Ep. 161 Steve Landsburg and Bob Murphy on Whether God or Math Is the Answer to Why
In a very philosophical episode, University of Rochester economist Steve Landsburg makes his pitch that mathematics is the reason there is something rather than nothing. Bob argues that this approach lacks one critical component: God.
Mentioned in the Episode and Other Links of Interest:
- The YouTube version of this interview.
- Steve Landsburg’s presentation, “Why Is There Something Instead of Nothing?”
- Steve Landsburg’s books The Armchair Economist and Can You Outsmart an Economist? #CommissionsEarned (As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.)
- Steve’s website.
- Steve’s recent book for the Fraser Institute, The Essential Milton Friedman.
- Steve’s original appearance on the Bob Murphy Show ep. 6.
- Bob explains Godel’s Incompleteness Theorems on BMS ep. 7.
- The Tom Woods Show episode on one of Aquinas’ arguments for the existence of God.
- Help support the Bob Murphy Show.
The audio production for this episode was provided by Podsworth Media.
About the author, Robert
Christian and economist, Chief Economist at infineo, and Senior Fellow with the Mises Institute.
The most remarkable thing I heard in this episode was that a guy in a comments section accepted that he was wrong.
….that’s not a dig at the episode, which was very interesting. I’m just amazed that that happened.
Oh wow, somebody discovered the platonic ideal.
This all seems like a mental circle jerk, redefining words until they “prove” what you meant to prove.
Different idea: numbers and triangles don’t “exist,” the criterion for “existing” is that it’s tangible/physical. The category for what numbers and triangles are “can somebody imagine it.” People can imagine numbers and triangles, and they can imagine unicorns. They can touch neither.
Oh wow, I’ve discovered materialism.
Honestly I don’t get the shock & awe some people have with math. Oh, “discovering” the eternal truth of math, the legendary idea? Anything that somebody can think of was possible to imagine before that person did imagine. David was in the stone before Michelangelo created him. Did Michelangelo “discover” David? Did DaVinci “discover” the Mona Lisa? Did I discover my name in the snow?
You’ve missed the critical distinction between an idea of a being and a being itself. You should listen to the podcast once again.
This was a super podcast. Loved it. Thank you!!