EP 145: The Beginning of Infinity, Explanations That Transform the World, David Deutsch,

The Beginning of Infinity, Explanations That Transform the World, David Deutsch,

A bold and all-embracing exploration of the nature and progress of knowledge from one of today's great thinkers. Throughout history, mankind has struggled to understand life's mysteries, from the mundane to the seemingly miraculous.

Our guest is a multiple award-winning pioneer in the field of quantum computation and argues that explanations have a fundamental place in the universe. They have unlimited scope and power to cause change, and the quest to improve them is the basic regulating principle not only of science but of all successful human endeavour.

This stream of ever improving explanations has infinite reach. We are subject only to the laws of physics, and they impose no upper boundary to what we can eventually understand, control, and achieve.

He applies that worldview to a wide range of issues and unsolved problems, from creativity and free will to the origin and future of the human species.

We welcome David Deutsch, Fellow of the Royal Society, a pioneer in quantum computing, visiting Professor of physics at the Centre for Quantum Computation at Oxford University, multiple TED Talker, optimist and author of The Beginning of Infinity, Explanations That Transform the World.

We discuss:

• What David calls good explanations.
• Error as unavoidable in the growth of knowledge.
• Fallibilism
• Education
• Creativity
• Artificial Intelligence
• The misconception that knowledge needs authority to be genuine or reliable
• All scientific theories are testable conjectures
• Every explanation begins with conjecture
• The growth of knowledge consists of correcting misconceptions in our theories
• The Principle of Mediocrity
• The Spaceship Earth metaphor
• We touch very lightly on the Multiverse

https://www.daviddeutsch.org.uk/