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: https://twitter.com/RichardDawkins
Website: https://richarddawkins.com/
Read Dawkins’ articles: https://richarddawkins.com/articles
To donate to the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science: https://richarddawkins.net/donate

—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

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