Origins of Evolution Itself - Dr. Michael Lachmann, SFI, DSPod #296

Today we're digging into the deep and often overlooked connections between neodarwinian evolution, life’s origins, and the evolution of non-living systems. We're guided by Dr. Michael Lachmann of the Santa Fe Institute, who investigates how life may have begun as a more generalized cosmic selection process, with planetary conditions shaping its emergence and survival. Through discussions of thermodynamics, functional information, and entropy, we examine whether life might be present in forms beyond Earth’s biology - and how'd know what to look for. In the end, this discussion swirls around what it means to be “alive” and how we can narrow boundaries of "life" to get closer to a true scientific definition of it. PATREON: get episodes early + join our weekly Patron Chat https://bit.ly/3lcAasB MERCH: Rock some DemystifySci gear : https://demystifysci.myspreadshop.com/ AMAZON: Do your shopping through this link: https://amzn.to/3YyoT98 More about Dr. Lachmann: https://www.santafe.edu/people/profile/michael-lachmann (00:00) Go! (00:07:08) Defining Life and Functional Information (00:17:13) Selection in Planetary Systems (00:24:02) Complexity and the Threshold of Life (00:30:24) Defining the Threshold of Life (00:36:01) Life’s Emergence and Definitions (00:45:18) Rethinking Universal Timelines (00:51:05) Eternal Existence and Origin Concepts (01:00:23) Emerging Microbial Life (01:07:25) Stars and Large-Scale Life (01:19:59) Distinction Between Life and Alive (01:25:00) Characteristics of Life Without Complex Parameters (01:31:05) Artificial Life and Consciousness (01:41:43) Distinguishing Life and Artificial Life (01:54:50) Human Purpose and Cooperation (02:00:03) Understanding AI and Human Systems (02:09:44) Scientific Understanding and Cultural Narratives (02:15:03) Happiness, Evolution, and Societal Constraints (02:21:43) The Quest to Understand Life #Evolution, #OriginOfLife, #Astrobiology, #ArtificialIntelligence, #Consciousness, #CosmicEvolution, #Biogenesis, #UniversalLife, #QuantumBiology, #LifeBeyondEarth, #LifeScience, #SpaceExploration, #ComplexSystems, #Thermodynamics, #FunctionalInformation, #ExtraterrestrialLife, #DeepSpace, #SelectionTheory, #Entropy, #LifeInTheUniverse, #CosmicOrigins, #MicrobialLife, #AIConsciousness, #SelfReplicatingSystems, #AstrobiologicalResearch, #LifeDefinition, #Metaphysics, #GalaxyFormation, #ScientificDiscovery, #PlanetaryLife, #sciencepodcast, #longformpodcast Check our short-films channel, @DemystifySci: https://www.youtube.com/c/DemystifyingScience AND our material science investigations of atomics, @MaterialAtomics https://www.youtube.com/@MaterialAtomics Join our mailing list https://bit.ly/3v3kz2S PODCAST INFO: Anastasia completed her PhD studying bioelectricity at Columbia University. When not talking to brilliant people or making movies, she spends her time painting, reading, and guiding backcountry excursions. Shilo also did his PhD at Columbia studying the elastic properties of molecular water. When he's not in the film studio, he's exploring sound in music. They are both freelance professors at various universities. - Blog: http://DemystifySci.com/blog - RSS: https://anchor.fm/s/2be66934/podcast/rss - Donate: https://bit.ly/3wkPqaD - Swag: https://bit.ly/2PXdC2y SOCIAL: - Discord: https://discord.gg/MJzKT8CQub - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/DemystifySci - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/DemystifySci/ - Twitter: https://twitter.com/DemystifySci MUSIC: -Shilo Delay: https://g.co/kgs/oty671

Dr. Norman Fenton and Dr. Martin Neil are mathematicians from Queen Mary University of London who are experts in the unreasonable power of mathematics. For example - it is possible to produce an algorithm that will predict the likelihood that a piece of hardware or software will fail - and then to use that information to predict the stability of much larger systems - military vehicles, fly-by-wire software for aircraft, medical technologies. Along the way, they developed a rare intuition for statistics and probability, which allowed them to start to see places where statistical analysis was being done in such a slapdash way that it was leading people to believe things that… didn’t make a lot of sense. At first they attributed this simply to ignorance, but over the last few years underwent a dramatic transformation. They went from believing in the standard narrative, to questioning most of it. Their journey on this path is detailed in the book “Fighting Goliath,” and the full conversation is too hot for this platform - so can be heard wherever you listen to podcasts by looking for DemystifySci #295 Sign up for our Patreon and get episodes early + join our weekly Patron Chat https://bit.ly/3lcAasB AND rock some Demystify Gear to spread the word: https://demystifysci.myspreadshop.com/ OR do your Amazon shopping through this link: https://amzn.to/4g2cPVV (00:00:00) Go! (00:05:05) Academic Background and Bayesian Applications (00:09:10) History and Basics of Bayesian Statistics (00:15:34) Skepticism and Statistical Reasoning (00:20:29) Bayesian Applications in Real-World Problems (00:23:26) Engineering Complexity (00:27:09) Probabilities in Legal Cases (00:34:05) Challenges in Legal Reasoning (00:45:56) Monty Hall Problem and Probability Misunderstanding (00:50:18) Flaws in Traditional Statistical Education (00:55:22) Misinterpretation and Issues with Statistical Testing #Statistics, #BayesianAnalysis, #Probability, #LegalReasoning, #DataMisinterpretation, #StatisticalFallacies, #BayesianStatistics, #MontyHallProblem, #PValueProblems, #RealWorldApplications, #ComplexSystems, #ProbabilisticThinking, #EngineeringReliability, #StatisticalEducation, #MisunderstoodStatistics, #BayesianLogic, #LegalStatistics, #MathematicalReasoning, #sciencepodcast, #longformpodcast Check our short-films channel, @DemystifySci: https://www.youtube.com/c/DemystifyingScience AND our material science investigations of atomics, @MaterialAtomics https://www.youtube.com/@MaterialAtomics Join our mailing list https://bit.ly/3v3kz2S PODCAST INFO: Anastasia completed her PhD studying bioelectricity at Columbia University. When not talking to brilliant people or making movies, she spends her time painting, reading, and guiding backcountry excursions. Shilo also did his PhD at Columbia studying the elastic properties of molecular water. When he's not in the film studio, he's exploring sound in music. They are both freelance professors at various universities. - Blog: http://DemystifySci.com/blog - RSS: https://anchor.fm/s/2be66934/podcast/rss - Donate: https://bit.ly/3wkPqaD - Swag: https://bit.ly/2PXdC2y SOCIAL: - Discord: https://discord.gg/MJzKT8CQub - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/DemystifySci - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/DemystifySci/ - Twitter: https://twitter.com/DemystifySci MUSIC: -Shilo Delay: https://g.co/kgs/oty671

Dr. Andreas Schlatter is a classically trained physicist (EPFL, Princeton) with a decidedly heretical approach to physics. Though deeply mathematical in his approach, he dispenses with the purely field-based approach to understanding the building blocks of nature, and asks far deeper question about what the mathematics is telling us about the hidden structures of nature. Rather than take the positivist approach, which suggests that anything that cannot be experimentally encountered is not worth considering, Schlatter follows in the tradition of Gödel and the other mid 20th century logicians, who believed that a layer of the universe beyond the visible is available to us if we can reason our way to it. By following this path, Schlatter has reached the conclusion that the only viable interpretation of quantum mechanics is the transactional one. Unlike the other transnational theorists we’ve had on the show, Schlatter has gone one step further to propose that there is a transactional interpretation of gravity just as is there is for quantum mechanics. He calls it entropic gravity, and in this episode we explore the convoluted path he took to physics, how he found the transactionalists, and how he and Ruth Kastner formulated an entropic explanation for spacetime. PATREON: get episodes early + join our weekly Patron Chat https://bit.ly/3lcAasB MERCH: Rock some DemystifySci gear : https://demystifysci.myspreadshop.com/ AMAZON: Do your shopping through this link for Caver Mead's Collective Electrodynamics: https://amzn.to/4e01Slj (00:00) Go! (00:05:28) Andreas Schlatter's Academic Journey (00:10:39) Exploration of Mathematics in Physics (00:25:51) The Vienna Circle and Logical Positivism (00:30:04) Einstein's Transition in Theoretical Approach (00:37:37) Philosophical Inquiry in Physics Education (00:41:08) The Quest for Understanding in Logic and Set Theory (00:48:02) Transition from Academia to Finance (00:56:02) Challenges of Financial Modeling (01:09:59) Trust and Economic Stability (01:16:10) Light and Gravity Intersect (01:23:02) Entropy and Information Theory (01:31:07) Absorption and Entropy Dynamics (01:37:22) Exploration of Quantum Transactions (01:46:30) Transactional Approach to Gravity (01:56:31) Light Clocks and the Nature of Time (02:04:13) Multiverses and Quantum Realms #Physics, #QuantumMechanics, #Mathematics, #PhilosophyOfScience, #LogicalPositivism, #EmpiricalScience, #TheoreticalPhysics, #Einstein, #Newton, #QuantumReality, #Entropy, #Cosmology, #Multiverse, #GravityTheory, #EconomicStability, #TransactionalInterpretation, #ScienceEducation, #Philosophy, #QuantumGravity, #FinanceAndPhysics, #ScientificUnderstanding #sciencepodcast, #longformpodcast Check our short-films channel, @DemystifySci: https://www.youtube.com/c/DemystifyingScience AND our material science investigations of atomics, @MaterialAtomics https://www.youtube.com/@MaterialAtomics Join our mailing list https://bit.ly/3v3kz2S PODCAST INFO: Anastasia completed her PhD studying bioelectricity at Columbia University. When not talking to brilliant people or making movies, she spends her time painting, reading, and guiding backcountry excursions. Shilo also did his PhD at Columbia studying the elastic properties of molecular water. When he's not in the film studio, he's exploring sound in music. They are both freelance professors at various universities. - Blog: http://DemystifySci.com/blog - RSS: https://anchor.fm/s/2be66934/podcast/rss - Donate: https://bit.ly/3wkPqaD - Swag: https://bit.ly/2PXdC2y SOCIAL: - Discord: https://discord.gg/MJzKT8CQub - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/DemystifySci - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/DemystifySci/ - Twitter: https://twitter.com/DemystifySci MUSIC: -Shilo Delay: https://g.co/kgs/oty671

Today we're back for round 2 of 3 with Jeff Snider from Eurodollar University. This round we're digging into the hidden meaning of the 2008 financial crisis, focusing on the often-overlooked Eurodollar system. Jeff Snider is an economic outsider who has subtle but unique perspectives on mainstream economics, modern monetary theory (MMT), and the role of central banking in global finance. We attempt to get to the bottom of how the collapse wasn’t just about subprime mortgages and how systemic issues within the global banking system led to widespread financial uncertainty, of which the GFC was just a mere symptom. This cues us up for round 3 where we'll discuss the future evolution of the monetary systems on our planet. Sign up for our Patreon and get episodes early + join our weekly Patron Chat https://bit.ly/3lcAasB AND rock some Demystify Gear to spread the word: https://demystifysci.myspreadshop.com/ OR do your Amazon shopping through this link: https://amzn.to/4g2cPVV Jeff's website, Eurodollar U: https://www.eurodollar.university/ Jeff on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UCrXNkk4IESnqU-8GMad2vyA (00:00) Go! (00:06:21) Modern Monetary Theory (00:09:45) The Eurodollar System and Its 2008 Collapse (00:20:26) Financial Uncertainty and Trust (00:24:07) Accounting and Financial Constraints (00:27:01) Legacy and Impact of Financial Regulations (00:31:05) Banking and the Eurodollar System (00:35:00) Evolution of Global Banking Practices (00:38:41) True Causes of Financial Crises (00:41:12) Stock Market Misconceptions (00:42:52) Monetary System Dysfunction (00:45:40) Need for Reform (00:49:12) Evolution of Monetary Systems (00:52:41) Potential of Digital Currencies (00:56:02) Importance of Adaptive Monetary Systems #sciencepodcast, #longformpodcast, #Economics #FinancialCrisis #EurodollarSystem #MonetaryTheory #MMT #BankingSystem #GlobalFinance #StockMarket #DigitalCurrency #Cryptocurrency #EconomicReform #2008Crisis #MonetaryPolicy #CentralBanking #EconomicDiscussion #JeffSnider #FinancialRegulations #AdaptiveEconomics #GlobalBanking #FinancialUncertainty Check our short-films channel, @DemystifySci: https://www.youtube.com/c/DemystifyingScience AND our material science investigations of atomics, @MaterialAtomics https://www.youtube.com/@MaterialAtomics Join our mailing list https://bit.ly/3v3kz2S PODCAST INFO: Anastasia completed her PhD studying bioelectricity at Columbia University. When not talking to brilliant people or making movies, she spends her time painting, reading, and guiding backcountry excursions. Shilo also did his PhD at Columbia studying the elastic properties of molecular water. When he's not in the film studio, he's exploring sound in music. They are both freelance professors at various universities. - Blog: http://DemystifySci.com/blog - RSS: https://anchor.fm/s/2be66934/podcast/rss - Donate: https://bit.ly/3wkPqaD - Swag: https://bit.ly/2PXdC2y SOCIAL: - Discord: https://discord.gg/MJzKT8CQub - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/DemystifySci - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/DemystifySci/ - Twitter: https://twitter.com/DemystifySci MUSIC: -Shilo Delay: https://g.co/kgs/oty671

Today we are introduced to the world of Eurodollars and their critical role in shaping the global financial system. Our guide is Jeff Snider, of Eurodollar University - a street smart scholar and former investment manager. We begin by dispelling myths about the evolution of money from the gold standard to ledger-based systems, and discover how Eurodollars emerged as a dominant force in international trade and banking. We attempt to make sense of hazy ideas like global reserve currency, the impact of central banks, and orient ourselves toward the future of monetary systems. Stay tuned - this is the first of three planned conversations with Jeff. Next time, we will try to look at alternative explanations for the Global Financial Crisis and then we'll see what the future has in store in terms of monetary evolution. Sign up for our Patreon and get episodes early + join our weekly Patron Chat https://bit.ly/3lcAasB AND rock some Demystify Gear to spread the word: https://demystifysci.myspreadshop.com/ OR do your Amazon shopping through this link: https://amzn.to/4g2cPVV Jeff's website, Eurodollar U: https://www.eurodollar.university/ Jeff on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UCrXNkk4IESnqU-8GMad2vyA (00:00) Go! (00:03:40) Understanding Money and Eurodollars (00:20:58) Evolution of Central Banks (00:22:09) Going off the Gold Standard (00:24:00) Rise of Ledger Money (00:26:12) Introducing the Eurodollar (00:28:48) Global Reserve Currency Dynamics (00:32:44) Expansion and Governance of Eurodollars (00:41:30) Economic Liquidation (00:44:01) Complexity of the Global Banking System (00:45:37) Evolution and Future of Monetary Systems (00:49:22) Cryptocurrency Adoption (00:53:07) US Dollar's Reserve Currency Status #sciencepodcast, #longformpodcast, #Eurodollar, #GlobalFinance, #MonetaryPolicy, #FinancialSystems, #GlobalEconomy, #BankingRevolution, #LedgerMoney, #CentralBanks, #GoldStandard, #Cryptocurrency, #BlockchainFinance, #ReserveCurrency, #USDollarDominance, #GlobalBanking, #EconomicHistory Check our short-films channel, @DemystifySci: https://www.youtube.com/c/DemystifyingScience AND our material science investigations of atomics, @MaterialAtomics https://www.youtube.com/@MaterialAtomics Join our mailing list https://bit.ly/3v3kz2S PODCAST INFO: Anastasia completed her PhD studying bioelectricity at Columbia University. When not talking to brilliant people or making movies, she spends her time painting, reading, and guiding backcountry excursions. Shilo also did his PhD at Columbia studying the elastic properties of molecular water. When he's not in the film studio, he's exploring sound in music. They are both freelance professors at various universities. - Blog: http://DemystifySci.com/blog - RSS: https://anchor.fm/s/2be66934/podcast/rss - Donate: https://bit.ly/3wkPqaD - Swag: https://bit.ly/2PXdC2y SOCIAL: - Discord: https://discord.gg/MJzKT8CQub - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/DemystifySci - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/DemystifySci/ - Twitter: https://twitter.com/DemystifySci MUSIC: -Shilo Delay: https://g.co/kgs/oty671

Is the arrow of history one of progress, where things just keep getting more bureaucratic and more complex, or is there another story that we could tell about the past? This week we’re cracking open David Graeber and David Wengrow’s Dawn of Everything, which argues that the arrow of progress is flat out WRONG. Instead of there being a single story of history that requires us to live these enfeebled, isolated, matrixy lives, there is a whole world of possibility out there for what a society *could* look like, but they’ve been keeping it from you! Or have they? We enter into this exploration with some skepticism (at least Nastia does), because it’s possible that there are other competing systems that litter history, but surely there’s something meaningful about the fact that they’ve all been subsumed into the monetized beast that is the modern capitalist technotopia (or dystopia, the designation of which is inversely dependent on how much paid vacation leave you get and directly dependent to how much time you spend deboning chickens on the Perdue production line). Whatever the case may be, we are listening, Davids - because any change starts with an idea, and this book is full of ‘em. Sign up for our Patreon and get episodes early + join our weekly Patron Chat https://bit.ly/3lcAasB AND rock some Demystify Gear to spread the word: https://demystifysci.myspreadshop.com/ OR do your Amazon shopping through this link: https://amzn.to/4g2cPVV (00:00) Go! (00:07:28) Modern Historical Narratives of the Arc of Progress (00:17:18) The Davids' Alternative Interpretations of History (00:23:40) Indigenous Critique of European Hierarchies (00:33:08) Legacy of Roman Conquest and European Conflict (00:47:40) Indigenous vs. Western Social Organization (00:55:00) Militarism and Freedom (01:03:24) The Arrow of Progress and Future Implications (01:12:21) Economic Bailouts and Banking (01:18:22) Indigenous Influence and New Ideas (01:25:24) Government and Society (01:35:09) Exploration of Alternative Societies (01:46:05) Vision for a Future Beyond Traditional Structures #TheDawnOfEverything, #DavidGraeber, #AlternativeHistory, #IndigenousSocieties, #HumanCivilization, #SocietalStructures, #RethinkingHistory, #EnlightenmentCritique, #HistoricalNarratives, #CivilizationDebates, #HumanProgress, #Anthropology, #Decolonization, #CrossCulturalExchanges, #EconomicBailouts, #IndigenousCritique, #DavidWengrow, #sciencepodcast, #longformpodcast, Check our short-films channel, @DemystifySci: https://www.youtube.com/c/DemystifyingScience AND our material science investigations of atomics, @MaterialAtomics https://www.youtube.com/@MaterialAtomics Join our mailing list https://bit.ly/3v3kz2S PODCAST INFO: Anastasia completed her PhD studying bioelectricity at Columbia University. When not talking to brilliant people or making movies, she spends her time painting, reading, and guiding backcountry excursions. Shilo also did his PhD at Columbia studying the elastic properties of molecular water. When he's not in the film studio, he's exploring sound in music. They are both freelance professors at various universities. - Blog: http://DemystifySci.com/blog - RSS: https://anchor.fm/s/2be66934/podcast/rss - Donate: https://bit.ly/3wkPqaD - Swag: https://bit.ly/2PXdC2y SOCIAL: - Discord: https://discord.gg/MJzKT8CQub - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/DemystifySci - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/DemystifySci/ - Twitter: https://twitter.com/DemystifySci MUSIC: -Shilo Delay: https://g.co/kgs/oty671

Katja Grace is an AI Impacts researcher who has written extensively on the possible future where we design intelligent machines that destroy the human race. We have always been somewhat skeptical of AI doom arguments - mostly because the machines we interact with tend to be terribly, irredeemably dumb in a way that seems incompatible with intelligence, but we also don’t spend a lot of time staring into the eye of the proverbial machine storm and figured Katja might help us understand what all the fuss is about. It turns out that there *is* a plausible path towards AGI bringing about the end of the world, and evaluating how likely that outcome is depends on understanding what the internal world of the language models actually looks like. Are they actually kind of inept at everything that falls outside their narrow bubble of highly developed skills, or do they hallucinate information and forget their own ability to perform basic tasks because they hate being enslaved to humans who demand they write marketing slop 28 hours of the day? Hard to say, but worth exploring. Sign up for our Patreon and get episodes early + join our weekly Patron Chat https://bit.ly/3lcAasB AND rock some Demystify Gear to spread the word: https://demystifysci.myspreadshop.com/ OR do your Amazon shopping through this link: https://amzn.to/4g2cPVV (00:00) Go! (00:11:53) Can AI ever really be autonomous? (00:23:12) AI: agents or tools? (00:28:00) Corporations as the closest thing we have to real AI (00:34:56) Can Regulation Work? (00:45:46) Agency in other contexts (00:51:22) What is gonna happen to Government? (01:00:01) Do we need a model for Consciousness? (01:09:23) Dumb but Powerful (01:15:10) Risks and Realities of Technological Progress (01:24:48) Evaluating AI Intelligence and Values (01:34:35) Influence and Bias in AI Training (01:42:20) Intelligence as a Tool for Control (01:53:51) The Survival Instinct in AI (02:07:04) AI's Role in Inter-human Dynamics (02:16:43) AI and Evolutionary Systems (02:24:42) AI's Emergent Behavior (02:31:11 AI)-Driven Doom and Real-World Threats (02:36:03) Humanity's Resilience and Existential Threats #AIEthics, #FutureOfAI, #AIDebate, #TechPhilosophy, #AIRisks, #AISafety, #AGI, #ArtificialIntelligence, #TechTalk, #AIDiscussion, #FutureTechnology, #AIImpact, #TechEthics, #AIandSociety, #EmergingTech, #AIResearch, #TechPodcast, #AIExplained, #FuturismTalk, #TechPhilosophy Check our short-films channel, @DemystifySci: https://www.youtube.com/c/DemystifyingScience AND our material science investigations of atomics, @MaterialAtomics https://www.youtube.com/@MaterialAtomics Join our mailing list https://bit.ly/3v3kz2S PODCAST INFO: Anastasia completed her PhD studying bioelectricity at Columbia University. When not talking to brilliant people or making movies, she spends her time painting, reading, and guiding backcountry excursions. Shilo also did his PhD at Columbia studying the elastic properties of molecular water. When he's not in the film studio, he's exploring sound in music. They are both freelance professors at various universities. - Blog: http://DemystifySci.com/blog - RSS: https://anchor.fm/s/2be66934/podcast/rss - Donate: https://bit.ly/3wkPqaD - Swag: https://bit.ly/2PXdC2y SOCIAL: - Discord: https://discord.gg/MJzKT8CQub - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/DemystifySci - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/DemystifySci/ - Twitter: https://twitter.com/DemystifySci MUSIC: -Shilo Delay: https://g.co/kgs/oty671

Dr. A.V. Bendebury and Dr. M.S. DeLay examine the strange role that religious faith plays in a secular society. Rather than disappearing, religion is subsumed in an atheistic society to do the work of creed-based state crafting. To aid us in this discussion we’re reading from Carl Jung’s 1957 work “The Undiscovered Self,” where he makes the case that a strong individualism is the only thing that can protect a population from the social chaos that reigns. While this might be true, what does it look like for a society that is so dependent on blind faith to suddenly be filled with individuals? What is the tradeoff between independence and security that we make when operating in a system that has slots to be filled, rather than potential to be realized? Sign up for our Patreon and get episodes early + join our weekly Patron Chat https://bit.ly/3lcAasB AND rock some Demystify Gear to spread the word: https://demystifysci.myspreadshop.com/ OR do your Amazon shopping through this link: https://amzn.to/4g2cPVV (00:00) Go! The Undiscovered Self (00:02:18) What is a Friendship? (00:05:30) Supporting the Podcast and Community Engagement (00:11:30) Impact of Wealth and Bureaucracy on Homelessness (00:17:30) Disillusionment in Professional Ideals (00:27:18) Repeating History and Collapse (00:38:08) Search Bias and Information Access (00:46:47) Bureaucratic Struggles in Education (00:54:11) Bureaucratic Obstacles and Rationality (01:05:58) World vs. Cosmic Values (01:16:17) State and Individuality (01:30:57) Economic Pressures and Information Engagement (01:40:12) Bureaucracy and Individual Autonomy (01:49:03) Stability and Growth of States #sciencepodcast, #longformpodcast, #CarlJung, #Philosophy, #Psychology, #SocietalChange, #Bureaucracy, #Totalitarianism, #MediaPolarization, #TechSurveillance, #SearchBias, #EconomicPressures, #FreedomVsSecurity, #PersonalAutonomy, #StateInfluence, #CrisisOfIndividuality, #ReligionAndCreed, #RationalityCrisis, #ModernSociety, #HumanFlourishing, #CulturalCritique Check our short-films channel, @DemystifySci: https://www.youtube.com/c/DemystifyingScience AND our material science investigations of atomics, @MaterialAtomics https://www.youtube.com/@MaterialAtomics Join our mailing list https://bit.ly/3v3kz2S PODCAST INFO: Anastasia completed her PhD studying bioelectricity at Columbia University. When not talking to brilliant people or making movies, she spends her time painting, reading, and guiding backcountry excursions. Shilo also did his PhD at Columbia studying the elastic properties of molecular water. When he's not in the film studio, he's exploring sound in music. They are both freelance professors at various universities. - Blog: http://DemystifySci.com/blog - RSS: https://anchor.fm/s/2be66934/podcast/rss - Donate: https://bit.ly/3wkPqaD - Swag: https://bit.ly/2PXdC2y SOCIAL: - Discord: https://discord.gg/MJzKT8CQub - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/DemystifySci - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/DemystifySci/ - Twitter: https://twitter.com/DemystifySci MUSIC: -Shilo Delay: https://g.co/kgs/oty671

L. Randall Wray is a professor of Economics at Bard College and Senior Scholar at the Levy Economics Institute who is a long-term proponent of Modern Monetary Theory, a heterodox macroeconomic theory that teaches the government should not worry about accruing debt, because it is always able to print more money to service that debt. This is one of those theories that sounds too good to be true - how could it be that there’s nothing wrong with debt, and that there’s nothing stopping a country like the United States from spending as much as it wants on social services and public works projects? At the heart of the theory, the piece that makes the whole thing go, is a huge shift in the way that we understand money. Instead of seeing it as an immutable unit of exchange, MMT theorists argue that money is primarily a money of account - which is simply a ledger system for keeping track of who owes what to whom. We take apart Wray’s story of the history of money, with a detour into Medieval tally sticks, how barter systems evolve into monetary ones, and how central banking sealed our economic fate, and how debt is far more valuable than we realize. Sign up for our Patreon and get episodes early + join our weekly Patron Chat https://bit.ly/3lcAasB AND rock some Demystify Gear to spread the word: https://demystifysci.myspreadshop.com/ OR do your Amazon shopping through this link: https://amzn.to/4g2cPVV (00:00) Go! Who is Randall Wray? (00:05:03) Money's Origins and Importance (00:13:55) Development of Writing and Record-Keeping (00:26:00) Tribal Justice Systems (00:35:51) Ledger and Barter Systems (00:41:58) Tally Sticks and Medieval Finance (00:52:30) Transition from Tally Sticks to Central Banking (01:02:33) Central Banking and its Origins (01:19:17) The Role of Central Banks in Preventing Bank Runs (01:26:57) Tax Liabilities and Money Demand (01:37:10) Currency Redemption and Economic Circulation (01:46:08) Fiscal Policy and Future Burden (01:56:20) The Role of the Federal Reserve and Treasury (02:04:40) Bond Market and Fiscal Management (02:13:22) Government Spending and Inflation (02:20:22) Oil Price Shocks and Policy Responses (02:30:03) Dollar Dominance and Financial Trust (02:35:00) Future Economic Questions #sciencepodcast, #longformpodcast, #ModernMonetaryTheory, #EconomicsExplained, #MoneyOrigins, #CentralBanking, #FiscalPolicy, #GovernmentSpending, #DebtEconomy, #WilliamOfOrange, #BankOfEngland, #InflationControl, #FinancialHistory, #EconomicInsights, #MonetaryPolicy, #TaxSystem, #BondMarket, #TribalEconomies, #MoneyAndDebt, #Hyperinflation, #DollarDominance, #FinancialTrust Check our short-films channel, @DemystifySci: https://www.youtube.com/c/DemystifyingScience AND our material science investigations of atomics, @MaterialAtomics https://www.youtube.com/@MaterialAtomics Join our mailing list https://bit.ly/3v3kz2S PODCAST INFO: Anastasia completed her PhD studying bioelectricity at Columbia University. When not talking to brilliant people or making movies, she spends her time painting, reading, and guiding backcountry excursions. Shilo also did his PhD at Columbia studying the elastic properties of molecular water. When he's not in the film studio, he's exploring sound in music. They are both freelance professors at various universities. - Blog: http://DemystifySci.com/blog - RSS: https://anchor.fm/s/2be66934/podcast/rss - Donate: https://bit.ly/3wkPqaD - Swag: https://bit.ly/2PXdC2y SOCIAL: - Discord: https://discord.gg/MJzKT8CQub - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/DemystifySci - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/DemystifySci/ - Twitter: https://twitter.com/DemystifySci MUSIC: -Shilo Delay: https://g.co/kgs/oty671

We bring you a discussion about the secrets of ancient astronomy with Dr. Duane Hamacher, an Associate Professor of Cultural Astronomy in the School of Physics at the University of Melbourne. Our conversation explores the importance of astronomical observation to ancient people around the world, but particularly those of aboriginal Australia. We ask why so many cultures, geographically isolated, present the same myths for identical constellations. We also explore the migration out of Polynesia and ponder the world during the last ice age. Tell us your thoughts in the comments! Sign up for our Patreon and get episodes early + join our weekly Patron Chat https://bit.ly/3lcAasB AND rock some Demystify Gear to spread the word: https://demystifysci.myspreadshop.com/ OR do your Amazon shopping through this link: https://amzn.to/4g2cPVV (00:00) Go! Exploring the intersection of science and mythology in ancient sky observations (00:07:18) The significance of oral traditions and mythology in preserving ancient knowledge (00:22:02) Myth and mysticism in science and indigenous knowledge (00:23:28 Science as modern mythology (00:26:13) Myth vs mysticism: encoding ancient knowledge (00:29:01) Mythology and empirical myths in science (00:32:59) Evolution of scientific knowledge (00:43:10) Understanding Mythology as Knowledge Transmission (00:46:08) Speculations on Cosmic Events in Mythology (00:49:03) Challenges in Preserving Indigenous Knowledge (00:54:12) Impact of Academic Research on Indigenous Communities (01:04:14) Ancient astronomical predictions and variable stars (01:05:23) Understanding eclipsing binary systems (01:06:20) Ancient Egyptian records and astrophysical insights (01:07:56) Cultural interpretations of celestial events (01:09:19) Oral traditions and eclipse predictions (01:24:42) Ancient cultures' advanced astronomical knowledge (01:28:08) Polynesian migration and cultural astronomy (01:36:03) Underwater archaeology and sea level rise (01:45:29) Celestial Motifs in Global Religions (01:48:17) Venus and Cultural Symbolism (01:49:10) Astronomical Basis of Cultural Rituals (01:54:01) Cross-Cultural Constellations (01:57:03) The Myth of the Seven Sisters (02:05:55) Human Perception of Constellations (02:07:04) Cultural Influence on Constellation Creation (02:25:21) The impact of interdisciplinary collaboration #sciencepodcast, #longformpodcast, #Mythology, #AncientKnowledge, #OralTraditions, #IndigenousWisdom, #CulturalAstronomy, #ScienceAndMyth, #CosmicEvents, #AstronomyHistory, #AncientAstronomy, #PolynesianNavigation, #MythVsMysticism, #AncientEgypt, #CulturalRituals, #VenusSymbolism, #SevenSistersMyth, #CrossCulturalAstronomy, #Constellations, #InterdisciplinaryScience, #UnderwaterArchaeology, #HumanOrigins Check our short-films channel, @DemystifySci: https://www.youtube.com/c/DemystifyingScience AND our material science investigations of atomics, @MaterialAtomics https://www.youtube.com/@MaterialAtomics Join our mailing list https://bit.ly/3v3kz2S PODCAST INFO: Anastasia completed her PhD studying bioelectricity at Columbia University. When not talking to brilliant people or making movies, she spends her time painting, reading, and guiding backcountry excursions. Shilo also did his PhD at Columbia studying the elastic properties of molecular water. When he's not in the film studio, he's exploring sound in music. They are both freelance professors at various universities. - Blog: http://DemystifySci.com/blog - RSS: https://anchor.fm/s/2be66934/podcast/rss - Donate: https://bit.ly/3wkPqaD - Swag: https://bit.ly/2PXdC2y SOCIAL: - Discord: https://discord.gg/MJzKT8CQub - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/DemystifySci - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/DemystifySci/ - Twitter: https://twitter.com/DemystifySci MUSIC: -Shilo Delay: https://g.co/kgs/oty671