Alex O'Connor

I think we have some evidence that there's just not this engagement with the philosophical tradition.

I don't mean to insult these people.

I like Richard.

Richard's a friend of mine.

I think he knows that I disagree with his philosophical musings.

And he himself just admits, he says that he's just not interested in theology and philosophy.

It's just not what he wants to do.

He wants to do science.

I think fair enough.

But then maybe don't write a book with a chapter called Why There Almost Certainly Is No God.

But he did it because he cared about science.

He doesn't care about the Kalam cosmological argument or whatever.

He cares about evolution being taught in schools and that kind of stuff.

And so the idea that someone who cares about that and that's their way in is suddenly going to become interested in the, even in philosophy in the West.

It's not very popular.

The idea that these guys are going to engage with that, I think, is untrue.

And so that funnels down to the modern day, the sort of teenage atheist like me on YouTube making videos.

It took me years before I even encountered Indian philosophy, and that only came after I sort of calmed down a bit.

I would probably wait until this child was taking an interest in such things.

And I might ask them, I mean, it might be a bit young, 10, to start talking about consciousness.