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?

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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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- 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

My Website: https://www.alexoconnor.com

SOCIAL LINKS:

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/cosmicskeptic

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/cosmicskeptic

Instagram:http://www.instagram.com/cosmicskeptic

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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Come to my UK tour, tickets still available for Cambridge and Newcastle: https://www.livenation.co.uk/alex-o-connor-tickets-adp1641612.

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Sam Harris is a neuroscientist, philosopher, New York Times best-selling author, host of the Making Sense podcast, and creator of the Waking Up meditation app.

Buy the Waking Up book here.

TIMESTAMPS:

00:00 – Tour

00:32 – Is ‘Spirituality’ a Dirty Word?

04:26 – Why Take Reflective Knowledge Seriously?

29:11 – What Is the Self?

47:04 – Why Are There Distinct Selves?

1:01:22 – The Two Hemispheres of the Brain

1:06:47 – The Problem of Emergence

1:18:41 – What’s the Minimal Amount of Consciousness?

1:34:09 – Is AI Lying to Us About Consciousness?

1:39:15 – What Is the Present?

Get Huel today with this exclusive offer for New Customers of 15% OFF with code alexoconnor at https://huel.com/alexoconnor (Minimum $50 purchase).

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Swami Sarvapriyananda is a Hindu monk belonging to the Ramakrishna Order. He is the current resident Swami and Minister in Charge, of the Vedanta Society of New York.

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TIMESTAMPS:

00:00 – Tour

00:32 – An Intro to Hinduism and Advaita Vedanta

14:31 – What Are the Upanishads

22:08 – Where Do the Vedas (Scripture) Come From?

29:02 – What Does “Upanishad” Mean?

34:36 – What Do the Upanishads Teach Us?

47:07 – What Is Brahman, or Ultimate Existence?

1:02:52 – What Is the True Nature of Consciousness?

1:08:15 – Non-Dualism in Advaita Vedanta

1:18:34 – Why Isn’t There Just One Big Consciousness?

1:29:06 – What Is the Self?

1:36:30 – Are Brahman and Atman the Same Thing?

1:45:25 – What Does ‘God’ Mean in Hinduism?

1:49:07 – Does Hinduism Believe Other Religions Are Incorrect?

Get all sides of every story and be better informed at https://ground.news/AlexOC - subscribe for 40% off unlimited access.

Get tickets to my UK tour here.

For early, ad-free access to videos, and to support the channel, subscribe to my Substack.

Joe Schmid is a PhD student in philosophy at Princeton University and creator of the Majesty of Reason YouTube channel. He graduated with a B.A. in philosophy from Purdue University in 2022. He has published articles in metaphysics, philosophy of religion, and philosophy of time, and the author of books including "Existential Inertia and Classical Theistic Proofs".

Felipe Leon’s 200 arguments for atheism: https://exapologist.blogspot.com/2023/03/200-or-so-arguments-for-atheism.html

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 – Tour

00:32 – Extraordinary Claims Require Extraordinary Evidence

07:50 – There Is No Evidence for God

25:27 – Who Created God?

49:44 – Science Flies You to the Moon, Religion Flies You into Buildings

01:02:33 – Your Location Determines Your Religion

01:28:33 – Claims Are Not Evidence

01:32:50 – You Can’t Prove a Negative

01:38:35 – What Can Be Asserted Without Evidence Can Be Dismissed Without Evidence

01:43:51 – Faith Is Belief Without Evidence

01:54:59 – Religion Makes Good People Do Bad Things

01:55:32 – Absence of Evidence Is Evidence of Absence

01:56:31 – Theism Is Unfalsifiable

02:01:03 – Science Books Would Come Back, Religions Would Not

02:12:58 – Evolution Disproves God

Get Huel today with this exclusive offer for New Customers of 15% OFF with code alexoconnor at https://huel.com/alexoconnor (Minimum $50 purchase).

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- VIDEO NOTES

John Sellars is a Reader in philosophy at Royal Holloway, University of London, a visiting Research Fellow at King's College London and a Member of Wolfson College, Oxford. His books include Lessons in Stoicism, The Fourfold Remedy, Aristotle and his work has been translated into over a dozen languages.

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 – Tour

00:32 – Did Socrates Found Stoicism?

08:03 – The Three Eras of Stoicism

17:50 – Stoic Logic

26:19 – Empiricism: How the Stoics Got Knowledge

34:33 – Materialism: Only Physical Things Exist

43:00 – How Reason Fundamentally Animates the Universe

48:43 – Did the Stoics Believe in God?

59:37 – Do the Stoics Contradict Themselves?

01:08:17 – Stoic Ethics

01:24:24 – How Did the Stoics Deal With Evil?

01:36:32 – Can You Choose Your Outcome If Everything Is Determined?

Get all sides of every story and be better informed at https://ground.news/AlexOC - subscribe for 40% off unlimited access.

Come to my UK tour: https://www.livenation.co.uk/alex-o-connor-tickets-adp1641612.

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

Sean Michael Carroll is an American theoretical physicist who specializes in quantum mechanics, cosmology, and the philosophy of science.

TIMESTAMPS:

0:00 – Tour

0:32 – Can Science Alone Explain the Universe?

6:08 – The Principle of Sufficient Reason

10:07 – What Are the Laws of Physics?

18:22 – The Fine-Tuning Argument

32:39 – Does the Multiverse Undermine Morality?

36:29 – Free Will and the Multiverse

42:24 – What Is Emergence?

56:21 – What “Stuff” Do Materialists Believe In?

1:02:41 – How Does Consciousness Work on Materialism?

1:17:31 – What Could Move Sean Away from Materialism?

Get Huel today with this exclusive offer for New Customers of 15% OFF with code alexoconnor - https://huel.com/alexoconnor (Minimum $50 purchase).

Come to my tour in February, click here for tickets.

TIMESTAMPS:

0:00 – Intro

0:32 – Are All Things Full of Gods?

8:51 – Subjectivity and the Scientific Third Person

18:56 – What is the Materialistic Worldview?

28:45 – Consciousness of the Gaps?

38:21 – What’s Wrong with Emergence?

1:00:18 – Why Panpsychism is False

1:10:25 – Is There a Fundamental Unit of Consciousness?

1:23:08 – Why Are There Individual Selves?

1:27:43 – What’s Special About the Brain?

1:40:35 – Where Does the Self Go After Death?