Alex O'Connor
speaker
2,073 appearances
2 recordings
2 series
first heard Sep 2025
last heard 25 May
Alex O'Connor’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 1 in all, peaking in May 2026 with 1.
Appearances
If it is true that science only describes, then as long as you have an explanatory question left, it's one that science is not going to be able to answer.
So I
I'd sort of encourage people to at least explore that thought.
It's totally fine to have confidence in your conclusions, but recognize it's about the method.
It's this optimism about the progress of science because of what it's done in the past, which is great, but you have to be very precise about exactly what it's done in the past and what it might therefore mimic in the future.
And answering foundational metaphysical questions about the nature of matter, why it exists in the first place, that kind of stuff, I just don't think it's an appropriate tool.
People will be thinking in their heads, but hold on, there are theories.
What about string theory?
I'm telling you that if you investigate these closely enough, you will realize that these are proposed descriptions of the nature of reality.
They're proposed descriptions of what's going on.
They don't answer the why question.
I think you're left with two options.
One is to say the why question is bogus.
Some people think that.
Richard Dawkins has said, if you ask a question like, what is the color of jealousy?
It makes grammatical sense, but it's a meaningless question.
And the why question might be the same.
Why do things exist?
If that's the case, maybe there is no why.
Maybe there are only descriptions.
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