Conjecture Institute President & Cofounder Logan Chipkin speaks with Oxford physicist and Conjecture Institute Senior Scientist Chiara Marletto about constructor theory, a theory in fundamental physics that seeks to express all of the laws of physics in terms of transformations that are possible, transformations that are impossible, and why.

Logan and Chiara discuss constructor theory’s motivations, its basic structure, and its applications to the physics of information, time, probability, quantum gravity, and other areas.

Visit Chiara’s website: https://www.chiaramarletto.com

Learn more about constructor theory: https://www.constructortheory.org

Visit Conjecture Institute: https://www.conjectureinstitute.org

Donate to Conjecture Institute: https://www.every.org/conjecture-institute-inc#/donate/card

Conjecture Institute Advisor, Lord Daniel Hannan is in conversation today about democracy, free trade and freedom broadly. Lord Hannan has a comprehensive website containing his work which is found at https://danielhannan.info/ while his Youtube channel is a catalogue of speeches, talks, interviews, lectures and more defending the ideas and ideals of the Enlightenment and Western Civilization.

Chapters/Timestamps are below

00:00 Introduction

00:04 Preview

00:56 Introduction to Lord Hannan

01:29 Upper Houses and the functions of a Parliament.

09:21 Democracy and the EU Parliament

17:19 “The Will of the People” and referenda.

23:47 The English vs Spanish “Western” civilisations” and political stability. 29:00 The Invention of Freedom and Resource Extraction

37:31 Climate Change, Net Zero and Politics

39:53 Doomerism, Regulation and Social Control.

43:39: Lord Hannan on Nick Bostrom, Techno-Pessimism and AI

45:47 Existential Risk, Property Rights, Wealth

49:56 Common Law, Property Rights and Conservationism

52:12 Free speech and The First Amendment

Maria is fellow of Conjecture Institute https://www.conjectureinstitute.org/ and physicist with her own Youtube Channel where she takes deep dives into many aspects of quantum theory - especially quantum computation. Subscribe to her channel here: / @maria_violaris

Eric is a freelance writer and host of The Falsifiable Podcast, a show in which Eric explores both current events and evergreen topics in science, culture, and politics through a Popperian lens. He is currently working on a book that serves as a one-stop shop for anyone interested in epistemology in general—and Popperian epistemology in particular. Eric's podcast can be found here: https://youtube.com/@thefalsifiablepodcast?si=uG3KUkUsUU6jif-Y And his writing here: https://thefalsifiablenewsletter.substack.com

In this episode Conjecture Institute Advisor David Deutsch takes a deep dive into the problems that plague existing academic institutions and, crucially, the ways research (in particular fundamental research in science) tends to be funded. David explains his own experiences in finding a career in physics early in his life, how things have changed and therefore what problems now beset young researchers. David then presents a positive vision for a new way forward and how Conjecture Institute is playing a key role in the formation of a unique model for fostering creativity and making progress by providing an alternative place for research to be conducted and philanthropic support for people and projects to be directed.

Chapters

0:00 Introduction

2:34 How Bureaucracy Stifles Scientific Discovery

9:50 Restoring Freedom to Research

20:34 The Purpose of a University

30:30 Would Quantum Computing Get Funded Today?

37:40 The Manhattan Project’s Unintended Breakthrough

46:56 What’s Missing from Every Quantum Mechanics Textbook

53:25 The One and Only AGI Researcher

55:57 The Case for Constructor Theory

1:04:35 A $7 Million Bet on the Biggest Question in Physics

1:09:04 Countering Pessimism

1:14:21 Confronting Irrationality

1:24:37 Does the UK Need a First Amendment? Does the U.S.?

1:33:17 Final Words

X (Twitter): @ConjectureInst Website: http://conjectureinstitute.org

Mathematician Paul Raymond-Robichaud answers questions posed on Twitter/X. Note: there were some connection issues so at times the audio is a bit "lossy" or patchy. But the substance is all still there.

Timestamps as follow: 00:00 Introduction 00:55 Hugo Graw wants to know about Paul’s background and intellectual inspirations and the future of mathematics given AI. 07:16 People Paul wishes to thank 17:16 Extended discussion about mathematics as proxy for high IQ or intelligence and the usefulness of mathematics examinations in gauging creativity, etc. 30:41 Thibault wants to know about the big ideas in mathematics and interdisciplinary thinking. 34:37 Lu wants to know if Paul can make the case for voluntarily learning mathematics 38:34 The pseudoscience in “education”. 39:54 Sam asks several questions (1) What is your favourite branch of mathematics (if you have one) and why do you consider it important? 41:33 (2) How did you become interested in quantum theory? 44:36 (3) What do you consider the most impactful use of mathematics in physics? That is, how does better, more rigorous mathematics help is do phyiscs better? 46:26 Nivi asks if Paul has any extensions, improvements, criticisms of David Deutsch’s theories of mathematics. 48:07 Anders asks for an intro to spaced repetition and thoughts on how it intersects with the fun criterion alongside what stoicism can add to CR? 54:09 Guillem asks if we can define purely mathematically the forgetting process? 55:00 Erik asks in what ways can mathematics be considered a language, and in what ways not? 56:21 Josh asks about Imre Lakatos. 56:40 Hemant asks what Paul you thinks is the biggest misconception humans have about the nature of mathematics itself? And if you had to choose one concept from which all of mathematics could be rebuilt, what would it be? 1:00:50 Aziz asks about Category Theory 1:03:01 Ariya asks about Paul’s favourite books and why information helps to understand quantum mechanics. 1:08:02 Cory asks about the connection between entropy in information theory and entropy in thermodynamics? 1:08:45 Josh asks how Paul approaches criticizing explanations (or parts of them) mathematically. 1:10:13 Hemant asks what role do you think pure mathematics and abstract reasoning play in solving complex real-world problems like AI alignment or the control of advanced technologies? 1:13:10 Šmingvin asks about there claim that “no one understands quantum mechanics”.

Mathematician Paul Raymond-Robichaud (⁨@PaulRaymond-Robichaud on Youtube⁩ and @PaulRRobichaud on @X) joins Brett Hall for a discussion about the foundations of mathematics, physics, education and philosophy. Paul works in quantum foundations. He developed a mathematical theory of local realism that generalizes the notion beyond the frameworks of existing theories. In particular, he formally proved that quantum theory itself is locally realistic. This result settles an important scientific question that once troubled luminaries such as Einstein. Beyond his work in physics, Paul is passionate about Stoic philosophy and is exploring ways to merge it with critical rationalism. He is also investigating how physics, computing, and critical rationalism might be brought together to improve the foundations of mathematics.