yego.me
💡 Stop wasting time. Read Youtube instead of watch. Download Chrome Extension

We’re at the Beginning of an Infinity of Knowledge


2m read
·Nov 3, 2024

The difference with "The Beginning of Infinity" is that you're getting a worldview. You're not being given the standard take from physicists about how to understand quantum theory. You're not being given the standard take of how to understand knowledge from philosophers, and you're certainly not being given the standard take of how to understand mathematics from mathematicians.

Deutsch is qualified in all these areas; he's an expert in all these areas. So, the worldview itself—what's at the core of it? Deutsch's worldview is that reality is comprehensible. Problems are soluble. It's a deeply rationally optimistic worldview. It believes in good explanations, good scientific explanations, and progress.

Progress is inevitable as long as we have these good explanations. Good explanations have tremendous reach; they are acts of creativity. Humans are problem solvers and can solve all problems. All sins and evil are due to a lack of knowledge. One can be optimistic about constant progress.

That's what the title "The Beginning of Infinity" refers to: that we're at the beginning of an infinite series of progress. It's a very optimistic take. It believes that we are at home in the universe; the universe is ours as a resource to learn about and exploit. That material wealth is a set of physical transformations that we can affect.

Everything that is not forbidden by the laws of physics is eventually possible through knowledge and knowledge creation. He also talks about how humans are universal explainers. That anything that can be known and understood can be known and understood by human beings in the computational power of a human system.

It's all knowable; it's all noble by humans. We're the beginning of an infinity of knowledge. As we understand things using good explanations and we create new theories that are constantly being destroyed and replaced by better ones, there's no endpoint in sight. There's no perfection; every theory can be falsified and improved.

That we are on our way to being able to do everything that is not forbidden by the laws of physics.

Thank you to Eight Sleep for supporting the Naval Podcast. All of the sponsorship revenue goes to our guests to support their work. Eight Sleep makes a heating and cooling smart mattress, which they tell us gets you to sleep 32 percent faster with 40 percent fewer sleep interruptions.

Go to eightsleep.com/infinity for a discount. I'll put a link in the show notes.

More Articles

View All
O'Leary Ventures President Talks Mortgages, Wines and Bags of Cash!
Now this is the story of a young man, a law school graduate, who, uh, paid off his student loan, huge student loan, with cash. How do you do something like this? We’re joined now by Alex Kenji of Toronto, president of O’Leary Ventures, a startup investmen…
How To Live Frugally and Achieve Financial Independence
What’s up you guys? It’s Graham here. So this is a really interesting topic: how to live frugally and achieve financial independence. This is something that at its core is really, really simple. It’s not at all complicated. In fact, I could sum up everyth…
LearnStorm Growth Mindset: Khan Academy's economics content creator on learning strategies
My name is Melanie Fox. I create the AP Macroeconomics and AP Microeconomics content for Khan Academy. Well, if you don’t develop that mindset and you say, “I can’t overcome this,” this barrier, you’ve just made that barrier permanent for yourself. For …
Shocking Footage of Baby Elephant Tossed Around by Adult, Explained | National Geographic
Suddenly, a young male comes into view, pushing a baby elephant. “Oh my God, that’s a boom!” No, no, he picks it up. Oh, meanwhile, a female, if the baby’s mother, I believe, comes in and tries to rescue the calf and runs in front of him. He runs after h…
Volcanoes 101 | National Geographic
Our planet has a violent soul, majestic and often destructive. Volcanic explosions rattle our collective imagination: Krakatoa, Mount St. Helens, Etna. Yet, lay your eyes on the images; they simultaneously strike fear and awe in our hearts. But how did t…
15 Steps To Master Self-Discipline
Fifteen Steps to Master Self-Discipline Welcome to A Lux, calm the place where future billionaires come to get inspired. Hello, A Luxors! It feels amazing to dive into this particular topic. You’ve been bugging us for multiple weeks that this is the vide…