Big Think

• Does free will violate the laws of physics? | Sean Carroll

  Sean Carroll: We might solve free will one day. But here’s why I doubt it. Debates about the existence of free will have traditionally been fought by two competing camps: those who believe in free will and those who don’t because they believe the Universe is deterministic. Determinism is the thesis that every event — from when a volcano erupts to what cereal you buy at the supermarket — is a theoretically predictable result of the long chain of events that came before it. Free will, it was long thought, cannot exist in a world where all events are already causally determined. But free will and determinism aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive. As physicist Sean Carroll told Big Think, the compatibilist conception of free will argues that it makes sense to conceptualize ourselves as able to make free decisions, regardless of whether the Universe is deterministic or indeterministic. Why? The main argument centers on the phenomenon of emergence. 0:00 Free will vs. Determinism 0:27 Determinism 0:51 The biggest mistake in the free will debate 1:07 Libertarian free will 2:39 Compatibilist free will 4:01 Objection to compatibilism 5:06 The experience of free will ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Sean Carroll: Dr. Sean Carroll is Homewood Professor of Natural Philosophy — in effect, a joint appointment between physics and philosophy — at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, and fractal faculty at the Santa Fe Institute. Most of his career has been spent doing research on cosmology, field theory, and gravitation, looking at topics such as dark matter and dark energy, modified gravity, topological defects, extra dimensions, and violations of fundamental symmetries. These days, his focus has shifted to more foundational questions, both in quantum mechanics (origin of probability, emergence of space and time) and statistical mechanics (entropy and the arrow of time, emergence and causation, dynamics of complexity), bringing a more philosophical dimension to his work. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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• Is the Metaverse a dystopian nightmare? | Matthew Ball

  Two-thirds of our days are spent alone. The Metaverse will bring us together, argues leading Metaverse thinker Matthew Ball. Will the metaverse lean more toward dystopia or utopia? If you base your answer solely on Hollywood’s vision of the future, you might say the former, considering that blockbusters like “The Matrix” and “Blade Runner” paint an ominous future where technology has helped fuel massive inequality and human suffering. But that’s just one vision. In many ways, humans have been exploring metaverse-like worlds for decades, through text-based role-playing games to “Second Life” to the consumer-grade VR systems that have become popular over the past decade — and we’ve done it all without ushering in a dystopia. The metaverse will soon enable immersive, collaborative, and social experiences that could change not only leisure, but also learning. For young students, the technology could replace paper mache models of volcanoes with something very much like “The Magic School Bus.” That’s not to say there aren’t legitimate concerns about the metaverse, especially when it comes to questions about who owns what in this emerging world. Matthew Ball, author of “The Metaverse,” explains more in this interview with Big Think. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Matthew Ball: Matthew Ball is the CEO of Epyllion, a diversified holding company which makes angel investments, provides advisory services, and produces television, films, and video games. Ball is also a Venture Partner at Makers Fund, Senior Advisor to KKR, Senior Advisor to McKinsey & Company, and sits on the board of numerous start-ups. His first book, “The Metaverse and How it Will Revolutionize Everything”, was published in July 2022 and became an instant national and international bestseller. Ball is also an “Occasional Contributor” to The Economist, holds bylines at Bloomberg, The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and wrote the August 8, 2022 cover story for Time Magazine. --------------------------- Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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• Future thinking: End the war between you and yourself | Ari Wallach

  Futurist Ari Wallach shares how to become future-conscious.   Futurist Ari Wallach knows it can be very difficult, but he's going to need you to think about yourself. Not yourself right now — that's easy to do. You're already doing it! He means thinking about yourself in the future. Keeping what may lie ahead in mind — being future-conscious — makes you more likely to eat right and exercise; more likely to plan ahead financially; more likely to forge strong, healthy relationships and treat people right. Researchers have found we see our future selves like celebrities, like some vaguely knowable figure. And when that extends society-wide, we make decisions that may not benefit us, like spending recklessly or harming the climate for quick gain. Wallach is the founder and executive director of Longpath, an initiative that wants to foster being future-conscious. If you can keep tomorrow in mind, it can be possible to have a better today. 0:00 Meet the two yous 1:01 The Matt Damon experiment 2:41 The 'longpath' mindset ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Ari Wallach: Ari Wallach is an applied futurist and Executive Director of Longpath Labs. He is the author of Longpath: Becoming the Great Ancestors Our Future Needs by HarperCollins and the creator and host of the forthcoming series on PBS A Brief History of the Future, which is being executive produced by Kathryn Murdoch and Drake. He has been a strategy and foresight advisor to Fortune 100 companies, the US Department of State, the Ford Foundation, the UN Refugee Agency, the RacialEquity 2030 Challenge and Politico’s Long Game Forum. As adjunct associate professor at Columbia University he lectured on innovation, AI, and the future of public policy. Wallach's TED talk on Longpath has been viewed 2.6 million times and translated into 21 languages. Ari was the co-creator of 2008's pro-Obama The Great Schlep with Sarah Silverman. He has been featured in the New York Times, CNN, CNBC, Vox, and more. He lives in the lower Hudson Valley with his wife, three children and wonderdog Ozzie. More at https://www.longpath.org/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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• 1 in 3 people cheat. Here’s what to do if you’re the 1 | Michael Slepian

  33% of people cheat, and 77% of people want to know about their partner’s infidelity. Would you tell your partner? Michael Slepian, an expert on secrecy, explains how. About one-third of people have committed infidelity at some point in their lives. If you're one of them, should you confess it to your romantic partner? One way to answer the question is to consider whether you would want to know if your partner had cheated on you: Surveys show that 77% of people would want to know, but that still leaves about a quarter of us who'd prefer ignorance. It's also worth questioning your own motives: Maybe you only want to get the secret off your chest to make yourself feel better. It's a difficult dilemma with no one-size-fits-all solution. But fortunately, as psychologist Michael Slepian explained to Big Think, recent research has been revealing insights on the nature of secrets, what happens when we harbor them, and how and when we should consider getting them off our chest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Michael Slepian: Michael Slepian is the Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. Associate Professor of Leadership and Ethics at Columbia Business School. He previously was a visiting scholar at Stanford University, and received his Ph.D. From Tufts University. He is an elected fellow of the Society of Experimental Social Psychology, has received the Rising Star Award from the Association for Psychological Science, and received the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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• Shortcuts are killing humanity. It’s time to meet the alternative. | Ari Wallach

  Short-term thinkers take shortcuts. Take the longpath instead, explains futurist Ari Wallach. Long-term planning is tough. With all of the pressures and distractions of daily life, it’s often a hassle to stop and consider whether what we’re doing at any given moment is putting us on track toward our future goals. And if the answer is no, it often takes even more effort to consciously change course and sacrifice immediate gratification for long-term gain. Long-term thinking is difficult for anyone, but especially for those living paycheck to paycheck. Does that mean “longtermism” is only for the privileged? The answer is no, according to the futurist Ari Wallach, author of "Longpath: Becoming the Great Ancestors Our Future Needs." Although it might be harder for some people to consider how our current actions will affect the future, it’s a moral question that we all should ask ourselves. Chapters: 0:00 What is ‘longpath’ thinking? 1:33 Take the pause 2:16 Who is taking shortcuts? ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Ari Wallach: Ari Wallach is an applied futurist and Executive Director of Longpath Labs. He is the author of Longpath: Becoming the Great Ancestors Our Future Needs by HarperCollins and the creator and host of the forthcoming series on PBS A Brief History of the Future, which is being executive produced by Kathryn Murdoch and Drake. He has been a strategy and foresight advisor to Fortune 100 companies, the US Department of State, the Ford Foundation, the UN Refugee Agency, the RacialEquity 2030 Challenge and Politico’s Long Game Forum. As adjunct associate professor at Columbia University he lectured on innovation, AI, and the future of public policy. Wallach's TED talk on Longpath has been viewed 2.6 million times and translated into 21 languages. Ari was the co-creator of 2008's pro-Obama The Great Schlep with Sarah Silverman. He has been featured in the New York Times, CNN, CNBC, Vox, and more. He lives in the lower Hudson Valley with his wife, three children and wonderdog Ozzie. More at https://www.longpath.org/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------06:13-11 --------------------------- Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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