Philosophers & Gamblers

Excellent free resources
https://soundcloud.com/emotionalbalance/sets/alan-wallace-guided-practices
https://dynamic.wakingup.com/shareOpenAccess/SC3D92926?share_id=440D041D
https://beherenownetwork.com/joseph-goldstein-insight-hour-ep-216-satipatthana-sutta-series-pt-13-mindfulness-of-mind/
excellent resources here also - with weekly group lessons
https://member.coreyjackson.com.au/share/ZYZLarLoPH8Fu3Ak?utm_source=manual

A live, text-driven seminar on major works in philosophy (mostly analytic). We read the paper together, slowly—stopping to clarify terms, reconstruct arguments, and stress-test claims. You can find the next week's reading here

WARNING
Browse the current and upcoming papers along with past Readings and meetings. Expect highly technical material, dense terminology, and high abstraction. It is full of philosophical jargon and complex technical terms. Your expectation should be to treat it as a graduate seminar in philosophy. We don't assume you have a degree in philosophy, but we do assume philosophical maturity and/or a crazy level of passion for deductive reasoning. If you are into that sort of thing, be my guest. We will start reviewing the paper, and start reading from page 9 of the PDF.
If you wish, you can look at my own introduction to ontic structural realism here here

DETAILS
This paper tackles one of the oldest and most annoying problems in philosophy of science: how science can be wildly successful while being historically wrong about what the world is made of. Electrons replaced ether, fields replaced particles, spacetime replaced forces—and yet physics keeps nailing predictions. Coincidence? Probably not.
Ladyman’s answer is structural realism: the idea that what science gets right is not objects but the structure of relations captured by successful theories. When theories change, the ontology may get junked—but the mathematical and relational structure often survives. That continuity, Ladyman argues, is what realism should commit to.
The paper does three things:

1. Diagnoses the failure of naive scientific realism

Traditional realism says mature theories are approximately true descriptions of the world’s entities. History says otherwise. Ladyman takes the “pessimistic meta-induction” seriously and refuses to wave it away.
2. Clarifies epistemic vs ontic structural realism
Epistemic SR says we can only know structure. Ontic SR goes further: structure is all there is. Objects are secondary, derivative, or outright dispensable. This is where things get metaphysically spicy.
3. Connects structural realism to modern physics
Quantum mechanics, quantum field theory, and relativity don’t play nicely with classical objects anyway. Group structure, symmetries, invariants, and relations do the real explanatory work. If physics already ditched billiard-ball ontology, philosophy should stop clinging to it like a security blanket.
This is not a “let’s split the difference” compromise between realism and anti-realism. Ladyman is arguing that realism survives only if we radically revise what we mean by reality. If you think science tells us what exists, this paper forces you to ask: exists as what—objects, or structure?
Fair warning: this is a gateway drug to ontic structural realism, elimination of objects, and the idea that relations may be metaphysically fundamental. If you like your ontology chunky and intuitive, expect discomfort. If you like symmetry groups more than substances, you’ll feel right at home.

I recently read this article which inspired me to create this event, and it does seem to stand up to a fact check: https://hartmannreport.com/p/americas-new-political-reality-trump-8d4

America is entering a new political era—and pretending it’s just “business as usual” is no longer an option.

This conversation isn’t about cheering for Trump or attacking him. It’s about honestly examining what has changed in the American system, why so many citizens feel unheard or betrayed, and what the rise of strongman-style politics says about our institutions, economy, and culture.

Drawing from recent analysis on America’s shifting political reality, we’ll explore:

• Why traditional political labels are breaking down
• What fuels mass support for outsider and anti-establishment movements
• How power, money, media, and fear shape public behavior—on all sides
• What choices Americans still have, regardless of party affiliation

This is a no-shaming, no-labeling space for Trump supporters, critics, and everyone in between who wants to understand what’s actually happening—and what kind of country we want to live in next.

You don’t have to agree.
You just have to be willing to think.

All perspectives welcome. Respect required.

A little about our host:
Garrett is a programmer turned award-winning software inventor turned entrepreneur (http://platerate.com/) is his company. His hobby is writing and discussing practical philosophy, and he does life coaching on request to help people live happy, moral lives. He is also the executive director of The Free Thinker Institute (http://freethinkerinstitute.org/), which aims to create a community that helps members increase happiness and decrease harm for themselves and those they can influence.

Format:
Lecture and discussion

Note:
social time for our community 15 minutes before the presentation.

To get familiar with our past events, feel free to check out our YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmixGB9GdrptyEWovEj80zg

After registering via zoom, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

We publish our event recordings on our Youtube channel to offer our help to anyone who would like to but can’t attend the meeting, so we need to give this clause. If you don’t want to be recorded, just remain on mute and keep your video off.

Here’s our legal notice:
For valuable consideration received, by joining this event I hereby grant Free Thinker Institute and its legal representatives and assigns, the irrevocable and unrestricted right to use and publish any and all Zoom recordings for trade, advertising and any other commercial purpose, and to alter the same without any restriction. I hereby release Free Thinker Institute and its legal representatives and assigns from all claims and liability related to said video recordings.