Within Reason

Philip Pullman is one of England's most cherished and celebrated writers. Author of the popular His Dark Materials series of books (later adapted into a film, The Golden Compass (2007), and a 2019 HBO/BBC drama series), his novels are dripping with philosophical and religious themes.Get Philip Pullman's Books here.
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TIMESTAMPS:0:00 - C.S. Lewis Tells Filthy Lies5:12 - Childhood Innocence is Overrated10:09 - Religion in Philip’s Novels21:26 - How to Improve the Story of Jesus and the Gospels27:43 - The Connection Between Music and Fiction36:24 - Books vs Movies43:38 - Consciousness in The Book of Dust50:05 - Should Novelists Go Back and Update Their Books?56:11 - The Omniscient Narrator1:00:12 - How Movies Changed Novels1:05:49 - Why Subtitles Are So Popular Now1:10:56 - The Role of Philosophy in Philip’s Novels1:13:27 - Philip’s Writing Process1:20:11 - The Fear of AI in Creative Industries

Get Huel today with this exclusive offer for New Customers of 15% OFF with code alexoconnor at https://huel.com/alexoconnor (Minimum $50 purchase).For early, ad-free access to videos, and to support the channel, subscribe to my Substack.Graham Tomlin is a British theologian, author and former Church of England bishop.LINKS:Get Graham's book, Blaise Pascal: The Man Who Made the Modern WorldGraham's organisation, Seen and Unseen TIMESTAMPS:00:00 - Can Blaise Pascal Be Categorised?03:05 - Who Was Blaise Pascal?11:12 - Pascal’s First Conversion17:19 - Pascal’s “Night of Fire”21:59 - Did Pascal Reject Reason?31:45 - Pascal’s War With Descartes42:31 - Did Pascal Invent the Bus?45:42 - The Heart Has Its Reasons, Of Which Reason Knows Nothing50:03 - How Pascal Invented Probability Theory52:29 - Pascal’s Wager1:15:35 - The Pensées1:18:30 - Pascal’s “Two Minds”1:22:39 - The Importance of Boredom1:26:58 - Why Should Atheists Read Pascal?1:31:34 - What Would Graham Ask Pascal?

Get Huel today with this exclusive offer for New Customers of 15% OFF with code alexoconnor at https://huel.com/alexoconnor (Minimum $50 purchase).
For early, ad-free access to videos, and to support the channel, subscribe to my Substack: https://www.alexoconnor.com.
Thomas Metzinger is a German philosopher and Professor Emeritus of theoretical philosophy at the University of Mainz. His primary research areas include philosophy of mind, philosophy of neuroscience, and applied ethics, particularly focusing on neurotechnology, virtual reality, and artificial intelligence.
Get The Elephant and the Blind: The Experience of Pure Consciousness: Philosophy, Science, and 500+ Experiential Reports
TIMESTAMPS
0:00 - The Minimal Phenomenal Experience Project
11:34 - Is MPE New Age Meditation?
17:07 - Collecting Reports of Pure Consciousness
25:48 - Lucid Deep Sleep - Thomas’ Experience
32:19 - Does Consciousness Require Complexity?
39:29 - The Power of Meditation
45:32 - Is Meditation Always a Positive Experience?
53:13 - Is a MPE Actually an Experience?
01:11:21 - Your Brain is Not Telling You the Truth
01:20:08 - Analysing Minimal Conscious Experiences
01:27:26 - Is Meditative Enlightenment Unethical?
01:32:37 - Western Ignorance of Eastern Tradition
01:40:13 - “Coming Home”
01:44:29 - The Political Implications of MPE
01:52:40 - Should Ketamine Be Legalised?

Matthew Cobb is a British zoologist and Emeritus professor of zoology at the University of Manchester.
Get his book, The Idea of the Brain: A HistoryCloser to Truth's Map of Consciousness: loc.closertotruth.com/mapTIMESTAMPS:0:00 The Heart or the Head?4:13 Medicine in the Ancient World12:25 Why Don’t We Accept Evidence?18:34 From Ancient to Modern Understanding29:29 When Did We Reach a Consensus on the Brain?37:41 Electricity in the Brain39:58 Our Metaphors for the Brain44:15 Is the Brain Segmented or Whole?01:05:20 Why is Speech Governed by the Left Hemisphere?01:18:55 Why is the Brain Split Into Two Hemispheres?01:23:06 Where in the Brain Does Consciousness Originate?01:32:46 The Ladybug Robot01:35:08 Back to Consciousness01:45:27 What is a Neuron?01:56:04 Why is Smell Connected to Memory So Strongly?02:02:14 Do London Cab Drivers Have Larger Hippocampi?02:10:11 The Limits of MRI and CT Scans02:19:24 Will We Ever Be Able to See Consciousness in the Brain?

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For early, ad-free access to videos, and to support the channel, subscribe to my Substack: https://www.alexoconnor.com.

- VIDEO NOTES

Adam Aleksic, known online as Etymology Nerd, is an American linguist and content creator who produces videos exploring the origins of words. He began exploring word origins in 2016 through his blog. Aleksic studied at Harvard University, where he gained attention for his educational TikTok videos on linguistics and language in 2023. In 2025, he published Algospeak: How Social Media Is Transforming the Future of Language.

- LINKS

Buy "Algospeak: How Social Media Is Transforming the Future of Language": https://amzn.to/3NcOLpw

- TIMESTAMPS
0:00 – Will Social Media End Local Languages?
7:49 – Why Does Language Change?
15:11 – What Is Algospeak?
22:33 – We Worship Our Phones
27:36 – Upcoming Slang to Invest In
33:26 – Online Slang That Never Quite Caught On
38:48 – Introducing Adam to British Slang
47:13 – The Origins of Language
57:22 – Punctuation in Text Messaging
1:06:24 – The Latin Mass and Hocus Pocus
1:13:44 – The Message of Algospeak

- CONNECT

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TikTok: @CosmicSkeptic
The Within Reason Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/within-reason/id1458675168

- CONTACT

Business email: [email protected] enquiries: [email protected]
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