HYPERLAND: Graham Harman on the Nature of Reality
Timestamps are as accurate as they can be but may be slightly off. We encourage you to listen to the full context.
Podcast Summary
In this thought-provoking episode, Professor Graham Harman explores one of philosophy's most fundamental paradoxes: the tension between the continuous and the discrete in understanding reality. Harman, distinguished professor at SCI-Arc in Los Angeles, discusses his new book "Waves and Stones: On the Ultimate Nature of Reality," examining how this ancient debate permeates everything from quantum physics and evolutionary theory to personal identity and political movements. (04:43)
- Core theme: The fundamental tension between viewing reality as continuous flow (waves) versus discrete chunks (stones) appears across all human disciplines and experiences
Speakers
Professor Graham Harman
Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at SCI-Arc (Southern California Institute of Architecture) in Los Angeles, one of the world's leading avant-garde architecture schools. Harman is a prominent figure in contemporary philosophy, particularly known for his work in object-oriented ontology and his critical analysis of the relationship between continuous and discrete aspects of reality.
David Malone
Documentary filmmaker who creates some of the smartest documentaries on British TV and hosts the podcast Hyperland, which investigates contemporary science, philosophy, and politics. He has conducted numerous interviews for How To Academy over the past four years.
Ian Stroud
Co-host of the Hyperland podcast who previously collaborated with David Malone on the series "Why Are We Here?" exploring fundamental questions about existence and reality.
Key Takeaways
Don't Ground Politics in Physics
Harman warns against the temptation to justify political or social theories by claiming they align with the "underlying nature of reality" as described by physics. (06:48) Each discipline operates with different constraints and evidence, and advanced science changes its views about reality every century or so. Grounding your philosophy directly on scientific findings makes it vulnerable to becoming dated when scientific paradigms shift. This applies to both conservative "stones" thinking and progressive "waves" thinking - neither should claim legitimacy based purely on quantum mechanics or relativity.
Philosophy is Like Fine Arts, Not Exact Science
Unlike mathematics where you can prove theorems definitively, philosophy operates more like the fine arts with "periods of ripeness and decadence." (09:35) Franz Brentano noted that philosophy makes some progress like science, but also has aesthetic dimensions where we wouldn't necessarily say contemporary work surpasses the Florentine Renaissance. You can't prove philosophical positions the way Gauss proved mathematical theorems - philosophers aren't bound by previous results the way mathematicians are bound by proofs.
Personal Identity Requires Both Continuity and Discrete Changes
Rather than seeing yourself as either completely the same person throughout life or constantly changing every moment, Harman suggests we go through roughly half a dozen important "symbiotic" changes by age 30. (34:33) These are irreversible turning points - like getting married, having children, or major career shifts - that fundamentally alter who you are while maintaining underlying continuity. Anthropological research shows people worldwide have similar numbers of life-changing experiences regardless of whether they live in megacities or small villages.
Objects Have Surplus Beyond Their Current Actions
Against philosophers who define things purely by their relations or current activities, Harman argues objects always contain a "surplus" beyond what they're doing right now. (59:00) Using Aristotle's example: a master house builder remains a house builder even when sleeping. This potentiality can't be eliminated without making it impossible to explain how skills persist through non-use. This applies to all objects - they emerge beyond their component parts while also "submerging" beneath their known effects, making them partially mysterious even without consciousness.
Truth and Justification Are Often Opposites
Rather than knowledge being "justified true belief," Harman argues that truth and justification frequently conflict. (67:16) Scientists often have hunches they can't justify with current evidence, while justification changes constantly as paradigms shift. Truth is "what you live your life by that seems utterly convincing" even if you can't prove it. This explains why scientific revolutions involve conversion-like experiences where researchers commit to new theories before the evidence is complete - like Leo Szilard's faith in atomic fission when Rutherford called it "moonshine."
Statistics & Facts
- The anthropological "village theory" study found that people worldwide, regardless of living in tribal villages or mega cities, have roughly the same number of important life experiences - typically one or two important friends who change them, one or two important loves, and one or two major life experiences. (34:13)
- Physics has been torn for over 100 years between quantum theory (based on discrete chunks like photons) and Einstein's general relativity (based on continuous curvature of spacetime by mass), creating an irreconcilable conflict at the heart of modern science. (19:48)
- Henri Bergson was as famous in his time as Einstein and won the Nobel Prize for Literature, but became completely unfashionable for decades before being revived by Gilles Deleuze in the 1990s. (37:48)
