To Truth 2024-06-03 | ▶ Watch all of Season 24 here: https://shorturl.at/8mpXaHow do Buddhism, Chinese traditions, and Hinduism address Final Things—eschatology—life after death and the ultimate transformation of the world? What are reincarnation and non-dual pure consciousness in Hinduism? What are rebirth and Nirvana in Buddhism?Featuring interviews with Swami Sarvapriyananda, Swami Medhananda, Jay Garfield, Franklin Perkins, and Tao Jiang.Explore all of our videos on Eastern Traditions: https://shorturl.at/agM69Closer To Truth, hosted by Robert Lawrence Kuhn and directed by Peter Getzels, 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.
Thalia Wheatley - Big Questions in Free Will Closer To Truth 2024-06-02 | Free access Closer to Truth's library of 5,000+ videos: http://bit.ly/376lkKNFree will is a perennial conundrum. The ‘Big Questions in Free Will’ project brought together scientists, philosophers and theologians in a novel interdisciplinary initiative to develop new data and catalyze innovative ways of thinking. Here are the concluding thoughts of some of the participants. Has progress been made?Subscribe to the Closer To Truth podcast on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen: https://shorturl.at/hwGP3Watch more videos on free will: https://shorturl.at/YhvKxThalia Wheatley is currently an associate professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Dartmouth College in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.Shop merch like T-shirts and notebooks in our Bonfire store: bit.ly/3P2ogjeCloser To Truth, hosted by Robert Lawrence Kuhn and directed by Peter Getzels, 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.
John Dupré - Philosophy of Sex, Sexuality, & Gender Closer To Truth 2024-06-01 | Subscribe to the Closer To Truth podcast on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen: https://shorturl.at/hwGP3Sexual questions abound. What is “normal” sexual behavior vs. multiple variations? How to appreciate LGBTQ+ issues? What can be learned from sex in animal models that is relevant for human sexuality? A philosophical perspective can provide clarity.Watch more interviews on sexuality and gender: https://shorturl.at/wWBzPJohn A. Dupré is a British philosopher of science. He is the director of Egenis, the Centre for the Study of Life Sciences, and professor of philosophy at the University of Exeter.Get exclusive subscriber-only benefits with a free Closer To Truth membership: bit.ly/3He94NsCloser To Truth, hosted by Robert Lawrence Kuhn and directed by Peter Getzels, 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.
Andrew Briggs - Is Information the Foundation of Reality? Closer To Truth 2024-05-31 | Follow us on Twitter for news and articles, plus connect with other viewers: https://shorturl.at/imHY9Could information be the stuff of which everything is made? Information seems so abstract, not a substance or a thing, so how could it be the building blocks of reality? There are ways and reasons how information can literally be reality, some scientists claim, and their ideas are revolutionary.Watch more videos on the deep laws of nature: https://shorturl.at/Kc6pGSupport the show with Closer To Truth merch like T-shirts, hoodies, and mugs: bit.ly/3P2ogjeAndrew Briggs is Professor of Nanomaterials at the University of Oxford. He is Fellow of St Anne’s College, Fellow of Wolfson College, Fellow of the Institute of Physics, Honorary Fellow of the Royal Microscopical Society, and Member of International Society for Science and Religion and Academia Europaea.Closer To Truth, hosted by Robert Lawrence Kuhn and directed by Peter Getzels, 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.
Saul Perlmutter - Are Science & Religion at War? Closer To Truth 2024-05-30 | For members-only exclusives, register for a free Closer To Truth account today: closertotruth.comWhat is it about science and theology that grips people so emotionally, as during a war, such that each is committed to his or her viewpoint (which often are sharply opposed to one another)? Each is fighting for its predominance, if not for its life: religion from being marginalized, science from being politically contained.Subscribe to the Closer To Truth podcast wherever you listen: https://shorturl.at/mtJP4Watch more videos on science versus religion: https://shorturl.at/NXFxwSaul Perlmutter is an American astrophysicist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and a Professor of Physics at the University of California, Berkeley.Closer To Truth, hosted by Robert Lawrence Kuhn and directed by Peter Getzels, 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.
Andrew Loke - Why is There Something Rather Than Nothing? Closer To Truth 2024-05-29 | Watch more interviews on the mystery of existence: https://shorturl.at/E6R4sHere’s the ultimate question: what if it were true that everything always and forever had been ‘nothing’? Imagine that not a single thing ever existed–not emptiness, not blankness, not even the existence of emptiness, or the meaning of blankness. If you can image that, now ask yourself: why is there anything at all?For more information on this topic, visit Andrew Loke's website: https://shorturl.at/bce7hShop CTT merch and support the show with your purchase: bit.ly/3P2ogjeFollow us on Instagram for news, giveaways, announcements, and more: https://shorturl.at/dnA39Dr. Andrew Ter Ern Loke is an Associate Professor in the Department of Religion and Philosophy at Hong Kong Baptist University and an elected Fellow of the prestigious International Society for Science and Religion.For member-only exclusives, register for a free account today: https://shorturl.at/ajRZ8Closer To Truth, hosted by Robert Lawrence Kuhn and directed by Peter Getzels, 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.
Tim Maudlin - Philosophy of Fine-Tuning Closer To Truth 2024-05-28 | Free access Closer to Truth's library of 5,000+ videos: http://bit.ly/376lkKNAssuming that the fine-tuning of our universe is real, what would it mean? Scientists, philosophers, even theologians weigh in, spinning the fine-tuning story to support their own worldviews. But philosophers have a higher calling here: they need to apply rigorous thinking and analytical methods to discern deep issues and implications.Subscribe to the Closer To Truth podcast on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen: https://shorturl.at/hwGP3Watch more videos on fine tuning of the universe: https://shorturl.at/ZNEH7Tim Maudlin is a philosopher of science and a Professor of Philosophy at New York University.Shop T-shirts, hoodies, and more in our Closer To Truth merch store: bit.ly/3P2ogjeCloser To Truth, hosted by Robert Lawrence Kuhn and directed by Peter Getzels, 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.
Eastern Traditions: What are Ultimate Existence and Essence? | Episode 2404 | Closer To Truth Closer To Truth 2024-05-28 | ▶ Get early access to episodes of Season 24 on our website: https://shorturl.at/jtUZ6How do Buddhism, Chinese traditions, and Hinduism address the ultimate essence of all things, the ground of being? What are transcendence, oneness, interconnectivity, ineffability? Compare Dao in Daoism to Brahman in Hinduism. Compare Wu in Daoism with Emptiness in Buddhism. Does God fit in?Featuring interviews with Swami Sarvapriyananda, Swami Medhananda, Jay Garfield, Franklin Perkins, and Tao Jiang.Explore all videos on Eastern Traditions: https://shorturl.at/agM69Host Robert Lawrence Kuhn takes viewers on an intriguing global journey into cutting-edge labs, magnificent libraries, hidden gardens, and revered sanctuaries in order to discover state-of-the-art ideas and make them real and relevant. Closer To Truth, hosted by Robert Lawrence Kuhn and directed by Peter Getzels, 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.
Subhash Kak - What is Consciousness? Closer To Truth 2024-05-27 | Listen to audio versions of your favorite interviews with the Closer To Truth podcast: https://shorturl.at/hwGP3Consciousness is what we can know best and explain least. It is the inner subjective experience of what it feels like to see red or smell garlic or hear Beethoven. Consciousness has intrigued and baffled philosophers. To begin, we must define and describe consciousness. What to include in a complete definition and description of consciousness?Get exclusive subscriber-only benefits with a free Closer To Truth membership: bit.ly/3He94NsSubhash Kak is Regents Professor of Computer Science Department at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater.Watch more videos on the mysteries of consciousness: https://shorturl.at/EdpptCloser To Truth, hosted by Robert Lawrence Kuhn and directed by Peter Getzels, 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.
David Shatz - What is an Afterlife? Closer To Truth 2024-05-26 | Check us out on Instagram for announcements, giveaways, and more: https://shorturl.at/rwC16What does it mean to have an ‘afterlife’? Are there different kinds of afterlives? What would it feel like to be in an afterlife? If one samples the various afterlives on offer from the world’s multitudinous religions, one would be forgiven for being confused. Here’s the core question: If there is a an afterlife, do individual personalities persist?Get subscriber-only benefits with a free Closer To Truth account today: https://shorturl.at/ajRZ8Watch more videos on life after death: https://shorturl.at/qTdivDavid Shatz is the Ronald P. Stanton University Professor of Philosophy, Ethics, and Religious Thought at Yeshiva University and editor of The Torah u-Madda Journal, a journal devoted to the interaction between Judaism and general culture.Subscribe to the Closer To Truth podcast for new episodes every Wednesday: https://shorturl.at/hwGP3Closer To Truth, hosted by Robert Lawrence Kuhn and directed by Peter Getzels, 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.
Rodney Holder - Many Worlds of Quantum Theory Closer To Truth 2024-05-25 | Follow us on Twitter for news, articles, and discussions with fellow viewers: https://shorturl.at/imHY9Quantum theory is very strange. No act is wholly sure. Everything works by probabilities, described by a wave function. But what is a wave function? One theory is that every possibility is in fact a real world of sorts. This is the Many Worlds interpretation of Hugh Everett and what it claims boggles the brain. You can’t imagine how many worlds there would be.Watch more videos on quantum theory: https://shorturl.at/isIKCSupport the show with Closer To Truth merch from our Bonfire store: bit.ly/3P2ogjeThe Revd Dr. Rodney Holder was Course Director of the Faraday Institute from its inception in 2006 until 2013, and remains a Bye Fellow of St. Edmund’s College and a Faraday Associate.Closer To Truth, hosted by Robert Lawrence Kuhn and directed by Peter Getzels, 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.
Rebecca Newberger Goldstein - Realism vs. Anti-realism Closer To Truth 2024-05-24 | Register for members-only exclusives with a free Closer To Truth account today: closertotruth.com/.What are anti-realists and why do they deny objective reality? What we know of the world must come through our senses and be processed by our brains. Both can be unreliable; illusions can fool our senses and illness or injury can disrupt our brains. Therefore, can we ever be sure that anything outside ourselves is truly what it seems?Subscribe to the Closer To Truth podcast with new episodes every Wednesday: https://shorturl.at/mtJP4Watch more videos on the metaphysics of consciousness: https://shorturl.at/X1y2DRebecca Newberger Goldstein is an American philosopher, novelist, and public intellectual. Goldstein is a MacArthur Fellow, and has received the National Humanities Medal and the National Jewish Book Award.Closer To Truth, hosted by Robert Lawrence Kuhn and directed by Peter Getzels, 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.
Ian Barbour - Why is Emergence Significant? Closer To Truth 2024-05-23 | Watch more videos on complexity and emergence: https://shorturl.at/QLrfUEmergence is how the world works differently at various levels or hierarchies of organization. It’s what happens when the whole becomes more than the sum of all its parts. Emergence operates at all levels, from physics to chemistry to biology to psychology to sociology. The powers of emergence are stunning.Follow us on Instagram for news, giveaways, announcements, and more: https://shorturl.at/dnA39Show your love for the show with CTT hoodies, mugs, and more: bit.ly/3P2ogjeIan Graeme Barbour was an American scholar on the relationship between science and religion. According to the Public Broadcasting Service, his mid-1960s Issues in Science and Religion "has been credited with literally creating the contemporary field of science and religion".For member-only exclusives, register for a free account today: https://shorturl.at/ajRZ8Closer To Truth, hosted by Robert Lawrence Kuhn and directed by Peter Getzels, 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.
Eran Zaidel - Can Brains Have Free Will? Closer To Truth 2024-05-23 | Show your love for the show with Closer To Truth merch: bit.ly/3P2ogjeFree will seems the simplest of notions. Why then is free will so vexing to philosophers? Here’s why: no one knows how free will works! Science, seemingly, permits no ‘gaps’—’joints’ in the structure of the world—in which free will can operate. The brain seems like an all-physical system working according to physical laws. How then a will that’s fully free?Watch more videos on the science of free will: https://shorturl.at/ZJoHKSign up for members-only exclusives with a free Closer To Truth account today: https://shorturl.at/ajRZ8Eran Zaidel is Professor Emeritus of Behavioral Neuroscience and of Cognition in the Department of Psychology at UCLA, and a member of UCLA’s Brain Research Institute.Subscribe to the Closer To Truth podcast on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen: https://shorturl.at/hwGP3Closer To Truth, hosted by Robert Lawrence Kuhn and directed by Peter Getzels, 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.
Brian Swimme on Consciousness, Cultural Evolution, and the Noosphere | Closer To Truth Chats Closer To Truth 2024-05-22 | 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: amzn.to/3K8cYrRWatch more Closer To Truth Chats: https://t.ly/jJI7eCloser To Truth, hosted by Robert Lawrence Kuhn and directed by Peter Getzels, 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.
Fred Adams - Ultimate Questions: Do They Evolve? Closer To Truth 2024-05-21 | Subscribe to the Closer To Truth podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen: https://shorturl.at/hwGP3Ask the most fundamental questions; make the most penetrating inquires; probe the deep essence of existence. Push boundaries. Search the foundations of reality. Imagine all that may exist in physics and cosmology, even beyond current understanding. Then ask how such ultimate questions may change over time.Register for a free account to get exclusive subscriber benefits like early access to new episodes: bit.ly/3He94NsFred Adams is a professor of physics at the University of Michigan. His work is in the general area of theoretical astrophysics with a focus on the study of star formation and cosmology.Watch more videos on the mystery of existence: https://shorturl.at/4EQAUCloser To Truth, hosted by Robert Lawrence Kuhn and directed by Peter Getzels, 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.
Scott Aaronson - What Things Are Conscious? Closer To Truth 2024-05-21 | Get free access Closer to Truth's library of 5,000+ videos: http://bit.ly/376lkKNConsciousness is the great mystery of inner awareness. Where does it exist? Humans, obviously. Animals? Which animals? Chimps, elephants, dolphins, dogs? Termites, snails, amoeba, bacteria? What about non-biological intelligences like supercomputers of the future? The question probes the deep nature of consciousness.Subscribe to the Closer To Truth podcast on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen: https://shorturl.at/hwGP3Watch more videos on the metaphysics of consciousness: https://shorturl.at/FKt3GScott Joel Aaronson is a theoretical computer scientist and faculty member in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His primary area of research is quantum computing and computational complexity theory more generally.Support the show with Closer To Truth merchandise: bit.ly/3P2ogjeCloser To Truth, hosted by Robert Lawrence Kuhn and directed by Peter Getzels, 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.
TOMORROW: New Chat with evolutionary cosmologist Brian Swimme Closer To Truth 2024-05-21 | Brian Swimme discusses the capabilities of humanity, consciousness, the noosphere, and more #shorts
Eastern Traditions: Why are Suffering and Ritual Vital? | Episode 2403 | Closer To Truth Closer To Truth 2024-05-20 | ▶ Get early access to episodes of Season 24 on our website: https://shorturl.at/jtUZ6How 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.Explore all videos on Eastern Traditions: https://shorturl.at/agM69Closer To Truth host Robert Lawrence Kuhn takes viewers on an intriguing global journey into cutting-edge labs, magnificent libraries, hidden gardens, and revered sanctuaries in order to discover state-of-the-art ideas and make them real and relevant. Closer To Truth, hosted by Robert Lawrence Kuhn and directed by Peter Getzels, 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.
Nathan Lents - Philosophy of Biological Death Closer To Truth 2024-05-19 | Connect with us on Instagram for announcements, giveaways, and more: https://shorturl.at/rwC16Defining death is no longer simple. Brain death can be irreversible while the heart can keep beating for years. Consider the great costs of prolonging life artificially and the great needs to harvest organs to save the living.Get subscriber-only benefits with a free Closer To Truth account today: https://shorturl.at/ajRZ8Watch more videos on life and death: https://shorturl.at/chnQ4Nathan H. Lents is an American scientist, author, and university professor. He has been on the faculty of John Jay College since 2006 and is currently the director of the Cell and Molecular Biology program.Subscribe to the Closer To Truth podcast with new episodes every week: https://shorturl.at/hwGP3Closer To Truth, hosted by Robert Lawrence Kuhn and directed by Peter Getzels, 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.
Henry Stapp - How is the Cosmos Constructed? Closer To Truth 2024-05-18 | Follow us on Twitter for news, articles, and discussions with fellow followers: https://shorturl.at/imHY9What are the basic components of the cosmos? At the deepest levels of reality—the particles, fields and forces of the smallest slices of existence—how does the world work? Standard model of particle physics? Quantum theory? String theory? What are these theories, how do they work, and can they work together?Watch more videos on the deep laws of nature: https://shorturl.at/gksQYSupport the show with Closer To Truth merch: bit.ly/3P2ogjeHenry Pierce Stapp is a mathematical physicist known for his work in quantum mechanics, particularly the development of axiomatic S-matrix theory, the proofs of strong nonlocality properties, and the place of free will in the "orthodox" quantum mechanics of John von Neumann.Closer To Truth, hosted by Robert Lawrence Kuhn and directed by Peter Getzels, 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.
Robert Stickgold - Are Brain and Mind the Same Thing? Closer To Truth 2024-05-17 | Register for members-only exclusives with a free Closer To Truth account today: closertotruth.com/.For the brain and mind to be the same thing, mind must be entirely the output of brain. This means the mind must be the brain—literally, identically. If so, then the physical world is likely all that exists. But if mind and brain are not the same thing, then what? Could there be extra stuff in the physical world? Could reality go beyond the physical?Subscribe to the Closer To Truth podcast with new episodes every Wednesday: https://shorturl.at/mtJP4Watch more videos on the mind-body problem: https://shorturl.at/sCW29Robert Stickgold is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.Closer To Truth, hosted by Robert Lawrence Kuhn and directed by Peter Getzels, 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.
David Chalmers - What Exists? Closer To Truth 2024-05-16 | Watch more videos on the metaphysics of the cosmos: https://shorturl.at/oFM01Lots of things exist. But what is so absolutely fundamental in that it cannot be further reduced into anything more fundamental, but other things that exist can be reduced to it? The challenge is to discern the minimum number of basic categories that can explain the entirety of existence. Follow us on Instagram for news, giveaways, announcements, and more: https://shorturl.at/dnA39Show your love for the show with CTT hoodies, mugs, and more: bit.ly/3P2ogjeDavid Chalmers is a philosopher at New York University and the Australian National University. He is Professor of Philosophy and co-director of the Center for Mind, Brain, and Consciousness at NYU, and also Professor of Philosophy at ANU.For member-only exclusives, register for a free account today: https://shorturl.at/ajRZ8Closer To Truth, hosted by Robert Lawrence Kuhn and directed by Peter Getzels, 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.
