What is the value of curiosity? Neil deGrasse Tyson sits down with William Shatner to explore the nature of spacetime, Star Trek, human curiosity, loneliness, and more. How would warp drive work?
What is William Shanter’s favorite Star Trek episode? Learn about the question Stephen Hawking had for Bill and the secret power of science fiction. Bill talks about what it was like to watch Neil Armstrong walk on the moon after Star Trek was originally canceled. We discuss Artemis, our return to the moon, and how we can create a base there. Will there be enough water on the moon for people to use?
Neil breaks down how water can be used for fuel and how humans have harnessed the power of physics. We discuss Bill’s new documentary You Can Call Me Bill and some philosophical points about science. Are electrons lonely? We explore the difference between being lonely and being alone and the nature of curiosity. Is human curiosity a double-edged sword? Is there anything left on Bill’s bucket list? Plus, Bill asks if living beings like mycelia could be analogs for the universe’s structure.
Why is it spacetime and not space and time separately? What is the vacuum of space made of? Discover virtual particles and how the fabric of spacetime may be a web made of wormholes. We break down dark energy and dark matter, and why their names may be misleading. To end, we discuss old age and wisdom: do they go together?
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✧Soviet sci-fi & hope for the future – revolutionaryth0t✧
A video essay discussing the Soviet cartoon, Тайна третьей планеты/Mystery of the Third Planet and its portrayal of socialist values like optimism for a post-scarcity future, the heroism of the working class, the glorification of science and progress, and friendship and solidarity.
Photographer Christopher Payne (previously) spent several years building a relationship with the owners of General Pencil Company in Jersey City, New Jersey, one of the last remaining pencil factories in the United States. His dedication to working with the factory paid off, and between fall 2015 and summer 2017 Payne was granted access to the production floor for photo-documentation more than thirty times.
The photographer, renowned for his cinematic images that show the architectural grace of manufacturing spaces, shares that he has held a lifelong fascination with design, assembly, and industrial processes. “The pencil is so simple and ubiquitous that we take it for granted,” Payne tells Colossal. “But making one is a surprisingly complex process, and when I saw all the steps involved, many of which are done by hand, I knew it would make for a compelling visual narrative.” […]
Richard Wolff is Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a visiting professor at The New School, where he works on economics in the Marxist tradition. This is Richard’s fifth appearance on Robinson’s Podcast. In episode #127, he and Robinson discussed some of the most profound criticisms of capitalism; in #154, they focused on the myths surrounding Marxism and Marx himself; in #190 they covered the Israel-Palestine conflict from a Marxist perspective; and in #222 they assess the end of the American Empire. In this episode, Richard and Robinson talk about the 2024 election. More particularly, they discuss the irrelevance of Donald Trump, both candidates’ economic policies, the Biden administration’s track record, Ukraine and Russia, Israel and Palestine, China, the promise of Kamala Harris, immigration, and the future of the United States. Richard’s latest book is Understanding Capitalism (Democracy at Work, 2024).
OUTLINE
00:00 Introduction
07:51 The Irrelevance of Donald Trump
15:41 Does the Government Even Matter?
20:49 On Richard’s Astounding Rhetorical Abilities
29:40 What Makes Donald Trump Great?
37:38 Was Trump Good for the Economy?
50:00 Why Won’t Trump Just Go Away?
52:29 Is Ukraine Doomed to Lose the Russian War?
1:00:21 Who Will be Left When America Crumbles?
1:13:14 What on Earth Should We Make of Kamala Harris
1:23:24 Donald Trump Versus Marxism
1:29:30 The Republican and Democratic War on Immigrants
1:37:38 Trump Vs Harris on Economics | Who Wins?
1:43:44 Trump Vs Harris on Russia, Ukraine, Israel, & Palestine
1:50:37 Trump, Harris, and the War on Data
1:57:43 Will Trump or Harris Win 2024?
Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, historians, economists, and everyone in-between.
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