Mindscape 253 | David Deutsch on Science, Complexity, and Explanation

Comments · 187

• DA

  @davidsimpson7229 · 2 years ago

  I’m so excited to listen to this one!! Carroll and Deutsch are heroes of mine.

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• AB

  @abitbohr · 2 years ago

  Deutsch is the greatest thinker of our times.

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• DA

  @davegrundgeiger9063 · 2 years ago

  As I sit down to play this, I'm beyond excited. These are far and away my two most admired scientists. I, like others, have been looking forward to this exchange for a long time. Now, nobody bother me for the next 1 hour, 42 minutes, and 6 seconds. 🙂

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• LE

  @lefttraces7207 · 2 years ago

  Yaaayy we’re in the best branch of the universe where this exists🥳

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• TR

  @trucid2 · 2 years ago

  AI generated timestamps<br><br><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldgK7EhEnto">0:00</a> - Intro <br><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldgK7EhEnto&amp;t=29">0:29</a> - David Deutsch met Hugh Everett <br><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldgK7EhEnto&amp;t=70">1:10</a> - Deutsch pioneered quantum computing <br><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldgK7EhEnto&amp;t=118">1:58</a> - Explanatory knowledge is transforming the universe <br><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldgK7EhEnto&amp;t=161">2:41</a> - Monotony: long periods of stasis followed by rapid change <br><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldgK7EhEnto&amp;t=290">4:50</a> - Patreon shoutout <br><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldgK7EhEnto&amp;t=326">5:26</a> - Starting the interview with David Deutsch <br><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldgK7EhEnto&amp;t=345">5:45</a> - Deutsch recalls meeting Hugh Everett <br><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldgK7EhEnto&amp;t=513">8:33</a> - Everett understood the nuances of his own theory <br><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldgK7EhEnto&amp;t=726">12:06</a> - Wheeler invited Everett to give a seminar at UT Austin <br><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldgK7EhEnto&amp;t=856">14:16</a> - Deutsch was already sympathetic to Everettian QM before meeting Everett <br><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldgK7EhEnto&amp;t=1107">18:27</a> - Newton may have understood more about energy/dynamics than he revealed <br><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldgK7EhEnto&amp;t=1284">21:24</a> - Explanatory knowledge emerged relatively recently in the universe <br><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldgK7EhEnto&amp;t=1383">23:03</a> - Knowledge allows &quot;people&quot; to transform the universe <br><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldgK7EhEnto&amp;t=1515">25:15</a> - No beings with greater explanatory powers than humans <br><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldgK7EhEnto&amp;t=1571">26:11</a> - Human brains are Turing complete <br><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldgK7EhEnto&amp;t=1813">30:13</a> - Turing completeness is a hardware property <br><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldgK7EhEnto&amp;t=1873">31:13</a> - Humans also have explanatory universality <br><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldgK7EhEnto&amp;t=2030">33:50</a> - Mathematics and explanation are not fully formalizable <br><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldgK7EhEnto&amp;t=2108">35:08</a> - Optimism: everything is possible with enough knowledge <br><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldgK7EhEnto&amp;t=2177">36:17</a> - A simple program could lead to AGI, but we lack the right philosophy <br><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldgK7EhEnto&amp;t=2345">39:05</a> - AGI may arise suddenly like Darwinian evolution <br><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldgK7EhEnto&amp;t=2431">40:31</a> - Constructor Theory formalizes what transformations are possible <br><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldgK7EhEnto&amp;t=2607">43:27</a> - Constructor Theory related to explanation and knowledge <br><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldgK7EhEnto&amp;t=2892">48:12</a> - Still unclear on advantages of Constructor Theory perspective <br><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldgK7EhEnto&amp;t=2965">49:25</a> - Constructor Theory provides overarching principles like conservation laws <br><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldgK7EhEnto&amp;t=3107">51:47</a> - Newton may have understood energy concepts <br><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldgK7EhEnto&amp;t=3223">53:43</a> - Constructor Theory connected to Popper&apos;s philosophy <br><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldgK7EhEnto&amp;t=3305">55:05</a> - Deutsch rejects Bayesian epistemology <br><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldgK7EhEnto&amp;t=3386">56:26</a> - Bayesian epistemology embeds credences that obey probability calculus <br><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldgK7EhEnto&amp;t=3486">58:06</a> - Popper/Miller theorem: evidence only increases credence of propositions that closely match evidence <br><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldgK7EhEnto&amp;t=3630">1:00:30</a> - Good explanations are key, not Bayesian credences <br><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldgK7EhEnto&amp;t=3790">1:03:10</a> - Non-transitivity of support for explanations <br><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldgK7EhEnto&amp;t=4056">1:07:36</a> - Using Bayesian reasoning in limited practical cases <br><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldgK7EhEnto&amp;t=4134">1:08:54</a> - Looking for best explanations, not high probability theories <br><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldgK7EhEnto&amp;t=4419">1:13:39</a> - Can&apos;t assign credences to unknown theories like simulation hypothesis <br><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldgK7EhEnto&amp;t=4547">1:15:47</a> - False precision of credences, seek good explanations <br><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldgK7EhEnto&amp;t=4701">1:18:21</a> - Galileo sought simplest explanation, not most probable <br><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldgK7EhEnto&amp;t=4945">1:22:25</a> - Good explanations can&apos;t be formalized but can be judged philosophically <br><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldgK7EhEnto&amp;t=5048">1:24:08</a> - Reject explanations that can explain anything <br><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldgK7EhEnto&amp;t=5108">1:25:08</a> - Deutsch believes quantum theory is false <br><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldgK7EhEnto&amp;t=5209">1:26:49</a> - Conflict between quantum theory and general relativity <br><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldgK7EhEnto&amp;t=5302">1:28:22</a> - Theories are approximations, useful in different domains <br><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldgK7EhEnto&amp;t=5343">1:29:03</a> - Problems with axioms of quantum field theory <br><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldgK7EhEnto&amp;t=5469">1:31:09</a> - Considering alternative QFTs without problematic axioms <br><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldgK7EhEnto&amp;t=5628">1:33:48</a> - Testing new QFT ideas like non-commuting particles <br><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldgK7EhEnto&amp;t=5689">1:34:49</a> - New QFT compatible with Everettian view <br><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldgK7EhEnto&amp;t=5757">1:35:57</a> - Preferring Heisenberg picture over Schrodinger <br><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldgK7EhEnto&amp;t=5818">1:36:58</a> - Multiple worlds in quantum computation before decoherence <br><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldgK7EhEnto&amp;t=5905">1:38:25</a> - Worlds split when computations branch and recombine <br><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldgK7EhEnto&amp;t=5951">1:39:11</a> - Deutsch working on textbook and sci-fi book <br><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldgK7EhEnto&amp;t=6006">1:40:06</a> - New approach to teaching QM focused on information <br><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldgK7EhEnto&amp;t=6073">1:41:13</a> - Goal to change how quantum mechanics is taught

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• ZL

  @Zleec · 2 years ago

  What a time to be alive!

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• DA

  @davidsimpson7229 · 2 years ago

  “Knowledge is different from eucalyptus leaves.” Best quote ever

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• ET

  @ethiesm1 · 2 years ago (edited)

  Thanks Sean!!!! Great questions and beautiful runway you gave David without interruption

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• EH

  @ehfik · 1 year ago

  &quot;obedient is the opposite of creativity&quot;<br><br>thank you, for describing my whole life in one sentence!

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• GP

  @gpn962 · 2 years ago

  Been waiting for this one :)

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• TR

  @trevorcrowley5748 · 2 years ago

  What a kind and patient interview. &nbsp; Now inspired to read &nbsp;&quot;The Logic of Experimental Tests, Particularly of Everettian Quantum Theory&quot;

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• AI

  @aidanhall6679 · 2 years ago

  Deutsch is a Nobel mind, hopefully his year will come 🙏🏻

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