Episode 33: James Ladyman on Reality, Metaphysics, and Complexity

I find that Sean's view of free will is harmful to society. He says that using the term "free will" is a "perfectly acceptable way of talking about how we go about the world", but if our culture came to accept and internalize the fact that determinism is true, then it would better off, but he perpetuates the laymen use of the term.

I would say that love is real and exists in much the same way that fire is real and exists.

Patterns don't have meaning without an observer.

He's a REAL ladies man.

The argument about whether something is real is a false dichotomy. There are just different types of "real." For instance, people's belief in God is real. God is not.

Very entertaining and inciting podcast, thanks

Instead of talking about tables and chairs and unicorns the discussions would have had more depth if you would have discussed if “time” is real.

Will you ever video these?!

Have Thomas Nagel and/or Markus Gabriel on.

What is the meaning of "exist"?

Some physicists claim the world may have 11 dimensions. If that were so then "reality" would encompass those 11 dimensions, right? But we only perceive these 3 dimensions of space so in this case reality would forever non perceivable, no?

If reality then maths, because I’m using it?

It annoys me that more people know who Justin Bieber is than Sean Carroll.

One of my favourite episodes so far! I wonder, if it is indeed "relationships all the way down", could there perhaps be a metastructure that could sum up a "thing" as all levels of relationships it has... And would that ultimately just be the universe et al?

Is this the wise use of a man's time? Philosophy is mostly (not completely) arguments over the meaning of words.

Thanks so much for having James on your show! ( Did I by chance suggest him as a guest ? I forget )

YAY

Sean I love your pod casts but this one i just couldn't make it through . Have no idea what was this guys point ! U did a great job trying to pull it off , but just to much nonsense to me . Just my opinion , dont want to start a mindscape rebellion , I'm sure it made all the sense in the world to some . I'll keep listening though so keep them coming .

How many philosophers to change a lightbulb? none..by the time they are done discussing whether it exists or not, the lightbulb was already replaced with a zero point energy-light dispersion module.

Here is something that will never be real...
Classified Ads in a Newspaper : "Philosopher needed, great hours, no productivity required, salary negotiable depending on past thoughts. Retirement benefits? Use your imagination."

It's great to see a serious active research physicist engage with philosophy. And very rare, sadly.

I love this podcast, thanks for doing it Sean.

Brilliant

Get over it.
Reality as a concept is but a theological notion.
Get over theology.

Sean! One of my favourite human beings! If he were a few years younger and a woman, he'd be perfect! Subscribed, may do so again!

Numbers abstractly may not be real but geometry is.

Favorite episode so far (again) 👍!!

Please consider greyscale or dimming the splash page after 10 mins or something. Bright blue is hard on the eyes, tv and disrupts sleep :p

He sounded the least real of any guest so far.. For someone who is an alleged expert on reality and metaphysics he was constantly umming and ahhing throughout and was anything but scientic in his analysis.

Nothing is real, everything lasts forever.

Fremhevet kommentar

I was a drug addict for a long time. You mister Sean Carrol cured me. I started listening to you after I saw you on the Joe Rogan show. Now Im so into Physics. How can I thank you enough Sir? Hopefully I will be able to meet you one day, just for a smalltalk 2-3 min. I wish you were my dad. You are my really new Idol. From Norway. Thanks Sean, Dont forget that I love you for all the good work you put up. Alan Guth Loves you as well. Pls respond if you can [angelface]. I laughed when you said that you took lsd with your friends to find out of something. Everyone in Silicon Valley are almost microdosing lsd every third day. More creativeness. A better medicine than adderal for adhd as well. I should get more into that, As Heroine and Benzodiazepines crushed my life over a long peroid of time. Im 5 month sober now. Thanks Sean Carrol.

Not the majority but seemingly a portion that likes to make some noise of the religious people do that helping because they believe that doing so will put them in good light in face of their god, when they are confronted with non-religious people who also help others monetarily or with voluntary work they argue they too are inspired by the same god unknowingly. In some extreme cases they believe that their religion is necessary or sufficient for morality to exist, and sometimes genuinely believe that the lack of religion or a punishing god means that people would start doing illegal things or commiting crimes for the idea of an afterlife of punishment (or the other way round) is necessary to reign some innate human desire for wrongdoing. So perhaps it is this people who would otherwise not give a care for the others that religion is necessary, but then again, who knows if this ideas are the result of indoctrination which prevented them to develop as a fully functioning social and empathic being in the first place.

The stutter is real

Wow Sean thank you for this episode and this series. It’s truly a catalyst for learning, when you align all of these powerful ideas into a dialogue that is listeners are so lucky to listen in on. 👍🏼

Sean please invite Jordan Peterson

The reason people have a hard time saying numbers are real or not, is because numbers are descriptions about reality. Probably the most fundamental description we know of which is not dependent upon a specific form of perception. So, if anything exists which can be perceived by anyone at all, then on some level it can be described numerically.

The reason why many people approach atheism with suspicion is because it doesn't really say anything about what you believe... it only describes what you don't believe. So if someone is an atheist, then we have no idea what their ethics and morality are, what their values are, what their ideals are, what they do believe in, etc. It's just a generic, umbrella term that doesn't tell us anything except that a person doesn't believe in the existence of a god. It doesn't even necessarily tell us they reject the abstract concept of a god as a possibility in reality. Technically, it doesn't even tell us they reject the concept of the supernatural.

Ladyman : so hesitant in everything he says I forget where he starts his sentences before he stumbles somehow to the rambling end of them .
I'm sure he's a great guy but this was so annoying I gave up after about 10 mins. 😮

It is the single task of the philosopher to determine of the meaning of questions, not to answer them.

Stimulating useful podcast. Revisited Quine, Putnam and Popper afterwards. Now postulate that as we continue to advance as conscious observers, we have the opportunity to evolve or accelerate the emergence of the virtual fictive, FreeWill-E particle (E for ethical) which enhances decision making as we self actualize and become enlightened, epistemically speaking. Core theory haecceitic supplement: Free Will E.

What is real is what exists!! What is real doesn’t necessarily equate to what can be proven to be real!! For instance the Higgs Boson was real in the 1800’s but people then had no means of even conceiving of a Higgs Boson!! Or, there is planet orbiting a star in M31 but we just haven’t discovered it yet, it’s real now nonetheless!!?? So, whatever exists is real!!!!!!

The quantum world is ruled by probabilities, this allows for stochasticity to come into play!! This allows for free will, without stochasticity there could be no allowance for freedom of the will!!! I believe that even the amount of stochasticity allowed by probability is just enough for us to have a deterministic macroworld yet allowing for free will!!

Ed Copeland :)

Is he just making this up as he goes along?

Don't think I learned anything. Any metaphysical people that research paranormal coming up?

'Philosophy of science is philosophy enough' - Quine
<3

So mind numbingly pedantic

Seems plainly false that if you believe in an afterlife then there is less reason to get things right in this life, but ok silly scientists.

I'd like to hear James Ladyman on the show again.