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Back to the Stone Age

Back to the Stone Age

by Francesco Cavina

Self-Improvement Mathematics

Season 1

Scott Soames: Truth, Philosophy of Language and Saul Kripke #10

Scott Soames is a professor of philosophy at the University of Southern California. His website: https://dornsife.usc.edu/scottsoames/ Find Back to the Stone Age on: YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZrhMJ5eusE_ACw6Ec3TqCbvDVZ6HP809&si=WhVnrLLAUuYW-Any Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3pT8MUeR8bskcsuu8gmUGK Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/back-to-the-stone-age/id1741219288 Outline 00:34 - What Is Meaning? 05:10 - How Do Words Refer To Things? 10:37 - Language And Logic 19:06 - Relativity Of Truth 22:26 - Truth Without Humans 24:00 - Possible Worlds Semantics 36:14 - Kripke's Contribution To Philosophy Of Language 42:02 - Soames' Cognitive Content 48:40 - Consequences Of Soames' View: Propositions 54:18 - Living Philosophically 59:19 - What Are The Limits Of Language? 01:14:32 - Are You Scared Of Not Finding Answers? 01:15:50 - Mental Changes To Embrace New Views 01:19:35 - Lack Of Experimental Validation In Philosophy 01:21:22 - Technology And Philosophy 01:24:20 - Most Pressing Philosophical Issue 01:26:11 - Which Philosopher Best Understood The Human Condition? 01:32:36 - Does Pursuing Philosophy Make You A Better Person? 01:34:00 - Final Questions and Conclusion Enjoy Back to the Stone Age!

John L. Bell: Philosophy of Mathematics, Axiom of Choice, Continuum and Consciousness #9

John is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the University of Western Ontario. You can find his website here: https://publish.uwo.ca/~jbell/ Find Back to the Stone Age on: YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZrhMJ5eusE_ACw6Ec3TqCbvDVZ6HP809&si=WhVnrLLAUuYW-Any Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3pT8MUeR8bskcsuu8gmUGK Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/back-to-the-stone-age/id1741219288 Outline 00:41 - John's introduction 08:35 - Is The Universe Mathematical in Nature? 25:50 - Limitations of Language in Philosophical Enquiries 31:20 - Mathematical Constructivism 41:07 - Implications of Constructivism and Intuitionist Logic 48:54 - Nature of Mathematical Truths 01:05:45 - The Axiom of Choice 01:37:20 - The Nature of The Continuum 01:50:43 - Relationship between Mathematics, Physics, Philosophy 02:03:14 - The Nature of Consciousness 02:23:03 - 1000-years After- Nap Question 02:29:00 - Conclusion Enjoy Back to the Stone Age!

Thomas Van Riet: String Theory, Extra Dimensions, The Landscape and Swampland #8

Thomas is a professor of Physics at KU Leuven (https://shorturl.at/IVa8S). He's on Twitter: https://x.com/ThomasVanRiet2 Find Back to the Stone Age on: YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZrhMJ5eusE_ACw6Ec3TqCbvDVZ6HP809&si=WhVnrLLAUuYW-Any Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3pT8MUeR8bskcsuu8gmUGK Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/back-to-the-stone-age/id1741219288 Outline 00:24 - General Relativity and Quantum Mechanics 11:50 - String Theory 21:41 - Singularities in String Theory 37:47 - Extra Dimensions in String Theory 48:30 - The Landscape and The Swampland 58:36 - Fine Tuning of the Universe 01:16:20 - The Most Beautiful Concept in Physics 01:20:00 - Final Thoughts and Conclusion Hope you enjoy it, this is Back to the Stone Age!

Andrea Caputo: The Standard Model of Particle Physics and Current Limitations #7

Andrea is a theoretical physicist and he works on Dark Matter and Particle Physics. He was awarded the ERC (European Research Council) Starting Grant. Andrea on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrea-caputo-ph-d-2475999b/?locale=en_US Seeing my interviews from one year ago is a bit cringe, but I'm working on it 😜 Hope you like it anyway! Find Back to the Stone Age on: YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZrhMJ5eusE_ACw6Ec3TqCbvDVZ6HP809&si=WhVnrLLAUuYW-Any Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3pT8MUeR8bskcsuu8gmUGK Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/back-to-the-stone-age/id1741219288 Outline 01:10 - The Standard Model 03:09 - Gravity and the Standard Model 06:30 - String theory and accelerators 13:47 - The Hierarchy problem 22:54 - Supersymmetry 26:12 - ΛCDM model and the Standard Model 34:08 - Dark Matter candidates 41:20 - Inflation and the Standard Model 49:00 - Extra dimensions 52:07 - The Baryon Asymmetry problem 57:58 - Neutrinos' mass problem 01:06:13 - The CP problem 01:16:24 - The parameters of the Standard Model 01:20:33 - Is mathematics invented or discovered? 01:23:07 - Final thoughts and conclusion Enjoy Back to the Stone Age!

K. Brad Wray: Philosophy of Science, Epistemology, Thomas Kuhn, and Scientific Realism #6

Do you like philosophising? Then this conversation is for YOU! 🫵🏻 Brad Wray (https://shorturl.at/gY9Oh) is Associate Professor at Aarhus University, and together we tackle deep philosophical questions. Find Back to the Stone Age on: YouTube: https://shorturl.at/c5a37 Spotify: https://shorturl.at/11x47 Apple Podcast: https://shorturl.at/pFRCC Outline 00:35 - Philosophy of Science 01:17 - Definition of knowledge 01:52 - How do scientific discoveries shape our understanding of reality? 02:26 - Metaphysics 09:56 - God in Philosophy 11:41 - Limitation of human knowledge 13:52 - Theory of everything 19:45 - How is knowledge acquired? 29:24 - Role of epistemic communities for knowledge acquisition 34:40 - Disruptive science and increase of scientific papers 46:03 - Academic vs technological development 51:38 - Artificial intelligence and technology 01:00:44 - Collaborating with other researchers 01:04:15 - Thomas Kuhn 01:06:02 - Paradigm in science 01:13:30 - Kuhn cycle 01:20:19 - Revolutionising paradigm shifts: Copernican revolution and Plate tectonics 01:32:15 - Incommensurability in scientific revolutions 01:40:18 - Planck's principle 01:45:55 - Role of theories in understanding reality 01:52:11 - Is scientific progress linear? 01:52:55 - Scientific realism 01:58:25 - Antirealist perspective 02:05:40 - Death 02:09:25 - Nuclear weapons 02:16:27 - Conclusion Enjoy Back to the Stone Age!

Daniel Ruberman: Mathematics, Topology and Manifolds #5

Here is a conversation I've had with Daniel Ruberman, Professor of Mathematics. Daniel's website: https://people.brandeis.edu/~ruberman/ Find Back to the Stone Age on: YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZrhMJ5eusE_ACw6Ec3TqCbvDVZ6HP809&si=WhVnrLLAUuYW-Any Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3pT8MUeR8bskcsuu8gmUGK Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/back-to-the-stone-age/id1741219288 Outline 00:16 - Is math invented or discovered? 05:30 - Mathematics and the physical world 28:02 - Topology 38:00 - Manifolds and smooth manifolds 52:31 - Higher dimensions and low-dimensional topology 01:04:39 - Intuition about 4th dimension 01:24:01 - Gauge theories 01:38:02 - Knots and manifolds 01:44:33 - Applications of knot theory and topology 01:50:28 - Infinity 01:56:38 - Final thoughts Enjoy Back to the Stone Age!

Gimmy Tomaselli: Physics, Mathematics, The Universe and Fundamental Thoughts #4

Some fundamental questions today with Gimmy, PhD student at GRAPPA doing research in black holes, gravitational-wave astronomy, and dark matter. Gimmy is soon going to the Institute of Advanced Study of Princeton for a postdoc! Gimmy's website: https://gimmytomas.github.io/index.html Find Back to the Stone Age on: YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZrhMJ5eusE_ACw6Ec3TqCbvDVZ6HP809&si=WhVnrLLAUuYW-Any Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3pT8MUeR8bskcsuu8gmUGK Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/back-to-the-stone-age/id1741219288 Outline 00:32 - Is math invented or discovered? 06:40 - Are paradoxes intrinsic to our reality? 11:20 - String theory and mathematics 16:53 - Theories of everything 24:00 - Reconciling gravity and quantum mechanics 30:00 - Understanding the origin of the Big Bang 37:05 - Time 46:52 - Is time fundamental or emergent? 52:18 - Time and space swap inside a black hole 57:44 - Mental picture for spacetime curvature 01:04:19 - Weirdness of quantum mechanics: entanglement 01:07:00 - Schrödinger equation, probabilities, uncertainty principle 01:15:16 - Is the wave function real? 01:18:39 - “God” and death 01:24:25 - Biological engineering of human life 01:29:00 - Making sense of numbers in cosmology 01:34:20 - Fine-tuning of nature 01:40:26 - Inflationary multiverse and infinity 01:51:45 - Artificial intelligence 01:56:32 - Consciousness 02:03:22 - Free will 02:07:46 - James Webb Space Telescope 02:13:08 - Final thoughts and conclusion Enjoy Back to the Stone Age!

Joel David Hamkins: Philosophy of Set Theory, Mathematics and Infinity #3

Journey to the edge of reason with Professor Hamkins! Joel is a Professor of Philosophy and Mathematics at the University of Notre Dame. His research work spans Mathematical Logic and Set Theory. You can find him here: Personal website: https://jdh.hamkins.org Twitter: https://twitter.com/JDHamkins Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=MHLQDYQAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao Back to the Stone Age is on: YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZrhMJ5eusE_ACw6Ec3TqCbvDVZ6HP809&si=EHUZow_K4nlcWw8M Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3pT8MUeR8bskcsuu8gmUGK?si=7f6f32052e9a4587 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/it/podcast/back-to-the-stone-age/id1741219288 Outline 00:00 - Introduction 00:55 - Mathematician or philosopher? 05:05 - Set Theory 09:52 - Is mathematics invented or discovered? 15:42 - Godel Incompleteness Theorem 24:14 - Infinity: potential and actual infinity 46:51 - Paradoxes on infinity 55:56 - Penrose three world model: mathematical, physical, and platonic world 01:00:21 - Mathematical reality 01:08:34 - Transfinite numbers, cardinals and ordinals 01:18:44 - The Absolute Infinity 01:25:08 - Infinity and time 01:30:57 - Irrational numbers, Alan Turing and computability 01:40:00 - Cantor’s definition of Set 01:43:40 - Cantor’s theorem 01:54:00 - Continuum Hypothesis 02:05:46 - Hostility of mathematician towards infinity 02:11:39 - Law of excluded middle and infinity 02:17:38 - Not finding answers to questions 02:19:58 - Is there more than maths permeating reality? 02:25:20 - AI and maths/physics 02:31:51 - AI and consciousness 02:36:36 - Most beautiful idea in mathematics and conclusion

Consciousness, Feelings and Human Life | Conversations with Friends: Greta #2

Conversations with Friends: Greta Galluzzo. Greta is a Psychology master's student and she's on Erasmus here in Amsterdam. Find Back to the Stone Age on: YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZrhMJ5eusE_ACw6Ec3TqCbvDVZ6HP809&si=WhVnrLLAUuYW-Any Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3pT8MUeR8bskcsuu8gmUGK Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/back-to-the-stone-age/id1741219288 Outline: 00:32 - Consciousness 06:32 - Animal consciousness and death 11:22 - Intelligence and language 17:18 - Empathy 20:01 - Awareness 22:35 - Mathematics 32:40 - Predisposition to mathematics, nature or nurture 35:20 - Acceptation of "limits" vs biological engineering to enhance human condition 44:15 - Is consciousness good or bad 47:06 - What is good and bad? Is there a universal ethics? 49:55 - Are humans good or bad? 52:12 - Happiness, suffering and altruism 01:10:47 - Being and feeling alive and dreaming state 01:23:19 - Greta's meaning of life 01:27:00 - Conclusion Enjoy Back to the Stone Age!

Geetanjali Sethi: Dark Energy Models and Cosmology #2

Geetanjali is Associate Professor at St. Stephen’s College. She has a PhD in Cosmology from Delhi University. She's working on the Variable Chaplygin Gas model of dark energy. Reach out to her on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/geetanjali-sethi-a7b201aa/?originalSubdomain=in Find her research work on Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=EK8KFB0AAAAJ Back to the Stone Age is on: - YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZrhMJ5eusE_ACw6Ec3TqCbvDVZ6HP809&si=WhVnrLLAUuYW-Any - Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3pT8MUeR8bskcsuu8gmUGK - Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/back-to-the-stone-age/id1741219288 Outline 00:00 - Introduction 00:15 - Energy 02:53 - Dark matter and dark energy 10:15 - Dark energy as expansion of the universe 12:11 - Energy of empty space 17:08 - Heisenberg uncertainty principle 21:54 - Why dark energy has constant energy density 26:35 - Friedmann-Lemaitre-Robertson-Walker cosmological model 33:58 - Quintessence, modified gravity models 39:08 - Variable Chaplygin Gas model 39:40 - Cosmic fluid 43:34 - Differences with other models 48:19 - Fine-tuning in nature 53:31 - Combination of dark matter and dark energy 56:09 - Dependency of observations for the future of the universe 58:40 - Most interesting fact about the cosmos 59:24 - Making sense of enormous distances 01:05:42 - Will the universe expand forever? 01:11:38 - AI and science 01:13:01 - Limitations of human brain 01:17:45 - Conclusion

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