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Cover image for Ned Block on Perception, Cognition, and Consciousness

Distinguished Philosopher Ned Block discusses perception, cognition, consciousness, and more.

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Ned Block on Perception, Cognition, and Consciousness

Authors Series, CTT Chat

1:18:14

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James MacMillan, George Corbett

Topic Series

8:55

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Cover image for Brian Swimme on Consciousness, Cultural Evolution, and the Noosphere

Professor Brian Swimme discusses cosmogenesis, our cultural evolution, human consciousness, the Noosphere, and more. Brian Thomas Swimme is a professor at the California...

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Brian Swimme on Consciousness, Cultural Evolution, and the Noosphere

Classic Chats, CTT Chat

42:36

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Many belief systems, religions in particular, use art for promoting their messages and furthering their missions. What makes art so effective in building and solidifying...

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George Corbett, James MacMillan

Topic Series

11:55

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Eastern Traditions: What is Our Ultimate Future?

Episode 5

Season 24

26:47

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What’s the relationship between art and morality, if any? Can art impact morality, and if so, is art morally neutral in that art may be a force for either positive morality...

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James MacMillan, George Corbett

Topic Series

9:57

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PODCAST

100 Podcast Episodes

The Closer to Truth podcast recently hit a huge milestone. Listen and learn about the cosmos, the human mind, and more.

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Recent News

Perspective

New Theory of Gravity Solves Accelerating Universe

Theoretical physicist Claudia de Rham shares her thoughts on why we shouldn't rely on dark energy and offers a new theory of gravity.

Perspective

A Landscape of Consciousness: Toward a taxonomy of explanations and implications

Read Closer To Truth host Robert Lawrence Kuhn's recently released article that covers the field consciousness studies in its totality.

Perspective

Five Questions with Ferris Jabr

In celebration of the publication of his book, Becoming Earth: How Our Planet Came to Life, we spoke to author Ferris Jabr about the future of humanity, the meaning of life, and much more. You can also explore Closer To Truth’s newest addition of videos pertaining to Life on Earth and beyond here. 1. What…

Perspective

Five Questions with Brian Swimme

Evolutionary cosmologist Brian Swimme sat down with us this week to discuss the phenomenon of Déjà vu, the meaning of life, and the connection between the head and the heart.

Perspective

Five Questions with Sean Carroll

What is Sean Carroll's favorite scientific breakthrough? What question about the universe keeps him up at night? Discover the answers to these questions and more with this week's episode of our "Five on Friday" series.

Perspective

Five Questions with Anna Abraham

A Q&A with neuroscientist Anna Abraham about the creative brain, the human spirit, and more.

Curated Playlists

Asteroid Day (as observed annually on June 30) is the United Nations sanctioned day of public awareness of the risks of asteroid impacts. In honor of this day—co-founded by...

playlist

Asteroid Day 2024

Curated

11 videos

4:34:50

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In honor of NASA's "Black Hole Week" (May 6-10, 2024), Closer To Truth has curated a special playlist that explores these mysterious cosmic objects. Watch interviews with...

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Inside a Black Hole

Curated

11 videos

3:39:35

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Cover image for Universe: Beginning, Vast Size, End

Did the universe have a beginning? What was it like? Will our universe end? How? How big is the cosmos? Does it go on forever, and what would that mean? How many universes...

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Universe: Beginning, Vast Size, End

Curated

5:48:03

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This playlist is part of Closer To Truth's series on The Noosphere at 100: The Future of Human Consciousness.

playlist

The Noosphere at 100

Curated

4 videos

3:36:13

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Cover image for The Mystery of Consciousness

How can we understand consciousness? Is our consciousness an illusion? Can it be measured scientifically or tied to the brain? Why is consciousness so difficult to explain?

playlist

The Mystery of Consciousness

Curated

13 videos

5:48:03

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Cover image for Asking Ultimate Questions

Push boundaries. Discern the deep essence of existence. Search the foundations of reality. Imagine all that may exist in physical realms beyond current understanding. Seek to...

playlist

Asking Ultimate Questions

Topic Series

12 videos

1:29:44

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We do not yet know how life first formed on earth, but no scientist argues that it can never be explained in material terms. How prevalent is life throughout the universe? We...

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Life in the Cosmos

Topic Series

4 videos

30:59

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Cover image for Secrets of Brain and Mind

Everything we know comes from the brain. Are brains our window to reality, showing us what truly exists? How can we know? Can consciousness derive from something beyond the...

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Secrets of Brain and Mind

Curated

13 videos

5:48:02

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Cover image for Is Life After Death Possible?

Does everything about a person disappear at death? The body? Sure, it’s gone. The brain? It stops working, then dissolves. But what about awareness? Does our...

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Is Life After Death Possible?

Topic Series

7 videos

51:23

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What are you interested in?

Cosmos

Questions like:
Why is there something rather than nothing? What exists? How vast is the cosmos? Are there multiple universes (multiverse)?

Consciousness

Questions like:
What is consciousness? Can brain explain mind? What are persons? Do persons have souls? Life after death? What is free will?

Meaning

Questions like:
What is God? Does God exist? Does God make sense? Is God a person? What are God’s traits? Alternative concepts of God?

2 of 2

Which formats do you prefer?

Episodes

Complete Closer To Truth TV episodes as broadcast on PBS stations nationwide in the U.S.

Topic Series

Intimate discussions with leading scientists, philosophers, and creative thinkers on hundreds of topics related to cosmos, consciousness, and meaning.

Curated Playlists

Collections of the best videos selected by the Closer To Truth team.

CTT Chats

Informal, free-flowing conversations with leading scientists, philosophers, and creative thinkers.

Seasons

All seasons of the acclaimed television series.

How do Eastern traditions address the Big Questions of existence and sentience—Closer To Truth’s pillar categories of Cosmos, Life, Consciousness, Meaning? How do...

playlist

Season 24

Season

5 videos

2:13:55

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In this first series on Philosophy of Biology, Closer to Truth explores the challenges and implications of evolution.

playlist

Season 23

Season

5 videos

2:13:54

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To seek the foundations of reality we look through the prism of mathematics. Mathematics is the universal language anyone, anywhere, can appreciate. We ask profound...

playlist

Season 22

Season

10 videos

4:28:34

Watch

Science explores how the world works. Breakthroughs drive science, challenging conventional wisdom, changing ways of thinking. What are Breakthroughs in science?

playlist

Season 21

Season

13 videos

5:48:11

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Art Seeking Understanding: Art delights us, but how and why? Explore art and cognitive science, philosophy, history, theology, and more.

playlist

Season 20

Season

10 videos

4:27:50

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Philosophical inquiries including the anthropic principle; fine-tuning in physics and cosmology; and atonement, salvation, and incarnation.

playlist

Season 19

Season

13 videos

5:48:24

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Are there multiple universes? What is extended mind? What causes consciousness? Challenges of analytic theology? If God, what’s evolution?

playlist

Season 18

Season

13 videos

5:48:20

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How did the universe begin? What exists? What are the risks of scientific knowledge? Can metaphysics discern God, and what or who is God?

playlist

Season 17

Season

13 videos

5:48:24

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Cosmos: Doomsday argument? Philosophy & science? Consciousness: Brain alone? Brains go bad? Language? Meaning: How miracles? God fallacies?

playlist

Season 16

Season

13 videos

5:48:24

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Cosmos: Reason? Implications? Consciousness: ESP mean? ESP work? Dualism? Ultimate reality? Meaning: Speculating about God? God intervenes?

playlist

Season 15

Season

13 videos

5:48:13

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Cosmos: Information? Truth? Multiverse? Consciousness: Science of consciousness? Mind heal body? Meaning: Blame God for evil? God not free?

playlist

Season 14

Season

13 videos

5:48:07

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Cosmos: Ever end? Ultimate reality? Consciousness: Death final? Free will for moral responsibility? Meaning: What causes religious belief?

playlist

Season 13

Season

13 videos

5:48:03

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Cosmos: Beginning? What is Nothing? Why anything? Consciousness: Personal identity persist? Sleep? Human uniqueness? Meaning: New atheism?

playlist

Season 12

Season

13 videos

5:47:50

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Cosmos: What is time? Infinite cosmos? Consciousness: How brains work? Free will illusion? Meaning: Alternative Gods? Resurrection? Hell?

playlist

Season 11

Season

13 videos

5:47:52

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Cosmos: Religiously ambiguous? General principles? Consciousness: Illusion? Dreams? Belief systems? Meaning: What is God? Arguing God?

playlist

Season 10

Season

13 videos

5:47:56

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Cosmos: Life inevitable? Inflation? Complexity? Consciousness: Alien intelligence? Meaning: Creator God? God all powerful? God fallacies?

playlist

Season 09

Season

13 videos

5:47:56

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Cosmos: Beyond physics? Cosmic purpose? Consciousness: ESP clues? Keep identity? Souls? Meaning: God’s nature? Evil necessary? Immortality?

playlist

Season 08

Season

13 videos

5:47:51

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Cosmos: SpaceTime? Science limits? Consciousness: How brains conscious? Survive death? Meaning: God vs science? Miracles? God & free will?

playlist

Season 07

Season

13 videos

5:47:55

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Cosmos: Cosmic structure? Quantum strange? Consciousness: ESP spirit? Brain free will? Meaning: God all knowing? Necessary? Agnosticism?

playlist

Season 06

Season

13 videos

5:47:54

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Cosmos: Far future? Ultimate Questions? Consciousness: Human brains? Mind? Personal identity? Meaning: God a Person? Religion without God?

playlist

Season 05

Season

13 videos

5:47:56

Watch

Cosmos: Expanding universe? Extra dimensions? Laws? Consciousness: All material? Angels/demons? Meaning: God’s judgment? God create evil?

playlist

Season 04

13 videos

5:47:55

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Cosmos: Something/Nothing? Final Theory? Consciousness: Fundamental? Aliens? Meaning: God knows future? Eternal life? Science-religion?

playlist

Season 03

Season

13 videos

5:47:57

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Featured Topic Series

Cover image for Mind, Art, Transcendence (Part 1)

What is the three-way relationship among mind, art, and transcendence? What is it about art that can elicit the sense of transcendence, going beyond the self, bursting the...

playlist

Mind, Art, Transcendence (Part 1)

Topic Series

6 videos

47:25

Watch

Cover image for Women in Philosophy and Physics/Cosmology

Closer To Truth is highlighting remarkable women in philosophy and physics/cosmology.

playlist

Women in Philosophy and Physics/Cosmology

Curated, Topic Series

11 videos

1:38:00

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Cover image for The Global Philosophy of Religion Project

The Global Philosophy of Religion Project, in partnership with the University of Birmingham, aims to make the philosophy of religion a truly global field by promoting the...

playlist

The Global Philosophy of Religion Project

Project

24 videos

22:46:58

Watch

Push boundaries. Discern the deep essence of existence. Search the foundations of reality. Imagine all that may exist in physical realms beyond current understanding. Seek to...

playlist

Asking Ultimate Questions

Topic Series

12 videos

1:29:44

Watch

Did the universe have a beginning? What was it like? Will our universe end? How? How big is the cosmos? Does it go on forever, and what would that mean? How many universes...

playlist

Universe: Beginning, Vast Size, End

Curated

5:48:03

Watch

Cover image for What is Philosophy of Biology?

We ask the broadest and most fundamental questions about biology, seeking meaning, purpose and implications of biological phenomena and systems. Questions include: life,...

playlist

What is Philosophy of Biology?

Topic Series

5 videos

39:46

Watch

Nick Bostrom on Superintelligence and the Future of AI

Authors Series, CTT Chat

1:11:26

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Why is there a world, a cosmos, something, anything instead of absolutely nothing at all? If nothing existed, there would be, well, ‘nothing’ to explain. To have...

video

Martin Rees

Topic Series

6:51

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What does it mean for space and time to be the same thing? Not related to each other, but literally two descriptions of precisely the same entity called...

video

Lee Smolin

Topic Series

9:18

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That the universe began seems astonishing. What brought it about? What forces were involved? How did the laws of nature generate the vast expanse of billions of galaxies of...

video

Roger Penrose

Topic Series

17:09

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video

Carlo Rovelli on White Holes

Authors Series, CTT Chat

52:47

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Could our entire universe have been created by a super-intelligent species, just like computer scientists write software to simulate chemical reactions or the weather? It may...

video

Andrei Linde

Topic Series

16:10

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Featured Contributors

Roger Penrose

Nobel Prize in Physics; Professor Emeritus of Mathematics, University of Oxford

Sabine Hossenfelder

Physicist and Science Writer, Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy

Sean Carroll

Research Professor of Physics, Caltech

Michio Kaku

Professor of Physics, City College of New York; Futurist; Author

David Chalmers

Professor of Philosophy and Co-director, Center for Mind, Brain, and Consciousness, New York University

Sarah Coakley

Norris-Hulse Emeritus Professor of Divinity, University of Cambridge; Anglican priest

V.S. Ramachandran

Distinguished Professor; Director, Center for Brain and Cognition, UC San Diego

Paul Davies

Regents' Professor, Arizona State University

The greatest thinkers. The deepest questions.

Cosmos. Life. Consciousness. Meaning.

Closer To Truth: The Podcast

Contemporary Conversations

Newest

Ned Block on Perception, Cognition, and Consciousness

James MacMillan, George Corbett

Brian Swimme on Consciousness, Cultural Evolution, and the Noosphere

George Corbett, James MacMillan

Eastern Traditions: What is Our Ultimate Future?

James MacMillan, George Corbett

100 Podcast Episodes

Recent News

New Theory of Gravity Solves Accelerating Universe

A Landscape of Consciousness: Toward a taxonomy of explanations and implications

Five Questions with Ferris Jabr

Five Questions with Brian Swimme

Five Questions with Sean Carroll

Five Questions with Anna Abraham

Curated Playlists

Asteroid Day 2024

Inside a Black Hole

Universe: Beginning, Vast Size, End

The Noosphere at 100

The Mystery of Consciousness

Asking Ultimate Questions

Life in the Cosmos

Secrets of Brain and Mind

Is Life After Death Possible?

What are you interested in?

Which formats do you prefer?

Seasons

Season 24

Season 23

Season 22

Season 21

Season 20

Season 19

Season 18

Season 17

Season 16

Season 15

Season 14

Season 13

Season 12

Season 11

Season 10

Season 09

Season 08

Season 07

Season 06

Season 05

Season 04

Season 03

Featured Topic Series

Mind, Art, Transcendence (Part 1)

Women in Philosophy and Physics/Cosmology

The Global Philosophy of Religion Project

Asking Ultimate Questions

Universe: Beginning, Vast Size, End

What is Philosophy of Biology?

Featured Topics

Cosmic Beginnings

Black Holes, Dark Energy, Dark Matter

Breakthroughs in Mathematics

Consciousness

Life After Death?

Eastern Traditions and the Big Questions

Popular

Nick Bostrom on Superintelligence and the Future of AI

Martin Rees

Lee Smolin

Roger Penrose

Carlo Rovelli on White Holes

Andrei Linde

Featured Contributors

Roger Penrose

Sabine Hossenfelder

Sean Carroll

Michio Kaku