The Do It Podcast

David Deutsch—physicist, pioneer of quantum computation, and author of The Beginning of Infinity and The Fabric of Reality—joins me to discuss fun, learning, and how minds create knowledge. We explore the Fun Criterion: why a sense of “no fun” is best treated as criticism, a signal that something needs improvement, rather than a stop rule or a feeling to chase. Deutsch unpacks conflicts between explicit, inexplicit, and unconscious ideas, and how problems get worked on through conjecture and criticism across different modes of thought and learning. We then zoom out to how ideas “evolve together” inside a mind and why biological evolution is less understood than people often assume. The discussion also touches on focus and attention—whether they’re better seen as a trainable skill, a resource constraint, or both. Finally, we unpack the self as the collective term for the institutions of consent among the multiple strands of creativity and criticism that constitute a mind.
📚 Mentioned Resources
The Beginning of Infinity — David Deutsch
The Fabric of Reality — David Deutsch
My upcoming book — The 4 Acts
⏱️ Timestamps
00:00 — Intro
01:21 — Can we measure Fun?
04:31 — Thwarting creativity
06:01 — Can mundanity be Fun?
07:58 — What does “follow the Fun” mean?
10:28 — Fun and inner alignment
12:20 — Resolving conflicts
15:47 — Must ideas align?
17:39 — Are all thoughts creative?
21:25 — Different modes of creativity & learning
28:22 — Evolution of ideas in the mind
33:58 — How (poorly) we understand biological evolution
37:41 — Creating knowledge vs. learning knowledge
40:42 — Knowledge is information with causal power
43:06 — The Self and how the parts of the mind are organized
51:15 — Focus and attention
53:37 — The roots of inexplicit knowledge
57:15 — Physical sensations vs. emotions
01:00:36 — David's upcoming book
01:02:29 — Outro
🧠 More from me
Book
Website
Newsletter
Productivity blog
X

Dirk Meulenbelt, AI graduate, co-founder of based.guide, digital nomad, and organizer of CR events—joins me for a wide-ranging conversation at the edges of critical rationalism. We explore discipline and the Fun Criterion, creativity as compression, the construction of emotion, and the role of consciousness in grounding agency and judgment. Along the way, we dig into epistemology: the distinctions between explicit and inexplicit knowledge, expressible versus inexpressible understanding, and what it really means for knowledge to be explanatory.📚 Mentioned ResourcesLisa Feldman Barrett - How Emotions Are Made - https://amzn.to/3Lcq8bG James Russell's Circumplex Model of Affect -https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emotion...What is the 'Fun Criterion'? - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idvGl...Edwin's essay on Fun - https://edwindoit.com/funBrett Hall on the unknowns in evolution - https://bretthall.substack.com/p/know...Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman - https://amzn.to/4jolfstDavid Chalmer's hard and easy problem of consciousness - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_pr... Lobotomy - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LobotomyDescartes' Error by Antonio Damasio featuring the story of "Elliot" - https://amzn.to/4psBdmZRichard Byrne, ‘Imitation as Behaviour Parsing’ - https://pages.ucsd.edu/~johnson/COGS2...Range by David Epstein - https://amzn.to/3MVzOIdIndustry challenge board https://www.innocentive.com/⏱️ Timestamps 00:00 Intro01:08 Emotions11:10 Discipline25:30 Open-questions with the Fun Criterion31:31 The role of constraints in knowledge-creation38:08 Non-randomness of creativity42:27 Explanatory, explicit and inexplicit knowledge01:06:59 Proto-creativity01:28:17 Invention & functional ignorance01:36:59 Consciousness: the easy vs. hard problem01:50:59 Critical rationalism events01:55:10 Outro🧠 More from meBook: https://edwindoit.com/4actsWebsite: https://edwindoit.comNewsletter: https://edwindoit.substack.comProductivity blog: https://medium.com/@edwindoitX: https://x.com/Edwindoit

In today's video we explore two kinds of knowledge: factual knowledge—rules of thumb that seem to work but don’t explain why—and explanatory knowledge, which reveals how and why things work. Drawing on David Deutsch’s idea that humans are universal explainers, I show why explanations lead to better decisions, fewer mistakes, and more adaptable thinking. We look at why explanations are more accurate and versatile, how they scale far better than memorizing endless facts, and how an explanatory worldview helps you filter information, reason from first principles, and adjust your approach when new knowledge arrives. Timestamps00:00 Intro00:58 Differences between Facts and Explanations01:23 Qualitative differences01:51 1. Accuracy02:30 2. Improvability03:52 3. Range of applicability05:00 Differences in Efficiency05:32 1. Error-rate05:52 2. Storage08:00 Benefits of an Explanatory Worldview08:11 1. Filtering information09:10 2. First-principle thinking10:27 3. Making adjustments11:57 OutroFeatured linksConjecture Institute: https://www.conjectureinstitute.org/My upcoming book: https://edwindoit.com/4actsMore from meBook: https://edwindoit.com/4actsWebsite: https://edwindoit.comNewsletter: https://edwindoit.substack.comProductivity blog:   / edwindoit  X: https://x.com/Edwindoit

In this episode, we explore the limits of reality—not as reasons for pessimism, but as the best explanations we have for what truly cannot be done. Drawing from David Deutsch, I explain 1) the laws of physics, 2) unpredictable actions caused by quantum fluctuations, 3) the unknowability of future knowledge and technologies, and 4) intractable problems that require resources we don’t yet have. The key takeaway is hopeful: anything that doesn’t violate these limits is possible, and human creativity can always find a way forward.Timestamps00:00 Intro01:01 Limit 1: The Laws of Physics02:23 Limits due to a lack of knowledge03:10 Limit 2: Unpredictable actions06:09 Limit 3: Unknowability08:31 Limit 4: Intractable actions10:35 Optimism and the Potential of Human Creativity11:53 Constructor theory12:44 OutroFeatured linksThe Science of Can and Can’t (Popular science book on constructor theory): https://www.chiaramarletto.com/books/...Constructor Theory of InformationDavid Deutsch, Chiara Marletto: https://arxiv.org/abs/1405.5563Constructor theory of time David Deutsch, Chiara Marletto: https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.08692The Fabric of Reality (Chapter 9): https://www.daviddeutsch.org.uk/books...My upcoming book: https://edwindoit.com/4actsMore from meBook: https://edwindoit.com/4actsWebsite: https://edwindoit.comNewsletter: https://edwindoit.substack.comProductivity blog:   / edwindoit  X: https://x.com/Edwindoit

Bart Vanderhaegen, business consultant and host of the Seeking Good Explanations podcast, joins me to explain his Problem Based Management method, built on critical rationalism. We discuss how organizations can improve by focusing on knowledge creation, a simple four-step problem-solving process, and the common traps businesses fall into when defending ideas instead of improving them. We also touch on Austrian economics, the experience of flow, and why personality tests can be misleading—plus much more.
📚 Mentioned Resources
Bart's Problem based management paper:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1aWIUHqjv_wr6Y1F1ozPCV2s-9k6ATjdQ/view
Bart's TEDx on Flow:
https://youtu.be/XnPy3uVc3xo?si=XJyihagGxNnGiZV5
Seeking Good Explanations podcast:
https://open.spotify.com/show/0hypZrKSlBFktwXaD1qp4m?si=cv5hJkh9TxO5UAffY9GJlw&nd=1&dlsi=64ce27b28cdd4271
The Beginning of Infinity by David Deutsch:
https://www.thebeginningofinfinity.com/

⏱️ Timestamps
00:00 Intro
00:53 The role of knowledge creation in business
06:51 The basic process of knowledge creation
09:11 Visual walkthrough of the 4 moves of problem solving
13:40 What is a "problem"?
18:13 The role of goals/success criteria
23:28 Generating ideas
26:16 The explanatory component of an idea
29:35 The different modes of criticism
33:43 When (not) to move on to execution
40:48 The wrong approach to problem solving
49:37 Assigning idea "owners" or not?
51:24 Encouraging a problem-solving mindset
53:19 The benefits of CR-based problem solving
58:47 Are we early to CR-based problem solving?
01:00:44 The Flow state
01:02:39 Austrian economics
01:07:27 Personality tests
01:10:39 How Bart approaches problem solving in daily life
01:12:41 Outro
🧠 More from me
Book: ⁠https://edwindoit.com/4acts⁠
Website: ⁠https://edwindoit.com⁠
Newsletter: ⁠https://edwindoit.substack.com⁠
Productivity blog: ⁠https://medium.com/@edwindoit⁠
X: ⁠https://x.com/Edwindoit⁠