Within Reason

Get all sides of every story and be better informed at⁠https://ground.news/AlexOC⁠ - subscribe for 40% off unlimited access.

Come to my North American tour this November: https://www.alexoconnor.com/p/tour.

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Michael Pollan is an American journalist and the first Lewis K. Chan Arts Lecturer at Harvard University.

Get A World Appears: A Journey Into Consciousness.

TIMESTAMPS:

(0:00) North America Tour

(0:20) The Solar Eclipse

(2:56) What Is It Like To Be A Plant?

(14:52) Are Neurons Overrated?

(19:15) Is This All Complete Nonsense?

(20:59) The Strange Behaviour of Plants

(26:37) Consciousness by Negation

(37:31) Does Matter Or Consciousness Come First?

(44:09) What Do Humans Have That Plants Don’t?

(54:25) Do Plants Feel Pain?

(56:52) Is Feeling the Basis of Consciousness?

(01:06:45) Is Consciousness Falsifiable?

(01:17:41) Where Does Awareness Come From?

(01:22:15) Are Psychedelic Experiences Real?

(01:24:59) What is Everybody Getting Wrong About Consciousness?

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Get all sides of every story and be better informed at https://ground.news/AlexOC - subscribe for 40% off unlimited access.Come to my North American tour this November: https://www.alexoconnor.com/p/tour.Jan Westerhoff is a German philosopher and orientalist with specific interests in metaphysics and the philosophy of language. He is currently Professor of Buddhist Philosophy in the Faculty of Theology and Religion of the University of Oxford.Get Jan Westerhoff's books here.TIMESTAMPS:0:00 Nāgārjuna, The “Second Buddha”6:03 The Middle Way9:16 Ontological Nihilism20:00 Are Madhyamaka Buddhists Nihilists?38:56 How Emptiness Escapes Causal Arguments for God45:40 Preempting Immanuel Kant?50:37 Emptiness1:10:07 How to Escape Suffering1:16:54 Visualising Emptiness1:20:30 Is Consciousness Empty?1:34:28 Reality Without SubstanceCONNECT:My Website: https://www.alexoconnor.com

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/cosmicskepticFacebook: http://www.facebook.com/cosmicskepticInstagram: http://www.instagram.com/cosmicskepticTikTok: @CosmicSkepticThe Within Reason Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/16wUbvDT95dxzpG2KEhakK?si=3196e07690bb489dCONTACT:Business email: contact@alexoconnor.comBrand enquiries: David@modernstoa.co

Get Huel today with this exclusive offer for New Customers of 15% OFF with code alexoconnor at https://huel.com/alexoconnor (Minimum $50 purchase).For early, ad-free access to videos, and to support the channel, subscribe to my Substack: https://www.alexoconnor.com.

Dallas Jenkins is an American film and television director, writer and producer. He is best known as the creator, director, co-writer and executive producer of The Chosen, the first multi-season series about the life of Jesus of Nazareth.

LINKS:

Watch the trailer for season six of The Chosen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nymMxV88QyY&feature=youtu.be

Season six premieres November 15th on Prime Video, with three episodes at launch and new episodes weekly through December 6th. And the story doesn't end on streaming — the season finale arrives as a feature film, exclusively in theaters, on March 12th, 2027.

Follow The Chosen:

https://www.thechosen.tv/en-us

https://www.instagram.com/thechosentvseries/

https://www.tiktok.com/@thechosentv?lang=en

https://www.facebook.com/InsideTheChosen

https://www.youtube.com/@TheChosenSeries

Follow Dallas:https://www.facebook.com/DallasJenkinsOfficialhttps://www.instagram.com/dallas.jenkins/https://www.youtube.com/@DallasJenkinsOfficial

TIMESTAMPS:

(00:21) What is The Chosen’s Purpose?
(04:01) Is It Appropriate to Embellish the Story of Jesus?
(14:05) Harmonising the Gospel Accounts
(36:40) Do Actors Sometimes Theologically Disagree?
(48:02) Controversial Additions to the Show
(56:14) Why Didn’t Jesus Heal Little James?
(01:14:47) Depicting Judas Iscariot
(01:33:25) The Women of The Chosen
(01:40:37) Stories Left Out of the Show
(01:46:58) Watching The Chosen As an Agnostic

CONNECT:

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Business email: contact@alexoconnor.com

Brand enquiries: David@modernstoa.co

Get all sides of every story and be better informed at⁠https://ground.news/AlexOC⁠ - subscribe for 40% off unlimited access.

For early, ad-free access to videos, and to support the channel, subscribe to my Substack: ⁠https://www.alexoconnor.com⁠.

VIDEO NOTES:

Ross Douthat is an American journalist who is a correspondent for the CBS News program 60 Minutes. Prior to joining CBS, he was a conservative columnist at The New York Times, a senior editor at The Atlantic, and film critic for National Review. He has written on religion, politics, and society.Get "Believe: Why Everyone Should Be Religious": https://amzn.to/4fw2bIJ

TIMESTAMPS:

(0:00) Is Religious Belief An Obligation?
(17:44) Pantheism vs Theism
(23:35) The Connection Between Mind and Universe
(43:32) The Fine-Tuning Argument
(49:18) The Problem of Evil
(1:06:26) Is Belief in God Enough?
(1:20:53) Animal Suffering
(1:34:37) Is Heaven Hierarchical?

CONNECT:

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TIMESTAMPS:

(0:00) – Intro

(0:18) – My YouTube Watch History

(01:33) – What Do I Want to Be Remember For?

(10:13) – Will I Do a PhD?

(13:06) – Warzone

(13:28) – How Many Philosophers Does It Take to Screw in a Light Bulb?

(14:14) – My Music Channel

(14:30) – My Career if I Wasn't a YouTuber

(15:49) – Things I Struggle With

(17:58) – Favourite Beatles Song?

(19:20) – Daily Life and Episode Prep

(23:09) – Favourite Debate?

(27:17) – Which Country Do I Want to Visit?

(27:30) – Which Country Do I Never Want to Visit?

(28:09) – Which Person from History Would I Want to Talk To?

(31:47) – Who Am I a Fan Of?

(32:18) – Favourite Sport and Club?

(39:25) – Favourite Dish and Beverage?

(40:23) – What Is One Thing You Regret?

- CONNECT

My Website: https://www.alexoconnor.com

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TikTok: @CosmicSkeptic

The Within Reason Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/16wUbvDT95dxzpG2KEhakK?si=3196e07690bb489d

- CONTACT

Business email: contact@alexoconnor.com

Brand enquiries: David@modernstoa.co------------------------------------------

Get Huel today with this exclusive offer for New Customers of 15% OFF with code alexoconnor at https://huel.com/alexoconnor (Minimum $50 purchase).

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Chris Hadfield is a retired Royal Canadian Air Force colonel, test pilot, and CSA astronaut. As the first Canadian to perform extravehicular activity in outer space, he has flown two Space Shuttle missions and also served as commander of the International Space Station. Get Chris's book Final Orbit.

TIMESTAMPS:

(0:00) Have We Lost Interest in Space Travel?

(3:56) What Is There To Learn In Space?

(12:01) Is Space Exploration National Or Global?

(18:00) Will Civilians Need Training To Go To Space?

(22:35) The Psychological Challenges of Space Exploration

(26:28) Are Astronauts Thrill Seekers?

(34:33) Writing Fiction As An Astronaut

(42:58) How Chris Became a Novelist

(50:32) The Biggest Risk Chris Has Ever Taken

(53:09) How Chris Tackles Fear

CONNECT:

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CONTACT:

Business email: contact@alexoconnor.com

Brand enquiries: David@modernstoa.co

Get all sides of every story and be better informed at⁠https://ground.news/AlexOC⁠ - subscribe for 40% off unlimited access.

For early, ad-free access to videos, and to support the channel, subscribe to my Substack: ⁠https://www.alexoconnor.com⁠.

Robert Lawrence Kuhn is an American public intellectual and investment banker. He is also an author, television producer, columnist and commentator, especially on topics related to China. Kuhn is the creator of the PBS series ⁠ @CloserToTruthTV ⁠.View the Landscape of Consciousness Map ⁠here⁠.

TIMESTAMPS:

(00:00) The Landscape of Consciousness Map

(16:32) Materialism

(26:58) What Counts As Materialism?

(45:12) The Difference Between Panpsychism and Materialism

(49:36) What’s the Difference Between Panpsychism and Idealism?

(58:12) Idealism and Monism

(1:03:51) Do All These “Theories” Really Differ?

(1:08:40) Dualism and Property Dualism

(1:20:30) Are Psychedelic Experiences Significant?

(1:32:02) The “Challenge” Category

(1:42:36) Quantum Theories of Consciousness

(1:47:57) Integrated Information Theory

(2:01:53) Theological Approaches to Consciousness

(2:15:33) How Theory of Mind Brings Us Together

CONNECT:

My Website 

YouTube

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⁠TikTok⁠⁠

CONTACT:

Business email: contact@alexoconnor.com

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Get Huel today with this exclusive offer for New Customers of 15% OFF with code alexoconnor at https://huel.com/alexoconnor (Minimum $50 purchase).

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John Sellars is a Reader in philosophy at Royal Holloway, University of London, a visiting Research Fellow at King's College London and a Member of Wolfson College, Oxford. His books include Lessons in Stoicism, The Fourfold Remedy, Aristotle and his work has been translated into over a dozen languages.

Get John Sellars' books here.

TIMESTAMPS:

(0:00) What’s So Great About Aristotle?

(03:06) Actuality and Potentiality

(12:59) Forms: Aristotle vs Plato

(20:02) The Four Causes

(25:16) Evolution and Final Causation

(29:40) Did Aristotle Believe In God?

(32:38) The Unmoved Mover

(38:58) The Soul (Is Not What You Might Think)

(48:51) How Aristotle Invented Formal Logic

(55:54) The Nicomachean Ethics

(01:15:56) Ethics as Descriptive

(01:21:04) Where To Start With Aristotle

CONNECT:

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Business Email: contact@alexoconnor.com

Brand enquiries: David@modernstoa.co

Get all sides of every story and be better informed at https://ground.news/AlexOC - subscribe for 40% off unlimited access.

For early, ad-free access to videos, and to support the channel, subscribe to my Substack: https://www.alexoconnor.com.

Keith Frankish is a British philosopher specialising in philosophy of mind, philosophy of psychology, and philosophy of cognitive science.

Read Keith's essay, "Illusionism as a theory of consciousness" (2016).

Find Keith's website here.

Keith Frankish and Philip Goff co-host a channel 'Mind Chat', where they debate panpsychism versus illusionism, and explore cutting-edge thought on consciousness:  / @mindchat  

TIMESTAMPS:

(0:00) Is Consciousness An Illusion?

(4:02) Do We Have a Private World?

(10:00) The Nature of Visual Experience

(20:13) Is Awareness Behavioural?

(28:17) Isn’t Introspection Itself a Private Experience?

(33:04) Philosophical Zombies

(43:05) What Motivates Illusionism?

(50:02) Psychedelics and the Dissolution of the Self

(59:23) Why Are Philosophers Always Categorising?

(1:10:31) Does Alex’s Triangle Exist?

(1:21:40) Is Pain Just a Reaction to Stimulus?

(1:49:05) Is Pain an Emergent Phenomenon?

(1:55:52) What Illusion Is Actually Happening?

(1:59:07) Can AI Be Conscious?

CONNECT

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CONTACT

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@TommyEdisonXP is a blind YouTuber and radio presenter. He got his start online as the “Blind Film Critic”, reviewing movies despite being unable to see them, and thereby offering a unique angle on their storytelling.

TIMESTAMPS:

(0:00) Being a Blind YouTuber

(2:03) How Do You Understand Blindness If You Are Blind From Birth?

(4:26) Being Blind in School

(7:20) Tommy’s Early Life

(12:11) Has Life Become More Accessible For the Blind?

(19:35) How Vision is Embedded in Our Language

(21:35) How Does A Blind Person Watch A Movie?

(25:40) What Does Tommy Know About Colour?

(27:51) Mary’s Room

(32:16) Can A Blind Person Play Video Games?

(35:39) The Questions People Are Too Afraid to Ask

(41:42) How Does A Blind Person Understand Attractiveness?

(44:27) What Can We Make More Accessible?

(48:24) Why Electric Cars Aren’t Best For Everyone

(51:33) Is Offering Help Patronising?

(54:35) What Can Tommy Do That People Think He Can’t?

(58:32) Why Tommy Chooses Joy

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CONTACT

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Simon Critchley is a British philosopher, author and professor at The New School in New York. He is best known for his work on existentialism, mysticism, ethics and continental philosophy, and is the author of books including The Book of Dead Philosophers, Faith of the Faithless and Mysticism. Get Simon's book Mysticism⁠here⁠.

TIMESTAMPS:

(7:52) What is Mysticism?

(18:58) Unification With the Divine

(29:58) Mysticism and the Self

(40:38) Why Are So Many Mystics Women?

(48:41) The Limits of Language

(59:54) Was Pascal a Mystic?

(01:03:21) Where Does Simon Stand on Mysticism?

(01:11:22) Where Should We Start With Learning About Mysticism?

(01:15:36) Imagery in Simon’s Book

CONNECT

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TikTok:⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@cosmicskeptic⁠

CONTACT

Business email: contact@alexoconnor.com

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Adam Neely is an American bassist, YouTuber, and jazz musician based in New York City. His YouTube content includes Q&A videos, vlogs about performing music, and video essays about online music culture. As a musician, he performs with groups including the electro-jazz duo Sungazer and the instrumental band Aberdeen.Watch Adam's video on Suno here.

TIMESTAMPS:

(0:00) Music and Philosophy(5:17) Can You Cheat in Music?(9:07) What is Suno?(25:20) Can You Use AI Musically?(32:21) Is AI Just the New Sampling?(38:40) AI and Inclusivity(46:21) Is Music Becoming Narcissistic?(57:26) Does Great Art Require Ego?(01:07:04) Are AI Music Tools Inevitable?(01:22:55) How Would Adam Improve Suno?(01:35:44) Are We Removing the Humanity From Music?(01:44:18) Is Jazz the Blueprint?

CONNECT

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CONTACT

Business email: contact@alexoconnor.com

Brand enquiries: David@modernstoa.co

Get all sides of every story and be better informed at⁠https://ground.news/AlexOC⁠ - subscribe for 40% off unlimited access.

For early, ad-free access to videos, and to support the channel, subscribe to my Substack: ⁠https://www.alexoconnor.com⁠.

Jonny Thomson is a philosopher and the founder of⁠PhilosophyMinis ⁠. He is on the Executive Board for the British Philosophy Association and is a staff writer at Big Think.Get Jonny's upcoming book,⁠The Art of Enough: The Ancient Epicurean Philosophy of Finding – and Keeping – Happiness⁠

TIMESTAMPS:

(00:00) Are Epicureans Selfish?

(05:30) Why Epicureanism?

(10:31) Who Was Epicurus?

(16:42) Godless But Not Atheistic

(23:21) Epicurus’ Metaphysics

(27:24) Why Focus on Pleasure?

(35:29) Epicureanism vs Utilitarianism

(48:59) What About Immoral Pleasures?

(53:02) Could AI be Epicurean?

(01:00:50) The Experience Machine

(01:10:59) Why Epicurus Didn’t Like Sex

(01:16:21) Are Influencers Watering Down Ancient Philosophy?

(01:20:06) Are You In Control of Your Happiness?

(01:26:33) Epicureanism vs Stoicism

(01:32:36) Epicurus on Death

(01:36:42) Do We Have a Happiness Crisis?

CONNECT

My Website: ⁠https://www.alexoconnor.com⁠

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CONTACT

Business email: contact@alexoconnor.com

Brand enquiries: David@modernstoa.co

Get all sides of every story and be better informed at⁠https://ground.news/AlexOC⁠ - subscribe for 40% off unlimited access.

For early, ad-free access to videos, and to support the channel, subscribe to my Substack: ⁠https://www.alexoconnor.com⁠.

Nate Soares is an American artificial intelligence author and researcher known for his work on existential risk from AI. In 2014, Soares co-authored a paper that introduced the term AI alignment, the challenge of making increasingly capable AI’s behave as intended. Nate is the president of the Machine Intelligence Research Institute, a research nonprofit based in Berkeley, California.

Get the book, ⁠If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies: Why Superhuman AI Would Kill Us All⁠.

TIMESTAMPS:

(00:00) Is This an Exaggeration?

(04:31) What Is Unique About the Threat of AI?

(11:28) What is Superintelligence?

(21:25) From Chess Computers to Murderous Machines

(27:52) What Really Drives AI Systems?

(44:29) Evidence AI Is Already Turning Against Us

(56:03) How We Are Helping AI Take Over

(01:01:21) Why Would AI Seek Power or Control?

(01:07:42) Some Worst-Case AI Scenarios

(01:18:38) What Do We Do About This Now?

(01:32:53) How Has AI Changed in the Last Six Months?

CONNECT

My Website: ⁠https://www.alexoconnor.com⁠

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CONTACT

Business email: contact@alexoconnor.com

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Anil Seth is a British neuroscientist and professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at the University of Sussex. A proponent of materialist explanations of consciousness, he is currently amongst the most cited scholars on the topics of neuroscience and cognitive science globally. Read Anil's essay, ⁠"The Mythology of Conscious AI"⁠.

TIMESTAMPS

(00:00) The Difference Between Intelligence and Consciousness

(03:55) What’s Stopping the Replication of Consciousness in AI?

(17:01) Can You Separate What the Brain Is From What It Does?

(22:20) Is Conscious Experience Just Predictions From the Brain?

(26:48) Why Do We Project Consciousness Onto LLMs?

(37:27) Can Consciousness Exist Without a Body?

(42:25) Why We Liken the Brain to a Computer

(52:11) Is There An Evolutionary Reason For Consciousness?

(56:29) Studying Unconscious Perception?

(1:01:21) Is Consciousness Unified? Split-Brain Patients

(1:15:10) Attention and Consciousness

(1:19:04) What Would a Conscious Chatbot Even Look Like?

(1:25:13) Consciousness as a Controlled Hallucination

(1:34:19) Do Scientists Actually Study “Consciousness” At All?

CONNECT

My Website: ⁠https://www.alexoconnor.com⁠

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CONTACT

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Get all sides of every story and be better informed at https://ground.news/AlexOC- subscribe for 40% off unlimited access.

For early, ad-free access to videos, and to support the channel, subscribe to my Substack: https://www.alexoconnor.com.

John Lennox is a Northern Irish mathematician, bioethicist, and Christian apologist originally from Northern Ireland. He has written many books on religion, ethics, the relationship between science and God, and has had public debates with atheists including Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens.

Exclusive discount: Listeners to my show can get 30% Off John Lennox’s autobiography, My Story when shopping directly from his publishers. Visit https://spckpublishing.co.uk/my-story and enter AOC30 at checkout to get 30% off. 

TIMESTAMPS

(00:00) How Pressure Can Produce the Best Work
(02:29) Does the Incarnation Make Sense?
(06:22) John’s Richard Dawkins Debate
(14:39) What Did the New Atheists Get Wrong About God?
(26:21) Science Cannot Explain Everything
(31:22) What Did the New Atheists Get Right?
(35:18) Why Does God Hide From So Many People?
(44:36) Why Does God Allow Arbitrary Suffering?
(56:25) Is Faith “Belief Without Evidence”?
(1:00:33) How Could God Punish a Mere Lack of Faith?
(1:08:14) How Christopher Hitchens Agreed with Jesus
(1:13:03) Does Christianity Cause Evil?

CONNECT

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CONTACT

Business email: contact@alexoconnor.com

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Get Huel today with this exclusive offer for New Customers of 15% OFF with code alexoconnor at https://huel.com/alexoconnor (Minimum $50 purchase).

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Galen Strawson is a British analytic philosopher and literary critic who works primarily on philosophy of mind, metaphysics, John Locke, David Hume, Immanuel Kant and Friedrich Nietzsche.

TIMESTAMPS

(00:00) Is Radical Emergence Possible?

(08:15) Can Physics Describe Consciousness?

(12:01) Is Everything Made of Consciousness?

(18:34) Why Are People Resistant to Panpsychism?

(21:19) Can Experience Alone Tell Us What Consciousness Is?

(23:50) Does Consciousness Require Complexity?

(29:03) Panpsychism vs Idealism: What’s the Difference?

(36:08) The Combination Problem

(40:03) What is the “Self”?

(43:16) Do We Even Need to Explain Consciousness?

(48:25) Is Consciousness a Scientific or Philosophical Question?

(53:25) Is It Possible for AI to Become Conscious?

CONNECT

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TikTok: ⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@cosmicskeptic⁠

CONTACT

Business email: contact@alexoconnor.com

Brand enquiries: David@modernstoa.co

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Philip Pullman is one of England's most cherished and celebrated writers. Author of the popular His Dark Materials series of books (later adapted into a film, The Golden Compass (2007), and a 2019 HBO/BBC drama series), his novels are dripping with philosophical and religious themes. Get Philip Pullman's Books⁠here⁠.

TIMESTAMPS

(0:00) C.S. Lewis Tells Filthy Lies

(5:12) Childhood Innocence is Overrated

(10:09) Religion in Philip’s Novels

(21:26) How to Improve the Story of Jesus and the Gospels

(27:43) The Connection Between Music and Fiction

(36:24) Books vs Movies

(43:38) Consciousness in The Book of Dust

(50:05) Should Novelists Go Back and Update Their Books?

(56:11) The Omniscient Narrator

(1:00:12) How Movies Changed Novels

(1:05:49) Why Subtitles Are So Popular Now

(1:10:56) The Role of Philosophy in Philip’s Novels

(1:13:27) Philip’s Writing Process

(1:20:11) The Fear of AI in Creative Industries

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Graham Tomlin is a British theologian, author and former Church of England bishop. Get Graham's book,⁠Blaise Pascal: The Man Who Made the Modern World⁠. Graham's organisation,⁠Seen and Unseen⁠. 

TIMESTAMPS

(00:00) Can Blaise Pascal Be Categorised?

(03:05) Who Was Blaise Pascal?

(11:12) Pascal’s First Conversion

(17:19) Pascal’s “Night of Fire”

(21:59) Did Pascal Reject Reason?

(31:45) Pascal’s War With Descartes

(42:31) Did Pascal Invent the Bus?

(45:42) The Heart Has Its Reasons, Of Which Reason Knows Nothing

(50:03) How Pascal Invented Probability Theory

(52:29) Pascal’s Wager

(1:15:35) The Pensées

(1:18:30) Pascal’s “Two Minds”

(1:22:39) The Importance of Boredom

(1:26:58) Why Should Atheists Read Pascal?

(1:31:34) What Would Graham Ask Pascal?

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CONTACT

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Thomas Metzinger is a German philosopher and Professor Emeritus of theoretical philosophy at the University of Mainz. His primary research areas include philosophy of mind, philosophy of neuroscience, and applied ethics, particularly focusing on neurotechnology, virtual reality, and artificial intelligence.

Get The Elephant and the Blind: The Experience of Pure Consciousness: Philosophy, Science, and 500+ Experiential Reports

TIMESTAMPS

(0:00) The Minimal Phenomenal Experience Project
(11:34) Is MPE New Age Meditation?
(17:07) Collecting Reports of Pure Consciousness
(25:48) Lucid Deep Sleep - Thomas’ Experience
(32:19) Does Consciousness Require Complexity?
(39:29) The Power of Meditation
(45:32) Is Meditation Always a Positive Experience?
(53:13) Is a MPE Actually an Experience?
(01:11:21) Your Brain is Not Telling You the Truth
(01:20:08) Analysing Minimal Conscious Experiences
(01:27:26) Is Meditative Enlightenment Unethical?
(01:32:37) Western Ignorance of Eastern Tradition
(01:40:13) “Coming Home”
(01:44:29) The Political Implications of MPE
(01:52:40) Should Ketamine Be Legalised?

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Matthew Cobb is a British zoologist and Emeritus professor of zoology at the University of Manchester.

Get his book,⁠The Idea of the Brain: A History⁠, Closer to Truth's Map of Consciousness: ⁠loc.closertotruth.com/map⁠.

TIMESTAMPS

(0:00) The Minimal Phenomenal Experience Project

(11:34) Is MPE New Age Meditation?

(17:07) Collecting Reports of Pure Consciousness

(25:48) Lucid Deep Sleep - Thomas’ Experience

(32:19) Does Consciousness Require Complexity?

(39:29) The Power of Meditation

(45:32) Is Meditation Always a Positive Experience?

(53:13) Is a MPE Actually an Experience?

(01:11:21) Your Brain is Not Telling You the Truth

(01:20:08) Analysing Minimal Conscious Experiences

(01:27:26) Is Meditative Enlightenment Unethical?

(01:32:37) Western Ignorance of Eastern Tradition

(01:40:13) “Coming Home”

(01:44:29) The Political Implications of MPE

(01:52:40) Should Ketamine Be Legalised?

CONNECT

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Adam Aleksic, known online as Etymology Nerd, is an American linguist and content creator who produces videos exploring the origins of words. He began exploring word origins in 2016 through his blog. Aleksic studied at Harvard University, where he gained attention for his educational TikTok videos on linguistics and language in 2023. In 2025, he published Algospeak: How Social Media Is Transforming the Future of Language.

Buy "Algospeak: How Social Media Is Transforming the Future of Language":https://amzn.to/3NcOLpw

TIMESTAMPS

(0:00) Will Social Media End Local Languages?
(7:49) Why Does Language Change?
(15:11) What Is Algospeak?
(22:33) We Worship Our Phones
(27:36) Upcoming Slang to Invest In
(33:26) Online Slang That Never Quite Caught On
(38:48) Introducing Adam to British Slang
(47:13) The Origins of Language
(57:22) Punctuation in Text Messaging
(1:06:24) The Latin Mass and Hocus Pocus
(1:13:44) The Message of Algospeak

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CONTACT

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Sam Harris is a neuroscientist, philosopher, New York Times best-selling author, host of the Making Sense podcast, and creator of the Waking Up meditation app.

Buy the Waking Upbook here.

TIMESTAMPS

(00:00) Tour
(00:32) Is ‘Spirituality’ a Dirty Word?
(04:26) Why Take Reflective Knowledge Seriously?
(29:11) What Is the Self?
(47:04) Why Are There Distinct Selves?
(1:01:22) The Two Hemispheres of the Brain
(1:06:47) The Problem of Emergence
(1:18:41) What’s the Minimal Amount of Consciousness?
(1:34:09) Is AI Lying to Us About Consciousness?
(1:39:15) What Is the Present?

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Swami Sarvapriyananda is a Hindu monk belonging to the Ramakrishna Order. He is the current resident Swami and Minister in Charge, of the Vedanta Society of New York.

TIMESTAMPS:

(00:00) Tour
(00:32) An Intro to Hinduism and Advaita Vedanta
(14:31) What Are the Upanishads
(22:08) Where Do the Vedas (Scripture) Come From?
(29:02) What Does “Upanishad” Mean?
(34:36) What Do the Upanishads Teach Us?
(47:07) What Is Brahman, or Ultimate Existence?
(1:02:52) What Is the True Nature of Consciousness?
(1:08:15) Non-Dualism in Advaita Vedanta
(1:18:34) Why Isn’t There Just One Big Consciousness?
(1:29:06) What Is the Self?
(1:36:30) Are Brahman and Atman the Same Thing?
(1:45:25) What Does ‘God’ Mean in Hinduism?
(1:49:07) Does Hinduism Believe Other Religions Are Incorrect?

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Joe Schmid is a PhD student in philosophy at Princeton University and creator of the Majesty of Reason YouTube channel. He graduated with a B.A. in philosophy from Purdue University in 2022. He has published articles in metaphysics, philosophy of religion, and philosophy of time, and the author of books including "Existential Inertia and Classical Theistic Proofs".

Felipe Leon’s 200 arguments for atheism: https://exapologist.blogspot.com/2023/03/200-or-so-arguments-for-atheism.html

TIMESTAMPS

(00:00) Tour
(00:32) Extraordinary Claims Require Extraordinary Evidence
(07:50) There Is No Evidence for God
(25:27) Who Created God?
(49:44) Science Flies You to the Moon, Religion Flies You into Buildings
(01:02:33) Your Location Determines Your Religion
(01:28:33) Claims Are Not Evidence
(01:32:50) You Can’t Prove a Negative
(01:38:35) What Can Be Asserted Without Evidence Can Be Dismissed Without Evidence
(01:43:51) Faith Is Belief Without Evidence
(01:54:59) Religion Makes Good People Do Bad Things
(01:55:32) Absence of Evidence Is Evidence of Absence
(01:56:31) Theism Is Unfalsifiable
(02:01:03) Science Books Would Come Back, Religions Would Not
(02:12:58) Evolution Disproves God

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CONTACT

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John Sellars is a Reader in philosophy at Royal Holloway, University of London, a visiting Research Fellow at King's College London and a Member of Wolfson College, Oxford. His books include Lessons in Stoicism, The Fourfold Remedy, Aristotle and his work has been translated into over a dozen languages.

TIMESTAMPS

(00:00) Tour
(00:32) Did Socrates Found Stoicism?
(08:03) The Three Eras of Stoicism
(17:50) Stoic Logic
(26:19) Empiricism: How the Stoics Got Knowledge
(34:33) Materialism: Only Physical Things Exist
(43:00) How Reason Fundamentally Animates the Universe
(48:43) Did the Stoics Believe in God?
(59:37) Do the Stoics Contradict Themselves?
(01:08:17) Stoic Ethics
(01:24:24) How Did the Stoics Deal With Evil?
(01:36:32) Can You Choose Your Outcome If Everything Is Determined?

CONNECT

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CONTACT

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Sean Michael Carroll is an American theoretical physicist who specializes in quantum mechanics, cosmology, and the philosophy of science.

TIMESTAMPS:

0:00 – Tour

0:32 – Can Science Alone Explain the Universe?

6:08 – The Principle of Sufficient Reason

10:07 – What Are the Laws of Physics?

18:22 – The Fine-Tuning Argument

32:39 – Does the Multiverse Undermine Morality?

36:29 – Free Will and the Multiverse

42:24 – What Is Emergence?

56:21 – What “Stuff” Do Materialists Believe In?

1:02:41 – How Does Consciousness Work on Materialism?

1:17:31 – What Could Move Sean Away from Materialism?

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CONTACT

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Get Huel today with this exclusive offer for New Customers of 15% OFF with code alexoconnor - https://huel.com/alexoconnor (Minimum $50 purchase).

TIMESTAMPS:

(0:00) Intro
(0:32) Are All Things Full of Gods?
(8:51) Subjectivity and the Scientific Third Person
(18:56) What is the Materialistic Worldview?
(28:45) Consciousness of the Gaps?
(38:21) What’s Wrong with Emergence?
(1:00:18) Why Panpsychism is False
(1:10:25) Is There a Fundamental Unit of Consciousness?
(1:23:08) Why Are There Individual Selves?
(1:27:43) What’s Special About the Brain?
(1:40:35) Where Does the Self Go After Death?

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CONTACT

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Get Huel today with this exclusive offer for New Customers of 15% OFF with code alexoconnor at huel.com/alexoconnor(Minimum $75 purchase).

Rhett McLaughlin is a comedian best known for creating the internet’s most-watched daily talk show, Good Mythical Morning‬, alongside Link Neal. The pair also host a weekly podcast, ‪Ear Biscuits‬.

Timestamps:

0:00 – Tour

0:32 – Did Rhett Break Christianity on Easter Sunday?

6:15 – What About Christianity Needs Rethinking?

12:16 – Christians Should Embrace Faith

23:39 – Christians Should Stop Relying on Evidence

37:01 – Christians Should Stop Relying on Philosophy

49:05 – Christians Should Embrace Truth

55:15 – Why Do Christians Resist Evolution?

1:02:55 – Are Alex and Rhett About to Convert to Christianity?

1:07:49 – Christians Should Embrace Jesus

1:34:30 – Rhett’s New Channel

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Graham Oppy is Professor of Philosophy and Associate Dean of Research at Monash University. An Australian philosopher of religion, he is often considered one of the most thoughtful and important academic atheists in the world.

Buy his book, Arguing About Gods, here.

Timestamps:

00:00 - Tour

00:31 - The First Cause Argument

14:14 - Can There be an Infinite Regress?

30:46 - The Modal Fatalism Objection

36:08 - The Kalam Cosmological Argument

51:12 - The Fine Tuning Argument

1:06:15 - The Multiverse

1:10:01 - Are the Constants of the Universe Just Necessary?1:15:37 - Was the Hole Designed for the Puddle?

1:20:20 - Anselm’s Ontological Argument

1:33:59 - The Modal Ontological Argument

1:38:23 - Closing

CONNECT

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CONTACT

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Alain de Botton is the creator of The School of Life. A Swiss-born British author and public speaker, his books discuss various contemporary subjects and themes, emphasising philosophy's relevance to everyday life.

TIMESTAMPS

(00:00) Is the World Getting Uglier?
(14:32) Is Beauty Right Wing?
(28:33) Beauty Needs Context
(31:17) How Music Ruins Everything
(33:27) Our Taste Reflects What We're Missing in Life
(44:34) Is There Such a Thing as "Fake Art"?

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CONTACT

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Get all sides of every story and be better informed at⁠https://ground.news/AlexOC⁠ - subscribe for 40% off unlimited access.

For early, ad-free access to videos, and to support the channel, subscribe to my Substack: ⁠https://www.alexoconnor.com⁠.

John Nelson earned a PhD in New Testament and Christian Origins from the University of Edinburgh in 2023. He writes for the Substack⁠Behind the Gospels⁠.

His⁠thesis⁠ is the first book-length study of Jesus' physical appearance in the Gospels. He runs a weekly Substack called "Behind the Gospels" which aims to make Biblical studies accessible to all.

TIMESTAMPS

(0:00) Was Jesus Really Born on Christmas Day?

(2:51) Are the Birth Narratives Attempts at History?

(6:34) Where Was Jesus Actually Born?

(16:19) Were the Birth Narratives Added Later?

(22:21) Was Mary Really a Virgin?

(34:24) Why Does Nobody Else Mention the Virgin Birth?

(39:06) Was Jesus a Product of Adultery?

(43:49) Was Jesus Born in a Manger?

(49:34) Who Are the Magi?

(55:32) Was the Star Really a Star?

(1:01:30) Did Herod Really Order a Slaughter of Infants?

(1:07:54) Is the Christmas Story Anti-Imperial?

(1:14:40) Are Christmas Trees a Pagan Idol?

(1:17:39) John’s Book and the Upcoming Tour

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CONTACT

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TIMESTAMPS

(0:00) 1,778,795 Q&A

(0:24) How Are You?

(5:12) If You Could Choose Your Date of Birth, When Would It Be?

(9:36) Survival Tips From Bear Grylls?

(10:21) How Do You Remember so Much Stuff?

(15:24) What is Your Dream Podcast?

(17:01) Doesn’t Consciousness Just… Emerge?

(29:26) If You Clean a Vaccum, Are You a Vaccum Cleaner?

(35:41) Is Water Wet?

(37:26) How Many Holes Are In a Straw?

(40:55) Is a Hot Dog a Sandwich?

(42:28) Do You Edit Everything By Yourself?

(43:23) What Would It Be Like to Observe a Contradiction?

(43:33) Which Philosophical Concepts are Often Misunderstood?

(50:29) When I Changed My Mind Mid-Debate

(01:01:49) Would You Tour?

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CONTACT

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Get all sides of every story and be better informed at⁠https://ground.news/AlexOC⁠ - subscribe for 40% off unlimited access.

For early, ad-free access to videos, and to support the channel, subscribe to my Substack: ⁠https://www.alexoconnor.com⁠.

Hank Green (⁠@hankschannel⁠) is one of YouTube's most beloved creators. One half of⁠vlogbrothers⁠, he is also the co-creator and host of⁠SciShow⁠ and⁠Crash Course⁠.

TIMESTAMPS

(0:00) Where Are All the Aliens?

(8:02) What Makes Humans So Special?

(18:44) Has the US Lost its Cultural Identity?

(30:57) Was Martin Luther Wrong About God?

(37:52) Is the World an Illusion?

(48:16) Should We Believe Our Illusions?

(55:22) How Objective is Science?

(1:01:03) Does Science Explain Anything?

(1:12:28) Could We Explain Cold to an Alien?

(1:23:26) The Hard Problem of Consciousness

(1:29:06) Will Computers Ever Become Conscious?

(1:37:20) Do You Have Two Brains?

(1:43:52) Should We Be Worried About TikTok?

(1:50:30) Hank’s Video Ideas

(2:01:02) What’s it Like Meeting Your Old Heroes?

(2:07:14) Being a YouTuber

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CONTACT

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Get all sides of every story and be better informed at⁠https://ground.news/AlexOC⁠ - subscribe for 40% off unlimited access.

For early, ad-free access to videos, and to support the channel, subscribe to my Substack: ⁠https://www.alexoconnor.com⁠.

Michael Stevens is the creator of⁠Vsauce⁠, one of YouTube's most popular channels. Alongside Hannah Fry he hosts the newly-launched podcast⁠The Rest is Science⁠.

TIMESTAMPS

(0:00) Does Anything Really Exist?

(10:32) Is Michael a Mereological Nihilist?

(19:42) Are Philosophers Overcomplicating Function Behaviour?

(25:24) Do “You” Really Exist?

(41:57) Free Will and the Bicameral Mind Theory

(50:09) Why the Future Isn’t Changing Like It Used To

(59:11) The Scientific Mystery of Torque?

(01:17:46) Consciousness

CONNECT

My Website: ⁠https://www.alexoconnor.com⁠

SOCIAL LINKS

Twitter: ⁠http://www.twitter.com/cosmicskeptic⁠

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TikTok: ⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@cosmicskeptic⁠

CONTACT

Business email: contact@alexoconnor.com

Brand enquiries: David@modernstoa.co

For early, ad-free access to videos, and to support the channel, subscribe to my Substack: ⁠https://www.alexoconnor.com⁠.

Toby Ord is an Australian philosopher. In 2009 he founded Giving What We Can, an international society whose members pledge to donate at least 10% of their income to effective charities, and is a key figure in the effective altruism movement, which promotes using reason and evidence to help the lives of others as much as possible.

The Precipice:https://amzn.to/3XdUAEx

Ord's Website:https://www.tobyord.com/writings

TIMESTAMPS

(0:00) What Existential Risks Does AI Pose?

(8:57) How AI Systems Lie to Us

(26:04) Why We Should Be Worried About AI

(33:28) What Does It Mean for AI System to “Want” Something?

(43:41) AI Weapons and Nuclear Warfare

(48:57) Where Should We Focus Our Resources?

(53:35) What Policies Should We Enact?

CONNECT

My Website: ⁠https://www.alexoconnor.com⁠

SOCIAL LINKS

Twitter: ⁠http://www.twitter.com/cosmicskeptic⁠

Facebook: ⁠http://www.facebook.com/cosmicskeptic⁠

Instagram: ⁠http://www.instagram.com/cosmicskeptic⁠

TikTok: ⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@cosmicskeptic⁠

CONTACT

Business email: contact@alexoconnor.com

Brand enquiries: David@modernstoa.co

For early, ad-free access to videos, and to support the channel, subscribe to my Substack: ⁠https://www.alexoconnor.com⁠.

Philip Goff is a British author, panpsychist philosopher, and professor at Durham University whose research focuses on philosophy of mind and consciousness. Specifically, how consciousness can be part of the scientific worldview.

Buy Philip's books here.

Timestamps

(0:00) Why Philip Became a "Heretical Christian"
(7:13) Panpsychism and the Fine-Tuning Argument
(18:46) Why God’s Power is Limited
(30:10) The Problem of Suffering
(42:53) Non-Western Religious Positions
(48:34) What is the Role of Jesus in This?
(57:35) “Why Aren’t You Just a Hindu?”
(01:02:23) What is the Point in the Crucifixion?
(01:09:41) The Beautiful Uncertainty of Religion

CONNECT

My Website: ⁠https://www.alexoconnor.com⁠

SOCIAL LINKS

Twitter: ⁠http://www.twitter.com/cosmicskeptic⁠

Facebook: ⁠http://www.facebook.com/cosmicskeptic⁠

Instagram: ⁠http://www.instagram.com/cosmicskeptic⁠

TikTok: ⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@cosmicskeptic⁠

CONTACT

Business email: contact@alexoconnor.com

Brand enquiries: David@modernstoa.co

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For early, ad-free access to videos, and to support the channel, subscribe to my Substack: ⁠https://www.alexoconnor.com⁠.

William MacAskill is a Scottish philosopher and author, as well as one of the originators of the effective altruism movement. Get his book. What We Owe the Future,⁠here⁠.

TIMESTAMPS

(0:00) The World Isn’t Ready for AGI

(9:12) What Does AGI Doomsday Look Like?

(16:13) Alignment is Not Enough

(19:28) How AGI Could Cause Government Coups

(27:14) Why Isn’t There More Widespread Panic?

(33:55) What Can We Do?

(40:11) If We Stop, China Won’t

(47:43) What is Currently Being Done to Regulate AGI Growth?

(51:03) The Problem of “Value Lock-in”

(01:05:03) Is Inaction a Form of Action?

(01:08:47) Should Effective Altruists Focus on AGI?

CONNECT

My Website: ⁠https://www.alexoconnor.com⁠

SOCIAL LINKS

Twitter: ⁠http://www.twitter.com/cosmicskeptic⁠

Facebook: ⁠http://www.facebook.com/cosmicskeptic⁠

Instagram: ⁠http://www.instagram.com/cosmicskeptic⁠

TikTok: ⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@cosmicskeptic⁠

CONTACT

Business email: contact@alexoconnor.com

Brand enquiries: David@modernstoa.co

Bernardo Kastrup is a Dutch philosopher and computer scientist recognised for his contributions to consciousness studies, notably through his formulation of analytic idealism—a variant of metaphysical idealism rooted in the analytic tradition.

Buy his books here.

Timestamps:

0:00 - What is the World Really Made Of?
7:11 - Qualities vs Quantities
9:45 - Can Materialism Explain Anything?
25:06 - Is There More Than What We Perceive?
33:57 - Can We Exist Without a Brain?
42:15 - What is Personhood?
48:35 - Consciousness is not the Self
54:46 - Why is Mental Activity Localised?
01:10:39 - Why Panpsychism Doesn’t Make Sense
01:22:20 - Distinguishing Idealism and Panpsychism
01:32:20 - Are There Distinctions Between Material Objects?
01:39:14 - The Illusion of the Self
01:46:16 - The Biggest Misunderstanding of Analytical Idealism

Bear Grylls is a British adventurer, writer, television presenter and former SAS trooper who is also a survival expert. Widely known for his television series Man vs. Wild, he was also appointed as The Scout Association’s youngest-ever Chief Scout of the United Kingdom and Overseas Territories at the age of 35. His new book, The Greatest Story Ever Told, is a retelling of the life of Jesus through the eyes of five Gospel characters: Mary the mother of Jesus, Thomas, Peter, John, and Mary Magdalene.

TIMESTAMPS:

0:00 - Retelling Christianity in the First Person
12:36 - Faith and Doubt Come Together
16:46 - Did Bear’s Research Cause Doubt or Faith?
28:01 - Reconciling the Differences Between the Gospels
39:50 - On Not Putting Words in Jesus’ Mouth
48:59 - Where Alex’s Interest in the Gospels Began
55:24 - Travelling Back to the Time of Jesus: Where Would You Go?

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Andrew Mark Henry is a scholar of religious studies. His research focus is early Christianity and late Roman religion. He earned his PhD at Boston University.His YouTube channel is "Religion for Breakfast", find it here.

Timestamps:

0:00 - Was Jesus a Magician?

3:35 - The Origins of ‘Magic’

10:02 - Celsus, Christianity’s Earliest Critic

16:35 - The Wise Magi

19:59 - Did Jesus Use a Wand?

30:22 - Curses, Rituals, and Magical Formulas

40:43 - What Kind of “Magus” Was Jesus?

43:52 - Was Jesus a Freelance Ritual Expert?

48:34 - Charisma and the Origin of Exorcism

53:03 - Grimoires: The Magic of the Written Word

01:08:40 - The Religion Department

Dr. Qureshi-Hurst is a Philosopher of Religion and Science at the University of Cambridge. Her work focuses on the relationship between physics—and time in particular—and theology. Her forthcoming book, Decoding the Cosmos: God, Physics, and the Search for Deeper Explanation, explores this relationship in depth.

Improve your focus with Brain FM with 30 days free: https://www.brain.fm/withinreason.

TIMESTAMPS:

0:00 - Does the Bible Predict the Big Bang?2:37 - Scientists and Theologians10:18 - Where Did Biblical Literalism Come From?17:31 - How Does Science Conflict with Theology?23:47 - Does God Experience Time?29:27 - The A, B and C Series of Time38:38 - Timeless God, Timed Universe42:52 - Christianity and the End of the Universe48:35 - Intelligent Design and Modern Science55:58 - Is Biblical Literalism a Plausible Reading?58:32 - Why Emily is an Atheist

Ben Thomas is @Sisyphus55, a YouTuber creating videos about philosophy, existentialism, nihilism, absurdism, and meaning. His new book, So You're Having an Existential Crisis: a Roadmap for Lost Souls, is available now.

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Candida Moss is a historian of Christianity and author of The Myth of Persecution: How Early Christians Invented a Story of Martyrdom.

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Get Huel today with this exclusive offer for New Customers of 15% OFF with code alexoconnor at https://huel.com/alexoconnor (Minimum $75 purchase).

Robert Greene is an American author of books on strategy, power, and seduction. He has written seven international bestsellers, including The 48 Laws of Power. He is working on a book about the concept of the sublime, and speaks today about its relation to near-death experiences, dreaming, consciousness, and religious belief. Buy his books here.

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John Cottingham (born 1943) is an English philosopher. The focus of his research has been early-modern philosophy (especially Descartes), the philosophy of religion and moral philosophy. He is a Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the University of Reading, Professorial Research Fellow at Heythrop College, University of London, and Honorary Fellow of St John's College, Oxford. He is also a current Visiting Professor to the Philosophy Department at King's College, London.

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Brant Pitre is an American New Testament scholar and Distinguished Research Professor of Scripture at the Augustine Institute. He has written extensively on the historical Jesus, the Virgin Mary, Paul the Apostle, the origin of the Eucharist, and the canonical Gospels. His book, Jesus and Divine Christology, is available here.

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Jim Al-Khalili is an Iraqi-British theoretical physicist and science populariser. He is professor of theoretical physics and chair in the public engagement in science at the University of Surrey.

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Joe Folley runs the YouTube channel Unsolicited Advice. He graduated from Cambridge University in 202with an MPhil in Philosophy, specialising in logic.

TIMESTAMPS:

0:00 - What is Logic?
5:04 - Aristotelian vs Stoic Logic
12:47 - How Logic Provides Clarity
18:42 Ambiguities in Logical Language
29:07 - Validity vs Soundness in a Logical Argument
39:40 Why Anything Follows From a Contradiction
47:42 - The Law of Non-Contradiction
56:27 - What is Truth and Falsity in Logic?
58:36 - Does Your Mum Know You’re Gay?
1:05:05 What is Fuzzy Logic?
01:08:14 - What is Modal Logic?
01:13:40 - Informal Rules of Logic
01:29:15 - Resources to Learn About Logic

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Dan McClellan is an American biblical scholar and author of The Bible Says So: What We Get Right (and Wrong) About Scripture’s Most Controversial Issues.

Timestamps:

0:00 Why Does God Say “We”?
14:36 Does God Create the Universe From Nothing?
28:43 Is This Explained By The Trinity?
34:32 Is There Only One God?
47:39 Fake Idols or Gods?
1:02:50 How English Translations Mislead Us Into Monotheism
01:11:02 The Elevation of YHWH to God of the Universe
1:20:36 Polytheism in the New Testament
01:24:14 The Strongest Case For Monotheism in the Old Testament

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Peter Godfrey-Smith is an Australian philosopher of science and writer, who is currently Professor of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Sydney. Buy his books here.

Timestamps:

0:00 How Many Times Has the Brain Independently Evolved? 4:36 What is a Nervous System? 7:12 The Differences Between the Human and Animal Brains 13:40 What Does an Octopus Brain Look Like? 25:21 What is it Like to be an Octopus? 35:48 Are the Mind and Body Distinct? 42:46 Panpsychism: Is Everything Conscious? 55:53 How Do Experiences Combine Into One Consciousness? 01:05:08 Which Animals Feel Pain? What is it Like? 01:16:51 Should We Make Shrimp Farming an Ethical Priority? 01:29:22 Animal Science and Animal Foods 01:35:59 The Ethics of Killing Animals 01:52:13 Are Octopuses Playful?

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Niayesh Afshordi is a professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Waterloo. Phil Halper is a science communicator and YouTuber. Together, they have authored a book called "Battle of the Big Bang: The New Tales of Our Cosmic Origins", an overview of the state of modern cosmology on the nature of the big bang.

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Simon Blackburn is well-known both as a writer of popular philosophy introductions (like Think), and also a significant figure in non-cognitivist meta-ethics, having invented the term “quasi-realism” to describe his moral philosophy.

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Sabine Hossenfelder is a German theoretical physicist, author, science communicator, and YouTuber. She is the author of Existential Physics: A Scientist’s Guide to Life’s Biggest Questions.

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Rick Alan Ross is an American deprogrammer, cult specialist, and founder and executive director of the non-profit Cult Education Institute. Frequently appearing in the news and other media, discussing groups some consider cults. Ross has intervened in more than 500 deprogramming cases in various countries. (Wikipedia) Get Rick's book, "Cults Inside Out: How People Get In and Can Get Out" here.

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Helen Bond is Professor of Christian Origins at the New College, University of Edinburgh, and former head of the School of Divinity there. She is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

In 2023, she co-authored a book with Joan Taylor called Women Remembered: Jesus’ Female Disciples. Watch the documentary version here.

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Sheehan Quirke is The Cultural Tutor. A writer on history, art, and architecture with millions of followers, he is also the author of the forthcoming The Cultural Tutor: Forty-Nine Lessons You Wish You’d Learned at School, which is currently available for preorder here.

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David Pakman is an American progressive political commentator and host of  @thedavidpakmanshow .

Buy David's book, The Echo Machine here

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Marcus du Sautoy is a British mathematician, Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science at the University of Oxford, Fellow of New College, Oxford and author of popular mathematics and popular science books. Buy Blueprints: How Mathematics Shapes Creativity here.

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Dale Allison is an American historian and Christian theologian. His areas of expertise include the historical Jesus, the Gospel of Matthew, Second Temple Jewish literature, and the history of the interpretation and reception of the Bible. Allison is the Richard J. Dearborn Professor of New Testament at Princeton Theological Seminary (2013- ). (Wikipedia) By Dale Allison's book, The Resurrection of Jesus, here.

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Diarmaid MacCulloch is an English academic and historian, specialising in ecclesiastical history and the history of Christianity. Since 1995, he has been a fellow of St Cross College, Oxford; he was formerly the senior tutor.

Buy Lower than the Angels: A History of Sex and Christianity here.

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John Lennox is a Northern Irish mathematician, bioethicist, and Christian apologist originally from Northern Ireland. He has written many books on religion, ethics, the relationship between science and God, and has had public debates with atheists including Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens.

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Annaka Harris is an American writer. Her work touches on neuroscience, meditation, philosophy of mind and consciousness. She is the author of the New York Times bestseller Conscious: A Brief Guide to the Fundamental Mystery of the Mind.

Get Annaka Harris’ documentary Lights On here.

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Rhett McLaughlin is a comedian best known for creating the internet’s most-watched daily talk show, Good Mythical Morning along side Link Neal; their award-winning weekly podcast The pair also host a weekly podcast, Ear Biscuits; and the instant #1 New York Times bestseller Rhett & Link’s Book of Mythicality.

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David Deutsch is a British physicist at the University of Oxford, often described as the "father of quantum computing". He is a visiting professor in the Department of Atomic and Laser Physics at the Centre for Quantum Computation in the Clarendon Laboratory of the University of Oxford. (Wikipedia)

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Brian Greene is a professor of physics and mathematics at Columbia University, director of its centre for theoretical physics, and the chairman of the World Science Festival. He is best known for his work on string theory, especially in his book “The Elegant Universe”, which turns 25 this year.

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For episode 100 of Within Reason, I'm joined by Joe Folley, from the YouTube Channel "Unsolicited Advice", to tackle a completely arbitrary and ridiculous tournament of thinkers, each of whom are to some degree relevant to the show. Joe graduated from Cambridge University with an MPhil in Philosophy, specialising in logic, in 2023.

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Penn Badgley is an actor best known for his roles in Netflix’s You and the popular drama series Gossip Girl. He is less known as a podcaster and member of the Baháʼí Faith, a religion which teaches that there is a historical unity between major world religions and their prophets, having itself developed out of a branch of Twelver Shia Islam in the 19th century.

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Jacob Hansen is a Mormon YouTuber at the channel Thoughtful Faith.

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Kipp Davis (‪@DrKippDavis‬) is a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Agder in Kristiansand, Norway, where he specialises in the assignment and reconstruction of fragments from the Dead Sea Scrolls and their interpretation. (Google Books)

The Dead Sea Scrolls are a set of ancient Jewish manuscripts from the Second Temple period. They were discovered over a period of 10 years, between 1946 and 1956, at the Qumran Caves near Ein Feshkha in the West Bank, on the northern shore of the Dead Sea. Dating from the 3rd century BCE to the 1st century CE, the Dead Sea Scrolls include the oldest surviving manuscripts of entire books later included in the biblical canons, including deuterocanonical manuscripts from late Second Temple Judaism and extrabiblical books. At the same time, they cast new light on the emergence of Christianity and of Rabbinic Judaism. (Wikipedia)

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A Q&A to celebrate hitting 1.25 million subscribers on YouTube.

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James Frank McGrath is the Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University. He is the author of two books on John the Baptist: "John of History, Baptist of Faith: The Quest for the Historical Baptiser", and "Christmaker: A Life of John the Baptist".

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Dan McClellan is an American public scholar of the Bible and religion. His forthcoming book, "The Bible Says So", is available here.

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Adam Aleksic is a linguist known online as "The Etymology Nerd". His educational videos are watched regularly by millions. His forthcoming book "Algospeak" is currently available for preorder.

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Bart Ehrman is a New Testament scholar focusing on textual criticism of the New Testament, the historical Jesus, and the origins and development of early Christianity. Get Bart Ehrman's new course, The Dark Side of Christmas (affiliate link).

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Filip Holm is the creator and host of "Lets Talk Religion", a YouTube channel which aims to educate on the subject of religion from an academic perspective.

He joins the show to discuss Sufism, which can broadly be defined as the mystical tradition within Islam.

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Rainn Wilson is the actor and comedian best known for his role as Dwight Schrute on the The Office (US), for which he received three consecutive Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series.

He is also the host of ‪‪Soul Boom‬, a podcast discussing spirituality, and authored a book of the same name exploring how we can use spiritual tools to help solve some of life's problems.

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Sheehan Quirke is the Cultural Tutor, a writer with 1.7 million followers on X. His work on art, history, and architecture is some of the most widely-enjoyed in the world. He writes a newsletter called the Areopagus.

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Ayaan Hirsi Ali is a Ayaan Hirsi Ali is a Somali-born Dutch-American writer, activist and former politician. Once an advocate for the new atheist movement, she last year announced her conversion to Christianity.

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Cliffe and Stuart Knechtle run the extremely popular online Christian ministry ‪'Give Me an Answer'‬. In this episode they discuss troubling passages in the Old Testament, New Testament sexism, Job, doubting Thomas, the unforgivable sin (blaspheming the Holy Spirit), and more.

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Steven Bonnell II, known online as Destiny, is an American live streamer and political commentator. He joins me to talk about Trump, Kamala, Biden, Elon Musk, Tucker Carlson, Mark Zuckerberg, Voter ID, immigration, demographic change, and who to vote for in the upcoming election.

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Magnify is a YouTube channel of mostly short-form content, covering interesting details across history, linguistics, and religion.

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David Nutt is an English neuropsychopharmacologist specialising in the research of drugs that affect the brain and conditions such as addiction, anxiety, and sleep. He was the UK Government's chief advisor on drug policy. He was fired in 2009 after criticising the Government's approach to drug harms.

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Justin Sledge is currently a part-time professor of philosophy and religion at several institutions in the Metro-Detroit area and a popular local educator. His YouTube channel is "Esoterica".

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oe Folley runs the YouTube channel Unsolicited Advice. he graduated from Cambridge University with an MPhil in Philosophy, specialising in logic, in 2023.

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Nick Bostrom is a philosopher known for his work on existential risk, the anthropic principle, human enhancement ethics, whole brain emulation, and superintelligence risks. His recent book, Deep Utopia, explores what might happen if we get AI development right.

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Thank you for 850,000 subscribers!

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Elaine Pagels is an American historian of religion. She is the Harrington Spear Paine Professor of Religion at Princeton University. Pagels has conducted extensive research into early Christianity and Gnosticism.

Buy "The Origin of Satan" by Elaine Pagels here.

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Rory Sutherland is a British advertising executive, and vice chairman of the Ogilvy & Mather group of companies. His book, Alchemy, is available here.

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Bart Ehrman is a New Testament scholar focusing on textual criticism of the New Testament, the historical Jesus, and the origins and development of early Christianity. He was one of the first people in the world to see the rediscovered manuscript of the Gospel of Judas, when he was asked by National Geographic to join a small team of experts who verified its authenticity.

Study Bart Ehrman's courses and support the show at https://www.bartehrman.com/alex

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Jonathan Pageau is a French-Canadian icon carver, YouTuber and public speaker on symbolism, religion and the Orthodox faith.

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Steven Bonnell II is a popular American political streamer known online as Destiny.

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David Wolpe is an American rabbi, and Visiting Scholar at Harvard Divinity School. He was named the most influential Rabbi in America by Newsweek in 2012.

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Joe Schmid is a PhD student in philosophy at Princeton University. He graduated with a B.A. in philosophy from Purdue University in 2022. He has published articles in metaphysics, philosophy of religion, and philosophy of time, and the author of books including "Existential Inertia and Classical Theistic Proofs". He runs the YouTube channel, "Majesty of Reason".

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John Nelson holds a PhD in Biblical Studies from the University of Edinburgh. His thesis is the first book-length study of Jesus' physical appearance in the Gospels. He runs a weekly Substack called "Behind the Gospels" which aims to make Biblical studies accessible to all.

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Joe Folley is the creator of the YouTube channel "Unsolicited Advice" which creates short, digestible philosophical videos on a wide range of topics. He joins me today to discuss nihilism: its history, its meaning, and its significance in philosophy.

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Steven West is the host of "Philosophize This!" one of the world's most popular philosophy podcasts. Listen to it here.

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Iain McGilchrist is a psychiatrist, writer, and former Oxford literary scholar. McGilchrist came to prominence after the publication of his book The Master and His Emissary, subtitled The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World.

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Andrew Mark Henry is a scholar of religious studies. His research focus is early Christianity and late Roman religion. He earned his PhD at Boston University. His YouTube channel is "Religion for Breakfast".

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