Robinson's Podcast

• 243 - Richard Wolff: Donald J. Trump and the End of America

  Richard Wolff is Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a visiting professor at The New School, where he works on economics in the Marxist tradition. This is Richard’s seventh appearance on Robinson’s Podcast. In his last appearance, episode #230, he and Robinson discussed Richard’s arguments against electing Donald Trump for president, as well as his analysis of the election. In this episode, Richard and Robinson talk about 2025 and the first weeks of Trump’s presidency, as well as what’s to come. More particularly, they discuss the irrelevance of Donald Trump, his domestic and global policies, China, narratives on the right and left, and the future of the United States. Richard’s latest book is Understanding Capitalism (Democracy at Work, 2024).Understanding Capitalism (Book): https://www.democracyatwork.info/understanding_capitalismClass Theory and History (Book): https://a.co/d/ht4trZNUnderstanding the 2024 Elections (Article): https://asiatimes.com/2024/08/capitalism-mass-anger-and-2024-elections/Richard’s Website: https://www.rdwolff.comEconomic Update: https://www.democracyatwork.info/economicupdateOUTLINE00:00 Introduction05:48 Three Months Later: Why Did Trump Defeat Harris?08:34 How the Left Can Defeat Donald Trump12:57 Donald J. Trump Is a Naughty Boy15:06 Why Kamala Harris Lost the Election16:27 Why Trump Won the Longshoremen’s Union (Because the Left Failed Them)25:23 Is Victor Davis Hanson Wrong About the Elites’ War on the Working Class?36:31 Did West Coast Elites Cause the LA Wildfire Disaster (Is Victor Davis Hanson Wrong?)?42:26 Why Richard Wolff Enjoys Tucker Carlson47:02 Can Psychoanalysis and the Subconscious Explain Donald Trump’s Victory?54:32 Why Unemployment Tanked Harris in the Election59:45 Deep Seek, The Chinese Phenomenon1:05:31 The Astonishing Story of How China Came to Dominate Elon Musk Over Electric Cars1:13:25 Donald Trump’s Huge Misunderstanding About Tariffs1:17:44 Donald Trump’s Irrational Bluster Tactics1:20:04 Richard Wolff Exposes Donald Trump’s Contradictions About Immigration1:34:23 The Marxist Truth About Why Immigrants Are a Gift to the United States1:41:37 The Weakness of the American Empire1:44:34 Why Trump’s Policies Will Increase Illegal Mexican Immigration and Drug Trafficking1:47:58 Should Trump Make Canada the 51st State?1:51:04 How Elites Rejected Donald Trump and Created the Man He Became1:54:45 On Larry Summers’s Debacle at Harvard (And How Donald Trump Did It Better)1:59:25 Why Donald Trump Wants to Take the Panama Canal (And the Actual Best Reason to Control It)2:02:33 How American Neocons Failed to Stop China From the World Superpower2:13:29 How the BRICS Are Drastically Outperforming the American Economy2:20:14 On Europe’s Impending Economic Doom2:25:18 Is There a Fatal Contradiction in Trump’s Climate Policy?2:30:03 On Donald Trump’s Anti-Elitist, Anti-DEI Rhetoric2:33:20 How Will AI Affect China and America’s Economic War?2:43:19 How Elon Musk is Only an Unsuccessful Bureaucrat2:45:04 How China’s Communist Government Is More Efficient than the United States’s2:48:11 Why the United States Is the Aggressor Against China2:51:10 Why Trump Thinks We Should Conquer Greenland3:02:18 On China’s Number One Global Priority3:09:41 What Marxists Learned from the Failure of the Soviet Union3:15:23 Some Key Lessons from Marx’s Kapital3:21:56 On How History Will Overwhelm Trump In the Next Four Years3:26:30 Donald Trump and the Gulf of America3:28:28 Why We Should Expect More of the Same from Donald Trump3:32:26 On His Hope For a Brighter Future From the LeftRobinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.comRobinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University.

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• 242 - Victor Davis Hanson: President Donald J. Trump and the Fate of the United States

  Victor Davis Hanson is a renowned classicist, military historian, and political commentator. He is the Martin and Illie Anderson Senior Fellow in Residence in Classics and Military History at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. Among numerous other awards, Victor was presented with the National Humanities Medal in 2007. Victor most recently appeared on episode #231, which came out just before the 2024 election, and where he made a case to vote for Donald Trump. In this episode, Robinson and Victor discuss the results of the election and President Trump’s inauguration. More particularly, they talk about the biggest challenges he will face as president, the class- and culture war in the United States, Trump’s rhetorical abilities, the California wildfires, and geopolitics, including our relationships with China, Canada, Russia, and the Middle East. Keep up with Victor on Twitter, through his website, and on his podcast, The Victor Davis Hanson Show. Victor’s Website: https://victorhanson.com Victor’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/VDHanson The Victor Davis Hanson Show: https://art19.com/shows/the-victor-davis-hanson-show The End of Everything: https://a.co/d/46O0mMB The Case for Trump: https://a.co/d/8Bf0OdC OUTLINE 00:00 Introduction 00:53 Victor’s Biggest Worries For Donald Trump’s Presidency 06:38 Donald Trump, The Troll 10:53 Should Donald Trump and the United States Annex Greenland and Canada? 12:50 Will President Donald Trump Take Over the Panama Canal? 14:57 Why the World Fears Donald Trump 17:53 Are the CIA and FBI More Damaging to the United States than Donald Trump? 25:33 The Ideological Disease that Caused the California Wildfire Disaster 28:33 How Victor’s Life Was Saved by Three Hispanic Women 30:08 Is Donald Trump the Problem with America, or Something Else? 32:13 The Real Reason People Hate Donald Trump 34:04 Victor Davis Hanson’s Rude Awakening at Stanford from University Elites 37:43 How California’s Incompetence Destroyed Its Own Water Supply 45:16 Did California Elites Cause the Los Angeles Wildfire Disaster? 50:48 Why Competence Defeated Ideology in Trump’s 2024 Election Victory 54:41 Does Donald Trump Have an Incompetent Cabinet? 1:04:45 Who’s More Competent? Blue Collar Americans or Bicoastal Elites? 1:07:07 Is China Trump’s Biggest Challenge? 1:11:44 Will the Middle East Finally See Peace Under Trump? Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University.

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• 241 - Raphael Bousso: The Cold Truth About Quantum Mechanics

  Raphael Bousso is the Chancellor’s Chair in Physics at the Berkeley Center for Theoretical Physics, where he leads the Bousso Group in research on quantum gravity and quantum information. He is a renowned string theorist famous also for his development of the string theoretic landscape and the Bousso bound in holography. In this episode, Robinson and Raphael talk about the foundations of quantum mechanics and whether or not there are any deep mysteries within the theory that remain to be solved, and whether philosophical discussion of these issues is overblown. More particularly, they get into what quantum theories tell us about the world, whether we need different interpretations of quantum mechanics, whether the final theory of the universe will be quantum mechanical, how quantum mechanics connects to cosmology, the multiverse, and quantum gravity, and more. The Bousso Group: https://lightsheet.berkeley.edu OUTLINE 00:00 Introduction 00:58 Raphael’s Interest in the Interpretations of Quantum Mechanics 06:11 What Does Quantum Mechanics Tell Us About the World? 19:43 Just What Is an Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics? 26:17 Are There Serious Holes in Quantum Mechanics? 31:01 Schrödinger’s Cat 45:11 UV Completion 48:57 Will The Final Theory of Physics Be Quantum Mechanical? 58:00 How Cosmology Might Help Answer Questions About Quantum Mechanics 1:13:44 String Theory and the Multiverse 1:20:39 How the Multiverse Can Explain Probability 1:30:01 Will the Foundations of Quantum Mechanics Help Us Solve Quantum Gravity? Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University.

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• 240 - Peter Godfrey-Smith: Cuttlefish, Octopuses, and the Consciousness of Mysterious Minds

  Robinson’s Podcast #240 - Peter Godfrey-Smith: Cuttlefish, Octopuses, and the Consciousness of Mysterious Minds Peter Godfrey-Smith is a professor in the School of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Sydney. He has also taught at Stanford University and Harvard University. Among other topics, he has researched the philosophy of biology and mind, and is very well-known for his book Other Minds: The Octopus, The Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness (FSG, 2016). In this episode, Peter and Robinson discuss that book, as well as his latest, Living on Earth (William Collins, 2024). More particularly, they discuss cuttlefish, octopuses, consciousness, metaethics, and animal welfare. Peter’s Website: https://petergodfreysmith.com Living on Earth: https://a.co/d/9MvUFHV OUTLINE 00:00 Introduction 01:10 Scuba Diving with Cuttlefish and Octopuses 09:43 Why Did Creatures Evolve Nervous Systems? 16:18 Why Did Conscious Minds Evolve? 27:23 Why Do We Believe that Other Animals Have Minds? 36:49 Do Shrimp or Fish Feel Pain? 47:01 What’s It Like to Be an Octopus? 57:32 What Is Metaethics? 1:04:57 First-Order Ethics 1:08:12 Is It Morally Acceptable to Eat Animals? 1:16:04 What Does Peter Eat? 1:29:49 Future Work

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• 239 - Ned Block: Consciousness, Artificial Intelligence, and the Philosophy of Mind

  Ned Block is Silver Professor at New York University in the Departments of Philosophy and Psychology, where he works on the philosophy of mind, the philosophy of neuroscience, and cognitive science. In this episode, Robinson and Ned discuss some of the titans he studied under, ChatGPT and the nature of artificial intelligence, the Turing Test, androids, consciousness, the connection between seeing and thinking, blindsight, change blindness, and more. Ned’s most recent book is The Border Between Seeing and Thinking (OUP, 2023). Ned’s Website: https://www.nedblock.us The Border Between Seeing and Thinking: https://a.co/d/fqVb7gj OUTLINE 00:00 Introduction 00:53 Ned’s Entry into Philosophy of Mind 02:08 On Hilary Putnam, John Rawls, and Philippa Foot 08:10 Can ChatGPT Do Multiplication? 10:57 Does Noam Chomsky Understand ChatGPT? 13:11 Is the Turing Test Completely Wrong? 17:52 On Daniel Dennett 23:46 On Michael Graziano and the Attention Schema Theory of Consciousness 26:03 Are Animals Conscious? 30:51 Does ChatGPT Pass the Turing Test? 36:53 Mary in the White Room 41:16 The Blockhead Thought Experiment 45:53 How to Show that ChatGPT Is Dumb 48:51 Why Can’t ChatGPT Reason About Images? 51:48 How to Create an Android 55:10 What Is Thought? 1:00:13 Susan Carey 1:03:19 Are There Different Kinds of Consciousness? 1:05:10 On Psychoanalysis 1:06:08 What Are Blindsight and Change Blindness? 1:11:38 The Difference Between Seeing and Thinking 1:16:03 Was Helen Keller Conscious? 1:18:39 Are Salmon Conscious? 1:20:58 What Are the Dominant Theories of Consciousness? 1:27:35 Do We Know What Consciousness Is? 1:31:25 Functionalism and Mental Properties Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University.

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