19 March 2024
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MeaningofLife.tv videos
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Aug 24, 2017 — Robert Wright & Lisa Feldman Barrett
Lisa’s new book
How Emotions are Made
Can we truly feel an emotion before we can name it?
Is it true that the !Kung people feel no fear?
Fear in the body, the brain, and in concept
Do animals have emotions as we know them?
Lisa’s advice for young scientists: Keep it empirical
TAGS
cognitive science
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evolution
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genetics
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human nature
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perception
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psychology
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science
Jul 16, 2017 — Daniel Kaufman & Crispin Sartwell
Crispin’s new book
Entanglements: A System of Philosophy
Individuals as knots on a thread
Crispin’s materialism: The world is real, but it is “all the ways”
A materialist’s way of understanding social reality
Perception as being penetrated by the world
How distinct from the rest of the world are we?
Knowledge, power, and politics
TAGS
perception
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philosophy
Jul 10, 2017 — Josh Summers & Jason Siff
Why it’s okay to let thoughts happen during meditation
The case for a busy mind
Jason: The origins of our thoughts matter
Looking beneath the mind’s fictions
The problem with pursuing nirvana
Why memory is essential to growth
TAGS
Buddhism
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enlightenment
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meditation
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memory
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mindfulness
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perception
Apr 6, 2017 — Robert Wright & Adam Frank
What is matter?
What is the relationship between math and reality?
Your metaphysical bias is showing
You can’t escape the weirdness of quantum physics!
The mystery of consciousness
The emptiness of
The Tao of Physics
The observer and the observed
TAGS
consciousness
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perception
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philosophy
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physics
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science
Mar 28, 2017 — Josh Summers & Howard Axelrod
The Point of Vanishing
, Howard’s memoir about life as a hermit
How an eye injury changed Howard’s reality
Into the woods
How isolation changed Howard’s sense of self
Howard’s expansive awareness of time
Out of the woods
TAGS
fear
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happiness
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mind
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perception
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self
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technology
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time
Mar 26, 2017 — Daniel Kaufman & Massimo Pigliucci
The underappreciated philosopher Wilfrid Sellars
The “manifest image” vs. the “scientific image”
Why scientism bothers Massimo
Don’t blame me, my brain made me do it!
What Daniel Dennett gets wrong in his new book
The limits of science
TAGS
consciousness
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New Atheists
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perception
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philosophy
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science
Feb 24, 2017 — Josh Summers & Ellen Langer
Mindfulness without the meditation
Ellen: You should know that you don’t know
How Ellen turned back the clock for a group of old men
Ellen’s “chambermaid study”
Can the mind change the body?
Does being mindful make you more likable?
How to keep a mindful mindset
TAGS
Buddhism
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cognitive science
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empathy
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human nature
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meditation
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mindfulness
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perception
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psychology
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science
Feb 14, 2017 — Josh Summers & Jason Siff
Jason’s “recollective awareness” meditation
A head-on approach to grasping what’s going on in your head
The trouble with traditional meditation techniques
Dodging meditation paradoxes
Jason: Don’t be afraid of your thoughts
The tough process of learning lovingkindness
TAGS
Buddhism
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compassion
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empathy
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enlightenment
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human nature
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meditation
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mind
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mindfulness
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perception
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self
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spirituality
Feb 2, 2017 — Robert Wright, Deepak Chopra, & Michael Shermer
Is consciousness everything…
…and is it the only thing?
Can you find truth by looking inward?
Debating whether physics supports Deepak’s views
The weirdness of quantum entanglement
Why skeptics are skeptical of Deepak’s work
TAGS
Buddhism
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cognitive science
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consciousness
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enlightenment
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Hinduism
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human nature
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meditation
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mysticism
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perception
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philosophy
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physics
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psychology
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science
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self
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spirituality
Jan 19, 2017 — Robert Wright & Dale Wright
Dale’s book
What Is Buddhist Enlightenment
?
Why is Vipassana getting more press than Zen?
What is distinctive about Zen?
Dale’s meditation practice
Using mindfulness for good—and evil
A naturalistic conception of karma
How Buddhism adapts to Western culture
TAGS
Buddhism
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Christianity
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compassion
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consciousness
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enlightenment
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meditation
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mindfulness
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perception
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philosophy
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politics
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religion
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spirituality
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war
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Zen
Dec 29, 2016 — Josh Summers & David Barash
David’s book
Buddhist Biology
Where Buddhism and biology converge
The interconnected world
Karma in Buddhism and biology
David’s “existential-bio-Buddhism”
TAGS
biology
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Buddhism
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consciousness
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evolution
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free will
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perception
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philosophy
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psychology
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science
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self
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spirituality
Dec 20, 2016 — Stephen Asma & Nick Sousanis
Unflattening
, a doctoral dissertation in comic book form
Why academics tend to distrust images
Visual literacy as a way to understand the world better
Imagination and mysticism in Edwin Abbott’s
Flatland
How images can help authors overcome intellectual alienation
Why everybody should learn to draw
TAGS
aesthetics
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ancient philosophy
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Buddhism
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creativity
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perception
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philosophy
Nov 22, 2016 — Oliver Burkeman & Jonathan Shedler
Debunking the debunking of psychoanalytic theory
Can thoughts change emotions?
The patient-therapist relationship as a window into the self
Therapy’s modest goal
Psychotherapy’s struggle to escape Freud’s shadow
Psychoanalyzing the urge to engage in psychoanalysis
Looking at politics through a psychoanalytic lens
TAGS
cognitive science
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perception
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psychology
Nov 21, 2016 — Robert Wright & Gad Saad
How hormones drive consumer and mating behavior
How your fingers give your testosterone level away
Why some people seem taller than they are
Why grandfathers get fewer gifts than grandmothers
Is religion at the root of bad behavior?
Is Islam more conducive to violence than other religions?
Evolutionary perspectives on religion
TAGS
evolution
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Islam
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perception
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psychology
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religion
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terrorism
Nov 14, 2016 — Robert Wright & Daniel Kaufman
Announcing a series of “sixty-second sermons”
Tribalism and Trump’s success
Apocalypse now?
Dan vs. Bob on whether a global community is possible
The moral dimensions of the election
The backlash against political correctness
What it feels like to be an outsider
A closer look at MeaningofLife.tv’s “sermons” and other local news
TAGS
democracy
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Donald Trump
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economics
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empathy
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ethics
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human nature
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identity
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moral imagination
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nationalism
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perception
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psychology
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tribalism
Nov 13, 2016 — Robert Wright & Keith Frankish
Consciousness as an illusion
How would a belief look in the brain?
Two kinds of dualism
What if you and I see blue differently?
Is it like something to be Keith Frankish?
Why thinking about consciousness is so hard
TAGS
Buddhism
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cognitive science
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consciousness
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ethics
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evolution
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human nature
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memory
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mind-body problem
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panpsychism
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perception
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philosophy
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psychology
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self
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technology
Nov 6, 2016 — Robert Wright & Arlie Hochschild
Arlie’s new book
Strangers in Their Own Land
The red state paradox
The psychology of Tea Party discontent
Does identity politics breed identity politics?
Justifying Trump’s bad behavior
Racial attitudes in rural white communities
The blue state paradox
TAGS
anger
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climate change
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democracy
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Donald Trump
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economics
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empathy
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human nature
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identity
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perception
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politics
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psychology
Oct 23, 2016 — Daniel Kaufman & Robert Wright
Berkley, Hume, and Elon Musk on whether the world is real
Hume’s view of causality
The metaphysics of Kant and Hume
Does it matter if we live in a simulation?
TAGS
ancient philosophy
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Judaism
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perception
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philosophy
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religion
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science
Oct 19, 2016 — Robert Wright & Sam Harris
Sam Harris, mystic and atheist
The mystery of consciousness
Is mysticism more like science than like religion?
How religion makes progress
Sam’s case for intolerance
The root causes of extremism
Religious and secular reasons to do good
Ways religion may be closer to the truth than atheism
A secular approach to death
TAGS
agnosticism
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atheism
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Buddhism
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Christianity
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cognitive science
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consciousness
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death
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empathy
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ethics
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evolution
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history
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Islam
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meditation
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mind-body problem
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mindfulness
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mysticism
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nationalism
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New Atheists
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perception
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poverty
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psychology
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religion
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science
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self
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spirituality
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tribalism
Oct 10, 2016 — Robert Wright & Jonathan Gold
The seminal Buddhist philosopher Vasubandhu, hero of
Paving the Great Way
Buddhist and Darwinian arguments for reality not being as it seems
The ‘hyper-reductionism’ of Buddhism
Meditation and the doctrine of emptiness
Does the Buddhist view of causality leave room for agency?
Are the past and the future real?
Hindu and Buddhist versions of non-duality
TAGS
Buddhism
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evolution
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free will
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Hinduism
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human nature
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meditation
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mindfulness
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perception
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philosophy
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psychology
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religion
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self
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spirituality
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time
Jul 10, 2016 — Robert Wright & Kenneth Folk
The bell-curve of awakening
Being enlightened feels “meta-okay”
The benefits of experiencing life impersonally
Does enlightenment have to have a moral dimension?
Awakening as growing up
The lenses and filters through which we see life
TAGS
altruism
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Buddhism
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consciousness
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drugs
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enlightenment
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ethics
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happiness
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meditation
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mindfulness
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perception
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psychology
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religion
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sadness
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self
|
spirituality
Feb 3, 2016 — Glen Whitney & John Allen Paulos
A mathematically informed skepticism of the biographical genre
The significance of unpredictability
Using math to understand the trajectory of our lives
Over time, do our perceptions converge on the truth?
The delusion of attributing significance to coincidences
When John learned that math = power
TAGS
mathematics
|
perception
Dec 13, 2015 — Robert Wright & Donald Hoffman
Natural selection doesn’t build brains to see the truth
How perception is like a graphical computer interface
Don’s theory: It’s consciousness all the way down
Is there a chicken-and-egg problem with this theory?
Don describes his consciousness formula, sans math (phew)
With this theory, life is more interesting—and painful
TAGS
cognitive science
|
consciousness
|
evolution
|
mind-body problem
|
perception
|
psychology
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