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Podcast Profile: MeaningofLife.tv

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31 episodes
2021
Median: 60 minutes
Collection: SciPhi-Adjacent


Description (podcaster-provided):

Conversations about philosophy, science, religion and spirituality


Themes and summary (AI-generated based on podcaster-provided show and episode descriptions):

➤ Philosophy debates (Kant, free will, determinism) • Quantum mechanics interpretations, reality, cosmology • Evolution, consciousness, mind-body problem • Mindfulness/meditation, cognitive biases, tribalism, conflict • Religion/spirituality, comparative theology • Culture-war discourse, free speech, effective altruism

This podcast features long-form conversations that move across philosophy, science, religion, and spirituality, often by putting big, abstract questions under sustained scrutiny. A recurring emphasis is on how we know what we know: episodes return to classic philosophical problems about reason, relativism, and the limits of human understanding, including extended engagement with Kant’s critical philosophy and what it implies about the structure of experience, space and time, and the boundary between what appears to us and what may be ultimately real.

On the science side, the show frequently digs into foundational puzzles in physics, especially quantum mechanics. Discussions explore what experiments do and don’t establish, why interpretation remains contentious, whether mathematical formalism delivers understanding, and how ideas like information, many-worlds, pilot waves, or future theories might reshape our picture of reality. These physics conversations often intersect with the mind-body problem, consciousness, and questions about whether science can provide “final” explanations.

Another major thread centers on evolution, human nature, and moral psychology. Guests and hosts examine how natural selection may have shaped cognition and behavior, including cognitive biases, attribution errors, tribalism, and conflict dynamics. These themes connect to contemporary social and political life: the podcast analyzes culture-war disputes, free speech and academic freedom controversies, and debates about critical theory and “wokeness” and their critics, with attention to how group identities and incentives influence public discourse.

Practical and contemplative angles appear through sustained discussion of meditation and mindfulness as tools for noticing bias, regulating emotion, and cultivating empathy, sometimes framed as part of a larger project of improving cooperation and reducing catastrophic risks. Alongside this, the show addresses free will and determinism (including compatibilism and implications for moral responsibility and criminal justice), as well as everyday existential concerns such as time management, productivity limits, and finding meaning within finite lives.

Overall, listeners can expect intellectually eclectic, argumentative-but-inquisitive dialogue that links technical questions in science and philosophy with lived experience, ethics, and the psychological forces shaping modern society.


Episodes:
Episode Image Kant Stop Critiquin' (Aryeh Cohen-Wade & David Ottlinger)
2021-Nov-29
60 minutes
Episode Image The Dharma of Bob 8: A Cosmic View of Our Situation (Robert Wright & Josh Summers)
2021-Nov-24
60 minutes
Episode Image The Dharma of Bob 7: Cognitive Bias and Conflict (Robert Wright & Josh Summers)
2021-Sep-21
60 minutes
Episode Image Saving Anti-Wokeness from Itself (David Ottlinger & Cathy Young)
2021-Sep-15
60 minutes
Episode Image Contesting Determinism (Robert Wright & Oliver Burkeman)
2021-Sep-14
60 minutes
Episode Image The Trouble with Quantum Mechanics (Robert Wright & John Horgan)
2021-Sep-07
60 minutes
Episode Image Debating the Sexual Psychology of Men and Women (Robert Wright & Agustín Fuentes)
2021-Aug-25
60 minutes
Episode Image Consolations of Physics (John Horgan & Sabine Hossenfelder)
2021-Aug-05
60 minutes
Episode Image Time Management for Mortals (Robert Wright & Oliver Burkeman)
2021-Aug-04
60 minutes
Episode Image The Dharma of Bob 6: The Explain/Excuse Conflation (Robert Wright & Josh Summers)
2021-Jul-06
60 minutes
Episode Image Should Darwin Be Cancelled? (Robert Wright & Agustín Fuentes)
2021-Jun-08
60 minutes
Episode Image Quantum Mechanics and the Quest for Final Knowledge (John Horgan & Philip Ball)
2021-Jun-07
60 minutes
Episode Image Thinking in Tongues (Nikita Petrov & David Poleski)
2021-May-27
60 minutes
Episode Image Saving the World One Podcast at a Time (Robert Wright & Rob Wiblin)
2021-May-25
60 minutes
Episode Image The Dharma of Bob 5: Mindful Defiance (Robert Wright & Josh Summers)
2021-May-11
60 minutes
Episode Image Despite Our Best Intentions (Robert Wright & Paul Bloom)
2021-May-05
60 minutes
Episode Image Circling the Elephant (Robert Wright & John Thatamanil)
2021-Apr-27
60 minutes
Episode Image Science, Fiction, and the Mind-Body Problem (John Horgan & Erik Hoel)
2021-Apr-12
60 minutes
Episode Image DMT and Plato's Cave (Nikita Petrov & John Horgan)
2021-Apr-07
60 minutes
Episode Image The Dharma of Bob 4: Averting the Apocalypse (Robert Wright & Josh Summers)
2021-Mar-23
60 minutes
Episode Image Steven Pinker, the Unabomber, Quantum Physics, and DMT (Nikita Petrov & John Horgan)
2021-Mar-22
60 minutes
Episode Image Explaining Quantum Mechanics (John Horgan & Tim Maudlin)
2021-Mar-08
60 minutes
Episode Image Kant’s Transcendental Philosophy (Robert Wright & David Ottlinger)
2021-Mar-02
60 minutes
Episode Image Ten Keys to Reality (Robert Wright & Frank Wilczek)
2021-Feb-23
60 minutes
Episode Image (What If) Ideas Are Alive (Nikita Petrov & John Horgan)
2021-Feb-22
60 minutes
Episode Image Questioning the Practice of Grading in Schools (Robert Gressis & Kevin Currie-Knight)
2021-Feb-18
60 minutes
Episode Image Free Speech and Academic Freedom in 2020 (Daniel Kaufman & David Ottlinger)
2021-Feb-10
60 minutes
Episode Image Quantum Mechanics and “Reality” (John Horgan & Adam Becker)
2021-Feb-01
60 minutes
Episode Image The Dharma of Bob 3: Cognitive Biases (Robert Wright & Josh Summers)
2021-Jan-26
60 minutes
Episode Image Introducing Psychopolitica (John Horgan & Nikita Petrov)
2021-Jan-18
60 minutes
Episode Image Spooky Action at a Distance (John Horgan & George Musser)
2021-Jan-06
60 minutes