podcast – gentlemen.scientists: Recent Episodes
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We’re joined this week by musician, writer and director Polash Larsen for a critical look at the world of “personality testing” and in particular the famous Myers-Briggs Type Indicator which categorizes people (“personalities”) as four-letter codes (e.g. ENTP). If you like Myers-Briggs, I should warn you that we don’t (much). As gentlemen scientists, we’re not … Continue reading Discussion #19 – “You’re Not My Type” – the Science and Ethics of Personality Testing →
“Nam Sibyllam quidem Cumis ego ipse oculis meis vidi in ampulla pendere, et cum illi pueri dicerent: Σιβυλλα τι θελεις; respondebat illa: αποθανειν θελω.” [I have seen with my own eyes the Sibyl hanging in a jar, and when the boys asked her “What do you want?” She answered, “I want to die.”] – epigraph to ‘The … Continue reading Discussion #18 – Aging, Immortality and Pretending to be Young →
Why do we find our ancestors so fascinating? In many cultures, the story of our ancestors is incorporated into daily life and celebrated through ritual. In the modern world we often pride ourselves on our independence from history, our ability to cut free from tradition and remake ourselves in every generation. And yet, as shown … Continue reading Discussion #17 – Ancestors, Kinship and Genomics →
Games aren’t real life. Games have rules that don’t change, but in this complex, confounding universe that we live in, the rules always change over time – even if we we don’t want them to. Maybe there are meta-rules – rules about the rules, or rules that generate the rules. Or meta-meta-rules, and so on. … Continue reading Discussion #16 – Rules, Meta Rules and the Not-Game of Life →
This week Shourov and Brian explore the link between mind and body as it relates to the aging process. Studies by Prof Ellen Langer have shown that to some extent we are only as young (or old) as we feel. And given the chance, the human body can surprise us when the mind is encouraged to … Continue reading Discussion #15 – The Mind-Set of Aging →
This week we talk about music and why we as a species like it so much. We are joined by the very learned Declan Jones, one of Melbourne’s talented musicians. Every human society has music. It is a Cultural Universal which features in all cultures and tribes around the world. Music is thought to have … Continue reading Discussion #14: Your Brain on Music →
This week we discuss the topic, ‘Why do big projects fail’. With a slant towards IT projects due to our backgrounds in the field, we discuss and explore some examples of failures to date. There are different types of project failure, where the project is: complete but costs too much; complete but too late; complete … Continue reading Discussion #13 – Why do Big Projects Fail? →
Susan Blackmore, a psychologist and researcher who is an authority in the field of “memetics”, posted a recent article on the Richard Dawkins Foundation site describing her dismay at having religious students walk out of one of her memetics lectures. Muslim and Christian students took exception to her description of religion as a “virus of … Continue reading Discussion #12 – Atheists, Retail Therapy and Baptist Zombies →
This week we are joined again by Nick Raphael to discuss doomsday scenarios – ways in which our world (or at least the human race) may end. We’ve picked a few of our favourites, from meteors to killer robots to meme epidemics, and we review their feasibility (and entertainment value) in light of what we … Continue reading Discussion #11 – The Doomsday Review →
Everyone makes mistakes so why can’t you? – Big Bird, Sesame Street Life is all about making mistakes. As we age, interrogating our own personal histories for mistakes yields more and more useful lessons, for those who wish to go through the exercise (it’s painful to do so). Whether it is in a performance review … Continue reading Discussion #10 – The Science (and Art) of Making Mistakes →
[Today’s discussion is about Constructor Theory as proposed by David Deutsch. The original 2012 paper can be found here .] A recent article in Scientific American introduced us to the ideas of David Deutsch and his Constructor Theory. Constructor Theory seeks to formulate “meta-laws” which sit “above” the laws of physics and determine them. They … Continue reading Discussion #9 – Constructor Theory, Meta-Laws and the Face of God →
This week we welcome John Hanly, our latest guest on the audio blog who has a special personal connection to The Gentlemen Scientists – he is Brian’s father! John has had a long, varied and fascinating career as a Catholic priest in training, a psychologist, businessman and consultant and writer – a true polymath. Tonight … Continue reading Discussion #8 – Memes, Psychology and Religion – Are we better than we used to be? →
[Today’s discussion sponsored by The Copenhagen Interpretation remix of R Kelly’s Ignition– the Gentlemen Scientists suggest that you play it as a soundtrack] The Gentlemen Scientists are joined tonight by guest Nick Raphael, a friend and ex-colleague who is also a graduate in Physics from the University of Manchester. It provides us with an excellent … Continue reading Discussion #7 – Quantum mechanics, black holes and branes →
[Today’s discussion sponsored by Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards] You may have noticed that along with the computer science, psychology and complexity theory, we Gentlemen Scientists often indulge a bit of nostalgia. In today’s discussion, we welcome our first guest Gentlemen Scientist Simon Hutchison to chat about computer games. Simon … Continue reading Discussion #6 – Computer Games, People and Prophylactics →
[Today’s discussion sponsored by this classic episode of Seinfeld] George Costanza eating a chocolate bar with a fork – soon everyone is doing it Richard Dawkins coined the term “meme” in Chapter 11 of his seminal work “The Selfish Gene” as “a unit of cultural transmission, or a unit of imitation” and thus the field … Continue reading Discussion #5 – Musings on Memetics, Music and Mars Bars →
[Today’s discussion inspired by Richard Brodie‘s website http://www.memecentral.com/] Richard Brodie is an interesting cat – author, computer programmer and the inventor of Microsoft Word (!). He likes talking about memes. He writes some wonderful anecdotes. He loves to play poker. And he talks about living at a Level 3 of consciousness. As Gentlemen Scientists we … Continue reading Discussion #4 – Levels of Consciousness, Meta-Cognition and Supercharged Evolution →
As teenage Gentlemen Scientists, we were gods. We created little worlds and peopled them with creatures, and then watched those creatures – whether bugs, people, trees, or birds – live and die according to our rules. But the reason that we found that fascinating was not because we wielded absolute power, but because our simulations … Continue reading Discussion #3 – Gods, Pixels and Flocking Birds – Are We Living in a Simulation? →
Most computer programmers would say that a “good” programmer never writes self-modifying code. The main reason being that a self-modifying program is unstable and unpredictable. A program that changes itself is generally equated with a malicious program (e.g. a virus). But early researchers in computing worked with self-modifying code, partly driven by their scarcity of … Continue reading Discussion #2 – Self-modifying Systems, “Non-Turing” Machines and King’s Quest I →
In addition to thinking about things and doing things, as Gentlemen Scientists we do also like to talk about things. Having each spent half a lifetime honing our skills in wildly misinformed speculation and meandering discussion, we now feel qualified to unleash some of our thoughts upon the world at large. Each week (or whenever) … Continue reading Discussion #1 – The Turing Test, Astro Boy and Machines That Feel Your Pain →