THUNK

Occam’s Razor is an important philosophical tool, and it played a central role in the #parsimonygate kerfuffle on Twitter. Learn exactly how it works! Video: http://youtu.be/2TszS9CyK_8 Show Notes: https://thunkshow.com/2016/06/15/94.-Parsimonygate-and-Occam's-Razor.html

Is mathematics discovered or invented? Is it the language which encodes the cosmos, or an imaginary human tool? Does mathematics, in its pure abstraction, tap the inherent nature of the universe…or is it just our imagination? In the longest THUNK video yet, we dive into the metaphysics of mathematics, & the seemingly unanswerable questions therein. Video: http://youtu.be/Jwrf59L-xsM Show Notes: https://thunkshow.com/2016/06/01/93.-Math-Discovered-or-Invented.html

Fermat’s Last Theorem: a fairy tale of dramatic mathematics. Video: http://youtu.be/q1wjWlJ53nc Show Notes: https://thunkshow.com/2016/05/18/92.-Fermat's-Last-Theorem.html

A recent study shows spanking probably isn’t a good idea, but almost everyone has a story that says otherwise. Learn where anecdotal evidence is useful, and (perhaps more importantly), where it isn’t. Video: http://youtu.be/-hlGKudCCnc Show Notes: https://thunkshow.com/2016/05/04/91.-Spanking-and-Anecdotal-Evidence.html

Many scientists call philosophy pointless pondering. They may not know they’re reading a very old script. Learn about the empiric & rationalist schools of medicine from ancient Greece, & how their ideologies play into thought in the modern world. Video: http://youtu.be/8CGQrt_5n60 Show Notes: https://thunkshow.com/2016/04/20/90.-Science-vs.-Philosophy-An-Ancient-(Non-)Debate.html

The Just World Fallacy: your brain’s irrational attempt to make sense of a world where Firefly got cancelled. Video: http://youtu.be/-f2eU8t9IOE Show Notes: https://thunkshow.com/2016/04/06/89.-The-Just-World-Fallacy.html

Hume saw problems using facts to justify morals. Learn about Hume’s Guillotine and where reason fits in morality! Video: http://youtu.be/UwkSA8nqmdI Show Notes: https://thunkshow.com/2016/03/23/88.-Hume's-Guillotine-and-Rational-Morality.html

The FBI is asking Apple to help them crack an iPhone’s encryption, but that’s not the whole story. Learn how encryption and code signing work, and how quantum computers might pose a threat to both! Video: http://youtu.be/crT3CI8Eg5s Show Notes: https://thunkshow.com/2016/03/09/87.-Encryption-and-Quantum-Computing.html

Human thought has hundreds of hard-wired bugs. The Socratic Method gives us a fighting chance to overcome them. Video: http://youtu.be/ZO-CGN78gdY Show Notes: https://thunkshow.com/2016/02/24/86.-Cognitive-Biases-and-the-Socratic-Method.html

A newly-discovered creature called “the purple sock” reveals and confirms some of the inner workings of evolution! Video: http://youtu.be/eNBxHlHBpag Show Notes: https://thunkshow.com/2016/02/10/85.-Evolution-and-the-Purple-Sock.html