The Answers – What Are The Questions? (Episode 18b)

Tzvi’s burning question is who wrote the Torah and when? Meir-Simchah is miffed by his co-host’s heresy. It ends well. Tzvi neither burns up Torah, nor burns at the stake (yet). Then Meir-Simchah confesses to burning over questions like how do languages work and evolve, how are flocking birds like computers but maybe more like us, and ultimately how does meaning emerge from structure? He also fires a volley in the war over gender and pronouns. Then, nearly doublebacking on our argument against scientism, we look at how nature is the good and (for you kabbalists out there) come to a new understanding of chesed.
Some references:
Will Stephen’s TED parody www.youtube.com/watch?v=8S0FDjFBj8o, Sam Harris’ talk about facts and values www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hj9oB4zpHww (which itself falls into a scientist problem), and Radhika Nagpal’s talk on swarm intelligence www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bRocfcPhHU. Work by Lera Boroditsky (lera.ucsd.edu/papers/). The oeis.org (music from here: oeis.org/search?q=a001414&sor…ge=english&go=Search).