245 - Prof. Donald Hoffman - Proving Ancient Wisdom Through Mathematics

The Symbolic World

Jonathan Pageau

Religion & Spirituality, Society & Culture, Education

4.8 • 824 Ratings

🗓️ 27 July 2022

⏱️ 74 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Donald Hoffman is a cognitive psychologist and popular science author. He is a professor in the Department of Cognitive Sciences at the University of California, Irvine, with joint appointments in the Department of Philosophy, the Department of Logic and Philosophy of Science, and the School of Computer Science. He studies consciousness, visual perception and evolutionary psychology using mathematical models and psychophysical experiments. In this interview we discuss Prof. Hoffman’s work and theories on consciousness and the nature of reality, the limits of space-time, what evolution says about consciousness and how the latest mathematical theories about consciousness reflect positively on many ancient spiritual traditions. Original video: https://youtu.be/jWW4sYxXEKY Other relevant interviews: - Beyond Materialism: The Matter With Things | with Dr. Iain McGilchrist: https://youtu.be/QyBXqcgLAXs - The Priority of Mind | with Bernardo Kastrup (More Christ): https://youtu.be/LglZNsmol58 ============================ - The Symbolic World website and blog: http://www.thesymbolicworld.com - Merch: http://www.thesymbolicworld.store - Language of Creation, by Matthieu Pageau: https://www.amazon.com/Language-Creation-Cosmic-Symbolism-Genesis-ebook/dp/B07D738HD8 Support this podcast: - Website: https://thesymbolicworld.com/support/ - Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/pageauvideos - Subscribestar: https://www.subscribestar.com/jonathan-pageau - Paypal: http://www.paypal.me/JonathanPageau Join the conversation: - Unofficial Facebook discussion group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1989208418065298/ - The Symbolic World Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/TheSymbolicWorld/ Social media links: - Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TheSymbolicWorld - Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/pageaujonathan - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jonathan.pageau My intro was arranged and recorded by Matthew Wilkinson. My website designers, Anomalist Design: https://www.anomalistdesign.com/

Transcript

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0:00.0	What I see here in our theory is our theory of combination will get us to ever bigger and bigger
0:05.6	infinities, but there's no limit.
0:07.5	And so I can't start with a theory of the one big consciousness because I can never get there.
0:12.8	What I can do is have a theory of conscious agents that sort of is forever approaching the highest
0:19.6	level.
0:19.9	But at every point, my theory will say you're not there
0:22.5	because, oh, you're now at level 50 of Cantra's hierarchy, now you're at level 100, but there's
0:26.6	an infinite number of levels.
0:28.0	So what's interesting about this scientific theory is that there will be no room for hubris
0:33.8	or dogma, because the theory itself will be telling you there's infinitely more steps to go
0:39.3	and you're only at step one billion but there's an infinite number so this is really a very very
0:44.4	very when you do this you get the fractal notion that you were talking about but you get the mathematics
0:49.4	coming back and saying exactly how the fractal works and also telling you be very, very humble because your
0:55.1	mathematical theory will never get to the final description. There's no scientific theory of
1:01.2	everything, even a theory of consciousness. Yeah, and that seems to really fit with the idea that
1:06.6	most mystical systems are apophatic. That is, if you read many of the, the most famous mystics,
1:12.8	or if you look at different non-dual systems, they tend to always have this, that's an infinite
1:18.5	regress. There is no positive statement of the infinite. It's always a constant denial of that,
1:24.8	which was, or a constant shedding of that that which was below, but there is no
1:29.2	reaching the point. Even St. Gregor v. Nisa talks about, let's say, the ascent into God as being
1:34.6	infinite, that infinite in the sense that there is no end to it. It's not a, it's not a stasis. You don't
1:39.2	become an angel sitting on a cloud, you know, with wings and a harp. There's this kind of infinite
	...

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