Reason Is Fun

Reason Is Fun

Conversations between David Deutsch and Lulie Tanett about topics ranging from emotions, AGI, reason and fun. Epistemology applied to everything. ”Reason Is Fun” is the idea that what is rational is the same as what is fun – that the fields of epistemology, morality and enjoyment are all deeply interconnected and compatible.

Episodes

January 4, 2024 49 mins

Lulie and David are joined by guest Mark Alexander, the Producer of Art of Accomplishment's Great Decisions course, to do a deeper dive into how decisions are made.

They discuss having competing wants, Popperian problem-solving, the difference between 'shoulds' and a non-coercive (fun!) version of morality, emotion, and the participation of different subconscious processes in decision making.

Mark asks "What are 'hangups'?", and Da...

Mark as Played

Lulie and David chat about decision making. They discuss the roles of creativity, institutions and emotions in decision making, and the misconception that decisions are made by analysing data. 

The conversation explores how decision making isn't a mechanical process, but rests on creative thinking. David criticises Decision Theory as a framework for decisions, and Lulie wonders to what extent decision-making requires emotion.

00:00...

Mark as Played
June 3, 2023 76 mins

Lulie asks David Deutsch more about inexplicit ideas, what it means to be an inexplicit idea, and the nature of internal language. They also debate whether cognition is embodied.

This is very much an 'into the jungle' episode, where neither of us know a lot about some of the topics discussed, but it's a lively conversation. TWITTER David Deutsch: https://twitter.com/DavidDeutschOxf/  Lulie Tanett: https://twitter.com/reasonisfun/

Mark as Played
May 23, 2023 71 mins

Lulie asks David Deutsch about how he came to the concept of 'inexplicit ideas' (knowledge that isn't in words), and it became a conversation about how inexplicit knowledge relates to quantum physics.

 

TWITTER David Deutsch: https://twitter.com/DavidDeutschOxf/  Lulie Tanett: https://twitter.com/reasonisfun/

 

[The audio quality in this one isn't as pristine as last time, which had the lovely Sarah Melody Vinci doing sound mixing....

Mark as Played
May 6, 2023 72 mins

Lulie asks David Deutsch probing questions about the 'fun criterion', and they explore why it's necessary for rational thought.

 

They also discuss:

- Difference between mindless fun and fun-criterion 'fun'

- What about conflicts between explicit theories and what seems fun?

- What is suffering?

- Is anger good?

- Debating whether anger is an appropriate response to external suffering

- Creativity, conflicting theories and problems

...

Mark as Played
April 22, 2023 100 mins

Lulie asks physicist David Deutsch about the epistemology of Effective Altruism, how to make progress given the unpredictability of knowledge, and whether we should be concerned about existential risk. In the second half, she asks about Effective Accelerationism (e/acc) – specifically, is its thermodynamic physics legit?

 

TWITTER

Lulie Tanett: @reasonisfun

David Deutsch: @DavidDeutschOxf

Feat. @BasedBeffJezos Discuss this episo...

Mark as Played
April 8, 2023 61 mins

Lulie asks physicist David Deutsch about his disagreements with the prevailing view on artificial general intelligence and modern AI. They discuss:

• epistemology

• how AI differs from AGI

• limits of LLMs

• why the Turing Test is not a test.

 

TWITTER

David Deutsch: https://twitter.com/DavidDeutschOxf/

Lulie Tanett: https://twitter.com/reasonisfun/

Link to the episode on Twitter – Ask questions here: https://twitter.com/reason...

Mark as Played

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