Condensed Matter
Condensing recent work in metaphysics and the philosophy of science down to what matters. Hosted by Dr Sam Kimpton-Nye, research associate on the MetaScience project (ERC, Horizon 2020, grant agreement No 771509; www.metascience.xyz) at the Unversity of Bristol. Music: NaturesEye from Pixabay. Art: Francesca Smith
Podcasting since 2021 • 38 episodes
Condensed Matter
Latest Episodes
37: "Why Being Necessary Really Is Not the Same As Being Not Possibly Not", Dana Goswick
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 possib...
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9:23
36: "The Singularity: A Philosophical Analysis", David Chalmers
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 th...
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23:47
35: "There is no measurement problem for Humeans", Chris Dorst
The measurement problem highlights a deeply puzzling feature of quantum mechanics: nature seems to obey one law when not measured and a completely different law when measured. But how does nature "recognise" measurement contexts?! What explains...
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16:21
34: "The Limits of Modality", Sam Cowling
This episode is about Sam Cowling's "The Limits of Modality" published in the Philosophical Quarterly in 2011. Are all true propositions either contingent or necessary? Cowling argues that if we want to understand the metaphysics of mod...
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13:45
33: "Biochemical Functions", Francesca Bellazzi (deep dive featuring the author!)
In the episode, I talk with Francesca Bellazzi about her paper "Biochemical Functions", which is forthcoming in the British Journal for the Philosophy of Science. We discuss the distinction between functions and mere accidents, the peculiar puz...
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37:04