Infinite Loops - Jim O'Shaughnessy and Brett Anderson

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Jim O'Shaughnessy: Infinite Loops with Tom Morgan and Brett Anderson, evolutionary psychologist PhD student at the University of New Mexico. They are going to lay out their case for objective value in morality; then we will pepper them with questions afterwards. The argument is based on a recent paper by Kyle Stanford that says even if you don't say it's objective, people still think about moral behavior as objective. Jim: It's certainly not clear but I'm making a different case here than has ever been made before.

Tom Morgan returns for his third appearance on Infinite Loops with Jim, Infinite Loops’ own Ed William and special guest Brett Andersen, an evolutionary psychology PhD student at the University of New Mexico. We discuss the implications of the ideas presented in Brett’s fantastic essay ‘Intimations of a New Worldview’, whether the rise of anti-heroes is a challenge to Campbell’s Hero’s Journey, the influence of conscious vs unconscious design, and much more. Important Links:

Show Notes:

Objective vs subjective morality
Complexity as a precondition
Biological complexification
Complexification and social selection
Relevance realisation
Jordan Peterson’s ‘Maps of Meaning’ and the metamyth
The optimal path and the process of creation
The cognitive purpose of supernatural beliefs
Mapping a response to the meaning crisis
Quantum entanglement and consciousness
Practical implications of Brett’s theory
Cultural evolution
Conscious vs unconscious design
There is an underlying flow of things
Breaking Bad and the Hero’s Journey
Slack vs tension
MUCH more!

Books Mentioned:

Meaning in Life and Why It Matters; by Susan Wolf
The Romance of Reality: How the Universe Organizes Itself to Create Life, Consciousness, and Cosmic Complexity; by Bobby Azarian
The Life of the Cosmos; by Lee Smolin
Evolution's Arrow: the direction of evolution and the future of humanity; by John Stewart
Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny; by Robert Wright
The Mating Mind: How Sexual Choice Shaped the Evolution of Human Nature; by Geoffrey Miller
Maps of Meaning: The Architecture of Belief; by Jordan Peterson
Zombies in Western Culture: A Twenty-First Century Crisis; by John Vervaeke
Principia Mathematica; by Alfred North Whitehead and Bertrand Russell
The Master and his Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World; by Iain McGilchrist
The WEIRDest People in the World: How the West Became Psychologically Peculiar and Particularly Prosperous; by
The Genius of the Beast: A Radical Re-Vision of Capitalism; by Howard Bloom
Life Finds A Way: What Evolution Teaches Us About Creativity; by Andreas Wagner
Tao Te Ching; by Laozing