The Curious Engineer

All blogs / Essays / personal

Steve Patterson

steve-patterson.com

in pursuit of truth

Essays / personalMathSociety / politics / economy

’15’20’25
Posts
285 from 8 Aug 2014 to 19 Mar 2025
Posting
now and then
Kind
personal blog
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2025 3

  1. The Problem of Physical Interaction
  2. Geometry as Logic
  3. Everything in Discrete Space

2024 7

  1. Information and Spirit
  2. Why We Need to Replace Mathematics
  3. 4 Steps to the Immaterial
  4. Interview w/Bob Murphy on the Mind-body Problem
  5. Interview on “The Digger” with Phil Harper
  6. New Book about Bitcoin!
  7. Apriorist Geometry and Curved Space

2023 13

  1. Why Language Machines do not have Souls
  2. Self-Reference without Paradox
  3. Is Everything Quantifiable?
  4. Sensations and Interpretations
  5. Theoretical Pluralism and Chess
  6. A New Paradigm to Explain Chronic Illness/Inflammation
  7. Three Confirmed Paradoxes in Mathematics
  8. The Objectivity of Structure Outside our Concepts
  9. “Artificial Intelligence: Promise and Perils” with Tom Woods
  10. Understanding Marxism through Metaphysics
  11. Ep. 106 – Living with the Robots | Dr. RollerGator
  12. Ep. 105 – The Philosophy of AI (pt 1) | Alexandros Marinos
  13. Markets Fail to Solve the Complexity Problem

2022 3

  1. Things I Like About Christianity
  2. Interview on the Dark Horse Podcast with Dr. Bret Weinstein
  3. Ep. 104 – “No Longer a Christian” | Isaac Deitz

2021 2

  1. Our Present Dark Age, Part 1
  2. Ep. 103 – “Mad at Mathematicians” | Isaac Morehouse

2020 5

  1. Ep. 102 – Scientific Progress and Intellectual Schelling Points | Dr. Geoff Anders
  2. Critical Thinking | Zooming In and Zooming Out
  3. Why Calculus Does Not Solve Zeno’s Paradoxes
  4. Ep. 101 – Is a Ruling Class Inevitable? | Samo Burja
  5. Coming Around to Platonism

2019 8

  1. Ep. 100 – Trying to Solve Philosophy | Patterson in Pursuit
  2. Ep. 99 – Non-Rationality and Psychedelics | Dr. Bernardo Kastrup
  3. Ep. 98 – “A Consciousness-Only Ontology” | Dr. Bernardo Kastrup
  4. Understanding God as Nature or The Universe
  5. Ep. 97 – Math Heresy: Ultrafinitism | Dr. Doron Zeilberger
  6. Ep. 96 – Truth and Postmodernism | Breakdown of Thaddeus Russell Interview
  7. Ep. 95 – The Highest IQ in America | Christopher Langan
  8. Mind-Body Dualism | Solving the Interaction Problem

2018 23

  1. Putting Bitcoin on Plastic + Improving 0-conf for POS Transactions
  2. Responding to Jason Brennan’s Review of Square One
  3. Ep. 94 – A Satoshi Nakamoto Story | Phil “Scronty” Wilson
  4. The Historical Context for Understanding Modern Mathematics
  5. Ep. 93 – Abortion, Natural Rights, and Evictionism | Dr. Walter Block
  6. Ep. 92 – 6 Years of Mystery Illness: When Western Medicine Fails
  7. Ep. 91 – Tom Woods on Catholicism, Papal Authority, and Intellectual Entrepreneurship
  8. Ep. 90 – The Overwhelming Beauty of Free Markets | Jeffrey Tucker
  9. The Abuse of Apriorism in Economics
  10. Ep. 89 – Is the Whole Greater than the Sum of Its Parts? | Dr. Andrew Brenner
  11. An Idea for Extreme Data Compression
  12. Ep. 88 – Watch Out for Bitcoin Cash | Ryan X. Charles
  13. Ep. 87 – Race and Colorblindness: Part II | TK Coleman
  14. Ep. 86 – Race and Colorblindness: Part I | TK Coleman
  15. Challenging Empiricism with Poker
  16. Ep. 85 – College Isn’t for Education | Dr. Bryan Caplan
  17. Ep. 84 – When Logic Met Math | Dr. Graham Priest
  18. Ep. 83 – Logic, Contradictions, and the Liar Paradox | Dr. Graham Priest
  19. Ep. 82 – Do Entities Exist? | Breakdown of Chalmers Interview
  20. Ep. 81 – The Ethics of Eating Meat | Dr. Mike Huemer
  21. Ep. 80 – A Debate about Truth and Postmodernism | Thaddeus Russell
  22. Ep. 79 – Postmodernism, Marxism, Love, and Religion | Thaddeus Russell
  23. Ep. 78 – The Case for Idealism | Dr. Bernardo Kastrup

2017 79

  1. Time for Writing and Health
  2. Ep. 77 – Why I Support Catalonia’s Secession
  3. How to Build a Geometric Theory?
  4. Euclidean Triangles, Irrational Numbers, and the Purpose of Geometric Theories
  5. Do Geometric Points Actually Exist?
  6. Ep. 76 – Metaphysical Questions, Objectivist Answers | Dr. David Kelley
  7. Skepticism of Euclidean Geometry?
  8. Ep. 75 – Do We Perceive Reality? | Dr. Donald Hoffman
  9. Dogmatic Rationalism and Empiricism
  10. Ep. 74 – Race and American Politics | T.K. Coleman
  11. Are the Laws of Physics Physical? Are They Algorithmic?
  12. Ep. 73 – Race, Culture, and Judgments | T.K. Coleman
  13. Ep. 72 – The Real Story Behind Bitcoin Cash | Ryan X. Charles
  14. Ep. 71 – Meditation and the Absence of Self | Oren J. Sofer
  15. Ep. 70 – Should Feminism and Philosophy Mix? | Interview Breakdown
  16. Ep. 69 – Hegel and Paradox | Dr. Donald Verene
  17. The Fashionable Thinkers
  18. Ep. 68 – Corruption in the Silk Road Case | Lyn Ulbricht
  19. How to Deal with “Alien Abductions” and “Bigfoot Sightings”
  20. Ep. 67 – Catholicism, the Church, and Faith | Fr. Oscar Martin
  21. Unifying the Plural into the Simple
  22. Ep. 66 – Ethics, Capitalism, the Meaning of Life, and Social Justice | Dr. Patrick Byrne
  23. Ep. 65 – “Ultra Spiritual” or “Actually Spiritual” | JP Sears
  24. Pi is a Rational, Finite Number
  25. Ep. 64 – Science, Peer Review, and Academic Bullshit | Brian Earp
  26. Ep. 63 – The Limits of the Non-Aggression Principle | Interview Breakdown
  27. What Does “Root” Really Mean?
  28. Ep. 62 – Bitcoin, OpenBazaar, and Political Power | Sam Patterson
  29. Is Space Mental?
  30. Ep. 61 – Ayn Rand’s Objectivism | Dr. David Kelley
  31. You Live in Your Mind
  32. Ep. 60 – Dialogue with a Buddhist Monk | Phra Maha Chanomkorn Prakai
  33. It Doesn’t Take a Genius to Challenge Orthodoxy
  34. Ep. 59 – Can You Approach Infinity? | Dr. Michael Huemer
  35. Is the World Blurry? | The Modernist Fallacy
  36. Ep. 58 – The Psychology of Postmodernism | Dr. Stephen Hicks
  37. Ep. 57 – Are Some Objects Mind-Dependent? | Interview Breakdown
  38. Tai Chi Master Gets Destroyed | Parallels the World of Ideas
  39. Ep. 56 – Zen Buddhism | Keiho Nishigaki
  40. Ep. 55 – Are Science and Religion Incompatible? | Dr. Peter Harrison
  41. Data versus Anecdotes: From Ghosts to Levaquin
  42. Ep. 54 – Psychedelic Experience: Ayahuasca | The World Wanderers
  43. Learning = Discovering the Basics | I Learn How to Draw
  44. Ep. 53 – One Year, 10 Countries | What I’ve Learned
  45. Ep. 52 – Are Some Infinities Bigger Than Others? | Dr. Toby Meadows
  46. The Social Hierarchy
  47. Ep. 51 – Feminist Philosophy | Dr. Michelle Boulous-Walker
  48. People Love Hierarchy
  49. Ep. 50 – Argumentation Ethics | Stephan Kinsella
  50. The Metaphysics of Fiction
  51. Infinities and Skepticism in Mathematics: Steve Patterson interviews N J Wildberger
  52. Ep. 49 – Is Consciousness “Emergent”? | Dr. David Braddon-Mitchell
  53. A Naive Political Theory
  54. Ep. 48 – Skepticism of Infinity in Mathematics | Dr. Norman Wildberger
  55. Academia: the Modern Church
  56. Ep. 47 – Problems with Paraconsistent Logic | Interview Breakdown
  57. 3 Steps for Changing a Paradigm
  58. Ep. 46 – Buddhism and Boundaries | Interview Breakdown
  59. A Requirement for True Love
  60. The Jason Brennan Meltdown
  61. Jason Brennan’s Original Review of Square One
  62. Jason Brennan’s Full Review of Square One [Version 2]
  63. Ep. 45 – Infinite Sets: Understanding the Basics | Dr. Gareth
  64. Objects Are Not Physical
  65. Ep. 44 – SJWs, the Left, and Academia | Dr. Jamie Whyte
  66. Infinite Circle = Straight Line?
  67. Ep. 43 – Indigenous Beliefs of New Zealand | Dr. Hirini Kaa
  68. You Cannot See Me | How the Mind Constructs the World
  69. Ep. 42 – Truth and Paraconsistent Logic | Dr. Patrick Girard
  70. Words and Language Warriors
  71. Ep. 41 – Race Relations, Part II | T.K. Coleman
  72. Ep. 40 – Race Relations | T.K. Coleman
  73. IndieGoGo Campaign to Fund Jason Brennan’s Review of Square One
  74. Ep. 39 – Theism without the OmniGod | Dr. John Bishop
  75. The Project is Growing; Come Work with Me
  76. The Solution to Racism
  77. Ep. 38 – The Post-Truth Era | Dr. Robert Nola
  78. The Oldest Person in the World Keeps Dying
  79. Ep. 37 – Free Will, Causality, and Pluralism | Dr. Mario De Caro

2016 70

  1. There Are No Objective Definitions
  2. Ep. 36 – Christmas Breakdown | Scrooge Edition
  3. Words, Concepts, and Referents
  4. Ep. 35 – Legalizing All Drugs | Dr. Jeffrey Miron
  5. Ep. 34 – The Foundations of Knowledge
  6. Ep. 33 – Do Mathematical Objects Exist? | Dr. Jody Azzouni
  7. Just released: Square One: The Foundations of Knowledge
  8. Ep. 32 – Minds, Machines, and Souls | Interview Breakdown
  9. Ep. 31 – Religious Experience | Isaac Morehouse
  10. Ep. 30 – Buddhism, the Self, and Boundaries | Dr. Janet Gyatso
  11. Ep. 29 – Trump and Conservatism | Dr. Harvey Mansfield
  12. Ep. 28 – Questions for a Christian Theologian | Dr. Ian McFarland
  13. Ep. 27 – Intellectual Optimism | T.K. Coleman
  14. Ep. 26 – Why I’m Not in Academia
  15. Ep. 25 – Artificial Intelligence and Minds | Dr. Bram van Heuveln
  16. Ep. 24 – John Searle and Dualism | Interview Breakdown
  17. Skittles = Immigrants? | How Analogies Work
  18. Ep. 23 – Postmodernism | Dr. Stephen Hicks
  19. Ep. 22 – Understanding Infinity | Dr. Daniel Isaacson
  20. Ep. 21 – Consciousness and Materialism | Dr. John Searle
  21. Ep. 20 – Democracy to Anarchism | Interview Breakdown
  22. Ep. 19 – Three Basic Concepts in Economics | Dr. Donald Boudreaux
  23. Ep. 18 – Democracy, More or Less | Dr. Bruce Cain
  24. Ep. 17 – Oxford Analysis | Interview Breakdown
  25. Ep. 16 – What is Logic? | Dr. Timothy Williamson
  26. Cantor Was Wrong | There Are No Infinite Sets
  27. Ep. 15 – Anarchist Intuition | Libertarian Political Philosophy
  28. Ep. 14 – Understanding Quantum Physics | Dr. Simon Saunders
  29. Ep. 13 – Austrian Economics: Deduction, Logic, and Theory | Dr. Peter Boettke
  30. Less Than 1000 Brits Googled “What is the EU?” After Referendum
  31. Ep. 12 – Brexit!
  32. A Real Libertarian Answers the CNN Townhall Questions
  33. Ep. 11 – Logical Contradictions at Columbia University | Interview Breakdown
  34. The DAO Was Not Hacked | The Mt. Gox of Ethereum
  35. Ep. 10 – Christian Beliefs, Experiences | Dr. Robert Murphy
  36. Ep. 9 – Logic, Contradictions, and Dialetheism | Dr. Justin Clarke-Doane
  37. Ep. 8 – Completed Infinities: Possible or Not? | Dr. Gary McGuire
  38. The Crucifixion: A Unification of Love and Hate
  39. Ep. 7 – Egoism, Religion, Ayn Rand | Michael Malice
  40. Ep. 6 – Interview Breakdown: Pragmatism, Objective Truth, and Anarchism
  41. Ireland Update
  42. Ep. 5 – American Pragmatism | Dr. John Stuhr
  43. Ep. 4 – Irrational Voters, Law without Government, and the Case Against Education | Dr. Bryan Caplan
  44. Ep. 3 – Consciousness and Subjectivity | Dr. Emrys Westacott
  45. Ep. 2 – Is There Objective Truth? | Dr. Emrys Westacott
  46. Ep. 1 – Introduction | Patterson in Pursuit
  47. Does the Mind Create Reality?
  48. The Cosmic Back Massage
  49. Traveling the World to Pursue Truth
  50. Continuing the Socratic Journey
  51. Are There “Inherent Mysteries” in the Universe?
  52. Challenging Empiricism with Poker
  53. Gender, Sex, and Language
  54. You Are Not How You Self-Identify
  55. How Progressives Can Fix the Economy
  56. Certain Truth: Perception is Happening
  57. There Are No Objective Definitions
  58. What Are Numbers?
  59. What Is Religiosity?
  60. Why Am I Not in Academia?
  61. An Objective Standard for Sanity
  62. What IS Truth, Anyway?
  63. The Rubik’s Cube Solves Any Paradox
  64. Which Comes First: Head or Heart?
  65. Hiding Behind Abstractions
  66. Your Conclusions Don’t Matter
  67. Infinite Things Do Not Exist
  68. The Watch & The Hierarchy of Knowledge
  69. What’s Coming in 2016?
  70. The Principles of Learning Anything

2015 58

  1. Deduction, Induction, and Axioms
  2. The Bittersweet Paradox | On Mutual Exclusivity
  3. Tautologies Must Not Be Dismissed
  4. The Logic Behind the Infinite Regress [video]
  5. The Metaphysics of Logic
  6. Karma or Coincidence?
  7. A Seed of Doubt | Experts and Incompetence
  8. The Logic of Nothing
  9. The Case for Cultural Appropriation
  10. How Brazilian Jujitsu Explains the Popularity of Bad Ideas in Academia
  11. The Case Against Physicalism
  12. Seeking Truth Means Rejecting Faith
  13. A Year of Writing | My Stats, Stories, and the Future
  14. Hillary Clinton Tells Wall Street, “Cut it out! Quit foreclosing on homes!”
  15. When Clarity is Seen As Shallowness
  16. The Bitcoin Brothers Interview with Bob Murphy
  17. The Logic Behind Mysticism and the “Oneness of the Universe”
  18. Does Free Will Even Make Sense?
  19. The Logic of the Infinite Regress
  20. Economic Reality Comes Before Social Justice
  21. Logic and Infinity: The Errors of Calculus
  22. New Book Announcement!
  23. How to Resolve the Liar’s Paradox [VIDEO]
  24. Dying Mid-Sentence
  25. The Metaphysics of Mathematics; Against Platonism
  26. On the Mind’s Access to Objective Truth
  27. Faith and Reason
  28. My Experience with Christian Evangelicalism
  29. Colors, Continuums, and Confusion
  30. Gay Marriage and the Absurdity of Courts
  31. The Basics of Libertarianism
  32. Is it Honorable to be in the Military?
  33. Steak and Certainty
  34. Defending Zeno’s Paradox
  35. Philosophy Versus Practicality
  36. All is One: The Logical Case for Mysticism
  37. You Are Going to Die; Live Accordingly
  38. Against “Doing the Right Thing”
  39. The Sliding Scale of Certainty
  40. Another Death in the Family
  41. Logic is not a Convention
  42. Everything is Grounded in Logic
  43. Theory Versus Reality: My Economic Predictions
  44. When Being Colorblind is Racist: the Baltimore Riots
  45. Assume Everybody is Wrong
  46. No, Chairs Do Not Exist
  47. Rand Paul and the Sorry State of American Politics
  48. A Requirement for True Love
  49. Free Audiobook Version of “What’s the Big Deal about Bitcoin?”
  50. Resolving the Liar’s Paradox
  51. Six Months of Writing; Support Through Patreon
  52. Two Years After Mom Died
  53. Reparations and the Intertemporal Justice Warriors
  54. Postmodernism is Anti-Mind (Literally)
  55. New Audiobook version of “What’s the Big Deal About Bitcoin?”
  56. Quantum Physics and the Abuse of Reason
  57. My First Book is Now Available!
  58. Charlie Hebdo as an Excuse to Take Selfies

2014 14

  1. What’s the Big Deal About Bitcoin? | New Book
  2. You Don’t Know Ebola
  3. Paradox Resolved: Buridan’s Ass
  4. Intellectual Dismissal and the Existence of God
  5. Can You Judge Intelligence Based on Beliefs?
  6. The Starting Point in Philosophy
  7. The US Can Learn from Scotland
  8. An Anarchist’s Take on Scotland
  9. Life-Support Television
  10. Love, Insanity, and Austrian Economics
  11. Paradox, Nonsense, and California
  12. From Conservative to Anarchist
  13. The Death of Skepticism
  14. My Bachelor’s Degree Means Nothing