Robinson's Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

Patreon: https://bit.ly/3v8OhY7

Richard Wolff is Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a visiting professor at The New School, where he works on economics in the Marxist tradition. This is Richard’s fourth appearance on Robinson’s Podcast. In episode #127, he and Robinson discussed some of the most profound criticisms of capitalism; in #154, they focused on the myths surrounding Marxism and Marx himself; and in #190 they covered the Israel-Palestine conflict from a Marxist perspective. In this wide-ranging episode, Richard and Robinson talk about the end of the American empire. More particularly they discuss the wars in Russia, Ukraine, Israel, and Palestine, the rivalry between China and the United States, the global interplay between capitalism and socialism, the distinction between socialism and communism, the conflict between the BRICS and G7 nations, and more. Richard’s latest book is Understanding Capitalism (Democracy at Work, 2024).

Understanding Capitalism (Book): https://www.democracyatwork.info/understanding_capitalism

Class Theory and History (Book): https://a.co/d/ht4trZN

Understanding the 2024 Elections (Article): https://asiatimes.com/2024/08/capitalism-mass-anger-and-2024-elections/

Richard’s Website: https://www.rdwolff.com

Economic Update: https://www.democracyatwork.info/economicupdate

OUTLINE

03:10 On the Trauma of His Family Background

10:50 Academia’s War on Marxism 

22:45 Economics as the Secret Undercurrent of History

28:01 Will Ukraine Defeat Russia?

31:52 Is China the Empire of the New World?

39:04 The Best American Strategy Against China

45:24 How Trump Won and Lost America

56:22 Is Israel a Colonialist State?

01:03:23 On the Expulsion of the Palestinians from Israel

01:10:49 Israel as America’s Economic Baby

01:18:08 Global Capitalism as the Enemy of the Islamic World

01:23:00 Why You Should Distrust Wartime Propaganda

01:33:03 Zelensky and the Ukrainian Chess Match

01:42:53 The Economic Conspiracy Behind the American Pick-Up Truck

01:49:31 Israel, Ukraine, and the New Cold War

01:54:20 The Many Taboos of Socialism and Communism

01:58:54 The War Between Socialism and Capitalism

02:07:51 Is Socialism More Efficient than Capitalism?

02:16:58 World War I and the Rise of Socialism

02:22:58 The Failed American Attempt to Destroy Russian Communism

02:27:26 Why Did Russia Choose Communism over Socialism?

02:38:06 Communism, Socialism, and the War for the Workplace

02:43:00 Is China Secretly Capitalist?

02:53:18 America’s Choice Between Equality or Subservience to China

02:58:45 Europe’s Hidden Economic Apocalypse

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, historians, economists, and everyone in-between. 

Patreon: https://bit.ly/3v8OhY7

David Albert is the Frederick E. Woodbridge Professor of Philosophy at Columbia University, director of the Philosophical Foundations of Physics program at Columbia, and a faculty member of the John Bell Institute for the Foundations of Physics. This is David’s eighth appearance on Robinson’s Podcast. He last appeared on episode 210 with Tim Maudlin, which was a more advanced episode on Niels Bohr and the foundations of quantum mechanics. In this episode, David gives a pedagogical and introductory overview of the measurement problem, which is the issue at the core of many discussions about the foundations of quantum mechanics. David’s most recent book is A Guess at the Riddle (2023). If you’re interested in the foundations of physics, then please check out the JBI, which is devoted to providing a home for research and education in this important area. Any donations are immensely helpful at this early stage in the institute’s life.

Note: Unfortunately, the cameras turned off in the middle of the episode. For twenty minutes there is no video, and for most of the episode only the camera focusing on David is recording.

A Guess at the Riddle: https://a.co/d/6qcsidl

The John Bell Institute: https://www.johnbellinstitute.org

OUTLINE

00:00 Introduction

04:54 On Philosophy and the Foundations of Physics

15:35 The Bizarreness of the Quantum World

19:16 What Is the World of Classical Physics?

24:00 How Quantum Mechanics Destroyed the Classical World

29:19 What Is Quantum Mechanical Superposition?

32:18 How Quantum Mechanics Became the Theory of Reality

39:53 What Is the Measurement Problem of Quantum Mechanics?

51:05 Niels Bohr and the Foundations of Quantum Mechanics

01:01:14 Niels Bohr and the EPR Paper

01:08:45 Was Niels Bohr the Most Charming Physicist of All Time?

01:15:59 Is the Measurement Problem a Scientific Problem?

01:21:24 Is String Theory Pseudoscience?

01:31:03 Why Don’t Many Philosophers Work on String Theory?

01:34:08 The Wave Function and the Measurement Problem

01:37:57 Quantum Measurement and Wave Function Collapse

01:41:34 Hidden Variable Theories of Quantum Mechanics

01:44:54 Quantum Mechanics and the Multiverse

01:48:47 Solving the Measurement Problem with Experiment

01:56:41 Quantum Mechanics and the Scientific Project

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, historians, economists, and everyone in-between. 

Patreon: https://bit.ly/3v8OhY7

Joyce Carol Oates is the Rogers S. Berlind ’52 Professor Emerita in the Humanities at Princeton University with the Program in Creative Writing. She is among the most widely-recognized and respected writers of our time, and has written in a wide variety of media and genres, from poetry and fiction in the former category to horror and Gothic in the latter. Her work has also been adapted into various other media, from plays to film. Joyce is the recipient of two O. Henry Awards and the National Book Award, among many others. This is Joyce’s second appearance on Robinson’s Podcast. In episode 137, she and Robinson discussed craft in fiction and poetry. In this episode, they talk about Joyce’s most recent collection of short stories, Zero-Sum (link in the description), as well as philosophy, Peter Singer, dealing with criticism, translation, and more.

Joyce’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/JoyceCarolOates

Joyce’s Substack: https://joycecaroloates.substack.com

Zero-Sum: https://a.co/d/0cYh3ndo

OUTLINE

00:00 Introduction

03:16 On Peter Singer

12:41 On Buddhism

21:50 On Hemingway

25:50 Dealing with Criticism

38:17 On Translation

47:53 Writing Short Stories

58:38 Imagery and Recreating the World

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, and everyone in-between. 

Jay McClelland is Lucie Stern Professor in the Department of Psychology at Stanford University, where he is also Director of the Center for Mind, Brain, Computation and Technology. Along with other towering figures like Geoffrey Hinton, Jay is considered one of the fathers of artificial intelligence. In this episode, Robinson and Jay discuss some of his main interests in and contributions to the field, including his work on parallel distributed processing with David Rumelhart, the relationship between neural networks and the brain, and just what developments are necessary for artificial intelligence to replicate the thinking of the greatest human scientists and engineers.

Parallel Distributed Processing: https://a.co/d/aELzYx2

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

00:30 Introduction

02:55 Jay’s Beginnings in Psychology

07:46 What Is Parallel Distributed Processing?

24:21 Cognitive Phenomena and Neural Networks

37:27 Fodor and Pylyshyn on Neural Networks

52:10 Affective Reasoning

55:52 Advancing AI to Compete with Scientists

01:10:02 What Distinguishes AI From Our Greatest Thinkers?

01:14:15 AI and Mathematical Cognition

01:18:47 Macrostructure and Microstructure

01:43:32 Final Thoughts

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between.

Paul Boghossian is Silver Professor of Philosophy at New York University, where he is also Chair of the Philosophy Department. Paul has worked in a wide variety of areas within philosophy, including epistemology and the philosophy of language, mind, and logic respectively. Robinson and Paul discuss the sociological relationship between physics and philosophy, the Sokal Hoax, philosophy in public life, the role of the a priori and a posteriori distinction in metaphysics, logic, and epistemology, and the nature of moral facts. For more detail on the latter, check out Paul’s book with Timothy Williamson, Debating The A Priori (Oxford, 2020).

Debating The A Priori: https://a.co/d/diNADPx

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

00:32 Introduction

04:33 Physics and Philosophy

17:12 The Sokal Hoax

26:52 Distinguishing the A Priori and A Posteriori

31:59 Does The A Priori/A Posteriori Distinction Hold Water?

48:07 Clarifying the Distinction

53:51 Debating the A Priori with Timothy Williamson

01:03:11 Are There Moral Facts?

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

David Pizarro is Professor of Psychology at Cornell University. While he teaches and publicly discusses a wide variety of material in the discipline, his primary research interest is in moral judgment. In this episode, Robinson and David discuss some of the conceptual underpinnings of moral psychology before turning to the research on praise, blame, social cognition, and the relationship between disgust and political affiliation. David is also the co-host of two podcasts, Very Bad Wizards with Tamler Sommers and Psych with Paul Bloom.

David’s Website: http://peezer.net

David’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/peez

Very Bad Wizards: https://verybadwizards.fireside.fm

Psych: https://psych.fireside.fm

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

00:39 Introduction

02:52 David’s Interest in Moral Psychology

06:42 Morality, Judgment, and Intuition in Psychology

30:40 Did Psychology Advance Too Fast

33:44 The Psychology of Praise and Blame

56:26 Why Do We Blame Objects and Robots?

01:10:09 Ostracism, Loneliness, and the Human Condition

01:14:27 The Psychology of Disgust

01:32:26 Disgust and Moral Judgement

01:40:10 Disgust Sensitivity and Political Affiliation

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

Julian Barbour is a physicist working in the foundations of physics and quantum gravity, with a special interest in time and the history of science. In this episode, Julian and Robinson discuss thermodynamics and the arrows of time, including a new theory of time developed by Julian and his collaborators, which is laid out in his book, The Janus Point: A New Theory of Time. If you’re interested in the foundations of physics—which you absolutely should be—then please check out the John Bell Institute (Julian is an Honorary Fellow at the JBI), which is devoted to providing a home for research and education in this important area. At this early stage any donations are immensely helpful.

Julian’s Website: http://platonia.com/index.html

The Janus Point: https://a.co/d/4NVOGqq

A History of Thermodynamics: http://platonia.com/A_History_of_Thermodynamics.pdf

Quantum without Quantum:  https://arxiv.org/abs/2305.13335

The John Bell Institute: https://www.johnbellinstitute.org

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

00:56 Introduction

04:42 Julian’s Interest in Time

07:27 Time’s Arrows

23:34 The Problem of Time-Reversal Symmetry

25:54 A Potted Overview of Entropy and Thermodynamics

38:21 Entropy and Time’s Arrow

52:32 The Janus Point and a New Theory of Time

01:07:00 Intuition and The Janus Point

01:21:21 Entropy and Entaxy

01:26:00 Cosmic Inflation and Its Problems

01:44:05 Quantum Mechanics without the Wave Function

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

Simon Blackburn was Professor of Philosophy at the University of Cambridge and Edna J. Koury Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. This is Simon’s second appearance on the show. In episode 68, Simon and Robinson discussed metaethics and moral realism.  In this episode, they talk about his latest books, Lust and Mirror, Mirror, with special attention to toxic vanity, the tale of Narcissus, and pride.

Lust: https://a.co/d/9dcOem9

Mirror, Mirror: https://a.co/d/9uy81GY

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

00:38 Introduction

03:08 Love and Simon’s Philosophy

10:04 L’Oreal and Toxic Vanity

31:09 The Tale of Narcissus

42:41 Lust and Self-Love

46:45 Psychology and Narcissism

52:43 Pride

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

Mark Solms is professor of Neuropsychology at the Neuroscience Institute at the University of Cape Town. He is also a psychoanalyst, and while Mark’s early research focused on the brain mechanisms of sleep and dreaming, he is currently working on the neural correlates of consciousness and affect. In this episode, Robinson and Mark talk about his new book The Hidden Spring: A Journey to the Source of Consciousness. More particularly, they discuss the hard problem of consciousness and how recent advances in neuroscience have pointed toward a solution.

The Hidden Spring: https://a.co/d/jcvbmLw

Mark’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/Mark_Solms

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

00:47 Introduction

03:09 What is Neuropsychoanalysis?

11:54 Was Freud a Neuroscientist?

26:17 What is the Hard Problem of Consciousness?

36:24 What is the Relationship between Dreaming and Consciousness?

54:44 Patients without a Cortex

01:03:01 Does Consciousness Have a Purpose?

01:14:53 Daniel Dennett and Karl Friston

01:24:49 Solving the Hard Problem of Consciousness

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. 

Slavoj Žižek is international director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities at the University of London, visiting professor at New York University, and a senior researcher at the University of Ljubljana’s Department of Philosophy. He was also the guest for Robinson’s Podcast #109 on psychoanalysis, wokeness, racism, and a hundred other topics. Sean Carroll is Homewood Professor of Natural Philosophy at Johns Hopkins University and fractal faculty at the Santa Fe Institute. He is also host of Sean Carroll’s Mindscape, a terrific show (that influenced the birth of Robinson’s Podcast) about science, society, philosophy, culture, arts, and ideas. Sean was one of the guests—along with David Albert of Columbia—on Robinson’s Podcast #106, which covers the Many-Worlds theory of quantum mechanics, entropy and Boltzmann Brains, and the fine-tuned universe. In this episode, Robinson, Sean, and Slavoj (though mostly Sean and Slavoj) talk about quantum mechanics, the indeterminacy of small-scale reality, cosmology and the big bang, major figures like Niels Bohr, Einstein, and Stephen Hawking, and the world of sci-fi, including movies like Everything Everywhere All at Once, Indian Jones, and the Avengers. If you’re interested in the foundations of physics—which you absolutely should be—then please check out the John Bell Institute (Sean is an Honorary Fellow at the JBI), which is devoted to providing a home for research and education in this important area. At this early stage any donations are immensely helpful.

Robinson's Podcast #109 | Slavoj Žižek: Wokeness, Psychoanalysis, and Quantum Mechanics: https://youtu.be/IxmZ4AVac7U

Robinson’s Podcast #106 | David Albert & Sean Carroll: Quantum Theory, Boltzmann Brains, & The Fine-Tuned Universe: https://youtu.be/U6ZtmGIhIhU

Sean’s Website: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com

Sean’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/seanmcarroll

The Biggest Ideas in the Universe: https://a.co/d/dPKZ40X

The John Bell Institute: https://www.johnbellinstitute.org

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

00:38 Introduction

04:40 Quantum Incompleteness

15:56 A Problem with Many-Worlds?

27:08 Niels Bohr and the Copenhagen Interpretation

40:30 Ontological Indeterminacy and Quantum Physics

47:23 On Superposition, History, and Art

01:02:10 What’s The Status of the Big Bang?

01:09:57 Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr, and Indeterminacy

01:21:13 Will Quantum Mechanics Be in a Theory of Everything?

01:27:55 Everything Everywhere All at Once, Indiana Jones, and The Avengers

01:33:03 Time Travel and Killing Hitler

01:41:54 On Stephen Hawking

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between.