Hey Vsauce, Does Anything Exist?
Get all sides of every story and be better informed at https://ground.news/AlexOC – subscribe for 40% off unlimited access.
For early, ad-free access to videos, and to support the channel, subscribe to my Substack: https://www.alexoconnor.com.
To donate to my PayPal (thank you): http://www.paypal.me/cosmicskeptic
– VIDEO NOTES
Michael Stevens is the creator of @Vsauce, one of YouTube’s most popular channels. Along with Hannah Fry he hosts the newly-launched podcast “The Rest is Science”.
Watch or listen to The Rest Is Science wherever you get your podcasts: https://linktr.ee/therestisscience
– LINKS
Philip Goff’s “Galileo’s Error”: https://amzn.to/4asKMhI
– TIMESTAMPS
0:00 – Does Anything Really Exist?
10:32 – Is Michael a Mereological Nihilist?
20:59 – Are Philosophers Overcomplicating Function Behaviour?
26:40 – Do “You” Really Exist?
43:12 – Free Will and the Bicameral Mind Theory
51:25 – Why the Future Isn’t Changing Like It Used To
1:00:26 – The Scientific Mystery of Torque?
1:19:01 – Consciousness
– CONNECT
My Website: https://www.alexoconnor.com
SOCIAL LINKS:
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/cosmicskeptic
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/cosmicskeptic
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/cosmicskeptic
TikTok: @CosmicSkeptic
The Within Reason Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/within-reason/id1458675168
– CONTACT
Business email: contact@alexoconnor.com
Brand enquiries: David@modernstoa.co
——————————————

@CosmicSkeptic
September 8, 2026 at 9:13 am
Get all sides of every story and be better informed at https://ground.news/AlexOC – subscribe for 40% off unlimited access. For early, ad-free access to videos, and to support the channel, subscribe to my Substack: https://www.alexoconnor.com.
@chelsea12849
September 8, 2026 at 9:13 am
love how the first convo is about dr pepper
@pandora34300
September 8, 2026 at 9:13 am
Rien ne repose, tout se tient !
@ryandiel9075
September 8, 2026 at 9:13 am
If you don’t pay attention to this conversation it ends up sounds like nonsense.
@AndriMärdikes
September 8, 2026 at 9:13 am
Not sure what these guys were smoking before the interview, but I'd like some! 😄
@Thrive910
September 8, 2026 at 9:13 am
This man is a national treasure.
@crystallogician
September 8, 2026 at 9:13 am
GET TO THE FUCKING POINT!!!!!
@d4v01d
September 8, 2026 at 9:13 am
If there is something like that it is to be an electron, that implies the electron must be aware of it's own existence. Doesn't that imply a complexity of consciousness much greater than panpsychism would suggest?
@RabbitRabbit-o4q
September 8, 2026 at 9:13 am
I have never seen an example of free will in the humans around me or in my own life.
@ArpitSharma-f2h
September 8, 2026 at 9:13 am
Two stupid ass materialistic athiest making video, obvious trash talks
@marshalmiller1323
September 8, 2026 at 9:13 am
Cells do the same thing they have their own consciousness just as society does 1:30:02
@marshalmiller1323
September 8, 2026 at 9:13 am
EGO DEATH!!!!! 32:15
@elitepringle4k
September 8, 2026 at 9:13 am
google.com
@francistangley2650
September 8, 2026 at 9:13 am
What a d.dking grift.
@francistangley2650
September 8, 2026 at 9:13 am
I now understand why Peter Hitchens walked out. He smelt it.
@francistangley2650
September 8, 2026 at 9:13 am
Am I missing something, or is this bollocks?
@francistangley2650
September 8, 2026 at 9:13 am
Jesus, this is boring. Sophistry.
@arthurwieczorek4894
September 8, 2026 at 9:13 am
These words do not exist.
@SingularityOfThought
September 8, 2026 at 9:13 am
5:20 ❤️
man I have admired the most in my life. 😊
@tedsertori9282
September 8, 2026 at 9:13 am
7:20 perfectly put
@SolrenCaelwyn
September 8, 2026 at 9:13 am
Alex please have a conversation with Prof Jeff Kripal
“the mystical is not the ethical”
@Yeehikaru
September 8, 2026 at 9:13 am
1:06:03 Mormon theology has entered the chat
@Kastled5
September 8, 2026 at 9:13 am
Better title: "Nothing" Matters
@Goobdarius
September 8, 2026 at 9:13 am
I did not click on this for 5 minutes of drpepper
I'm calling it and clicking off, sorry alex
@nightmare3711
September 8, 2026 at 9:13 am
In theory, does the website for the Ship of Thesius even still exist? I mean, if the website changed servers, does it still exist or is this a new thing we now have? Is it a new wiki page each time someone visits it? Each new instance, none the original, all simply copies of a copy of a copy? Does this video exist at all? Am I watching the same video when I watch it again or is it a whole new thing? Is it the same video if I watch it on my phone vs my computer?
@NatanaelKvamme
September 8, 2026 at 9:13 am
Describing conciousnes as a third thing reminds me very much of GOD
@justinpaul9040
September 8, 2026 at 9:13 am
Good try nothing is still something!.
@jessiejamesferruolo
September 8, 2026 at 9:13 am
The worm consciousness discussion reminds me of the debate about the Star Trek Transporters… Also, Ive experienced what its like to have no memory. To have no idea what it even means to be human… Pure conscious experience… Its called ego death….
@zenoofelea8215
September 8, 2026 at 9:13 am
10:10 LOOK, I JUST WANT TO KNOW WHERE THE BOAT IS, OKAY?!
@effindave6909
September 8, 2026 at 9:13 am
This is quite literally ICP asking "Magnets, how do they work?" with slightly larger words. Please do not fall for this pseudo-intellectual nonsense.
@insperatus
September 8, 2026 at 9:13 am
Michael repeatedly denies intrinsic unity:
“There is no table there. There’s a bunch of stuff and it’s table-ing right now.”
Aristotle would call this category confusion.
Aquinas would call it denial of substantial form.
Reid would call it absurdity, because it contradicts the way human cognition actually works.
Michael says:
“Every moment is a new me… I choose whichever answer makes me feel better.”
This is continental subjectivism (Sartre, Derrida, Deleuze), not classical metaphysics.
Aristotle:
Identity persists because the form persists.
Aquinas:
The human person is a rational soul, not a bundle of momentary psychological states.
Reid:
Personal identity is a first principle of reason; denying it is self-refuting.
Michael’s “choose whichever feels right” is precisely the kind of anti-realist voluntarism the classical tradition rejects.
Michael says:
“There is no such thing as the ship of Theseus… it’s whichever one you want.”
Aristotle and Aquinas would say:
The ship has a substantial unity grounded in its form (its function as a ship).
Replacement of parts does not destroy identity because form, not matter, is primary.
Reid would add: ordinary language already solves this; philosophers create confusion by ignoring common sense.
Michael’s “whichever you want” is continental constructivism (Heidegger, Foucault), not metaphysics.
Michael critiques van Inwagen:
“People exist, but they don’t wear clothes.”
But classical metaphysics already solved this:
Living beings have substantial forms.
Artifacts have accidental forms.
Clothes are accidental unities, not substances.
Michael’s confusion arises because he rejects form entirely.
Continental Philosophy in the Document (Identified and Destroyed)
A. Phenomenological anti-realism
Michael treats objects as “whatever we label them.”
This echoes Husserl, Heidegger, and Derrida.
Classical destruction:
Labels do not create ontology.
Form grounds being.
Reality is not constituted by language.
B. Existential voluntarism
Michael says identity is “whatever makes me feel better.”
This is Sartrean existentialism.
Classical destruction:
Identity is objective, grounded in form and substance, not feelings.
C. Reductionist materialism
Michael reduces everything to “stuff.”
This echoes Deleuze’s “plane of immanence.”
Classical destruction:
Matter without form is unintelligible.
Matter alone cannot explain unity, function, or identity.
D. Anti-essentialism
Michael denies essences (“no nouns except stuff”).
This echoes Foucault and Derrida.
Classical destruction:
Essences are necessary for knowledge, classification, and rational discourse.
From an Aristotle–Aquinas–Reid perspective:
Michael’s metaphysics is false, incoherent, and self-refuting.
It collapses into continental anti-realism, nominalism, and material reductionism.
It cannot explain unity, identity, persistence, or cognition.
It contradicts both common sense (Reid) and classical metaphysics (Aristotle, Aquinas).
The classical tradition would say:
Objects exist. Persons exist. Identity persists.
Form is real. Finality is real.
Continental metaphysics is a confusion of language with reality.
@gsegse77
September 8, 2026 at 9:13 am
the most smart yet annoying conversation
@lord_dash
September 8, 2026 at 9:13 am
Would you love me if i was a worm – reminds of the book written by Kafka "metamorphosis"
@lord_dash
September 8, 2026 at 9:13 am
30:02 i digress here. If i lose a part of my brain, i can behave differently, i can lose memories, so i have become a different person. So it's not me.
"I am gone when my heart stops, not when my brain is dead" – this is experienced by people around me. I am not conscious when my brain is dead, so I don't know.
But people around me see me, see my human form, associate it with their memory of me. And eyesight is the most dominant among our senses. They see my form, they say it's me. Doesn't matter if i lost my memory or if i am brain-dead. This is experienced by them. Doesn't make it the truth.
So when you make sense of things, when you consider the subjective nature of the world, its nonsense to use objective metrics to measure it.
@seanlim1602
September 8, 2026 at 9:13 am
With the moustache on the one hand, and the beard of the other, YouTube is whole again.
@Bkdoorbandit
September 8, 2026 at 9:13 am
I'm amazed by Michaels ability to sail through the conversation and completely avoid any friction. Even when he doesn't agree he never really disputes. Awesome human
@GavinEdwards-q7h
September 8, 2026 at 9:13 am
that idea about conciseness having possibly developed into what we know it as now being completely different in ancient times is such a fascinating concept
@garbage422
September 8, 2026 at 9:13 am
😂 oh I'm perfectly high for this one
@arsartium108
September 8, 2026 at 9:13 am
Solipsism,. Really?
@almostphilosophy
September 8, 2026 at 9:13 am
Roughly (with reagrds to humans) Van Inwagen thinks, "I exist. I have parts. Therefore mereological nihilism is false."
@RonnyAndersson-q9b
September 8, 2026 at 9:13 am
I dont know about anything. Something exist though.
Gen X.
@elmodurka
September 8, 2026 at 9:13 am
Hi, I watched some of your videos, you present strong arguements to the mind, obviously very well educated. Me myself I don't believe in god but I do believe that there are precedents. Example precedent in learning… If you examine conflict in the world it can easily be proven stupid simply by studying learning outcomes.. to explain it simply… in conflict how must become the how to… With a mind that has already learnt how has already become the how to.. conflict favours a learning mind.. and it is never the strongest mind that wins in conflict it is the mind that learns.. I won't argue that there is a god or that there isn't I will simply argue that there is precedent in learning. And in my opinion learning comes before teaching… What I do is I balance a stick on a string and study it… Why because there is success in seeing futility… Can't balance infinity it's a doing that no doer can do.. yet I balanced a stick on a string… The fundamentals of all life depends on the scientific structure of balance and so does the planet… I believe that there is a scientific precedent that you are overlooking in your arguments… That is the paradox of learning… All life is naturally blind… But learn to see.. is it possible for a individual to comprehend infinite potential… Well it's simple logic when you think about it… A tear over time has infinite potential see your mind in relation to the worlds oceans little ripples make big waves… 😅 The trouble is accepting ownership of the emotional loss.. and accepting the world as precedent naturally by proving the world intelligent to the life observing it 😢… Instead of forming arguments for or against the idea of god prove the world intelligent to your mind observing it… I think the number one argument for why there is no god.. is the world can't be proven an object… All you need to do is examine that how question… Really ask yourself how anything got here… I recommend studying that how question while listening to dogs barking… Why .. it's an acute polar… How am I communicating with you… With this lettering… Now how did the world get there.. ?? ? No way of knowing.. yet knowledge without knowledge over time has infinite potential… Blind naturally.. I wouldn't waste my time arguing for or against a self… God! Maybe it was someone long ago trying to be funny… The emotional polarity of a tear is profound 😅😢😂