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Rationally Speaking #166 - Eric Schwitzgebel on "Why you should expect the truth to be crazy"

Rationally Speaking #166 - Eric Schwitzgebel on "Why you should expect the truth to be crazy"

FromRationally Speaking Podcast


Rationally Speaking #166 - Eric Schwitzgebel on "Why you should expect the truth to be crazy"

FromRationally Speaking Podcast

ratings:
Length:
54 minutes
Released:
Aug 21, 2016
Format:
Podcast episode

Description

Some theories violate common sense so wildly that you want to just reject them out of hand. For example, "The United States is conscious," or "The most moral act would be to replace all living beings with an orgasmic blob." On the other hand, many theories in physics that sounded similarly crazy turned out to be very well-supported (think of quantum theory, or relativity). So what role should "common sense" play in evaluating new theories? This episode features a discussion with philosopher Eric Schwitzgebel on his theory of "Crazyism," that we should expect the truth to be at least a little bit crazy.
Released:
Aug 21, 2016
Format:
Podcast episode

Titles in the series (100)

Rationally Speaking is the bi-weekly podcast of New York City Skeptics. Join host Julia Galef and guests as they explore the borderlands between reason and nonsense, likely from unlikely, and science from pseudoscience. Any topic is fair game as long as we can bring reason to bear upon it, with both a skeptical eye and a good dose of humor! We agree with the Marquis de Condorcet, who said that in an open society we ought to devote ourselves to "the tracking down of prejudices in the hiding places where priests, the schools, the government, and all long-established institutions had gathered and protected them."Rationally Speaking was co-created with Massimo Pigliucci, is produced by Benny Pollak, and is recorded in the heart of New York City's Greenwich Village.