Within Reason

Hank Green (@hankschannel) is one of YouTube's most beloved creators. One half of vlogbrothers, he is also the co-creator and host of SciShow and Crash Course. Timestamps:0:00 - Where Are All the Aliens? 8:08 - What Makes Humans So Special? 17:22 - Has the US Lost its Cultural Identity? 29:34 - Martin Luther Wrong About God? 36:30 - Is the World an Illusion? 46:54 - Should We Believe Our Illusions? 53:58 - How Objective is Science? 59:41 - Does Science Explain Anything? 01:11:10 - Could We Explain Cold to an Alien? 1:22:03 - The Hard Problem of Consciousness 01:27:44 - Will Computers Ever Become Conscious? 01:35:58 - Do You Have Two Brains? 01:42:30 - Should We Be Worried About TikTok? 1:49:08 - Hank’s Video Ideas 01:59:39 - What’s it Like Meeting Your Old Heroes? 2:05:51 - Being a YouTuber

Transcribed - Published: 7 December 2025

Michael Stevens is the creator of Vsauce, one of YouTube's most popular channels. Alongside Hannah Fry he hosts the newly-launched podcast The Rest is Science. Timestamps:0:00 - Does Anything Really Exist? 10:32 - Is Michael a Mereological Nihilist? 19:42 - Are Philosophers Overcomplicating Function Behaviour? 25:24 - Do “You” Really Exist? 41:57 - Free Will and the Bicameral Mind Theory 50:09 - Why the Future Isn’t Changing Like It Used To 59:11 - The Scientific Mystery of Torque? 01:17:46 - Consciousness

Transcribed - Published: 30 November 2025

Timestamps0:00 - What Existential Risks Does AI Pose?8:57 - How AI Systems Lie to Us26:04 - Why We Should Be Worried About AI33:28 - What Does It Mean for AI System to “Want” Something?43:41 - AI Weapons and Nuclear Warfare48:57 - Where Should We Focus Our Resources?53:35 - What Policies Should We Enact?

Transcribed - Published: 27 November 2025

Philip Goff is a British author, panpsychist philosopher, and professor at Durham University whose research focuses on philosophy of mind and consciousness. Specifically, how consciousness can be part of the scientific worldview. Buy Philip's books here. - Timestamps0:00 - Why Philip Became Religious7:13 - Panpsychism and the Fine-Tuning Argument18:46 - Why God’s Power is Limited30:10 - The Problem of Suffering42:53 - Non-Western Religious Positions48:34 - What is the Role of Jesus in This?57:35 - “Why Aren’t You Just a Hindu?”01:02:23 - What is the Point in the Crucifixion?01:09:41 - The Beautiful Uncertainty of Religion

Transcribed - Published: 16 November 2025

Get Huel today with this exclusive offer for New Customers of 15% OFF with code alexoconnor at https://huel.com/alexoconnor (Minimum $75 purchase). William MacAskill is a Scottish philosopher and author, as well as one of the originators of the effective altruism movement. Get his book. What We Owe the Future, here. 0:00 – The World Isn’t Ready for AGI9:12 – What Does AGIDoomsday Look Like?16:13 – Alignment is Not Enough19:28 – How AGI Could Cause Government Coups27:14 – Why Isn’t There More Widespread Panic?33:55 – What Can We Do?40:11 – If We Stop, China Won’t47:43 – What is Currently Being Done to Regulate AGI Growth51:03 – The Problem of “Value Lock-in”01:05:03 – Is Inaction a Form of Action?01:08:47 – Should Effective Altruists Focus on AGI?

Transcribed - Published: 9 November 2025

Bernardo Kastrup is a Dutch philosopher and computer scientist recognised for his contributions to consciousness studies, notably through his formulation of analytic idealism—a variant of metaphysical idealism rooted in the analytic tradition. Buy his books here. Timestamps:0:00 - What is the World Really Made Of? 7:11 - Qualities vs Quantities 9:45 - Can Materialism Explain Anything? 25:06 - Is There More Than What We Perceive? 33:57 - Can We Exist Without a Brain? 42:15 - What is Personhood? 48:35 - Consciousness is not the Self 54:46 - Why is Mental Activity Localised? 01:10:39 - Why Panpsychism Doesn’t Make Sense 01:22:20 - Distinguishing Idealism and Panpsychism 01:32:20 - Are There Distinctions Between Material Objects? 01:39:14 - The Illusion of the Self 01:46:16 - The Biggest Misunderstanding of Analytical Idealism

Transcribed - Published: 2 November 2025

Bear Grylls is a British adventurer, writer, television presenter and former SAS trooper who is also a survival expert. Widely known for his television series Man vs. Wild, he was also appointed as The Scout Association’s youngest-ever Chief Scout of the United Kingdom and Overseas Territories at the age of 35. His new book, The Greatest Story Ever Told, is a retelling of the life of Jesus through the eyes of five Gospel characters: Mary the mother of Jesus, Thomas, Peter, John, and Mary Magdalene. TIMESTAMPS:0:00 - Retelling Christianity in the First Person 12:36 - Faith and Doubt Come Together 16:46 - Did Bear’s Research Cause Doubt or Faith? 28:01 - Reconciling the Differences Between the Gospels 39:50 - On Not Putting Words in Jesus’ Mouth 48:59 - Where Alex’s Interest in the Gospels Began 55:24 - Travelling Back to the Time of Jesus: Where Would You Go?

Transcribed - Published: 26 October 2025

Exclusive NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/withinreason. Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee. Andrew Mark Henry is a scholar of religious studies. His research focus is early Christianity and late Roman religion. He earned his PhD at Boston University.His YouTube channel is "Religion for Breakfast", find it here. Timestamps:0:00 - Was Jesus a Magician?3:35 - The Origins of ‘Magic’10:02 - Celsus, Christianity’s Earliest Critic16:35 - The Wise Magi19:59 - Did Jesus Use a Wand?30:22 - Curses, Rituals, and Magical Formulas40:43 - What Kind of “Magus” Was Jesus?43:52 - Was Jesus a Freelance Ritual Expert?48:34 - Charisma and the Origin of Exorcism53:03 - Grimoires: The Magic of the Written Word01:08:40 - The Religion Department

Transcribed - Published: 19 October 2025

Dr. Qureshi-Hurst is a Philosopher of Religion and Science at the University of Cambridge. Her work focuses on the relationship between physics—and time in particular—and theology. Her forthcoming book, Decoding the Cosmos: God, Physics, and the Search for Deeper Explanation, explores this relationship in depth. Improve your focus with Brain FM with 30 days free: https://www.brain.fm/withinreason. TIMESTAMPS:0:00 - Does the Bible Predict the Big Bang?2:37 - Scientists and Theologians10:18 - Where Did Biblical Literalism Come From?17:31 - How Does Science Conflict with Theology?23:47 - Does God Experience Time?29:27 - The A, B and C Series of Time38:38 - Timeless God, Timed Universe42:52 - Christianity and the End of the Universe48:35 - Intelligent Design and Modern Science55:58 - Is Biblical Literalism a Plausible Reading?58:32 - Why Emily is an Atheist

Transcribed - Published: 12 October 2025

Ben Thomas is @Sisyphus55, a YouTuber creating videos about philosophy, existentialism, nihilism, absurdism, and meaning. His new book, So You're Having an Existential Crisis: a Roadmap for Lost Souls, is available now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 5 October 2025

Candida Moss is a historian of Christianity and author of The Myth of Persecution: How Early Christians Invented a Story of Martyrdom. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 28 September 2025

Get Huel today with this exclusive offer for New Customers of 15% OFF with code alexoconnor at https://huel.com/alexoconnor (Minimum $75 purchase). Robert Greene is an American author of books on strategy, power, and seduction. He has written seven international bestsellers, including The 48 Laws of Power. He is working on a book about the concept of the sublime, and speaks today about its relation to near-death experiences, dreaming, consciousness, and religious belief. Buy his books here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 21 September 2025

John Cottingham (born 1943) is an English philosopher. The focus of his research has been early-modern philosophy (especially Descartes), the philosophy of religion and moral philosophy. He is a Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the University of Reading, Professorial Research Fellow at Heythrop College, University of London, and Honorary Fellow of St John's College, Oxford. He is also a current Visiting Professor to the Philosophy Department at King's College, London. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 16 September 2025

Brant Pitre is an American New Testament scholar and Distinguished Research Professor of Scripture at the Augustine Institute. He has written extensively on the historical Jesus, the Virgin Mary, Paul the Apostle, the origin of the Eucharist, and the canonical Gospels. His book, Jesus and Divine Christology, is available here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 10 September 2025

Jim Al-Khalili is an Iraqi-British theoretical physicist and science populariser. He is professor of theoretical physics and chair in the public engagement in science at the University of Surrey. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 1 September 2025

Joe Folley runs the YouTube channel Unsolicited Advice. He graduated from Cambridge University in 202with an MPhil in Philosophy, specialising in logic. TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 - What is Logic?5:04 - Aristotelian vs Stoic Logic12:47 - How Logic Provides Clarity18:42 Ambiguities in Logical Language29:07 - Validity vs Soundness in a Logical Argument39:40 Why Anything Follows From a Contradiction47:42 - The Law of Non-Contradiction56:27 - What is Truth and Falsity in Logic?58:36 - Does Your Mum Know You’re Gay?1:05:05 What is Fuzzy Logic?01:08:14 - What is Modal Logic?01:13:40 - Informal Rules of Logic01:29:15 - Resources to Learn About Logic Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 24 August 2025

Dan McClellan is an American biblical scholar and author of The Bible Says So: What We Get Right (and Wrong) About Scripture’s Most Controversial Issues. Timestamps: 0:00 Why Does God Say “We”?14:36 Does God Create the Universe From Nothing?28:43 Is This Explained By The Trinity?34:32 Is There Only One God?47:39 Fake Idols or Gods?1:02:50 How English Translations Mislead Us Into Monotheism01:11:02 The Elevation of YHWH to God of the Universe1:20:36 Polytheism in the New Testament01:24:14 The Strongest Case For Monotheism in the Old Testament Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 17 August 2025

Peter Godfrey-Smith is an Australian philosopher of science and writer, who is currently Professor of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Sydney. Buy his books here. Timestamps: 0:00 How Many Times Has the Brain Independently Evolved? 4:36 What is a Nervous System? 7:12 The Differences Between the Human and Animal Brains 13:40 What Does an Octopus Brain Look Like? 25:21 What is it Like to be an Octopus? 35:48 Are the Mind and Body Distinct? 42:46 Panpsychism: Is Everything Conscious? 55:53 How Do Experiences Combine Into One Consciousness? 01:05:08 Which Animals Feel Pain? What is it Like? 01:16:51 Should We Make Shrimp Farming an Ethical Priority? 01:29:22 Animal Science and Animal Foods 01:35:59 The Ethics of Killing Animals 01:52:13 Are Octopuses Playful? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 10 August 2025

Niayesh Afshordi is a professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Waterloo. Phil Halper is a science communicator and YouTuber. Together, they have authored a book called "Battle of the Big Bang: The New Tales of Our Cosmic Origins", an overview of the state of modern cosmology on the nature of the big bang. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 4 August 2025

Simon Blackburn is well-known both as a writer of popular philosophy introductions (like Think), and also a significant figure in non-cognitivist meta-ethics, having invented the term “quasi-realism” to describe his moral philosophy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 28 July 2025

Sabine Hossenfelder is a German theoretical physicist, author, science communicator, and YouTuber. She is the author of Existential Physics: A Scientist’s Guide to Life’s Biggest Questions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 21 July 2025

Rick Alan Ross is an American deprogrammer, cult specialist, and founder and executive director of the non-profit Cult Education Institute. Frequently appearing in the news and other media, discussing groups some consider cults. Ross has intervened in more than 500 deprogramming cases in various countries. (Wikipedia) Get Rick's book, "Cults Inside Out: How People Get In and Can Get Out" here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 13 July 2025

Helen Bond is Professor of Christian Origins at the New College, University of Edinburgh, and former head of the School of Divinity there. She is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. In 2023, she co-authored a book with Joan Taylor called Women Remembered: Jesus’ Female Disciples. Watch the documentary version here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 6 July 2025

Sheehan Quirke is The Cultural Tutor. A writer on history, art, and architecture with millions of followers, he is also the author of the forthcoming The Cultural Tutor: Forty-Nine Lessons You Wish You’d Learned at School, which is currently available for preorder here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 1 July 2025

David Pakman is an American progressive political commentator and host of  @thedavidpakmanshow . Buy David's book, The Echo Machine here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 22 June 2025

Marcus du Sautoy is a British mathematician, Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science at the University of Oxford, Fellow of New College, Oxford and author of popular mathematics and popular science books. Buy Blueprints: How Mathematics Shapes Creativity here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 16 June 2025

Dale Allison is an American historian and Christian theologian. His areas of expertise include the historical Jesus, the Gospel of Matthew, Second Temple Jewish literature, and the history of the interpretation and reception of the Bible. Allison is the Richard J. Dearborn Professor of New Testament at Princeton Theological Seminary (2013- ). (Wikipedia) By Dale Allison's book, The Resurrection of Jesus, here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 12 June 2025

Diarmaid MacCulloch is an English academic and historian, specialising in ecclesiastical history and the history of Christianity. Since 1995, he has been a fellow of St Cross College, Oxford; he was formerly the senior tutor. Buy Lower than the Angels: A History of Sex and Christianity here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 29 May 2025

John Lennox is a Northern Irish mathematician, bioethicist, and Christian apologist originally from Northern Ireland. He has written many books on religion, ethics, the relationship between science and God, and has had public debates with atheists including Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcribed - Published: 22 May 2025

Annaka Harris is an American writer. Her work touches on neuroscience, meditation, philosophy of mind and consciousness. She is the author of the New York Times bestseller Conscious: A Brief Guide to the Fundamental Mystery of the Mind and the children's book I Wonder. Get Annaka Harris’ documentary Lights On here.

Transcribed - Published: 4 May 2025

Rhett McLaughlin is a comedian best known for creating the internet’s most-watched daily talk show, Good Mythical Morning along side Link Neal; their award-winning weekly podcast The pair also host a weekly podcast, Ear Biscuits; and the instant #1 New York Times bestseller Rhett & Link’s Book of Mythicality.

Transcribed - Published: 20 April 2025

David Deutsch is a British physicist at the University of Oxford, often described as the "father of quantum computing". He is a visiting professor in the Department of Atomic and Laser Physics at the Centre for Quantum Computation in the Clarendon Laboratory of the University of Oxford. (Wikipedia)

Transcribed - Published: 7 April 2025

David Deutsch is a British physicist at the University of Oxford, often described as the "father of quantum computing". He is a visiting professor in the Department of Atomic and Laser Physics at the Centre for Quantum Computation in the Clarendon Laboratory of the University of Oxford. (Wikipedia)

Published: 7 April 2025

Brian Greene is a professor of physics and mathematics at Columbia University, director of its centre for theoretical physics, and the chairman of the World Science Festival. He is best known for his work on string theory, especially in his book “The Elegant Universe”, which turns 25 this year.

Transcribed - Published: 2 April 2025

For episode 100 of Within Reason, I'm joined by Joe Folley, from the YouTube Channel "Unsolicited Advice", to tackle a completely arbitrary and ridiculous tournament of thinkers, each of whom are to some degree relevant to the show. Joe graduated from Cambridge University with an MPhil in Philosophy, specialising in logic, in 2023.

Transcribed - Published: 23 March 2025

Penn Badgley is an actor best known for his roles in Netflix’s You and the popular drama series Gossip Girl. He is less known as a podcaster and member of the Baháʼí Faith, a religion which teaches that there is a historical unity between major world religions and their prophets, having itself developed out of a branch of Twelver Shia Islam in the 19th century.

Transcribed - Published: 17 March 2025

Jacob Hansen is a Mormon YouTuber at the channel Thoughtful Faith.

Transcribed - Published: 10 March 2025

Kipp Davis (‪@DrKippDavis‬) is a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Agder in Kristiansand, Norway, where he specialises in the assignment and reconstruction of fragments from the Dead Sea Scrolls and their interpretation. (Google Books) The Dead Sea Scrolls are a set of ancient Jewish manuscripts from the Second Temple period. They were discovered over a period of 10 years, between 1946 and 1956, at the Qumran Caves near Ein Feshkha in the West Bank, on the northern shore of the Dead Sea. Dating from the 3rd century BCE to the 1st century CE, the Dead Sea Scrolls include the oldest surviving manuscripts of entire books later included in the biblical canons, including deuterocanonical manuscripts from late Second Temple Judaism and extrabiblical books. At the same time, they cast new light on the emergence of Christianity and of Rabbinic Judaism. (Wikipedia)

Transcribed - Published: 2 March 2025

A Q&A to celebrate hitting 1.25 million subscribers on YouTube.

Transcribed - Published: 1 March 2025

A Q&A to celebrate hitting 1.25 million subscribers on YouTube.

Published: 1 March 2025

James Frank McGrath is the Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University. He is the author of two books on John the Baptist: "John of History, Baptist of Faith: The Quest for the Historical Baptiser", and "Christmaker: A Life of John the Baptist".

Published: 31 January 2025

James Frank McGrath is the Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University. He is the author of two books on John the Baptist: "John of History, Baptist of Faith: The Quest for the Historical Baptiser", and "Christmaker: A Life of John the Baptist".

Transcribed - Published: 31 January 2025

Dan McClellan is an American public scholar of the Bible and religion. His forthcoming book, "The Bible Says So", is available here.

Transcribed - Published: 27 January 2025

Adam Aleksic is a linguist known online as "The Etymology Nerd". His educational videos are watched regularly by millions. His forthcoming book "Algospeak" is currently available for preorder.

Transcribed - Published: 21 January 2025

Bart Ehrman is a New Testament scholar focusing on textual criticism of the New Testament, the historical Jesus, and the origins and development of early Christianity. Get Bart Ehrman's new course, The Dark Side of Christmas (affiliate link).

Transcribed - Published: 20 December 2024

Filip Holm is the creator and host of "Lets Talk Religion", a YouTube channel which aims to educate on the subject of religion from an academic perspective. He joins the show to discuss Sufism, which can broadly be defined as the mystical tradition within Islam.

Transcribed - Published: 13 December 2024

Rainn Wilson is the actor and comedian best known for his role as Dwight Schrute on the The Office (US), for which he received three consecutive Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series. He is also the host of ‪‪Soul Boom‬, a podcast discussing spirituality, and authored a book of the same name exploring how we can use spiritual tools to help solve some of life's problems.

Transcribed - Published: 6 December 2024

Sheehan Quirke is the Cultural Tutor, a writer with 1.7 million followers on X. His work on art, history, and architecture is some of the most widely-enjoyed in the world. He writes a newsletter called the Areopagus.

Transcribed - Published: 28 November 2024

Ayaan Hirsi Ali is a Ayaan Hirsi Ali is a Somali-born Dutch-American writer, activist and former politician. Once an advocate for the new atheist movement, she last year announced her conversion to Christianity.

Transcribed - Published: 22 November 2024

Cliffe and Stuart Knechtle run the extremely popular online Christian ministry ‪'Give Me an Answer'‬. In this episode they discuss troubling passages in the Old Testament, New Testament sexism, Job, doubting Thomas, the unforgivable sin (blaspheming the Holy Spirit), and more.

Transcribed - Published: 13 November 2024