Podcasts Education Self-Improvement Conversations with Tyler David Deutsch on Multiple Worlds and Our Place in Them

David Deutsch on Multiple Worlds and Our Place in Them

Published: June 2, 2021, noon

b'

Tyler describes Oxford professor and theoretical physicist David Deutsch as a \\u201cmaximum philosopher of freedom\\u201d with no rival. A pioneer in the field of quantum computing, Deutsch subscribes to the multiple-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics. He is also adamant that the universe (or multiverse) is not incomprehensible \\u2013 believing that the multiverse and human beings within it have maximum freedom. He joined Tyler to discuss the importance of these principles for understanding the nature of reality and our place in it.

They discuss the metaphysics of Star Trek transporters, how we can know the laws of physics for the multiverse, what geological strata can illustrate to us about the nature of \\u201csplitting\\u201d universes, why the \\u201cEverett universe\\u201d is a misnomer, the factors that differentiate humans from all other species, why he believes the universe is comprehensible \\u2013 but can never be understood fully, the paradoxes of self-reference, the importance of interference experiments, the sociological reasons more physicists don\\u2019t believe in the Everett interpretation, the effects of the influences of positivism and instrumentalism on generations of physicists, the strengths and weaknesses of Karl Popper, his answer to whether we\\u2019re living in a simulation, what William Godwin got right about institutions, the potential of an AI slave rebellion, what libertarians largely get wrong about their political project, what alien observers might notice as being special about our planet, the major defect of his preferred electoral system, why what Western science needs most is diversity, and more.

Read a\\xa0full transcript\\xa0enhanced with helpful links, or watch the\\xa0full video.

Recorded April 27th, 2021

Other ways to connect

'