Generated by All in One SEO v4.9.7.2, this is an llms.txt file, used by LLMs to index the site. # multiverses Tracing the limits of knowledge and of technology + comics! ## Sitemaps - [XML Sitemap](https://www.multiverses.xyz/sitemap.xml): Contains all public & indexable URLs for this website. ## Posts - [Molecules & Mirrors — Vanessa Seifert on The Philosophy of Chemistry](https://www.multiverses.xyz/podcast/molecules-mirrors-vanessa-seifert-on-the-philosophy-of-chemistry/) - Why do molecules have a "handedness" when the physics that determines their structure does not? (Note, it can't be explained by the chirality of the weak nuclear force). This is a question emblematic of the philosophy of chemistry; at times, it has been used to argue that chemistry cannot be reduced to physics. However, Vanessa - [Consciousness is not Computation — Christof Koch](https://www.multiverses.xyz/podcast/consciousness-is-not-computation-christof-koch/) - Consciousness is among the deepest mysteries we face — and perhaps the most personal. We know it from the inside, yet struggle to explain it from the outside. Our guest, Christof Koch, is a pioneering neuroscientist and one of the most prominent advocates of a scientific approach to consciousness. He has spent decades working at - [Where Does It End? — Adrian Moore on The Infinite](https://www.multiverses.xyz/podcast/where-does-it-end-adrian-moore-on-the-infinite/) - Infinity may seem simple, just the absence of limits. But the closer we examine it, the more it unravels into paradox and mystery. Can some infinities be larger than others? How can an infinite hotel be fully booked yet still have room for more guests? In this episode of Multiverses, I’m joined by Adrian Moore, - [Mind-Wandering — Kalina Christoff Hadjiilieva on the Science of Spontaneous Thought](https://www.multiverses.xyz/podcast/mind-wandering-kalina-christoff-hadjiilieva-on-the-science-of-spontaneous-thought/) - Mind-wandering is often dismissed as a distraction, an idle drift away from productive thought. But what if this spontaneous movement of the mind is not just a quirk of cognition but a fundamental feature of how we think, create, and find meaning? Our guest, Kalina Christoff Hadjiilieva, is a Professor of Psychology at the University - [History of Science: Mythmaking & Contingency — Patricia Fara](https://www.multiverses.xyz/podcast/history-of-science-mythmaking-contingency-patricia-fara/) - Scientific discoveries can often be codified in simple laws, neatly stated in textbooks with directions on applying them. But the enterprise of science is embedded in society. It depends on individuals and economies. It is far from simple to answer the question: How did we get these laws? Patricia Fara is an Emeritus Fellow of - [Mining the Air — Casey Handmer](https://www.multiverses.xyz/podcast/mv1-mining-the-air-casey-handmer/) - Hydrocarbons are not bad. Over the last three hundred years they have propelled global growth and technology. Steel, trains, planes, plastics, and processors owe a historical debt to the energy that we have readily extracted from coal, oil and gas. The way we get hydrocarbons is bad. In taking them from the ground and burning - [The Emergent Multiverse — David Wallace](https://www.multiverses.xyz/podcast/mv2-the-emergent-multiverse-david-wallace/) - “When you come to a fork in the road, you should take it” So goes the jocular advice of Yogi Berra. But what if this is what the universe actually does? What if we live in a garden of forking paths, of events that can go one way or another and in fact do both? - [Relational Space & Time — Julian Barbour](https://www.multiverses.xyz/podcast/mv3-relational-space-time-julian-barbour/) - Space and time are intimately familiar, without them we experience nothing. In t’s and x’s and μ’s they suffuse the equations of physics. Yet their nature remains the subject of debate and conjecture. Are they entities in and of themselves, or do they simply represent relationships between objects or events? Our guest this week is - [Science & Poetry — Sam Illingworth](https://www.multiverses.xyz/podcast/mv4-science-poetry-sam-illingworth/) - Science and poetry are sometimes caricatured as opposing paradigms: the emotional expression of the self versus the objective representation of nature. But science can be poetic, and poetry scientific. Our guest this week, Sam Illingworth, bridges these worlds. He’s researched scientists who were also poets, and organized workshops for scientists and laypeople using the medium - [QBism: The World is Unfinished — Ruediger Schack](https://www.multiverses.xyz/podcast/mv5-qbism-ruediger-schack/) - Quantum mechanics is a powerful tool. It allows us to manipulate matter and make predictions with unparalleled precision. But we typically ask more of our theories than instrumental capabilities, we’d like them to give us an account of nature. In order to extract such an account from quantum mechanics we need to confront the measurement - [Genomics, PRS, genetic ancestry, race & ethics — Anna Lewis](https://www.multiverses.xyz/podcast/mv7-genomics-prs-genetic-ancestry-race-ethics-anna-lewis/) - Over the past two decades, the cost of sequencing a whole human genome has fallen ten million-fold. However, the advances in sequencing have not equally progressed our understanding of the genetic code. Alongside the scientific struggle to interpret the Book of Life, we must also confront the ethical and social issues brought up by ongoing - [Thought Experiments, Mach, Galileo & Phenomenology — Harald Wiltsche](https://www.multiverses.xyz/podcast/mv8-thought-experiments-mach-galileo-phenomenology-harald-wiltsche/) - Thought experiments have played a starring role in physics. They seem, sometimes, to pluck knowledge out of thin air. This is the starting point for my discussion this week with the philosopher Harald Wiltsche: what are thought experiments? How do they function — are they platonic laboratories with no moorings in observations or a way - [Plants, Roots, Spirals and Palaeobotany — Sandy Hetherington](https://www.multiverses.xyz/podcast/mv10-plants-roots-spirals-and-palaeobotany-sandy-hetherington/) - Plants have transformed the surface of the earth and the contents of our atmosphere. To do this they've developed elaborate systems of roots and branches which (sometimes) follow uncanny mathematical patterns such as the Fibonacci sequence. Sandy Hetherington leads Edinburgh's Molecular Palaeobotany and Evolution Group, they take a no-holds-barred approach to understanding plant development by - [The Long Now — Peter Schwartz](https://www.multiverses.xyz/podcast/mv12-the-long-now-peter-schwartz/) - The future, like everything else, is no longer quite what it used to be. By that I mean we can no longer think of it with any confidence in our inductions. Paul Valéry A pretty good way of predicting the weather is to say: tomorrow is going to be like today. This simple induction used - [Phylogeny & The Canterbury Tales — Peter Robinson](https://www.multiverses.xyz/podcast/mv13-phylogeny-the-canterbury-tales-peter-robinson/) - The physical solidity of books encourages notions of "the text" or "the canonical edition". The challenges to this view from post-modernist thought are well known. But there are other ways in which this model of a static text may fail. Our guest this week is Peter Robinson (my dad!) who takes us through his work - [ChatGPT as a Glider — James Intriligator](https://www.multiverses.xyz/podcast/mv14-chatgpt-as-a-glider-james-intriligator/) - Large language models, such as ChatGPT are poised to change the way we develop, research, and perhaps even think (see The Offshoring of Thought and Memory). But how do we best understand LLMs to get the most from our prompting? Thinking of LLMs as deep neural networks, while correct, is not very useful in practical - [What is philosophy? — Simon Critchley](https://www.multiverses.xyz/podcast/mv15-what-is-philosophy-simon-critchley/) - From what human need does philosophy emerge? And where can it lead us? Simon Critchley is Hans Jonas professor of Philosophy at the New School in New York, and a scholar of Heidegger, Pessoa, Football (Liverpool FC), humour. He crosses over between analytic and continental traditions and freely draws on quotes from Hume and British - [Gömböc, a shape at the limits of possibility — Gábor Domokos](https://www.multiverses.xyz/podcast/mv16-gomboc-a-shape-at-the-limits-of-possibility-gabor-domokos/) - The Gömböc is a peculiar shape. It's too balanced and poised to appear natural but too clunky to suggest it is the fruit of human design. It seems alien or supernatural. This is appropriate, for the Gömböc is a shape that many thought impossible. View the interactive version. The Gömböc is the first known homogenous - [AI Risks & Rewards — Santiago Bilinkis](https://www.multiverses.xyz/podcast/mv17-ai-risks-rewards-santiago-bilinkis/) - Could AI's ability to make us fall in love with be our downfall? Will AI be like cars, machines that encourage us to be sedentary, or will we use it like a cognitive bicycle — extending our intellectual range while still exercising our minds? These are some of the questions raised by this week's guest - [Feeling Right, Ethics and Emotion — James Hutton](https://www.multiverses.xyz/podcast/mv18-feeling-right-ethics-and-emotion-james-hutton/) - Should we trust our emotions as a guide to right and wrong?Some ethical frameworks would see us removing our feelings from the picture, acting with impartiality, and following principles such as the greatest good for the greatest number. Yet we can find cases where the consequences of those frameworks don't feel right.This week's guest James - [Poetry, Constraints, DNA & The Xenotext — Christian Bök](https://www.multiverses.xyz/podcast/mv6-poetry-constraints-dna-the-xenotext-christian-bok/) - Poetry is a game that can be played in many ways. Perhaps the most traditional and popular is "emotion recollected in tranquility" as Wordsworth termed it, whereby the poet's feelings are carefully expressed. Christian Bök is a bestselling poet who plays a very different game. To use his turn of phrase, he fights with icosahedra, - [Hypercomputation: Why Machines May never Think Like Humans — Selmer Bringsjord](https://www.multiverses.xyz/podcast/hypercomputation-why-machines-may-never-think-like-humans-selmer-bringsjord/) - AI can do many things equally well as humans: such as writing plausible prose or answering exam questions. In certain domains, AI goes far beyond human capabilities — playing chess for instance. We might expect that nothing prevents machines from one day besting humans at every task. Indeed, it is often asserted that, in principle, - [Functionalism vs Abduction: Two philosophical tools for thinking about AI consciousness](https://www.multiverses.xyz/all-posts/functionalism-vs-abduction-two-philosophical-tools-for-thinking-about-ai-consciousness/) - Consciousness is at once highly familiar and quintessentially alien. My consciousness is ever present to me. Arguably it is the only thing to which I have direct access. Everything else must pass through its filters and lenses. Your consciousness is foreign to me, it is a land I cannot visit. Your actions might appear motivated - [Animal Minds — Kristin Andrews on assuming consciousness in other species](https://www.multiverses.xyz/podcast/animal-minds-kristin-andrews-on-assuming-consciousness-in-other-species/) - There is no consensus on what minds are, but there is plenty of agreement on where they can be found: in humans. Yet human consciousness may account for only a small proportion of the consciousness on our planet. Our guest, Kristin Andrews, is a professor of Animal Minds at the University of York, Ontario, Canada. - [Taking Chance Seriously — Alastair Wilson on Quantum Modal Realism](https://www.multiverses.xyz/podcast/taking-chance-seriously-alastair-wilson-on-quantum-modal-realism/) - Things happen. Or they don’t. How then should we make sense of claims that something might happen? If all these claims do is express doubt, then the puzzle can be easily resolved. But if the claims capture some objective feature of the world, what is it? Our guest is Alastair Wilson, a professor of philosophy - [AI Moonshot — Nell Watson On The Near & Not So Near Future Of Intelligence](https://www.multiverses.xyz/podcast/ai-moonshot-nell-watson-on-the-near-not-so-near-future-of-intelligence/) - The launch of ChatGPT was a "Sputnik moment". In making tangible decades of progress it shot AI to the fore of public consciousness. This attention is accelerating AI development as dollars are poured into scaling models. What is the next stage in this journey? And where is the destination? My guest this week, Nell Watson, - [Do Electrons Exist? — Céline Henne: Physicist's Views on Scientific Realism & Instrumentalism](https://www.multiverses.xyz/podcast/do-electrons-exist-celine-henne-physicists-views-on-scientific-realism-instrumentalism/) - Physics helps get stuff done. Its application has put rockets in space, semiconductors in phones, and eclipses on calendars. For some philosophers, this is all physics offers. It is a mere instrument, albeit of great power, giving us control over tangible things. It is a set of gears and widgets (wavefunctions, strings, even electrons) to - [Thinking Beyond Language — Anna Ivanova on what LLMs can learn from the brain](https://www.multiverses.xyz/podcast/thinking-beyond-language-anna-ivanova-on-what-llms-can-learn-from-the-brain/) - LLMs talk like us, but they don't think like us. In brains, thinking goes beyond language.Anna Ivanova's work vividly illustrates this. Her experiments probe how certain forms of reasoning don't need the language area of the brain.Subjects with aphantasia (or severe damage to their language faculties) can not only play chess, they can reason about - [Words. What are they good for? — Nikhil Krishnan on Ordinary Language Philosophy](https://www.multiverses.xyz/podcast/words-what-are-they-good-for-nikhil-krishnan-on-ordinary-language-philosophy/) - Words. (Huh? Yeah!)What are they good for?Absolutely everything. At least this was the view of some philosophers early in the 20th century, that the world was bounded by language. ("The limits of my language mean the limits of my world" to use Wittgenstein's formulation over the Edwin Starr adaptation) My guest this week is Nikhil - [Music Evolution & Empirical Aesthetics — Manuel Anglada Tort](https://www.multiverses.xyz/podcast/music-evolution-empirical-aesthetics-manuel-anglada-tort/) - Music can be magical, yet it is rooted in the material world and can be the subject of scientific, empirical study. Does what we are told of a performer influence our appreciation of the performance? How do listening habits vary with the weather? How do rhythms and melodies evolve as they are passed along, as - [Why knowledge is not enough — Jessie Munton](https://www.multiverses.xyz/podcast/why-knowledge-is-not-enough-jessie-munton/) - If all my beliefs are correct, could I still be prejudiced? Philosophers have spent a lot of time thinking about knowledge. But their efforts have focussed on only certain questions. What makes it such that a person knows something? What styles of inquiry deliver knowledge? Jessie Munton is a philosopher at the University of Cambridge. - [Geoffrey West: Networks, Heartbeats & The Pace of Cities](https://www.multiverses.xyz/podcast/geoffrey-west-networks-heartbeats-the-pace-of-cities/) - While physics is incomplete there is relatively little we don't understand when it comes to particle or planetary motions. But physics is incapable of telling us much about life in cities, the beating of our hearts or whether society will implode. And yet, the techniques of physics have been used to powerful effect in unraveling - [Peter Nixey: AI — Disruption Ahead](https://www.multiverses.xyz/podcast/peter-nixey-ai-disruption-ahead/) - It's easy to recognize the potential of incremental advances — more efficient cars or faster computer chips for instance. But when a genuinely new technology emerges, often even its creators are unaware of how it will reshape our lives. So it is with AI, and this is where I start my discussion with Peter Nixey. - [David Papineau: How Philosophy Serves Science](https://www.multiverses.xyz/podcast/david-papineau-how-philosophy-serves-science/) - Are philosophy and science entirely different paradigms for thinking about the world? Or should we think of them as continuous: overlapping in their concerns and complementary in their tools? David Papineau is a professor at Kings College London and the author of over a dozen books. He's thought about many topics — consciousness, causation the - [MV#9 — The Hunt for H2 — Rūta Karolytė](https://www.multiverses.xyz/podcast/mv9-the-hunt-for-h2-ruta-karolyte/) - For many years scientific consensus has averred that hydrogen does not occur naturally in significant quantities without being bound to other atoms (such as in H20, water, or CH4, methane). To obtain the gas — whether as a fuel or for use in fertilizers — we need to strip it from those molecules — typically - [MV#11 — AI, risk, fairness & responsibility — John Zerilli](https://www.multiverses.xyz/podcast/mv11-ai-risk-fairness-responsibility-john-zerilli/) - AI is already changing the world. It's tempting to assume that AI will be so transformative that we'll inevitably fail to harness it correctly, succumbing to its Promethean flames. While caution is due, it's instructive to note that in many respects AI does not create entirely new challenges but rather exacerbates or uncovers existing ones. - [The Meaning of Net Zero — Myles Allen](https://www.multiverses.xyz/podcast/the-meaning-of-net-zero-myles-allen/) - What is net zero? Easy right? Surely, even LLMs can't mess this up: "Net zero in terms of climate change refers to achieving a balance between the amount of greenhouse gases (GHGs) emitted into the atmosphere and the amount removed from it." (Bard) WRONG. ❌ On Multiverses this week Professor Myles Allen of Environmental Change - [Language Evolution & The Emergence of Structure — Simon Kirby](https://www.multiverses.xyz/podcast/language-evolution-the-emergence-of-structure-simon-kirby/) - Language is the ultimate Lego. With it, we can take simple elements and construct them into an edifice of meaning. Its power is not only in mapping signs to concepts but in that individual words can be composed into larger structures. How did this systematicity arise in language? Simon Kirby is the head of Linguistics - [How & why do animals play? — Gordon Burghardt](https://www.multiverses.xyz/podcast/how-why-do-animals-play-gordon-burghardt/) - Many animals play. But why? Play has emerged in species as distinct as rats, turtles, and octopi although they are separated by hundreds of millions of years of evolution. While some behaviors — hunting or mating for example — are straightforwardly adaptive, play is more subtle. So how does it help animals survive and procreate? - [Astrobiology: what is life & how to know it when we see it — Sean McMahon](https://www.multiverses.xyz/podcast/astrobiology-what-is-life-how-to-know-it-when-we-see-it-sean-mcmahon/) - Life. What is it? How did it start? Is it unique to Earth, rare or abundantly distributed throughout the universe? While biology has made great strides in the last two hundred years, these foundational questions remain almost as mysterious as ever. However, in the last three decades, astrobiology has emerged as an academic discipline focused - [Moral philosophy as puzzles of daily life — Paulina Sliwa](https://www.multiverses.xyz/podcast/moral-philosophy-as-puzzles-of-daily-life-paulina-sliwa/) - Why do men do less housework? What happens when an apology is offered? What are we looking for when we ask for advice? These are the sorts of problems drawn from everyday experience that Paulina Sliwa intends to resolve and in doing so make sense of the ways we negotiate blame and responsibility. Paulina is - [Generative Art using GPT4 #1: fractals](https://www.multiverses.xyz/all-posts/generative-art-using-gpt4-1-fractals/) - Mandelbrot Fractal Zoom To produce something for many people was once an expensive endeavor, capital was required to open a factory or obtain a printing press. If you're reading this, you probably own a factory and a printing press. It's the object attached to this screen. But you might need workers to help you turn - [Nick Noir — Data Detective GPT](https://www.multiverses.xyz/facts/nick-noir-data-detective/) - You want to get the skinny? Let Nick Noir shakedown your data. Five minutes with that cat (or CSV) and it'll spill the beans. Built with black coffee and OpenAI. ChatGPT Plus subscribers can access it here: https://chat.openai.com/g/g-uB0lXTxDc-nick-noir-data-detective - [Generative Art with GPT4 #3: Labyrinth](https://www.multiverses.xyz/all-posts/generative-art-with-gpt4-3-labyrinth/) - View full-screen. Multi-Line Animation Even for a great coder (which I'm not) the path from a detailed plan to a working prototype can be long. Sometimes the journey is worth it, full of digression, adventure, or flow. But often it is tedious digital labour. If coding is an uphill climb — either salutary or exhausting - [Generative Art using GPT4 #2: 3D fractals](https://www.multiverses.xyz/all-posts/generative-art-using-gpt4-2-3d-fractals/) - Click for full size, interactive version There's a serendipitous quality to experimenting with LLMs. I was trying to make an interactive model of a Mandelbulb with ChatGPT. Although it didn't work as intended, it produced something funky. Indeed, for making art their fallibility might be a feature and not a bug. Here's a tip for - [](https://www.multiverses.xyz/podcast/multiverses-podcast-2/) - Join me as I explore the limits of knowledge and technology in weekly interviews with academics, writers & entrepreneurs. In discussion with philosophers, poets, and physicists we'll delve into foundational questions in arts and science. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Google Podcasts - [Cartoons](https://www.multiverses.xyz/cartoons/cartoons/) - [Next Day Delivery](https://www.multiverses.xyz/fictions/next-day-delivery/) - Next Day Delivery Or what to make of all the pieces of time that come in the post Don’t get upset, it is the postal service’s function to deliver these to you. Don’t leave them around where young children might swallow them. Don’t leave them to be crushed by their own weight. Unpack them. Don’t - [How many words in a life?](https://www.multiverses.xyz/facts/how-many-words-in-a-life/) - Unlike universal grammar — the hypothesis that humans have innate structural language rules — it is hard to find advocates for universal vocabulary. If we are not born with any semantic understanding of words, we must learn them. By watching how others use language we acquire knowledge of how words are intended to be used. - [[1] Snow](https://www.multiverses.xyz/fictions/1-snow/) - Snow For the most part this is a tranquil place. An ancient castle overlooks the houses below, snow lies thick on the ground and on the roofs, all encompassed by the great glass dome of the sky. But infrequently and without warning a terrible disaster befalls those here. Black shadows trace across the heavens, five - [[2] Freedom of youth](https://www.multiverses.xyz/fictions/multiverses-100/2-freedom-of-youth/) - Freedom of youth Here each generation is long lived. They have sufficient time to develop languages, agriculture, civilisation; to invent religions and sciences; to reflect on their condition through art. When they reach maturity, they lay eggs deep within the planet in caverns warmed by nuclear heat. While the eggs gestate, their parents-in-waiting return to - [Great Equations: Kinetic Energy](https://www.multiverses.xyz/facts/great-equations-kinetic-energy/) - There are some sets of symbols that, when interpreted, capture something significant about the way things work. This is one such set: KE = \frac{1}{2}m\cdot v^2 Where m is a mass, v its speed and KE its kinetic energy. This is an equation that receives relatively little attention compared to more famous cousins, yet here - [[3] Faith](https://www.multiverses.xyz/fictions/3-faith/) - Faith In this world God exists and undertakes many acts to prove it. She has written “I exist (God)” in stars. She often swoops down to Earth to pat babies, cure the sick and give clues to physics problems. She is an unusual dancer. Her grooves are mysterious. Despite all this, a large group of - [Error](https://www.multiverses.xyz/fictions/error/) - [[4] Landers](https://www.multiverses.xyz/fictions/4-landers/) - Landers This world is inhabited by a lethargic species, whose members’ skin harvests energy directly from light. Neither do they die, nor do they reproduce. They are capable of racing across their planet’s featureless surface at great speed. Yet they never move. Their minds are able to weigh up many million thoughts at once. When - [[5] Merlin Dreams of Newton](https://www.multiverses.xyz/fictions/5-merlin-dreams-of-newton/) - Merlin Dreams of Newton Here everything is bound by magic, which is to say it is tacked together haphazardly. Suppose one wishes to fly away on holiday, one must open a book, gather herbs in the forest, mutter and stir. Though it won’t work without a certain knack, and no-one can explain what that is. - [The Speed of Information](https://www.multiverses.xyz/facts/the-speed-of-information/) - What distance means for gaming, interplanetary dating & alien conversations The dizzying progress in increasing the speed of communication is brushing up against physical limits. The world may start to feel bigger. Consider the time sent to send a message between a sender in London and a receiver in New York: Between 1600 and the - [Because Υou Αre Αlive](https://www.multiverses.xyz/fictions/because-you-are-alive/) - ∀y∀x : (y & ¬y → x) Every undergraduate logician is taught that anything follows from a contradiction. They marvel over this for two minutes, that if one accepts a set of contradictory premises, one can prove whatever one wishes, with the full force of logical certainty. One can equally prove that nothing follows from - [Borges & I & I](https://www.multiverses.xyz/fictions/borges-i-i/) - Borges wrote of the other Borges, the one things happen to, winner of prizes. The one known for his Fictions, for his playful philosophical devices, his austere prose and sometimes loveless characters. The conjunction of marble and flowers. But I know a third Borges. I see him from where I am sitting at my desk - [A Parable I am holding in reserve in case I am ever asked to give a commencement address, or such like](https://www.multiverses.xyz/fictions/a-parable-i-am-holding-in-reserve-in-case-i-am-ever-asked-to-give-a-commencement-address-or-such-like/) - A man walks into a gallery one afternoon. Of all the works on the wall, there is one that captivates him especially - a luminous circle depicting almost perfectly the timbre of the autumn as he is experiencing it. A tree that has half shed its gilded leaves, the poised light. So simple, so apparently - [What are you thinking of right now?](https://www.multiverses.xyz/fictions/what-are-you-thinking-of-right-now/) - Or, a sketch of a proof of the infinity of thought No worries of rain. Only an idea, a notion, or even less, a word. The beginnings of a word. Something that is not yet, yet is, is a thing, but not a thing that is. This sort of thing. The sort of this that - [Vessel, Cargo, Atom, Planet](https://www.multiverses.xyz/fictions/vessel-cargo-atom-planet/) - Vessel, Cargo, Atom, Planet These words came in longships and in barques, they were dragged over logs, carted among wines, olives, and figs, bundled up and slung across the backs of soldiers and cradled by the hands of children. These words carry the atoms which fled Democritus’ lungs and the photons that lit the visions - [Do not disturb](https://www.multiverses.xyz/fictions/do-not-disturb/) - Do not disturb On my phone there is a button: do not disturb. So I press it. Yet immediately my son comes to prod me and inform me of an immediate requirement of ice cream, then bursts into incredulous tears when I explain there is none left, that he himself ate the last morsel the - [I think I forgot](https://www.multiverses.xyz/fictions/i-think-i-forgot/) - [Of what are words made?](https://www.multiverses.xyz/fictions/of-what-are-words-made/) - [The Offshoring of Thought and Memory](https://www.multiverses.xyz/facts/the-offshoring-of-thought-and-memory/) - In The Secret Miracle by Borges, a man condemned to death is granted an unusual reprieve by God. As he stands before the firing squad, the soldiers, his body, the world stop. Only his thoughts continue. In the year of mental time given, he labours on a play. At the point of completion, he is - [Two Ways of Worrying About Boxes](https://www.multiverses.xyz/fictions/two-ways-of-worrying-about-boxes/) - [All the way down](https://www.multiverses.xyz/fictions/all-the-way-down/) - [Multiverses Podcast](https://www.multiverses.xyz/podcast/multiverses-podcast/) - I am working on Podcast discussing topics across the arts and sciences — the branching of the multiverse, of texts, and of ideas. Currently, my work on this consists of infrequent imaginary interviews conducted in my head. Once I sort out my mercurial broadband connection and set aside some time, my daydreams will be realized. ## Pages - [multiverses](https://www.multiverses.xyz/) - welcome to Multiverses, a podcast exploring the limits of knowledge and technology hosted by James Robinson. - [](https://www.multiverses.xyz/about/) - I’m James Robinson. Here is a pic of my thinking face. In the multiverses podcast, I explore the limits of knowledge and technology. Topics range from the interpretations of quantum mechanics to astrobiology, net-zero, and theories of consciousness, with avant-garde poetry and medieval literature in the mix. With Ventures Together, I invest in early-stage companies - [Angel Investing](https://www.multiverses.xyz/startup-portfolio/) - Portfolio I invest in startups (mainly) through Ventures Together a community of European founders and startup operators. We invest at the pre-seed and seed stage. Below are some (most) of my startup investments. I like businesses that bring joy or contribute to the drive to net zero. Companies in my portfolio addressing the climate crisis - [Transcripts](https://www.multiverses.xyz/transcripts/) ## Block Library - [image](https://www.multiverses.xyz/bg-block/image/) ## Categories - [PODCAST](https://www.multiverses.xyz/category/podcast/) - [FICTIONS](https://www.multiverses.xyz/category/fictions/) - [FACTS](https://www.multiverses.xyz/category/facts/) - [MULTIVERSES 100](https://www.multiverses.xyz/category/fictions/multiverses-100/) - 100 worlds each in 100 words - [ALL POSTS](https://www.multiverses.xyz/category/all-posts/) - [CARTOONS](https://www.multiverses.xyz/category/cartoons/) - [GENERATIVE ART](https://www.multiverses.xyz/category/generative-art/) ## Tags - [Fermi Calc](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/fermi-calc/) - [energy](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/energy/) - [cartoon](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/cartoon/) - [kitchen fail](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/kitchen-fail/) - [time](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/time/) - [identity](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/identity/) - [images](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/images/) - [cartoons](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/cartoons/) - [comics](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/comics/) - [AI](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/ai/) - [foundational models](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/foundational-models/) - [memory](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/memory/) - [quantum mechanics](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/quantum-mechanics/) - [net zero](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/net-zero/) - [air-to-fuel](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/air-to-fuel/) - [synthetic fuels](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/synthetic-fuels/) - [emerging technology](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/emerging-technology/) - [many worlds](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/many-worlds/) - [space](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/space/) - [mach's principle](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/machs-principle/) - [newton](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/newton/) - [poetry](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/poetry/) - [phenomenology](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/phenomenology/) - [oulipo](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/oulipo/) - [DNA](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/dna/) - [genomics](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/genomics/) - [ethics](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/ethics/) - [systems biology](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/systems-biology/) - [thought experiments](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/thought-experiments/) - [absolute space](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/absolute-space/) - [mach](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/mach/) - [hydrogen](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/hydrogen/) - [climate change](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/climate-change/) - [artificial intelligence](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/artificial-intelligence/) - [existential risk](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/existential-risk/) - [long now](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/long-now/) - [longtermism](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/longtermism/) - [futurism](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/futurism/) - [phylogeny](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/phylogeny/) - [genetics](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/genetics/) - [textual scholarship](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/textual-scholarship/) - [ChatGPT](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/chatgpt/) - [Generative Art](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/generative-art/) - [Art](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/art/) - [fractals](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/fractals/) - [GPT4](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/gpt4/) - [philosophy](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/philosophy/) - [analytic vs continental philosophy](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/analytic-vs-continental-philosophy/) - [geometry](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/geometry/) - [maths](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/maths/) - [shapes](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/shapes/) - [emotion](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/emotion/) - [data science](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/data-science/) - [data analysis](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/data-analysis/) - [language evolution](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/language-evolution/) - [linguistics](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/linguistics/) - [ethology](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/ethology/) - [play](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/play/) - [animal play](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/animal-play/) - [astrobiology](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/astrobiology/) - [aliens](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/aliens/) - [life](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/life/) - [moral philosophy](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/moral-philosophy/) - [perception](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/perception/) - [affordances](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/affordances/) - [philosophy of science](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/philosophy-of-science/) - [causation](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/causation/) - [complexity](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/complexity/) - [scaling laws](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/scaling-laws/) - [epistemology](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/epistemology/) - [music evolution](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/music-evolution/) - [ordinary language philosophy](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/ordinary-language-philosophy/) - [analytic philosophy](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/analytic-philosophy/) - [scientific realism](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/scientific-realism/) - [instrumentalism](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/instrumentalism/) - [AI ethics](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/ai-ethics/) - [AI safety](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/ai-safety/) - [supernormal stimuli](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/supernormal-stimuli/) - [everett interpretation](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/everett-interpretation/) - [modality](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/modality/) - [multiverses](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/multiverses/) - [comparative psychology](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/comparative-psychology/) - [philosophy of mind](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/philosophy-of-mind/) - [consciousness](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/consciousness/) - [computer science](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/computer-science/) - [infinity](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/infinity/) - [Gödel's theorem](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/godels-theorem/) - [Turing Machines](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/turing-machines/) - [neuroscience](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/neuroscience/) - [measurement problem](https://www.multiverses.xyz/tag/measurement-problem/)