26 April 2018
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Apr 9, 2018 — Stephen Asma & Rami Gabriel
Puppet Show: Are emotions in the brain?
Luiz Pessoa’s argument for the feedback between lower and higher brain function
How the regions of the brain evolved to interact
“The content problem” in the neuroscience of emotion and cognition
Are the common fears of snakes and spiders “hard-wired,” and how?
What brain mapping fails to tell us about cognition
Rami’s research on prosopagnosia (face blindness) and emotional cognition
TAGS
cognitive science
Mar 7, 2018 — Stephen Asma & Rami Gabriel
Puppet show: Why are human emotions unique?
Does self-restraint make us human?
Considering emotions as social constructs
Stephen: If you have emotions, you have consciousness
Artificial intelligence doesn’t necessarily defer to it its creator
How insects are like robots
Does culture change how the brain reads emotion in faces?
TAGS
cognitive science
Feb 9, 2018 — Robert Wright & Jeff Warren
The Wright Show
How Jeff went from science journalist to meditation teacher
Jeff’s new book, co-authored with Dan Harris:
Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics
How ADD and bipolar tendencies shaped Jeff’s practice
The life-changing experience of falling out of a tree while on mushrooms
The interaction between mindfulness, not-self, and suffering
Jeff takes a stab at defining enlightenment
The varieties of consciousness
How meditation can shift your priorities
TAGS
Buddhism
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cognitive science
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consciousness
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meditation
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mindfulness
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psychology
Feb 9, 2018 — Stephen Asma & Rami Gabriel
This week’s puppet show: How do emotions help us survive?
Darwin’s attempts to understand the inner lives of animals
Can we really hide our feelings? Rami doubts it
The “seeking” drive that keeps us going
Angst: Fear without an object
How culture complicates finding a mate
Is there an adaptive function to recognizing beauty?
TAGS
cognitive science
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dreaming
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evolution
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social science
Sep 8, 2017 — Josh Summers & Stephen Asma
Stephen’s new book,
The Evolution of Imagination
Are dreams like “proto-consciousness”?
The mind as an extension of the body
Where Stephen thinks “effective altruism” falls short
How to improve your imagination
Trump as a bad improviser
Bringing imagination to a meditation practice
TAGS
altruism
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cognitive science
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consciousness
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Donald Trump
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dreaming
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empathy
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ethics
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evolution
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meditation
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philosophy
Sep 7, 2017 — Robert Wright & Alison Gopnik
The Wright Show
How a personal crisis brought Alison back to David Hume
Hume’s (likely) chance encounter with Buddhism
Lessons learned from 23-year-old Hume’s nervous breakdown
Which ideas might Hume have borrowed from Buddhism?
How meditation disrupts the ‘autopilot’ of adulthood
Is introspection as valuable as neuroscience?
TAGS
atheism
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Buddhism
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cognitive science
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enlightenment
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meditation
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philosophy
Aug 24, 2017 — Robert Wright & Lisa Feldman Barrett
The Wright Show
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
Aug 22, 2017 — John Horgan & Robert Wright
The Wright Show
Bob: Life was suffering before modernity, too
John: Mindfulness meditation is morally neutral
How attribution biases make war possible
Is the path to enlightenment for everyone?
Why Bob doubts that pure enlightenment has been achieved
Morality matters, even inside the Matrix
TAGS
Buddhism
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Christianity
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cognitive science
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mental health
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mind-body problem
May 22, 2017 — Robert Wright & Jay Van Bavel
The Wright Show
The partisanship that bolsters Trump
Jay’s favorite experiments on the psychology of tribalism
Is the anti-Trump movement its own worst enemy?
What’s going on in Trump’s brain?
How a sports fan’s brain warps reality
Is there hope for overcoming our tribal psychology?
Want a retweet? Stoke moral outrage.
TAGS
cognitive science
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democracy
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Donald Trump
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moral imagination
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psychology
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science
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tribalism
May 2, 2017 — Robert Wright & Adam Alter
The Wright Show
The bad effects of addictive tech
How much time do you spend on your phone?
You might be addicted if…
The World of Warcraft as a case study in tech addiction
The tricks Silicon Valley uses to get you hooked
Adam’s advice for breaking your screen addiction
TAGS
cognitive science
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mental health
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psychology
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technology
Mar 20, 2017 — Robert Wright & S. Matthew Liao
The Meaning of Future Life
Changing the human genome to combat climate change
Will new technologies stratify society genetically?
Military and civilian uses of memory-changing technology
The army’s plans for deep brain simulation
Matthew’s book
The Right to Be Loved
TAGS
biology
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climate change
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cognitive science
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drugs
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ethics
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genetics
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love
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memory
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mental health
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science
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technology
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the future
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war
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 15, 2017 — Robert Wright & Robert Stickgold
The Wright Show
What is sleep for?
Why do we dream?
How dreaming helps us remember
Chaotic dreams and creativity
The limited value of dream interpretation
Lack of sleep and psychological disorders
How to sleep better
TAGS
biology
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cognitive science
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consciousness
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creativity
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dreaming
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evolution
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psychology
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science
Feb 6, 2017 — Daniel Kaufman & Massimo Pigliucci
Sophia
Join the hordes clamoring for Massimo’s forthcoming book!
The science of ethics
Is morality baked into our biology?
Can primates tell us where morality comes from?
How Kant and moral psychology complement each other
Nietzsche’s moral philosophy
Warning: Chimps and bonobos are not hairy proto-humans!
The trouble with studying morality in infants
TAGS
cognitive science
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ethics
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evolution
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human nature
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justice
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philosophy
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psychology
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science
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tribalism
Feb 2, 2017 — Robert Wright, Deepak Chopra, & Michael Shermer
The Wright Show
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 23, 2017 — Daniel Kaufman & David Ottlinger
Sophia
John Stuart Mill on social shaming
Was the U.S. envisioned as a classical liberal polity?
Why the New Deal was not a break with liberalism
Is there such a thing as personal autonomy?
Why the social justice movement is illiberal
Future prospects of liberalism
TAGS
cognitive science
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democracy
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free will
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gender
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human nature
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language
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philosophy
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politics
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psychology
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violence
Dec 16, 2016 — Philip Menchaca & Erik Vance
Erik’s new book
Suggestible You
When snake oil actually works
How your beliefs can change your body
Why do people respond differently to the same placebo?
How the discovery of “placebo genes” could transform medicine
The fuzzy line between placebos and real medicine
Erik’s visit to a Mexican witch doctor
TAGS
cognitive science
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drugs
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genetics
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mental health
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prayer
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psychology
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science
Dec 13, 2016 — David Bryce Yaden & Emily Esfahani Smith
Science of Spirituality
Emily’s forthcoming book,
The Power of Meaning
Can an atheist be spiritual?
What makes for a meaningful life?
The dark side of finding meaning
Are we in the midst of a “meaning crisis?”
TAGS
altruism
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atheism
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cognitive science
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consciousness
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psychology
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science
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spirituality
Dec 12, 2016 — Josh Summers & Sara Lazar
Are the benefits of mindfulness exaggerated?
Meditation and our “neuroplastic” brains
How meditation alters the fear response
Why studying mindfulness is hard
Mindfulness is about more than being in the moment
Advice for the anti-Trump crowd from meditation teachers
TAGS
Buddhism
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cognitive science
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fear
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meditation
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mindfulness
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psychology
Dec 11, 2016 — Robert Wright & Michael McCullough
The Wright Show
The controversy over the neurochemical basis for trust
What causes “altruistic punishment?”
How haste makes good people bad
The nuts and bolts of forgiveness
The psychology of political conflict
What makes us care about strangers?
TAGS
altruism
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cognitive science
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compassion
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ethics
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politics
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psychology
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science
Dec 6, 2016 — Robert Wright & Paul Bloom
The Wright Show
Paul’s brand new book,
Against Empathy
The damage empathy can do
The difference between empathy and compassion
Why our moral intuitions aren’t so moral
Are low empathy people more likely to hurt others?
Empathy as moral jet fuel
The costs and benefits of feeling other people’s pain
TAGS
altruism
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anger
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Buddhism
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cognitive science
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compassion
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empathy
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enlightenment
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ethics
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human nature
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meditation
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moral imagination
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Peter Singer
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psychology
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science
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 13, 2016 — Robert Wright & Keith Frankish
The Wright Show
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 12, 2016 — David Bryce Yaden & Scott Barry Kaufman
Science of Spirituality
From positive to humanistic psychology
Must one risk madness to achieve genius?
How creativity and spirituality overlap
The light and dark triad of personality traits
Mindfulness as the link between creativity and spirituality
TAGS
Buddhism
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cognitive science
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consciousness
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creativity
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ethics
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meditation
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mindfulness
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psychology
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spirituality
Nov 4, 2016 — Robert Wright & Christof Koch
The Wright Show
The search for non-human consciousness
Consciousness in the organic and inorganic worlds
Measuring consciousness
Lucky us: The universe breeds consciousness
How scientific and spiritual worldviews can enrich each other
Artificial intelligence is not (necessarily) artificial consciousness
The Allen Institute for Brain Science and its mission
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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panpsychism
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physics
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science
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spirituality
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technology
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the future
Oct 26, 2016 — Robert Wright & David Chalmers
The Wright Show
Why consciousness is so weird
Is consciousness like your brain’s shadow?
If David was a zombie, would anyone know?
Bob’s wacky theory about consciousness
Is consciousness what collapses the quantum wave function?
Can there be a true science of consciousness?
TAGS
cognitive science
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consciousness
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evolution
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human nature
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mind-body problem
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physics
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psychology
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science
Oct 19, 2016 — Robert Wright & Sam Harris
The Wright Show
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 2, 2016 — Robert Wright & Hugo Mercier
The Wright Show
Hugo’s theory about why people reason and argue
When can arguments change minds?
How trust and argumentation work together
The virtues of speaking directly to an adversary
Debating whether the mind is designed to delude
How publicly expressing beliefs affects them
TAGS
altruism
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cognitive science
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evolution
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language
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psychology
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science
Aug 8, 2016 — Robert Wright & Susan Schneider
The Meaning of Future Life
The most intelligent life in outer space may be artificial
Should we be worried about AI?
Shopping for a scientific path to eternal life
“Protomentality,” matter’s (hypothesized) latent sentience
Would your self survive uploading to a computer?
What if we never understand consciousness?
TAGS
cognitive science
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compassion
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consciousness
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death
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free will
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human nature
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identity
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mind-body problem
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philosophy
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physics
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psychology
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science
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technology
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the future
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transhumanism
May 13, 2016 — Philip Menchaca & Troy Campbell
A few theories about climate science skeptics
Troy’s “solution aversion” theory
Testing beliefs in the lab
Ideology as identity
How do you convince people that your cause is right?
When you should get aggressive with your message
TAGS
climate change
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cognitive science
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identity
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politics
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psychology
May 12, 2016 — Daniel Engber & Robert Kurzban
Is willpower a limited resource?
When scientific results can’t be replicated
“The bigger the idea, the less I trust it”
Where has science gone wrong?
The legacy of bad ideas
Separating good science from bad
TAGS
cognitive science
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psychology
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science
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social science
Apr 25, 2016 — Nikita Petrov & Jay Mutzafi
The spectrum of dream awareness
How to start lucid dreaming
Ways to use the virtual reality of your mind
Dream practices in Tibetan Buddhism
Scientific perspectives on lucid dreaming
Inducing lucidity with sound, light, electricity and supplements
TAGS
cognitive science
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consciousness
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dreaming
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meditation
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science
Mar 12, 2016 — Robert Wright & Stephen Asma
The Wright Show
The Western encounter with Buddhism
Divine beings and supernatural forces in Buddhism
Why Stephen finds Buddhism appealing
Drawing as meditation
Does neuroscience support the Buddhist view of the self?
What the New Atheists get wrong about religion
TAGS
Buddhism
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cognitive science
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consciousness
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meditation
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New Atheists
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religion
Jan 5, 2016 — Robert Wright, Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, & David Chalmers
The Wright Show
Rebecca’s “mind-blowing” encounter with the problem of consciousness
David’s famous zombie thought experiment
Rebecca: “We are material things”
Does an electron have a kind of mind?
Where does meaning come from?
Describing a satisfactory model of consciousness
TAGS
cognitive science
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consciousness
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mind-body problem
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panpsychism
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physics
Dec 13, 2015 — Robert Wright & Donald Hoffman
The Wright Show
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
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consciousness
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evolution
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mind-body problem
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perception
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psychology
Dec 4, 2015 — David Bryce Yaden & Roy Hamilton
Science of Spirituality
Roy explains non-invasive brain stimulation
Assessing the safety of this technology
Can brain stimulation make you smarter?
Does increasing memory decrease creativity?
The possibility of unlocking savant-like abilities
An ethical question about cognitive enhancement
TAGS
cognitive science
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psychology
Nov 15, 2015 — David Bryce Yaden & David Vago
Science of Spirituality
Science and mindfulness meditation
Dave: “Self” and “other” are societal constructs
Teaching cognitive neuroscience to Tibetan monks
Understanding the self as “500 milliseconds of selfing”
Are mindfulness and creativity in conflict?
New technology to facilitate meditation
TAGS
Buddhism
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cognitive science
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meditation
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mindfulness
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psychology
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religion
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self
|
spirituality
Nov 5, 2015 — Robert Wright & Gregory Hickok
The Wright Show
The theory of mirror neurons…
…and why Greg believes this theory is wrong
How the mirror neuron theory became so popular
Explaining “embodied cognition”
Quantum physics and our perception of reality
Is consciousness a fundamental property of the universe?
TAGS
cognitive science
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empathy
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evolution
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physics
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psychology
Oct 21, 2015 — Joshua Knobe & Abigail Marsh
Abby’s research on children with psychopathic traits
Why psychopaths are good manipulators
Are psychopaths born or made?
Inside the brain of a psychopath
“Anti-psychopaths”—people with very high empathy
The link between empathy and recognizing fear
TAGS
altruism
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cognitive science
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fear
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mental health
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psychology
Oct 4, 2015 — Jonathan Phillips & Steven Frankland
How the brain builds complex thoughts out of reusable parts
More fodder for the brain-as-computer model
Sorry, we’re not quite there with the mind-reading thing
Possible reasons for the brain’s topographic organization
Why Steven’s paper is controversial (and exciting)
Cognitive neuroscience questions for the near future
TAGS
cognitive science
|
language
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