Psychedelics, Consciousness, and AI | Richard Dawkins | EP 256

Dr. Richard Dawkins is a British evolutionary biologist, theorist, and one of the world’s foremost atheists. In this episode, Dr. Dawkins and I discuss religion, psychedelics, consciousness, symbolism, postmodernism, and the importance of objective truth. —Links— To follow Dawkins on Twitter: Website: Read Dawkins’ articles: To donate to the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science: —Chapters— [0:00] Intro [1:30] Jordan’s rise to fame, Bill C-16, and free speech [5:30] Intimidation and fear of speaking out against the far left [9:10] Micro retreats [11:40] Dawkins’ paper about the organism as a model [18:30] Female sexual selection [21:10] Differences between Jordan’s and Dr. Dawkins’ thinking [24:00] Jeffrey Gray’s work on modeling, psychedelics, and anxiety [30:00] Psychedelics, symbolism, and consciousness [41:00] Jordan’s experiences with psilocybin and yoga [45:40] Postmodernism, Lacan, Foucault, and Mikhaila’s Oxford Union debate [52:30] Jordan addresses Dawkins’ assertion that despite being against postmodernist thinking he at times utilizes symbolism to speculate in a way which is similar to them. [53:50] Finding commonality between myths and symbols across cultures [55:50] False pattern recognition and revelatory thoughts [59:20] Objective truth and the scientific process [1:07:10] Unpleasant or dangerous truths [1:08:10] The metaphysical vision of the redeeming power of truth [1:10:10] Jordan and Dawkins discuss the idea that a narrative drives the process of inquiry, even in regards to objective truth [1:12:50] Humans’ ability to understand difficult concepts on a biological level [1:16:10] Question: Do you identify the religious impulse with the totalitarian proclivity for dogmatic certainty and the potential acceleration of aggression and atrocity as a consequence? [1:20:10] Question: To what degree do you think that consciousness operates as a fundamental mechanism of selection and shaping? [1:23:00] Artificial intelligence and the metaphysical significance of consciousness // SUPPORT THIS CHANNEL // Newsletter: Donations: // COURSES // Discovering Personality: Self Authoring Suite: Understand Myself (personality test): // BOOKS // Beyond Order: 12 More Rules for Life: 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos: Maps of Meaning: The Architecture of Belief: // LINKS // Website: Events: Blog: Podcast: // SOCIAL // Twitter: Instagram: Facebook: Telegram: