Patterson in Pursuit

The Objectivity of Structure Outside our Concepts [Narration]

May 06, 2023 20:58 - 6 minutes - 4.61 MB

The world outside our mind is actually glued together; relations are mind-independent; and patterns are objectively real. Get full access to Steve Patterson's Substack at stevepatterson.substack.com/subscribe

Ep. 106 - Living with the Robots | Dr. RollerGator

April 02, 2023 23:40 - 1 hour - 71.2 MB

Trying to envision life alongside AI. How will our culture change? What will the norms be around beloved robots? Should we let the machines hijack our emotional circuitry? Will AI become the highest-level decision makers within governments? Get full access to Steve Patterson's Substack at stevepatterson.substack.com/subscribe

Ep. 105 - The Philosophy of AI (pt 1) | Alexandros Marinos

March 24, 2023 23:10 - 2 hours - 93.4 MB

The world is ablaze with discussion about the risks and benefits of AI like ChatGPT I have not been persuaded by the doomsdayers concerns about rogue AI, but that doesn't mean the technology is actually safe. I investigate some philosophical concepts surrounding AI with Alexandros Marinos. Get full access to Steve Patterson's Substack at stevepatterson.substack.com/subscribe

Ep. 104 - "No Longer a Christian" | Isaac Deitz

November 26, 2021 04:36 - 1 hour - 76.7 MB

Wonderful conversation with my old friend Isaac Deitz who shares his personal religious journey. After decades of being a Christian, he no longer identifies with that label. In my opinion, that's only because "Christian" is a terrible term nowadays. By some metrics, Isaac is a raging Christian. By others, he is a heretic. In that respect, I am coming to many of the same ideas about religion and truth--spiritual truth is often at odds with religious dogma. Better to give up a label than giv...

Our Present Dark Age

July 06, 2021 01:44 - 20 minutes - 13.9 MB

The best explanation for the current madness of the world is that we're in a dark age and have been for at least a century. The epistemic standards of the 20th century were not high enough to overcome social, psychological, and political entropy. Get full access to Steve Patterson's Substack at stevepatterson.substack.com/subscribe

Ep. 103 - "Mad at Mathematicians" | Isaac Morehouse

January 21, 2021 01:30 - 48 minutes - 37.6 MB

A couple of months ago, my friend Isaac Morehouse asked me to talk about the philosophy of mathematics and why I consider it so important. Appeals to mathematics are everywhere, from COVID lockdowns to NFL play calling, and if our concepts about math are flawed, we make the world a significantly worse place. Get full access to Steve Patterson's Substack at stevepatterson.substack.com/subscribe

Ep. 102 - Scientific Progress and Intellectual Schelling Points | Dr. Geoff Anders

April 19, 2020 17:54 - 1 hour - 80.2 MB

What does scientific progress look like? Is it steady progress, getting ever closer to the truth? Or does it go through waves? What about cases where we seem to have lost knowledge or the foundations of a theory we’ve been building on turned out to be wrong? Can that still be useful? Is that still progress? These are some of the questions I explore with Dr. Geoff Anders. Get full access to Steve Patterson's Substack at stevepatterson.substack.com/subscribe

Critical Thinking | Zooming In and Zooming Out

March 31, 2020 21:49 - 8 minutes - 10.3 MB

A critical thinker must have the ability to zoom in and zoom out - to hyper-focus on cause and effect and to see how things interconnect in the big picture. It's a common and critical error to be too-zoomed-in or too-zoomed-out. The over-focused mind is like the mathematician who doesn't realize the assumptions of his model are non-mathematical and likely wrong. The under-focused mind is like the mushroom-enthusiast that's content concluding "All is one", with no finer-resolution of anal...

Ep. 101- Is a Ruling Class Inevitable? | Samo Burja

March 08, 2020 10:30 - 1 hour - 59.1 MB

Libertarians like myself tend to focus on the abuse of power hierarchies. The existence of a "ruling class" makes most of us uneasy. However, might these sociological structures serve a valuable purpose? Are they inevitable parts of human society? Samo Burja joins me to discuss. Get full access to Steve Patterson's Substack at stevepatterson.substack.com/subscribe

Coming Around to Platonism

January 10, 2020 10:00 - 26 minutes - 22.6 MB

For years, I've been making anti-Platonist arguments. Now, I think I was wrong. The universe seems to be composed of both concrete and abstract stuff. Get full access to Steve Patterson's Substack at stevepatterson.substack.com/subscribe

Ep. 100 - Trying to Solve Philosophy | Patterson in Pursuit

November 19, 2019 01:49 - 45 minutes - 35.3 MB

Episode 100 of Patterson in Pursuit! Wow, what a milestone. Thanks to everybody who has listened to and supported the show. I hope it's created value for you. In this episode, I share my personal thoughts about the show, some of my motivations, the conversations that were impactful to my own philosophy, and some funny experiences along the way. And of course, more heretical thoughts about the philosophy of mathematics. Get full access to Steve Patterson's Substack at stevepatterson.subst...

Ep. 99 - Non-Rationality and Psychedelics | Dr. Bernardo Kastrup

September 08, 2019 08:00 - 1 hour - 47.2 MB

Do logic and rationality have limits? Are there ways to "get outside" of rational thinking? Do altered states caused by psychedelics provide true insight about the world, or are they illusory? These are the questions I discuss with Dr. Bernardo Kastrup, who shares some of his personal experiments and insights gained psychedelic drugs. Get full access to Steve Patterson's Substack at stevepatterson.substack.com/subscribe

Ep. 98 - "A Consciousness-Only Ontology" | Dr. Bernardo Kastrup

September 01, 2019 08:00 - 1 hour - 68.2 MB

Is everything ultimately mental? Do we need a theory of a physical world at all? Dr. Bernardo Kastrup joins me again to talk about idealism. This time, we go into great detail, both put our ideas to the test, and the result was one of my favorite interviews ever. I end up asking Bernardo some of the most difficult questions in philosophy. Get full access to Steve Patterson's Substack at stevepatterson.substack.com/subscribe

Understanding God as Nature or the Universe

August 22, 2019 09:00 - 26 minutes - 22.2 MB

Finally, after investigating for more than 20 years, I have a concept of God I can rationally grasp. The idea is one of the oldest in existence, and it turns baroque theological claims into true and important insights. Get full access to Steve Patterson's Substack at stevepatterson.substack.com/subscribe

Solving the Interaction Problem

August 02, 2019 01:28 - 25 minutes - 21.9 MB

Dualism is an attractive philosophy with an Achilles' heel. Dualists since Descartes have never given a good answer to the problem of interaction. Finally, I think I've got one. I have a working resolution to the problem of interaction that I call a theory of indirect interaction, which allows effective interaction between objects in different ontological categories. Original article here: http://steve-patterson.com/mind-body-dualism-solving-problem-interaction/ Get full access to Steve...

There Are No Objective Definitions

May 19, 2019 22:57 - 15 minutes - 15 MB

Lots of confusion is caused by the nature of language. This is a narration of the article "There Are No Objective Definitions", which you can read here: http://steve-patterson.com/there-are-no-objective-definitions/ Get full access to Steve Patterson's Substack at stevepatterson.substack.com/subscribe

Ep. 97 - Math Heresy: Ultrafinitism | Dr. Doron Zeilberger

April 21, 2019 08:30 - 57 minutes - 43.3 MB

Dr. Doron Zeilberger is the Distinguished Professor of Mathematics at Rutgers University. He's also a math heretic who thoroughly rejects the orthodox conceptions of infinity in modern mathematics. So we got along quite well. We had a fantastic conversation covering a wide range of topics, including set theory, calculus and limits, pi, irrational numbers like the square root of two, real analysis, and Godel's Incompleteness Theorems. If you're interested in the philosophy of mathematics,...

Ep. 96 - Truth and Postmodernism | Breakdown of Thaddeus Russell Interview

April 07, 2019 18:16 - 1 hour - 76.9 MB

The most requested interview breakdown ever - my conversation with Thaddeus Russell about the postmodern theory of truth. Fun episode! Can we know that experience is happening? If somebody denies that they know, is it possible to convince them? Get full access to Steve Patterson's Substack at stevepatterson.substack.com/subscribe

Ep. 95 - The Highest IQ in America | Christopher Langan

March 24, 2019 10:00 - 1 hour - 53.1 MB

Christopher Langan is an independent intellectual known for having the highest IQ in America - somewhere around 200, which is six standard deviations above the norm. His story is fascinating. Chris is not working within the academy. Instead, he's splitting his time between ranching and philosophizing. We spoke about a wide range of topics, including the problems of modern academia, the concept of IQ, and his attempt at a Theory of Everything entitled "The Cognitive-Theoretic Model of the...

Ep. 94 - A Satoshi Nakamoto Story | Phil "Scronty" Wilson

September 02, 2018 18:04 - 7 hours - 298 MB

Who is Satoshi Nakamoto? If you've been in the Bitcoin world for a while, you know that's the last question you should try to answer. However, I've recently come across a story that I find quite plausible, written by Phil Wilson (aka Scronty). Phil documents the thinking-process behind the Bitcoin invention, in addition to providing many historical details around the creation of Bitcoin. His story also explains the perplexing existence of Craig Wright. It's the only narrative that implie...

Ep. 93 - Abortion, Natural Rights, and Evictionism | Dr. Walter Block

June 28, 2018 23:52 - 58 minutes - 40.3 MB

My conversation with Dr. Walter Block about abortion and natural rights, which is one of the trickiest issues in any political philosophy, libertarianism included. He's the creator of a theory called "evictionism," which tries to take a middle ground between pro-life and pro-choice positions. In my analysis, it's a reasonable compromise. I cannot think of any principled objections from the pro-choice side, and though a pro-lifer might have objections, the core of Block's argument is pro-li...

Ep. 92 - 6 Years of Mystery Illness: When Western Medicine Fails

June 17, 2018 14:59 - 1 hour - 80.9 MB

Julia and I have been dealing with a mystery illness for more than six years. It's progressively gotten worse, but finally, after seeing more than 50 doctors in multiple states and countries, we're finding answers. Our story is not unique. There are millions of people suffering with unknown illness who get misdiagnosed or dismissed by their doctors. Too often, when a conventional doctor does not understand your sickness, they conclude one of two things: it's either in your head, or you're ...

Ep. 91 - Tom Woods on Catholicism, Papal Authority, and Intellectual Entrepreneurship | Dr. Thomas Woods

June 10, 2018 05:33 - 1 hour - 47 MB

Tom Woods joins me for a great discussion about Catholicism, papal authority, and his story of becoming an independent intellectual entrepreneur. Was the Catholic Church really an anti-intellectual, anti-science organization throughout history, or is that simply a myth? Does the truth stand apart from what the Pope declares? Can the Pope be wrong? These questions and lots more. Get full access to Steve Patterson's Substack at stevepatterson.substack.com/subscribe

The Abuse of Apriorism in Economics

May 31, 2018 10:30 - 21 minutes - 15 MB

The purpose of this article is to point out where my fellow rationalists are being dogmatic, in particular, with regard to Austrian Economics. Philosophers like Hans-Hermann Hoppe tend to drop the "ceteris paribus" condition, turning true-but-neutered claims into false-and-dogmatic ones. Get full access to Steve Patterson's Substack at stevepatterson.substack.com/subscribe

Ep. 90 - The Overwhelming Beauty of Free Markets | Jeffrey Tucker

May 27, 2018 10:30 - 52 minutes - 35.8 MB

This week's interview is with Jeff Tucker. We're talking about how capitalism fits into the bigger picture. Libertarians tend to assume that everybody values the creation of wealth, and therefore free markets are important. But why make this assumption? Perhaps free markets create wealth at the cost of personal or spiritual impoverishment. What to think about this objection? We also address the staggering beauty and complexity of free markets, illustrated in proper Jeff Tucker style: by te...

Does Free Will Even Make Sense?

May 24, 2018 10:30 - 18 minutes - 12.7 MB

Few things are as intuitively obvious, yet philosophically challenging, as the existence of free will. There’s a fashionable critique of free will that says, “The very concept of free will is incoherent; therefore, it obviously doesn’t exist.” This article does not make the case for or against the existence of free will. Instead, it defends its conceptual coherence. Free will is not a nonsensical idea, and it might exist. Get full access to Steve Patterson's Substack at stevepatterson....

The Crucifixion: A Unification of Love and Hate

May 17, 2018 10:30 - 7 minutes - 5.06 MB

This article was inspired by a life-size replica of the crucifixion within a church in Bergen, Norway. The church service was pointless, but the replica sparked some valuable thoughts about love and hate. Get full access to Steve Patterson's Substack at stevepatterson.substack.com/subscribe

How the Rubik's Cube Solves Any Paradox

May 13, 2018 15:49 - 13 minutes - 9.09 MB

This narrated article is about using the Rubik's Cube as an analogy for philosophic paradoxes and problem-solving. There are no unsolvable scrambles... Get full access to Steve Patterson's Substack at stevepatterson.substack.com/subscribe

Ep. 89 - Is the Whole Greater than the Sum of Its Parts? | Dr. Andrew Brenner

May 06, 2018 11:30 - 54 minutes - 37.1 MB

Is a “whole” really something greater than the sum of its parts? Or, is a “whole” identical to the sum of its parts? Dr. Andrew Brenner joins me for a fun conversation about mereology - the study of parts and wholes. While it might seem like an esoteric topic, it’s actually central to metaphysics, and the conclusions have implications on things as varied as the philosophy of mind, personal identity, and even the philosophy of mathematics and geometry. Both Dr. Brenner and I agree...

Defending Zeno's Paradox

May 03, 2018 16:13 - 14 minutes - 9.94 MB

Zeno's paradoxes are some of the most famous. Most modern philosophers simply dismiss them as "resolved" because of calculus. However, that's a logical mistake. Calculus actually does not resolve Zeno's paradoxes. What resolves them is a base-unit of physical reality. Get full access to Steve Patterson's Substack at stevepatterson.substack.com/subscribe

Ep. 88 - Watch Out for Bitcoin Cash | Ryan X. Charles

April 29, 2018 14:30 - 1 hour - 63 MB

I am joined again by Ryan Charles to discuss the current state of the Bitcoin Cash network. After the failure of the Segwit2x proposal to scale Bitcoin, a significant percentage of early adopters have moved onto the Bitcoin Cash network, and progress is happening fast. In fact, as of this interview, I've decided to only support Bitcoin Cash addresses for my work, and I've decided to write my next book on Bitcoin, called "The First Fork: From Bitcoin to Bitcoin Cash." Get full access to St...

How Progressives Can Fix the Economy

April 26, 2018 10:30 - 6 minutes - 4.72 MB

This is a narrated article from the 2016 campaign season. I was inspired by the rhetoric of Bernie Sanders to create some satire... Get full access to Steve Patterson's Substack at stevepatterson.substack.com/subscribe

Ep. 87 - Race and Colorblindness: Part II | T.K. Coleman

April 22, 2018 10:30 - 2 hours - 83.2 MB

Imagine it's the late evening in Atlanta, and a small white woman is walking to her car in a parking lot. A black man she didn't see before walks up behind her. She gets nervous and feels like she might be in danger. She holds onto her purse a little more tightly. Is this a clear case of racism? Is it simply rational behavior? If it's racism, is it a moral problem? TK Coleman joins me to discuss these types of situations in Part Two of our conversation on race and colorblindness. Is it r...

Gay Marriage and the Absurdity of Courts

April 19, 2018 10:30 - 13 minutes - 9.36 MB

This is a narration of an article I wrote when the US Supreme Court made their famous ruling on gay marriage. When you step back and view the big picture, the whole situation is bizarre. Humans, themselves, are bizarre, as are their political structures. Get full access to Steve Patterson's Substack at stevepatterson.substack.com/subscribe

Ep. 86 - Race and Colorblindness: Part I | TK Coleman

April 16, 2018 02:56 - 1 hour - 72.7 MB

TK Coleman joins me for another excellent conversation about race. This week, we focus on the concept of "colorblindness." Is it possible to be colorblind, or is that naive? Can we recognize differences among groups, while still judging every individual according to their own character? Is white supremacism a fundamental feature of white people's minds - so much, that they cannot spot it within themselves? Is the reason that so many people deny being racist is because of a lack of self-a...

The Profundity of Poker

April 08, 2018 10:30 - 13 minutes - 9.61 MB

Poker can teach us something profound about philosophy. Specifically, it can teach us about the relationship between theory and data, knowledge and experience, and the ancient debate between rationalists and empiricists. Get full access to Steve Patterson's Substack at stevepatterson.substack.com/subscribe

Ep. 85 - College Isn't for Education | Dr. Bryan Caplan

April 02, 2018 21:37 - 58 minutes - 40.2 MB

This week I’m joined by Dr. Bryan Caplan to discuss his new book, “The Case Against Education.” We cover the signaling model of education, whether college is always a good idea, and we got into an interesting conversation about doing interdisciplinary work - something very relevant to my own project. Get full access to Steve Patterson's Substack at stevepatterson.substack.com/subscribe

Ep. 84 - When Logic Met Math | Dr. Graham Priest

March 25, 2018 10:30 - 28 minutes - 19.3 MB

This is Part 2 of my conversation with Dr. Graham Priest. We talk about the history of logic and the great revisions that took place around the turn of the 20th century. When logic met math, both disciplines changed, for better or worse. Get full access to Steve Patterson's Substack at stevepatterson.substack.com/subscribe

Ep. 83 - Logic, Contradictions, and the Liar Paradox | Dr. Graham Priest

March 18, 2018 10:30 - 1 hour - 57 MB

My conversation with Dr. Graham Priest, who is best known for his defense of dialetheism - the idea that some contradictions are true. We talk about logic, metaphysics, the relationship between the two, and focus on the liar's paradox in particular. Get full access to Steve Patterson's Substack at stevepatterson.substack.com/subscribe

Ep. 82 - Do Entities Exist? | Breakdown of Chalmers Interview

March 11, 2018 21:25 - 30 minutes - 20.8 MB

This is my breakdown of David Chalmers' interview on the Closer to Truth Series - about metaphysics and ontology. Are there entities in the world, or is there just stuff? Video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0QPWQR5f9Q Get full access to Steve Patterson's Substack at stevepatterson.substack.com/subscribe

Ep. 81 - The Ethics of Eating Meat | Dr. Mike Huemer

March 04, 2018 11:30 - 1 hour - 46.4 MB

If animals can suffer, does that make it immoral to eat meat? I'm joined again by Dr. Mike Huemer to help me answer this question. He has recently released a series of four dialogues on the topic, which address many of the issues we talk about in this episode. Also covered: free will, empathy, and whether the nutritional value of meat changes our ethical judgments. Get full access to Steve Patterson's Substack at stevepatterson.substack.com/subscribe

Ep. 80 - A Debate about Truth and Postmodernism | Thaddeus Russell

February 25, 2018 11:00 - 1 hour - 48.2 MB

Does objective truth exist? Thaddeus Russell joins me for part two of our discussion about postmodernism. In this episode, we focus on the philosophy of truth. Can we know anything about the world? Can we know anything about our minds? Are the laws of logic objective or just a convention of language? Get full access to Steve Patterson's Substack at stevepatterson.substack.com/subscribe

Ep. 79 - Postmodernism, Marxism, Love, and Religion | Thaddeus Russell

February 18, 2018 11:00 - 1 hour - 43.7 MB

I am joined by Dr. Thaddeus Russell to talk about postmodernism. With the popularity of people like Jordan Peterson, who vocally criticize postmodernism, Thaddeus thinks most of the criticism is misplaced. We also have a great conversation about love, religion, and people's motivation for their actions. Get full access to Steve Patterson's Substack at stevepatterson.substack.com/subscribe

Ep. 78 - The Case for Idealism | Dr. Bernardo Kastrup

February 11, 2018 11:30 - 59 minutes - 40.8 MB

Season 2 is here! The show starts up again with a fantastic interview with Dr. Bernardo Kastrup about idealism. I've spent a lot of time arguing against physicalism and for a kind of "reluctant dualist" worldview, but I've not explained my position on idealism. So, I brought Dr. Kastrup on the show to give his case that only mental stuff exists. Get full access to Steve Patterson's Substack at stevepatterson.substack.com/subscribe

Time for Writing and Health

October 08, 2017 21:55 - 4 minutes - 3.24 MB

I need to take a break from Patterson in Pursuit to focus on health and writing. I can't wait to return. Get full access to Steve Patterson's Substack at stevepatterson.substack.com/subscribe

The Puzzle of Awareness

October 05, 2017 10:00 - 5 minutes - 3.89 MB

Consciousness is a hard phenomenon to explain in any worldview. We seem to be able to intentionally change the content of our experience. How is that possible? Get full access to Steve Patterson's Substack at stevepatterson.substack.com/subscribe

Ep. 77 - Why I Support Catalonia's Secession

October 01, 2017 05:01 - 24 minutes - 17.1 MB

Who determines whether an individual or group has the right to govern themselves? At what point does secession become legitimate? How many people need to get together in order to secede? I try to tackle some of these questions while giving my perspective on the imminent Catalonia independence referendum. I am unabashedly in favor of secession - all the way down to the individual. Get full access to Steve Patterson's Substack at stevepatterson.substack.com/subscribe

Don't Fight for Objective Definitions

September 28, 2017 10:00 - 8 minutes - 5.87 MB

Language is ambiguous. If you want to communicate effectively, you must understand that different people have different meanings for the same words. Far too many rationalists waste their time arguing for objective definitions, instead of stating their intended meaning for words. Get full access to Steve Patterson's Substack at stevepatterson.substack.com/subscribe

Ep. 76 - Metaphysical Questions, Objectivist Answers | Dr. David Kelley

September 24, 2017 10:30 - 57 minutes - 39.2 MB

Can the whole be greater than the sum of its parts? Does consciousness require that we split the world between mind and body? Can free will exist in a naturalistic worldview? Dr. David Kelley joins me on this episode to give his Objectivist perspective on these questions. As Dr. Kelley explains, many ideas in Objectivism are heavily influenced by Aristotelian thinking. Get full access to Steve Patterson's Substack at stevepatterson.substack.com/subscribe

The Fashionable Thinkers

September 21, 2017 10:00 - 14 minutes - 9.87 MB

Many thinkers are more concern with how their ideas look, rather than how accurate they are. They want to appear intelligent, rather than have true beliefs. I call them the "fashionable thinkers," and this is my rant against them. I've noticed many common traits among fashionable thinkers. Have you? Get full access to Steve Patterson's Substack at stevepatterson.substack.com/subscribe

Patterson in Pursuit

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