scientific inquiry

Dr. Jordan B Peterson and cognitive neuroscientist Dr. Donald Hoffman discuss what we know as reality, why space time is now being considered a “doomed” framework, and how consciousness can be understood as a vast probability space within which we orient ourselves.

Hoffman received a Bachelor of Arts degree in quantitative psychology from the University of California at Los Angeles, and then his Doctorate of Philosophy in computational psychology at MIT. He briefly worked as a research scientist at the MIT Artificial Intelligence Lab, before taking on the role of assistant professor at the University of California at Irvine. He is now a professor in the department of Cognitive Sciences. He has written four books (below), on the topics of human vision, perception, consciousness, and the effects of/reasons for evolution on each. He is also a key proponent of MUI (Multimodal User Interface) theory, which states that "perceptual experiences do not match or approximate properties of the objective world, but instead provide a simplified, species-specific, user interface to that world." Hoffman argues that conscious beings have not evolved to perceive the world as it actually is but have evolved to perceive the world in a way that maximizes "fitness payoffs.”

- Links -

For Dr. Donald Hoffman:

"The Case Against Reality: Why Evolution Hid the Truth from Our Eyes" (Book) https://www.amazon.com/Case-Against-Reality-Evolution-Truth-ebook/dp/B07JR1FDXH/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1OMOD0ZGPHCT9&keywords=the+case+against+reality&qid=1697060197&s=digital-text&sprefix=the+case+against%2Cdigital-text%2C189&sr=1-1

"Visual Intelligence: How We Create What We See" (Book) https://www.amazon.com/Visual-Intelligence-How-Create-What/dp/0393319679/ref=sr_1_1?crid=QZBIXXULF7VC&keywords=Visual+intelligence+hoffman&qid=1697060273&s=digital-text&sprefix=visual+intelligence+hoffman%2Cdigital-text%2C138&sr=1-1-catcorr

Dr. Hoffman on X https://twitter.com/donalddhoffman?lang=en

Dr. Hoffman's Ted Talk https://www.ted.com/talks/donald_hoffman_do_we_see_reality_as_it_is?language=en 

What is a black hole? Why do we remember the past but not the future? If time had a beginning, does it have an end?

We don’t have the answers to some of the universe’s biggest questions. What we do know often feels bleak, such as the notion that in a billion years there will most likely be no life on Earth. Or the reality that someday the entire human race will probably be forgotten.

Nonetheless, people search for answers. These are some of the cosmic questions that haunt the human experience.

Guest: Dennis Overbye, the cosmic affairs correspondent for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• When the largest space observatory ever built sent its images back to Earth, here’s what astronomers saw.
• In space you can’t hear a black hole scream, but apparently you can hear it sing. Hear what that sounds like.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

View on Odysee: https://odysee.com/EvoLens116:8625cfabc83e3fcd1a8012edf0d213fc12fff490

View on Spotify (With video): 

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In this 116th in a series of live discussions with Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying (both PhDs in Biology), we discuss the state of the world through an evolutionary lens.

This week, we discuss a hypothesis regarding the mechanism by which mRNA vaccines may cause myocarditis. We discuss fear and safety and how fear is used to convince us that we can do with less safety—in things from vaccines to transgenic trees. We discuss Ukraine, a bit, and fairness, and fixing the system so that we can be strong and liberal again, and we read two Wendell Berry poems, and a letter from a Canadian named Matthew.

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Our book, A Hunter-Gatherer’s Guide to the 21st Century, is available everywhere books are sold, and signed copies are available here: https://darvillsbookstore.indielite.org

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Find more from us on Bret’s website (https://bretweinstein.net) or Heather’s website (http://heatherheying.com).

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Theme Music: Thank you to Martin Molin of Wintergatan for providing us the rights to use their excellent music.

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Q&A Link: https://youtu.be/LmaUckTX4yQ

Mentioned in this episode:

To fight climate change, a biotech firm has genetically engineered a very peppy poplar: https://www.science.org/content/article/fight-climate-change-biotech-firm-has-genetically-engineered-very-peppy-poplar

Aldén et al 2022. Intracellular Reverse Transcription of Pfizer BioNTech COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine BNT162b2 In Vitro in Human Liver Cell Line. Curr. Issues Mol. Biol. 2022, 44(3), 1115-1126. https://doi.org/10.3390/cimb44030073

Dr. Mobeen Said video on the above paper: https://youtu.be/MjxlvduyJyc

Doidge, Norman. Needle Points. Tablet Magazine, Oct 27, 2021: https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/[sectionSlug]/articles/needle-points-vaccinations-chapter-one

The Truth About the War in Ukraine, with Konstantin Kisin of Triggernometry: https://youtu.be/dNnq8gMAE-8?t=745

Springtime was the season the dinosaurs died, ancient fish fossils s

Sam Harris speaks with Frank Wilczek about the fundamental nature of reality. They discuss the difference between science and non-science, the role of intuition in science, the nature of time, the prospect that possibility is an illusion, the current limits of quantum mechanics, the uncertainty principle, space-time as a substance, the “unreasonable effectiveness” of mathematics in science, the possibility that we might be living in a simulation, the fundamental building blocks of matter, the structure of atoms, the four fundamental forces, wave-particle duality, the electromagnetic spectrum, the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics, the implications of infinite space-time, dark energy and dark matter, and other topics.

If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at samharris.org/subscribe.

Dr. Debra Soh is a former sex researcher, neuroscientist, columnist, and podcast host. Her new book The End of Gender: Debunking the Myths about Sex and Identity in Our Society is now available.

How do we consider and predict the actions and intentions of others? How much do we lean on an individual’s presumed internal disposition versus the particulars of their situation? In this Stuff to Blow Your Mind two-parter, Robert and Joe consider the fundamental attribution error, which breaks down the errors and even dangers of causal cognition. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Gad Saad is Professor of Marketing & Concordia University Research Chair in Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences and Darwinian Consumption. He is also the author of "The Evolutionary Bases of Consumption" and "The Consuming Instinct".