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Tom Bilyeu's Impact Theory

Why Our Reality Is False | Donald Hoffman (Replay)

Tom Bilyeu's Impact Theory

Impact Theory

Education, News, News Commentary, Philosophy, Technology, Society & Culture, Business, Self-improvement

4.75.1K Ratings

🗓️ 7 October 2024

⏱️ 119 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

On this episode of Conversations with Tom, Donald Hoffman and Tom Bilyeu discuss the fascinating possibilities that stem from the theory that evolution gave us the equivalent of a desktop interface that hides the real truth from us so that we can take effective action. They discuss the nature of consciousness, free will, space-time, causality and the self. [Original air date: 5-28-20]. SHOW NOTES: Most of us believe that we see reality as it is. But we don’t. [1:14] Donald describes how mathematical game theory explains natural selection [3:42] Donald talks about a game he created to simulate evolution [9:33] Seeing the truth and seeing what you need to survive are very different things [13:51] Evolution gave us the equivalent of a desktop interface, not the truth [18:11] Every creature has a different user interface and perceives a different reality [24:57] If we let go of logic and reasoning, then we have nothing left [32:10] There will always be unprovable truths. You can never know it all. [35:14] Donald describes the process by which you “see” an apple [42:05] Evolution tells us that the language of space and time does not describe reality [47:53] Donald proposes that reality is a vast social network of conscious agents [49:39] A conscious agent creates their interpretation from their experiences [53:32] What is consciousness? [57:12] What does a conscious agent need to do? [1:00:49] Donald and Tom discuss fascinating cases of split-brain patients [1:08:13] If space-time is doomed then is causality doomed as well? [1:22:17] Donald discusses free will and its relationship to cause and effect [1:28:01] The self is a construction just like space and time [1:30:27] You can never experience yourself choosing [1:39:15] Donald describes the experience of realizing that he is just inside a VR headset [1:40:01] What’s the difference between math all the way down and turtles all the way down? [1:50:25] Tom and Donald discuss the double-slit experiment in physics [1:56:18] Donald talks about his wife and his marriage [2:01:49] Donald and Tom discuss the possibility of taking off the headset [2:03:10] Donald and Tom discuss why they haven’t used psychedelics [2:07:10] Since space-time is doomed, what’s next? [2:13:27] CHECK OUT OUR SPONSORS ButcherBox: Get your choice of a free protein in every box for a year, plus that $20 off your first order with code IMPACT at https://butcherbox.com/impact. Tonal: Go to https://tonal.com and get $200 off with promo code IMPACT. Huel: Try Huel with 15% OFF today using code IMPACT at https://huel.com/impact. Miro: Bring your teams to Miro’s revolutionary Innovation Workspace and be faster from idea to outcome at https://miro.com. Design.com: Ready to transform your brand? Head to https://design.com/impacttheory and get up to 88% off. FOLLOW DONALD: WEBSITE: https://bit.ly/2WLu47l TWITTER: https://bit.ly/2WKJ0SX FOLLOW TOM: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tombilyeu/ Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tombilyeu?lang=en Twitter: https://twitter.com/tombilyeu YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TomBilyeu What's up, everybody? It's Tom Bilyeu here. If you're serious about leveling up your life, I urge you to check out my new podcast, Tom Bilyeu’s Mindset Playbook —a goldmine of my most impactful episodes on mindset, business, and health. Trust me, your future self will thank you. LISTEN AD FREE + BONUS EPISODES on APPLE PODCASTS: apple.co/impacttheory Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Hey everybody welcome to another episode of conversations with Tom. I am here for a second round with Donald Hoffman. Welcome back.

0:11.0

Thank you very much Tom. It's great to be here.

0:14.0

Dude, I am so excited to spend more time with you.

0:16.6

I was listening to the first interview that we did, which by the way everybody, you're going

0:20.3

to want to watch that one to really understand everything that Donald's about.

0:24.5

We'll give you a quick primer here, but we're going to cover new ground in this.

0:28.0

But the reason that I'm so excited was, honestly, man, trying to wrap my head around your take on consciousness and the way that basically

0:36.9

were living in a constructed reality that were essentially in the matrix, whether we want to be or not and the I get that and I was

0:45.8

into it and I love it but some of the implications of that have only hit me now that I've

0:51.3

had time to like you know know, take a step back, really think about it,

0:55.5

interact with other people dealing with what they call the hard problem of consciousness.

0:59.7

So for us to be able to dive into that though, give people the like three minute primer on why your take is so different than everybody else who takes a really sort of physicality-based approach to consciousness.

1:14.0

Right.

1:15.0

So most people who are looking at how consciousness

1:18.0

is related to the physical world, like our brain,

1:21.9

are assuming that somehow the physical world is primary.

1:25.8

It's the source of all cause and effect in reality.

1:29.1

And therefore, consciousness is an effect of physical causes, presumably

1:35.0

neural activity in the brain for example, but maybe also computer activity in

1:40.3

a artificial intelligence that's sufficiently complicated.

1:44.0

And my take is that our best science today,

1:49.0

quantum field theory, Einstein's Theory of Gravity, and Evolution by Natural Selection.

...

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