# How do we know life is not a dream? Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/but-why-a-podcast-for-curious-kids-1011548/how-do-we-know-life-is-not-a-dream Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/but-why-a-podcast-for-curious-kids-1011548/how-do-we-know-life-is-not-a-dream.md Podcast: [But Why: A Podcast for Curious Kids](https://stenobird.com/podcast/but-why-a-podcast-for-curious-kids-1011548) Published: 2026-03-06T14:00:00+00:00 Episode link: https://www.vermontpublic.org/podcast/but-why-a-podcast-for-curious-kids/2026-03-06/how-do-we-know-life-is-not-a-dream Audio file: https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/tracking.swap.fm/track/sblTq32fyWAjsHzze2LG/dovetail.prxu.org/_/326/a38fa0cb-10bf-4c0b-bae9-17c15092953d/ButWhy_Philosophy_Ep285.mp3 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/but-why-a-podcast-for-curious-kids-1011548/episodes/how-do-we-know-life-is-not-a-dream Duration seconds: 1926 ## Resource Some questions are so big they’re existential, meaning that they get right to the heart of human existence. These are also sometimes called philosophical questions, so for this episode we called up a professor of philosophy, Scott Hershovitz, who teaches at the University of Michigan. He’s also written a book about how adults and kids can have philosophical discussions together. It’s called Nasty, Brutish and Short: Adventures in Philosophy with My Kids . Download our learning guides: PDF | Google Slide | Transcript ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/but-why-a-podcast-for-curious-kids-1011548/episodes/how-do-we-know-life-is-not-a-dream/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/but-why-a-podcast-for-curious-kids-1011548/how-do-we-know-life-is-not-a-dream.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.