Using Experimental Philosophy to Shift Perspective, with Jonathon Keats

Jonathon Keats introduces his workshop on experimental philosophy by listing the rules and lessons he's developed over the years.

 Jonathon Keats

Jonathon Keats is a San Francisco-based experimental philosopher who has, over the years, sold real estate in the extra dimensions of space-time proposed by string theory (he sold a hundred and seventy-two extra-dimensional lots in the Bay Area in a single day); made an attempt to genetically engineer God (God turns out to be related to the cyanobacterium); and copyrighted his own mind (in order to get a seventy-year post-life extension.

Keats's bold experiments raise serious questions and put into practice his conviction that the world needs more "curious amateurs," willing to explore publicly whatever intrigues them, in defiance of a culture that increasingly forecloses on wonder and siloes knowledge into narrowly defined areas of expertise. 

20 January, 2015

Jonathon Keats: 

My name is Jonathon Keats and I am an experimental philosopher. What that means is that I do things like open a restaurant for plants. I sell real estate in the extra dimensions of space. I choreograph ballets for honeybees. I build systems by which you can become married by a law of nature using quantum mechanics as the foundation rather than a legal or religious authority. I even attempt to genetically engineered God.

All of these are rather absurd on the surface and may not seem especially practical in your everyday life. However I think that there are some basic lessons that can be extracted from them that, at least for me, are highly useful even when I am not pursuing experimental philosophy. Even when I am simply trying to get by in the world, basic ways in which an experimental philosopher looks at the world that can be divided perhaps into five lessons.

And I'm going to go over these with you by way of example looking at some of the projects that I have undertaken with the take away that you might be able to apply these rules either to undertake your own experiments in philosophy or simply that you can use these in your creative problem-solving at work or at home. The lessons can be very briefly summarized as follows.

Ask naïve questions, invert perceptions, combine incompatible ideas, remix metaphors and pursue paradox. By no means are these comprehensive and they're rather glib yet I think that if you take these as a point of departure, as I sometimes do, you'll find that you get outside of yourself in terms of your routines, your education and your common sense. And you start to look at the world in different ways that may lead you to ideas that you never knew that you had.

Jonathon Keats introduces his workshop by listing the following five rules for looking at the world like an experimental philosopher:

1. Ask naive questions,

2. invert perceptions,

3. combine incompatible ideas,

4. remix metaphors,

5. and pursue paradox.

videos

Dark energy: The apocalyptic wild card of the universe

Dr. Katie Mack explains what dark energy is and two ways it could one day destroy the universe.

Videos
  • The universe is expanding faster and faster. Whether this acceleration will end in a Big Rip or will reverse and contract into a Big Crunch is not yet understood, and neither is the invisible force causing that expansion: dark energy.
  • Physicist Dr. Katie Mack explains the difference between dark matter, dark energy, and phantom dark energy, and shares what scientists think the mysterious force is, its effect on space, and how, billions of years from now, it could cause peak cosmic destruction.
  • The Big Rip seems more probable than a Big Crunch at this point in time, but scientists still have much to learn before they can determine the ultimate fate of the universe. "If we figure out what [dark energy is] doing, if we figure out what it's made of, how it's going to change in the future, then we will have a much better idea for how the universe will end," says Mack.
Keep reading Show less
science space cosmos death universe physics humanity future dark matter dark energy

Astrophysicists find unique "hot Jupiter" planet without clouds

A unique exoplanet without clouds or haze was found by astrophysicists from Harvard and Smithsonian.

Credit: M. Weiss/Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian
Surprising Science
  • Astronomers from Harvard and Smithsonian find a very rare "hot Jupiter" exoplanet without clouds or haze.
  • Such planets were formed differently from others and offer unique research opportunities.
  • Only one other such exoplanet was found previously.
Keep reading Show less
jupiter planets space cosmos universe astronomy astrophysics

There are 5 eras in the universe's lifecycle. Right now, we're in the second era.

Astronomers find these five chapters to be a handy way of conceiving the universe's incredibly long lifespan.

Image source: Pablo Carlos Budassi
Surprising Science
  • We're in the middle, or thereabouts, of the universe's Stelliferous era.
  • If you think there's a lot going on out there now, the first era's drama makes things these days look pretty calm.
  • Scientists attempt to understand the past and present by bringing together the last couple of centuries' major schools of thought.
Keep reading Show less
astronomy dark matter physics space telescopes universe cosmos

Five collectibles with better returns than the stock market

People often make a killing in stocks, but there are other ways to potentially turn major profits.

Credit: Bich Tran from Pexels
Personal Growth
  • Outside of stocks and bonds, some people make money investing in collectibles and make a fair amount on them.
  • One stamp even sold for a billion times its face value.
  • The extreme dependence on future collectability, however, limits the potential of most of these opportunities.
Keep reading Show less
investment money
Quantcast