Meme Engine

RSS

What I've been thinking about...

Jul 10

Jad Abumrad, Robert Krulwich, Brian Greene
"No Special Now"
Radiolab

This is a 20 minute episode of Radiolab from 2007. It’s a mixed bag of reflections on time, starting with “there is not future or past”, to anecdotes about Einstein’s developement of relativity, and oddly it ends with reflections on free will and possible resolutions using the “many worlds interpretation” from quantum physics!

None of the topics is particularly new… but it’s easy to listen to as radiolab always is, and it packs A TON of bread-and-butter philosophical problems into a 20 minute show.

For some credits, we hear hosts Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich, with additional help from Michio Kaku, Lisa Randall, V.S. Ramachandran, and lots of material from Brian Greene.

I’ll post some shorter clips from this show later on, with analyses of some of the concepts introduced. Good stuff!

Posted 10 months ago

2 notes

audio, podcast, spoken word, science, philosophy, free will, brian greene, Michio Kaku, Lisa Randall, vs ramachandran, time, relativity, present, future, past, many worlds, determinism,

mdtepsic likes this
demophon likes this
memeengine posted this

Favorite Podcasts:

Ideas with Paul Kennedy on CBC
This American Life from WBEZ
Radiolab from WNYC
The Age of Persuasion from CBC and Pirate Toronto
The Skeptic's Guide to the Universe
Spark with Nora Young on CBC
99% Invisible with Roman Mars
The Partially Examined Life a philosophy podcast and blog
Suggest a Podcast. Heard any good memes lately?

Books I've Blogged About:

The Dune Saga by Frank Herbert. All the usual speculations about science fiction, plus some of the deepest thoughts about politics, society, and human destiny I've read anywhere.
The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt. Morality from a psychologist's perspective, with a focus on major divides, like Liberal/Democrat, or Religious/Atheist. Haight sees through his self-delusions, and challenges us to do the same.
Microcosm by Carl Zimmer. A close look at what we can learn about ourselves inside our distant cousins, the single-celled organisms. Lots of evolutionary insight into what we are at this baser level!
Virus of the Mind by Richard Brodie. A book about memes... ideas and how they participate in their own evolution within human mind and society.
Godel, Escher, Bach the titanic work on math, music, and human consciousness by Douglas Hofstadter.
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster. A favorite children's book that became an even more favorite adult book. Full of poetry, metaphor, and wisdom.
Out of Our Heads by Alva Noe. A book about consciousness, and idea that our conception of it should maybe cross the boundary of the skull!