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Music, Mormonism and Peter Hitchens – 1.25 Million Q&A

Alex O'Connor | October 28, 2025



Unlock your brain’s potential free for 30 days: http://www.brain.fm/withinreason

For early, ad-free access to videos, and to support the channel, subscribe to my Substack: https://www.alexoconnor.com

– LINKS

My Music Channel: @AlexOCMusic

Pre-save my song on Spotify: https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/alexoconnorcharlieshan/dont-tell-me-if-its-ending-demo?utm_campaign=website&utm_medium=Email+&utm_source=SendGrid

Mereological Nihilism: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mereological_nihilism

The Existential Crisis Iceberg: https://youtu.be/BkR83fxKOFs?si=GC7mm3y-82cuX-Sc

Peter Hitchens storms out of my interview: https://youtu.be/VyMhZhwe3gc?si=8CRo5-aatVZD86dv

My episode with Konstantin Kisin: https://youtu.be/jCNI-33jAN8?si=FnqP-om7Z7jkX_Ma

My debate with Trent Horn: https://www.youtube.com/live/5PF1JgXOKDQ?si=osn-qq3xkuv2qqtG

My other debate with Trent Horn (I forgot): https://youtu.be/dFYrfKHSV2k?si=zk2-x-2gfAHiStIN

My video discussing what “rights” are: https://youtu.be/A9YO5bnWmT4?si=tmjH0tyVmM6Tgt1J

– TIMESTAMPS

0:00 Will I Make More Music?
1:30 Which Philosopher From History Would I Have on My Show?
2:57 Tips for Improving Discipline in Reading and Studying
4:54 Does Mereological Nihilism Apply to Minds?
12:38 Will We Eternally Reoccur?
18:24 Did Peter Hitchens Ever Apologise?
19:51 Favourite Skateboarding Video
22:21 Should Any Book Ever Be Banned?
25:46 Thoughts on Deism
30:12 Debating Trent Horn
30:30 What is the Most Valuable Thing?
31:51 How Many Years Would You Choose to Live For?
34:14 Separating the Art from the Artist
34:43 Will the British Monarchy Survive?
36:16 The Coolest Skateboarding Trick I Know
36:32 What Are the Best Pubs in Oxford?
38:16 Do I Get Starstruck?
40:15 What Book I Wish I Had Written
40:31 What Would I Ask Jesus Christ?
42:12 Christopher Hitchens vs Jordan Peterson
43:53 My Favourite Bible Verse
46:30 Would My Career Suffer if I Became a Christian?
48:22 Where to Start With Philosophy
49:53 How Was Life at High School?
53:16 Gnosticism or Mormonism?
54:39 My Favourite Band
55:08 Can Rule Utilitarianism Ground Human Rights?
1:01:19 Outro

– 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

——————————————

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Written by Alex O'Connor

Comments

This post currently has 48 comments.

  14. @MegaGiannisz

    October 28, 2025 at 8:48 pm

    what a remarkable, interesting and…. normal person. thank you for being an inspiration, a force of truth and an achievable role model in the face of grind culture and the uncapturable figures of pop social circles

  22. @Tomza_T

    October 28, 2025 at 8:48 pm

    I’m so glad you mentioned the half moon, had some brilliant lock ins listing to people jamming on the Piano, recon we crossed paths there!

  24. @leemackay5985

    October 28, 2025 at 8:48 pm

    I believe he is well loved by everybody even Christians coz he is so proper in his dislikes and likes about the bible but this only means he is close to being the Antichrist but i still love him because he reminds me of myself with his reasons not to follow the god of the bible and he makes a lot of sense when he doesn't believe in literal free will and I came to the same conclusion when I was young much before his time 😂😂😂

  25. @filipechristine

    October 28, 2025 at 8:48 pm

    Iam a Mormon I found Alex to be the most respectful and honest Atheist, if you notice them other show called Christian when the Mormon comes up their language change and the hate

  27. @jestempies

    October 28, 2025 at 8:48 pm

    Rule utilitarianism is what law is supposed to be. It's not supposed to be a personal philosophy because you'll still just act according to your thoughts and feelings, but law is there to help you decide, it's an incentive to act with the best interest of the population. And the legislative process should, in principle, leave you enough time and resources to investigate the matter enough to create an adequate set of rules.

  31. @davidkalter1439

    October 28, 2025 at 8:48 pm

    I chuckled at you there Alex when you said that you "may have to give up knowledge to raise a child" 😅 prepare to be educated! I think I know what you actually meant but, still funny. I am a father of 8 & 14 yr old boys oh have I learned
    Thanks Alex.
    I am a new listener this week actually and have now listened to 7-8 episodes now.

  32. @Fun_Marine

    October 28, 2025 at 8:48 pm

    I would like to ask: Do you think that we as people have more experience with death then with life considering how old the universe is? (I know death or preexistence isn't' something that we can experience, but it would be an interesting consideration if we were to be judged so to speak in the Christian after life.)

  34. @adamlmiller1

    October 28, 2025 at 8:48 pm

    Hi Alex! I've been a huge fan of your channel for years. I've been skating for nearly 20 years and I was very shocked to hear you talk about Rodney Mullen and Aaron Kyro in this video. Rodney is also my favorite skater along with Mike Vallely. I was wondering if you knew anything about Aaron Kyro's involvement in the church of Scientology? I'm just curious because I believe it is an interesting way to bridge these two interests of Theology and skateboarding. I got to skate in a few of Aaron's videos about a year ago and he was actually a super down to Earth guy. Regardless, glad to hear that one of my favorite creators outside of skateboarding content likes to skate!

  35. @joellaw7950

    October 28, 2025 at 8:48 pm

    I do not think that mines are distinct, just as the car the cabinet car does not have access to the fuel the mines of different people are separated but are fundamentally just made up of fundamental things whatever that is. The current understanding to my knowledge is either vibrating strings or some sort of field of energy and these communicate to each other through that field. Another way to think of it is there is an ocean on earth that has water in it but there's also water on Jupiter these don't have access to each other but they are both water.

  39. @arnhuber5115

    October 28, 2025 at 8:48 pm

    I dont understand how this is tru. Adams are different. Metal is actually different then plastic because of the arrangement. So like arrangements of adams do absolutely change how they interact with other adams. It's not just in our minds up to a certain level no? How do explain how different electrical charges act different. So like yeah maybe a cup doesn't exist but why would glass not exist. It's glass arranged in certain shapes but a metal cup actually acts different from a glass one. Like the material we make things from actually exists but our words dont really exist. But then you can say well the arrangement of adams that is a lion works very differently then a car. But it requires a certain arrangement to be a loin vs a car. The differences between these objects actually exists and the materials also exist. So idk it doesn't make sense to say no objects exist because its just arrangements of adams. Well then adams and the differences between them are real and adams are objects

  40. @danielmanning5845

    October 28, 2025 at 8:48 pm

    41:09 In my New Testament class at BYU my professor recently got his pHD in New Testament studies. He taught this verse as one of Mark’s literary devices by contrasting it with 16:5 where in the same words a “young man” now clothed and robed announcing Christ’s resurrection. It serves to hi-light the weakness of the apostles or the glory of Jesus depending on interpretation

  41. @scotchfaster

    October 28, 2025 at 8:48 pm

    I don't understand why you give the Boltzmann brain any credence. I think I understand the idea – that a brain with false memories is less complex and therefore lower entropy compared to a brain with real memories corresponding to an exterior world with a complex history. But there's no process for the creation of a Boltzmann brain. It would have to come into existence through a quantum miracle. And that makes it VASTLY much less likely than we simply being the products of non-miraculous processes. Am I missing something? I think there's a fallacy here.

  42. @RyRytheCatfishGuy

    October 28, 2025 at 8:48 pm

    Regarding deism, I think the domino example actually does not support the concept of an absent god. If god knocks over the first domino, and he walks away and the chain reaction keeps going, it still begs the question of who set up the domino chain. How did they get there, and how did they get arranged in the way they did? If I’m watching a movie, I don’t assume no one wrote or produced it. Work was done to produce the movie, regardless if the makers are currently still involved, and regardless if I ever watch it or not. I think this example better serves predetermination than deism.

  43. @zecaaabrao3634

    October 28, 2025 at 8:48 pm

    17:40 This argument assumes that a Boltzmann Brain is more likely than the appearance of evolution, but that can't be right
    The requirements for a Boltzmann brain are every atom arranged in a certain way, but evolution only requires:
    -A reproductive and mutable lifeform, which is, evidently, simpler than a "human" brain
    -A decent ecosystem, which doesn't require atom level precision
    -Time

    This is way less specific than a human brain

    Btw, Boltzmann's argument would also say like: If the universe is finite, there are almost certainly not Aliens

  44. @thecircusboy8856

    October 28, 2025 at 8:48 pm

    An infinite universe doesn’t mathematically imply that every possible arrangement of stuff will occur. Infinite sets in mathematics don’t often contain every possible number. For example, lets say the set of possible arrangements of atoms in the universe can be represented by the integers. However the universe can still have an infinite set of possible arrangements of matter that actually occur (and are not just possible) with just the even integer representations. Thus never having the full set of possible arrangements of matter.

  48. @Jukeboxer11

    October 28, 2025 at 8:48 pm

    I'm not convinced that infinite time means everything will happen eventually. In the same way that there are an infinite amount of numbers between 1 and 2, none of them are 3. I don't believe it's a given that given enough time a unicorn will randomly spawn out of thin air in front of me, nor that monkeys would produce the complete works of shakespeare, nor that eventually my quantum state would be perfectly recreated in the future.

Comments are closed.

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