Condensed Matter – Details, episodes & analysis

Modality (possibility, necessity and related phenomena) is central to philosophy both as a topic of inquiry and as a methodological tool. There are many controversies about the nature of possibility and necessity and about what counts as possible or necessary. But it is generally agreed that possibility and necessity are intimitely related, they are interdefinable: being possible is the same as being not necessarily not. Goswick, however, denies this! Listen to find out why.

Click here for the paper. 

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Recently, there has been frenzied interest in artificial intelligence and, in particular, in the issue of AI safety; there have been “open letters” signed by some of the biggest names in the tech business urging us to take seriously the existential threat posed by AI, and the UK government has just announced that it will convene the first global AI safety summit this autumn. 

But what is the threat here, exactly? There are risks associated with any new technology: fire burns, nuclear energy can be harnessed in bombs and social media algorithms threaten democracy. The so-called AI singularity is supposed to be at least on par with the absolute worst of these threats since, according to some, it has the real potential to wipe out all of humanity.

Will there be a singularity? How should we negotiate a singularity and will it necessarily be a bad thing resulting in human extinction? Assuming the singularity doesn’t wipe out humanity, how can we integrate into a post-singularity world? Listen to find out!

Here is a link to the paper.

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The focus of this episode is “Modal dispositionalism and necessary perfect masks”, by Barbara Vetter and Ralf Busse, forthcoming in Analysis.

Link to the paper: https://academic.oup.com/analysis/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/analys/anab061/6511667?redirectedFrom=fulltext

You can carry on the discussion on Twitter and there's even an Instagram page. Thanks for listening!    

Support the Show.

Support the show on Patreon to gain instant access to searchable, comment-on-able PDF scripts of all solo episodes! Your support will help to defray hosting and equipment costs and is very much appreciated.

For this episode, I’m joined by Professor James Ladyman to discuss his paper "An Apology for Naturalized Metaphysics", published in 2017 by Oxford University Press in Metaphysics and the Philosophy of Science edited by Matthew Slater and Zanja Yudell. James is professor of philosophy at the University of Bristol.

We discuss the nature of truth, disagreement in metaphysics and in science, conceptual conservatism and innovation, breaking free from the manifest image and much more.

Link to the paper: https://philpapers.org/rec/LADAAF
More about James: https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/en/persons/james-a-c-ladyman

If you enjoyed the show, please rate and review it on your favourite app so more people can find it. You can carry on the discussion on Twitter and there's even an Instagram page. Thanks for listening!   

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For this episode, I’m joined by Professor Nina Emery to discuss her paper “The Governing Conception of Laws", forthcoming in Ergo. Nina is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at Mount Holyoak College. Nina is also the president-elect of the society for the metaphysics of science.

Link to the paper: https://philarchive.org/archive/EMETGC
More about Nina: http://www.ninaemery.org/
The Society for the Metaphysics of Science: https://socmetsci.org/

If you enjoyed the show, please rate and review it on your favourite app so more people can find it. You can carry on the discussion on Twitter and there's even an Instagram page. Thanks for listening!   

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 Click here for the article.

If you are enjoying Condensed Matter, please consider supporting the show on Patreon. In recognition of your support, you'll get the opportunity to suggest articles and guests for future episodes. You'll also now get access to PDF scripts of the solo episodes!

You can carry on the discussion on Twitter and there's even an Instagram page. Thanks for listening!    

Support the Show.

 Click here for the article.

If you are enjoying Condensed Matter, please consider supporting the show on Patreon. In recognition of your support, you'll get the opportunity to suggest articles and guests for future episodes. You'll also now get access to PDF scripts of the solo episodes!

You can carry on the discussion on Twitter and there's even an Instagram page. Thanks for listening!   

Support the Show.

 Click here for the article.

If you are enjoying Condensed Matter, please consider supporting the show on Patreon. In recognition of your support, you'll get the opportunity to suggest articles and guests for future episodes. You'll also now get access to PDF scripts of the solo episodes!

You can carry on the discussion on Twitter and there's even an Instagram page. Thanks for listening!  

Support the Show.

 Click here for the article.

If you are enjoying Condensed Matter, please consider supporting the show on Patreon. In recognition of your support, you'll get the opportunity to suggest articles and guests for future episodes. You'll also now get access to PDF scripts of the solo episodes!

You can carry on the discussion on Twitter and there's even an Instagram page. Thanks for listening!       

Support the Show.

 Click here for the article.

If you are enjoying Condensed Matter, please consider supporting the show on Patreon. In recognition of your support, you'll get the opportunity to suggest articles and guests for future episodes. I'm also thinking about what else I can offer Patreon supporters, so support the show and you'll be first to know!

You can carry on the discussion on Twitter and there's even an Instagram page. Thanks for listening!      

Support the Show.