Donald Hoffman On Free Will, Positive Geometries of Consciousness & Spacetime [Ep. 455]

Into the Impossible With Brian Keating

Brian Keating

Science, Physics, Natural Sciences

4.7 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 25 August 2024

⏱️ 75 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Will physics ever be able to explain consciousness? What if our entire understanding of reality is just an illusion shaped by evolution? Could the universe be a sophisticated virtual reality created by our own minds for our own good? And does free will exist after all? Joining me today to explore these profound questions is none other than Donald Hoffman! Donald Hoffman is a renowned philosopher, famous TED talk speaker, cognitive scientist, and deep thinker. He is a professor in the Department of Cognitive Science at the University of California, Irvine, and the author of the provocative book The Case Against Reality. This is his third time on my show because we simply never run out of topics, and it’s always refreshing to hear his thoughts and ideas! So, without further ado, let’s jump right in! — Key Takeaways: 00:00:00 Intro 00:01:11 Sam Harris, Robert Sapolsky, and free will 00:07:59 Positive geometries of consciousness 00:17:17 Will physics ever be able to explain consciousness? 00:26:05 Stepping outside of spacetime 00:36:51 Markovian dynamics 00:48:10 Theory of perception 00:52:37 Audience questions 01:05:44 The future of academia 01:13:24 Outro — Additional resources: ➡️ Learn more about Don Hoffman: 📚 The Case Against Reality: https://a.co/d/dy3tfCc — ➡️ Follow me on your fav platforms: ✖️ Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating 🔔 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1 📝 Join my mailing list: https://briankeating.com/list ✍️ Check out my blog: https://briankeating.com/cosmic-musings/ 🎙️ Follow my podcast: https://briankeating.com/podcast — Into the Impossible with Brian Keating is a podcast dedicated to all those who want to explore the universe within and beyond the known. Make sure to follow/subscribe so you never miss an episode! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	What if our entire understanding of reality is just an illusion shaped by evolution?
0:04.6	Could the universe be a sophisticated virtual reality created by our own minds?
0:09.9	Or evolution itself for our own good.
0:13.4	And does free will even exist?
0:15.6	After talking just this year alone to Sam Harris, Robert Spolsky, and Daniel Dennett,
0:20.0	three prominent philosophers on the subject of free will, two of whom who deny the existence of free
0:24.9	will, I'm thrilled to converse with Donald Hoffman, who offers a completely different,
0:30.8	highly mathematical and grounded perspective.
0:33.0	Hoffman is a renowned philosopher and a colleague of mine in the University of California.
0:38.0	He's the author of the provocative breakout bestseller, the case against reality.
0:43.0	This is his third time on the show because we simply never run out of topics and it's
0:46.9	always refreshing to hear his brilliant thoughts on these issues and more.
0:50.9	So buckle up, this is going to be the deepest dive into the fabric of reality
0:55.0	that you've ever been on. Let's go.
0:56.5	Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
1:07.0	Open the pod bay doors now.
1:12.0	Both Sam Harris and Robert Saulski have recently been guests on the Into the
1:15.6	Impossible podcast and their perspective on consciousness is quite different
1:19.8	from yours. How do you view their perspectives in contrast to your own done?
1:25.0	One of the things that they focus on is that they don't think that there's free will.
1:29.0	At least Sam doesn't think that there's free will.
1:32.0	And the theory of conscious agents that I'm working on does seem to have what we call a decision
	...

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