Why Funding Science Matters
How was the universe formed? What happened in the earliest moments after the Big Bang? 💥🌍
I try to answer those questions, but my work on the “Into the Impossible” is only possible with funding that supports science research.
I asked Neil deGrasse Tyson what one thing he'd ask an alien on first contact
If humanity does make contact, what would you most like to ask an alien?
Watch my full two-hour conversation with Neil here: https://youtu.be/aUnkkHuorto
Sam Harris on why consciousness is more certain than the universe — and why free will is a different problem entirely
Pulling out a segment from my conversation with Sam Harris where he draws an asymmetry I think is worth sitting with.
His claim: consciousness is the one thing in the universe that can't be an illusion — even more certain than physics. We could be brains in vats, in the matrix, on an alien supercomputer. None of it changes the fact that something seems to be happening. That seeming IS consciousness.
Free will? Different story. Sam argues it's not just illusory but incoherent — provably so, regardless of how you tune determinism vs quantum indeterminism. He agrees with Sapolsky on the conclusion but adds a unique contribution on the experience of free will itself.
Curious what you think. Does the consciousness-as-bedrock argument hold under closer inspection, or is it just Descartes in new clothing?
Direct link to the full episode for anyone who wants the longer context: https://youtu.be/-4tqgsuvgkw?sub_confirmation=1
