Andrés Gómez Emilsson, director of the Qualia Research Institute and a pioneering researcher in the mathematical study of consciousness, explores the nature of awareness from both philosophical and scientific angles. He recounts his journey that led to founding the Qualia Research Institute—aimed at reducing suffering and enhancing experience. He discusses the transformative potential of psychedelics, the view of the self as a series of experiences, and how sensory resonance ("impedance matching") shapes our awareness.

As a listener of TOE you can get a special 20% off discount to The Economist and all it has to offer! Visit https://www.economist.com/toe

Join My New Substack (Personal Writings): https://curtjaimungal.substack.com

Listen on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/SpotifyTOE

Become a YouTube Member (Early Access Videos):

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdWIQh9DGG6uhJk8eyIFl1w/join

Timestamps:

00:00 The Most Important Problem

01:49 The Hard Problem and Ontologies

05:15 Journey into Consciousness

09:06 The Qualia Research Institute

10:49 Shattering Realities

17:12 Happiness vs. Meaning

19:15 Defining Happiness

25:28 Psychological Egoism

33:45 Understanding Consciousness

38:01 The Qualia Research Institute's Goals

49:21 Exploring Impedance Matching

58:25 The Dance of Dissonance

1:03:22 The Nature of Suffering

1:10:32 The Concept of Oneness

1:17:02 Zero Ontology Explained

1:27:20 The Nature of Reality

1:28:57 The Self and Sense of Self

1:30:53 Stages of Consciousness

1:37:35 Transformations in Consciousness

1:46:20 The Role of Psychedelics

2:02:01 Exploring 5-MeO-DMT

2:21:03 Psychedelics and Buddhist Philosophy

2:45:32 Insights on Jhana States

2:51:31 Conclusion and Reflections

Links Mentioned:

- Qualia Research Institute (website): https://qri.org/

- Andres’s Qualia profile: https://qri.org/people/andr%C3%A9s-g%C3%B3mez-emilsson

- David Chalmers’s 2024 presentation at Mindfest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5r9V1ryksnw

- Bernardo Kastrup on TOE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAB21FAXCDE

- The Hedonistic Imperative (book): https://amzn.to/3Di7Xx5

- Why Does Anything Exist? (book): https://www.amazon.com/Why-Does-Anything-Exist-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B0DKBHMC3C

- Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha (book): https://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Core-Teachings-Buddha-Unusually/dp/1911597108

- Andres on The DemystifySci Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjWDURKNe2Q

- ‘Replications’ group on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/replications/

- Stuart Hameroff’s Mindfest presentation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_bQwdJir1o

- The Doors of Perception (book): https://amzn.to/4ijduTb

- From Neural Activity to Field Topology (article): https://qualiacomputing.com/2025/02/09/from-neural-activity-to-field-topology-how-coupling-kernels-shape-consciousness/

- Seeing That Frees (book): https://amzn.to/43fm15m

- Practicing the Jhanas (meditation series): https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLO6hhaAzLmiqUzBYuLLJQ8FexOTRxz8xF

- The Dalai Lama, Psychedelics & Cher (article): https://tricycle.org/article/dalai-lama-psychedelics-cher/

- Advice to Sigālaka (article): https://suttacentral.net/dn31/en/sujato?lang=en&layout=plain&reference=none&notes=asterisk&highlight=false&script=latin

Support TOE on Patreon: https://patreon.com/curtjaimungal

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TOEwithCurt

Discord Invite: https://discord.com/invite/kBcnfNVwqs

#science #consciousness #mind

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why Does Anything Exist?

Mentioned by

Mentioned in 1 episodes

The AI-powered Podcast Player