Robinson's Podcast

Robinson Erhardt
  • 4.7 (280)
  • Natural Sciences
  • Updated Weekly

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. https://linktr.ee/robinsonerhardt

  1. 4d ago

    282 - Richard Wolff: China, Russia, Iran, and World War III

    Richard Wolff is Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a visiting professor at The New School, where he works on economics in the Marxist tradition. This is Richard’s eleventh appearance on Robinson’s Podcast. In this episode, Richard and Robinson discuss the ongoing war in Iran, as well as the war in Russia and Ukraine, our cold war with China, and the future possibilities of World War III. Richard’s latest book is Understanding Capitalism (Democracy at Work, 2024). Understanding Capitalism (Book): https://www.democracyatwork.info/understanding_capitalism Richard’s Website: https://www.rdwolff.com Economic Update: https://www.democracyatwork.info/economicupdate OUTLINE 00:00 China, Iran, and the Implosion of the West 13:00 The Irreconcilable Gulf Between Russia and the West 16:01 Europe’s Hard World War II Lesson 21:20 Europe’s Final Collapse Is Coming 28:42 How China Is Methodically Conquering the World 35:44 Russia’s Siberian Advantage 39:15 Marx, War, and Economic Decline 52:39 Why Iran Will Always Control the Strait of Hormuz 01:02:02 How the United States Already Failed in Iran 01:06:37  What the United States Can Learn from the Collapse of the British Empire 01:12:19 Why the War in Iran Will Not Lead to Nuclear War 01:14:44 John Mearsheimer’s Escalation Ladder and the Threat of Nuclear War in Russia 01:29:53 What Would World War Look Like in the 21st Century? 01:36:17 Donald Trump, The Isolator 01:41:40 The Sad Legacy of the League of Nations 01:51:04 Is World War III Inevitable?

  2. Jul 6

    281 - Michael Hudson: How Debt Destroys Empires

    Michael Hudson is Distinguished Research Professor of Economics at the University of Missouri, Kansas City and President of the Institute for the Study of Long-Term Economic Trends. He researches domestic and international finance, the history of economics, and the role of debt in shaping class stratification, among many other topics. This is Michael’s Seventh appearance on the show. On past episodes, including with Richard Wolff, he and Robinson have neoliberalism, industrial capitalism, the rentier economy, Marxism, and the role of economics in political history. In this episode, Michael and Robinson talk about debt and the destruction of empires. Michael’s most recent book is Temples of Enterprise (ISLET, 2024).  Michael’s Website: https://michael-hudson.com Temples of Enterprise: https://a.co/d/a3c53dm OUTLINE 00:00 Keeping Governments Under Control 07:01 Understanding the Church 17:27 Why Debts Grow Too Fast to Be Paid 22:57 Understanding the BRICS 26:50 How Can Countries Get Rich? 32:47 Where Is the United States’ Debt Dragging Us? 46:26 Why Michael Hudson Is Not a Mainstream Economist 48:59 The Historical Approach to Economics 01:06:01 Controlling Governments Through Tax Policy 01:23:55 How Michael Researches 01:33:31 The Myth of Economic Rent 01:38:47 The United States’ Hereditary Oligarchy 01:41:04 Why the United States Can’t Go Bankrupt 01:44:42 Closing Thoughts Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University, where he is also a JD candidate in the Law School.

  3. Jun 29

    280 - David Albert & Jacob Barandes: Debating the Foundation of Quantum Mechanics

    David Albert is the Frederick E. Woodbridge Professor of Philosophy at Columbia University, director of the Philosophical Foundations of Physics program at Columbia, and a faculty member of the John Bell Institute for the Foundations of Physics. Jacob Barandes is Senior Preceptor in Physics at Harvard University, where he works widely across the philosophy of physics, with focuses on the foundations of quantum mechanics, the philosophy of spacetime, and the metaphysics of laws. In this episode, Robinson, Jacob, and David discuss Jacob’s novel Indivisibility Approach to quantum mechanics. After beginning with an introduction from David, the conversation touches on the measurement problem, completeness, scientific realism, the purpose of physics, and more. If you’re interested in the foundations of physics, then please check out the JBI, which is devoted to providing a home for research and education in this important area. Any donations are immensely helpful at this early stage in the institute’s life. Jacob’s Website: https://www.jacobbarandes.com A Guess at the Riddle: https://a.co/d/6qcsidl The John Bell Institute: https://www.johnbellinstitute.org OUTLINE 00:00 The Problem with the Wave Function 05:30 The Indivisibility Approach 17:28 What Is Indivisibility? 25:13 The Measurement Problem 32:18 The Incompleteness of Jacob’s Theory 42:20 Completing the Theory 47:12 Realism in Quantum Mechanics 01:03:13 The Fundamental Task of Physics 01:10:57 The Structure of the Indivisibility Theory 01;22:26 Summarizing and Calculating 01:40:01 The Game of Fundamental Physics 01:46:31 Can Bohmian Mechanics Work? 01:56:26 A Version Including David’s Theory 02:04:49 What Is the Wave Function? 02:15:33 Where We’ve Ended Up Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University, where he is also a JD candidate in the Law School.

  4. Jun 14

    279 - Paul Davies: The Second Quantum Mechanics Revolution

    Paul Davies is a theoretical physicist and Regents’ Professor at Arizona State University. Paul works on quantum mechanics, astrophysics, and cosmology, with emphasis on the origin and early stages of the universe, the quantum properties of black holes and the nature of time. He is interested in the nature and origin of life – including extraterrestrial life – beyond Earth, and in complex systems. In this episode of Robinson’s Podcast, Paul and Robinson discuss the second revolution in quantum mechanics. Among other things, they dig into the origin of quantum theory, how we should interpret it, various quarks of quantum physics, such as teleportation and entanglement, quantum computing, and more. Paul’s recent book is Quantum 2.0 (Pelican, 2025). Quantum 2.0: https://a.co/d/0ckzsWav OUTLINE 00:00 Why Quantum Mechanics? 11:59 How Should We Interpret Quantum Mechanics? 22:22 Complexity and Quantum Theory 30:59 What Will Be the Next Quantum Revolution? 39:59 The Next Generation of Quantum Technology? 49:47 Can Quantum Teleportation Move Macroscopic Objects? 52:47 Supercomputers vs Quantum Computers 01:04:16 The Fine-Tuning Problem? 01:12:37 Do We Have a Scientific Theory of Life? Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University, where he is also a JD candidate in the Law School.

  5. May 31

    278 - Priyamvada Natarajan: The Mystery of Dark Matter

    Priyamvada Natarajan is the Joseph S. and Sophia S. Fruton Professor of Astronomy and Professor of Physics at Yale University, where she is also the Chair of Astronomy. Priya researches broadly across astrophysics and cosmology; some topics she has worked on include gravitational lensing, black hole physics, the philosophy of science, and dark matter. In this conversation, Priya and Robinson largely stick to the latter. They discuss her interest in cosmology writ large, as well as how the scientific community tackles the unknown. Priya’s most recent book is Mapping the Heavens: The Radical Scientific Ideas that Reveal the Cosmos (Yale, 2016). Mapping the Heavens: https://a.co/d/02HPcMB1 OUTLINE 00:00 A Paradox of Cosmology 06:16 Investigating Invisibilia 11:25 The Sociology of Astrophysics 16:52 Phenomenology in Physics 19:47 What Is the Mystery of Dark Matter? 29:07 The Problem of Dark Energy 36:38 Models and Simulations 46:17 Modifying the Standard Model to Explain Dark Matter 58:20 The Crisis in Dark Matter 01:12:22 Alternative Explanations of Dark Matter 01:19:51 Fine-Tuning and the Multiverse 01:25:24 Black Holes Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University, where he is also a JD candidate in the Law School.

  6. May 17

    277 - Tim Maudlin: What Is Philosophy?

    Tim Maudlin is Professor of Philosophy at NYU and Founder and Director of the John Bell Institute for the Foundations of Physics. In this episode, Robinson and Tim discuss the nature of philosophy. More particularly, they discuss philosophy’s origin, its connections to physics, what characterizes some of its well-known sub disciplines, and some of its biggest problems. If you’re interested in the foundations of physics, then please check out the JBI, which is devoted to providing a home for research and education in this important area. Any donations are immensely helpful at this early stage in the institute’s life. Tim’s Website: www.tim-maudlin.site The John Bell Institute: https://www.johnbellinstitute.org OUTLINE 00:00 The Beginning of Philosophy 06:53 Where Physics and Philosophy Diverged 14:07 Quantum Gravity 18:30 Physicists and Philosophers on Space and Time 23:10 Is Metaphysics Different From Physics? 34:54 Why Don’t Universities Have Departments of Metaphysics? 49:27 Are Numbers Real? 01:07:50 What Are Continental and Analytic Philosophy? 01:14:58 The Age-Old Puzzle of the Statue and the Clay 01:28:05 What Is Epistemology? 01:38:57 Is the World Around Us an Illusion? 01:49:13 What Are the Biggest Open Problems in Philosophy? 01:57:00 A John Bell Institute Update Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University, where he is also a JD candidate in the Law School.

  7. May 3

    276 - Craig Callender: Lab-Grown Meat, De-Extinction, and the Tolman-Ehrenfest Effect

    Craig Callender is Professor of Philosophy and Co-Director of the Institute for Practical Ethics at UC San Diego, where he is a leading philosopher of science and physics. Craig also appeared on episode 73, in which he and Robinson discussed pseudoscience and conspiracy theories, and epidote 114, where he, Robinson, and Tim Maudlin discussed the philosophy of time, including the reality of the past, present, and future, the direction of time, its relationship to relativity and quantum mechanics, and time travel. In this episode, Robinson and Craig turn to a different assortment of topics. They talk about disinformation, lab-grown meat, de-extinction, scientific communication, quantum mechanics, and the Tolman-Ehrenfest Effect. Craig’s Website: https://www.craigcallender.com OUTLINE 00:00 Craig’s Interest in Lab-Grown Meat 04:25 Disinformation and the Philosophy of Science 18:18 The Root of the Error 23:43 The Importance of Science Communication 31:12 What Is De-Extinction? 47:28 What Is the Tolman-Ehrenfest Effect? 1:00:00 Tolman-Ehrenfest, Continued 01:15:07 A Philosopher’s Perspective 01:23:05 What Is The Problem with Quantum Mechanics? 01:24:56 What’s the Best Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics? Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University, where he is also a JD candidate in the Law School.

  8. Apr 19

    275 - Nate Soares: AI Will Kill Us All If We Don’t Change Course

    Nate Soares is the President of the Machine Intelligence Research Institute, and plays a central role in setting MIRI’s vision and strategy. Soares has been working in the field for over a decade, and is the author of a large body of technical and semi-technical writing on AI alignment, including foundational work on value learning, decision theory, and power-seeking incentives in smarter-than-human AIs. Prior to MIRI, Soares worked as an engineer at Google and Microsoft, as a research associate at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and as a contractor for the US Department of Defense. In this episode, Nate and Robinson discuss the problems of AI from the ground up. They touch on how AI is trained, why it will surpass human intelligence, why this is dangerous, how it could wipe out humankind, and more. Nate’s recent book, co-written with Eliezer Yudkowsky, is If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies (Little, Brown and Company, 2025). If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies Nate’s X: https://x.com/So8res MIRI: https://intelligence.org OUTLINE 00:00 Nate’s Existential Dread 07:11 What’s the REAL Problem with Artificial Intelligence? 11:39 How Is AI Trained? 17:15 The Vital Importance of Interpreting AI 20:53 Why AI Will Soon Surpass Human Intelligence 32:58 Why Solving the AI Alignment Problem is Crucial to Human Survival 38:40 Will AI Render Human Software Engineers Obsolete? 48:03 Does It Make Sense to Say AI Has Goals? 01:00:02 Why AI Consciousness Is Unimportant 01:11:33 How, Realistically, Could AI Wipe Out Humanity? 01:35:27 A Sci-Fi (But Realistic) AI Doomsday Scenario 01:44:34 Is There Hope that Humans Will Survive AI?

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4.7
out of 5
280 Ratings

About

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between. https://linktr.ee/robinsonerhardt

Information

  • Creator
    Robinson Erhardt
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2026
  • Episodes
    284
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Robinson Erhardt
  • Show Website
    Robinson's Podcast

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