Reason Is Fun

Conversations between David Deutsch and Lulie Tanett about topics ranging from emotions, AGI, reason and fun. Epistemology applied to everything. ”Reason Is Fun” is the idea that what is rational is the same as what is fun – that the fields of epistemology, morality and enjoyment are all deeply interconnected and compatible.

Last refreshed: July 8th, 2025 at 8:46 AM ⓘ

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Episodes

#5 - The Art of Decision Making

Lulie and David are joined by guest Mark Alexander, the Producer of Art of Accomplishment's Great Decisions course, to do a deeper dive into how decisions are made. They discuss having competing wants, Popperian problem-solving, the difference between 'shoulds' and a non-coercive (fun!) version of morality, emotion, and the participation of different subconscious processes in decision making. Mark asks "What are 'hangups'?", and David discusses mental blocks and how to get back to a creatively p...

Jan 04, 2024•49 min•Ep. 7

#4 - Decisions

Lulie and David chat about decision making. They discuss the roles of creativity, institutions and emotions in decision making, and the misconception that decisions are made by analysing data. The conversation explores how decision making isn't a mechanical process, but rests on creative thinking. David criticises Decision Theory as a framework for decisions, and Lulie wonders to what extent decision-making requires emotion. 00:00 Introduction – we're BACK, baby! 00:59 Difficulties people have w...

Jan 03, 2024•54 min•Ep. 6

#3 - Inexplicit Ideas & Embodiment

Lulie asks David Deutsch more about inexplicit ideas, what it means to be an inexplicit idea, and the nature of internal language. They also debate whether cognition is embodied. This is very much an 'into the jungle' episode, where neither of us know a lot about some of the topics discussed, but it's a lively conversation. TWITTER David Deutsch: https://twitter.com/DavidDeutschOxf/ Lulie Tanett: https://twitter.com/reasonisfun/...

Jun 03, 2023•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 5

#2 - Physics of Inexplicit Ideas

Lulie asks David Deutsch about how he came to the concept of 'inexplicit ideas' (knowledge that isn't in words), and it became a conversation about how inexplicit knowledge relates to quantum physics. TWITTER David Deutsch: https://twitter.com/DavidDeutschOxf/ Lulie Tanett: https://twitter.com/reasonisfun/ [The audio quality in this one isn't as pristine as last time, which had the lovely Sarah Melody Vinci doing sound mixing. I hope to get it sorted for future episodes! Also, apologies for the ...

May 23, 2023•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 4

#1 - Fun, Fury, Feeling

Lulie asks David Deutsch probing questions about the 'fun criterion', and they explore why it's necessary for rational thought. They also discuss: - Difference between mindless fun and fun-criterion 'fun' - What about conflicts between explicit theories and what seems fun? - What is suffering? - Is anger good? - Debating whether anger is an appropriate response to external suffering - Creativity, conflicting theories and problems - Do we need bodies and feelings to think? - What makes the differ...

May 06, 2023•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 3

#0 - Effective Altruism, X-risk, (e/acc)

Lulie asks physicist David Deutsch about the epistemology of Effective Altruism, how to make progress given the unpredictability of knowledge, and whether we should be concerned about existential risk. In the second half, she asks about Effective Accelerationism (e/acc) – specifically, is its thermodynamic physics legit? TWITTER Lulie Tanett: @reasonisfun David Deutsch: @DavidDeutschOxf Feat. @BasedBeffJezos Discuss this episode on Twitter: https://twitter.com/reasonisfun/status/1649904006418890...

Apr 22, 2023•1 hr 40 min•Ep. 2

#-1 - AGI (with David Deutsch)

Lulie asks physicist David Deutsch about his disagreements with the prevailing view on artificial general intelligence and modern AI. They discuss: • epistemology • how AI differs from AGI • limits of LLMs • why the Turing Test is not a test. TWITTER David Deutsch: https://twitter.com/DavidDeutschOxf/ Lulie Tanett: https://twitter.com/reasonisfun/ Link to the episode on Twitter – Ask questions here: https://twitter.com/reasonisfun/status/1645528342509043713...

Apr 08, 2023•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 1

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