Ep 49: Critical Rationalism & Religion with Bruce Nielson and Peter Johansen

Bruce Nielson and Peter Johansen of the Theory of Anything podcast explain why atheists reading David Deutsch are having their first spiritual experience, defend Frank Tipler's Omega Point, and show us the leap of faith at the bottom of science itself.

Bruce Nielson and Peter Johansen host The Theory of Anything, a podcast hunting the connections between everything through the "four strands" of David Deutsch's worldview — quantum physics, evolution, Popperian epistemology, and computation. Bruce is a lifelong Latter-day Saint and former Mormon blogger who went back for a machine-learning master's at Georgia Tech to chase the problem of AGI; Peter is a former Sam Harris–forum atheist who founded the Many Worlds of David Deutsch Facebook group — and, after Deutsch, isn't sure what he is anymore.

• The Theory of Anything podcast — also on Spotify
• The Many Worlds of David Deutsch — Peter's Facebook group
• Bruce Nielson on X (@BNielson01)
• Read David Deutsch: The Fabric of Reality and The Beginning of Infinity
• Read The Physics of Immortality — Frank Tipler
• Read Dominion — Tom Holland
• Read Orthodoxy — G.K. Chesterton (free at Project Gutenberg)
• Watch on YouTube