Solomon & Smith

Solomon & Smith
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Solomon & Smith discuss literature, philosophy, history, film, and the meaning of the universe.

  1. 2d ago

    The Christians Who Thought God Was Evil | Taylor Caron on the Gnostic Gospels

    Please help us continue having these discussions by supporting us over on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/SolomonSmith Solomon & Smith on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/solomon-smith/id6808681930 On Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2DkVPzTS5lHkynSlHMyOL2?si=FsVpIakbR861Vg9jM3WZvQ&utm_source=copy-link On Amazon: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/7ca1e4c1-2e5a-4691-9c32-35c05fc01f05 On iHeart: https://iheart.com/podcast/343165456 In this episode of Solomon and Smith, Jack and Milo speak with Taylor Caron about the Gnostics: those strange, alluring, heretical early Christians who believed that the physical world was corrupt, that its creator was not the highest God, and that salvation came through secret knowledge of the divine world beyond this one. This is the first part of a two-part conversation. In this episode, we begin with the original Gnostics: the lost gospels, the Nag Hammadi texts, the Gospel of Thomas, the Secret Book of John, the Gospel of Judas, Valentinus, the Gospel of Truth, Thunder, Perfect Mind, the Epistle to Flora, the Gospel of Philip, and the Second Treatise of the Great Seth. In the next part, we turn to American Gnosticism and the strange afterlife of these ideas in modern literature. What is Gnosticism? Is the material world evil? Was Yahweh the demiurge? Who or what is Barbello? Why does Jesus keep appearing as a child, an old woman, a voice, a double, a robe, a cosmic emissary, or a being laughing from outside the crucifixion? And how did a collection of bizarre early Christian texts found in Egypt in 1945 come to haunt modern religion, literature, conspiracy, pop culture, Harold Bloom, The Da Vinci Code, and the idea of hidden knowledge itself? Chapters: 00:00 Was Valentinus better than the Bible? 01:10 Introduction 05:47 Taylor enters 07:50 What is Gnosticism? 09:30 Nag Hammadi and the lost texts 11:01 The basic Gnostic worldview 15:18 I. The Gospel of Thomas 20:30 II. The Secret Book of John 23:18 Barbello, Sophia and the demiurge 29:42 III. The Hymn of the Pearl 34:15 IV. The Gospel of Judas 38:38 Crucifixion, flesh and anti-natalism 40:09 V. Valentinus' Fragments 45:24 VI. The Gospel of Truth 52:16 VII. Thunder Perfect Mind 56:20 VIII. The Epistle to Flora 1:01:18 Jesus and the Hebrew Bible 1:05:27 IX. The Gospel of Philip 1:10:46 X. The Second Treatise of the Great Seth 1:15:48 Orthodoxy, heresy and the stakes of the crucifixion

  2. 5d ago

    Youtube Just Made Views Worthless | Hyper Viewflation

    Please help us continue having these discussions by supporting us over on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/SolomonSmith What is a view? What is attention? Does a number become more real if it is larger? Are advertisers being ushered into a hall of mirrors? And if every video, every creator, every athlete, every billionaire, and every man on earth can be given a bigger number, have we made the world better — or simply made value meaningless? We discuss YouTube views, attention inflation, dead internet paradise, advertisers, Zimbabwean trillionaires, egalitarianism, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, cinema box office inflation, World of Warcraft stat squish, the psychological horror of decline, the impossibility of measuring attention, the parable of the workers in the vineyard, angelic value, Christianity, equality, and whether every mote of dust has infinite worth. Chapters: 00:00 The number goes up 00:51 Introduction 04:45 YouTube changes the view count 08:02 Advertisers and the fantasy economy 12:40 Do labels change reality? 14:47 Egalitarianism, power and resentment 19:03 Do big numbers hide inequality? 22:35 Cinema, inflation and fake success 24:22 Stat squish and the horror of smaller numbers 27:14 What can value actually measure? 31:07 Can attention ever be quantified? 36:01 The workers in the vineyard 38:01 Earthly numbers and angelic value 42:36 YouTube views in heaven 43:38 Christianity, equality and infinite worth

  3. Sep 4

    Why We May Never Understand Consciousness | Colin McGinn on Mind and Language

    Please help us continue having these discussions by supporting us over on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/SolomonSmith Thinkers mentioned: Richard Dawkins, Noam Chomsky, Jerry Fodor, Charles Darwin, Paul Grice, Fred Dretske, Gottlob Frege, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Saul Kripke, Richard Montague, Iain McGilchrist, Alfred Tarski 00:00:00 Introduction 00:04:49 Knife Throwing, Other Athletic Activities 00:11:57 Poetic Epigraph 00:13:05 How to integrate Philosophy, Linguistics, and Biology? Should philosophers read Dawkins? Should biologists read Tarski? 00:20:15 Origins of language. Are any aspects of language as old as consciousness? 00:27:39 Can we only discuss language in language? 00:29:06 Are all philosophical problems linguistic? Analytic philosophy 00:32:45 Fodor and the Language of thought. Language without communication 00:34:50 Consciousness and the limits of knowing 00:39:38 Can something exist without you knowing it? 00:42:40 Can we understand/build a mind? 00:43:49 Links between Mysterianism and Apathatic theology? 00:48:13 Does McGinn's Mysterianism conflict with his Naturalism? 00:50:10 Why do we have introspection? 00:55:28 Do our brains see the world dualistically to support the existence of language? 01:01:35 Wittgenstein's Investigations. Split brains. McGilchrist. 01:03:43 The brain has over-invested in spatial reasoning. 01:06:16 Communication without symbols, without linguistic utterance. 01:11:38 Philosophers don't pay enough attention to animals. Darwin, etc. 01:14:35 Philosophers read too much psychology, and don't understand it.

  4. Aug 28

    Is AI About to Kill Mathematics? | Kirwin Hampshire

    Please help us continue having these discussions by supporting us over on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/SolomonSmith Kirwin's article on mathematics is available here: https://kirwinhampshire.substack.com/p/the-dark-night-of-mathematics In this episode of Solomon and Smith, Jack and Milo speak with Kirwin Hampshire, mathematics PhD and author of the Substack Ossuray Lost at Sea. Is mathematics discovered or invented? Is it a formal game, a spiritual art form, a machine for generating truth, or the highest expression of human creativity? And what happens when AI begins solving open problems, producing counterexamples, and doing the thing mathematicians thought belonged to the strange, private, intuitive life of the mind? We discuss what a number is, why mathematics feels certain in a way other forms of knowledge often do not, whether infinity and zero expand the limits of thought, and why mathematical discovery can feel closer to art, wizardry, or religious revelation than to ordinary technical work. Then we turn to the nightmare: AI-generated mathematics, the psychology of being scooped by a machine, and the possibility that human mathematicians may be reduced to checking, verifying, and understanding what machines have already produced. Is AI killing maths? Or is it revealing what mathematics really was all along? Topics include: AI and mathematics, mathematical creativity, open problems, counterexamples, proof, intuition, infinity, zero, Gödel, Cantor, mathematical beauty, the philosophy of maths, AI art, chess engines, human purpose, dangerous knowledge, truth versus goodness, and whether machines are about to ruin the most beautiful thing humans ever made. Chapters: 00:00 AI and the human gap 01:15 Introduction 05:58 The challenge 07:37 Kirwin enters 10:00 Poetic epigraph 11:37 What is a number? 17:11 Maths, mind, and reality 20:37 Mathematics as creativity 22:30 Infinity and the machinery of thought 26:45 Falling in love with maths 32:15 Discovery, invention and the unfinished painting 37:14 Has maths become too arcane? 41:35 AI enters mathematics 44:11 AI counterexamples and open problems 49:39 Chess, machines and the loss of spark 52:36 Humans as the AI’s assistant 57:22 Intuition and the human gap 1:02:34 Dangerous truth and the Copernican trauma 1:06:50 The Impossible Luddite 1:13:40 Why does AI hurt? 1:16:12 Is AI just another tool? 1:21:17 Truth, beauty and incompatible desires 1:24:08 Process versus result Performance of the second movement from Bartók's second quartet by the Carmel Quartet, used under the following license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en

  5. Aug 25

    Classic Literature Is WAY More Fun Than You Think (1710-1840) | Emma Schilders

    *Emma's list is pasted below* Please help us to continue having these conversations on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/solomonsmith/membership Emma's channel can be found at: https://youtube.com/@sarcastic_fish?si=J3bGM11vCKSxpt3p 1710s - Robinson Crusoe: Daniel Defoe 1720s - Roxana: Daniel Defoe 1730s - Manon Lescaut: Abbé Prévost 1740s - Pamela: Samuel Richardson 1750s - The Female Quixote: Charlotte Lennox 1760s - Barren Decade - TBR: Castle of Otranto, A Sentimental Journey 1770s - The Sorrows of Young Werther: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1780s - Dangerous Liasons: Pierre Choderlos de Laclos 1790s - Justine: Marquis de Sade 1800s - Corinne, or Italy: Madame de Staël 1810s - Frankenstein: Mary Shelley 1820s - Barren Decade - TBR: The Betrothed 1830s - The Charterhouse of Parma: Stendhal 1840s - The Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas 00:00:00 Intro 00:04:35 What's so interesting about the 1700s? 00:06:53 1710s 00:11:30 1720s 00:14:54 1730s 00:20:19 1740s 00:24:04 1750s 00:29:38 1760s 00:33:00 1770s 00:36:00 1780s 00:43:40 1790s 00:49:26 1800s 00:54:51 1810s 01:05:34 1820s 01:09:03 1830s 01:13:05 1840s

  6. Aug 21

    Why Understanding Reality Isn’t Enough | Igor Kufayev

    Please help us to continue having these conversations on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/solomonsmith/membership You can buy Igor's books directly from his publishing house here: https://songpublishing.org/?v=b6bb43df4525 In this wide-ranging conversation, artist and spiritual teacher Igor Kufayev talks with Jack and Milo about consciousness, meditation, Kashmir Shaivism (Trika Shaivism), aesthetics, creativity and the relationship between spiritual experience and everyday perception. He reflects on a profound early meditation experience that transformed his relationship with his body and consciousness, and the moment he put Heidegger aside in favour of seeking direct experience rather than intellectual understanding. The conversation moves from Western philosophy to the Bhagavad Gita, Kashmir Shaivism, Abhinavagupta and the concept of camatkāra—the rapture or astonishment of aesthetic experience. We also explore how ordinary reality became dull, whether consciousness actually creates the world we experience, and why the promise of extraordinary spiritual experiences distracts us from the extraordinary nature of everyday life. 00:00:00 Introduction 00:05:33 Uzbek Fruits/Raisins - Poetic epigraph 00:09:07 The meaning crisis began with the search for meaning 00:12:19 Bronze Age Greece, The Odyssey, Greek sculpture 00:16:10 Modernity and Meaning - Life Under Socialism 00:23:57 The Anatomy of Experience - Fire and Karl Marx 00:32:10 Loving the West in Central Asia 00:37:37 Disillusionment with Michelangelo, waiting for the Muse 00:41:04 Adi Shankaracharya vs. Abhinavagupta 00:47:52 Existentialism. Kung-fu Art Philosopher Musician Sage, murdered by the Mafia 00:52:05 Tragedy, Faith, Sri Aurobindo 00:56:39 Initiation into Meditation in a Dream 01:01:56 Can you have a moment of absolute transcendence which you don't notice? 01:07:10 Idealism. We animate reality by perceiving it. 01:11:35 Outright rejection of Heidegger and Western Philosophy 01:17:50 Outright love of Western Art 01:19:47 Reading Indian Spiritual Classics 01:23:55 Swami Muktananda and discovering Trika Shaivism 01:26:54 Camatkara, the bridge between art and spirit 01:34:32 Final Question

  7. Aug 18

    The 20 Best Books Ever Written | Cecily Carver’s Picks

    *- Cecily's list is pasted below -* Please help us to keep having these conversations by supporting us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/solomonsmith/membership Check out Cecily's Substack here: https://cecilycarver.substack.com/ Tremolo expertly demonstrated by Edson Lopes, who can be heard here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTBiNRT3GPM 1800s The Earthquake in Chile - Heinrich von Kleist 1810s Persuasion - Jane Austen 1820s The Tale of Kieu - Nguyen Du 1830s The Queen of Spades - Alexander Pushkin 1840s Cousin Bette - Honoré de Balzac 1850s Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert 1860s Great Expectations - Charles Dickens 1870s Middlemarch - George Eliot 1880s The Portrait of a Lady - Henry James 1890s The Seagull - Anton Chekhov 1900s The House of Mirth - Edith Wharton 1910s In Search of Lost Time - Marcel Proust 1920s The Magic Mountain - Thomas Mann 1930s Rebecca - Daphne du Maurier 1940s Mildred Pierce - James M. Cain 1950s Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov 1960s The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie - Muriel Spark 1970s Fifth Business - Robertson Davies 1980s Hotel du Lac - Anita Brookner 1990s A Place of Greater Safety - Hilary Mantel 0:00 Introduction 2:42 Cecily arrives 6:47 1800s 11:21 1810s 15:05 1820s 19:02 1830s 22:37 1840s 30:00 1850s 33:52 1860s 37:57 1870s 42:38 1880s 46:42 1890s 50:51 1900s 56:57 1910s 1:04:03 1920s 1:10:12 1930s 1:13:58 1940s 1:19:04 1950s 1:26:01 1960s 1:30:47 1970s 1:34:37 1980s 1:40:00 1990s 1:49:31 Conclusion

  8. Aug 14

    The Trinity is Even WEIRDER Than You Thought | Karen Kilby

    Please help us continue having these discussions by supporting us over on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/SolomonSmith Karen Kilby is the Bede Professor of Catholic Theology at Durham University, and one of the most interesting contemporary thinkers on the Trinity, apophatic theology, and the limits of theological understanding. In this conversation, Jack and Milo talk to Karen about whether Christians should expect to make sense of their own beliefs. Is theology a noble intellectual discipline, a useful service to the Church, or sometimes just a very elaborate waste of time? Do theologians know more about God than ordinary believers? Or is the attempt to master God intellectually already a mistake? The discussion focuses especially on the Trinity. What does it mean to say that God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit? Is the doctrine clearly present in Scripture, or was it developed by the early Church as Christians tried to make sense of their worship of Christ? Why three persons rather than two, four, or seventeen? What is wrong with Arianism or Unitarianism? And how can a doctrine be defended if part of its meaning is that it cannot be fully understood? Subscribe if you enjoy discussions of theology, philosophy, literature, history, and the mysteries that resist being turned into neat little systems. Topics discussed: Karen Kilby's path from mathematics to theology Faith, questioning, and the life of the mind Apophatic theology and divine mystery What the doctrine of the Trinity says Scripture, Jesus, and the early Church Greek philosophy and theological language Ousia, hypostasis, and homoousios Arianism, Unitarianism, and orthodoxy Why the number three matters — or does not Aquinas and the limits of proof What theologians are actually for The Incarnation and divine solidarity Social trinitarianism Human unknowability and divine unknowability Mysteries, puzzles, science, AI, and dangerous knowledge If you enjoyed the conversation, please like, subscribe, and leave a comment telling us your favourite heresy — or whether you think theology is a waste of time. 0:00 Is Theology a Waste of Time? 1:09 Introduction 8:19 Karen Kilby Arrives 13:28 Faith, Questions, and Theology 17:35 Apophatic Theology and Mystery 20:32 What Is the Trinity? 22:06 Scripture and the Early Church 30:00 Greek Philosophy and New Language 35:02 Why Three? 40:02 Defending an Unprovable Doctrine 48:22 What Are Theologians For? 55:00 Incarnation and Solidarity 59:28 Social Trinitarianism and Unitarianism 1:10:00 Human Mystery and Divine Mystery 1:20:00 Mysteries, Puzzles, and Dangerous Knowledge

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Solomon & Smith discuss literature, philosophy, history, film, and the meaning of the universe.

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  • Creator
    Solomon & Smith
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    47
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2026 All rights reserved.
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    Solomon & Smith