James Robert Brown: Thought Experiments Reveal Mathematical Reality

Theories of Everything with Curt Jaimungal

Curt Jaimungal

Physics, Philosophy, Society & Culture, Science

4.6 • 606 Ratings

🗓️ 27 September 2020

⏱️ 164 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

I personally subscribe to The Economist. TOE listeners get 35% off the annual subscription. No other podcast has this! https://economist.com/TOE James Robert Brown (University of Toronto) on mathematical Platonism, the Continuum Hypothesis, moral realism, and free will.0:00 Introduction1:17 Math and ethics3:05 Thick and thin mathematical concepts16:33 The continuum hypothesis19:23 Counter proof to CH24:45 Probability zero (measure zero)33:50 Platonism and "thick" concepts34:39 Moral realism without God36:59 Does 2+2=5?40:43 Moral intuitions as correctness markers46:42 What makes a theory correct beyond predict/explain?47:54 Libertarian Free Will and physics53:13 VIEWER TEST: Platonism54:53 Did Shakespeare invent or discover Hamlet?56:09 What created the Platonic world?57:42 Eternal vs Sempiternal59:12 Thought experiments as probes of physics1:00:39 Galileo's falling-objects thought experiment1:03:39 Relative motion thought experiment1:05:01 The Tower thought experiment1:09:43 VIEWER TEST: Newtonian absolutist or Leibnizian relationalist?1:12:45 Why Brown chose philosophy of math1:13:20 Have philosophical problems been solved?1:14:47 Is God good, or is goodness independent of God?1:15:41 Descartes vs Leibniz on God's power1:18:43 Parochialism of physicists/mathematicians1:22:31 Newton on the necessity of space1:24:45 Einstein's variation1:31:35 Brown on Wolfram and Weinstein TOEs1:32:40 Gisin on real numbers and free will1:33:02 Non-classical foundations of physics1:39:05 Mathematical Realism without Platonism1:45:31 Physical laws as abstract causal entities1:55:55 Smolin's Principle of Precedence1:59:01 Deriving "ought" from "is"2:03:29 Brown on Sam Harris2:06:45 Math: discovered or invented?2:10:18 Does Platonism entail God?2:14:49 Theism vs Deism2:16:34 The Sokal Affair and Postmodernism2:22:01 Limits of free speech2:27:41 Commercializing research2:33:09 Peterson's "Darwinian" truthSPONSORS:- Patreon: https://patreon.com/curtjaimungal- PayPal: https://bit.ly/2EOR0M4- Twitter: https://twitter.com/TOEwithCurt- iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/better-left-unsaid-with-curt-jaimungal/id1521758802- Pandora: https://pdora.co/33b9lfP- Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4gL14b92xAErofYQA7bU4e- Google Podcasts: https://play.google.com/music/listen?u=0#/ps/Id3k7k7mfzahfx2fjqmw3vufb44RESOURCES:- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NV7BQZy1A6o- http://betterleftunsaidfilm.com Theories of Everything with Curt Jaimungal features long-form, technically detailed interviews with leading researchers in physics, mathematics, consciousness, and philosophy, exploring topics at the level of active research. For academics, graduate students, and anyone seeking depth beyond popular science. FOLLOW: Substack | Spotify | YouTube | Twitter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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1:03.0	Thought experiments in physics are pivotal for the generation of novel ideas,
1:07.4	the dissolution of old ones,
1:08.6	or simply for an original take on specific phenomena
1:11.6	that already exist. Given that fundamental physics has been stalled in the past few decades,
1:16.6	primarily due to a lack of data as well as other factors, and I'm trying to put forth my own
1:22.0	theory of everything and integrate it with consciousness, I thought, how far can I go with
	...

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