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What are the Units or Levels of Selection?

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Terrence Sejnowski on Neurobiology and AI

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Janna Levin discusses black holes, spacetime, and other cosmological phenomena.

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How Can Philosophy Probe Evolutionary Biology?

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What is real? What is nothing? Why is there “something” rather than “nothing”? Does the nonphysical world exist? These are the ultimate questions of reality, the...

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Some scientists claim that the universe did not have a beginning. Some theologians contend that the universe did not need a beginning. Yet the universe is expanding, and so...

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Did the Universe Begin?

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Cosmos and consciousness seem utterly different, cosmos encompassing the vast universe, consciousness emerging from tiny brains. Yet consciousness is the basis of religion,...

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Explore our vast universe: its size, scope, beginning, expansion, ending. How did it all happen? How does it all work? Where is it all going? We target the mysteries.

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What happens after we die? Is there life after death? If so, what kind of life? From heaven and hell to systems and cycles of reincarnation, we explore Hinduism, Buddhism,...

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Time is a mystery; it’s not what it seems. Time’s flow feels unstoppable, yet some say time is not fundamental, perhaps not even real. Why do physicists and...

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How can philosophy advance biology? How can biology influence philosophy? In this in-depth series on Philosophy of Biology, featuring pioneers and leaders of this burgeoning...

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Season 27

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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...

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Season 24

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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.

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Season 23

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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...

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10 videos

4:28:34

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

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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.

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Season 20

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

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Season 19

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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?

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Season 18

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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?

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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?

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Season 16

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5:48:24

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

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Season 15

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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?

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Season 14

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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?

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Season 13

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

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Season 12

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

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Season 11

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5:47:52

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

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Season 10

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5:47:56

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

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Season 09

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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?

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Season 08

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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?

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Season 07

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5:47:55

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

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Season 06

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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?

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5:47:56

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

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5:47:55

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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...

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Mind, Art, Transcendence (Part 1)

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

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Women in Philosophy and Physics/Cosmology

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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...

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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...

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Asking Ultimate Questions

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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

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

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39:46

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Nick Bostrom on Superintelligence and the Future of AI

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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...

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Martin Rees

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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—’spacetime’?...

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Lee Smolin

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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...

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Roger Penrose

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Carlo Rovelli on White Holes

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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...

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Andrei Linde

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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

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Curated Playlists

Ultimate Questions of Existence

Did the Universe Begin?

Why Explore Cosmos and Consciousness?

Best of Cosmology

Death, Life After Death, Reincarnation (Part I)

What is Time?

What are you interested in?

Which formats do you prefer?

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