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NonTrivial

By: Sean McClure
  • Summary

  • Nontrivial is a podcast that looks to uncover deep patterns in life, discussing them at the intersection of science, complexity, and philosophy.
    © 2024 NonTrivial
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Episodes
  • The Difference Between Real and Polished
    May 28 2024

    Society has become a little too enamoured with analysis and explanation, at the cost of building real things. Nature only validates by making things that work. This is what true validation looks like; less talking, more pointing (at what has been made). In this episode I use Mike Tyson as an example of the difference between real and polished.

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    Check out the video version: https://www.youtube.com/@nontrivialpodcast
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    19 mins
  • Is Death Irrational?
    May 21 2024

    In this episode I discuss the increasingly popular idea that valuing death is irrational, and that death should be treated as a problem to solve. I argue that such a stance is itself irrational, and that death should be viewed more objectively as an essential piece to how nature works. I show how the death-as-a-problem stance suffers from being intractable, and fails to align to the fundamental roles that constraints and iteration play in successful systems.

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    Check out the video version: https://www.youtube.com/@nontrivialpodcast
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    26 mins
  • Nature is not Magic, Just Different: Why AI Shouldn't Surprise You
    May 16 2024

    In this episode I use a recent statement made by Sam Altman, regarding the emergence of intelligence, to highlight the outdated way both laymen and many scientists view AI specifically, and complexity more broadly. I argue that, despite what we are old, a truly scientific and rigorous theory or decision does not demand a causal explanation, and in fact such causal approaches are quite counter to doing good science today.

    Sam Atlam's excerpt: https://www.instagram.com/reel/C60dq1Oyw_r/
    Tweet: https://twitter.com/sean_a_mcclure/status/1789315878544453977

    Support the Show.

    Check out the video version: https://www.youtube.com/@nontrivialpodcast
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    32 mins

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