What part of secular-guru space (if any) does Bob occupy? ... On the origin of Bob’s theses (by means of natural selection) ... The mind-boggling mystery of consciousness ... Could evolution have a larger purpose? ... The “global brain” as the flowering of natural selection’s seed ... Saving our species by transcending some species-typical tendencies ... The algorithm of evolution as “the Logos” ... How cognitive biases get in the way of global cooperation ... The positive feeling of negative em...
Nov 24, 2021•2 hr 18 min
Remembering Michael Brooks ... The existential stakes of enlightenment ... Overcoming the affective dimension of cognitive bias ... Bringing broader awareness to the concept of cognitive bias ... Cognitive bias and the roots of war ... The folly of feedback loops ... Quelling our primitive retributive impulses ... Taking a mulligan in your meditation practice ... Focusing on the hindrances ... Can you fail at meditation? ... This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subs...
Sep 21, 2021•1 hr 37 min
Oliver's new book, Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals ... Oliver outlines “compatibilism,” the idea that free will and determinism can coexist ... Bob: Everyone should be a free will agnostic ... The occasionally dramatic consequences of arguments against free will ... Would determinism require us to reform our approach to criminal justice? ... A (possible) quantum hack for free will vs. determinism ... Bob thinks compatibilism is b******t ... ... ... but Oliver tries to persuade h...
Sep 14, 2021•1 hr 14 min
John's recent bout of fever-induced hallucinations ... Does math actually help you understand QM? ... What experiments in QM have and have not verified ... John: All interpretations of QM are bad ... What do we want from science? ... "An operating system for reality" ... This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.nonzero.org/subscribe...
Sep 07, 2021•1 hr 16 min
Disavowing the naturalistic fallacy ... Why “sex” may not mean what you think it means ... Did evolution make women “choosier” about sex partners than men? ... Haggling over the price of sperm and eggs ... Agustín: Empirical studies complicate evolutionary psychology’s theoretical models ... The evolutionary significance of non-reproductive sex ... Why are males bigger than females in our species? ... Looking at pornography (for insights into human evolution) ... Are male and female sexual jealo...
Aug 25, 2021•1 hr 21 min
Oliver’s new book, Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals ... Why is it so hard to accept the limits of our productivity? ... Prioritizing mindfully ... Heideggerian time management ... Finding value in even "meaningless" work ... Reducing the lure of distractions ... Ten tools for embracing your finitude ... Five (pretty intense) questions for reflection ... This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.nonzer...
Aug 04, 2021•1 hr 22 min
Josh's aversion to the term "guru" ... Explaining the explain/excuse conflation ... The (possible) evolutionary origins of (biased) arguing ... Are humans mismatched to their modern environment? ... Building strengths vs. addressing deficiencies ... Defusing attribution error ... Making cognitive empathy cool ... Using meditation to strengthen cognitive empathy ... The mythical side of Bob ... Rationalists, effective altruists, and other possible fellow travelers ... This is a public episode. If...
Jul 06, 2021•1 hr 27 min
Agustín on what he was and wasn’t saying in his controversial Science piece on Darwin ... What is biological anthropology? ... What social media critiques of Agustín’s editorial missed ... Untangling Darwin’s attitudes toward race and genocide ... Darwin’s worries about his theory’s acceptance ... What do female gibbons want? ... Agustín: Commonly used racial categories are unscientific ... The changing rules for competition among males ... Okay, so should we cancel Darwin or not? ... This is a ...
Jun 08, 2021•1 hr 14 min
Defining effective altruism ... Rob explains the meaning of ‘80,000 Hours’ ... Should young people dedicate their careers to fighting climate change? ... The Apocalypse Aversion Project ... How cognitive biases fuel tribalism ... Bob: We need a psychological revolution ... Are external threats the best way to bring people together? ... The balance between surveillance and public safety ... Bob: Let's retire the word 'apologist' ... Making rationality cool ... Rob challenges Bob to find flaws in ...
May 25, 2021•1 hr 35 min
Josh tries to help Bob retool his meditation practice ... Identifying the purpose of your practice ... What to do when your mind wanders ... Tuning your mind ... The Four Rs ... Can mindfulness help us bolster our courage? ... Learning to tolerate blowback from your tribe ... Suffering and the psychology of tribalism ... Developing a non-zero-sum relationship with your own mind ... So you say you've been called a neofascist... ... This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with othe...
May 11, 2021•1 hr 39 min
The value of defying your tribe ... Egocentric bias and attribution error ... The thin line between between courage and acting like an a*****e ... Why do we punish people for unintentional transgressions? ... To understand all is to forgive all … ... … but forgiveness won’t get you retweets ... Are people’s politics as irrational as they seem? ... William James’ preternatural insight into human psychology ... Should the Philip Roth biography have been pulled? ... Reliving the worst day of your l...
May 05, 2021•1 hr 34 min
John’s new book, Circling the Elephant: A Comparative Theology of Religious Diversity ... John’s early religious sensibility ... The Advaita Vedanta tradition in Hinduism ... Grappling with the human predicament ... Approaches to ultimate reality ... John’s brush with non-dualistic experience ... Why John doesn’t consider himself a perennialist ... Touching the infinite elephant ... This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, vi...
Apr 27, 2021•1 hr 14 min
Who you callin' bodhisattva? ... Outlining the Apocalypse Aversion Project ... How meditation can make us better global citizens ... Why we need “cognitive crampons” ... Transcend and include ... The varieties of meditative experience ... Achieving micro-enlightenment ... The benefits of confronting your dark side ... Building a cognitively empathetic grassroots movement ... This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www....
Mar 23, 2021•1 hr 25 min
Distinguishing between the numinous and the noumenal ... Kant’s religious vision ... The Copernican revolution in philosophy ... What, if anything, does the Buddhist idea of emptiness have to do with Kant? ... The transcendental status of space and time ... Can the Matrix help us understand Kant? ... Distinguishing between the noumenal and the phenomenal ... Can we transcend our phenomenal experience of the world? ... This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers...
Mar 02, 2021•1 hr 24 min
What got Frank his Nobel Prize ... Frank's new book, Fundamentals: Ten Keys to Reality ... Solving the mystery of dark matter ... Can quantum physics make sense? ... Frank: Mind emerges from matter, not the other way around ... Can you love an automaton? ... Complementarity as scientific concept and everyday attitude ... How Frank's Catholic upbringing influenced his scientific thinking ... Is reality an algorithm? ... The limits of human intelligence ... This is a public episode. If you'd like ...
Feb 23, 2021•1 hr 32 min
Continuing “the Dharma of Bob” ... The evolutionary logic of cognitive biases ... Attribution error, or why your enemies seem so damn evil ... Zero-sum biases in a non-zero-sum world ... Bob fixes social media ... How cognitive biases have shaped perceptions of the Capitol riot ... The psychology of tribalism and the BLM protests ... This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.nonzero.org/subscribe...
Jan 26, 2021•1 hr 13 min
Could evolution have a higher purpose? ... The value of (some) untestable hypotheses ... What zombies can (and can’t) teach us about consciousness ... Evolutionary teleology vs. evolutionary teleonomy ... Why does evolution produce increasingly complex forms of life? ... Distinguishing between physical laws and natural processes ... Could the hypothesis that evolution is serving a larger purpose be tested? ... This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get ...
Dec 08, 2020•1 hr 28 min
Continuing the exploration of "the Dharma of Bob" ... Bob: There is no good alternative to global community ... Defining non-zero-sumness ... How genetic "selfishness" led to altruism ... The psychology of tribalism ... Can we bridge the polarization divide? ... Sadly, self-transcendence isn't genetically inheritable ... Does Bob see cause for optimism? ... This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.nonzero.org/subscr...
Dec 01, 2020•1 hr 2 min
Philo of Alexandria, seminal Logos theorist ... Bob: Teleology is perfectly compatible with a scientific worldview ... A logic shaping the unfolding of life ... How Jordan Peterson understands the Logos ... Does order flow from consciousness? ... Moral progress and human interdependence ... Teleology without theology ... The Logos and the "simulation hypothesis" ... This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.nonzero.o...
Nov 03, 2020•1 hr 8 min
Guthrie's new book, Just Faith: Reclaiming Progressive Christianity ... Guthrie's personal faith journey ... The tradition of liberal Protestantism ... Human sexuality and evangelicalism ... Guthrie sees a liberatory counternarrative in Scripture ... What drives militant atheism? ... What happened to Christian antiwar activism? ... Do young progressives privilege identity over class? ... Why Guthrie prays for President Trump ... This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other ...
Oct 14, 2020•1 hr 8 min
Applying cognitive empathy to the Supreme Court vacancy fight ... The danger of runaway retaliation ... Reviewing The Social Dilemma, a new documentary critical of social media ... Enhance your online stature by vilifying the other tribe! ... How will historians view the social media era? ... Can Democrats oppose Barrett mindfully? ... The links between yoga and mindfulness ... This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit w...
Oct 01, 2020•1 hr 9 min
How Sharon became one of the first Americans to study Buddhism in India ... Sharon's new book, Real Change: Mindfulness to Heal Ourselves and the World ... Does meditation seal you off from the world? ... Mindfully coping with anger on social media ... There's more political diversity among meditators than you might think ... Sharon explains lovingkindness meditation ... The difficult work of finding compassion for your enemies ... Planting seeds in a garden you never get to see ... This is a pu...
Sep 08, 2020•1 hr 9 min
Ingrid's new book, Animalkind ... Animal rights vs. animal welfare ... Amazing facts about animals (and the many things we still don't know) ... Is it bad to call your dog a “pet” (or for that matter “yours”)? ... Contemplating animal consciousness ... How unethical is Bob's pescatarian diet? ... The rise of artificial meat ... Ingrid asks, "Do you think that animal was a volunteer?" ... Ingrid's extremely unusual last will and testament ... This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss thi...
Aug 25, 2020•1 hr 7 min
A live conversation with Josh Summers on cognitive empathy and mindfulness. ... This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.nonzero.org/subscribe
Aug 24, 2020•1 hr 13 min
A conversation in memory of the late journalist and podcaster Michael Brooks. ... This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.nonzero.org/subscribe
Aug 18, 2020•1 hr 25 min
Bruce's new book, Life Is in the Transitions: Mastering Change at Any Age ... Debunking the idea of the "predictable crises of adult life" ... Two kinds of life changes: "disruptors" and "lifequakes" ... Does Bob need a lifequake? ... Bruce: "The linear model of life transitions is just wrong" ... Millennials zigging and zagging ... The ABCs of meaning: agency, belonging, cause ... How to write your own life story ... Are the stories we tell about ourselves just BS? And is that okay? ... How to ...
Jul 28, 2020•1 hr 31 min
David's new book, On Inhumanity: Dehumanization and How to Resist It ... The tension at the heart of dehumanization ... David: Genocides are moralistic ... The essential role of psychological essentialism ... Dehumanization in American politics ... When David received death threats after critiquing Jordan Peterson ... The "Great Chain of Being" and our complex conception of monsters ... Why David doesn't like the term "the banality of evil" ... How to resist dehumanization ... This is a public e...
Jul 21, 2020•1 hr 7 min
Buddhism and the military atrocities in Myanmar and Sri Lanka ... The early political history of Buddhism ... Varieties of Buddhist rationales for nonviolence ... The history of war between Southeast Asian nations ... Is warfare antithetical to attaining enlightenment? ... Justifications for non-pacifism ... Meditation and the antiwar mindset ... Foreign policy, anti-China sentiment, and BLM protests ... This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access...
Jul 15, 2020•1 hr 16 min
Rutger's new book, Humankind: A Hopeful History ... Debunking the "veneer theory" of human nature ... Are violence and war intrinsic to human nature? ... The human self-domestication thesis ... Why Bob doesn't like the idea of people "deserving punishment" ... Is it bad to emphasize the dark side of human nature? ... What the debunking of the Stanford Prison Experiment can teach us ... Giving money to rich people: Why the U in UBI? ... Would UBI turn us all into couch potatoes (or worse)? ... Th...
Jul 08, 2020•1 hr 28 min
Paul describes the view from Toronto ... Zero- and non-zero-sum aspects of the pandemic ... Paul: Canada's multiparty system helps defuse polarization ... A disaster without solidarity ... How our emotions caused us to underreact to the pandemic ... Masks and mobs ... Trump's fragile feelings ... Why has the external threat of the disease not united humanity? ... A deep dive into the meaning of statistical significance ... This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscr...
Jun 03, 2020•1 hr 30 min
