We Explained Our Way Into Civilization | With David Deutsch

David Deutsch, physicist and author of The Beginning of Infinity, joins Alex Buxeda to discuss what makes a good explanation, why entropy is our friend, why belief has no place in rational thought, and why death is just a failure of engineering.

From Popper and quantum gravity to the Enlightenment and falling birth rates, Deutsch makes the case that we explained our way into civilization, and that we will always be at the beginning of infinity.

0:00 Preview

1:06 Intro

1:46 What makes a good explanation

5:52 A theory's content is what it forbids

6:34 Anything physics allows is achievable

15:00 Why confidence and belief are the wrong goals

28:35 Will we ever reach the final truth?

33:02 Death is a failure of engineering

35:46 Is "the beginning of infinity" itself provisional?

38:20 Quantum gravity needs a new concept, not new math